The Great Escaper
eBook - ePub

The Great Escaper

The Life and Death of Roger Bushell

  1. 384 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Great Escaper

The Life and Death of Roger Bushell

About this book

A Sunday Times bestseller, the real story behind the mastermind of the most famous breakout in history—The Great Escape.

While the most famous images from the 1963 film The Great Escape include either a motorcycle or a ball—but definitely Steve McQueen—Richard Attenborough played the part of “Big X,” the British mastermind behind the greatest escape in history. Like the subject of the film, “Big X” was a real person. Roger Bushell was the mastermind of the mass breakout from Stalag Luft III in March 1944.

Very little was known about Bushell until 2011, when his family donated his private papers to the Imperial War Museum. Through exclusive access to this material, as well as new research from other sources, Simon Pearson has written the first biography of this iconic figure. Born in South Africa in 1910, Roger Bushell was the son of a British mining engineer. On May 23, 1940, his Spitfire was shot down during a dogfight over Boulogne after destroying two German fighters. Over the next four years he made three escapes, coming within one hundred yards of the Swiss border during his first attempt. His third (and last escape) destabilized the Nazi leadership and captured the imagination of the world, forever immortalized by Hollywood.

Simon Pearson's revealing biography is a vivid account of war and love, triumph and tragedy—and one man's attempt to challenge remorseless tyranny in the face of impossible odds.

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Yes, you can access The Great Escaper by Simon Pearson in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Military Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Skyhorse
Year
2021
eBook ISBN
9781510748972

Table of contents

  1. Front Cover
  2. Half-Title Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Contents
  6. Prologue
  7. 1. The Great Escape
  8. 2. A Taste of Freedom
  9. 3. England Beckons
  10. 4. Pembroke and Piste
  11. 5. High Society
  12. 6. Chelsea Boys
  13. 7. On the Brink
  14. 8. Flying High
  15. 9. First Combat
  16. 10. Prisoner of War
  17. 11. Man of Letters
  18. 12. In Pursuit of Peggy
  19. 13. The Goat Shed
  20. 14. Journey to Prague
  21. 15. Reinhard Heydrich
  22. 16. Family at War
  23. 17. Love and Betrayal
  24. 18. Holding Out
  25. 19. Big X
  26. 20. Going Underground
  27. 21. Love of a Lady
  28. 22. Secret Agent
  29. 23. Treading the Boards
  30. 24. Eve of Battle
  31. 25. Goodbye, Harry
  32. 26. A Marked Man
  33. 27. Casualties of War
  34. 28. Aftermath
  35. Afterword to the Skyhorse Edition
  36. Acknowledgments
  37. Text Acknowledgments
  38. Picture Acknowledgments
  39. Bibliography
  40. Notes on Sources
  41. Index