RAF Escapers and Evaders in WWII

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Author :
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1473850479
Total Pages : 334 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (738 download)

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Book Synopsis RAF Escapers and Evaders in WWII by : Martin W. Bowman

Download or read book RAF Escapers and Evaders in WWII written by Martin W. Bowman and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2015-01-30 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Second World War, 156 RAF men successfully escaped from German PoW camps in Western Europe. A further 1,975 men evaded capture after having been shot down over this same territory. Martin Bowman has drawn together tales of just a handful of these men, illustrating the bravery and resourcefulness that characterised their experiences. British, American, and Canadian pilot testimonies all feature, as does the fascinating story of a female secret agent, parachuted behind enemy lines. By bringing these stories together, Bowman is able to capture an authentic sense of the times at hand and the reality of life as an escaper/evader during this tumultuous and incredibly dangerous time. This is an entertaining publication set to keep readers on the edge of the seats, and it serves as a tribute to the courageous individuals who found themselves behind enemy lines during the Second World War.

RAF Evaders

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Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1908117710
Total Pages : 959 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (81 download)

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Book Synopsis RAF Evaders by : Oliver Clutton-Brock

Download or read book RAF Evaders written by Oliver Clutton-Brock and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2009-02-19 with total page 959 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stories of the British airmen shot down over Western Europe who evaded capture by the Germans and made their way to Allied territory during World War II. During the five years from May 1940 to May 1945 several thousand Allied airmen, forced to abandon their aircraft behind enemy lines, evaded capture and reached freedom, by land, sea and air. The territory held by the Germans was immense—from Norway and Denmark in the north, through Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg to the south of France—and initially there was no organization to help the men on the run. The first one to assist the evaders and escapers (“E & E” as the Americans called them) was the PAT line, along the Mediterranean coast to Perpignan and down the Spanish border; named after a naval officer Pat O’Leary, from 1942 it became the PAO line. Next was the Comet line, from Brussels to the Pyrenees. Thousands of brave people were to be involved for whom, if caught, the penalty was death. Theirs is a stirring and awe-inspiring story. Respected historian Oliver Clutton-Brock has researched in depth this secret world of evasion, uncovering some treachery and many hitherto unpublished details, operations and photos. It is a tremendous reference work, written in his own colorful style with numerous anecdotes, which fills a gap of knowledge formerly unavailable to historians, professional or amateur. Packed the information, key figure biographies and listings—2, 094 evaders identified—this is a valuable testimony to the courage of all those involved.

Voices in Flight

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781473850613
Total Pages : 269 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (56 download)

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Book Synopsis Voices in Flight by : Martin W. Bowman

Download or read book Voices in Flight written by Martin W. Bowman and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Second World War, 156 RAF men successfully escaped from German PoW camps in Western Europe. A further 1,975 men evaded capture after having been shot down over this same territory. Martin Bowman has drawn together tales of just a handful of these men, illustrating the bravery and resourcefulness that characterised their experiences. British, American, and Canadian pilot testimonies all feature, as does the fascinating story of a female secret agent, parachuted behind enemy lines. By bringing these stories together, Bowman is able to capture an authentic sense of the times at hand an.

Escape, Evasion and Revenge

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Author :
Publisher : Pen and Sword Aviation
ISBN 13 : 9781848845541
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (455 download)

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Book Synopsis Escape, Evasion and Revenge by : Marc H. Stevens

Download or read book Escape, Evasion and Revenge written by Marc H. Stevens and published by Pen and Sword Aviation. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Stevens was a German-Jewish refugee who escaped Nazi persecution as a teenager in 1933. He joined the RAF in 1939 and after eighteen months of pilot training he started flying bombing missions against his own country. He completed twenty-two missions before being shot down and taken prisoner by the Nazis in September 1941. To escape became his raison d'être and his great advantage was that he was in his native country. He was recaptured after each of his several escapes, but the Nazis never realized his true identity. He took part in the logistics and planning of several major breakouts, including The Great Escape, but was never successful in getting back to England. After liberation, when the true nature of his exploits came to light, he was awarded the Military Cross. He then served as a British spy at the beginning of the Cold War before emigrating to Canada to resume a normal life. This is the story of a heavily conflicted young man, alone in a world that is in the midst of destruction. He is afforded an opportunity to help his persecuted people to obtain a small measure of revenge. It is at once a sad yet uplifting tale of thankless and unheralded heroism.

