"The Freedom Line: Peter Eisner's Incredible Story of the Brave Individuals Who Rescued Allied Airmen from Nazi Captivity"

Jerry: Good story

Canada on Aug 21, 2021

Amazon Customer: Great history lesson. Wonderful comet line people. I wonder if it was made a film. A great British man airey neave. Should have a statue outside parliament so those idiots can see a real hero.

United Kingdom on Sep 10, 2019

LEE: I’ve known about the French Resistance, but I became more intrigued about them after reading the biography of “Nancy Wake” by Peter FitzSimons; which lead me to read “The Freedom Line: The Brave Men and Women Who Rescued Allied Airmen from the Nazis During World War II” by Peter Eisner.

“The Freedom Line” is the heroic and epic true story of a small group of Belgian, French, and Basque who rescued downed allied airmen throughout western Europe. Their efforts were nothing short of remarkable and awe inspiring. The book is well-researched and reads like an action espionage war novel.

I’ve read numerous books about WW2, but “The Freedom Line” was a revelation and an inspiration to me. Weeks after finishing the book, I still think about the heroism of the men and women of “The Comet Line” and what they accomplished under extreme physical duress and stress, the deadly risk to their lives and their families, the paranoia fear of traitors among them (i.e., double agents), and being constantly hunted by the Nazis. Those who were caught by the Nazis and survived being tortured and imprisoned in Nazi death camps must have suffered extreme PTSD after the...

United States on May 24, 2019

easy reader: Had a relative, RCAF, who with the help of these people, escaped France after being shot down. This book helped me to understand the ordeal he went through. Very enlightening.

Canada on Feb 19, 2018

Dick Lord: An excellent account of the beyond-brave young men and women of the Comet Line, who helped downed fliers escape from the Nazis during WW II. I had heard their story from my friend Ron Pearce, whose RAF plane was shot down over Belgium in 1942 on the return from a bombing run over Dusseldorf. This book fleshes out his story, and fills in a lot of the details of the terrifying chances the young heroes took to bring him, and hundreds of others, back to freedom. An amazing story, and all of it true!

United States on Oct 05, 2017

History Buff: The Allies began heavy strategic bombing of Nazi-occupied Europe in 1942. Initially, their losses of planes and crews were very heavy due to lack of long-range fighter support and anti-aircraft fire. On one raid alone, the United States reported it lost 600 airmen. When they could escape their damaged planes, these airmen parachuted into Nazi-occupied countries, primarily, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The race to get top these downed airmen was then on. The Nazis sought to capture and imprison them. The resistance movements sought to hide them from the Nazis and to eventually repatriate them to England from where they could continue the fight against the Nazis.
The resistance movements used various tactics to repatriate the downed airmen. One of the most successful of these tactics was originated by a young Belgian girl, Andree de Jongh (Deedee"), whose father as imprisoned and eventually executed by the Nazis. She organized resistance members who, at the risk of their own lives, provided food, clothing, and false identification papers, and guided them to safety in Spain.. Her organization became known as the "Comet Line." Lynn Olson, in her recent book entitled "Last...

United States on Sep 04, 2017

Tonyparksrun: A very readable exploration of what it was like for evading air crew shot down over Europe and their Belgian and Basque guides who in large numbers risked and gave their lives for our freedom. For a British reader there are some irritating Americanisms, two nations divided by a language?! ;). Interesting that Franco was supplying US fuel to the Nazis to shoot down their own planes. Interesting that Portugal and Spain supplying the tungsten to Nazis for weapons and machine tools...Nadine Dumont interviews have appeared on BBC History programmes - very moving. These brave people chose to fight for freedom, often went to the camps or were simply executed following brutal torture, few returned. N'oubliez jamais!

United Kingdom on Apr 27, 2016