WWII's Great Escapes: The Freedom Trails

Monty heads to Slovenia to retrace one of the most daring, yet unknown, mass escapes of Allied prisoners during the Second World War, made possible only with the help and kindness of ordinary people. He’s joined by Neil Churches, whose father Ralph escaped the Stalag 18D prison camp with a few friends, aided by local partisans. They returned just hours later and rescued over 80 fellow prisoners who had been left behind. The group traveled 150 miles through rough terrain – facing the elements, German patrols, ambush, and betrayal.

Monty tells an incredible story of evasion and escape through unknown, hostile territory in central Italy. He follows the route taken by prisoner of war Len Harley, who spent months on the run before braving snow, ice, and Nazi patrols to escape over the mountains of the Majella. Monty reunites Len - who's now 98 - with Rosina Spinosa, who helped him escape.

Monty travels to Rossano in Northern Italy, a gathering point for escaped POWs after the Italian Armistice and the start of the Operation Galia exfiltration. His journey takes him over precipitous ridges of the Marble Mountains and through the formidable Gothic Line, following the route the SAS took after their successful mission.

Monty treks one of the toughest and most famous trails out of Nazi occupied France, taking him through the valleys and passes of the Pyrenees mountain range and into Spain. His route was part of an escape network that began in Paris and would have been fraught with danger - from German soldiers, the Vichy police, local informers, and the mountains themselves. We also meet Bob Frost, who, aged just 19, made the treacherous crossing, and hear remarkable stories of bravery and defiance from the local people, who used their knowledge of the mountains to lead thousands like Bob to safety.