Download or read book Escaping Has Ceased to be a Sport A Soldier s Memoir of Captivity and Escape in Italy and Germany written by Frank Unwin MBE and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Escaping Has Ceased to Be a Sport written by Frank Unwin and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2018-01-30 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After being taken prisoner at Tobruk and transported to Italy, the author was determined to escape and learnt Italian by talking to the sentries. His first escape lasted just one week. He then joined a tunnel party and escaped again. After six weeks on the run he was offered shelter in a Tuscan hilltop village, Montebenichi. There he enjoyed five months of freedom, living the lifestyle and ancient customs of these peasant people.While attempting to re-join the Allied armies, Frank and two fellow POWs were re-captured and sent to a brutal work camp in Germany. His defiant attitude exacerbated an already difficult situation. In March 1945, with the Allies closing in Frank took part in The Long March, walking for several weeks before being released by American troops. The title of this remarkable and moving memoir results from a notice posted to Franks amusement in all POW camps saying Escaping has ceased to be a Sport.' This is an exceptional Second World War POW account by a man who refused to accept captivity.

Download or read book Great Escape Forger written by Susan Holmstrom Kohnowich and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2022-09-21 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carl Holmstrom’s superb artwork depicts life as a ‘kriegie’ in a unique manner. But, more than that, he spent the major part of his captivity in Stalag Luft III Prisoner of War Camp, famous for ‘The Great Escape’. The audacity of the 76 escapees was only matched by the callousness of the Nazis who murdered 50 after recapture. As well as skillfully recording camp life, Carl forged invaluable official documents. He also sketched his fellow prisoners and encouraged others to take up drawing as hobby. Remarkably he saved over 200 examples of his work by carrying them on the appallingly arduous 1945 winter march from Poland into Germany. Post war, Carl Holmstrom said, “The drawings were made during imprisonment and represent a sincere effort to portray to the American people and especially to the relatives of the prisoners, intimate glimpses of Kriegie life.” His words proved to be prophetic. An expansion of his earlier self-published Kriegie Life, this superb book honors Carl’s exceptional artistic gift. This book has strong claim to contain the finest collection of POW art to emerge from Nazi-occupied Europe.

Download or read book The Greatest Escape written by Martin Barratt and published by Air World. This book was released on 2023-06-30 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of a wartime bomber, its crew and of a tantalizing detective story unfolding over nearly a quarter of a century of intensive research. It is also a story of courage, fortitude and endurance and of one man’s will to survive against seemingly insurmountable odds. Bomber Command’s horrific loss rate during the Second World War cannot be underestimated. Of the 120,000 young aircrew who served, 55,373 were to perish, most of them losing their lives over the night skies of Europe. The Battle of the Ruhr, the campaign to destroy the industrial heartland of Germany which raged between March and July 1943, was both savage in intensity and costly in terms of aircrew. Prospects for survival for anyone involved in operational flying with Bomber Command at that time were particularly bleak. Young aircrew could expect a lifespan measured in terms of weeks where seemingly only a fiery death in an exploding aircraft or captivity as a Prisoner of War awaited. It is with this period that the book is primarily concerned and, more specifically, with the crew of Halifax JB869 of 102 Squadron, of which the author’s father was the navigator, and its loss on the night of 4 May 1943. He survived baling out and, later, an attempted lynching on the ground to become a Prisoner of War. But his escape from his shattered aircraft was only the first of many episodes in his two and a half years of captivity that would see him pushed to the limits of endurance and face death more than once. Like so many veterans the author’s father chose not to speak about his wartime experiences until quite late in his life and it was only after his death and the chance discovery of an archive of letters, logbooks, accounts and other material that the full story of his incredible series of escapes came to light. Through extensive research, including face-to-face interviews and correspondence with a significant number of ex-aircrew, the author has painstakingly pieced together the complete story of the crew of this aircraft, identifying and contacting relatives of each crew member and, for some, bringing closure after decades of not knowing how (or in some cases where) their loved one had met their deaths.

