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Our Chances Were Zero: The Daring Escape by two German POW's from India in 1942
During World War II the British imprisoned many German and Italian prisoners of war and civilian internees in India. The less co-operative prisoners were kept under harsh conditions in camps in the Himalayan foothills.
The author was a German civilian working in India at the outbreak of war and was promptly interned by the British. In 1942 Magener and another prisoner, Heins von Have, finally managed to escape. Getting out of the camp was only the prelude to the difficult task of making their way across the entire Indian sub-continent in an attempt to reach friendly territory.
Disguising themselves as British officers, the two Germans made an epic journey across India and through British forces on the Burma frontier in an attempt to link up with advancing Japanese forces. Ironically, the Japanese unit they finally located did not believe their story and they came close to being executed as spies.
His grippingly told personal narrative of a German's escape from Allied custody is unique in the annals of prisoner-of-war escape and evasion.
The author was a German civilian working in India at the outbreak of war and was promptly interned by the British. In 1942 Magener and another prisoner, Heins von Have, finally managed to escape. Getting out of the camp was only the prelude to the difficult task of making their way across the entire Indian sub-continent in an attempt to reach friendly territory.
Disguising themselves as British officers, the two Germans made an epic journey across India and through British forces on the Burma frontier in an attempt to link up with advancing Japanese forces. Ironically, the Japanese unit they finally located did not believe their story and they came close to being executed as spies.
His grippingly told personal narrative of a German's escape from Allied custody is unique in the annals of prisoner-of-war escape and evasion.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1954
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 14, 2023
A unique addition to any World War 2 prisoner shelf as it follows two German civilian internees on their great escape from India into Japanese occupied Burma in 1944. The book was first published in 1954 by Rolf Magener as "Prisoner's Bluff", and this title is more fitting to the book for me as him and his partner in crime, Heins von Have, really bluffed their way across India and were lucky on many occasions.
They initially escaped from the camp with five other prisoners, including Heinrich Harrer from Seven Years in Tibet fame, but unlike these men, they decided not to escape into the Himalayas. They took the journey across India to modern-day Bangladesh where they crossed the frontline to reach Japanese lines. It is interesting to note how easy it was for them to travel through the vast landscape disguised as servicemen and the class difference in India at the time, and how they saw how organized the Allies were (beefsteak & steel) against how disorganized the Japanese were (rice & bamboo) behind the frontlines. It is also interesting to see how they were treated by their Japanese allies after being discovered them with suspicion and they were even in the hands of the Kempantei for a while.
It is one of the unique escape stories out there and is highly recommended.
They initially escaped from the camp with five other prisoners, including Heinrich Harrer from Seven Years in Tibet fame, but unlike these men, they decided not to escape into the Himalayas. They took the journey across India to modern-day Bangladesh where they crossed the frontline to reach Japanese lines. It is interesting to note how easy it was for them to travel through the vast landscape disguised as servicemen and the class difference in India at the time, and how they saw how organized the Allies were (beefsteak & steel) against how disorganized the Japanese were (rice & bamboo) behind the frontlines. It is also interesting to see how they were treated by their Japanese allies after being discovered them with suspicion and they were even in the hands of the Kempantei for a while.
It is one of the unique escape stories out there and is highly recommended.
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February 5, 2014An Incredible story
If you want to read a good example of showing, not telling, read this book. the reader can feel what these men endured.
If you want to read a good example of showing, not telling, read this book. the reader can feel what these men endured.
January 15, 2023
Ricordo di essermi appassionato da ragazzino alla visione in TV del film "La grande fuga", un'evasione in grande stile di soldati alleati da un campo di concentramento tedesco durante la seconda guerra mondiale e, nello spirito di questo ricordo ho incominciato a leggere questo libro che narra invece la fuga di due civili tedeschi internati dall'inizio della guerra in un campo di concentramento inglese sito in India ai piedi dell'Himalaya: essi fuggono in direzione della Birmania nell'obiettivo di raggiungere le linee giapponesi, allora alleati dei tedeschi. Un racconto interessante e palpitante per la bravura con cui vengono descritte le enormi difficoltà incontrate quotidianamente dai fuggitivi per non farsi riacciuffare in territorio nemico dove un attimo di disattenzione o la mera sfortuna possono improvvisamente mandare all'aria il sogno di libertà, e in aggiunta le problematiche condizioni ambientali e climatiche del territorio asiatico e il persistente terrore che un controllo più accurato o un particolare trascurato determinino la catastrofe e infine lo stress fisico e psicologico che porta giorno dopo giorno i due connazionali sull'orlo del collasso e dell'inedia. Una fuga lunga, estrema che li porterà lontano...Un racconto che se da una parte manca di colpi di scena clamorosi e drammatici dall'altra si rivela un sapiente gioco romanzesco palpitante di incognite e di pericoli psicologici.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews