We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance [Paperback]

David Howarth (Author), Stephen E. Ambrose (Introduction)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1558219730 | ISBN-13: 978-1558219731 | Publication Date: August 1, 1999 | Edition: 1st

One of the most exciting escape narratives to emerge from the challenges and miseries of World War II chronicles Jan Baalsrud’s escape from Nazi-occupied arctic Norway.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If this story of espionage and survival were a novel, readers might dismiss the Shackleton-like exploits of its hero as too fantastic to be taken seriously. But respected historian David Howarth confirmed the details of Jan Baalsrud's riveting tale. It begins in the spring of 1943, with Norway occupied by the Nazis and the Allies desperate to open the northern sea lanes to Russia. Baalsrud and three compatriots plan to smuggle themselves into their homeland by boat, spend the summer recruiting and training resistance fighters, and launch a surprise attack on a German air base. But he's betrayed shortly after landfall, and a quick fight leaves Baalsrud alone and trapped on a freezing island above the Arctic Circle. He's poorly clothed (one foot is entirely bare), has a head start of only a few hundred yards on his Nazi pursuers, and leaves a trail of blood as he crosses the snow. How he avoids capture and ultimately escapes--revealing that much spoils nothing in this white-knuckle narrative--is astonishing stuff. Baalsrud's feats make the travails in Jon Krakauer's Mt. Everest classic Into Thin Air look like child's play. In an introduction, Stephen Ambrose calls We Die Alone a rare reading experience: "a book that I absolutely cannot put down until I've finished it and one that I can never forget." This amazing book will disappoint no one. --John J. Miller

From Library Journal

This 1955 volume is one of the most remarkable survival stories ever written. Jan Baalsrud was the only survivor of a Norwegian commando team ambushed by the Nazis during World War II. Wounded and with the Germans in pursuit, Baalsrud escaped and miraculously fought his way through the Norwegian tundra to a distant village, where he was saved by locals who helped spirit him to Sweden. Baalsrud suffered frostbite and snowblindness, came through an avalanche, and lived to tell the tale. This edition has a new introduction by Citizen Soldiers' author Stephen Ambrose.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558219730
• ISBN-13: 978-1558219731
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (115 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #448,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > History > Europe > Norway

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

131 of 136 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true story you'll never believe, January 5, 2001

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We Die Alone (The Adventure Library) (Hardcover)

There are few tales of epic endurance that can match this, in fact I find it hard to believe that anyone could have lived through this at all. I kept re-reading parts because I couldn't believe what I was reading. David Howarth's true story of the escape of Jan Baalsrud, a Norwegian Saboteur, in the Spring of 1943 was a page turner, I kept wondering how it could possible get end up, and each time I thought things were as bad as they could get it got worse.

It is a simple tale of escape and those brave souls who helped him make his way from Norway to neutral Sweden. In March 1943 Jan was part of group of 11 other men who travelled secretly to German held Norway in order to sabotage an airbase. However through an extraodinarily bad coincidence the contact they made there was with a man who betrayed them. Their boat was ambushed by the Germans the following morning, 30th of March. Interestingly there is the German news account of this ambush in the appendix at the back of the book and it does not tally well with the real event. Only Jan managed to escape from the ambush. The fate of the rest of his crew, which is only known in sketchy detail was horrific so his decision to try flee rather than surrender proved the right thing to do. However this left him alone on a bleak tiny island in the Norwegian Sounds with his toe shot off in the freezing arctic spring. The next two months he swam through icy seas, got caught in blizzards and avalanches and finally too injured to carry on himself, was carried by partisan Norwegians to Sweden. I don't know what is more incredible about this story or this man. His will was astonishing. For one week he was left alone on a deserted plateau alone with almost no food, frost bitten feet and wet clothes. When he was finally found again he had to endure a further two weeks living alone on the plateau with only occassional visitors.

I have read a lot of epic survival stories in my time - of Shackleton, and Scott and their epic journeys, but these men were generally part of a group and if nothing else may draw strength from their companions. For much of Jan's trip he was alone, and very often so weak and vulnerable his survival while others worked for his survival, very often for days at a time he was vulnerable and alone and with no hope that anyone would come and rescue him, yet he survived. Each time men came to him expecting to find him dead and he wasn't - he was clinging to life. This is such a powerful story, and well told. I don't think you could read it and remain unmoved.

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a survival classic, November 27, 2000

By 

l a davis (athens, pa, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance (Paperback)

first read this incredible tale of one man's refusal to die alone forty years ago--have been recommending to people ever since. jan baalsrud--a norwegian patriot during wwII--captured my imagination in the page's of david howarth's riveting book, and his story of survival under the relentless pursuit of the nazi's, is maybe the best to come out of that war. page after page, the twists and turns, the chance meetings and narrow escapes, the unrelenting suspense...a book you simply can't put down. and written well enough that it doesn't matter if you're a seventh grader, as i was four decades ago, or a senior citizen, as i'm rapidly becoming. its just a great read. you'll never forget jan baalsrud..guaranteed.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Incredible true WWII survival tale, rippingly told., July 10, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: We Die Alone (The Adventure Library) (Hardcover)

One winter, in the midst of WWII, a crew of expatriate Norwegians attempted to land a cargo of guerilla supplies on Nazi-occupied Norway's far-northern coast. This book tells the story of the incredible privation endured by one of those men, Jan Balsruud, his hardihood and survival, and the risks and sacrifices undertaken on his behalf by the men and women who help him evade capture.

I first read _We_Die_Alone_ some thirty years ago, in the first paperback edition, and I know that certain of its scenes and events will stay with me so long as I live. Howarth recounts the story simply, and lets the facts provide the drama.

Strongly recommended.