Product Description

The Great Escape was one of the most remarkable episodes of the Second World War. In the attempt to break 200 men out of Hermann Goring?s ?escape proof? prisoner of war camp, 76 Allied officers evaded capture, creating havoc behind enemy lines in the months before the Normandy invasion. In March 2004, sixty years after the event, the ingenuity of the masterminds behind this audacious breakout will be celebrated. The Great Escapers tells the story of these men who managed to break free from the supposedly impenetrable barbed wire and watchtowers of Stalag Luft III, Goring?s showcase prison camp near Sagan. Also revealed is the important role Stalag Luft III played in Allied intelligence operations within occupied Europe: the prisoners developed an intricate espionage network, feeding details of military deployments and strength levels back home and relaying details about the accuracy of bombing raids. Some of the escapers were also involved in other daring escape attempts, including the famous Wooden Horse episode, also turned into a classic film, and the little-known Sachsenhausen breakout, engineered by five Great Escape survivors sent to die in the notorious concentration camp on Hitler?s personal orders. The Great Escape ended in tragedy with 50 of those involved being murdered by the Gestapo. The author examines their deaths and the post-war investigation to bring their killers to justice. The Great Escapers charts this extraordinary story through the experiences of those who lived under the sweeping searchlights of ominous watchtowers, ending with the seven remaining men who broke out that March night sixty years ago ? the last of the Great Escapers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #827085 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-25
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

THE REAL GREAT ESCAPE
There can be hardly anyone in Britain who has not seen or at least heard of the film The Great Escape - the thrilling WW2 film (which must be at least 30 years old now), where the highlight in my opinion was when Steve McQueen raced off on his motorbike and tried to jump the barbed wire border fence and head for freedom into neutral Switzerland.

Many may fail to realise that this Hollywood epic was actually based on the true story of an amazing attempt to break out of Herman Goring's Stalag Luft lll - a supposedly "escape proof" WW2 Prisoner of War camp situated around 100 miles South East of Berlin . In fact, out of the 1000 allied aircrew housed in this now notorious camp, 200 attempted the escape on the 15th March 1944. Initially 76 actually managed to get away, however all accept 3 (who eventually made it back to Britain) were recaptured after causing a great deal of havoc behind enemy lines. As we now sadly know, 50 of the escapers were taken into a field and shot by the Gestapo and the remainder returned to captivity.

This excellent book based on the experiences of ex internees and includes actual accounts of events described by the seven remaining survivors who escaped that wartime evening . It is a fitting tribute to each and every man in the camp at that time, as it took a vast amount of team effort in one form or another to plan and organise the escape itself, plus the behind the scene activities which involved not only digging the tunnel, but making civilian clothes and producing fake documents etc., as well as the cover up activities to mask the tunnelling operation.

I feel sure that this volume will be of great interest to a wide range of military historians , the family history researcher and also the casual reader who has seen the film - they will find it a fascinating read!