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The Real Great Escape
In early 1942 the Germans opened a top-security prisoner-of-war camp in Lower Silesia for captured Allied airmen. Called Stalag Luft III, the camp soon came to contain some of the most inventive escapers ever known. They were led by Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, code-named 'Big X', who masterminded an attempt to smuggle hundreds of POWs down a tunnel built right under the noses of their guards.
The escape would come to be immortalised in the famous film The Great Escape, in which the ingenuity and bravery of the men was rightly celebrated. The plan involved multiple tunnels, hundreds of forged documents, as well as specially made German uniforms and civilian clothing. In this book Guy Walters takes a fresh look at this remarkable event and asks the question, what was the true story, not the movie version? He also examines what the escape really achieved, and the complex nature of the man who led it. The result is an authoritative and ground-breaking re-evaluation of the most iconic escape story of the Second World War.
592 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2011
31 people are currently reading
230 people want to read
About the author
Guy Walters
22 books71 followersGuy Walters (born 8 August 1971) is a British author, novelist, historian, academic and journalist.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 12, 2018
On the 24th March 1944, 76 Allied POW's broke out of Stalag Luft III making it one of the biggest mass escapes of the war. In The Real Great Escape, Guy Walters has provided us with the definitive account of what really happened.
The break out has long been immortalized by the eponymous movie and Paul Brickhill's book of the same name. However, as Walters makes clear in the introduction these accounts and others are deeply flawed. Therefore he has mined the archives to set the record straight on this remarkable event.
Readers may be disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that Steve McQueen's iconic motorcycle chase and James Gardner's theft of a Luftwaffe plane with a blind Donald Pleasence in tow never took place. However, the real story in no less engrossing. Walters has indeed written a carefully researched and balanced book that greatly changed my mind on the event. For starters, he emphasizes the fact that the provision of goods by guards in return for the contents of Red Cross parcels has been much overlooked and although the POW's demonstrated enormous courage and ingenuity in planning and executing the escape it couldn't have taken place without this cooperation from corrupt camp personnel. Indeed, the relationship between jailer and prisoner was less master and servant than you would think, thanks to the fact that the inmates were being supplied from abroad with luxury foodstuffs not available to the guards who could then be bribed. Walters also makes a convincing case that such a mass breakout was not a help to the war effort but actually counter productive.
Guys Walters is an adequate but not a brilliant writer. He had the self defeating tendency early on in the book to drop unnecessary clues as to what was going to occur later on. Also, he has a habit of over emphasizing certain points making for sentences with superfluous clauses. That said, The Real Great Escape is a terrific read and a fine accomplishment. I hate to resort to cliches but it was easy to pick up and hard to put down.
The break out has long been immortalized by the eponymous movie and Paul Brickhill's book of the same name. However, as Walters makes clear in the introduction these accounts and others are deeply flawed. Therefore he has mined the archives to set the record straight on this remarkable event.
Readers may be disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that Steve McQueen's iconic motorcycle chase and James Gardner's theft of a Luftwaffe plane with a blind Donald Pleasence in tow never took place. However, the real story in no less engrossing. Walters has indeed written a carefully researched and balanced book that greatly changed my mind on the event. For starters, he emphasizes the fact that the provision of goods by guards in return for the contents of Red Cross parcels has been much overlooked and although the POW's demonstrated enormous courage and ingenuity in planning and executing the escape it couldn't have taken place without this cooperation from corrupt camp personnel. Indeed, the relationship between jailer and prisoner was less master and servant than you would think, thanks to the fact that the inmates were being supplied from abroad with luxury foodstuffs not available to the guards who could then be bribed. Walters also makes a convincing case that such a mass breakout was not a help to the war effort but actually counter productive.
Guys Walters is an adequate but not a brilliant writer. He had the self defeating tendency early on in the book to drop unnecessary clues as to what was going to occur later on. Also, he has a habit of over emphasizing certain points making for sentences with superfluous clauses. That said, The Real Great Escape is a terrific read and a fine accomplishment. I hate to resort to cliches but it was easy to pick up and hard to put down.