Air Forces Escape & Evasion Society

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Author :
Publisher : Turner Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 9781563110344
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Air Forces Escape & Evasion Society by : Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society

Download or read book Air Forces Escape & Evasion Society written by Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 1992 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the brave American men who flew and were shot down in Europe during World War II, but were able to escape imprisonment due to the efforts of those who aided them. A source of information on the European underground resistance groups of World War II. The book contains rare photographs, maps, and war documents.

Silent Heroes

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Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813147980
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis Silent Heroes by : Sherri Greene Ottis

Download or read book Silent Heroes written by Sherri Greene Ottis and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-07-11 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early years of World War II, it was an amazing feat for an Allied airman shot down over occupied Europe to make it back to England. By 1943, however, pilots and crewmembers, supplied with "escape kits," knew they had a 50 percent chance of evading capture and returning home. An estimated 12,000 French civilians helped make this possible. More than 5,000 airmen, many of them American, successfully traveled along escape lines organized much like those of the U.S. Underground Railroad, using secret codes and stopping in safe houses. If caught, they risked internment in a POW camp. But the French, Belgian, and Dutch civilians who aided them risked torture and even death. Sherri Ottis writes candidly about the pilots and crewmen who walked out of occupied Europe, as well as the British intelligence agency in charge of Escape and Evasion. But her main focus is on the helpers, those patriots who have been all but ignored in English-language books and journals. To research their stories, Ottis hiked the Pyrenees and interviewed many of the survivors. She tells of the extreme difficulty they had in avoiding Nazi infiltration by double agents; of their creativity in hiding evaders in their homes, sometimes in the midst of unexpected searches; of their generosity in sharing their meager food supplies during wartime; and of their unflagging spirit and courage in the face of a war fought on a very personal level.

Home Run

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Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 085052301X
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (55 download)

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Book Synopsis Home Run by : Richard Townshend Bickers

Download or read book Home Run written by Richard Townshend Bickers and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 1992-08-01 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the Second World War, the first duty of Allied airman brought down in enemy territory was to evade capture and make good their return to Britain. Preventing this was a major preoccupation of the Germans-both sides new that it took too much time and expense to train pilots and aircrew. Home Run collects the dramatic stories of some of those who succeeded in evading their hunters. They are stories of great courage and endurance, not only of the escapers, but also those who helped them; the penalty for those who hid, succoured and guided downed airman, if they were caught, was death. Inevitably, there were rotten apples among the helpers; one of the most fascinating pieces in this book tells of a British confidence trickster who, while he certainly helped some of the evaders on their way, equally certainly betrayed others- and many of his collogues- to the enemy. Here, too, is the engaging story of another confidence trickster, this time a Luftwaffe officer, who conned his way to freedom- and decoration by Adolf Hitler for deeds he had done. Richard Townshend Bicker's latest book is a very readable collection of accounts which, if we did not know them to be true, would be almost impossible to believe. It is also a tribute not only to the triumph of the human spirit over every kind of adversity, but also to the almost limitless extent of human ingenuity and daring.

Evasion and Escape Devices Produced by MI9, MIS-X, and SOE in World War II

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Author :
Publisher : Schiffer Military History
ISBN 13 : 9780764348396
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (483 download)

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Book Synopsis Evasion and Escape Devices Produced by MI9, MIS-X, and SOE in World War II by : Phil Froom

Download or read book Evasion and Escape Devices Produced by MI9, MIS-X, and SOE in World War II written by Phil Froom and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book describes the design, manufacture, covert shipment and use of the many ingenious evasion and escape devices provided to Allied troops during WWII. Following the fall of mainland Europe, hostile Allied actions against land-based Axis forces were generally limited to air attacks. However, as the numbers of those attacks increased, the number of aircraft and crews failing to return grew alarmingly: something needed to be done to provide these air crews with aids to enable them to evade to safe territory or escape captivity, or losses of irreplaceable crews would become critical. Britains MI-9 and U.S. MIS-X organizations were formed solely to support evaders and prisoners of war in occupied territories. They developed a wide variety of evasion and escape devices that were given to Allied Forces prior to operations in hostile territory or delivered clandestinely to POWs. It worked: the aids facilitated the return of thousands of men to their units."--Publisher description.

Evader

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781580801157
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis Evader by : Denys Teare

Download or read book Evader written by Denys Teare and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More thrilling than any fiction, this book charts the true story of RAF crewman Denys Teare's year in Occupied France, a year spent a half-step ahead of Gestapo troopers determined to hunt him down.

