Great Escapes

We think we know a lot about life in Prisoner of War camps, and all can relate tales of brave escape attempts, not least from the iconic film The Great Escape. But how many of these tales are true? For most prisoners of war, life was nothing like the films, but for a few brave escapees, fact was more extraordinary than fiction ...Using personal accounts, authentic reports from German guards and debrief documents in the National Archives, this is the true story of the many exciting escape attempts from POW camps during the Second World War. Some were successful, others not, but in each case the inspired methods devised and executed by the prisoners show bravery and ingenuity on a greater scale than any film. With incredible stories such as the Wooden Horse, the "French Tunnel" and the "Colditz 'Ghost", this ground- breaking new book tells the stories of some of the bravest men in history.

Terry Treadwell served in the RAF and is currently a research and project officer for the RAF Escaping Society. He is an aviation author and researcher and European correspondent of Naval Aviation News and Wings of Gold magazine. He lives in Bournemouth.