The Great Escape

I don't remember too many specifics from this book but I'm not much of a reader and this still managed to catch my attention. The story is very well written and goes into depth about each characters views on the events unfolding. A very personal story with a very in depth yet still captivating writing style. Loved this book and would highly suggest it for anyone who's into wartime stories.

It's a shame the publisher decided to put a picture on the cover of Steve McQueen wrapped up in the barbed wire at the end of his big motorcycle escape attempt. Because, you see, that never happened in the TRUE story of the Great Escape contained in this book. The movie (while good) took serious dramatic license, while Brickhill's book presents the facts. And they are quite inspiring and thrilling enough without the addition of fictional elements such as McQueen's stunt riding. I first read this book while in elementary school, and was hooked to the extent that I've read it many times since over the decades. A truly outstanding story.

Once again, after reading the book, I’ll probably never watch the movie again! The detail and bravery of the P.O.W.’s is amazing and inspiring. Paul Brickhill was actually there, so the reality of day to day living is quite imaginative.

So the wife was out of town for awhile and I saw the movie was going to be on TCM. Excellent. Settled in, fire in the fireplace, munchies close at hand, and watched it. Even watched the credits. And that's when I found it was based on the book. If I ever knew that, I had forgotten about it. So how cool is it that we've had things like Amazon around for the last 20 years and we can easily look up and order the book? And then supplement it with pictures and other information from the actual location? Anyway, this is supposed to be about the book. It isn't that big, it probably never won any awards for great writing style, but what it does do is tell the story clearly and succinctly the series of events surrounding the conception, planning and execution of the escape as well as the aftermath. The book fills in a lot more details left out of the movie, such as the document forgeries and tunnel construction, as well as tunnel collapses. It also goes into the personal details of the people involved. Basically, it accomplishes what it set out to do: relate the story of a group of people who, even though they were imprisoned, continued to fight the war despite the consequences.

Good quality on a used book. I used it for a unique gift, for WWII buff. Perfect.

What I found fascinating about the book, versus that of the famous Steve McQueen movie of the same name, is that the book details how, at the end of WW2 special "teams" located ALL of those responsible for ordering and doing the killings ordered by Hitler, of those 50 prisoners that were shot by the Nazis. It also describes how they were NOT (as in the movie) all shot at once. There were at least six different "settings" of shooting these 50. Also very interesting to me, is that the book's author, Paul Brickhil, was one of the actual escapees but, as he says in the book, even though he was chosen to be among those escaping, he was told could NOT go as they needed someone to "stay behind and tell their story." He describes in this interesting book how disappointed he was NOT to go, but when he heard later on what had happened, he was VERY glad he did not go. Another fascinating book about WW2 that I urge you to add to your collection.

A baby boomer who grew up reading stories about ww2. This story was written by someone who was there. Amazing what these men did. A movie was made about this story in1963. I would suggest it to anyone interested in that time period.

I love the old movie, but this is more detailed and more historically correct. If you are a history nut, or just loved the movie, you will enjoy this book!

Easy read, we all know the story. Great book

Importation anglaise, édition italienne et VF de surcroit, que demander de plus alors que l'édition française est en anglais sous-titrée. Vu l'âge de la réalisation, il est probablement l'un des meilleurs films de guerre (aviation) réalisé. Les effets spéciaux, sans être inutilement spectaculaires, de l'époque, sont surprenants. On frise le documentaire. Quant aux acteurs leur jeu est sans fioriture, naturel et convaincant. Retrouver dans les boni quelques uns de ces vieux de la vieille est tout à fait sympathique et reflète bien le courage et le talent de ces hommes sans lesquels, peut-être, ce commentaire n'aurait pu être écrit. De plus le N et B ajoute à la valeur dramatique et au réalisme, ce que bien souvent la couleur et surtout la colorisation, dans ce genre de film, affaiblit. Quelques rares scènes sont en anglais. Je suppose qu'elles correspondent à des coupures faites à l'époque pour rester dans le cadre des 90'. Un petit défaut, deux arrêts sur image au moment du générique (de début comme à l'époque) de 2 ou 3 secondes qui ne gênent en rien la projection. A 60 ans et des poussières une petite faiblesse est acceptable et nous sommes prévenus au dos de la boîte. Elégance italienne.

Nada que objetar

I was looking for this book in Italian but it seems it has never been translated. Well written, with an accurate scientific style but also humor (despite the situation). Easily readable by not-native speakers.

Ingenuo e datato, ma straordinario! Meglio di qualunque film di supereroi, perché questi furono dei veri eroi. Per il appassionati di aviazione ma anche per chi rimpiange il cinema vero.