Clare Mulley

The sheer tedium of life at Colditz

Desperate to relieve the boredom, prisoners resorted to tying mice to parachutes and releasing wasps bearing tiny defeatist messages

Bored prisoners in the courtyard of Colditz during the second world war. [Alamy]

  • Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle

    Ben Macintyre

    Viking, pp. 384, £25

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