Download or read book Escaping with His Life written by Nicholas Young and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2019-05-30 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fitting tribute . . . exceptional in covering the duration of WWII as a soldier, commando, POW, escaper, and on through D-Day to Victory.” —Firetrench Very few British soldiers could lay claim to such a full war as Leslie Young. Having survived the retreat to and evacuation from Dunkirk, he volunteered for the newly formed Commandos and took part in their first operation, the raid on the Lofoten Islands. He fought and was captured in Tunisia. He went on the run before his POW camp at Fontanellato was taken over by the Nazis after the September 1943 Italian armistice. He spent six months on the run in the Apennine mountains aided by brave and selfless Italians. Many of whom were actively fighting their occupiers. He eventually reached Allied lines but not before several of his companions were tragically killed by both German and American fire. On return to England, he immediately signed up for the invasion of North West Europe and despite being wounded eventually fought through to Germany. It is thanks to his son’s research that Major Young’s story can now be told. It is an inspiring and thrilling account which demands to be read. “Nicely retold by his son, Nicholas, this memoir ticks all the boxes . . . An incredible story of one man’s war. It’s excellent.” —WW2Talk “This wonderful account of the military life of Leslie Young is pure Boys’ Own Paper stuff, a tale of heroism and daring, of courage and fortitude. An amazing story, brilliantly told.” —Books Monthly

Download or read book The Last Escape written by John Nichol and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2003-09-04 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As WW2 drew to a close, hundreds of thousands of British and American prisoners of war, held in camps in Nazi-occupied Europe, faced the prospect that they would never get home alive. In the depths of winter, their guards harried them on marches outof their camps and away from the armies advancing into the heart of Hitler's defeated Germany. Hundreds died from exhaustion, disease and starvation. THE LAST ESCAPE is told through the testimony of those heroic men, now in their seventies and eighties and telling their stories publicly for the first time.

Download or read book Parachute to Berlin written by Lowell Bennett and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2023-04-06 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The vivid account of a war correspondent shot down over Germany and taken prisoner. Bennett was one of several journalists to fly a night raid over Berlin in November 1943. This is the vivid testimony of an American journalist shot down over Berlin. After he was captured in Berlin, he was taken on a tour of Germany and shown what the civilian population was being subjected to. Bennett spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft I, where he started the newspaper POW WOW, secretly read by 9,000 prisoners. Bennett's experiences led him to condemn the Allied policy of systematically bombing civilian population centers.

Download or read book Destined to Survive written by Jack A. Poolton and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 1998-10-01 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Private Jack Poolton was among the Canadians landing at the disastrous raid on Dieppe. Fortunate to have survived, Jack was taken to a prisoner of war camp in Germany. In Destined to Survive: A Dieppe Veteran’s Story, Jack Poolton relates the story of his training, capture, and experiences in the POW camp. We follow Jack’s three escape attempts, and his subsequent punishment. And we share his elation when Jack and his fellow prisoners are liberated by American soldiers. Poolton and the other POWs never lost their desire to escape. Throughout the ordeal, Jack dreamed of one day celebrating the end of the war, and an allied victory. He eventually celebrated V-E Day in England. Written as a tribute to the fifty-fifth anniversary of the Dieppe Raid, Destined to Survive is an extraordinary contribution to Canadian military history. Poolton’s honest prose reveals the emotions of a man devoted to King and country, and determined to survive at all costs. The gripping account brings the reader to a new understanding about soldiers, prisoners, and war.

Download or read book Captured at Arnhem written by Peter Green and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2022-07-20 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the British 1st Airborne Division Operation Market Garden in September 1944 was a disaster. The Division was eliminated as a fighting force with around a half of its men were captured. The Germans were faced with dealing with 6,000 prisoners in a fortnight; many of them seriously wounded. Somehow the men were processed and despatched to camps around Germany and German occupied eastern Europe. Here the men experienced the reality of the collapsing regime – little food and shrinking frontiers. Once liberated in 1945 returning former prisoners were required to complete liberation questionnaires. Some refused. Others returned before ’Operation Endor’ to handle released men and their repatriation to Britain was in place. Around a third did. However the questionnaires that do exist give an picture of every day experience for the 2,357 of these elite troops’ time in captivity from capture to release. They show that German procedures still operating, but that men were often treated inhumanely, when moved to camps by closed box cars and when camps were evacuated. Although their interrogators were interested in Allied aircraft and airfields, their interrogators were also concerned the effect of the new miracle weapons and with politics, how Germany would be treated after an Allied victory? Nevertheless the airborne men’s morale remained high; carrying out sabotage at artificial oil plants, railway repairs, factories and mines. Some overcame their guards when being evacuated at the end of the War, in some cases joining the Resistance. They record help received from Dutch, French and German civilians.

