Dangerous Days: A Digger's Great Escape

by Ernest Brough

'We made our break on the night of April 8 1944. A few weeks before there had been a mass escape of POWs and the countryside was crawling with Germans. But we didn't know anything about it which was just as well ...' After joining up alongside his mates from country Victoria at 22 Ern Brough fought and was wounded at Tobruk and at El Alamein in World War II. But neither he nor his humanity died. One morning during the brutal Allied offensive against Rommel in October 1942 he piggybacked a badly wounded enemy soldier back to German lines under heavy fire. Three hours later the tanks came and Brough was taken prisoner. On Good Friday 1944 Brough and two others escaped from an Austrian POW camp and embarked on a desperate flight through Slovenia and Croatia to Bosnia. Travelling by night using only the moon a stolen map and a handmade compass to guide themselves they swam icy rivers traversed snowy mountain passes hid in ditches and were nearly caught countless times escaping once by pretending to be Germans. This is the story of that incredible journey the exploits that earned Brough the Military Medal and the actions at home that have since made him a local hero.

Genres: Biography

336 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

Reviews

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lower secondary and up. Long account of a young man's experience in World War II, through signing up, fighting, getting captured as POW and escaping, and finally coping once he returned. Super inspiring, in a very down-to-earth Aussie way. A pretty amazing and yet unassuming and humble guy. Happy to have read his story.

[Bill Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a literary masterpiece, but a warts-and-all story told simply and with sincerity.

[Courtney Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an outstanding book, I went into it dubious but come out just wowed

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read, highly recommend

[Sally Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, my friends father is Allen who escaped with Ernie.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met Ernest Brough as a "Living Book" at the Torquay Literary festival. It was quite a good book, though aimed more at kids than adults. It should be on book lists for kids in upper primary school as it gives some great information about WW2 as well as being an adventure story for boys. At the end of the book there was a timeline and information about WW2 that will help those who don't know much about WW2, so prior knowledge is a help but not a must.