Kenneth Lockwood was the last survivor of the “Laufen Six”, who made what is thought to be the first escape from a German prison camp in the Second World War. Lack of preparation for their travels in Germany plus ill-luck led to their recapture after a few days at liberty, so they became the first British prisoners to be sent to Oflag IV C — the special security camp or “Sonderlager” at Colditz Castle in Saxony. Lockwood is remarkable not so much for this incident, but more for work in Colditz and faithful secretaryship of the association of Colditz veterans from its foundation until it was wound up last year.

A Territorial Army officer of the Queen's Royal Regiment, he was taken prisoner while commanding a company of the 1st/6th Battalion during the decisive German offensive through the Low Countries in May 1940. After a series of marches, transit camps and train journeys, he arrived at Stalag VII C in Laufen Castle close to the pre-1938 border with Austria. At that early stage of the war, facilities for producing false identity papers, civilian clothes and accumulating Reichmarks were at rudimentary. Hence the Laufen escape was a hastily arranged affair.

Between July and September 1940, the Six, assisted by other prisoners, dug a tunnel to a point beneath a lean-to shed on the outside wall of the castle. The shed was opened by an elderly German woman between 6.30 and 7am each day, which left them with little more than half an hour between the sentry on that part of the wall standing down at 6am and the old woman's arrival. The Six planned their exit in two groups of three wearing makeshift civilian clothes, some, including Lockwood, disguised as women.

Lockwood, Captain Harry Elliott, of the Irish Guards, and Captain Dick Hare, of the Royal Tank Regiment, formed the second group of three. Having safely negotiated the tunnel, leaving the entrance and exit concealed to allow for subsequent use, they walked for three days heading for the Swiss frontier. Tired, they seized an opportunity to board a goods train which carried them into Austria but off their intended route. They were recaptured near Innsbruck by the German police, who had been alerted by the commandant at Laufen to where they were initially returned. The three who escaped first had headed for Yugoslavia but were also recaptured.

On arrival at Colditz, the six prisoners were greeted by three Canadian airmen who had arrived the previous day and 140 Poles who had been incarcerated in the fortress since the German Army had overrun their country a year earlier. Lockwood's experience as a London stockbroker made him the natural selection as the canteen officer and, subsequently, a source of Reicshmarks through the illegal trade of selling Red Cross cigarettes to the guards.

The canteen became the base for an early escape attempt through the castle drains. When the German sergeant in charge of the canteen arrived early each morning to check the accounts, Lockwood would put the books on a table by the window well behind the counter. This left unobserved on the customers' side a manhole giving access to the castle drains. Examination of these revealed that one, capable of taking a man on all fours, led towards the castle's outer wall at a point where it might be possible to drop to a balustrade, then to the road. Sadly, once the wall of stones blocking the drain was dismantled it was discovered that the drain ended short of the wall beneath a lawn.

This did not end the drains route scheme but it came so close to discovery during a search by the guards that the plan was put aside for a while. Later, a vertical shaft to the lawn was dug but the escape attempt through it was betrayed by a guard who had been bribed. Lockwood was the second man out when the break was made — only to find the guards waiting on the lawn.

As the canteen officer, Lockwood was subjected to close questioning. “How did you all get into the canteen when it was locked?” demanded the camp security officer. Not wishing to reveal how the “unbreakable” cruciform lock had been opened, Lockwood asked his interrogator if he had read Alice in Wonderland. “No, why?” came the response. “Because Alice got through small doors and keyholes by eating something to make her smaller,” he replied, straight-faced. Two weeks' solitary confinement was awarded but, because all the solitary cells were full, the would-be escapers were confined to two small rooms. One of these contained the point from where an earlier tunnel had been started and a stock of food concealed.

Lockwood devoted the remainder of his time in Colditz to assisting in the escape attempts of his fellow prisoners. The most successful was a breakout through — of all unlikely places — the wall of the office of the German camp sergeant-major. Having found how to enter the locked office at night, a group of three British and three German-speaking Dutch officers escaped from the castle disguised as Polish orderlies working in the camp. Lockwood was responsible for arranging the complex cover plan and letting the escapers into the office. The plan worked perfectly but, once outside, only one Dutch and one British officer avoided recapture to reach Switzerland.

After his liberation in 1945, Lockwood returned to his job as a London stockbroker but became the honorary secretary of the Colditz Association of former prisoners, a post he discharged with assiduous care and attention. He maintained contact with hundreds of ex-prisoners, and he was among those who revisited Colditz for a TV documentary, Escape from Colditz, which was aired on Channel 4 in 2000.

Kenneth Lockwood was born in London and educated at Whitgift School, Croydon.

He was appointed MBE in 2000.

Captain Kenneth Lockwood, MBE, honorary secretary of the Colditz Association, was born on September 17, 1912. He died on October 8, 2007, aged 95