The Great Escape, Human Game

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In October 2012 a new book came out. Perhaps posting all this is old news here, but I figured some might be interested to know. The book is titled, "Human Game: The True Story of the "Great Escape" Murders and the Hunt for the Gestapo Gunmen."

At the same time I ordered this book, I also ordered Paul Brickhill's classic book "The Great Escape," from which the classic movie was made.

The Human Game book is excellent and I am glad I decided to read the books in sequence as doing so set up the Human Game nicely. You don't have to read The Great Escape first as Human Game provides enough information on the escape itself to provide sufficient awareness. The Human Game was written by Simon Read. There are many heroes in the book, but the principle is Squadron Leader Francis P. McKenna, a man who had extensive experience as a detective in Great Britain before World War II broke out, and who used all his wits, guile, and dogged determination to crack open the case starting with fragments of information.

McKenna's stalwart efforts earned him an Order of the British Empire and I can think of few more richly earned.

As with most heroes, McKenna avoided publicity after his work ended successfully. But, he was a most insightful man and Read smartly included one of his few expanded statements made to the public, which I quote below:

(They) didn't see escaping as a sport -- and when they used the word 'duty,' they did so with typical British reserve and a degree of embarrassment. Those murdered men were doing no more than what they accepted as being their duty, and it seemed to me -- and the chaps working with me -- that to be murdered in cold blood for doing one's honorable duty as a serviceman must always be unacceptable to any decent human being. We saw it as being our duty to find the miscreants and thereafter bring them before a court of law.

The movie did an unusually good job of staying true to the facts and when characters were combined, you could read Brickhill's book and actually identify when events were combined to just one character in the movie. Even the fictional event of one of the escapees trying to steal a trainer plane was based upon an actual event carried out unsuccessfully by an earlier group of escaped POW's. They never left the ground, but they came close.

I think any here would enjoy either of these books.

Ken

 

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If you are really into this genre of books, I have two recommendations - "Escape From Colditz," and "The Colditz Story," both by P. R. Reid. Mr. Reid, a former British RASC officer, was a prisoner in Colditz (in the first British contingent to be sent there, in fact) and successfully escaped from what was billed by his captors as an "escape-proof" prison, actually a genuine castle that had previously served as an insane asylum. The books are a tale of ingenuity and perseverance under the most trying circumstances. Tunnels, impersonations, "package-stuffing," and other means were all tried - some successfully - to break out. A "home run" was the end goal, and some were made - Reid's being the most successful in that his group of four broke out and all four got home to Britain. I think he appeared on "To Tell The Truth" many years later as a guest. In this case the German Army were the hosts. They never exceeded their authority and always behaved correctly, but played the "game" very hard indeed. Reid mentions a number of outstanding men in his books, British readers here may recognize Michael Sinclair, "Die Rotte Fuchs" - The Red Fox. Reid pays the greatest tribute to him and several others, Sinclair died in his final escape attempt, there were Poles, Frenchmen and Dutchmen who escaped, reentered the war and lost their lives in combat. Reid's tributes to them are moving. Unlike as has been mentioned, Reid said he considered escaping the greatest sport in the world, with home, friends and family the ultimate prize and death the always possible - but by no means certain - alternative facing the escaping prisoner.

I understand the German desire to put all the "rotten eggs" in one basket - all the inmates were highly-experienced escapers who had been caught - but it must have greatly compounded problems for them by concentrating the best available talent in one place. High-jinks by the prisoners didn't help much, either, and it must be said the Germans behaved with remarkable restraint. Maybe their attitude to the place was summed up by the man they decided to appoint as the "director of operations" for the castle - he was a former schoolmaster and was used to dealing with errant schoolboys! There is much of interest, and inspiration, in these books and I recommend them highly.:salute: