A Gallant Company: The Men of the Great Escape by way of Jonathan F.

Enjoy luxury? Order the best hammock chairs now.
Be comfortable in a beautiful camping hammock Get yours online today.
Enjoy luxury? Check out the best rope hammocks online

A Gallant Company: The Men of the Great Escape by way of Jonathan F. Vance. Pacifica Military History (http://www.pacificamilitary.com), 1149 Grand Teton Drive, Pacifica, California 94044 2000 351 pages, $2995 (hardcover).

A Gallant Company thrusts the reader into the world of Allied prisoners of war (POW) held in Germany during World War II. Jonathan Vance takes us onward a remarkable journey into the lives of these prisoners, the two before and after their capture. Vance's easy writing mode of expression and detailed treatment make this work a thrilling experience. Readers earn a real sense of what life was like at Stalag Luft III and the constant labor in distress between prisoners attempting to escape and guards trying to obstruct them. The author covers many early escape attempts, one as well as the other successful (a "home run" in POW terms) and vain He also chronicles the prisoners' numerous methods--some ingenious, a certain number of bold, and some just plain crazy. Whether fortunate or not, the attempts provided invaluable information for later tries. The part culminates with what became known as the Great Escape, which took place onward the night of 24-25 March 1944 Vance provides a detailed background of all the prominent individuals involved in the escape effort, known as X Organization, as well as of principally of the men who got away. The ambitious plan called for digging three tunnels--Tom, Dick, and Harry--so that calm if the guards discovered common or two of them, work could continue in succession the other(s). The organization selecteded Harry, 30 feet deep and through the whole extent of 384 feet long, for the nighttime passage of 200 prisoners. Because of riddles with cave-ins, an Allied air raid, and myriad other difficulties, simply 87 men made it gone out before the guards discovered the escape the nearest day. Vance describes how those 87 tried to make their way across Europe to safety and includes an account of the brutal assassinate of 50 of them by way of Hider's Gestapo. I highly commend A Gallant Company for its ease of reading, sheer amount of detail, and interesting story.

...

Home