The Greatest Escape
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Narrated by:
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Adam Fitzgerald
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By:
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Neil Churches
About this listen
The gripping, vividly told story of the largest POW escape in the Second World War—organised by an Australian bank clerk, a British jazz pianist and an American spy.
In August 1944, the most successful POW escape of the Second World War took place—106 Allied prisoners were freed from a camp in Maribor, in present-day Slovenia. The escape was organized not by officers, but by two ordinary soldiers: Australian Ralph Churches (a bank clerk before the war) and Londoner Les Laws (a jazz pianist by profession), with the help of intelligence officer Franklin Lindsay. The American was on a mission to work with the partisans who moved like ghosts through the Alps, ambushing and evading Nazi forces.
How these three men came together—along with the partisans—to plan and execute the escape is told here for the first time. The Greatest Escape, written by Ralph Churches' son Neil, takes us from Ralph and Les’ capture in Greece in 1941 and their brutal journey to Maribor, with many POWs dying along the way, to the horror of seeing Russian prisoners starved to death in the camp. The book uncovers the hidden story of Allied intelligence operations in Slovenia and shows how Ralph became involved. We follow the escapees on a nail-biting 160-mile journey across the Alps, pursued by German soldiers, ambushed and betrayed. And yet, of the 106 men who escaped, 100 made it to safety. Thanks to research across seven countries, The Greatest Escape is no longer a secret.
It is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of the last century.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2022 Macmillan Publishers International Limited (P)2022 Macmillan Publishers International LimitedListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
A tale that redefines the ordinary soldier in the Second World War, The Deserters is a breathtaking work of historical reportage, weaving together the lives of forgotten servicemen even as it overturns the assumptions and prejudices of an era. The Deserters reveals that ordinary soldiers viewed "desertion" as a natural part of conflict, as unexpected and inexplicable as bravery. The Deserters moves beyond the false extremes of courage and cowardice to reveal the true experience of the Allied soldier.
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war is hell
- By Stevon on 10-08-13
By: Charles Glass
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Sons and Soldiers
- The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler
- By: Bruce Henderson
- Narrated by: Brett Barry
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1942 the US Army unleashed one of its greatest secret weapons in the battle to defeat Adolf Hitler: training nearly 2,000 German-born Jews in special interrogation techniques and making use of their mastery of the German language, history, and customs. Known as the Ritchie Boys, they were sent in small, elite teams to join every major combat unit in Europe, where they interrogated German POWs and gathered crucial intelligence that saved American lives and helped win the war.
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Couldn't put it down
- By P. Voelker on 08-06-17
By: Bruce Henderson
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The Women Who Wrote the War
- The Riveting Saga of World War II's Daredevil Women Correspondents
- By: Nancy Caldwell Sorel
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Nancy Sorel’s portrait pays homage to these unsung heroes. They came from Boston, New York, Milwaukee, and St. Louis; from Yakima, Washington; Austin, Texas; and Sioux City, Iowa; from San Francisco and all points east. They left comfortable homes and safe surroundings for combat-zone duty. As women war correspondents, they brought to the battlefields of World War II a fresh optic, and reported back home what they witnessed with a new sensibility.
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Nonfiction Account of WW2 Female News Reporters
- By DHackney on 08-30-13
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The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Atomic Bomb
- By: Neal Bascomb
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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It's 1942 and the Nazis are racing to be the first to build a weapon unlike any known before. They have the physicists, they have the uranium, and now all their plans depend on amassing a single ingredient: heavy water, which is produced in Norway's Vemork, the lone plant in all the world that makes this rare substance. Under threat of death, Vemork's engineers push production into overdrive. For the Allies, the plant must be destroyed.
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Needs a different narrator!!!!
- By Scott on 06-04-16
By: Neal Bascomb
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The Great Raid on Cabanatuan
- Rescuing the Doomed Ghosts of Bataan and Corregidor
- By: William B. Breuer
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Before General MacArthur could fulfill his stirring promise of "I shall return" and retake the Philippines from Japanese control, a remarkable rescue mission would have to take place. Captured American soldiers, emaciated and ill from brutal mistreatment, were still being held at the notorious Cabanatuan prison camp. A small band of Army Rangers set out on a daring rescue effort: to penetrate thirty miles into Japanese-controlled territory, storm the camp, and escape with the POWs...
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A Great Story
- By PCB on 11-08-05
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The Secret Rescue
- An Untold Story of American Nurses and Medics Behind Nazi Lines
- By: Cate Lineberry
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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When 26 Army nurses and medics - part of the 807th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron - boarded a cargo plane for transport in November 1943, they never anticipated the crash landing in Nazi-occupied Albania that would lead to their months-long struggle for survival.
