There was a space beneath the floor of the theatre in Colditz, and they worked out that they could get into the floor and from there access a tunnel that ran across one of the arches and ended with a locked door into the German guard room. What strikes me here, as in a previous book on, Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War, is his refusal to whitewash or sugarcoat anything. The author delves into the lives and personalities of these brave men and those of the Nazis who were in charge of the camp. Whether describing and analyzing the actions of double agents loyal to the United States, Britain, or Russia or other topics, Macintyre’s approach to conveying espionage history is clear, concise, entertaining, and remarkably well written.

Forging on was absolutely worth it though as POTC is filled with information and stories that are surprising, shocking, inspiring and humorous as well as those that are heartbreaking, enraging and saddening. The first was Winston Churchill’s nephew, Giles Romilly, who was a journalist and had been captured in Norway. The castle gained international infamy as the site of Oflag IV-C, a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II for "incorrigible" Allied officers who had repeatedly attempted to escape from other camps.An international prisoners’ committee emerged to determine who would be allowed to escape, as well as how and when.

During this period the portal at what is known as the church house was created during 1584, made of Rochlitz Porphyr ( rhyolite tuff) and richly decorated in the mannerist style by Andreas Walther II. Staffed by numerous armed guards and located some 400 miles (640 km) from friendly territory, Colditz seemed to offer no hope for escape. The camp's first British prisoners were the Laufen Six on November 7, 1940, who were transferred to Colditz after their first escape attempt from the Laufen Camp. It turns out that the book I loved (and still own though maybe not for long) was full of propaganda along with the truth.

For most prisoners escaping became their life’s work and interestingly the different nationalities kept a score card highlighting successful escapes. BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed are published by Immediate Media Company Limited under licence from BBC Studios Distribution. A half star off because even though it sometimes read like a thriller and was mostly interesting, at times it read slowly and was close to boring with all the minutiae. In what follows, Macintyre occasionally catches them in moments of pain, loss and even deterioration. The castle sits on a steep hill overlooking the Mulde River as it flows through the small Saxon town of Colditz, about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Leipzig.

This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates.

Heroes and bullies, lovers and spies, captors and prisoners living cheek-by-jowl for years in a thrilling game of cat and mouse - and all determined to escape by any means necessary. About Douglas Bader: "Each Camp Commandant was deluged with requests from local bigwigs who wanted a chance to see him. In fact, they were hiding in a secret compartment under the chapel pulpit that had once been part of the great French tunnel. During 1504, the servant Clemens the baker accidentally set Colditz afire, and the town hall, church, castle and a large part of the town was burned. Alain Le Ray, a French Lieutenant in an elite mountain infantry force, and a self-contained individual who planned and tried to execute numerous escapes.

He was arrogant, he was rude, he was incredibly unpleasant to people he thought of lower status than him.The German idea was to herd all these troublemakers together in one place, in a castle that would be impossible to escape from.