It may be that I recently reached my fourth decade, or it may be that the world seems once again to be on the brink of war—but for some reason, I’ve been drawn back to some of my favorite WWII stories from childhood. Both The Great Escape (1963) starring Steve McQueen and The Dirty Dozen (1967) were favorite films of mine growing up. I watched them several times a year, in fact, because these exciting stories never grew old for me.
At age 8, I had no clue that these films were based on books, and I wouldn’t have cared had I known! But now that I’m “all growed up,” I figured it’s high time I got the real backstories from each by reading the original books. What an adventure that’s been for me!
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A Little about Paul Brickhill and The Great Escape
The truth behind The Great Escape is as fascinating as the movie portrays, and obviously even more so. It’s hard to figure whether this book is actually fiction or non-fiction, though Paul Brickhill himself says that due to his inclusion of conversations and details to which he (as a prisoner that did not make the escape) was never privy, he considers it fiction. Still, it’s not the kind of fiction that’s been invented out of thin air.
This book is intricately detailed with many true-life events, and the characters inside represent real people (if not by name), many of them murdered by the S.S. not long after their escape. While the film is the glamorized and watered-down version of the book (and thus unarguably fiction), this book is honest and faithful to what I can only assume are the facts, and I would argue that it’s closer to nonfiction than to novelization. Brickhill had to fill in a lot of holes (pun intended) regarding the Germans’ side of the story, but he does so with expert care, and we feel like we’re present in the room with the characters from both sides.
A Unique POW Camp
Life for the Allied prisoners inside the German Stalag Luft III differed from that of other POWs. While the airmen were not as ill-treated as were the civilian-Jews were in the German Death Camps or other POWs were in Japanese prison camps, they also weren’t living free. Forced into hard labor and prevented from communicating with the outside world, the prisoners were at least allowed opportunity to function as men, to create and play and study and interact with each other, things that most POWs during WWII were now allowed to do.
This relative freedom afforded the Allied prisoners the various covers they needed to begin preparations for digging a series of tunnels that could provide them a way of escape. Their plan was as bold as it was insurmountable: to affect the escape of over 400 prisoners in one fell swoop! Reading all the intricate details of their planning and execution (literally) was like sitting through the same 1963 movie, yet for several more vastly entertaining hours. I loved every minute of it, and this is definitely not the first time for me that a book has shed much necessary light on its film (see 2001: A Space Odyssey).
Follow-up Not Found in the Movie
Of particular interest to me in this book was the final set of chapters chronicling the hunt for and arrest of the S.S. personnel involved in the murders of 50 escapees who were caught but never returned to Stalag Luft III. Hitler’s anger at such an escape and subsequent order that the officers be shot once captured was well described, and even the apparent hesitation from those men to carry out the order made this whole scenario feel alarmingly real. Those scenes from the film where the men were murdered and where their fellow-inmates learn of the loss (50 men shot and killed with not a single man wounded) were gut-wrenching.
This whole event was an attempted cover-up by the Germans that needed exposure—much like what we saw with other Axis powers in the book Ghost Soldiers. The ensuing hunt for the German perpetrators and their trials were cursory but were a satisfying addition to this book that the film simply didn’t have enough time to capture. I’m sure there are books out there focusing on just this follow-up part of the story, and I’d love to seek them out someday.
I absolutely loved reading The House on Garibaldi Street, so I’m certain that another book on justice for Nazi war crimes would serve delightfully as nighttime reading. In my quick research, did find this: Human Game: The True Story of the ‘Great Escape’ Murders and the Hunt for the Gestapo Gunmen by Simon Read (2012). Perhaps for the next Siblings Book Club list?
Conclusion
The Great Escape was a welcome deep-dive into one of my favorite films from childhood, and I’m so glad I took the time to enjoy it. Perhaps turning 40 has also turned me into an old man who says things like “they don’t make them like they used to,” but it’s the truth. I’m adding that film to my kids’ own must-watch list this winter, and I highly recommend you do the same.
©2023 E.T.
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