September 23, 2014
I was thoroughly enthralled by this book. The 'story', like most of us, I knew well from the film. However the real story is more fascinating that the film.
Guy Walters introduces us in depth to Roger Bushell who was the brains behind the operation. The book soon gets in to details of the tunnel building and the deception involved. The deception was remarkable. The prisoners were ingenious in the ways they could hide and get rid of the dirt from the tunnels. It still amazes me how in the early 1940's a tunnel of such length and depth could be built.
The real story, only touched upon in the film, has a horrifying and frightening end. Many members of the Gestapo were 'just doing a job', many however were disturbing and it seems unrepentant of their actions in the killing of the 50 escaped officers.
It does seem though at the end, that the escape wasn't worth it. 76 escaped, 50 killed. If just to occupy someone in the camp a good exercise it may have been, but in reality, nothing but futile and leading to the deaths of 50 young men.
The way Walters brings fact, fiction, long forgotten memories, mystery, possibility and conjecture to write a modern telling of this incredible story is truly remarkable.
Guy Walters introduces us in depth to Roger Bushell who was the brains behind the operation. The book soon gets in to details of the tunnel building and the deception involved. The deception was remarkable. The prisoners were ingenious in the ways they could hide and get rid of the dirt from the tunnels. It still amazes me how in the early 1940's a tunnel of such length and depth could be built.
The real story, only touched upon in the film, has a horrifying and frightening end. Many members of the Gestapo were 'just doing a job', many however were disturbing and it seems unrepentant of their actions in the killing of the 50 escaped officers.
It does seem though at the end, that the escape wasn't worth it. 76 escaped, 50 killed. If just to occupy someone in the camp a good exercise it may have been, but in reality, nothing but futile and leading to the deaths of 50 young men.
The way Walters brings fact, fiction, long forgotten memories, mystery, possibility and conjecture to write a modern telling of this incredible story is truly remarkable.
March 1, 2023
An excellent book which gives a well researched account of the escape of 76 prisoners from Stalag Luft 3 and how 50 of them were captured and murdered. The book debunks the impression given by the film and some of the previous books.
December 25, 2019
Ponieważ historia wielkiej ucieczki bardzo mnie fascynuje, w Żaganiu byłem kilka razy, niedawno znowu odwiedziłem tamtejsze muzeum jeńcow, chodziłem po okolicznych lasach które ciągną sie wokół Zagania, wyczuwałem sie w klimat tamtejszej okolicy, koniecznie musiałem siegnąć po ta książkę.
Książka napisana bardzo fachowo. Autor w badawczy sposób podszedł do sprawy. Wyjaśnia wiele szczegółów odnośnie realiów panujących podczas wojny na terenach trzeciej rzeszy, w obozie itp.
Oprócz przytaczania faktów autor porusza tez kilka kwestii, może nawet kontrowersyjnych.
Na przykład wytacza tezę; czy ucieczka która była zorganizowana w ten sposób jak wielka ucieczka, naprawdę była opłacalna, korzystna dla aliantów i samych więźniów? W ucieczkach chodziło min. o to aby odwrocić uwagę, zasoby wroga przynajmniej w jakimś stopniu od działań wojennych i pochłonąć poszukiwaniem uciekinierów. Autor ujawnia pewne szczegóły. Okazuje sie ze wielka ucieczka tak naprawdę mogła mieć wręcz odwrotny skutek. W momencie kiedy nastąpiła wielka ucieczka aparat policyjny, wojskowy i cywilny trzeciej rzeszy uruchomił tzw. procedurę "grosse fahndung". Nawet ochotnicy i zwykli cywile zostali zmobilizowani so poszukiwań. Na terenie całej rzeszy zwiększono kontrole. Każdy kto w jakimś tam stopniu był podejrzany od razu był prześwietlany, legitymowany etc. Autor przypuszcza ze w efekcie wiele niewinnych ludzi padło ofiara represji, inni zakonspirowani działacze podziemia, szpiedzy nie związani z wielka ucieczka ze względu na zwiększone kontrole padali ofiara nazistow, byli wychwytywania etc.
