Prisoners Of The Castle

Author : Ben Macintyre
Publisher : National Geographic Books
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2022-10-25
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9780593629246

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Prisoners of the Castle by Ben Macintyre Pdf

In this gripping account, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. The legend of the German prison at Colditz Castle was built into its very conception: designed as the most secure prison imaginable, to hold, with varying success, some of the greatest escape artists of World War II. But as Macintyre reveals, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape, and its prisoners were far more complicated than the cardboard heroes they became later in popular culture. Colditz was a miniature replica of officer-class society at the time, only far stranger: a lethal, high-stakes boarding school surrounded by barbed wire, a heavily guarded human cage with its own culture, eccentricities, and internal tensions. With access to declassified archives, private papers, and never-before-seen photos, Macintyre reveals a remarkable cast of characters previously hidden from history: Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar, whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America's oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture escape aids for POWs, from maps hidden in playing cards to a compass secreted inside a walnut; and many others. In intimate and compelling detail, Macintyre explores what happens to people when they are locked up without committing a crime and with no idea when or if they might be liberated. This, then, is a tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of snobbery, class conflict, hidden sexuality, bullying, espionage, boredom, insanity, and farce. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed stunning new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

Author : Ben Macintyre
Publisher : Signal
Page : 366 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2022-09-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9780771001987

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Prisoners of the Castle by Ben Macintyre Pdf

NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor, a definitive and surprising new narrative of one of history's most famous prisons--and the remarkable cast of POWs who tried to relentlessly escape their Nazi captors. The myth of Colditz, the most infamous prison in history, has stood unchallenged for 70 years: prisoners of war, mustaches firmly set on stiff upper lips, defying the Nazis by tunnelling out of a grim Gothic castle on a German hilltop. Like all legends, that story contains only part of the truth. In Ben Macintyre's brilliant, cliche-smashing new history, he offers a vision of Colditz previously unimagined, a story of much more than an escape, just as the prison's inmates were far more complicated than the cardboard saints depicted in post-war pop culture. Colditz was a miniature replica of office-class society at the time, only far stranger: a lethal, high stakes boarding school surrounded by barbed wire, initially containing prisoners of all Allied nations, including Canada, but eventually only Britons and Americans, a heavily guarded cage with its own culture, eccentricities, and internal tensions. In intimate and compelling detail, Macintyre explores what happens to people when they are locked up without committing a crime and with no idea when or if they might be liberated. Colditz, then, is a tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of snobbery, class conflict, hidden sexuality, bullying, espionage, boredom, insanity, and farce. With access to declassified archives, private papers, and never-before-seen photos, the author reveals a remarkable cast of characters, previously hidden from history: Indian doctor Birendranath Mazymdar, the only non-white prisoner, whose ill-treatment, hunger-strike and eventual escape reads like fiction; Florimond Duke, America's oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; Christoper Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture escape aids for POWs, from maps hidden in playing cards to a compass secreted inside a walnut; and many others. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed stunning new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

Author : Susan Elia MacNeal
Publisher : Bantam
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2018-08-07
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780399593833

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The Prisoner in the Castle by Susan Elia MacNeal Pdf

