The 21 Escapes of Lt Alastair Cram: A Compelling Story of Courage and Endurance in the Second World War
£8.70£9.50 (-8%)
A genuinely new Second World War story, The 21 Escapes of Lt Alastair Cram by David M. Guss is a riveting account of the wartime exploits of the Scotsman. It is a tale of courage in the face of extraordinary odds and a testament to one man’s dogged determination never to give up.
‘The greatest serial escaper of the Second World War’ – The Times
‘Endlessly fascinating. Cram’s story sizzles with adventure’ – Giles Milton, Sunday Times
In November 1941 Lt Alastair Cram was taken prisoner in North Africa as a devastating tank battle unfolded as Operation Crusader struggled to relieve Tobruk. His capture began a four year-long odyssey as he passed through twelve different POW camps, three Gestapo prisons and one asylum. Determined to regain his freedom, he became a serial escapee fleeing his captors no fewer than twenty-one times.
The most dramatic of these attempts was from Gavi, the ‘Italian Colditz’. This maximum-security prison built inside a thousand year old stone fortress was for the pericolosi, those classified as the ‘most dangerous’ prisoners due to their unrelenting desire to escape. It was here that Alastair met David Stirling, the legendary founder of the SAS, and cooked up the plan for the ‘Cistern Tunnel’, one of the most audacious but little-known mass escape attempts of the entire war.
______________
‘Fascinating’ – Daily Express
‘An enthralling portrait of true courage’ Sunday Express S Magazine
Read more
Additional information
| Publisher | Main Market edition (13 Jun. 2019), Pan |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 448 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1509829598 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1509829590 |
| Reading age | 18 years and up |
| Dimensions | 12.7 x 2.79 x 19.69 cm |
by PAD
This book is about a POW who escaped from the camps and shows that once outside the fence it is still not over as you have to get away and you can get recaptured. Is a good read and is based on real events.
by Kevin Martin
As an avid reader of POW books and a Scotsman from gods own country – Perthshire, home of the principal, I knew I was going to enjoy this book, having known of Cram’s provenance from reading 35 books from the excellent bibliography contained within. The author is also a firm fan and this comes thro in the style and reverence he places on the efforts of the many escapers tales he weaves thro the common thread of Cram. The book is roughly half about the efforts of Cram, with the other half concerning the many men he met along the way, some with excellent fighting and escaping provenance; Stirling and Pringle to the fore, who I didn’t know were the only two officers to serve time in both Gavi and Colditz castles – declared escape-proof locations.
The book is 362 pages long, but in truth, little time is spent on the detail of Cram’s escape attempts, as I suspect the personal wartime journals did not dwell overlong on them, but contained more about his emotions on incarceration. The escapes appear to be better fleshed out by his colleagues, and much more escape content is included concerning others involved. Bookmarked at either end are the pre and post-war activities of Cram.
For a modern escape book it’s one of the better ones I’ve read recently, and compares favourably with many contained within his excellent bibliography, which I strongly recommend for further reading (for a more first hand book concerning an officer from the same part of the world with an excellent escaping pedigree, I single out David Walker’s Lean, Wind, Lean). I managed to finish it in a couple of days, for the book was well balanced, and did not flag as the war progressed and his escape efforts did not diminish.
The one point of contention with the book, and one I anticipated from the outset, was what constitutes an escape, to total up to 21. Having included a number to be aimed for from the outset, I therefore read the book with counting the attempts from the start, and could only count 16, with genuine escapes where he escaped or evaded while under the control of the enemy. Thinking about escaping or being part of something that never came off, does not constitute an escape in my book, notwithstanding best endeavours. Without disrespecting the efforts, ‘The 16 actual escapes of Alistair Cram’ would still have been a bestseller. I would recommend that the author/publisher include as an appendix in any later revisions or paperback printing the full listing of the 21 quoted in the title, for I feel like I have been somehow shortchanged.
by Ed.
I found this book compelling and difficult to put down. It’s a story that besides being a biography, fills in some of the missing links in war time history. The only minor criticism I have is that there are places in the book where you lose the thread and realise the writer is talking about a different person or event. Probably due to the requirement to edit the book to a certain number of words.
by Greg Rob
Fascinating book about an amazing guy.
Almost unbelievable
by Dogbite Dave
I write this review based on my decades of experiences as a long term reader of all manner of subjects especially history / war.
The subject has a personal connection as one of my uncles was in bomber command, shot down and escaped in WW2.
I do not really like this book. It jumps around from pillar to post. It is just all a smashing yarn with a jolly good show, no grit to the tale.
I have no doubt at all that the man who went through all of the escapes, prisoner and such was a very driven individual but the writer has not done a good job in relating what happened.
Interesting but not by any means a page turner about a subject that I would normally read front to back without a stop.
by leslie jackson
Great read
by Nick Jones
Great detailed work on the life of lft Alastair Cram,
by Tina
Looks good