Publisher's Synopsis
- The Men of æThe Great EscapeÆ is a companion volume to the authorÆs The Great Escape: A Reassessment û the latest, and most accurate and comprehensive, account of the famous mass break-out from North Compound, Stalag Luft III, in March 1944 and its tragic aftermath: the murder of fifty of the escapers by the Gestapo. - - Most of the books have identified only a small proportion of those involved in the escape, which took a year to prepare, while the Hollywood movie focuses on only a handful of protagonists, whose identities are telescoped to such an extent that they are almost unrecognisable. Who, in fact, was æThe SBOÆ? Who was æBig XÆ? Who were the æTunnel KingsÆ, æThe ForgerÆ, æThe SurveyorÆ and æThe ManufacturerÆ? Who was really in charge of æIntelligenceÆ and of æDispersalÆ? Was there really a æScroungerÆ û and was there really a æCooler KingÆ? - at EscapeÆ. - - In this unique book, Charles Rollings identifies almost every one of the men who entered North Compound from the time it opened on 29 March 1943 and the night of the æGreat EscapeÆ on 24 March 1944 û British, Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, Czechs, Poles, Danes, Norwegians, Dutchmen, Belgians, Frenchmen, Greeks, Lithuanians, and Americans; Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and Army; those who assisted in the escape, and those who did not. - - Accompanied by more than a hundred illustrations, The Men of æThe Great EscapeÆ is nothing less than an enquire-within-upon-everybody who had anything to do with this famous and ultimately tragic enterprise û and upon those who had nothing to do with it, but also served by standing and waiting.
