your claim that radar was used to locate the tunnel is spurious. in 1977 i wrote and directed a film for bbc wales and, with the aid of the department of mining at cardiff university, opened, and indeed carawled along, the tunnel. we re-sealed it on compleion of shooting, but since the hut from which it began kis till standing, it would nto reequire great initiative to find the tunnel.
i interviewed many of the escapees and guards, and local bridgenders and, of course, filmed in the many huts at that time still standing. the film is called 'come out, come out wherever you are' and is available on internet movie archive. my researcher, herbert williams , wrote a book of the same name on the subject.
col henry faulk, whowas in charge of the treatment of german prisoners after the end of tyhe war, and who came to bridgend with me, identified the leaders of the escap - a hans harzhiem was one, the other i forget though they feature in my film - were extremely comitted nazis who intimidated less vociferous prisoners to assist in the construction of the tunnel. the system was that the nazis escaped first. col faulk wrote a wonderful book entitled 'the psychology of fascism' which i recomend.
sincerely, piers jessop
I agree that the basic location of the tunnel was known because the start room was also known so it didn't take a lot of effort to know where to put the digger scoop.
I have a copy of the 1977 BBC programme which is also on YouTube
cheers! i see that chane four made a picture on the camp in the early 2000's, but have not seen it. see that some prof from uni. has written a paper on the camp, in which he gets it all wrong. so no change there!