Project Management and The Great Escape

							Project Management
        and
 The Great Escape
             By
     Kurt Ackerman
        (732) 583-5816
     kurtack@optonline.net
Who were the Stakeholders
     in this Project?
  •   The Prisoners.
  •   The Guards.
  •   The Guards’ Administrators.
  •   The Allies.
  •   The Third Reich.
What were the three escape
     projects names?
       • The tunnel “Tom”.
       • The tunnel “Dick”.
       • The tunnel “Harry”.

    Why three of them?
• So that the prisoners would have
  alternate options if one was discovered,
  or if other problems presented
  themselves (Risk Management).
      The Scope Constraint
• Tunnels needed to be dug far enough to
  escape the compound. The tunnels needed
  lights, air, wall and ceiling support.
  Excavated dirt needed to be disposed of in a
  clandestine manner. Papers needed to be
  forged. Civilian clothes needed to be
  procured and tailored. Maps were needed,
  as were train schedules. Languages needed
  to be learned - or unlearned.
     The Cost Constraint


• Items were stolen. Items were made
  from what was available, Guards were
  bribed and items bartered. Guards were
  also blackmailed into supplying
  resources.
      The Time Constraint


• The timetable was quite extensive. It
  took over a year, nearly two, for the
  tunnels to be ready. Their timetable was
  altered a little when one tunnel was
  discovered.
          Who was the Project
              Manager?
• In real life, Roger Bushell. In the movie, Roger
  “Big X” Bartlett (Richard Attenborough).
   What was the Security Team
    Leader responsible for?
• Flight Lieutenant George Harsh was in charge
  of internal security. Special German guards –
  “Ferrets” – could nose around in the
  compound for any signs of escape. Harsh
  created a log-in/log-out system (called “Duty
  Pilot”) to keep track of the Ferrets.
 What was the Counterfeiting
Team Leader responsible for?
• Flight Lieutenant Des Plunkett was
  responsible for forgery of crucial papers
  and maps. Improvisation and bribery
  were used to procure maps and
  German IDs, from which copies were
  made.
 What was the Clothing Team
  Leader responsible for?

• Tommy Guest and his team were
  responsible for altering the service
  uniforms, as well as workman’s clothes and
  all “civilian” attire. Service uniforms were
  recut and dyed, and bedding was also used
  to make clothes. These pieces were
  concealed by carpentry professional
  “Digger” Macintosh.
  What was the Tunnel Team
   Leader responsible for?
• Flying Officer Wally Floody was a pre-war
  mining engineer, and was the brains behind
  the tunnels. A manually operated air-pump
  was built, wires and light bulbs were strung
  (using the German’s electricity), and
  excavated dirt was surreptitiously disposed
  of around the compound.
    What was the Financial
    Operations Team Leader
       responsible for?
• Johnny Travis was in charge of scrounging
  whatever was available to create “escape
  kits” and hoard “lagergeld”, which was as
  close to money as the POWs were allowed
  to have. Train tickets, travel passes, and
  even a camera were procured.
   What were some project
         controls?
• The X Committee, which organized the
  plan, could approve or reject any other
  escape plans. Secrecy was important.
  English-speaking Ferrets would
  eavesdrop on the POWs. The “Duty
  Pilot” system monitored the movements
  of the ferrets. Forged documents were
  reviewed again and again. Prisoners
  were tested on their language skills.
Name one anticipated risk,
 and the mitigation plan.

 • Discovery of the escape plan.
   Bushell had been warned that if he
   tried another escape, he would be
   killed. Tunnel cave-ins were also
   common; bed boards from the
   bunks shored tunnel walls and
   ceilings up.
  Name one unanticipated
risk, and the risk response.
• Due to the unforeseen cutting down of
  trees to make way for camp expansion, the
  end of the escape tunnel was 30 feet from
  the woods, meaning escaping prisoners
  could be discovered when the guard
  walked by the area. A rope was stretched
  from the woods to the end of the tunnel,
  and a tug was given when the German
  sentry was not nearby.
     What were the key
      deliverables?