Download or read book Missing in Action Over Frances written by James R. Golden and published by Gatekeeper Press. This book was released on 2024-05-24 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born on September 7, 1920, in the small town of Leesburg, Florida, James Ramsey Golden would live through both the Great Depression and WWII, arguably two of the most impactful events that shaped the United States we know today. Golden served in World War II as a fighter pilot, and after parachuting out of his damaged airplane on D-Day, he spent eleven months as a German prisoner of war at the infamous Stalag Luft III. While surviving the trials of war—and flourishing afterward—might be considered sufficient for one lifetime, Golden’s path would take him through many more pivotal events of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The tumultuousness South of the 1960s, adding the country’s 50th state, hosting ambassadors, befriending future president Jimmy Carter, and being among the first Americans invited to China in the late 1970s are but a few. Through it all, James Golden remained a kind and genuine man who loved family and country, grateful for—and a bit bemused by—how his life unfolded. In the warm and friendly pages of Missing in Action Over Frances: A Life Well Lived, Golden takes you on his life’s story—sometimes alarming, sometimes powerful, often humorous, and always interesting.

Download or read book Lie in the Dark and Listen written by Ken Rees and published by Grub Street Publishing. This book was released on 2004-05-19 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A memoir of a World War II British bomber pilot who was imprisoned by the Nazis and went on to inspire the Steve McQueen character in The Great Escape. By age 21, Ken had already trained to be a pilot officer, flown 56 hair-raising bomber missions by night over Germany, taken part in the siege of Malta, got married, been shot down into a remote Norwegian lake, been captured and interrogated, sent to Stalag Luft III, and survived the Great Escape and the forced March to Bremen. This is truly a real-life adventure story, written with accuracy, pace, and drama. “Ken Rees had a war career that takes the breath away and he describes it so well one can imagine one was there, experiencing the terror.” —Frederick Forsyth, #1 New York Times – bestselling author of The Fox and The Day of the Jackal “In an age obsessed with C-list television celebrities battling it out on [phony] “reality” survival shows, Rees and his dwindling band of Great Escapers stand out as the real thing.” —The Daily Telegraph (UK) “Written in frank, warm and readable style, this is a very engaging account of a remarkable life.” —New History “A brave man’s memory. Hear the fear yet take [succor] from the courage.” —North Wales Chronicle (UK)

Download or read book Behind the Wire written by Philip Kaplan and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2013-01-19 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philip Kaplan presents us here with a riveting account of the Allied experience behind enemy lines, detailing the trials and tribulations experienced by the British and American airmen who were shot down in European skies during World War Two, to be incarcerated 'behind the wire' in enemy camps. With eloquence and a clear enthusiasm for the subject at hand, the author describes how various individuals adjusted to their incarceration. Whilst some set their minds resolutely on escape, and dreamt up plots and plans to achieve this end, others retreated, away from their comrades and into themselves as the grim reality of their predicament pushed them ever deeper into debilitating depression. Others were determined that they would not waste their time; affected by the quick and brutal deaths they had witnessed during their wartime careers, they were unwilling to sit idle. Theatres, recreational areas, and other camp facilities were designed and built a creative spur that made their time behind the wire, and the quality of life of their fellow comrades, infinitely more bearable. These small acts of enterprising heroism, alongside the harrowing tales of those who crumpled under the weight of their prison reality, combine to create a complete picture of this collective experience. Kaplan's skill lies in informing the reader of the facts of this history with both honesty and reverence.

Download or read book Colditz Myth C written by and published by . This book was released on with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through first-hand accounts of hundreds of ordinary prisoners of war, Paul MacKenzie strips away the mythology and presents the real picture of what it was like to be captured and interrogated and to endure the physical and mental hardships of captivity. Colditz is placed in a wider historical context.

