Neal Bascomb, author of The Nazi Hunters, returns with his next thrilling work of narrative nonfiction about a group of Allied POWs who staged an escape for the ages during World War I.
Published on the 100th anniversary of the Holzminden escape!
At the height of World War I, as battles raged in the trenches and in the air, another struggle for survival was being waged in the most notorious POW camp in all of Germany: Holzminden. A land-locked Alcatraz of sorts, it was home to the most troublesome Allied prisoners--and the most talented at escape. The Grand Escape tells the remarkable tale of a band of pilots who pulled off an ingenious plan and made it out of enemy territory in the biggest breakout of WWI, inspiring their countrymen in the darkest hours of the war.
The author of the award-winning The Nazi Hunters returns with another thrilling true story of WWII espionage, including Nazis, nukes, fighting, failure, and everyday heroes.
April 9, 1940.
The invasion begins at night, with German cruisers slipping up a silent fjord. Soon planes full of paratroopers roar over the mountains, and in two months, the Nazis occupy all of Norway. They station soldiers throughout the country. They cripple food supplies to the Norwegian people. And at the Vemork power plant, they gain access to an essential ingredient in the weapon that could end the war: Hitler's very own nuclear bomb.
February 24, 1943.
When the Allies discover the plans for the bomb, they agree Vemork must be destroyed. But after a British operation fails to stop the Nazis' deadly designs, the task falls to a band of passionate Norwegian commandos -- young men who long to free their country from Nazi rule. Armed with little more than parachutes, skis, explosives, and great courage, they will survive months in the snowy wilderness and execute two desperately dangerous missions. The result? The greatest act of sabotage in all of World War II.
A spy mission, a Holocaust tale, and a first-class work of nonfiction.
In 1945, at the end of World War II, Adolf Eichmann, the head of operations for the Final Solution, walked into the mountains of Germany and vanished from view. Sixteen years later, an elite team of spies captured him at a bus stop in Argentina and smuggled him to Israel, resulting in one of the century's most important trials--one that cemented the Holocaust in the public imagination.
THE NAZI HUNTERS is the thrilling and fascinating story of what happened between these two events. Survivor Simon Wiesenthal opened Eichmann's case; a blind Argentinean and his teenage daughter provided crucial information. Finally, the Israeli spies--many of whom lost family in the Holocaust--embarked on their daring mission, recounted here in full. Based on the adult bestseller HUNTING EICHMANN, which is now in development as a major film, and illustrated with powerful photos throughout, THE NAZI HUNTERS is a can't-miss work of narrative nonfiction for middle-grade and YA readers.