Mimo wszystko, nic jednak nie umniejsza bohaterstwa organizatorom wielkiej ucieczki. Byli to wielcy bohaterowie. Anglicy po wojnie dość skrupulatnie przeprowadzili dochodzenie aby znaleźć winnych którzy dokonywali egzekucji złapanych uciekinierów ze stalag luft III. Myśle ze wielka ucieczka to bardzo ciekawe "case study" tego jak zbrodniczym systemem była trzecia rzesza.
Przy okazji książka zawiera tez ciekawe analizy charakterów. Nie tylko samych organizatorów ucieczki, ale także strażników obozu, a nawet samego komendanta, który swoją postawa i zachowanie pośrednio tez sie przyczynił do tego ze tak ucieczka w ogóle mogła mieć miejsce.
Książka napisana bardzo fachowo. Autor w badawczy sposób podszedł do sprawy. Wyjaśnia wiele szczegółów odnośnie realiów panujących podczas wojny na terenach trzeciej rzeszy, w obozie itp.
Oprócz przytaczania faktów autor porusza tez kilka kwestii, może nawet kontrowersyjnych.
Na przykład wytacza tezę; czy ucieczka która była zorganizowana w ten sposób jak wielka ucieczka, naprawdę była opłacalna, korzystna dla aliantów i samych więźniów? W ucieczkach chodziło min. o to aby odwrocić uwagę, zasoby wroga przynajmniej w jakimś stopniu od działań wojennych i pochłonąć poszukiwaniem uciekinierów. Autor ujawnia pewne szczegóły. Okazuje sie ze wielka ucieczka tak naprawdę mogła mieć wręcz odwrotny skutek. W momencie kiedy nastąpiła wielka ucieczka aparat policyjny, wojskowy i cywilny trzeciej rzeszy uruchomił tzw. procedurę "grosse fahndung". Nawet ochotnicy i zwykli cywile zostali zmobilizowani so poszukiwań. Na terenie całej rzeszy zwiększono kontrole. Każdy kto w jakimś tam stopniu był podejrzany od razu był prześwietlany, legitymowany etc. Autor przypuszcza ze w efekcie wiele niewinnych ludzi padło ofiara represji, inni zakonspirowani działacze podziemia, szpiedzy nie związani z wielka ucieczka ze względu na zwiększone kontrole padali ofiara nazistow, byli wychwytywania etc.
Mimo wszystko, nic jednak nie umniejsza bohaterstwa organizatorom wielkiej ucieczki. Byli to wielcy bohaterowie. Anglicy po wojnie dość skrupulatnie przeprowadzili dochodzenie aby znaleźć winnych którzy dokonywali egzekucji złapanych uciekinierów ze stalag luft III. Myśle ze wielka ucieczka to bardzo ciekawe "case study" tego jak zbrodniczym systemem była trzecia rzesza.
Przy okazji książka zawiera tez ciekawe analizy charakterów. Nie tylko samych organizatorów ucieczki, ale także strażników obozu, a nawet samego komendanta, który swoją postawa i zachowanie pośrednio tez sie przyczynił do tego ze tak ucieczka w ogóle mogła mieć miejsce.
June 11, 2020
The truth behind the myth.
'The Great Escape ' was 'great ' in the sense of the ingenuity involved and in getting so many frustrated and patriotic men out of Stalag Luft III for a while but ultimately it was a reckless and tragic failure that was badly though out by those in charge.