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Well-told story of a WWII rescue
- By bkgrn on 07-01-13
By: Cate Lineberry
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The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz
- A True Story of World War II
- By: Denis Avey, Rob Broomby
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz is the extraordinary true story of a British soldier who marched willingly into the notorious concentration camp, Buna-Monowitz, known as Auschwitz III. In the summer of 1944, Denis Avey was being held in a British POW labor camp, E715, near the site of Auschwitz III. He had heard of the brutality meted out to the prisoners there and he was determined to witness what he could.
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Great, great story
- By Anonymous User on 08-12-11
By: Denis Avey, and others
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Moscow 1941
- A City and Its People at War
- By: Rodric Braithwaite
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The 1941 Battle of Moscow, unquestionably one of the most decisive battles of World War II, marked the first strategic defeat of the German armed forces in their seemingly unstoppable march across Europe. The Soviets lost many more people in this one battle than the British and Americans lost in the whole of the Second World War. Now, with authority and narrative power, Rodric Braithwaite tells the story in large part through the individual experiences of ordinary Russian men and women.
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slow, repetitive
- By Wylie on 12-27-06
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MacArthur's Spies
- The Soldier, the Singer, and the Spymaster Who Defied the Japanese in World War II
- By: Peter Eisner
- Narrated by: Peter Eisner
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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A thrilling story of espionage, daring, and deception set in the exotic landscape of occupied Manila during World War II. On January 2, 1942, Japanese troops marched into Manila unopposed by US forces. Manila was a strategic port, a romantic American outpost, and a jewel of a city. Tokyo saw its conquest of the Philippines as the key in its plan to control all of Asia, including Australia.
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A Must For Travelers To Manila
- By Pete Andresen on 06-20-17
By: Peter Eisner
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Avenue of Spies
- A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris
- By: Alex Kershaw
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The leafy Avenue de Foch, one of the most exclusive residential streets in Nazi-occupied France, was Paris' hotbed of daring spies, murderous secret police, amoral informers, and Vichy collaborators. So when American physician Sumner Jackson, who lived with his wife and young son, Phillip, at Number 11, found himself drawn into the Liberation network of the French resistance, he knew the stakes were impossibly high.
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Gripping, inspirational, and informative!!
- By Constance M. Specht on 09-26-15
By: Alex Kershaw
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Sacrifice on the Steppe
- The Italian Alpine Corps in the Stalingrad Campaign, 1942-1943
- By: Hope Hamilton
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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When Germany’s Sixth Army advanced to Stalingrad in 1942, its long-extended flanks were mainly held by its allied armies - the Romanians, Hungarians, and Italians. But as history tells us, these flanks quickly caved in before the massive Soviet counter-offensive which commenced that November, dooming the Germans to their first catastrophe of the war. However, the historical record also makes clear that one allied unit held out to the very end, fighting to stem the tide - the Italian Alpine Corps.
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Tens of thousands of my countrymen dead.
- By Meliannos on 06-03-15
By: Hope Hamilton
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The Saboteur
- The Aristocrat Who Became France's Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando
- By: Paul Kix
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of Agent Zigzag comes this breathtaking biography, as fast-paced and emotionally intuitive as the very best spy thrillers, which illuminates an unsung hero of the French Resistance during World War II - Robert de La Rochefoucald, an aristocrat turned anti-Nazi saboteur - and his daring exploits as a résistant trained by Britain's Special Operations Executive.
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Brave outstanding young man
- By paula wright on 06-02-20
By: Paul Kix
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The Brenner Assignment
- The Untold Story of the Most Daring Spy Mission of World War II
- By: Patrick K. O'Donnell
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Like a scene from Where Eagles Dare, a small team of American spies parachutes into Italy behind enemy lines. Their orders: link up with local partisans and sabotage the well-guarded Brenner Pass - the Nazis' crucial supply route through the Alps - thereby bringing the German war effort in Italy to a grinding halt.
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Interesting History
- By Gary L. Richardson on 03-21-24
What listeners say about The Greatest Escape
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dorothy
- 11-03-23
Review
Interesting description of POW’s in Slovenia and their eventual escape. Lots of names that are hard to keep track of.
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- HSB
- 06-09-22
Great story but easy to get lost in the narrative
I love historical narratives like this, with compelling people and a fascinating piece of history. This is a great story. I found the writing can meander a little, and I got lost a few times trying to remember where I had gotten to in the overall journey. I had to listen to some chapelets twice to get situated again. But still, I learned about an event that took place in WWII about which I had not heard anything before.
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Overall
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A lesser known WW2 POW escape story
Narration is sufficiently clear but lacks zip and zest when relating the more dramatic episodes. Personally, I like WW2 audios read by men having deeper voices. Tenors seem out of place when reading WW2 events. It is difficult to take them seriously.
I nonetheless recommend this audio, because the story focuses on a unique australian/New Zealand soldiers’ experiences as captives in camps located in Slovenia, an area of the world not normally considered in WW2 works.
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1 person found this helpful