The Colditz Story [Hardcover]

P. R. Reid (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313202451 | ISBN-13: 978-0313202452 | Publication Date: June 1953

Colditz was the last stop for prisoners of war in the Second World War. It was to this impregnable fortress that the Germans sent all those prisoners who persisted in escaping from other camps, such as Stalag Luft III (of THE GREAT ESCAPE FAME). Once within the walls of Colditz, the Germans reasoned, escape was impossible. And yet during the four-year period when the castle was used as a prison over 300 men escaped, 31 of whom managed to complete the hazardous journey home through Germany. Prisoners from 10 different countries formed a truly international escape academy. Skeleton keys were made, German passes forged, maps drafted, and all manner of tools and machinery constructed out of whatever the prisoners had to hand. The ingenuity of the escape artists knew no bounds: the tried everything from tunnelling, to hiding in rubbish sacks, disguising themselves as German officers, and leaping acrobatically from the castle walls.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pat Reid was one of the first captives to be imprisoned at Colditz in the Second World War. The tale of how he escaped the prison is one of the classics of twentieth century literature. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group (June 1953)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313202451
• ISBN-13: 978-0313202452
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,537,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rivetting, January 11, 2001

By 

Greg Weir (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colditz Story (Paperback)

P.R. Reid was interned in an old Austrian Schloss (castle) in the town of Colditz during World War II. He wrote the first book about his experiences in the camp, and The Latter Days At Colditz describing what happened after he successfully escaped. He effectively describes the colorful and engaging characters he was privileged to meet during what would be a bleak existence to an outside observer. The prisoners of Colditz, deemed dangerous by the Third Reich, were concentrated in this one place deep within Austria. The escape attempts described included tunnels that began in top of the clock tower. A glider (that was never discovered by the Germans) that was built to take off from the rooftops. A tunnel the French built that made so much noise that tunnelling could be heard at all hours of the day and night throughout the castle. These two books are rivetting accounts of life as a prisoner of war.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best escape novels written, January 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Colditz story (Classics of World War II) (Hardcover)

This is one of the greatest novels concerning escape in World War 2 ever written. It focuses on a series of escapes attempted at the famous fortress prison at the town of Colditz known as OFlag IVC. The massive castle was dubbed 'escape proof' by the Germans, yet hundreds of escapes were attempted. Few succeded, but they proved that the castle wasn't 'escape proof'. Reid's book tells the story about his own experiences, as well as those of others in Colditz Castle. This is a fascinating book and everyone should read it. Also check out the movie 'The Colditz Story' which is based on this book. Also be sure to check out two other very good escape books: 'The Wooden Horse' by Eric Williams, and 'The Great Escape' by Paul Brickhill.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The University of Escaping, May 27, 2011

By 

J C E Hitchcock (Tunbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Colditz Story (Paperback)

If you ask anyone in Britain to name a German prisoner-of-war camp from World War II, the answer (unless it is "don't know") will almost certainly be Colditz; few, if any, other camps have achieved anything like the same level of fame. Much of the reason for this lies with this book, the film that was made from it in 1955 and the 1970s television series "Colditz".

The author, Pat Reid, was one of the first British prisoners at Colditz, and he tells the story of his escape from another camp, Laufen, in November 1940, his recapture while trying to make his way to still-neutral Yugoslavia, his detention in Colditz and his eventual successful escape to Switzerland in October 1942. He also wrote another book, "The Latter Days", telling the story of the camp from 1942 until liberation in 1945.

Throughout the book Reid's main concern is the repeated attempts by the prisoners to escape. There must have been thousands of Allied POWs who never attempted to escape, and may never even have thought seriously of doing so, but they were unlikely ever to end up in Colditz. The camp, officially known as Oflag IV-C, was regarded by the Germans as a "Sonderlager", or "special camp"; it was also referred to by them as a "Straflager", or "punishment camp". Situated in a mediaeval castle in the heart of the Third Reich, it was used to house prisoners- British, Polish, French, Dutch and Belgian- who were regarded as particularly anti-German or who had escaped from other camps before being recaptured. The Germans were determined to house such men in an especially secure, escape-proof camp where the inmates would always be outnumbered by their guards.

The prisoners, naturally, were equally determined to prove the enemy wrong about the camp being escape-proof, and there were a number of successful escapes. The German plan was, in fact, self-defeating; by concentrating the most determined and skilful escapers in a single camp they had effectively created a "university of escaping". Indeed, so keen were the inmates to escape that each nationality had to set up its own "escape committee" to vet all escape plans and to weed out those judged to have no chance of success.

The most striking thing about the book is the ingenuity which the prisoners displayed in their escape attempts. Getting out of the camp itself was only half the battle. The escaper also had to be prepared for a long trek across German or German-occupied territory to the safety of neutral Switzerland, which meant that he had to be supplied with food, German currency, civilian clothing and travel documents. We learn how the prisoners managed to procure or manufacture these items, as well as how they managed to break out of the castle, generally tunnelling, by surmounting the barbed-wire fences, by picking locks or (as was done on more than one occasion) by impersonating a German. The future Conservative MP Airey Neave, later murdered by the IRA, walked out disguised as a Nazi officer and became the first British officer to make a "home run" back to Britain.

"The Colditz Story" may be a book about men in captivity, but there is nothing depressing about it. It is, indeed, notable for a light-hearted tone, and it is clear that many of the inmates of the castle responded to their situation with a good deal of wit and humour. Despite his evident patriotism and his equally evident detestation of Nazi philosophy, Reid clearly had no bitterness or hatred towards his German captors, whom he saw as men doing a job as professional soldiers. Often amusing, often exciting, this is a highly readable volume of war memoirs.