Awesome. The movie is one of my all-time favorites, and this book it was based on didn't disappoint. Amazing grit, bravery, and ingenuity displayed by these Allied POWs.

This book was okay, and I'm sure the rest of the story/events were incredible, I just had a hard time staying focused. I found myself getting people crossed and just felt very disengaged. I don't read a lot of non-fiction, so I'm sure that was why. I felt I couldn't connect very deeply with the characters so my mind wandered and I lost track of what was happening where and with who.

This was an awesome war story. It was sad, but still tells an important tale. I cannot even imagine what these guys went through, and their endurance, and willingness to escape with the risk of death. It's all just mind-blowing.

Reading books like these always makes one wonder what one would do in this situation. Would you have the guts to do what these men did? I hope I never have to find out.

The front half of the book is basically an elaborate heist plot. The second just makes you want to cry. The scariest part of it all is that this is a true story, and one who's atrocities still happen today.

//This book chronicles prison escape attempts made by POW’s during WW2. One of which is the author, who assisted in the Great Escape. //

After reading the book, it is hard to imagine the utter anguish these prisoners had to go through. Day in and day out, you dig, plot, plan, engineer, starve, scrounge, and beat yourself down both mentally and physically with one common goal in mind. To escape. As you read, you will learn about how the POWs made clothing, how they made papers, how they tunneled, how they setup watch posts, and how a large chunk ultimately got out under the wire.

I would definitely recommend it.

─────── 5 ★'s ───────

Well written and thrilling, this tells the true story of prisoners in Stalag Luft III and their 100th attempt to escape. Photos, drawings, maps, the related Hitler decrees and the post war trials are also included. I finished this book on January 27th, UN Holocaust Remembrance day.

While this book mostly glosses over the very difficult parts of prison life (I found myself picturing Hogan's Heroes too often), the details of the escape read like a thriller. It is also fairly short, and worth reading. It references some of the other escape attempts detailed elsewhere, such as the Wooden Horse. I can see why this tale was made into a movie.

Speaking of that, I haven't seen it, but am looking forward to it. I have also found out there is a miniseries with Christopher Reeve from 1988 titled The Great Escape Part II, covering the trial in more detail. Even The Wooden Horse was made into a film - and I've seen none of them (yet).

On the night of the escape, eighty men managed to get through the tunnel and outside the camp, each taking separate routes. Three reached the allies and freedom. Fifty were executed by the Gestapo. This book is dedicated to them.

The movie based on this incredible true story is one of my favorites that my husband has shown me.

I didn’t find the storytelling in the book to be all that coherent until the last third of the book. This made pushing through the beginning and middle seem like a bit of a chore. So many names, ranks, and asides, that I didn’t really connect with any individuals in particular. I’m not the best with visuals so the amount of names and the description of the complex traps and tunneling would have contributed to me not being able to really “see” everything well. The movie format, naturally, takes care of this, so when watching the film I was highly invested and the story and fate of numerous soldiers was very emotional.

Even though I’m only giving the book 3 stars, this amazing story I would highly recommend to others whether via book or movie format.

I loved the movie and wanted more depth so I read the book. The book, of course, was better. Enhanced many things in the movie.

Quotes:

• 'The British obviously overlooked the fact that an American only has to be sold on the idea that his cause is just and he is capable of anything.' - pviii, George Harsh
• 'Men, working together, can accomplish anything.' - pix, George Harsh
• 'When you live in a room with a tunnel, the tunnel is the boss. ... If you live with a tunnel, you can't walk into your own room when you want to, or out again either. You're a servant to a great ugly hole in the ground.' - p45
• 'Funny people, the Germans. When you got them in a bunch they were all Nazis (they had to be), but when you got the little people by themselves and worked on them for a while they didn't have any morale underneath. Inside they seemed naked and defenceless.' - p60/1

On character:
• 'Glemnitz was the archenemy. We didn't exactly like him, but we certainly respected him. ... A good solider, Glemnitz, efficient and incorruptible, too good for our liking.' - p32
• 'I've watched Roger flare up in passion over some little provocation, but when big things went wrong he had this bitter calm.' - p44, interesting mentality!
• 'I don't think I ever heard anyone ever refer to Glemnitz without saying "That bastard Glemnitz," but there was no hatred in the term; it was almost an expression of respect because he was a good soldier, even if he was a German. Rubberneck was always called a bastard too, but with Rubberneck we meant it.' - p66
• 'He was ... a plump little major with shiny black hair, given to monumental anger when prisoners escaped and patronizing politeness when they failed to.' - description of chief security officer Broili, p73