Escape from Germany

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 378 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Escape from Germany by : Aidan Crawley

Download or read book Escape from Germany written by Aidan Crawley and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tilfangetagne RAF-flybesætningers forhold i tyske fangelejre, deres måde at organisere flugtforsøg på, samt om de historisk kendte flugtforsøg.

Zero Night

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Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 125007374X
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Zero Night by : Mark Felton

Download or read book Zero Night written by Mark Felton and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Non-fiction that reads like a novel! A thrilling, moment by moment account of an epic escape and the real-life adventures that followed.

So Close to Freedom

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Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 1640121757
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (41 download)

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Book Synopsis So Close to Freedom by : Jean-Luc E. Cartron

Download or read book So Close to Freedom written by Jean-Luc E. Cartron and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2019-04-01 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II many escape-line organizations contributed to the Allied cause by funneling hundreds of servicemen trapped behind enemy lines out of occupied Europe. As the Germans tightened their noose around the escape lines and infiltrated them, the risk of discovery only grew for the servicemen who, in ever-increasing numbers, needed safe passage across the Pyrenees. In early 1944 two important escape-line organizations operated in Toulouse in southwestern France, handing over many fugitives to French passeur Jean-Louis Bazerque ("Charbonnier"). Along with several of his successful missions, Charbonnier's only failure as a passeur is recounted in gripping detail in So Close to Freedom. This riveting story recounts how Charbonnier tried to guide a large group of fugitives--most of them downed Allied airmen, along with a French priest, two doctors, a Belgian Olympic skater, and others--to freedom across the Pyrenees. Tragically, they were discovered by German mountain troopers just shy of the Spanish border. Jean-Luc E. Cartron offers the first detailed account of what happened, showing how Charbonnier operated, his ties with "the Françoise" (previously "Pat O'Leary") escape-line organization, and how the group was betrayed and by whom. So Close to Freedom sheds light not only on the complex and precarious work of escape lines but also on the concrete, nerve-racking experiences of the airmen and those helping them. It shows the desperation of all those seeking passage to Spain, the myriad dangers they faced, and the lengths they would go to in order to survive.

Journey to the Horizon

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Author :
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 9083086011
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (83 download)

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Book Synopsis Journey to the Horizon by : Hans Onderwater

Download or read book Journey to the Horizon written by Hans Onderwater and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2021-07-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the epic story of Escape and Evasion during World War Two. Main character is Donald Kenyon Willis, an American pilot who fought with the Fins against the Russians in 1940, then joined the Norwegian Naval Air Arm against the Germans, escaped to the Shetlands, joined the RAF as one of the first Eagle Squadron pilots, until he joined the USAAF. After the war and a spell as a base commander in Austria and Germany he became a test pilot in JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) experiments from Wright-Patterson Air Base in Ohio, USA. He was one of the last five airmen to evade capture via de Pyrenees, the night before D-Day with American Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas H. Hubbard and 2nd Lieutenant Jack Cornett and Britons Pilot Officer Len Barnes and Sergeant Ron Emeny. JOURNEY TO THE HORIZON tells the story of three fighter pilots and two Lancaster crews who were shot down by the Germans. It follows them on the run, hiding, in captivity and in some cases in death. They were Britons, Canadians, New Zealanders and Americans. Five of them met in Paris while being guided by members of the Comete Escape line, others evaded in different ways. Some endured the harsh life in a POW-camp, while in one case an airmen even ended up in Buchenwald concentration camp. Those who died now rest at various cemeteries in France. In the book Onderwater and Lissette also tell about the sometimes dreadful experiences of the fellow crew members of Barnes and Emeny after their two Lancasters crashed in France. In the course of the research Hans Onderwater followed the same evasion route, meeting the helpers who risked their lives, crossed the Pyrenees on foot with the Basque guide of 1944 until he too reached Gibraltar. He visited Stalag Luft 1 Barth on the Baltic coast and Stalag Luft 3 Sagan in Poland, Buchenwald near Weimar and Ravensbruck near Berlin. He spoke with the five airmen or their families and corresponded with the others. During the last forty years he interviewed over 100 people who were in some major or minor way connected to the airmen and their experiences.

Aircraft Down!

