Zero Night (Hardback)
The Untold Story of the Second World War's Most Daring Great Escape
Mark Felton
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'The story of a lesser known – but perhaps the greatest – escape of Second World War prisoners has been told in a new book.' The Scotsman
'This is undeniably history as it should be told and a thundering good read.' History of War Magazine
Oflag VI-B, Warburg, Germany: On the night of 30 August 1942 – ‘Zero Night’ – 40 officers from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa staged the most audacious mass escape of the Second World War.
It was the first ‘Great Escape’ – but instead of tunnelling, the escapers boldly went over the huge perimeter fences using wooden scaling contraptions. This was the notorious ‘Warburg Wire Job’, described by fellow prisoner and fighter ace Douglas Bader as ‘the most brilliant escape conception of this war’.
Months of meticulous planning and secret training hung in the balance during three minutes of mayhem as prisoners charged the camp’s double perimeter fences.
Telling this remarkable story in full for the first time, historian Mark Felton brilliantly evokes the suspense of the escape itself and the adventures of those who eluded the Germans, as well as the courage of the civilians who risked their lives to help them in enemy territory. Fantastically intimate and told with a novelist’s eye for drama and detail, this is a rip-roaring adventure story, all the more thrilling for being true.
The story of the greatest escape of World War II has been told for the first time.
The audacious breakout saw dozens of Allied prisoners of war scale the wire at a camp deep in Nazi Germany using four huge ladders they had made and disguised as bookshelves.
During the breakout 32 prisoners got out and legendary pilot Douglas Bader, who was a prisoner in Oflag VI-B camp near Warburg, described it as the most daring escape of the war.