Laugh-out-loud bits:
• "It's like this... If you see me walking around with a tree trunk sticking out of my arse, don't stare. I'll be doing it for a good cause." - Russell to a new prisoner, p50
• '"Well," said Morison casually in English, knowing the game was up, "we thought we'd borrow this, actually, and go home for the week-end."' - response after a German demanded what Morison and Welch were doing caught trying to start a plane, p76
• 'A couple of times Marshall heard muffled curses and once, distinctly, an angry English voice asking where the hell the bloody subway was.' - when an escaped group were trying to access the blocked subway, p203 - I probably shouldn't have found this amusing but it's just such a British response.

Notes:

Such an incredible story. Incredible to read. The escapes were genius - every one. The tale was comedic, amusing, heart-warming. The team-work demonstrated by the men (originally strangers, all from different divisions and nationalities) was truly inspirational. It is simply astounding what men can do when they're pushed and set to something. As George Harsh said in the introduction, they really can achieve almost anything.

It's amusing to witness the battle between the Allies trying to conjure up inventive ways to escape and the Germans trying to think along the same lines to catch them out. It's fascinating to see how each side gradually adapted when they learned what they were up against. It really seems like a tactful game... But one involving many more people, a very long playing period, and with much higher stakes.

I found it interesting how Roger and Wings were set on the idea of annoying the goons as part of the war effort (it was their duty, as stated in the introduction!) as well as escaping. In fact, they seemed to value it as being even more important. They really were men driven by the bigger picture rather than just their own desires.

It reinforces the fact that the majority of people involved in the war don't want to be and don't want to kill. But which injustice is worse - kind-hearted men being ordered to kill against their wishes... or men whose own choice it is to kill? (ie. terrorists) (...But of course there is the other side - like Franz Schmidt on p255 who hung himself and believed in Hitler Nazism. And then that sadist Post bloke.)

It was almost satisfying hearing of the investigation afterwards and the sentencing of the men proved to have murdered the POWs - they managed to avenge ALL of the deaths - all 50.

EXCEPT the final gasp on the final page - that awful brute Burchhardt who got sentenced to life in prison because it was too long since the murders. Firstly, 4 years isn't that long after mass murder. Secondly, that's b******t anyway. The author says himself that life is 21 years but there's likely to be amnesty before that... I need to look him up. Turns out Burchhardt did go to prison but was paroled in 1956 and then died in 1981. The author's predictions came true...

Other notes:
• Moments of dread and bitterness where you can't imagine the anguish experienced by the prisoners. For instance when they witness the Germans unteroffiziers enter the camp carrying pistols instead of rifles (p70), after the painstaking process of perfectly replicating the rifles.
• Amusing quirks and tales of the funnily twisted relationships between the Germans and the POWs - for instance how Glemnitz joyfully grins to the duty pilots so that they can sign him in, then checking the list and using it against his own men to punish them for marking out of compound early (the cooler wasn't used just for the POWs!)
• The kindness and loyalty shown by even high-ranked Germans - for instance Von Lindeiner remarking to an officer that 'if he was ordered to shoot prisoners, he would take his own life', p151.
• And some of the favours the Germans did the POWs were unbelievable! Letting them borrow official original documents and one even sending a letter home to his wife for it to be typed up (p118). In some cases the officers were blackmailed, of course (it must have been terrifying to be a German - none of them ever wanted to confess to anything wrong because they knew the punishment would likely be death) but they weren't always!
• And not only did the camp officers (well, at least some) act kindly towards the POWs, but some German strangers outside did too. Like the soldier who guided Van Der Stok to the station after finding him by the woods, p232.
• And then there was also the local policeman (a Luxemburger) who apologised for having to hold Dodger. 'He had to arrest him, he said, or be shot himself, but made up for it as far as he could by feeding him on hot oatcakes made specially by his wife.' - p239 - It's the little things.
• 'The guards were getting rather prudent about mass murders so they decided to overlook the order.' - when a group didn't reach Elbe by a certain day (and the guards had been instructed to shoot them if that happened), p247
• I felt quite sorry for some friendly guards, ie. Rudy on p169 who finds the POWs to be good friendly company, when actually they mostly have an ulterior motive to use and distract him/them.
• 'The tension had been nearly intolerable.' - p179 - It was nearly intolerable for me too and I'm only reading!