I am one of those lucky ones who survived the war, and I can remember my emotional experiences, and those of my friends, as if they had happened yesterday. For many of us the horror, the injustice, and the cruelty can never be forgotten or forgiven; but I have tried to write without too much bitterness - Bob van der Stok On the night ......
Quickly, I climbed up to the surface and immediately found the rope... I felt no signal, so it was not safe yet. Then I felt three distinct tugs and slowly popped my head up. The nearest 'Goonbox' was at least 200 feet away; but, indeed, I was twenty feet from the edge of the woods." - Bram Vanderstok'A born raconteur. His escapes, his operations as a Spitfire pilot, his experiences as a prisoner of war, and his incredible escape crossing the Pyrenees - all are described in a breathtaking manner which made me read his book through in one sitting' - Prof Dr L de Jong, Founder/Director of the Dutch Institute for War Documentation"Such a modest man, such a dramatic story - you'll be pulled into this absorbing account" - Jonathan Vance, The True Story of the Great EscapeOn the night of 24 March 1944, Bram Vanderstok was number 18 of 76 men who crawled beyond the barbed wire fence of Stalag Luft III in Zagan, Poland. The 1963 film The Great Escape, was largely based on this autobiography but - with Vanderstok's agreement - filmmakers chose to turn his story into an Australian character name Sedgwick, played by James Coburn.His memoir sets down his wartime adventures before being incarcerated in Stalag Luft III and then in extraordinary detail describes various escape attempts which culminated with the famous March breakout. After escaping, Vanderstok roamed Europe for weeks, passing through Leipzig, Utrecht, Brussels, Paris, Dijon and Madrid, before making it back to England. He reported to the Air Ministry and two months after escaping, on 30 May 1944 he returned to the British no.91 Squadron. In the following months he flew almost every day to France escorting bombers and knocking down V1 rockets.In August 1944 he finally returned to his home. He learned that his two brothers had been killed in concentration camps after being arrested for resistance work. His father had been tortured and blinded by the Gestapo during interrogation. He had never betrayed his son.
On the night of March 24, 1944, 80 Commonwealth airmen crawled through a 336-foot-long tunnel and slipped into the forest beyond the wire of Stalag Luft III, a German POW compound near Sagan, Poland. The event became known as 'The Great Escape, ' an intricate breakout more than a year in the making, involving as many as 2,000 POWs working with extraordinary co-ordination, intelligence, and daring. Yet within a few days, all but three of the escapees were recaptured. Subsequently, fifty were murdered, cremated, and buried in a remote corner of the prison camp. This memoir charts the amazing escape by Bram van der Stok, an RAF Spitfire pilot and one of the three men who actually succeeded in evading capture and got back to Britain.
Lifting the Fog: The Secret History of the Dutch Defense Intelligence and Security Service (1912-2022) is unique as a general body of knowledge about the history of the Dutch intelligence and security services since 1913. The chapters alternate between a general historical overview and a number of case studies spread out over the more-than-a-century long history that taken together give a good insight into the main functions of a middle-size military intelligence service as The Netherlands has known. The MIVD is giving the author access to the archives of the MIVD and its predecessors, which normally are closed to outsiders.
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