• An escape tunnel needed to be dug.
• 250 men were to attempt escape.
• The Third Reich was to be distracted
  from their war effort as they searched
  for the escapees.
   Why were completion times
        so important?
• Sentries patrolled the grounds at regular
  intervals.
• Prisoners had to be out under cover of darkness
  and early enough so they could catch trains.
• Dates on the Ids were valid only for the day of
  escape. The escape had to be executed while the
  forged format was still current.
• The longer they put off the escape, the more
  likely the remaining tunnels would be discovered.
  How were human resources
         managed?
• People were assigned jobs according to their
  vocations in civilian life.
• Graphic designers became counterfeiters;
  mining engineers became tunnel experts;
  tailors designed “civilian” clothes.
• The biggest contributors to the project were
  among the first out, as were German-
  speaking prisoners, who were believed to
  have the best chances of success.
  How did they use motivation
     and team-building?
• The prisoners were organized as a
  community with all members invested in the
  well-being of the rest of their comrades. The
  men pooled their rations, lagergeld, and
  other precious items, so that all made a
  contribution.
                          The Fifty
J5233 F/L Henry J Birkland - 61053 F/L E Gordon Brettell DFC - 43932 F/L
     Lester G Bull DFC - 90120 S/L Roger J Bushell - 39024 F/L Michael J
        Casey - 400364 S/L James Catanach DFC - 413380 F/L Arnold G
   Christiansen - 122441 F/O Dennis H Cochran - 39305 S/L Ian K P Cross
      DFC - 378 Lt Halldor Espelid - 42745 F/L Brian H Evans - 742 Lt Nils
  Fugelsang - 103275 Lt Johannes S Gouws - 45148 F/L William J Grisman
     - 60340 F/L Alastair D M Gunn - 403281 F/L Albert H Hake - 50896 F/L
       Charles P Hall - 42124 F/L Anthony R H Hayter - 44177 F/L Edgar S
       Humphreys - J10177 F/L Gordon A Kidder - 402364 F/L Reginald V
     Kierath - P0109 Maj Antoni Kiewnarski - 39103 S/L Thomas G Kirby-
  Green - P0243 F/O Wlodzimierz Kolanowski - P0237 F/O Stanislaw Z Krol
      - J1631 Patrick W Langford - 46462 F/L Thomas B Leigh - 89375 F/L
   James L R Long - 95691 2/Lt Clement A N McGarr - J5312 F/L George E
      McGill - 89580 F/L Romas Marcinkus - 103586 F/L Harold J Milford -
    P0913 F/O Jerzy Tomasc Mondschein - P0740 F/O Kazimierz Pawluk -
   87693 F/L Henri A Picard Croix de Guerre - 402894 F/O John P P Pohe -
    30649 Sous-Lt Bernard W M Scheidhauer - 213 P/O Sotiris Skanzikas -
  47341 Rupert J Stevens - 130452 F/O Robert C Stewart - 107520 F/L John
  G Stower - 123026 F/L Denys O Street - 37658 F/L Cyril D Swain - P0375
   F/O Pawel Whilem Tobolski - 82532 F/L Ernst Valenta - 73022 F/L Gilbert
   W Walenn - J6144 F/L James C Wernham - J7234 F/L George W Wiley -
           40652 S/L John E A Williams - 106173 F/L John F Williams
                           References
The Great Escape
Stalag Luft III, Sagan
March 24/25th, 1944
By Rob Davis
Retrieved from:
http://www.elsham.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/gt_esc/

Remembering the Fifty
Retrieved from:
http://www.pegasus-one.org/pow/cSL_3_Fifty.htm

Stalag Luft III Photos
Retrieved from:
http://www.pegasus-one.org/pow/pSL_3

NOVA
Great Escape - Experts dig into World War II’s most daring and technically ingenious
    prison break.
PBS, November 16, 2004
Retrieved from:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/greatescape/