WW2 Escape to freedom By T.C.F Prittie Third Edition Book

For sale is a WW2 Escape to freedom By T.C.F Prittie Third Edition Book About British POWs.

The Foreword states:

“I HAVE been asked by the Authors to write a short Foreword for this book. I am only too pleased to do this as it gives me an opportunity of thanking directly two of those who made frequent attempts to escape while prisoners-of war in Germany, and indirectly several more. When an escaping enterprise was in course of preparation in a camp a very large number of officers were employed in organising and in making plans, although possibly the enterprise only aimed at getting two or three of them out of the camp. What is perhaps not generally known is that the mere fact of the plan being in course of preparation within the camp had a very important effect on morale ; although a good many officers might have very little to do with it, they knew it was going on. For this reason I am very glad to be able to say a word of appreciation to all those who not only took every oppor tunity to escape themselves, but also to those who, unable to take part in the escape, were only too willing always to help with the plans, and render that close co-operation at vital moments without which those who were going out would never have had a chance. I know that all those who were in command of camps-they were known as S.B.O.s (Senior British Officers) in Oflags and 'Men of Confidence' in Stalags would be glad to join with me in thanking those who were in any way respon sible for escaping enterprises. Their efforts helped materially to keep the morale of the various camps so high. Something of the patience and skill and resolution demanded from all con cerned is revealed in the following chapters. I congratulate the Authors on their literary success no less than their military spirit. V. M. FORTUNE, Major-General”

The introduction states:

“WHEN this book was first published it had two aims, firstly to tell a story, and secondly to warn anyone who might one day be taken prisoner to escape as soon as he possibly could. This advice is still valid, especially as since 1945 I have talked to Englishmen who were prisoners in Japanese hands, and to some who saw the inside of a German concentration camp. Their experiences make it fairly clear that the average prisoner of war of the Germans or Italians was lucky-by comparison. Many Germans, too, have straggled back from the Russian prison camps and settlements in Siberia and elsewhere since the end of the war, literally crawling home across the Iron Curtain frontier, emaciated, anguished, and in a state of mental ruin. The very word "Ural" has a sinister significance, and the soldier of to-day and to-morrow would do well to consider what a few years in Russian hands means. In the light of such knowledge one realises that ours is a story which may never be repeated; the note of romantic adventure—true at the time has gone. A new war will probably be more bloody and brutal than the last. Even in the last the Germans were so incensed by the bombing of their cities that they lynched the occasional Allied airman who had been shot down, and the future use of the atom bomb as an orthodox weapon of war could provoke the wholesale massacre of prisoners. There is no factor, old or new, which does not urge the captured man to find the very earliest opportunity for ESCAPE TO FREEDOM.”

This is in good condition but missing is dust cover. This makes an excellent and interesting read.

This will be sent via Royal Mail 1st class signed for and dispatched within two working days.