A series of baffling murders among a group of imprisoned agents threatens the outcome of World War II in this chilling mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Churchill’s Secretary. November, 1942. World War II is raging, and former spy Maggie Hope knows too much: what the British government is willing to do to keep its secrets, who is lying, who the double-crossers are. She knows exactly who is sending agents to their deaths. These are the reasons Maggie is isolated on a remote Scottish island, in a prison known as Killoch Castle. When one of her fellow inmates drops dead in the middle of his after-dinner drink—he’s only the first. As victims fall one by one, Maggie will have to call upon all her wits and skills to escape—not just certain death . . . but certain murder. For what’s the most important thing that Maggie Hope knows? She must survive. Praise for The Prisoner in the Castle “The colonel sums it up best on page ten: ‘If you take a pretty girl and teach her how to kill, it can cause problems.’ Not just problems—electrifying action and nonstop surprises. I loved this book!”—R. L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps and Fear Street series “Another literary tour de force . . . From the book’s perfectly calibrated plot to its incisively etched characters, everything is handled with perfect finesse by the author.”—Poisoned Pen Newsletter “One pleasure of a mystery series is connecting with a character that changes and grows with each novel. . . . Maggie’s intelligence and loyalty to the war effort continue to evolve in [Susan Elia] MacNeal’s series. . . . Solid twists keep the plot of The Prisoner in the Castle churning until the surprise finale.”—Associated Press “A mystery . . . tailor-made for readers in the post-election, #MeToo era. . . . If you love a tricky puzzle that requires you to keep track of multiple alibis over time, this is your summer read.”—The Washington Post “Evocative.”—Publishers Weekly “MacNeal uses [Agatha] Christie’s And Then There Were None as a framework for a character-driven mystery/thriller that successfully emulates the original.”—Kirkus Reviews

Author : P. R. Reid
Publisher : Zenith Press
Page : 355 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2015-01-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780760346518

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Colditz by P. R. Reid Pdf

The Nazis thought escape was impossible. Colditz is the true story of the Allied prisoners held there and their (sometimes successful) efforts to escape, written by one of the POWs.

Author : Anthony Hoskins
Publisher : Frontline Books
Page : 199 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2016-05-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9781473848559

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Flight from Colditz by Anthony Hoskins Pdf

Colditz Castle was one of the most famous Prisoner of War camps of the Second World War. It was there that the Germans interred their most troublesome or important prisoners. Hundreds of ingenious escape attempts were made but the most ambitious of all was to build a glider and fly to freedom.Though the glider was built, the war ended before it could be used, and it was subsequently destroyed. Using the original plans and materials used by the prisoners, in March 2012 a replica of the glider was constructed in a bid to see if the escape attempt would have succeeded. The glider was then launched from the roof of the castle roof.Anthony Hoskins is the man who built, and helped launch, the glider. As well as examining the story behind the building of the original glider, he details the construction of the replica and the nail-biting excitement as the Colditz Cock finally took to the skies. Packed with photos of the glider and its flight over Colditz, this is the inside story of the recreation of one of the most intriguing episodes of the Second World War.

Author : Ben Macintyre
Publisher : Penguin UK
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2023-05-02
Category : History
ISBN : 0241986974

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Colditz by Ben Macintyre Pdf

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'A master at setting the pulse racing' Daily Mail 'A fine feat of storytelling . . . will surely become the last word on the subject' Telegraph _____________________________ FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SAS: ROGUE HEROES Colditz Castle: a forbidding Gothic tower on a hill in Nazi Germany. You may have heard about the prisoners and their daring and desperate attempts to escape, but that's only part of the real story. In Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre takes us inside the walls of the most infamous prison in history to meet the real men behind the legends. Heroes and bullies, lovers and spies, captors and prisoners living cheek-by-jowl for years in a thrilling game of cat and mouse - and all determined to escape by any means necessary. Deeply researched and full of incredible stories, this is a tale of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances - and will change how you think about Colditz forever. _____________________________ 'Like watching a black-and-white photograph being colourised' Spectator 'Every Ben Macintyre book is a treat' The Tablet

Author : Jack Champ,Colin Burgess
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2019-06-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9781760852153

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The Diggers of Colditz by Jack Champ,Colin Burgess Pdf

Colditz Castle was Nazi Germany’s infamous ‘escape-proof’ wartime prison, where hundreds of the most determined and resourceful Allied prisoners were sent. Despite having more guards than inmates, Australian Lieutenant Jack Champ and other prisoners tirelessly carried out their campaign to escape from the massive floodlit stronghold, by any means necessary. In this riveting account – by turns humorous, heartfelt and tragic – historian Colin Burgess and Lieutenant Jack Champ, from the point of view of the prisoners themselves, tell the story of the twenty Australians who made this castle their ‘home’, and the plans they made that were so crazy that some even achieved the seemingly impossible – escape! ‘A stirring testimony of mateship . . . We are often on tenterhooks, always impressed by their determination, industry and courage’ Australian Book Review

