The Last Escape: The Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War in Europe 1944-45 [Paperback]

John Nichol (Author), Tony Rennell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2004

As World War II approached its end, thousands of American and British soldiers languished in German POW camps. With the Russian Red Army closing in from the east and Allied troops advancing from the west, Hitler forced the POWs deeper into the heart of Germany. Over the next several months these prisoners were forced to walk more than 500 miles through the severest of winter conditions, and hundreds died from exhaustion, disease, and starvation. Here—for the first time—interviews with the POWs who survived as well as their diaries and letters bring this astonishing tale of endurance and courage to life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of Tornado Down, former RAF Flight Lt. Nichol was a Gulf War POW, while Last Days of Glory author Rennell is the former associate editor of the London Sunday Times. They cleverly weave WWII policy decisions dealing with POWs with firsthand accounts of POWs inside prison camps in Europe and during the forced evacuation marches many endured during the last months of the war. As the Russians advanced in summer 1944, POWs were crammed into boxcars (and, later, ships), attacked by guards in retaliation for Allied bombing of Germany and sent on extensive forced marches, described here in horrifying detail. As the war ended, some Red Cross relief convoys got through, but General Patton failed in an attempt to liberate a POW camp holding his son-in-law behind German lines. The reluctance of Russians to return liberated British and American POWs to the West was balanced by the issue of forced repatriation of former Soviet POWs who didn't want to return to the Stalinist state. Nichol and Rennell offer anecdotal evidence that some POWs were killed by the SS, and retribution by prisoners against brutal guards also occurred. In the postwar lives of a few POWs featured, incarceration took a physical and psychological toll. While offering little in the way of new information, and failing to cover fully the complete spectrum of prison camps and prisoner nationalities, the authors provide a compelling account of the ways, means and effects of mass imprisonment during the last terrible century.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The authors note that there were an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 British and American prisoners in camps across Germany in 1944 and 1945 who survived World War II. Nichol and Rennell admit that gathering precise information was a problem in their research for this book, and they remind readers that it is not a definitive history of the POW camps. Yet from such sources as interviews, diaries, and more than 60 books on the subject, they describe in vivid detail the horrendous conditions in the camps and the forced marches after the Allied landing in France on June 6, 1944, and the Russian army's advance from the east. Survivors tell of the bitter cold, illness, filth, lack of food, despair, exhaustion, and indignities. They relate their fear of being shot by the guards, their faith in God, and their homesickness. They remember how hidden radios kept them informed of the war's progress and how Red Cross parcels sometimes brought them much-needed food. An exceptional chronicle of bravery and endurance. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (April 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142004472
• ISBN-13: 978-0142004470
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,263,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Tragic Story Of Allied POWs in WWII Germany, August 13, 2003

By 

L. Mayes (Rapid City, SD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Escape: The Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War in Europe 1944-45 (Hardcover)

Few history books will ever have a more immediate and visceral impact on a reader; this is a chronicle of horror, bravery, hate, love and uncertainty woven into a rich tapestry of human endeavor at the absolute limit of comprehension. The authors have put stark human faces on one of the great acts of treachery and inhumanity of the Third Reich. In the brutal winter of 1944-45 the Germans began moving over 200,000 allied POWs from the advancing Russian armies toward the west, for reasons not certain even today. The particular ordeals of POWs from a selected number of the camps are described in riveting detail, with the personalities and actions of key POW participants richly revealed in often first-hand accounts and from recent interviews and testimony. It is almost unreal the depth of depravity inflicted by the Germans, particularly the SS, on these marches, some hundreds of miles long and lasting over several months. It seems incomprehensible that as a signatory to the Geneva Convention and a generally Christian nation that the Germans could be so uncaring of fellow humans; and as badly as the American and British POWs suffered, the treatment of the Russian prisoners will leave the reader profoundly disturbed. The authors follow the main characters throughout the ordeal and in many cases through the happiness and disappointments they faced after liberation. The book is carefully constructed so that as events unfold on the ground the reader is given the backdrop of actions by the governments and military hierarchies of the USA, UK, Soviet Union and Germany which help to explain the cascading events leading to the tragedy. Like a really good novel, the books gives us a look at the aftermath, when both heroes and scoundrels get what they deserve, or, all too often, what they don't deserve. Readers will find themselves cheering on the good guys and screaming invective at the bad guys and there are many of them, on both sides of the wire. This is THE book to top the "must read" list of anyone who enjoys or studies WWII history; buy it, read it and share it with friends; this is an important and largely unknown story superbly written.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the great atrocities of World War II, June 22, 2003

By 

Daniel Ford (at danford dot net) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last Escape: The Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War in Europe 1944-45 (Hardcover)

In December 1944, some 270,000 American, British, and Commonwealth prisoners were sent on the road so they wouldn't be liberated by the advancing Allied armies. Nichol (himself a PW during the first Gulf War) and Rennell have dug out the stories of these men, who were marched for hundreds of miles through one of the worst winters Germany has ever experienced--half frozen, generally unfed, racked with dysentery, and apt at any moment to be shot by a German guard or strafed by Allied aircraft who had no idea who they were. Afterward, their ordeal was forgotten by all but themselves. An excellent account of an unknown atrocity, which left thousands dead and other thousands crippled for life. -- Dan Ford

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good blend of person person history and research, July 22, 2003

By 

Lynn R. Fairbanks (Diamond Bar, California United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last Escape: The Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War in Europe 1944-45 (Hardcover)

Historical works tend to lean to one of two sides--first person recollections or cumbersome accounts of occurences with often little signficance. THE LAST ESCAPE transcends both of these genres and presents a most readable account of the western European POW experience during the last two years of World War II. Prisoners-of-war have seemingly been the focus of many books in the past few years but this volume informs the reader with a thorough picture of daily life, the forced marches and ultimate liberation. What makes the book stand out from others is its presentation of archival material which gives a scholarly background of not only why the Germans did what they did, but why the Allies reacted in their own manner. Stalin's dealings with the Soviet role in the POW situation are nothing less than fascinating and the role of families back home (home being England) and their coping with loved ones in captivity or worse, whereabouts unknown, mesmerize the reader with a sense of empathy not often seen in historical works of this nature. Readers are, of course familiar with POW books such as THE WOODEN HORSE, THE GREAT ESCAPE, A GALLANT COMPANY, et al, but THE LAST ESCAPE is the only book (aside from the excellent Vietnam prisoner book HONOR BOUND by Rochester and Kiley)topresent a most impressive blend of humanizing accounts with diligent academic research.When considered in the context of the supporting material, the recollections of RAF and USAAF prisoners take on an entirely new meaning and present a view of despair, frustration, dashed hopes and finally the job (but at the same time) uncertainty of freedom. THE LAST ESCAPE splendidly portrays these roller coster emotions on the part of prisoners.