In the Shadows of War: An American Pilot's Odyssey Through Occupied France and the Camps of Nazi Germany [Paperback]

Thomas Childers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2004 | ISBN-10: 0805057536 | ISBN-13: 978-0805057539

A “masterful example of nonfiction brought to life”* —the harrowing account of an aviator’s World War II journey and the two people who helped him along the way

In a small village in France during the fateful summer of 1944, three disparate lives converged in an unlikely secret alliance. Just after D-Day, Colette Florin hid downed American bomber pilot Roy Allen in her rooms above the tiny girls’ school where she taught. While concealing him, she was drawn deeper into the clandestine world of the regional underground. There she met the local leader of the Resistance: Pierre Mulsant, a young Frenchman trained by the British secret service who had parachuted into France in the spring of 1944.
Drawn from extensive interviews, letters, and archival documents in Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, In the Shadows of War follows the fateful twists and turns of Allen’s journey from rural France to Paris, capture by the Gestapo, imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp and then a POW camp, and eventual liberation. It is an unforgettable, profoundly moving human drama of love and courage and sacrifice.

*The Washington Post Book World

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The paths of three unlikely comrades-a schoolteacher in a rural French town, a downed bomber pilot from Philadelphia, a British-trained French bourgeois saboteur-meet and merge between November 1943 and May 1945. Local teacher Colette Florin, active as support for various resistance operations, provides intermittent shelter on the school's unused upper floor for Pierre Mulsant, who might otherwise have lived comfortably off his family's construction business, after he parachutes in from England in 1943. American flyer Roy Allen, after several successful missions, is shot down in June 1944 and ends up at Florin's schoolhouse as well. Florin is at risk of betrayal not only from collaborators but from neighbors with "petty jealousies and old grievances." As the friendship of the three develops, Allen, restless in confinement, attempts an ill-advised passage to liberated Paris only to be delivered to the Gestapo and sent to Buchenwald. He soon meets up with Mulsant, who has also been betrayed. Mulsant is executed. Allen makes it though the war and visits Florin before returning to the States. University of Pennsylvania historian Childers (The Nazi Voter) delivers this grim, stirring account with rich characterization, believable dialogue, graphic scene setting, telling details and pacing that are rare for military history. He places his heroic central figures among their families, their co-workers (the plane's crew, the transmitter operator, the demolition expert), their co-conspirators (the milkman, the postman, the public prosecutor), those who assist them, those who betray them and those who are their captors and torturers. Using military archives, private papers and interviews as well as memoirs and firsthand accounts, Childers gives us an extensive, pointed cross-section of the war in France from the perspectives of those who knew the stakes, and acted.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

This is a thrilling chronicle of three ordinary young people who did extraordinary things under the intense pressure of war and clandestine resistance. Colette Florin was a schoolteacher in rural France who was gradually drawn into supporting the Resistance; Roy Allen, an American pilot, was shot down just after D-Day and hidden by Colette in her school. Pierre Mulsant was trained in Britain and assumed control of the local Resistance organization in the spring of 1944. The author, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, has used interviews, correspondence, and documentary evidence to re-create the interwoven stories of these three brave people. At the same time, Childers illustrates the constant fear, shocking betrayals, and often random brutality that characterized their environment. This outstanding true-life thriller combines the best elements of espionage novels and wartime memoirs, and is a treasure for both scholars and laymen who appreciate a superbly told story. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805057536
• ISBN-13: 978-0805057539
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #272,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

THOMAS CHILDERS is the Sheldon and Lucy Hackney Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of five previous books on the Third Reich and World War II, most recently, Wings of Morning and In the Shadows of War.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I've read in years, April 7, 2003

By 

Richard E. Hourula (Berkeley, CA. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Shadows of War: An American Pilot's Odyssey Through Occupied France and the Camps of Nazi Germany (Hardcover)

"In the Shadows of War" is a triumph on numerous levels. First it's one helluva story. The true adventures of Roy Allen, the US pilot shot down over France in June 1944, are remarkable. Moreover, Childers is a skilled writer. The reader will feel transported to France and Germany in 1944-45. The experience of being an Allied pilot, of hiding from the enemy, fearing for one's life, suffering horrible depravations and barbarity are vividly presented. The bravery of the French resistantce fighters is inspiring as the cruelty of the SS and Gestapo is frightening. Concentration camps are not so much described as guided through. The forced march during a snowstorm from one POW camp to the next is similarly endured.
The central character, Roy Allen, is cast as a heroic figure, with an indominable will to survive, all the while doing the right thing. (How Childers tells Allen's story apparently without ever having met him is also a noteworthy acheivement). But it is also evident that there were many Roy Allens who served the Allies in WWII.
"In the Shadows of War " also has a strong supporting cast. Most especially, Colette Florin the school teacher who risked her life to hide Allen in her apartment. Childers wisely takes the time to fully introduces and present Florin and the rest of the "cast."
This book will not just have appeal to World War II buffs. Anyone who likes a cracking good story and appreciates good writing will be drawn into the "Shadows of War."

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gripping Account of Heroism and Tenacity, February 12, 2003

By 

Dr. Eugene J. Bass (Cherry Hill, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Shadows of War: An American Pilot's Odyssey Through Occupied France and the Camps of Nazi Germany (Hardcover)

Thomas Childers, a most distinguished professor of history and scholar, has written a gripping true account of an American aviator whose B17 was shot down over occupied France shortly after D-day in 1944. No work of fiction could approach the compelling story of Lt. Roy Allen who was rescued by members of the French resistance and was ultimately the victim of Nazi orchestrated treachery. Protected by a French schoolteacher, her family and friends, in a rural and forest region populated by patriots, his need to return to combat led to months of a hellish existence in the prisons and camps of France and Germany.
Professor Childers writes in a style that is very readable as was his earlier book "The Wings of Morning" and I found it very difficult to put "In The Shadows of War" down. It is definitely an outstanding read!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History That Reads Like A Novel., April 19, 2003

By 

John P. Rooney "John" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Shadows of War: An American Pilot's Odyssey Through Occupied France and the Camps of Nazi Germany (Hardcover)

"In The Shadows Of War" by Thomas Childers. Sub-titled: "An American Pilot's Odyssey Through Occupied France And The Camps Of Nazi Germany". Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2002.

This book is so well written that it reads like a novel, with suspense building up as you turn each page.
Will the B-17 pilot, Roy Allen, escape from his badly damaged aircraft? Will he be captured by the Germans? Or be rescued by the French Resistance? The French get to him first and he is assigned to a hiding place in a small village. The young teacher, Colette Florin, hides him as they all await liberation by the Allied Armies coming from the Normandy Beaches. But the Allies are delayed by fierce fighting that Summer of 1944, and Roy Allen decides to leave the relative safety of Colette Florin's rooms above the girls' school. He wants to travel to occupied Paris to reach the Resistance pipeline to get him out of France. It was here that the "novel" aspects began to overwhelm me. I said to myself that I would not write it that way; it would be more realistic if the American flyer stayed with the French teacher in the so-called "Golden Cage" and wait for the Allied Armies. Then I saw the photo section (between pages 240 & 241), and I was reminded that Roy Allen actually existed! He was NOT a fictional character. Nor was Colette. They, along with Pierre Muslant, lived and struggled in wartime France. Pierre Muslant was a member of the French Resistance who was to help Roy escape via Paris. Along with Roy, Muslant was captured and died in Buchenwald, so there is only a sketch of him, not a photograph.

The excellent writing along with the actual story of this adventure made it almost impossible to put this book down. Just remember, as you read the book, it is fact, not fiction.