Colditz plea

THE Royal British Legion is backing calls from Germany for help to save Colditz, the notorious castle once used to imprison some of its members.

Local mayor Manfred Heinz wants pounds 30m to revamp the crumbling jail from which more than 30 Allied officers successfully escaped between 1941 and 1945 and he is calling on British investors to help. The Legion said the fortress should be preserved as a memorial to the 1,500 prisoners it once housed and, although ruling out a direct donation, said it would not seek to stop anyone making one.