Human Game: The True Story of the 'Great Escape' Murders and the Hunt for the Gestapo Gunmen

I hope you'll forgive this shameless self-promotion. Today, Penguin released my latest book, Human Game: The True Story of the 'Great Escape' Murders and the Hunt for the Gestapo Gunmen, in the US (the UK edition will hit stores on 7 March 2013).

Detailing the 50 murders following the 'Great Escape," and the Royal Air Force's manhunt across post-war Europe for the killers, the book is the result of three years researching and writing. It's based primarily on the official case files of the Special Investigating Branch of the RAF Police.



I hope some of you will read it and enjoy it.

Thanks!

 

Wishing you all the best success with your book, Simon.

It's an atrocity on the part of the Nazis which needs to be publicised as much as possible. If I'm correct it was the only war crime the prosecution could directly prove against Hermann Goering and earned him a very well deserved death sentence.

There's something I'm not too clear about though: were the murders committed in just one principal act as the film "The Great Escape" shows, or were the prisoners killed more discreetly and individually in separate places depending on where they were caught? I always thought it was strange in the film that the airmen escaped and scattered in different directions and with different means of transport, and yet when the Germans have scoured all the 4 corners of Europe looking for them, they then take the trouble to assemble them again in one place for the massacre.

 

Thanks for the kind words, Steed.

I think for the sake of ease, the movie depicts the recaptured airmen being shot all together. In actuality, they were murdered in killing fields throughout Germany. More often than not, they were killed in samll groups of two to four. Method of execution was a shot to the back of the head and another shot through the back of the heart once the victim was down. Their bodies were then taken to the nearest crematorium or concentration camp and destroyed.

 

This looks like a very interesting book, Simon. Is this sold in the U.S.?

I remember watching the original Great Escape and it was an amazing tale of our boys breaking out. Many were lost and gunned down, but it was a successful operation.

 

Thanks for your interest! Indeed, it's available in the US and is currently available on the US Amazon site here. It should reach stores soon . . . It will be available in the UK in March 2013. You can also read an excerpt from the first chapter on my website.

 

Awesome, thanks Simon! I am definitely going to be buying this. I love WWII history and the tales of soldiers who overcame impossible odds. Chances are I'll love this book.