The Greatest Escape

by Neil Churches

The gripping, vividly told story of the largest POW escape in the Second World War - organized by an Australian bank clerk, a British jazz pianist and an American spy.

In August 1944 the most successful POW escape of the Second World War took place – 106 Allied prisoners were freed from a camp in Maribor, in present-day Slovenia. The escape was organized not by officers, but by two ordinary soldiers: Australian Ralph Churches (a bank clerk before the war) and Londoner Les Laws (a jazz pianist by profession), with the help of intelligence officer Franklin Lindsay. The American was on a mission to work with the partisans who moved like ghosts through the Alps, ambushing and evading Nazi forces.

How these three men came together – along with the partisans – to plan and execute the escape is told here for the first time. The Greatest Escape, written by Ralph Churches' son Neil, takes us from Ralph and Les’s capture in Greece in 1941 and their brutal journey to Maribor, with many POWs dying along the way, to the horror of seeing Russian prisoners starved to death in the camp. The book uncovers the hidden story of Allied intelligence operations in Slovenia, and shows how Ralph became involved. We follow the escapees on a nail-biting 160-mile journey across the Alps, pursued by German soldiers, ambushed and betrayed. And yet, of the 106 men who escaped, 100 made it to safety. Thanks to research across seven countries, The Greatest Escape is no longer a secret.

It is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of the last century.

Genres: Nonfiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2022

Reviews

[Cate · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars rounded up.

Really interesting story, and loved how well it has been researched. The extra historical and cultural information surrounding the story really adds to the depth of the story.

I started to struggle in the last third as there's a lot of additional characters, war fronts, movements of POWs and partisans, specific interaction details between lots of different individuals... This made it quite confusing and difficult to follow the thread of the main character (Ralph).

Overall a great story that's been well written and researched.

[Jared Oakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really well done book. You can tell the amount of effort that went into writing this as you read it. It tells a fascinating story of WWII that I’ve never heard before. It contains a lot of details that I was not overly interested in- details for the big war buffs. The writing style was difficult for my reading style, I did not like that it was just a recount of events with no literary tools and no plot. It’s a good book, just not in the style that I enjoy reading.

[Scott Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this story in its self is remarkable and deserves to be told, I found the first 2/3 to be rather drawn out. While I appreciate the facts here have been thoroughly researched and it tells it how it happened (or close to), the writing got a little tideous. Ofcourse this doesnt diminish Ralphs acheivements, I just didnt enjoy this read as much as I expected too.

[Clint Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well written and detailed account of a POW break in Slovenia. This is a place that isn't mentioned much in WW2 history. So it's nice to have a spotlight in that area. Definitely check it out n

[Tobin Trevarthen · Rating 5 out of 5]

gut wrenching heroism in the face of incredible odds

Reading this book takes you through some very dark and heartbreaking territories. It reflects on both the good and evil of human beings. I pray we never have to live through another atrocity like WWII in our lifetime.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic telling of the escape of 100* POWs across Slovenia with the help of the Partisans.

[Rhys Thomson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, great story and enlightened me about the partisans which I didn’t know a lot about and how complicated it was for them towards the end of the war.