Download or read book It s All Pensionable Time written by Sweanor, George and published by Neverdark. This book was released on 2014-05-11 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed memoir of the life and career of a WWII veteran and POW. George Sweanor was sent, along with fellow Allied Air Forces prisoners of war, to what he considers his Alma Mater, Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Silesia, Germany, after his Halifax bomber was shot down on the return leg from Berlin in March of 1943. The prisoner-of-war camp, famous for The Great Escape, was run by the German Luftwaffe (air force), and through their mutual respect for their profession the captors and their prisoners generally got along well. This afforded George the opportunity to carefully record the events of his imprisonment, and instilled in him the duty and desire to capture his 25 years of military service in this book. This memoir is an account of 25 years spent in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as an observer (navigator, bomb aimer, gunner) during World War II, his marrying in England, his capture and imprisonment, assisting The Great Escape, returning to Canada after the war, supporting a military family of five girls, and serving in various exciting assignments that included years of pioneering work in the Arctic, the Korean Airlift, training NATO cadets (having as a pilot trainee in 1957 the high-school Luftwaffe flak gunner responsible for shooting him down in 1943), and terminating in November 1966 in the Combat Operations Center at NORAD, Colorado Springs, during the Vietnam War era. Additionally, this book includes rich statistics from World War II operations, diagrams, maps, pictures, cartoons, and a bit of humorous wit to temper the sorrows of war.

Download or read book Collecting Colditz and Its Secrets written by Michael Booker and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2005-06-19 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fully illustrated with photographs and historical artifacts, this detailed history reveals what life was like inside the infamous Nazi POW camp. During the Second World War, the centuries-old Colditz castle took on an infamous new purpose. It became the site of Oflag IV-C, a prisoner of war camp designated for Allied officers who had escaped from other camps, including such famous names as Douglas Bader, Lorne Welch and Jack Best. This authoritative history reveals the secrets of the Sonderlager—or “Special Camp.” Historian Michael Booker draws on forty years of research into the subject, including interviews with former prisoners, as well as the German commandant Gerhard Prawitt and the head of security Captain Reinhold Eggers. He relates stories of British, Polish, and French prisoners, and their many and varied attempts to escape. These narratives are supported throughout with rare wartime photographs as well as a priceless collection of artifacts and memorabilia from the castle, some of which have never been seen before.

Download or read book From Interrogation to Liberation written by Marilyn Walton and Michael Eberhardt and published by Author House. This book was released on 2014 with total page 741 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II, 300,000 United States Army Air Corps airmen were shot down. Of that number, 51,000 were prisoners of war or listed as missing in action. Bombardiers, positioned in the vulnerable bombardiers' compartment at the front of the aircraft, were in high demand. The authors' fathers were two such bombardiers, one on a B-17 and the other on a B-24. Like so many of the post-war generation, the authors traveled on their own emotional journeys to reconstruct their fathers' WWII experiences. Their fathers fought in the flak-ridden "blue battlefield," and like thousands of other airmen shot out of the sky, became prisoners of war. They would endure deprivation, loneliness, and great peril. Held at Stalag Luft III, where the Great Escape of movie fame took place, they, along with the British, were eventually force marched 52-miles in the dead of winter to Spremberg, Germany, and loaded onto overcrowded, filthy, boxcars, the Americans to be taken to Stalag VIIA in Moosburg, Germany, or to Stalag XIII-D in Nürnberg. Languishing until their liberation in barbaric conditions with nearly 120,000 international POWs, they witnessed the death throes of the Third Reich. With many sons and daughters trying to explore the wartime histories of their loved ones, the authors supply crucial information and insight regarding the World War II POW experience in Europe. Often times, by necessity, that experience reflects the co-existence and tenuous relationship with the Germans holding them. In this book, there are stories that up until now have not been heard, and there are hundreds of pictures, many previously unseen, illustrating the prisoners' plight. This book is a documentation of riveting history and a chance to vicariously live the war, told through their voices --echoes now fading with time. Their sacrifices to ensure precious freedom should never be forgotten.

Download or read book Thrice Caught written by Odell Myers and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For POWs of any war, talking about what happened to them is difficult. But even more painful is talking about what happened inside them. The physical, mental, and emotional effects never quite heal. They serve as constant reminders of the ordeal. This gripping memoir tells the story of Second Lieutenant Odell Myers, a pilot in the 438th Squadron, 319th Medium Bombardment Group, 12th USAAF, who was captured by the Germans on three different occasions and imprisoned for almost three years. It is also the story of the men who were imprisoned with him. He was first seized on December 4, 1942, after his plane was shot down over Bizerte, Tunisia, then hospitalized in North Africa and Sicily, and finally imprisoned in Chieti, Italy. The Italian surrender on September 8, 1943, caused his release, but he obeyed an Allied order to remain at the camp in Chieti and was then captured again and sent to a transient camp in Italy. On his first night there he escaped and held out for five weeks before he was captured the third time north of the Biferno River. He was sent to a camp at Barth, Pomerania, where he remained until liberated by Russian forces on May 1, 1945.