IT was one of the most daring wartime escapes in history, brought to life in a film enjoyed by millions of viewers.

Now, thanks to the previously unseen diary of a Paisley man, new light has been shed on the miraculous exit of 76 Allied officers from a German prisoner of war camp.

When Alex Lees wrote 'Eighty officers escaped tonight' in his journal on March 24, 1944, he was describing an event that was to be celebrated for decades to come, inspiring the classic movie The Great Escape.

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In reality, only three of the 76 escaped recapture and, on the orders of Adolf Hitler himself, 50 were executed. 

Starring Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough, the film will return to cinemas on Sunday - the 75th anniversary of the escape - for a special screening hosted by historian Dan Snow.

The Gazette: Alex Lees was proud of the film and its realistic depiction of events Alex Lees was proud of the film and its realistic depiction of events

And the war diary kept by captured soldier Alex, who helped to dispose of the soil from escape tunnels being dug while he was imprisoned at Stalag Luft III, gives a first-person account of the escape from the camp in modern-day Poland.

The tattered notebook, which Alex used from 1942-45, gives scant information of the months of planning that preceded the mass escape.

“Eighty officers escaped tonight. Cloudy and rain. Air raid warning midnight,” was all he wrote.

Alex, who died 10 years ago, aged 97, was proud of his role in The Great Escape and commended the film for its realism.

He spent his later years touring schools across Renfrewshire to tell children about his incredible story.

“When the film came out, he started to think about it more, as it was in the public eye,” his daughter Patricia Gall told The Sunday Post.

“He thought maybe his story could complement what had already been said.

The Gazette: 95-year-old Alex Lees, RASC, with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman during a visit to Erskine 95-year-old Alex Lees, RASC, with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman during a visit to Erskine

“My brother, Colin, and I used to love a bedtime story about the war when we were young.

“He always made them adventurous, never scary. Into his 90s, he would go around schools to talk to pupils about the war.

“It gave him a purpose towards the end, passing it on to the next generation.”

Stalag Luft III was one of many prisoner of war camps Alex spent time in after he was captured in Crete in June 1941.

He had only been in the Army for 10 months.

“I just couldn’t believe I was to become a POW and I felt a sense of foreboding,” he said later.

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Alex was moved on from Stalag Luft III in July 1944, which he suspected was due in part to him pretending to be an escaped officer, Flight Lt Thompson, on the night of The Great Escape.

After being liberated on April 11, 1945, he returned to Britain and went back to his job in insurance.

He spent his final years at Erskine veterans’ home, where he was reunited with two men who were also Second World War prisoners at Stalag Luft III.

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