The duty to escape

It is well known that it was the duty of officers during WWII to try to escape and otherwise harass the enemy however they could. What may not be as well known is that in August 1944 a memo was circulated relieving them of that duty. The reason was that the Germans had become increasingly flagrant in their retaliations for escape attempts, and the progress of the Allied forces indicated that the end of the war was not far off; so the high command did not want prisoners being needlessly sacrificed.