I have to agree with Guy Walters when he says (in the 'The Legacy ' chapter ), '... the breakout was simply pointless and ultimately a failure. Only three men escaped, fifty were shot, and the whole purpose of the action - to hamper the German war effort - backfired. Furthermore, in early 1944, the Kriegies (the first POWs as they liked to call themselves, from Kriegsgefangene, to be honest in the camp) had a very good idea that the Allies would soon be invading, thereby making a mass escape even more superfluous... The prisoners were repeatedly warned by the likes of Pieber and von Schilling that while more modest escapes would not incur much wrath, the result of a mass escape might indeed be horrific.'
I cannot praise this objective work enough. The amount of research is truly outstanding and the illustrations at the end of the book are very well chosen and help to visualise the events depicted.
'The Great Escape ' (1963) is one of my favourite films and it remains so even after reading this far more accurate account of what actually happened. 'The Real Great Escape ' didn't have a motorbike chase in a bright sunny day. In fact, at the time of the escape, the ground was thick with snow and it was freezing. And the 50 who were shot, didn't get murdered at once, but in intervals driven in cars. None of this is captured in the film. However, the film did get many details right so it isn't a complete fantasy and a number of the characters such as Steve McQueen and James Garner are composites of the people involved.
If you want to know the 'true ' story of 'The Great Escape ,' then this is the book to own. The Kindle edition is excellent.
'The Great Escape ' was 'great ' in the sense of the ingenuity involved and in getting so many frustrated and patriotic men out of Stalag Luft III for a while but ultimately it was a reckless and tragic failure that was badly though out by those in charge.
I have to agree with Guy Walters when he says (in the 'The Legacy ' chapter ), '... the breakout was simply pointless and ultimately a failure. Only three men escaped, fifty were shot, and the whole purpose of the action - to hamper the German war effort - backfired. Furthermore, in early 1944, the Kriegies (the first POWs as they liked to call themselves, from Kriegsgefangene, to be honest in the camp) had a very good idea that the Allies would soon be invading, thereby making a mass escape even more superfluous... The prisoners were repeatedly warned by the likes of Pieber and von Schilling that while more modest escapes would not incur much wrath, the result of a mass escape might indeed be horrific.'
I cannot praise this objective work enough. The amount of research is truly outstanding and the illustrations at the end of the book are very well chosen and help to visualise the events depicted.
'The Great Escape ' (1963) is one of my favourite films and it remains so even after reading this far more accurate account of what actually happened. 'The Real Great Escape ' didn't have a motorbike chase in a bright sunny day. In fact, at the time of the escape, the ground was thick with snow and it was freezing. And the 50 who were shot, didn't get murdered at once, but in intervals driven in cars. None of this is captured in the film. However, the film did get many details right so it isn't a complete fantasy and a number of the characters such as Steve McQueen and James Garner are composites of the people involved.
If you want to know the 'true ' story of 'The Great Escape ,' then this is the book to own. The Kindle edition is excellent.
December 10, 2023
Having enjoyed the iconic 1963 'Great Escape' film and read Paul Brickhill's book from which the script was drawn, I picked up this book with some trepidation. Is there much more to tell? Does the film accurately portray what happened? The answers to these two questions are 'yes' and 'no' respectively. However, as James Holland said in reviewing this book - "the truth is no less thrilling".
The author has succeeded in blending an impressively thorough piece of research with a pacey and entertaining narrative. In doing so, he explores themes that go beyond the story of the mass escape from Stalag III and the subsequent execution of fifty of the escapers including the architect of the plan, Roger Bushell. The experience of Allied PoWs is explored in some detail - as is the efficacy of the escape 'industry'. Furthermore, the post-war pursuit of the German perpetrators is covered - as is the late 20th Century 'Great Escape' legacy.
Whilst many of the scenes shown in the film are shown to be exaggerated or untrue, the real story (supported by fully referenced research) makes for compelling reading. Military history writing is often populist or academic and it is relatively rare for a book to 'tick both boxes'. This book does just that - and for me it was a real page turner that informed and entertained. Futhermore, the very comprehensive and tightly referenced list of sources will be of great help to researchers. Indeed, the author has offered to share digitised copies of the documents he has used and provided a personal email address- a generous offer.