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Publisher : Potomac Books Incorporated
ISBN 13 : 9781574887549
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (875 download)

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Book Synopsis Aircraft Down! by : Philip D. Caine

Download or read book Aircraft Down! written by Philip D. Caine and published by Potomac Books Incorporated. This book was released on 2005 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authority on pilot evasion, escape, and survival recounts extraordinary adventures that took place in Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Albania, and Greece during World War II.

MI9

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300255926
Total Pages : 365 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis MI9 by : Helen Fry

Download or read book MI9 written by Helen Fry and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling history of MI9—the WWII organization that engineered the escape of Allied forces from behind enemy lines When Allied fighters were trapped behind enemy lines, one branch of military intelligence helped them escape: MI9. The organization set up clandestine routes that zig-zagged across Nazi-occupied Europe, enabling soldiers and airmen to make their way home. Secret agents and resistance fighters risked their lives and those of their families to hide the men. Drawing on declassified files and eye-witness testimonies from across Europe and the United States, Helen Fry provides a significant reassessment of MI9’s wartime role. Central to its success were figures such as Airey Neave, Jimmy Langley, Sam Derry, and Mary Lindell—one of only a few women parachuted into enemy territory for MI9. This astonishing account combines escape and evasion tales with the previously untold stories behind the establishment of MI9—and reveals how the organization saved thousands of lives.

RAF WWII Operational and Flying Accident Casualty Files in The National Archives

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Author :
Publisher : Air World
ISBN 13 : 1526783533
Total Pages : 454 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis RAF WWII Operational and Flying Accident Casualty Files in The National Archives by : Mary Hudson

Download or read book RAF WWII Operational and Flying Accident Casualty Files in The National Archives written by Mary Hudson and published by Air World. This book was released on 2020-12-14 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A journey through the original RAF Casualty Branch files, and all the other available sources of information relating to RAF wartime casualties.” —Military Historical Society At its height during the Second World War, the RAF totaled 185,000 personnel. All information concerning casualties was carefully complied at the Air Ministry and now, from these the official records, those covering operational losses (in the air and on the ground) and flying accidents are being made available to the public through The National Archives. This huge collection of casualty files contains a wealth of contemporary documentation from a variety of sources including captured German records. It includes official documents, examples of which are given, accounts of searches undertaken to establish the fate of the missing, places of burial, copies of information received from the International Red Cross and from sources within enemy occupied lands, as well as letters from family and friends some of which reveal dark secrets of bigamy, adultery, illegitimacy, debt and dishonor. In this groundbreaking book, Mary Hudson has used her expert knowledge to provide an invaluable guide to the understanding of these records for use by researchers and family members alike. “An intriguing work bringing the fruits of many years of inside experience into the hands of those trying to find the missing piece in the jigsaw of a family tree or any RAF historian.” —The Shackleton Association “Fascinating . . . illustrates the dedication of the teams who handled the difficult issues of death and the missing in a very compassionate and dedicated manner.” —Journal of The Orders & Medals Research Society

The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III

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Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 9781451604573
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (45 download)

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Book Synopsis The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III by : Tim Carroll

Download or read book The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III written by Tim Carroll and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-06-15 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of one of the most heroic feats of World War II...the daring prison camp breakout that inspired the classic film The Great Escape Stalag Luft III was one of the Germans' "escape-proof" prison camps, specially built by Hermann Göring to hold Allied troops. But on March 24, 1944, in a courageous attempt by two hundred prisoners to break out through a series of tunnels, seventy-six Allied officers managed to evade capture -- and create havoc behind enemy lines in the months before the Normandy Invasion. This is the incredible story of these brave men who broke free from the supposedly impenetrable barbed wire and watchtowers of Stalag Luft III -- and who played an important role in Allied intelligence operations within occupied Europe. The prisoners developed an intricate espionage network, relaying details of military deployment, bombings, and raids. Some of them were involved in other daring escape attempts, including the famous Wooden Horse episode, also turned into a classic film, and the little-known Sachsenhausen breakout, engineered by five Great Escapers sent to die in the notorious concentration camp on Hitler's personal orders. Tragically, fifty of those involved in the Great Escape were murdered by the Gestapo. Others were recaptured; only a few made it all the way to freedom. This dramatic account of personal heroism is a testament to their ingenuity and achievement -- a stirring tribute to the men who never gave up fighting. Includes eight pages of photographs and illustrations, excerpts from Göring's testimony during postwar investigations, and a list of the men who escaped.