Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle

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THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF THE MOST INFAMOUS PRISON IN HISTORY -- FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SAS: ROGUE HEROES AND THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR

British, American, French, Polish, Dutch and Belgian (and probably others - can't remember if there were any Russians) competed for this privilege and their plans had to be agreed and scheduled by the Escape Committee to prevent clashes and people trying to escape at the same time.Some chapters are short and filled with details on attempts of varying degrees, while others dig deep into those who had a great impact on their success in escaping. One of those heroic people was Mrs. Markowska. And much more,” added Macintyre, who has written widely about double agents and secret missions during the Nazi era. “I grew up, like most Britons, wrapped up in the Colditz myth. At the age of 14, I watched the 1972 BBC series with David McCallum. I played the board game, created by Pat Reid, [who was] one of the castle’s real escapees. Colditz’s heroes were part of my personal mythology: a story of brave Englishmen and courage. But, as often happens, the story turns out not to be so simple and not so uplifting.” Enlisted men received harsher treatment even at Colditz, which included forced labor as batmen to the officers. Elsewhere, Soviet POWs experienced far, far worse. According to Wikipedia, “It is estimated that at least 3.3 million Soviet POWs died in Nazi custody, out of 5.7 million. This figure represents a total of 57% of all Soviet POWs and it may be contrasted with 8,300 out of 231,000 British and U.S. prisoners, or 3.6%.” Most of the Soviet soldiers who died in German custody were among the 2.8 million taken in 1941-42 as the Nazi juggernaut raged across Russian land toward Moscow and Leningrad.

Christopher Clayton Hutton's bizarre achievements prove that war is not solely a matter of bombs, bullets and battlefield bravery. They also serve who work out how to hide a compass inside a walnut." Mrs. Markowska, also known as Jane Walker, was an agent of British intelligence and a lead associate in the Polish underground. She would shelter escaped British POWs and help smuggle them to safety. She was extremely intelligent and a supreme asset because she spoke German, French, and Polish. Her intolerant and sympathetic behavior was endearing to the escapees, and she treated each one like her own children. She was known for giving the POW’s pep talks, medical treatments, and formal dinners. The POW’s adored her and often times said they loved her. The amazing true story of the men imprisoned in Colditz Castle, surely the most impressive prisoner-of-war camp in modern history. The prologue made me smile, which has to be a good thing. The book starts before he goes to Colditz. Ben MacIntyre has had a successful and lucrative career as a writer mostly of war stories, predominantly set during the second World War. Operation Mincemeat, the story of the cadaver that helped to divert German forces towards Greece and away from Sicily where the Allies intended to land in 1943, was made into a Hollywood film with an all-star cast last year.I listened to the audiobook with Simon. They say that truth is stranger than fiction.... This is an amazing book full of incredible true stories of escape, or many attempted escapes of prisoners of war from the notorious castle prison of Colditz. I'm not sure that Colditz is as well know in the U.S.A. In the U.K. it was entrenched in our culture and truly inspired fear. It's not really a spoiler to reveal that author Pat Reid eventually escapes Colditz, but this retelling is a fascinating look into life at the prison, and the many failed escape plans that fell through before his success in 1942. It's jovially told; it almost sounds like boys on a bizarre camping trip, with how much mischief they get up to and how many privileges they seem to be privy to considering their prisoner status. Though it does sober up when the task of actual escape is at hand. They were in real danger and they knew it, but otherwise the cast seem like a merry band of regular folk in a strange set of circumstances.

Oleg Gordievsky, the ex-KGB spy who defected to the UK in the mid-1980s and has been living in hiding since. Credit: Alamy Colditz, a forbidding German castle fortress, was the destination for Allied officer POWs, and some other high-profile prisoners. It’s important to know that Colditz was different from POW Stalags for enlisted men run by the often brutal Gestapo and SS guards. Colditz was staffed by Wehrmacht (regular army) personnel who generally complied with the Geneva Convention. According to the Geneva Convention, captors were allowed to set their enlisted prisoners to work—but not officers. As a result, most of the prisoners at Colditz were at the leisure to go stir crazy, unless they thought of other ways to keep their minds busy—like dreaming up escape plans.As 1944 became 1945, serious hunger stalked the prison camp. The Red Cross parcels ceased to arrive, but the inmates still fared better than their guards, who had no extra supplies to add to their now-miserable diet.

Oflag VII-C, замъкът Лауфен). Не разбираме почти нищо за неговото детство, началото на войната, нито за пленяването му във Франция. Основният фокус на цялата книга е върху плановете и стратегиите за бягство. Рийд не се задържа дълго в Лауфен. Успява да избяга през прокопан тунел, но е заловен на половината от пътя към неокупираната все още Югославия. Изпратен е в най-тежко охранявания офлаг в Райха - замъкът Колдиц в Саксония (Oflag IV-C). В Колдиц попадат само специални и високорискови за нацистите военнопленници - имащи вече опити за бягство от други лагери или със специални "провинения". I read this as part of an anthology, so not this specific edition. I've read it twice and vastly preferred it the first time, I suppose because it was more exciting. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest either in POWs in WWII or in prison escape stories.Macintyre shows how the mood in the castle prison changed as the war progressed. In 1942, there was hope that victory might be around the corner. By 1943, this had turned to despair that it might instead go on for years to come.