Michael Codner
| Richard Michael Clinton Codner | |
|---|---|
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|
| Born |
29 September 1920 Malaya |
| Died |
25 March 1952 (aged 31) Tanjung Malim, Malaya |
| Buried | Cheras Road Cemetery, Kuala Lumpur |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | British Army |
| Rank | Second Lieutenant |
| Service number | 200507 |
| Unit | Royal Artillery |
| Battles/wars | Second World War |
| Awards | MC |
Second Lieutenant Richard Michael Clinton Codner MC (1920–1952) was a British Second World War prisoner of war, best known for being one of the three men to escape successfully from Stalag Luft III in the escape known as The Wooden Horse.
Born in Malaya on 29 September 1920, Michael Codner was educated at Bedford School and Exeter College, Oxford. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Royal Artillery on 2 August 1941, served in North Africa during the Second World War, and was captured on 14 December 1942 at Majaz al Bab in Tunisia. He was sent first to Rome, then to Dulag Luft in Frankfurt, which was a mistake, as the camp acted as collection and interrogation centre for newly captured aircrew, and then to Oflag XXI-B in Poland, where he became good friends with fellow prisoner Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams. Together they planned and executed an escape through a tunnel, which was later described by Williams in his book The Tunnel. However, they were quickly recaptured and sent to Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Poland.
Stalag Luft III was designed to be a highly escape-resistant camp. Tunnelling in particular was made harder: the perimeter fence was placed some distance from the huts, necessitating longer tunnels; the soil changed colour markedly when dry, making disposal of freshly dug tunnel soil difficult; and the Germans employed seismographs to detect vibration caused by digging. Pondering the story of the Trojan Horse, Michael Codner developed the idea of employing a wooden vaulting horse in order to escape from Stalag Luft III. He approached Williams and they developed the idea together. They approached a third prisoner, Flight Lieutenant Oliver Philpot, in June 1943 to "register" their escape scheme with the escape committee, as Philpot was the escape co-ordinator for the hut in which the three of them lived. The scheme was approved and so, using bowls for shovels, Codner, Williams and Philpot dug for three months whilst the other camp inmates vaulted continuously over the wooden horse in order to mask the vibration from the tunnelling work. Sand was carried back inside the horse and dried in the attic of the camp canteen before being distributed in the compound.
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