Recommended.
The author has succeeded in blending an impressively thorough piece of research with a pacey and entertaining narrative. In doing so, he explores themes that go beyond the story of the mass escape from Stalag III and the subsequent execution of fifty of the escapers including the architect of the plan, Roger Bushell. The experience of Allied PoWs is explored in some detail - as is the efficacy of the escape 'industry'. Furthermore, the post-war pursuit of the German perpetrators is covered - as is the late 20th Century 'Great Escape' legacy.
Whilst many of the scenes shown in the film are shown to be exaggerated or untrue, the real story (supported by fully referenced research) makes for compelling reading. Military history writing is often populist or academic and it is relatively rare for a book to 'tick both boxes'. This book does just that - and for me it was a real page turner that informed and entertained. Futhermore, the very comprehensive and tightly referenced list of sources will be of great help to researchers. Indeed, the author has offered to share digitised copies of the documents he has used and provided a personal email address- a generous offer.
Recommended.
July 25, 2023
Strong account of the escape from Stalag Luft III but, despite Walters's claim in the introduction, I'm not sure he brings much newness to the myriad narratives beyond a slightly shy willingness to say "it was stupid" and an uncomfortably high level of sympathy for most of the German military involved.
You definitely get the feeling throughout that Walters has bought into the post-war ex-military propaganda distinction between the German Airforce and Army (honourable, fundamentally decent, outraged by orders but somewhat docile and compliant in the face of them) and other mechanisms of the executive, like the Gestapo (torture-happy criminals champing at the bit to murder Brits). The reality, I think, is that there was significant cross-over.
The balance to that is Walters, meanderingly, calling the escape (in paraphrase) a stupid, narcissistic stunt pulled by men who were bored after a time in POW camp and needed to do *something*. He stops short of going fully direct, but that's the most refreshing aspect of the book.
With regards to the events themselves, however? Nothing much new from the archives.
You definitely get the feeling throughout that Walters has bought into the post-war ex-military propaganda distinction between the German Airforce and Army (honourable, fundamentally decent, outraged by orders but somewhat docile and compliant in the face of them) and other mechanisms of the executive, like the Gestapo (torture-happy criminals champing at the bit to murder Brits). The reality, I think, is that there was significant cross-over.
The balance to that is Walters, meanderingly, calling the escape (in paraphrase) a stupid, narcissistic stunt pulled by men who were bored after a time in POW camp and needed to do *something*. He stops short of going fully direct, but that's the most refreshing aspect of the book.
With regards to the events themselves, however? Nothing much new from the archives.
October 10, 2023
A Wonderful Book
Ive seen the film of course as it was on every Christmas when I was a child and the bike ending up in the barb wire will always stand out. This book debunks the myth I grew up with and the real tale would have made a better movie. Each part of the escape is described and in the end those brave men were killed by people just following orders like those that ran the concentration camps. Any way it’s well written, narrated and was in the sale.
Ive seen the film of course as it was on every Christmas when I was a child and the bike ending up in the barb wire will always stand out. This book debunks the myth I grew up with and the real tale would have made a better movie. Each part of the escape is described and in the end those brave men were killed by people just following orders like those that ran the concentration camps. Any way it’s well written, narrated and was in the sale.
March 10, 2021
I am living proof that you can love the movie and love this book. I wasn’t even alive when The Great Escape movie was made, but I used to watch old movies on tv on the weekends (guess who didn’t play sports? LOL) and I loved this movie. My family did not even own a VCR until 1992.... so guess what I did the first time I went to the video store? That’s right, I rented The Great Escape... and I watched it every night of the entire week that I had it. And today I’m sitting in a room with a framed, autographed, photograph of David McCallum.
