Author(s): Ben Macintyre

Military

The bestselling historian with the real story of WW2's 'inescapable' Nazi prison camp

In a grim Gothic castle on a German hilltop, an unlikely band of prisoners plotted a daring escape from the clutches of their Nazi captors. Or so the story of Colditz has gone, unchanged and unchallenged for 70 years. But that tale contains only part of the truth.

The astonishing inside story, revealed for the first time in this new book by bestselling historian Ben Macintyre and in his usual gripping style, is a tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of snobbery, class conflict, homosexuality, bullying, espionage, boredom, insanity and farce.

With unprecedented access to declassified archives, previously unseen photographs, private papers and the vast Imperial War Museum Colditz sound archive, Macintyre reveals a remarkable cast of characters hitherto hidden from history. Some were heroes, but they were also human- tough but vulnerable, brave but terrified, by turns cheerful, determined and desperate.

From the Indian doctor whose hunger strike and eventual escape reads like a thriller, to the peculiarly brilliant inventor who manufactured maps hidden in playing cards and a compass secreted inside a walnut, the soldier-prisoners of Colditz were courageous and resilient - and astonishingly imaginative in their escape attempts.

Deeply researched and full of incredible human stories, this is the definitive book on Colditz.