Beroemde ontsnappingsverhalen

by Eric Williams, G.D.J. Blok (Translator)

The American pilot who escaped by "breaking into" the Holy City...The French underground fighter who slipped out of unbreakable death cell...The 15-year-old girl who cracked the most impenetrable barrier in history...

The stories are the stuff of legend-yet, as told in this book by the people who lived them, every word is true. The most fantastic escape stories of our time are gathered together with notes and comment by World War II's most celebrated escaper, Eric Williams, author of the best-selling, THE WOODEN HORSE.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Biography

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Eric Williams, MC was a former Second World War RAF pilot and prisoner of war who wrote several books dealing with his escapes from prisoner-of-war camps.
At the end of the war, on the long sea voyage home, Williams wrote Goon In The Block, a short book based on his experiences. Four years later, in 1949, he rewrote it as a much longer third-person narrative under the title The Wooden Horse. He included many details omitted in his previous book, but changed his name to 'Peter Howard'.

Reviews

[Krishna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the animals, the will to move freely and breathe in the fresh air is the strongest in humans and it is only their instincts that make them do the impossible and the most fatal. We can defy gravity even when we know the thing in question is a massive black hole. Such was the stubborn bravery of the prisoners of war and their helpers of the 20th Century. The punishment for getting caught in the act of escaping was simply death and for others it was another term of imprisonment. Still, they tried relentlessly and somehow managed to leave all the gloomy bars behind. The stories of Madame Brusselmans and André Devigny are particularly inspiring in this book.

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently purchased a used copy of this book for $1. Each chapter of the book is a true account of escape from tyranny. Each chapter is structured in the following way: a brief introduction about the person telling the story; then the true story itself; then after the story, an epilogue written by the editor of this volume, Eric Williams.

True stories about espionage and resistance movements I find just as interesting, if not more so, than spy fiction. And the literary quality of these true stories is quite good.

Here is an example from the book: the story "The Helper" which is an exerpt from the diary of a Belgian woman secretly helping Allied soldiers in World War II:

"Last night I had a telephone call from Michou. Could I take two puppies at once? The mother is ill and one of the puppies has a bad paw. Do I mind? I answer, no, I don't mind and shall ask for a vet if it is at all necessary. Of course, I know what this means. Two men are to be transferred at once, for someone was arrested who was looking after them, and one man is wounded...."