The Great Escape (book)

The Great Escape
First UK edition (publ. Faber)
Cover art by Ley Kenyon
AuthorPaul Brickhill (1916-1991)
LanguageEnglish
PublisherNorton (US), Faber (UK)
Publication date
1950 (US), 1951 (UK)

The Great Escape is a 1950 book by Australian writer Paul Brickhill (1916-1991), that provides an insider's account of the March 1944 mass escape from the Nazi German Luftwaffe (Air Force) prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III for British and Commonwealth enemy airmen. As a prisoner in the camp himself, he participated in the escape plan but was barred from the actual escape attempt 'along with three or four others on grounds of suffering from claustrophobia'.[1] The introduction to the book is written by George Harsh, an American P.O.W. at camp Stalag Luft III. This 1950 book along with other previously published material was made into the 1963 film The Great Escape.

  1. ^ Brickhill, Paul: The Great Escape, foreword