Hans Larive Etienne Henri " Hans " Larive , MWO , DSC and bar , ( 23 September 1915 — 28 December 1984 ) was a Dutch naval officer during World War II . He escaped from the prisoner of war camp Oflag IV - C at Colditz Castle in 1941 , and spent the rest of the war in England serving aboard Motor Torpedo Boat s . He later wrote his memoir " Vannacht varen de Hollanders " ( 1950 ) , which was republished translated into English as " The Man Who Came In From Colditz " ( 1975 ) - a pun on the bestselling novel " The Spy Who Came in from the Cold " . Early life . Larive was born on 23 September 1915 in Singapore . He entered the Royal Netherlands Naval College ( KIM ) in 1934 , graduating in 1937 , and gaining his commission as " Luitenant ter Zee ( 3de klasse ) " on 13 August that year . He was promoted to " Luitenant ter Zee ( 2de klasse ) " on 13 August 1939 . World War II . In May 1940 , just a few days before the Germans attacked Holland , he returned from his tour of duty in the Dutch East Indies as Navigation Officer aboard the Admiralen class destroyer HNLMS " Van Galen " . On 10 May 1940 the Germans invaded , and the " Van Galen " was sent to shell German paratroopers which had landed around Rotterdam and Waalhaven airport . The ship had to steam into the narrow Nieuwe Waterweg , where she was attacked and soon sunk by Stuka dive - bombers . The ' Singen ' route . After the Dutch capitulation , all officers were required to give their word of honour not to take part in any hostile activities against the Germans . Larive , with about 60 other officers and one rating refused , and were sent to German POW camps . The first was Oflag VI - A in Soest , Germany , where Larive made his first escape attempt in October 1940 . This attempt brought him near to Singen , close to the Swiss border , where he was arrested . Convinced that Germany would soon win the war , the interrogating Gestapo officer arrogantly showed Larive how he would have crossed the Swiss border without problems . Larive later passed this valuable information on , and many Dutch and British prisoners used the " Singen route " to enter Switzerland . After this escape attempt all Dutch POW ' s were moved to Oflag VIII - C near Juliusburg , but after another successful escape by two officers they were all moved again in July 1941 to the maximum security camp ( " sonderlager " ) Oflag IV - C at Colditz . Escaping Colditz . At Colditz all Dutch escapes were coordinated by the Dutch escape officer Captain Machiel van den Heuvel , known as " Vandy " by the British . Van den Heuvel quickly recognised the possibilities of the exercise park and soon had his first escape plan ready . On 15 August 1941 Larive and Lieutenant Francis Steinmetz hid under a manhole cover under the cover of a rugby scrum . Lieutenant Gerrit Dames then created a diversion by cutting a hole in the barbed wire fence , before allowing himself to be caught , shouting to imaginary escapers to run , so that the Germans would think that the missing officers had already escaped . Larive and Steinmetz hid for several hours . The cover was fixed with a heavy bolt , which Van den Heuvel had replaced with a fake made of glass . Once it was dark the two men forced the manhole cover open from below , and replaced the now broken glass bolt with the original one . They then made their way out of the castle . ( This escape method was repeated on 20 September 1941 by two other Dutch officers , C . Giebel and O . L . Drijber . ) . At Leisnig Larive and Steinmetz took a train to Nuremberg where they waited for their next train in a nearby park . To avoid attracting unwanted attention , they pretended to be a courting couple , with Steinmetz pulling a blanket down over his shorts so it looked like a skirt . They crossed the Swiss border on 18 August 1941 . Under Swiss neutrality law they were not allowed to leave the country , so the Dutch Legation provided false papers describing them as sugar planters on their way to Cuba . They travelled on a sealed train in which neutrals were able to pass through France into Spain . At Barcelona they boarded the neutral ship , " Isla de Teneriffe " , sailing for Havana . The ship was intercepted by a Royal Navy cutter in the Strait of Gibraltar and the two men were taken off and arrived in Gibraltar on 4 November . They then sailed to England aboard the submarine HNLMS " O 21 " and arrived in London on 17 December 1941 . MTB commander . In March 1942 Larive was assigned to command of the Dutch Motor Torpedo Boat " MTB 203 " , part of the Anglo - Dutch 9th MTB Flotilla . Later the 9th Flotilla become wholly Dutch , and Larive commanded it from October 1942 until October 1943 . He then became the Senior Officer of all Dutch MTBs ( commanding the 2nd and 9th MTB Flotillas ) until 16 September 1944 , with the rank of Temporary Acting " Luitenant ter Zee 1ste klasse " . The Dutch MTB service was disbanded on 5 September 1944 , and its personnel were reassigned to " Port Parties " , operating in liberated areas of the Netherlands . Larive then became head of the Dutch Naval Press Agency MARVO ( " Marine Voorlichting Dienst " ) , a post he held until leaving the navy on 1 July 1946 . Post - war . Larive was employed by the Royal Dutch Shell company from 1 September 1946 . Between December 1951 and May 1954 he was a Deputy Director of " N . V . Curaçaose Scheepvaart Maatschappij " ( Curaçao Shipping Company ) , a Shell subsidiary . In 1950 , he published his wartime memoirs entitled " Vannacht varen de Hollanders " ( " The Dutch Sail Tonight " ) , later published in English as " The Man Who Came In From Colditz " . He died at The Hague on 28 December 1984 .