The Great Escape - Paul Brickhill

The inspiration for the movie of the same name starring Steve McQueen, The Great Escape chronicles the largest Allied escape attempt--using their bare hands and crude homemade tools to dig their way out--from a German POW camp during World War II. n nThey were American and British air force officers in a German prison camp. With only their bare hands and the crudest of homemade tools, they sank shafts, forged passports, faked weapons, and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes. They developed a fantastic security system to protect themselves from German surveillance.n nIt was a split-second operation as delicate and as deadly as a time bomb. It demanded the concentrated devotion and vigilance of more than six hundred men--every one of them, every minute, every hour, every day and night for more than a year.n nMade into the classic 1963 war film of the same name starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough.n