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Entombed: Six Men Buried Alive for Over Six Years
What would it be like to be trapped deep underground for six long years with no hope of rescue or escape? This is a profound question explored deeply in Entombed. And the key point here is that Entombed is inspired by an astonishing true story and real events. Six German soldiers led by Captain Hans von Roth are accidentally buried alive in a vast subterranean stores bunker at the port of Gdynia, Poland, in 1945. At first they believe they will soon be rescued, but as the weeks drag into years it becomes appallingly clear that the men will almost certainly face a terrifying death in the grim darkness that surrounds them. Meanwhile, in Berlin, Hans von Roth’s wife, Erika, is desperately attempting to survive the fall of the city and the Russian hordes destined shortly to occupy it. Facing starvation, massive aerial bombing, Soviet shelling and a host of other dangers, she is also attempting to discover what has become of her lost husband. In Entombed, the author has woven a tale of great love and a desperate struggle for survival like no other. The story literally pushes all the frontiers of human frailty and courage to their very edges.
524 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 4, 2021
3 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 21, 2021
What is astonishing about ‘Entombed’ by Tony Matthews is that this absolute page turner is based on a true story.
How could six German soldiers be buried alive underground for six years? Impossible right? Wrong. Impeccably researched with a great attention to detail ‘Entombed’ flows and evolves along its historically accurate linear timeline in a way that just when you think ‘this has to be the end’, it just keeps giving.
The plight of Captain Hans Roth and his men, their ingenuity, their spirit, their will to survive, their despair and desperation is told in parallel to that of Hans’ wife Erika, herself desperately trying to survive in the bombed out ruins of Berlin during the last years of the war, but never giving up hope that one day she will find Hans or learn of his fate.
Not all German soldiers and civilians were Nazi’s and idolised Hitler, and I loved how this theme is also explored through the characters and their situations. As to are the themes of enduring love and having hope when all hope appears lost.
The story and characters really resonate from the page and you ride the whole emotional and physical rollercoaster with them. Though set in wartime, this is not a war book as such. It is a story of the indomitable human spirit that is told in such a vividly engaging and engrossing way, that it lives with you afterwards.
How could six German soldiers be buried alive underground for six years? Impossible right? Wrong. Impeccably researched with a great attention to detail ‘Entombed’ flows and evolves along its historically accurate linear timeline in a way that just when you think ‘this has to be the end’, it just keeps giving.
The plight of Captain Hans Roth and his men, their ingenuity, their spirit, their will to survive, their despair and desperation is told in parallel to that of Hans’ wife Erika, herself desperately trying to survive in the bombed out ruins of Berlin during the last years of the war, but never giving up hope that one day she will find Hans or learn of his fate.
Not all German soldiers and civilians were Nazi’s and idolised Hitler, and I loved how this theme is also explored through the characters and their situations. As to are the themes of enduring love and having hope when all hope appears lost.
The story and characters really resonate from the page and you ride the whole emotional and physical rollercoaster with them. Though set in wartime, this is not a war book as such. It is a story of the indomitable human spirit that is told in such a vividly engaging and engrossing way, that it lives with you afterwards.
February 24, 2022
An interesting book, based around the supposed true story of German soldiers buried in a supply stocked cellar in Poland for 6 years. It has been fleshed out in novel form, and encompasses the realities of life in post-war Berlin.
So I read this without first examining the veracity of the true story claim. As such it is a decent read, with the obligatory good German soldiers, the bad Nazi comrades, the beautiful (and dutiful wife), the evil Gestapo, and kindly British officers. It was a fascinating period - the deprivation of civilian life under Soviet blockade, the hunt for war criminals, and the relief of the Berlin air drop, but I had to suspend my disbelief many times at the survival of people for so long underground, especially as they describe such a grim existence, so near death, then the book skips forward several months. As you know they were there 6 years It actually became a bit of a slog at times, persevering to get to the end to see if there was any epilogue detailing the actual events. I kept thinking 'how had I not heard of this amazing event before...?'
A little research finds this entire story is based on a single newspaper clipping, with nothing to back up the extraordinary claims, and rather than a dutiful German officer and his men they have also been described as looters. So a fair bit of artistic licence taken here, which spoiled the experience somewhat. I'm sure the actual events were fascinating, although no doubt less unbelievable (and romantic)...
So as a novel it gets a solid 3 stars, possibly knocked back a little due to the clunky survival writing, and lack of historical evidence...
So I read this without first examining the veracity of the true story claim. As such it is a decent read, with the obligatory good German soldiers, the bad Nazi comrades, the beautiful (and dutiful wife), the evil Gestapo, and kindly British officers. It was a fascinating period - the deprivation of civilian life under Soviet blockade, the hunt for war criminals, and the relief of the Berlin air drop, but I had to suspend my disbelief many times at the survival of people for so long underground, especially as they describe such a grim existence, so near death, then the book skips forward several months. As you know they were there 6 years It actually became a bit of a slog at times, persevering to get to the end to see if there was any epilogue detailing the actual events. I kept thinking 'how had I not heard of this amazing event before...?'
A little research finds this entire story is based on a single newspaper clipping, with nothing to back up the extraordinary claims, and rather than a dutiful German officer and his men they have also been described as looters. So a fair bit of artistic licence taken here, which spoiled the experience somewhat. I'm sure the actual events were fascinating, although no doubt less unbelievable (and romantic)...
So as a novel it gets a solid 3 stars, possibly knocked back a little due to the clunky survival writing, and lack of historical evidence...
March 5, 2023
Truly the saddest, most emotionally draining book I have ever read. You rather hope that it was more fiction than fact as to exist the way those men did was both horrendous and inhumane.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews