colleagues they conceived, designed and built by hand a masterpiece of British engineering – a 251-yard-long tunnel, complete with rest bay, electric lighting and air flow system, as well as a signalling device to warn of the approach of sentries. Over 100 tons of soil was excavated and concealed under a hut. On 7 April 1942 Hunter, Bruce and 10 other officers made their escape. After 12 days on the run, Bruce and Hunter were captured near Flensburg, within a few hundred yards of the Danish border. After a brief spell back at Sandbostel, the pair escaped, this time by jumping aboard a prison lorry, but were recaptured at Hamburg railway station by the German police. They were transferred to Stalag VIII-B in Lamsdorf, Silesia, a prison camp for "other ranks". Their stay lasted only a few months. Hunter was found dangling from a window within inches of a snarling guard dog, and two of Hunter's colleagues were also caught escaping. The miscreants were summarily banished to Colditz Castle. Colditz In early August 1942 Bruce and Hunter arrived at Colditz Castle (then prisoner of war camp Oflag IV-C), where fellow persistent escapees were highly engaged in planning more escapes, and Hunter was soon involved in the various projects. The three Royal Marine officers (Capt Courtice, their company commander at Calais, was also at Colditz) had a reputation for bravery and good humour, and Hunter was noted as being particularly outspoken, a persistent nuisance to his captors and equally amusing to his colleagues. He once stole the cap of the German officer who was expounding on the merits of Wagner during a musical evening. Another incident even made the Germans laugh when, late for a roll-call, he called languidly from a castle window to the parade below "I'll come down and join you all in a minute". In October 1943 Mike Sinclair was caught during the daring Franz Josef escape. Although Sinclair had surrendered, he was shot at close range by a German officer. Hunter, along with many other witnesses, believed his friend to be dead and shouted "German murderers!". He was subsequently sentenced at a court martial to two months in Graudenz military prison. Forty years later, some 30 officers and their wives made a return visit to Colditz, and Hunter was seen by millions of television viewers standing in the courtyard and taking off the Commandant's "Call to Appell"