Publisher's summary

On the night of March 24, 1944, Bram Vanderstok was number 18 of 76 men who crawled beyond the barbed wire fence of Stalag Luft III in Zagan, Poland. The 1963 film The Great Escape was largely based on this autobiography but - with Vanderstok's agreement - filmmakers chose to turn his story into an Australian character named Sedgwick.

His memoir sets down his wartime adventures before being incarcerated in Stalag Luft III and then, in extraordinary detail, describes various escape attempts which culminated with the famous March breakout. After escaping, Vanderstok roamed Europe for weeks, passing through Leipzig, Utrecht, Brussels, Paris, Dijon, and Madrid, before making it back to England.

He reported to the Air Ministry and two months after escaping returned to the British No. 91 Squadron. In the following months, he flew almost every day to France escorting bombers and knocking down V1 rockets.

In August, 1944, he finally returned to his home. He learned that his two brothers had been killed in concentration camps after being arrested for resistance work. His father had been tortured and blinded by the Gestapo during interrogation. He had never betrayed his son.

©1983 Estate of Bram Vanderstok; Foreword copyright 2019 by Robert Vanderstok; Simon Pearson Preface copyright 2019 by Greenhill Books (P)2019 Tantor
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Wonderful historical story, well written, with excellent narration. Too much “ taking the Lord’s Name in vain”.

Honorable Life of a WWll Pilot

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A great book about an amazing event. This will keep you engaged cover to cover

Excellent Book

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I am very pleased with this story. Good narration, sometimes the accent is a distraction, but this narration is complimentary. The story is incredible!

Incredible story

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I really enjoy listening to biographies and this one makes you feel like you are there. Highly recommended

Great book

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A very well told and well narrated story. Truly enjoyed it. I have much respect for the doctor.

Great Story

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A truly incredible story of an absolutely incredible man before, during and after the war.

Fantastic!

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Great story, good narration, unforgettable History (hopefully never repeated). thank you for making this available.

Excellent story.

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I'm a fan of these WW2 stories so I'm bias in my review.
The things these people seen, went through & had to do on a daily basis just to survive is extraordinary and at times horrifying!

to the author of this book Thank you for your service and for your story!

Absolutely Fascinating!

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I bought this because I am fascinated by the story of the escape. I have read many books on the subject and saw this so figured give it a try. I found many discrepancies between this and other books I have read on the subject. Things like names of who was in charge of what in the escape. The fact that the other books I read all agree on names and this one differs makes me worry how accurate is it. There were still some interesting parts to the story which makes it worth a read or listen but beware if you have read other on the subject you may find your self confused at points about is this book accurate.

Not the best book on subject

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