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BURT, KENDAL & LEASOR, JAMES: : The one that got away

LONDON.COLLINS/MICHAEL JOSEPH,1956.

ISBN No ISBN.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.VG/VG.No owner inscrptn, and no price-clip to dw/dj.3-colour block (green,white and black) artwork illustrated upper wrap by John Rose; b/w subject portrait photographic rear wrap; with minimal shelf-wear and negligible creasing to edges,but some very light chipping with miniscule loss,to edges and to head+foot of spine/backstrip (99% present). Top edge slightly aged and dust-soiled as usual/ normal with minimal spotting,fore-edge slightly less aged and cleaner but sporadically foxed/ spotted; contents generally bright,tight and clean apart from foxed page-edges.Generally clean,plain black paper-covered boards with blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and fairly clean plain white endpapers with the faintest hint of off-setting from the dw/dj's inner flaps.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,7-255pp includes half-title+title pages,b/w subject portrait photographic frntis,contents+ illustrations lists,6 b/w maps,10pp contemporary b/w photographs,19 chapters and appendices(2). The first escape story of a German in England. All who have been stirred by the many stories of British wartime escapes from enemy hands must have wondered about the reverse of the coin.Did German prisoners try to escape as persistently as did their British counterparts? Did they bait their guards with similar ironic humour and with horse-play often carried to dangerous extremes? Were similar epics of courage and endurance enacted unknown to us on our own soil and on the surrounding seas? What were the opportunities for escape from prison camps in Britain,and what were the chances of eluding recapture among a population that at the time included a high percentage of foreigners? Was escape from camp itself worth while when ultimate success must inevitably involve passage across the sea by plane or boat? How were our prisoners fed, interrogated,guarded? In other words,how did we treat them? These questions are all answered in the first book to tell the full story of a German officer escaping in England,set against the background of our own familiar countryside, and with our own countrymen - police,soldiers, home guards,shepherds,bus conductors,booking clerks,etc.,playing the unfamiliar roles of pursuer and sometimes unconscious abettor of one of the most ingenious and brazen of all escapers. The full and vastly exciting story of Franz von Werra,Luftwaffe pilot shot down in the Battle of Britain,who made two fabulous escapes in England and finally got away from Canada across the frozen St. Lawrence into the then neutral United States,has been unravelled by two English authors.Von Werra himself was killed shortly after his return to duty but had meantime dictated an account of his adventures which the German Ministry of Propaganda banned on the score that it was insufficiently anti-British, and the German High Command on the score of security.With the advantage of this account as a basis and with all the detail filled in by their own researches,the authors have contributed a unique addition to the escape literature of World War II. It is a story which the British reader will follow with breathless fascination and with intermittent doubt as to where his sympathies lie. Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence, then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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