Airey Neave’s first-hand account of his wartime escape from Colditz is on display for the first time at The National Archives in Kew.

Lieutenant Neave was the first British officer to make a “home run” from the notorious German prisoner of war camp.

He arrived back in Britain 82 years ago today on the 12th of May 1942.

In a number of documents, he describes battling temperatures of
-17°C, being hunted by dogs and arrested by German railway police.