The Ones Who Got Away
Mighty Eighth Airmen on the Run in Occupied Europe
1st Edition
Published on 4. January 2024
304 pages
978-1-4728-5872-6 (ISBN)
Description
A remarkable collection of accounts of intrepid American aircrew shot down over enemy lines during World War II and how they got away.
To be an airman in the Eighth Air Force flying over the war-torn skies of Europe required skill, tenacity, and luck. Those who were shot down and evaded capture needed all of that and more if they were to make it back to friendly lines. These are their stories. Each is compiled from the original intelligence debrief written by the pilots or aircrew themselves.
Bill Yenne details how a spider web of escape routes sprang up, created by the local Résistance. Downed airmen were clothed, given false papers, and hidden so they could be smuggled back to England. These efforts were then supplemented by Allied intelligence agents. But the risks remained the same. Capture could mean death.
Their accounts are sometimes funny, often heartbreaking. P-47 pilot Joel McPherson feigned appendicitis and was able to escape from the local German military hospital - after he had his appendix removed. He spent weeks operating as a getaway driver for a Maquis bank robber gang before making it into neutral Spain. Bomber crewmen Fred Hartung and Norman Therrien found refuge at a French château, but later nearly froze to death crossing the icy Pyrenees with the Gestapo on their trail. The accounts of these men and others from the Mighty Eighth make this a story of defiance, foolhardiness, and bravery against the odds.
To be an airman in the Eighth Air Force flying over the war-torn skies of Europe required skill, tenacity, and luck. Those who were shot down and evaded capture needed all of that and more if they were to make it back to friendly lines. These are their stories. Each is compiled from the original intelligence debrief written by the pilots or aircrew themselves.
Bill Yenne details how a spider web of escape routes sprang up, created by the local Résistance. Downed airmen were clothed, given false papers, and hidden so they could be smuggled back to England. These efforts were then supplemented by Allied intelligence agents. But the risks remained the same. Capture could mean death.
Their accounts are sometimes funny, often heartbreaking. P-47 pilot Joel McPherson feigned appendicitis and was able to escape from the local German military hospital - after he had his appendix removed. He spent weeks operating as a getaway driver for a Maquis bank robber gang before making it into neutral Spain. Bomber crewmen Fred Hartung and Norman Therrien found refuge at a French château, but later nearly froze to death crossing the icy Pyrenees with the Gestapo on their trail. The accounts of these men and others from the Mighty Eighth make this a story of defiance, foolhardiness, and bravery against the odds.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Illustrations
8-page plate section in colour
ISBN-13
978-1-4728-5872-6 (9781472858726)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
01/2024
Osprey Publishing
€31.50
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Person
Bill Yenne is the author of ten novels and more than three dozen non-fiction books, his most recent being America's Few: Marine Aces in the South Pacific (Osprey, 2022). His work has been selected for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force Reading List. He is the recipient of the Air Force Association's Gill Robb Wilson Award for the "most outstanding contribution in the field of arts and letters [as an author] whose works have shaped how thousands of Americans understand and appreciate air power." He lives in California, USA.
Content
List of Plate Section Illustrations
Maps
Introduction
Part One: Strangers in a Strange Land
1. The Lay of This Treacherous Land
2. Herding Wildcats
3. Many Paths to Freedom
Part Two: Riding the Tail of a Comet
4. Hounded Houndsmen
5. Christmas in Limbo
6. Undocumented Fools At Large
7. A Menacing New Year
8. Unexpected Detours
9. In Hostile Hands
10. Long and Winding Roads
Part Three: The Man on the Bicycle
11. May Day Over Saint-Nazaire
12. Lines on the Map
13. Bombard Our House With Chocolate
14. Perils of the Pyrenees
15. New Lives, Later Lives
Part Four: Black Tuesday Boys
16. Inside the Third Reich
17. Desperate Fugitives
18. Shipwrecked Brothers
19. Not an Easy Road
20. Riding the Comet
21. False Starts, and Meeting the Fox Hunter
22. Homeward Bound
Part Five: Long Roads from Regensburg
23. A Rough Start to a Long Day
24. Tales of a Shillelagh and a Double Agent
25. A Milk Run Turns Sour
26. To Brussels and Beyond
27. Unexpected Threats
28. The Belgian Waiting Game
29. This is Your Life
Part Six: Bandits of the Dordogne
30. A Journey Formidable
31. Hollywood Maquisards
32. We Thought He Was a Madman
33. Over the Wall
34. A Bandit's Life for Me
35. Danger All Around
36. Waiting for the Right Moment
37. D-Days
38. Unsettled Lives
Part Seven: Reflections of Silver Screens
39. Leading from the Front
40. Suspicious Characters
41. Moving in Circles
42. Hollywood on the Seine
43. Operation Overlord
44. Hollywood Calling
Part Eight: Lightning Struck Twice
45. Aces Among the Wolves
46. Aces Down
47. Back into Combat
48. Déjà Vu, Again and Again
49. A Haunted Life
Part Nine: Betrayal and Triumph
50. Dobie's Boys
51. A Valuable Asset
52. Jake and Marty
53. Running Through the Woods
54. Into a World of Intrigue
55. A Safe House Most Unsafe
56. A Dungeon Most Medieval
57. Sleight of Hand
58. Improbable Twists of Fate
59. Mornings After
60. Years After
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Maps
Introduction
Part One: Strangers in a Strange Land
1. The Lay of This Treacherous Land
2. Herding Wildcats
3. Many Paths to Freedom
Part Two: Riding the Tail of a Comet
4. Hounded Houndsmen
5. Christmas in Limbo
6. Undocumented Fools At Large
7. A Menacing New Year
8. Unexpected Detours
9. In Hostile Hands
10. Long and Winding Roads
Part Three: The Man on the Bicycle
11. May Day Over Saint-Nazaire
12. Lines on the Map
13. Bombard Our House With Chocolate
14. Perils of the Pyrenees
15. New Lives, Later Lives
Part Four: Black Tuesday Boys
16. Inside the Third Reich
17. Desperate Fugitives
18. Shipwrecked Brothers
19. Not an Easy Road
20. Riding the Comet
21. False Starts, and Meeting the Fox Hunter
22. Homeward Bound
Part Five: Long Roads from Regensburg
23. A Rough Start to a Long Day
24. Tales of a Shillelagh and a Double Agent
25. A Milk Run Turns Sour
26. To Brussels and Beyond
27. Unexpected Threats
28. The Belgian Waiting Game
29. This is Your Life
Part Six: Bandits of the Dordogne
30. A Journey Formidable
31. Hollywood Maquisards
32. We Thought He Was a Madman
33. Over the Wall
34. A Bandit's Life for Me
35. Danger All Around
36. Waiting for the Right Moment
37. D-Days
38. Unsettled Lives
Part Seven: Reflections of Silver Screens
39. Leading from the Front
40. Suspicious Characters
41. Moving in Circles
42. Hollywood on the Seine
43. Operation Overlord
44. Hollywood Calling
Part Eight: Lightning Struck Twice
45. Aces Among the Wolves
46. Aces Down
47. Back into Combat
48. Déjà Vu, Again and Again
49. A Haunted Life
Part Nine: Betrayal and Triumph
50. Dobie's Boys
51. A Valuable Asset
52. Jake and Marty
53. Running Through the Woods
54. Into a World of Intrigue
55. A Safe House Most Unsafe
56. A Dungeon Most Medieval
57. Sleight of Hand
58. Improbable Twists of Fate
59. Mornings After
60. Years After
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
