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The Great Escape  By  cover art

The Great Escape

By: Paul Brickhill
Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
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Publisher's summary

It 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 for every hour, every day, and every night for more than a year. With only their bare hands and crude homemade tools, they sank shafts, built underground railroads, forged passports, drew maps, faked weapons, and tailored German clothes. They developed a fantastic security system to protect themselves from the Germans who tenaciously prowled the compounds. And against all odds, they pulled off a daring mass escape from a German POW camp.
©1978 Paul Brickhill (P)1997 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The timing, cadence, vocal quality, and even melody of Whitfield's reading add to the suspense." ( AudioFile)

What listeners say about The Great Escape

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating and exciting!!

Any additional comments?

Absolutely terrific read that fired my imagination and sent me running to YouTube to find interviews with the POWs that were there. Amazing to know that the technical aspects of the dig as portrayed in the film were 100% true. The book provides even more jaw dropping details and wily tricks not covered in the film. Wonderful!! Get it! You won't be sorry!

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34 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The film used this book as its basis

You can see so many of the incidents in the book dramatized on the big screen, but this is the real story. The film missed this filthy nature of these men who had insufficient food for much of the time they were POWs. Brickhill has done 3 classics of the WWII genre. This, the Dam Busters, and Reach for the Sky. He was in the RAF and at Stalag Luft III. I don't completely trust the book as history because of his personal involvement. However, it's still a gripping story. It goes by so quickly. Very enjoyable and one of the better stories in the escape genre. You don't get behind the escapers as much as those personal memiors or Reed's Coldtiz Story, but still jolly good.....

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A testament to ingenuity and perseverence

This is not an exciting thriller written with edge-of-your-seat action, but it is a wonderful and fascinating look at the resourcefulness, ingenuity, and sense of duty of a group of primarily British officers held in a German POW camp. I was amazed at how resourceful the men were at not just using the items they had at hand (blankets, bedboards, empty tins) but at creating rather complicated equipment from scratch (compasses, duplicating machines). To think that they used smuggled jelly candies to make the straight unsweetened gelatin needed to make a Hectograph for printing passes and documents just astounds me.

Also clear in the book is something which is not appreciated by many - that the escape plan was not done solely (or even primarily) to get home, but rather as a duty to tie up German resources that could otherwise be spent on fighting. Trying to escape was a prisoner's duty, not just a personal drive for freedom. Many of the men involved knew they were extremely unlikely to make it home - and only 3 did successfully escape; the other 73 were recaptured, and 50 of those were illegally executed by the Gestapo.

Not all the men who escaped were British - some were officers in the Polish, South African, New Zealand, Canadian, and Australian forces. The American officers were held in another camp and not part of the escape (in spite of what's portrayed in the movie). The author was one of the many prisoners who helped with the planning and creation of the tunnels and equipment, though he did not actually do any tunneling and was not one of the escapees.

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26 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The REAL Great Escape~ based on real life ~ WW2

PLOT: a group of Brits are going to leave in a mass escape from a POW camp deep inside Nazi Germany.

The Brits were sent to a Stalag (German Prisoner of War Camp) in the heart of Germany. As the war takes a turn for the worse for Germany the Prisoners decided the make the ultimate escape tunnels. Inside this camp are some of the best diggers, forgers, actors and escape artists. Soon an escape committee has a plan for 3 Tunnels, Tom Dick and Harry. When the Germans aka Krauts discover one tunnel they put all their efforts into one huge escape. The tunnel complete with air pumps, wooden trolleys to carry dirt and men, forged papers and meager rations all move forward to carry out the escape of hundreds of men. ADDED fun is the clever idea that only a few of them knew the complete plan adding to the safety of the plan. The real goal is not just escape but to tie up Nazi resources on finding the escapees.
This is a long audio but at times is simply too brilliant how the men carry on their plots under the eyes of the ever watchful Germans. BASED on real life events. Who has not seen the GREAT ESCAPE movie with Steve McQueen? but this fills in the details of how they really did the job. I GIVE IT 4 STARS FOR STORY, 4 FOR PERFORMANCE AND 5 FOR REAL LIFE STORY. In real life over 50 of the escapes were shot as punishment by the order of Hitler.

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25 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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One of the most incredible stories of all time

If no one had ever listened to an audiobook before, this would be the first one I would recommend.
The story is equal parts funny, suspenseful, tragic, and heroic. There is not one dull moment.
Robert Whitfield plays the wearied storyteller to perfection. You can hear in his performance the voice of a man who lived through this ordeal, but never lost his hope or his trust in his fellow countrymen and allies.
The incredible and famous movie adaptation has buried its all-star cast in the western world's psyche. Everyone has images of Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, and all the rest in their heads. This gives the amateur audiobook listener a shortcut to visualizing the major characters.
Finally, it's all true.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Much better than the movie!

It's amazing how resourceful the prisoners were in such a difficult and challenging situation - becoming a game of us against the Nazi. I have listened this book three times and have enjoyed it every time. Much better than the movie.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

My new favourite book.

What made the experience of listening to The Great Escape the most enjoyable?

An excellent book to listen to while working.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Roger was such an interesting character. He is now who I think of as an example of a leader among men.

Which character – as performed by Robert Whitfield – was your favorite?

There were so many, but to each he brought expression and depth of character.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Once they have decided on a course of action, a group of men can do anything.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Unbroken piqued my interest in German pow camps

After finishing Unbroken I couldn't help but wonder about life and struggles in German POW camps. The Great Escape is best known by the movie made about this true story. I decided to "read" it first and it didn't disappoint. Where Unbroken spends a great deal of time explaining the poor conditions, sickness, starvation and brutality of Life in Japanese POW camps, this journey is about Air Force officers and their escape plans, genius and bravery. A great read!!

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Story of survival and deception

An amazing story of the war internment. How these men managed to deceive their captures for so long is quite amazing. Very resourceful and ingenius use of minimal supplies that they collected. Internment camps in Germany were far more open then in Japan. Escape in Japan was virtually impossible. Very brave and brazen men in a different time. Highly recommend if you are a WW II buff.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

True story of British POW's escaping during WWII

The Great Escape is a first hand recounting written in 1950 of life for 600 Allied prisoners in a German prison camp. With amazing ingenuity over many months the prisoners dug and lit tunnels, made realistic fake ID's, and fashioned proper clothing for 160 to escape all without getting caught. Due to some issues less than 100 escaped before the tunnel exit was found by the Germans. Most, but not all, of the prisoners in the camp were British airman who had been shot down.

Despite the remarkable story of the escape, all did not end well. Almost all were captured and 50 were murdered while in custody by German officials. The story ends after the war with a British investigative team who over 4 years tracked down all but one of the murders; that one found refuge in Russia. Most were executed by the British.

The book was written by the British leader of the prisoners who as commander of the prisoners in the camp was not an escapee. The book was made into a movie which I have not seen. If The Great Escape had not been an Audible Daily Deal I would never have read this remarkable account of ingenuity and bravery in the worst of circumstances.

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7 people found this helpful