Just before midnight on 27 January 1945, with Soviet troops only away, the remaining 11,000 POWs were marched out of camp with the eventual destination of Spremberg.
Kenneth W. Simmons' book Kriegie (1960) vividly describes the life of POWs in the American section of Stalag Luft III, during the final months of the war, ending with the winter forced-march away from the camp, escaping the advancing Soviet troops and eventually being liberated.