The Gestapo try to tunnel in, Helga and Gruber try to sneak into the camp to rescue their friends, while the inmates are planning their own escape.
The cafe staff, the Germans, and Michelle manage to escape thanks to the combined diversionary tactics of the camp entertainments and Gruber's refuse truck – but they find they have a couple of stowaways.
Maria is not with them, having tried to escape through the post as a Red Cross parcel, but has been sent back to Switzerland due to insufficient postage.
Captain Geering, having escaped over the wall, eventually manages to send a radio message – from London.
Maria is replaced, not by one of the many nubile young applicants for the post René favours, nor by the very elderly woman applicant Edith and Yvette favour, but by Mimi Labonq, a Resistance fighter and former gang leader, under Michelle's orders.