Students, military historians, and casual readers will all find this compelling collection useful in learning about escape strategies, hostage situations, and rescue operations during times of conflict. Great Wartime Escapes and Rescues tells the captivating stories of dozens of escapes and rescues from conflicts dating from the 16th century to present, with extensive coverage of the world wars of the 20th century and the Vietnam War. In addition, escapes and rescues related to terrorist activities and regional conflicts are featured. Some stories of escapes and rescues included in this work have been written about extensively and portrayed in films, including The Great Escape and Captain Phillips' rescue by Navy SEALs. Other stories are less widely known but just as absorbing. The book opens with a detailed introductory essay that illuminates the government policies and tactics various countries have used to rescue soldiers and civilians during wartime, as well as the diverse methods that prisoners of war have used to escape notorious camps and prisons. The entries, organized alphabetically, are augmented by engaging sidebars related to the escapes and rescues. The book also includes references to such sources as autobiographies, biographies, news accounts, and interviews with veterans.

Students, military historians, and casual readers will all find this compelling collection useful in learning about escape strategies, hostage situations, and rescue operations during times of conflict. Great Wartime Escapes and Rescues tells the captivating stories of dozens of escapes and rescues from conflicts dating from the 16th century to present, with extensive coverage of the world wars of the 20th century and the Vietnam War. In addition, escapes and rescues related to terrorist activities and regional conflicts are featured. Some stories of escapes and rescues included in this work have been written about extensively and portrayed in films, including The Great Escape and Captain Phillips' rescue by Navy SEALs. Other stories are less widely known but just as absorbing. The book opens with a detailed introductory essay that illuminates the government policies and tactics various countries have used to rescue soldiers and civilians during wartime, as well as the diverse methods that prisoners of war have used to escape notorious camps and prisons. The entries, organized alphabetically, are augmented by engaging sidebars related to the escapes and rescues. The book also includes references to such sources as autobiographies, biographies, news accounts, and interviews with veterans.

In this entertaining and informative encyclopedia, disguises, ruses, stratagems, capers, devices, rescues, and plots abound. Topics range from a pâpiér-mache POW substitute and Bonnie Prince Charlie's successful 1746 masquerade as a maid to a British airman's short-lived escape from a German hospital wearing a nurse's cap and cape—and enormous flying boots and a luxuriant mustache. Each story is a tribute to ingenuity, perseverance, courage, and indomitable will. The A–Z entries, many of them illustrated, suggest sources for pursuing each subject further.

Students, military historians, and casual readers will all find this compelling collection useful in learning about escape strategies, hostage situations, and rescue operations during times of conflict. Great Wartime Escapes and Rescues tells the captivating stories of dozens of escapes and rescues from conflicts dating from the 16th century to present, with extensive coverage of the world wars of the 20th century and the Vietnam War. In addition, escapes and rescues related to terrorist activities and regional conflicts are featured. Some stories of escapes and rescues included in this work have been written about extensively and portrayed in films, including The Great Escape and Captain Phillips' rescue by Navy SEALs. Other stories are less widely known but just as absorbing. The book opens with a detailed introductory essay that illuminates the government policies and tactics various countries have used to rescue soldiers and civilians during wartime, as well as the diverse methods that prisoners of war have used to escape notorious camps and prisons. The entries, organized alphabetically, are augmented by engaging sidebars related to the escapes and rescues. The book also includes references to such sources as autobiographies, biographies, news accounts, and interviews with veterans.

"Personal accounts related to some of the most daring escapes and rescues of World War II come together in this book to present a unique perspective on the battle between the Allied and Axis powers."--Provided by publisher.

Lost among the great stories of World War II was the escape and rescue of hundreds of Allied airmen shot down over German-occupied Yugoslavia. Their target had been the vital Axis oil fields at Ploesti, Romania. Robert P. Moore and his B-17 crewmates were among the first wave of high altitude bombing raids that intensified in April, 1944. Enemy flak and engine trouble brought down their aircraft short of the target. It was Moore’s first mission, in an unfamiliar aircraft, with a crew he had met only moments before take-off. He bailed out into a completely unknown and rugged country, and was confronted by local militia carrying axes and firearms. The men were part of a larger nationalist army—Chetniks. Fiercely anti-communist, the Chetniks desperately wanted Allied help. The Chetniks guided Moore and hundreds of other airmen, traveling in rugged mountains to get them to a safe zone for rescue. Moore’s escape and rescue is here recounted in his own words. Moore and his airmen bailed out into a country that was at war with itself as well as the Germans. The Chetniks under the leadership of Gen. Draja Mihailovich were engaged not only in a war with the Nazi occupiers, they were also at odds with an army of their fellow countrymen, called Partisans, under the leadership of communist-leaning Josip Tito. Mihailovich and his Chetniks, in part to show solidarity with the Allies, guided downed American airmen to a secret airstrip in the mountains south of Belgrade. Mihailovich and American intelligence cooperated in Operation Halyard, the secret mission to rescue almost 500 airman and return them to their base. Following the war, many of the surviving airmen shared their story with family and friends. A few wrote about their adventure, and a few of those stories made it into print. Moore’s hometown newspaper ran a lengthy piece shortly after his return. Only now has Moore put together the complete experience, as a way to honor his wartime crewmen.

On November 8, 1943, U.S. Army nurse Agnes Jensen stepped out of a cold rain in Catania, Sicily, into a C-53 transport plane. But she and twelve other nurses never arrived in Bari, Italy, where they were to transport wounded soldiers to hospitals farther from the front lines. A violent storm and pursuit by German Messerschmitts led to a crash landing in a remote part of Albania, leaving the nurses, their team of medics, and the flight crew stranded in Nazi-occupied territory. What followed was a dangerous nine-week game of hide-and-seek with the enemy, a situation President Roosevelt monitored daily. Albanian partisans aided the stranded Americans in the search for a British Intelligence Mission, and the group began a long and hazardous journey to the Adriatic coast. During the following weeks, they crossed Albania's second highest mountain in a blizzard, were strafed by German planes, managed to flee a town moments before it was bombed, and watched helplessly as an attempt to airlift them out was foiled by Nazi forces. Albanian Escape is the suspense-filled story of the only group of Army flight nurses to have spent any length of time in occupied territory during World War II. The nurses and flight crew endured frigid weather, survived on little food, and literally wore out their shoes trekking across the rugged countryside. Thrust into a perilous situation and determined to survive, these women found courage and strength in each other and in the kindness of Albanians and guerrillas who hid them from the Germans.