Zemke's adventures in the sky as the US 8th Air Force's foremost Fighter Group commander, his experiences on the ground as a prisoner of war (Stalag Luft I), and his involvement after the cease-fire with Zeiss Optical Works, a pioneer in creating advanced optical technology used for intelligence. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Stalag Luft One, was first published in 1947 as Vacation with Pay (and with the wonderfully tongue-in cheek subtitle: Being an account of my stay at the German rest camp for tired allied airmen at beautiful Barth-on-the-Baltic. Author Alan Newcomb, while on his seventh combat mission as a B-17 co-pilot, when in fall of 1944, he and his crew were forced to bail-out over Germany's Ruhr Valley after their plane was damaged by anti-aircraft flak and on fire. The book, largely written on prison camp toilet paper, is Newcomb's account of his time as a POW in Stalag Luft One, one of Germany's camps for captured Allied aviators. Daily life in the prison is described; especially notable is the high degree of organization of the prisoners and their activities (including digging escape tunnels) by the ranking officers. The prisoners were freed by advancing Russian forces in May 1945. This kindle edition includes the numerous photographs and line-drawings found in the original book.

Experience the incredible story of the brave men who tunneled to escape a German prisoner-of-war camp. Readers will learn about the planners, task leaders, and key players of the escape from Stalag Luft III.

A thrilling, first-person account of one of the most famous prison escapes of World War II. Jens Müller was one of only three men who successfully escaped from Stalag Luft III on the night of March 24, 1944—the breakout that later became the basis for the famous film The Great Escape. His memoir tells how Müller, a pilot in one of the RAF’s Norwegian squadrons, was shot down by the Luftwaffe over the English Channel in June 1942. After some days at sea in his Spitfire’s life raft, he made it to land in Belgium but was soon captured by the occupying Germans and sent as a prisoner of war to Stalag Luft III (in what is now Zagan, Poland). Müller vividly describes life in the camp, how the escapes were planned, and relates the compelling story of his personal breakout. Together with Per Bergsland, he managed to make it to the coast and stowed away on a ship to Gothenburg, Sweden. The two men eventually reached RAF Leuchars base in Scotland.

In addition to concentration camps, World War II Germany was also home to 54 prisoner-of-war camps, the largest of which was Stalag IVB. Throughout the more than five years of its existence, Stalag IVB supported numerous satellite camps, eventually housing thousands of prisoners of many nationalities. Here Poles, French, Belgians, British, Americans, Dutch and Russians fought to survive in a place where life's most basic needs were barely fulfilled. Interned in the camp for several months from late 1943, Tony Vercoe engaged in a struggle for life, sanity and escape. This historical chronicle evokes the heartbreaking reality of day-to-day life in Stalag IVB. Rich with firsthand accounts by the author and other veterans of the camp, it provides particulars regarding rations, prisoner-of-war registration, camp hygiene, inmate activities and prisoner morale. Special emphasis is placed on the role of the International Red Cross in prisoner survival and the multinational "melting pot" characteristics of the camp itself. Possibilities of flight and the events that motivated prisoners' daring escape attempts are discussed, along with the consequences of their frequent failures. Closing chapters detail the camp's final months and the prisoners' long awaited deliverance.

Opened in the spring of 1942 to house captured Allied airmen, Stalag Luft III at Sagan was planned and built to make escape particularly difficult, especially tunnelling. This, though, did not deter the prisoners. Numerous escape attempts followed, involving prisoners trying to go over, through or under the wire fences. In some cases they succeeded. It is for two of the successful escapes that Stalag Luft III is best known - both of which went on to be depicted in films. The so-called Wooden Horse escape in October 1943 resulted in the three prisoners involved all making a 'home run'. Three further 'home runs' resulted from the mass escape which occurred the night of 24/25 March 1944 - the so-called 'Great Escape'. Drawn from the information and testimonies of those who were held in Stalag Luft III, this official history of the camp was prepared for the War Office at the end of the Second World War, but was never released to the general public. It examines subjects such as the German administration and running of the camp, which eventually consisted of a number of separate compounds, the food and conditions the prisoners endured, and the means by which morale was maintained under such trying circumstances. Inevitably considerable space is devoted to the various escape plans and their careful preparation, as well as the anti-escape measures undertaken by the guards. There are also sections detailing the punishments meted out for attempting to escape, as well as the various shooting incidents that occurred. Whilst the camp also housed American personnel, this detailed account provides the reader with an accurate and unprecedented insight into life for British and Commonwealth prisoners in a German PoW camp during the Second World War.