WALLS DOWN OPERATION JERICHO AMIENS JAIL ESCAPE POW WW2

 

Jack Fishman 1982

A very good used condition hardcover book, with d/w (minor wear; some moderate scuffs and bumps; minor discolouration), of 448 pages with a section of b&w photographs. Pages clean and crisp.

 

Four months before D-Day the Gestapo captured several members of the French resistance who knew when and where the landings would take place. The Allied high command could not risk them revealing the secret under torture. Instead, British aircraft attacked Amiens prison where the men were held: bombing from very low level, the aircraft broke down the prison walls. The result: the largest jail break in history. Some 700 prisoners escaped, not just resistance members but thieves, forgers, pimps, prostitutes and murderers. All were hunted by the Gestapo, the SS and the German army -- as well as the Allied spy network that had to spirit the right people to safety.