The Great Escape - A book review

If I'm ever dragged to a Boot Fair by SWMBO, I'm always on the look out for a bargin. At a recent trip to a local Boot Fair in Strood, I picked up this book among others for the princely sum of 10p!!!  The book only took me a couple of days to read and believe me that's some going.
The Introduction to the book was written by George Harsh, it just about sums the book up for me and I was hooked within seconds.

George Harsh

" And this is the only introduction this book actual needs: Yes, it really happened,. But because every man mentioned in this book was a friend of mine, because I have shared pitifully small rations with them, fought lice with them, baited the Germans with them and because many of them are now dead, I am grateful for this chance to point out that they did not die for a senseless reason"


The book was written by Paul Brickhill, in 1951, so some of the more age challenged among you may have already read it many moons ago. The book covers the planning, execution and aftermath of what became known as The Great Escape. Other escape attempts (such as the Wooden Horse) are mentioned as well as the postwar hunt for the Gestapo agents who murdered fifty of the escapees on Hitler's direct order.

Roger Bushell, Big X

Much of the book is focused on Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, also known as "Big X", including his capture, early escape attempts, and planning of the escape. All the major participants and their exploits are described by Brickhill. Among these are Tim Walenn, the principal forger, who 'gave his factory the code name of "Dean and Dawson", after a British travel agency; Al Hake, the compass maker; Des Plunkett, the ingenious chief map tracer, who made a mimeograph for reproducing maps; and Tommy Guest, who ran a team of tailors. 

Tim Walenn, The Forger

Major John Dodge, who was related to Winston Churchill, was one of the escapees. The German officers and guards (called 'goons' by the prisoners) included teams of 'ferrets' who crawled about under the huts looking for signs of tunnels. They were carefully watched by teams of POW 'stooges', one of whom was Paul Brickhill, 'boss of a gang of "stooges" guarding the forgers'. Brickhill was not involved in the tunnel building and did not take part in the escape, due to claustrophobia. 

In the end, seventy-six men escaped. Seventy-three were recaptured and fifty of those were shot by the Gestapo. Four of the remaining twenty-three later tunnelled out of Sachsenhausen, but were recaptured and chained to the floor of their cells. One of them, Major John Dodge, was released to secure a cease-fire.

Al Hake, The Compass Maker

The book is dedicated "to the fifty".

In the aftermath of the escape, according to Brickhill, 5,000,000 Germans spent time looking for the prisoners, many of them full time for weeks.