Cheating Hitler : Allied Airmen Who Evaded Capture in WW2.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bowman, Martin W.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Airmen.

World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Canadian.

World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, British.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (205 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Havertown : Pen & Sword Books Limited, 2023.

Summary:

"The reader anxious or merely curious to know what it was like to flee under the threat of being shot or capture will experience it all here." -ARGunners.com For most, and particularly the injured and the wounded, being shot down over Occupied Europe during the Second World War meant that capture was immediate, that imprisonment was almost inevitable. For some, evasion was possible, but rarely for long. For a relative handful, however, their evasion saw them eventually reach home once again. In this fascinating insight into how some Allied aircrew achieved the almost impossible and evade capture, the renowned aviation historian Martin W. Bowman has drawn together a set of tales of just some of these individuals. They are stories that illustrate the bravery and resourcefulness that characterized their experiences. British, American, Canadian and other Allied testimonies all feature to provide an authentic sense of the times at hand and the reality of life as an evader during this tumultuous and incredibly dangerous time. The stories of some Allied airmen, faced with sudden leaps into that dangerous unknown and their subsequent attempts at evasion, are retold here, many for the first time. Those who successfully evaded and were 'free to fight again' were few. Some were forced to remain in hiding under the guiding hands of the likes of the French Resistance or the patriots of the Comète Line - a few of the many who risked their lives helping Allied airmen, either to escape or to remain hidden until liberation, on pain of imprisonment, torture and death by their Nazi oppressors. Despite the threat of such retaliation, it has been said that as many as 100, 000 people may have assisted evaders on one or more occasions before the war in Europe was brought to an end. This series of intoxicating chapters of evasion and life under the constant threat of recapture by the Nazis goes one step further in the drama of the war fought in the skies over the Third Reich and the subjugated countries of France, Belgium and Holland, revealing the constant nagging, and very real, fear that was endured by evaders and rescuers alike.

Contents:

Intro

Title

Copyright

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 Stirling Escapade

Chapter 2 Escape to England: Tommy J. Broom DFC**

Chapter 3 Journey to Toulouse

Chapter 4 Passport to the Pyrénées

Chapter 5 'See you at Breakfast': Sergeant 'Jack' Pearce

Chapter 6 With the Maquis: Flying Officer Reginald 'Reg' William Lewis

Chapter 7 Bail out over Berlin: Sergeant Harry Simister

Chapter 8 Nuremberg No Return

Chapter 9 The Saga of Squat N' Droppit

Chapter 10 The Long Walk

Chapter 11 Special Ops

Chapter 12 Full Moon, Cloudless Sky

Chapter 13 'Ursula'

Chapter 14 Market Garden Mass Evasion

Chapter 15 End Game

Plates.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781399073264

1399073265

OCLC:

1399169860