Author : Mark Felton
Publisher : Macmillan
Page : 329 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2017-07-18
Category : History
ISBN : 9781250095862

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Castle of the Eagles by Mark Felton Pdf

Vincigliata Castle, a menacing medieval fortress set in the beautiful Tuscan hills, has become a very special prisoner of war camp on Benito Mussolini’s personal order. Within are some of the most senior officers of the Allied army, guarded by almost two hundred Italian soldiers and a vicious fascist commando who answers directly to “Il Duce” Mussolini himself. Their unbelievable escape, told by Mark Felton in Castle of the Eagles, is a little-known marvel of World War II. By March 1943, the plan is ready: this extraordinary assemblage of middle-aged POWs has crafted civilian clothes, forged identity papers, gathered rations, and even constructed dummies to place in their beds, all in preparation for the moment they step into the tunnel they have been digging for six months. How they got to this point and what happens after is a story that reads like fiction, supported by an eccentric cast of characters, but is nonetheless true to its core.

Author : Patrick Robert Reid
Publisher : Time Life Medical
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 1992-01-01
Category : Prisoners of war
ISBN : 0809487349

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The Colditz Story by Patrick Robert Reid Pdf

Author : Jessica Shattuck
Publisher : HarperCollins
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2017-03-28
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780062563682

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The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck Pdf

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • FEATURING AN EXCLUSIVE NEW CHAPTER GoodReads Choice Awards Semifinalist "Moving . . . a plot that surprises and devastates."—New York Times Book Review "A masterful epic."—People magazine "Mesmerizing . . . The Women in the Castle stands tall among the literature that reveals new truths about one of history’s most tragic eras."—USA Today Three women, haunted by the past and the secrets they hold Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined—an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Hazards of Good Breeding. Amid the ashes of Nazi Germany’s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once-grand castle of her husband’s ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resister murdered in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband’s brave conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow resistance widows. First Marianne rescues six-year-old Martin, the son of her dearest childhood friend, from a Nazi reeducation home. Together, they make their way across the smoldering wreckage of their homeland to Berlin, where Martin’s mother, the beautiful and naive Benita, has fallen into the hands of occupying Red Army soldiers. Then she locates Ania, another resister’s wife, and her two boys, now refugees languishing in one of the many camps that house the millions displaced by the war. As Marianne assembles this makeshift family from the ruins of her husband’s resistance movement, she is certain their shared pain and circumstances will hold them together. But she quickly discovers that the black-and-white, highly principled world of her privileged past has become infinitely more complicated, filled with secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart. Eventually, all three women must come to terms with the choices that have defined their lives before, during, and after the war—each with their own unique share of challenges. Written with the devastating emotional power of The Nightingale, Sarah’s Key, and The Light Between Oceans, Jessica Shattuck’s evocative and utterly enthralling novel offers a fresh perspective on one of the most tumultuous periods in history. Combining piercing social insight and vivid historical atmosphere, The Women in the Castle is a dramatic yet nuanced portrait of war and its repercussions that explores what it means to survive, love, and, ultimately, to forgive in the wake of unimaginable hardship.

Author : Susan Elia MacNeal
Publisher : Bantam
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2018-04-17
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781101965993

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The Paris Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal Pdf

