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Escape from Stalag Luft III
- The True Story of My Successful Great Escape: The Memoir of Bob Vanderstok
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
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Escape from Stalag Luft III
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Summary
On the night of March 24, 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 named Sedgwick.
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 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.
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What listeners say about Escape from Stalag Luft III
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M Ingledew
- 18-05-23
Wow, just wow!
If you want to hear the true events of the “Great Escape” this is the book for you. Not the Hollywood hijacking of the characters and story.
I wanted to listen to this book as Stalag Luft III is on my list of places to visit. I will go there now with a full understanding of the camp and the real people who were there.
Thank you Sir for your service and sharing your truly awe inspiring life story with us. I wonder how many stories went untold and we will never be able to understand the real challenges this generation faced.
Mike
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Thomas David Lee
- 29-02-24
misleading title
Absolutely fantastic book,but misleading title which was changed from its original title, It's a pilot's account of his entire war story , and only a few chapters about the actual escape and being a prisoner of war. Other than that absolutely brilliant
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Ramon
- 20-03-24
Amazing
Far more than just excaping from Stalag Luft 3. This is an amazing story of one man's second world war.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Glen
- 11-02-22
Very interesting story, very annoying narrator
The story itself is very interesting and informative.
The narrator, presumably in an attempt to enliven the narration, has a cadence and rhythm that I found extremely annoying and distracting.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- paulie45
- 28-02-24
Great escape
We all know the story. But the story after the escape is as compelling. Bram Van Der Stok had a life that was full of adventure and he was rewarded so by both his own country but Britain too. The pilot who nearly wasn’t allowed to fly again got the help from high up. A fighter pilot from Holland who truly loved and fought for the colour Orange.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Thomas
- 28-06-23
Excellent and fascinating account
Highly recommended for all. A gripping tale of remarkable courage, ingenuity, resourcefulness and luck in staying alive.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Nathan Turner
- 20-02-24
fabulous account of the great escape
A brilliant and detailed account of the great escape, also the story of one man's unbelievable and compelling journey through the second world war,
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 04-07-22
Great
Brilliant testimony from Mr Van Der Stock, and a fantastic version of events of both the Great Escape and his exploits before and after.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- e weston
- 30-10-23
A good listen
Nicely narrated. easy listening. Full of interesting facts that I didn’t know about the war
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Fox 3 Simulations
- 02-03-24
Last chapter aside, BRILLIANT!
Narrator was near perfect for the job, and the way the book moved around was just right. The author is very class conscious, and clearly comes from an upper class family, and while this shouldn't matter, it clearly does - and this is used to his advantage throughout the experiences.
Sometimes there were minor differences even within repetitions, I assume where the author wrote about the same event, having slept and then across multiple days in writing, written again - this happened 3 times that I noticed. The detail of the build up to, and the escape was fascinating. Ny only question here, that was never addressed, was why the prison seemed so slack, with endless escape attempts treated as laughable jokes, and prisoners allowed to wonder to the local town on "a gentlemen's agreement" - an opportunity to gather much needed intel, to the piano delivered to the prisoners at the camp from abroad, and endless food parcels which had the prisoners better fed than the guards, with "unlimited cigarettes, chocolate and coffee" how nobody saw the bribery risk from a mile off, I'll never know. Great fun and many close calls, and yes, taking full advantage of all that stuff to bribe!
My only real criticism, is his first hand experiences, are suddenly combined in the final long chapter, alongside mostly generic historical reports. While this may seem petty, and most people should find it obvious which is which, I didn't like it. I find memoirs often paint the most accurate version of history possible, all be it limited to 1 individual experience. When you begin to mix up personal experience with general history, especially when it's the agreed upon by the victors 40-50 years later, it blurs the lines some, and takes away from the legitimacy of the overall book. Although I very much wanted to finish the book, I wish the last chapter had not been included... so blast chapter aside, brilliant!
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