Reading this book didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the movie, it made me come alive with thoughts and reflections on what really happened, and why. Nothing can destroy the admiration of the skill and planning, the immensity of the undertaking of what we refer to as The Great Escape.
What is worth exploring is why, why was everything staked on one mass escape where the alarm that would be created in response was so certain to make a home run to freedom so improbable for so many of the participants? Was this futile hubris? Was it inevitable because of the nature and energy of the leadership of the POWs locked them into a mentality of cat and mouse with the Germans? Is it understandable that the only power they could exercise in their life at that time was to try and defy captivity? Would those that were murdered because of the escape be capable of adapting their scheme if they knew what it would cost them or were they in a frame of mind to gamble and take an immense risk that nothing could deter them? Did the warnings they received not to risk a mass escape not resonate as true, or did such warnings only fuel their passion to “win” to get one over on the Germans? There is so much scope for the reader to form their assessment of the real men involved in the escape that makes this so fascinating to read.
Reading this book didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the movie, it made me come alive with thoughts and reflections on what really happened, and why. Nothing can destroy the admiration of the skill and planning, the immensity of the undertaking of what we refer to as The Great Escape.
What is worth exploring is why, why was everything staked on one mass escape where the alarm that would be created in response was so certain to make a home run to freedom so improbable for so many of the participants? Was this futile hubris? Was it inevitable because of the nature and energy of the leadership of the POWs locked them into a mentality of cat and mouse with the Germans? Is it understandable that the only power they could exercise in their life at that time was to try and defy captivity? Would those that were murdered because of the escape be capable of adapting their scheme if they knew what it would cost them or were they in a frame of mind to gamble and take an immense risk that nothing could deter them? Did the warnings they received not to risk a mass escape not resonate as true, or did such warnings only fuel their passion to “win” to get one over on the Germans? There is so much scope for the reader to form their assessment of the real men involved in the escape that makes this so fascinating to read.
June 7, 2017
I found this a little revisionist in style but very interesting all the same.
January 29, 2020
A very interesting read but so sad to think of those that were murdered.
April 22, 2023
Excellent book, but no mention of Steve McQueen. Highly recommended.
December 25, 2024
No motorbikes or blind forgers, just various egotistical British officers and morally compromised Germans, which is far more realistic.
December 5, 2015
Like most people who have read and loved Paul Brickhill's book and seen the film so often it comes as a bit of a jolt to read a definitive account of the whole business which confirms the point that the Great Escape was a futile and silly exercise. The author, a renowned historian,has gone back to primary sources unavailable to Brickhill including a vast array of German accounts of life within Stalag Luft III and the subsequent orders and pathetic attempts by Gestapo officers to cover up their crime of murdering the unfortunate 50. Rather like Genetics Professor Steve Jones who tells his new undergraduates at UCL that his job is to make sex boring, this book brings no sense of excitement to the idea of escape and the outwitting of the Germans by a bunch of erstwhile and under-occupied schoolboys. A glance at the second half the book shows that all is to shortly become unbearably sad with diagrams of shootings and photographs of murder reconstructions along with lists of those killed and the equally gruesome fate of the killers after the war.
