Product Description

"A tense, thrilling, fabulous tale."—Philadelphia Inquirer

They were American and British air force officers in a German prison camp. With only their bare hands and the crudest of homemade tools, they sank shafts, forged passports, faked weapons, and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes. They developed a fantastic security system to protect themselves from German surveillance. It was a split-second operation as delicate and as deadly as a time bomb. It demanded the concentrated devotion and vigilance of more than six hundred men—every one of them, every minute, every hour, every day and night for more than a year. Made into the classic movie starring Steve McQueen. 16 pages of photographs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #303069 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780393325799
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
Absorbing...spine-tingling...puts the average war book so far in the shadow it's not even funny. (Dallas Times-Herald )

Absorbing...spine-tingling...puts the average war book so far in the shadow it's not even funny. -- Dallas Times-Herald

For sheer suspense, puts the fictioneers to shame. (Boston Globe )

For sheer suspense, puts the fictioneers to shame. -- Boston Globe

One of the great true stories of the war, and one of the greatest escape narratives of all time. (San Francisco Chronicle )

One of the great true stories of the war, and one of the greatest escape narratives of all time. -- San Francisco Chronicle

Review
"One Of The Great True Stories Of The War, And One Of The Greatest Escape Narratives Of All Time."

The San Francisco Chronicle

From the Inside Flap
With only their bare hands and the crudest of homemade tools, they sank shafts, built underground railroads, forged passports, drew maps, faked weapons, and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes.

They developed a fantastic security system to protect themselves from the German "ferrets" who prowled the compounds with nerve-racking tenacity and suspicion.

It was a split-second operation as delicate and as deadly as a time bomb. It demanded the concentrated devotion and vigilance of more than six hundred men -- every single one of them, every minute, every hour, every day, and every night for more than a year.

Customer Reviews

A One-Volume Encyclopedia of an Unforgettable Thriller
I first saw the movie as a child in the 1960's, and became fascinated with the subject, which lead me to this book. The details of the escape are described in minute detail. The drawings included, made by Kenyon, one of the camp artists, are very informative and clear. They show such things as the layout of the camp and its tunnels as well as the stooge system for protecting the forgers from approaching Germans.

One can sense every emotion from Brickhill's writing: The cursing of the diggers when buried by sandfalls while excavating the tunnels, the frustration of those attempting to remove the outer cover of tunnel Harry's exit shaft, the shock of the discovery that Harry's exit was as much as 30 feet short of the woods, the fury of the Germans at discovery of the mass escape, etc. One can also see that the evacuation of 200 POWs through one tunnel in one night, even without setbacks (such as the air raid) turned out to be an impossible goal. Most men in the tunnel took much longer than 2-3 minutes to get through it. In fact, several got stuck several times.

A major factor leading to the rapid capture of most of the "hardarsers" (those striking out on foot) was the snow on the ground. It forced most of the men to walk on or near the roads, where they were easily spotted and apprehended for questioning.

Brickhill also devotes some detail to the pursuit of the German murderers of 50 of the escapees. He recounts the lack of cooperation of the Soviet-imposed Communist puppet government of Poland, in which the previously-German Stalag Luft III campsite had found itself after the establishment of the Oder-Neisse line as the postwar boundary of Poland. (Of course, Brickhill could not have foresawn the fact that after Communism fell in Poland after 45 years, the Polish officials were free to express an avid interest in the onetime site of the camp).

A Tribute to Honor, Ingenuity and Determination
Paul Brickhill's novel "The Great Escape" is absorbing reading about British and American POW's efforts to escape from the camps of their German captors. What is significant about this book is the ingenuity and tactics employed by the prisoners in their numerous escape attempts. Most people are familiar with the film of the same name, but this book goes into much greater depth and detail. What I found most interesting about the book was how the Allies were able to bribe the German guards into obtaining essentials they needed for their escape and aftermath. The German guards' fear of retribution from their own superiors helped advance the Allies' efforts. This is a very good book and makes for good reading. Paul Brickhill's dedication is "for the fifty" who paid the ultimate price of which there is no greater honor.

my dad was one of the pow's who escaped
I'm writing you about a man named Steve Martin who came to my house last evening to show me his collection of 'Great Escape' original material. As you know, my father was the first Canadian Prisoner of war and was #68 of the 76 who escaped. This is how he came to call me up for this meeting. I was completely blown away by his collection. He has a rare letter from BIG X, Roger Bushell, who of course was the leader of escape. He has a tile from the Harry tunnel, that the stove was resting on, tons of stuff on Wally Floody, who engineered the escape and became friends with Steve. Also pictures of George Harsh, if you're a historian you should know this name or research it, and Johnny Dodge [the artful dodger]. The list go on. He even has sand from the tunnel. He's 42yrs old and when he was 12 he read Paul Brichman's 'The Great Escape' and got hooked and has been collecting ever since . He's gone to their reunions and has several letters and autographs. He has a museum of history pertaining to the 'Great Escape'. I can't even get close to telling you what he showed me and he said that was nothing compared to his complete set. I urged him to get a web page set up to which he has very little experience with computors. This man has a gold mine and needs direction. I don't know how interested you'd be in this project but if you know of someone who would be please let me know. His phone number is#905-824-7367. If this amazing part of history is at all intriguing to you, you'll be as blown away as I was. Nonie Crete