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • American-born spy and code-breaker extraordinaire Maggie Hope secretly navigates Nazi-occupied France to find two brave women during the darkest days of World War II in the latest novel in this bestselling series—“a treat for WWII buffs and mystery lovers alike” (Booklist, on The Prime Minister’s Secret Agent). Maggie Hope has come a long way since serving as a typist for Winston Churchill. Now she’s working undercover for the Special Operations Executive in the elegant but eerily silent city of Paris, where SS officers prowl the streets in their Mercedes and the Ritz is draped with swastika banners. Walking among the enemy is tense and terrifying, and even though she’s disguised in chic Chanel, Maggie can’t help longing for home. But her missions come first. Maggie’s half sister, Elise, has disappeared after being saved from a concentration camp, and Maggie is desperate to find her—that is, if Elise even wants to be found. Equally urgent, Churchill is planning the Allied invasion of France, and SOE agent Erica Calvert has been captured, the whereabouts of her vital research regarding Normandy unknown. Maggie must risk her life to penetrate powerful circles and employ all her talents for deception and spycraft to root out a traitor, find her sister, and locate the reports crucial to planning D-Day in a deadly game of wits with the Nazi intelligence elite. Praise for The Paris Spy “Engrossing . . . A fast-paced climax leads to an ending that will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next installment.”—Publishers Weekly “With its riveting plot and cliff-hanger finish, this is a solid addition to a series as well researched as it is entertaining.”—Booklist “You will grieve with Paris. You will be outraged by the destruction. You will be terrified for all the heroes, be there with them every step, and care desperately that they succeed and survive. And perhaps above all, like me, you will be overwhelmed with their sacrifice for the freedom we still enjoy.”—Anne Perry, New York Times bestselling author of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series and the William Monk series “This has to be Maggie Hope’s most exciting adventure yet. Vivid and fast-paced, crammed with authentic detail, The Paris Spy is an extraordinary trip through the edgy drama of wartime Paris, skillfully plotted and studded with cameos by real historical figures.”—Jane Thynne, author of the Clara Vine series

Author : Major R Reid
Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2014-12-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781444795691

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The Colditz Story by Major R Reid Pdf

Colditz was the last stop for prisoners of war during WWII. Those who persisted in escaping from other camps were sent to the impregnable fortress of Colditz Castle, situated on a rocky outcrop high above the River Mulde. Once within the walls of the castle, the Germans reasoned, escape was impossible. And yet many prisoners attempted escape and many succeeded Pat Reid was one of those men. Appointed 'Escape Officer' by his fellow inmates, he masterminded many of the attempts. From tunnelling, to hiding in rubbish sacks, disguising themselves as German officers and even leaping from the castle walls, nothing was too dangerous or foolhardy compared to imprisonment by the enemy. Reid's own escape, in 1942, was both one of the most simple and the most daring. First published in 1952, The Colditz Story is a classic escape story in the tradition of The Great Escape and The Wooden Horse.

Author : Debra Doyle,James Macdonald,Judy Mitchell
Publisher : Troll Communications
Page : 148 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 1989
Category : Juvenile Fiction
ISBN : 0816718350

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The Prisoners of Bell Castle by Debra Doyle,James Macdonald,Judy Mitchell Pdf

Randal, a journeyman wizard, jeopardizes his powers when he joins Baron Ector's armies in a siege of Bell Castle.

Author : Henry Chancellor
Publisher : Coronet
Page : 446 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2002-04-04
Category : Escapes
ISBN : 034079495X

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Colditz by Henry Chancellor Pdf

Colditz high security camp contained every persistent escaper, trouble maker and valuable hostage captured by the Germans in World War II. It was considered escape proof but the very opposite proved to be true. The prisoners pooled their collected talents to create the greatest escape academy of the war.

Author : Major R Reid
Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2014-12-04
Category : History
ISBN : 9781444795707

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The Latter Days at Colditz by Major R Reid Pdf

In THE COLDITZ STORY, Pat Reid told the story of the escape academy that sprang up inside the most impregnable German POW camp of the Second World War, ending appropriately with his own incredible escape from Colditz. But Reid's own break-out was by no means the last. In this enthralling sequel, he follows the fortunes of the escape academy right up until the arrival of the allied forces in April 1945. These tales of fantastic bravery and stunning ingenuity are every bit as mesmerising as the original. A true classic, LATTER DAYS AT COLDITZ is the bestselling conclusion to the story of the infamous German P.O.W. camp.