Michael Codner

Captain Richard Michael Clinton Codner (29 September 1920 – 25 March 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. In 1952 during the Malayan Emergency, Codner was killed by pro-independence guerrillas belonging to the Malayan National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Malayan Communist Party. In response to Codner's killing, the British forces instituted draconian measures of collective punishment of nearby villagers in Tanjung Malim. Biography 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 in the east of Germany.