The Great Escape

By: Paul Brickhill

Narrated by: Robert Whitfield

Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins

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)

Audio recounting Word for word of The Great escape

This was a really good audio recounting of the Great Escape, which I very only heard of -&- seen in the 1960’s movie‼️Finally, in 2022 I’ve heard true~horrific details of imprisonment, escape & ultimate deaths of over half (53) of the pilots-&-airmen of planes shot down in skies over Europe!!

Well written

This was well written history. It was wonderful to read about great men and their determination.

Amazing

Sometimes it's hard to find a nonfiction book that holds your interest as well as a fiction book. Not the case here. This was an extremely well narrated, fascinating and almost unbelievable story.

Remarkable

What a remarkable story of bravery. Written with all the dry facts and names but even those couldn't fully dull down their exciting plan.

What is story!

There are lots of books about prison camps during World War II, but this discusses the RAF, and American pilot camps. The ingenuity and tenacity is extraordinary. Kudos to the ones that were lucky enough to escape, and God bless the ones who were not as lucky but did their darndest to try.

Awesome.

Simple writing style and a great story. Covers a host of characters and gives a full story. Has details where it needs and doesn’t get bogged down in other parts.

Great story and narration

Gripping story about a daring escape from a WWII POW camp. It is the basis for the film with Steve McQueen. The reader does a great job with the different accents. Very enjoyable.

Thank you for telling the story

I am always happy to hear about historical events in an Audible book. I appreciate that the story is preserved in the telling and that it ties the story up, all the way to the final outcome.

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.....

It Was a Great Escape!

Since my long and thoughtful review just went into cyberspace, I will just say that I am in awe of the resourcefulness of people when they have to be resourceful. I wish this escape had been more successful, but it did serve a purpose, and it makes for very interesting and inspiring reading. I long for the day that man's inhumanity to man is a relic of the past, but until then, there will be wars that need to be escaped from, to put it badly. I enjoyed this book in spite of it being about war because of my admiration for these men. Bravo for your brave attempts even though met with limited success.