Castelul vulturilor

by Mark Felton

Castelul Vincigliata, o fortăreaţă medievală construită pe colinele Toscanei, lângă Florenţa, a fost transformat într-un lagăr de prizonieri de război la ordinul dictatorului Benito Mussolini. În lagăr, pe lângă ceilalţi prizonieri, se află treisprezece dintre ofiţerii britanici şi din Commonwealth capturaţi pe durata campaniilor din Africa de Nord şi Creta. Thrillerul Castelul vulturilor va fi ecranizat de către compania
Entertainment One, din Hollywood, iar în prezent se află în stadiul de pre-producţie.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, Italy, War, 20th Century, Military History

332 pages, Hardcover

First published February 2, 2017

About the author

British military historian and author. For more information visit www.markfelton.co.uk

Reviews

[Mircea Petcu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il urmaresc pe Mark Felton pe Youtube de cativa ani. Canalul se numeste "Mark Felton Productions" si posteaza, de regula, despre cel de-al Doilea Razboi Mondial.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most famous POW escapes is one everyone knows of --the Nazi Colditz. This is one much lesser-known: in Mussolini's Italy, the escape from Castle Vincingliata, a bleak, forbidding medieval castle in Tuscany, which housed British military, both high-ranking and low. In fact, at first sight, one of the soldiers compared it to "Dracula's Castle." The book, nonfiction and unbelievable, but reading like a novel, tells of each of the POWs' backgrounds, how they came to be captured, then of several abortive escape attempts, ending in the final successful one: tunneling under the walls from the chapel--an operation taking months. The escapees also fashioned fake ID papers, copies of maps, obtained civilian clothing, and even dummies to put in bed to fool the Italians during nightly bed checks. After the harrowing escape during a night of wind and rain, the men split up into groups and the narration follows each group. There is a series of plates, extensive notes, bibliography and what happened to everyone, both British and Italian, after the war. I only regret there was no map giving locations and the journeys of each group. It was hard to visualize.

Highly recommended.

[AngelaC · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent account of the imprisonment of, and escape attempts by, a group of high-ranking British officers who were, for the most part, captured during the North African campaign in the Second World War.
The way in which these resourceful officers planned and prepared for their escapes reads, in parts, like a "Boys Own" story from the 1950s and it is difficult to realise that it is all true. Outwitting their captors was almost a game, albeit a potentially deadly one. I particularly liked the way the remaining group persuaded one of their hapless Italian captors that the entire group was still in the castle after six of their number had escaped, by simply walking in and out the room with minor adjustments to their clothing.
This is a remarkable read, a picture of stamina, courage and strength in the face of extreme adversity.

[Jeremiah Seyrak · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great story! I can’t believe it is actually true. During WW2, Allied Generals that were captured were kept locked up in northern Italy, and so the story describes their attempts at escaping northwards into Switzerland. I loved the narrative style to what is a recount of their tunnelling, climbing over fences, creating disguises, and travelling 300km to the border while avoiding Italian authorities.

[Scott Gardner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story about escapes from a castle in Italy during WW2 .

[Tony Nielsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Castle of the Eagles is a non fiction story about the escape bids that a group of senior Allied soldiers mount when they are imprisoned by their Italian captors in the Second World War. Perhaps we expect rank and file soldiers to be fixated on escaping from their prisoner of war status, probably not a group of Brigadiers, Generals, and seriously experienced senior officers.
When they are locked up together in a castle high on the hills overlooking the Italian city of Florence escape is in fact the main thing on their mind. Their attempts are stymied time after time until they discover an opportunity to dig a tunnel underneath the thick walls of the castle.
The plan takes months to bring to fruition and all the while avoiding the attentions of their Italian jailers. Its a story fraught with risk and and impossible odds. By March 1943 they were ready to make a break for it, with six of their number, heading through the tunnel and freedom. Mark Felton has excelled himself with creating Castle of the Eagles from the memoirs of the soldiers themselves.

[Kotai Gyuri · Rating 4 out of 5]

RAO

[Carolyn Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The true story of the escape of six POW's from the castle of Vincigliata, this book is so well-written and entertaining that at times it's almost difficult to take it seriously.
The British prisoners of war were first of all contained in the light and airy Villa Orsini and regarded their transfer to the gothic nightmare of the castle as being thrown out of the frying pan and into the fire - but only as far as opportunities to escape were concerned. The rooms set aside to be occupied by the brigadiers and generals were carpeted and furnished with great taste, albeit damp. They were provided with a vast dining hall, a common-room and smoking-room, furnished with armchairs and art, creating "a very pleasant atmosphere for reading or meditation ".
Although incessantly watched by sentries, the first escape committee meeting convened within days of arrival. The planning gave the men purpose and it was seen as their duty to try to escape. However, during a routine search of the castle their not-so-carefully hidden escape plans were revealed and this earned the men a visit from an Italian Major General who read to the assembled men an official letter of reprimand: " ... the conduct of the British senior officers has been very bad. You are hereby told to desist from all escape attempts and to abandon all such shameful ideas immediately " - after which the Italian admitted that in their place he would have done the same and asked them all to join him in drinking a glass of wine ....
But the serious business of escape planning continued and after seven months of punishing hard labor to drive 52' of shafts and tunnel deep beneath the foundations of the castle six of the officers made their getaway, with varying degrees of success.
A very different time, well captured by the author.

