Great escaper : a young POW in the most audacious breakout of WWII
Williams, Louise, 1961-2015
Book
John 'Willy' Williams was a medical student and passionate surfer turned Squadron Leader and Second World War ace. In the Australian tradition, he insisted on fighting his war in non-regulation attire and led his squadron into air combat over Libya and Egypt dressed in sandals and shorts. Shot down in the Western Desert in 1942, he ended up a POW in Stalag Luft III near the German-Polish border. Willy was among the seventy-six POWs who tunnelled their way out of the supposedly escape-proof camp under the Germans' noses in what later became famous as the Great Escape. Willy and former schoolmate Reg 'Rusty' Keirath, together with two other POWs, made it to Czechoslovakia and were captured by the Gestapo. Hitler was so enraged by the Great Escape that he personally ordered the secret execution of fifty of the seventy-three captured men, in flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention.
Main title:
Great escaper : a young POW in the most audacious breakout of WWII / Louise Williams.
Author:
Williams, Louise, 1961-, author
Imprint:
Stroud, Gloucestershire : Amberley, 2015.
Collation:
284 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm
Notes:
Includes QR code.Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9781445654010 (hbk)
Dewey class:
940.547243092940.547243940.547
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
1820897