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The Escape Artists

On sale

11th July 2019

Price: £12.99

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Selected: Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781473686816

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In the winter trenches and flak-filled skies of World War I, captured soldiers and pilots narrowly avoided death only to find themselves imprisoned in Germany’s archipelago of brutal POW camps. After several unsuccessful escapes, a group of Allied prisoners of Holzminden – Germany’s land-locked Alcatraz- hatched the most elaborate escape plan yet known. With ingenious engineering, disguises, forgery and courage, their story would electrify Britain in some of its darkest hours of the war.

Drawing on never-before-seen memoirs and letters, Neal Bascomb brings this little-known story narrative to life amid the despair of the trenches and the height of patriotic duty.

Reviews

Candice Millard, author of Hero of the Empire
It's riveting reading, but more than that, it's inspiring
David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon
A remarkable piece of hidden history, told perfectly . . . brims with adventure, suspense, daring, and heroism
Daily Express
Fascinating
David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon
A remarkable piece of hidden history, told perfectly...brims with adventure, suspense, daring, and heroism
Daily Mail
Entertaining . . . very little is known about the escape artists of World War I, but Bascomb's suspenseful and well-researched book could change that
Mail on Sunday
Terrific . . . [a] stirring story
Choice Magazine
Absorbing