Escapes from Canadian POW camps were rare in the winter, when harsh weather, especially in isolated norther locations, discouraged even the hardiest of prisoners.  Pictured here is camp Neys, Ontario, on the north shore of Lake Superior.  The wonderful thing about living in a winter wonderland like Canada is that it can kill you at any time.  You either freeze to death, fall through the ice, get caught in an avalance, stuck in a snowbank and die from carbon monoxide poisoning or you can take a puck in the head at a hockey game...ahh walkin in a winter wonderland..lol

A WINTER WONDERLAND

German officer prisoners march on arrival through the streets of Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada.  Camp 20 at Gravenhurst housed 400 men in a converted sanatorium.  There were 35,046 German POW's interned in the 26 different POW camps in Canada.

German Officers arrive in Canada

A Canadian prison guard examines a tunnel dug by prisoners at the Espanola, Ontario, Camp.  Regardless of varying points of view these German POW's were intent on trying to escape and return to their comrades still fighting.  This was easier to accomplish before the Americans joined the war.  Up to that point, if the escapee could make it across the US/Canadian border they were relativley home free.