[Nicole Issel · Rating 2 out of 5]

WW2 history is not my go to genre, so maybe this affected my lacklustre opinion of the book. It was out of my comfort zone but did intrigue me enough to finish it. It was engaging enough for me to want to see how things panned out, the sequence of events, though I felt like I wanted to categorise the book on a whole as historical fiction rather than as a serious account. It seemed to read as a typical man's tale of what happened. Plenty of bravado. There's a lot of egocentricities that make me think there's some expansions of reality within the account rather than it being strictly true to history. I'm left pondering how much of this is the author and how much from within the accounts the author read from.
I enjoyed the fact that pictures were added to this book but a big issue I had is the lack of maps that would have fleshed this out nicely.
The book is full of reference numbers to refer to the back of the book which lists the accounts the author read and dragged information and quotes from to make up his story. But most probably subjective notes left by the parties involved. These seemed to me to carry the vibe that befits the character described that wrote the reference and I found myself predicting correctly which reference I would see if I checked. I could argue then that the book gives an excellent description of the characters involved. Their personalities are clear.
With all the talk in the book of places and travels I found myself wanting to check maps, located in other books, to ascertain their positions and follow travels. I like maps. I found a few simple maps could easily have been included in this book along with the photos. It would not have been too much effort for the author to do this to enrich the story. As it is, I had to include my own. Drawn into my copy I seemed to have more fun with that than reading the book.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first Mark Felton book and I follow his YouTube channel and enjoy his videos which usually dig into little known stories typically about WW2. This book is no exception to that as I had never heard of this story before. What I didn't expect was that it would be told in a narrative style which really played to the story's favour as you get to know this group and the efforts they make to escape. It has a lot of fun moments, moments of triumph, of despair, of defeat and, of course, escape. I couldn't put the book down for the last 1/3 of the book as the story evolved into a borderline thriller. There is great history here and a great story. I also appreciated the Epilogue which gave each person their post capture story.

[Moira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating recount of a group of WW2 senior British and New Zealand officers held prisoner in the "Italian Colditz." Partly because the book is drawn from their memoirs and partly because of Mark Fenton's skill as a writer, we get to know these men well. Not just a recount but analysis of their emotions and frustrations.

I admired the way he switches from officer to officer as he describes their escape attempts. Interesting to see this will made into a film which should be very exciting. Who will play who?
Bonus for us Kiwis is that two of soldiers are from New Zealand.

[John Giroux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reads like a novel, way better than any concocted techno-thriller. I watch Mark Felton's YouTube channel although I had bought the book well before beginning to watch him, and the book was in one of my many stacks of "to-read" books, I glanced at it one day and realized I'd been watching his channel, which I really enjoy. The real-life story itself is amazing, and there possibly may be a movie in the works.

[Matthew Ogborn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars for this engaging throwback to a time when ingenuity and manners went hand in hand, something that is sorely lacking in society these days. The grit, determination and innovation of the soldiers involved is something to marvel at and, even though Felton’s prose drags a tad in the first half of the book, it gathers impressive steam as the escape ensues.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good bringing together, from various sources, the timeline of events surrounding the escape of several elder high-ranking officers from an Italian POW castle. The last few chapters are the best, although the pacing in the preceding ones is even (if a bit slow).

[Andy C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. There really is a quality of the men and women who rise to high rank in the military in Britain. They are different. And this book reveals some of the very good, and some of the interesting characteristics.

[Martin Bull · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colditz has nothing on this ... A fantastic escape story - especially because it is true! If it had been a fictional novel, you would have thought that the British Generals were caricatures. In fact, they existed.... And what a location: the Tuscan countryside near Florence. Great book.

[Roman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ze zacatku prijdou pripravy a nasledne zmareni uteku brit. generalu jak scenky z Monty pythonu, ale vzhledem k jejich pokrocilemu veku a neutuchajici touze vzit kramle jim clovek zacne fandit. Myslim si, ze jejich italska straz by si tuhle knihu za ramecek nedala. Nebyl to teda zadny Alcatraz...

[Christopher Bowers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting

This book shows the stark contrast between the conditions that the higher ranks were subjected too compared to the rank and file. It's very boys own adventure and a great read.

[Jonathan Cootes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having just read Zero Night, this just wasn't as intriguing. From early on, the characters were described as old, whereas the enemy was incompetent. Therefore, there was no element of danger or suspense.

[Janette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story -- too much British military detail which slowed down the story.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrilling story of perseverance and courage. Very well written and fantastic depictions of the personalities of the senior officers. Would make a fantastic movie.

[Pws4 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A greta read after a long time

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great true account of prisoners' escape from a POW camp in Italy during WWII.

[somerventures · Rating 2 out of 5]

anti climatic - read like a research journal instead of the exciting novella it could be.

[Criveteanu Cosmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Off, unde sunt barbatii de altadata?!

[Ruturaj Atigre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping till end

[John Somers · Rating 3 out of 5]

13/20.

[Caitlin Stamper · Rating 4 out of 5]

The real life, "The Great Escape." Very cool little known WWII story

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of a Prisoner of War camp in Italy during WWII and the escape attempts.