A meticulously planned escape from a World War II POW camp seems almost certain to succeed, but it ends in a sharp, brutal disaster. The would-be escaper, cleverly disguised as the camp’s sadistic Capitano Benucci, Peter Arne is shot dead by the real Capitano Benucci, witnessed by the shocked prisoners who realize the killer waited for the decoy to arrive before firing.
The escape committee, led by Richard Todd as Lieutenant Colonel David Baird, is left with a chilling conviction: there might be an informer among them. The prime suspect is the Greek officer Lt. Cyriakos Coutoules, and the tension thickens when Coutoules is found dead in an escape tunnel. To prevent the Italians from exploiting his death, Coutoules’s body is moved into an abandoned tunnel and presented as a suffocation caused by a roof fall.
Fingerprint evidence then points to Captain Roger Byfold, a fact that seems to seal his guilt in the eyes of the Italian authorities, even though Byfold is entirely innocent. Donald Houston gives the impression of a man trapped by circumstances beyond his control, as the camp’s leadership recognizes that a conviction could carry the ultimate consequence for him.
With the noose tightening, the escape committee unveils a desperate plan to get Byfold and two other officers out of the camp before his trial. The trio scale the camp fence using a ladder built from two rugby posts, but the escape is betrayed by the watchful eye of Capitano Benucci and his men, who lie in wait just outside the fence with a machine gun mounted on a truck. The result is a brutal volley of bullets that ends the attempt in seconds, the attackers’ casualties adding to the growing sense of danger and suspicion inside the camp.
The prisoners rapidly deduce that Benucci could not have known the exact timing of the breakout unless an informer had tipped him off. The hunt for the traitor becomes personal, and the mood shifts from cautious optimism to a tense, paranoid vigilance. The escape plan grows more ambitious as Lt. Col. Huxley Bernard Lee devises a new scheme: a daylight escape that would unfold during a staged production of Hamlet in the theatre hut, led by Captain Rupert Callender. The theory is simple and bold: the jefe of the camp would never expect a mass exodus to occur in full view of the guards and the watching Italians.
As the date of the next escape draws near, the atmosphere inside the camp tightens into a careful blend of discipline and fear. The prisoners weigh every rumor, every whisper, trying to uncover the identity of the informer who could betray them again. The tension is palpable: a single whispered tip could shift the balance, while a misstep might play into Benucci’s hands once more. With the Armistice looming and the camp set to change hands, the stakes could not be higher, and the prisoners know that the window for escape—and for survival—may close at any moment.
The action unfolds against a backdrop of camaraderie and grit, where personal courage competes with the cold calculations of captors, and where every decision could mean the difference between freedom and capture. The characters—officers and soldiers alike—navigate a labyrinth of mistrust, loyalty, and desperation as they race to outwit a wily opponent who seems to anticipate their moves at every turn. In the end, the story remains a careful study of effort, risk, and the unyielding will to escape, even as the camp’s future hangs in the balance. The looming question—whether clever planning can outrun betrayal—hangs over every moment as the men brace for what may come next, especially as the region moves toward upheaval and change in the wake of the Italian Armistice.
