Paul Brickhill's 'The Great Escape': A Thrilling 226-Page Read

D. Richardson: Useful for comparing to the movie.

United States on Oct 12, 2023

Brian Cook: Great book, enjoyed reading it.

United States on Sep 27, 2023

lena smith: My husband is a WW2 enthusiast loved this book , went Into a lot of detail regarding ‘The Great Escape’
From a German prisoner of war camp during WW2 , this story is all true , what brave young men they were

United Kingdom on Sep 10, 2023

Greyhound3: This is a great book that I am sure my father will enjoy. Why, though, must Amazon add their unsightly, cheap, impossible-to-remove-without-causing-damage adhesive labels to the back (thank goodness it's not the front) cover of the book? There are labels out there that remove easily without causing damage or leaving a sticky residue, so why not invest a few pennies more on decent labels, Amazon?

United States on Jun 18, 2023

J. Beachy: If you like WW2 history or stories of intrigue, you'll enjoy this true account. Unfortunate ending but well written.

United States on May 13, 2023

robert f kelson: Although there have been several (very good) works written about the mass escape from Stalag Luft III, if one could read only one, this would be it. Written by a former RAF officer prisoner, it provides a comprehensive overview of the event and its painstaking preparation in riveting detail. The late author was himself very involved in the escape's run-up, knew many other participants and did obvious post-war research. It is the proverbial page-turner. RFK

United States on Sep 18, 2022

oj: Interesting book. It took a while to arrive (I must admit I ordered just before Xmas) Should have waited until after the holidays. Hubby loves anything WW11 so this is a great gift for enthusiasts.

Canada on Apr 19, 2022

CARNLOU: I recently purchased 'The Great Escape' by Paul Brickhill off here and a great purchase it turned out to be. Now, first thing's first, if you think you are buying a novelisation of the 1963 film of the same name (the front cover of the book being advertised on the site at present would), then think again. This is not the book of the film. This is the real deal. This is a book that details how over 600 prisoners of war came together and masterminded a huge breakout from Stalag Luft III by building three tunnels codenamed Tom, Dick and Harry. Moreover, they did all of this right under the noses of their German Luftwaffe captors.

For the most part, the book is very good. Brickhill literally describes everything from the prisoners' arrival at Sagan to the eventual breakout itself. If I had any complaints to make about his writing style, it would be that, at times, he can be a little too detailed. Read the book and you shall see what I mean. Overall, it's not really a big problem.

Of course, on the night of the escape then, 76 men broke out and the majority of them were captured within days. Brickhill captures their fear perfectly here. Sadly though, 50 of the prisoners...

United Kingdom on Oct 18, 2013

Chris Furley: A legend of WWII, this story is a must-read for anyone with an iota of interest in the European theatre of the war. Two things emerge from the dust and action of the saga - the escapees knew full well that they might be caught and suffer accordingly (though none knew they would be executed), and secondly, it appears that half the reason for the escape attempt was to force the Germans to divert huge numbers of personel into the search for them once the escape had been discovered.

The Great Escape has been in the news more recently too: on 8 June 2010 the last survivor of the escape died aged 97: Jach Harrison. He was no 98 of the 200 prisoners lined up to escape but was prevented from doing so when no 77 was caught and the whole operation came to a halt.

The master document forger of the prison camp, protrayed in the film by Donald Pleasance, was called Alex Cassie and he died on 14 April 2012 - his obituary published in the Telegraph.

It is these survivors and their memories that we should remember, as well as those who died after capture. I am thankful that my generation and my chidrens' generation have not been called upon to demonstrate an equal measure of...

United Kingdom on May 18, 2012

THE WISE ONE: This book tells it as it really was. There are fascinating details that come to light in this book that because of time restraints, could not possibly have been included in the film of the same title. We all know that book authors and film producers, always use a degree of poetic licence in their particular works, but having read the same story by a totally different author and from a different perspective, who was himself incarcerated in Stalag Luft III, over the same period of the war there are too many similarities in their different accounts for the facts to have been altered too much. I loved the film, but to read the book was an incredible experience. The book is so grippng that it is extremely difficult to imagine that you are in fact reading a non-fiction publication. I found the book so enthralling that it was only with difficulty that I was able to put it down. As with his other books, the author has excelled himself.

United Kingdom on Sep 02, 2011