Greece Crete Stalag Dachau A New Zealand Soldier's Encounters with Hitler's Army

In 1940, 28-year-old Jack Elworthy left New Zealand to fight in Europe, not to return for seven years. This is the story of his remarkable war, including the time he spent as an unofficial U.S. soldier. On mainland Greece, he got away just as the Nazis rolled in. On Crete he was captured and escaped, only to be recaptured when the Allies abandoned the island. In Germany he endured four years in POW camps, including notorious Stalag VIIIB. Freed by American forces in March 1945, he talked his way into the U.S. Army’s 45th (Thunderbird) Division as it made its way to Munich—birthplace of the Nazi Party—and the liberation of Dachau concentration camp. His daring feats were not yet over. Back in Britain awaiting repatriation, he became determined to return to devastated Europe, and succeeded—to the disbelief of MI5. This unflinchingly honest and unforgettable story takes you into the heart of the human experience of war, where there is heartbreak, fear, frustration, and few heroes.

Jack Elworthy joined the New Zealand Permanent Force as a professional soldier in 1935 and in May 1940, eight months after New Zealand declared war on Germany, sailed for Europe with the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He returned to New Zealand in 1947 and remained with the army until 1956, when he joined the Probation Service. He retired in 1977 and set about writing this book, drawing on his war diaries and died on January 3, 1999.