A true story of the Great Escape : a young Australian POW in the most audacious breakout of WWII / Louise Williams.
Material type:
TextPublisher: Crows Nest, NSW Allen & Unwin, 2015Copyright date: ©2014Description: v, 284 pages, 16 pages of unnumbered plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- still image
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781743313893
- Williams, John Edwin Ashley, 1919-1944
- Kierath, Reginald Victor, 1915-1944
- Australia. Royal Australian Air Force -- Officers -- Crimes against
- Stalag Luft III -- Biography
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Australian
- Prisoners of war -- Germany -- Biography
- Prisoners of war -- Australia -- Biography
- Escapes -- Personal narratives
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
- Prisoner-of-war escapes -- Germany
- War crimes -- Germany
| Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-Fiction | Davis (Central) Library Non-Fiction | Non-Fiction | 940.5481 WIL | 1 | Available | T00589446 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Shot down in 1942, Australian pilot John Williams became a POW in the notorious Stalag Luft III camp in Germany. John and his best mate Rusty Keirath were among the 76 POWs who tunneled their way out of the camp in what became famous as the Great Escape. John's family was never told what happened to him. His niece Louise Williams has pieced together his life, from his upbringing in a tight-knit family hit hard by the Depression, his exploits in the air, the inventive collaboration of the POWs, to the tragic outcome of their escape.
Includes bibliograpical references and index.
The first book to tell the story of an Australian POW in the famous Great Escape from Stalag Luft III in World War II, this is a moving account of the far too short life of a talented young man and a family hit hard by the Depression and war.
7 11 24 27 32 34 37 63 93 106 122 189
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Introduction (p. 1)
- 1 The Lost Letter (p. 3)
- 2 The Other Side of the Wire (p. 7)
- 3 How to Tell a True War Story (p. 15)
- 4 Great Expectations-the Making of a Young Man (p. 17)
- 5 The Next Leg (p. 27)
- 6 Introducing Michal (p. 34)
- 7 Paradise on Sea (p. 39)
- 8 In Search of a Decent Education (p. 47)
- 9 The Arrest (p. 55)
- 10 The Rise of an Aussie Icon (p. 58)
- 11 Choosing the Future (p. 67)
- 12 The Mother Country (p. 72)
- 13 Ivo Tonder-The Last Glimpse (p. 77)
- 14 In Search of the Elusive English Gentleman (p. 81)
- 15 Scotland, and the Brave (p. 95)
- 16 The first POW (p. 104)
- 17 The Australians Are Coming (p. 108)
- 18 Out in Africa (p. 115)
- 19 A Tale of Two Men and Two Messes (p. 126)
- 20 To War in the Desert (p. 135)
- 21 Reunion (p. 146)
- 22 Holding Your Nerve (p. 152)
- 23 Flipping the Bird (p. 158)
- 24 A Big Flap (p. 161)
- 25 While We Still Have Breath in Our Bodies (p. 168)
- 26 Down But Not Out (p. 174)
- 27 The Face of the Enemy (p. 178)
- 28 In the Bag (p. 186)
- 29 Big X (p. 193)
- 30 Second Time Unlucky (p. 197)
- 31 The Swimming Pool (p. 200)
- 32 Another German Friend (p. 207)
- 33 Cooking and Carpentry (p. 211)
- 34 A Ticket in the Lottery (p. 220)
- 35 Shuffling the Cards (p. 223)
- 36 The Bereaved Mother's Badge (p. 230)
- 37 In Memoriam (p. 236)
- 38 Surfing at Manly (p. 244)
- Postscript-the Lost Letter, Found (p. 247)
- Notes (p. 248)
- Bibliography (p. 272)
- Acknowledgements (p. 275)
- Index (p. 277)