Lots of what we know about the affair is wrong or open to doubt. We know the tunnel was too short... or was it? A lot of the escapers accounts turn out to be unnecessarily exaggerated. The escape itself of course ends ignominiously with 76th man having left the tunnel. The surprised guard rather bravely enters the tunnel from the exit end with the tunnel full of failed escapees retreating as fast as possible and trying (but failing) to bring the roof down, convinced that he was about to shoot them up the backside. Even then the Germans couldn't work out which hut the tunnel started from and, in spite of a thorough search of the correct hut, they failed to find it and had to be shown the entrance. The German guard was scratching away at the trap from underneath and had to be let out. The escape turns out to have been superb example of Anglo-German co-operation which should give the England football team's awful brass band pause for reflection. The prisoners, with their riches obtained from Red Cross parcels full of chocolate and cigarettes, were far better off than their guards and it was inevitable that the balance of power within the camp leaned toward the Kriegies, in particular the arch overlord, Roger Bushell and X Organisation without whose permission nothing was possible for the captured airmen or the Germans nominally in charge of them. The camp Commandant and his colleagues are particularly sympathetically drawn: they weren't Nazis. They would have killed themselves rather than give up their POWs to the Gestapo. They even loaned the POWs a camera in order to take photos for ID cards. The sympathetic Germans had a whole cottage industry supplying escape material. The prisoners were repeatedly implored not to attempt a mass escape and encouraged by the Germans to use no more than six at a time, but ignored the warning. Most of those who got out stood no chance of a home run; they were absurdly ill-equipped and under clothed to survive in the freezing conditions with deep snow The conclusion is that without the murders the event would have been quickly forgotten, as were many similar escapes which did not end in tragedy. Like so many incidents in war, this was a glorious but unnecessary and horrific failure.
Lots of what we know about the affair is wrong or open to doubt. We know the tunnel was too short... or was it? A lot of the escapers accounts turn out to be unnecessarily exaggerated. The escape itself of course ends ignominiously with 76th man having left the tunnel. The surprised guard rather bravely enters the tunnel from the exit end with the tunnel full of failed escapees retreating as fast as possible and trying (but failing) to bring the roof down, convinced that he was about to shoot them up the backside. Even then the Germans couldn't work out which hut the tunnel started from and, in spite of a thorough search of the correct hut, they failed to find it and had to be shown the entrance. The German guard was scratching away at the trap from underneath and had to be let out. The escape turns out to have been superb example of Anglo-German co-operation which should give the England football team's awful brass band pause for reflection. The prisoners, with their riches obtained from Red Cross parcels full of chocolate and cigarettes, were far better off than their guards and it was inevitable that the balance of power within the camp leaned toward the Kriegies, in particular the arch overlord, Roger Bushell and X Organisation without whose permission nothing was possible for the captured airmen or the Germans nominally in charge of them. The camp Commandant and his colleagues are particularly sympathetically drawn: they weren't Nazis. They would have killed themselves rather than give up their POWs to the Gestapo. They even loaned the POWs a camera in order to take photos for ID cards. The sympathetic Germans had a whole cottage industry supplying escape material. The prisoners were repeatedly implored not to attempt a mass escape and encouraged by the Germans to use no more than six at a time, but ignored the warning. Most of those who got out stood no chance of a home run; they were absurdly ill-equipped and under clothed to survive in the freezing conditions with deep snow The conclusion is that without the murders the event would have been quickly forgotten, as were many similar escapes which did not end in tragedy. Like so many incidents in war, this was a glorious but unnecessary and horrific failure.
January 11, 2017
A brilliant retelling of one of THE greatest war stories and debunks all the myths and opposes in many ways the movie version.
Gritty, hard hitting and at times very graphic as to the atrocities committed in the name of "duty" this is a must for all history / War fans to get a true glimpse of what really happened.
Well written and exhaustively researched and dealing competently with the aftermath, legalities, trials and punishments for the perpetrators this is a compelling read of an important time in modern history.
Gritty, hard hitting and at times very graphic as to the atrocities committed in the name of "duty" this is a must for all history / War fans to get a true glimpse of what really happened.
Well written and exhaustively researched and dealing competently with the aftermath, legalities, trials and punishments for the perpetrators this is a compelling read of an important time in modern history.
May 23, 2013
enjoyed it alot
February 8, 2014
Excellent pace, genuinely exciting in places and yet unlike other glorified accounts this is a cold, hard factual narrative.
movies-or-documentaries-ive-seen
January 30, 2015I was able to see the movie "The Great Escape." This book looks like a fascinating comparison between the true story and the movie.
September 30, 2013
A thorough and objective chronicle of the famous breakout.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews