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WOODEN HORSE (Military Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Eric Williams
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $9.62
You Save: $6.33 (40%)
New (21) Used (6) Collectible (2) from $9.62
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 110860
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 264
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1844153037
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.547243
EAN: 9781844153039
ASIN: 1844153037
Publication Date: October 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Two officers made home runs via a tunnel dug in the open air beneath a wooden vaulting horse from Stalag Luft III.
The author, a Royal Air Force bomber captain, was shot down over Germany in 1942 and imprisoned in Stalag-Luft III (site of the 'Great Escape' later in the war). He escaped after 10 months and, accompanied by a fellow RAF officer, made his way back to England. He relates his story in three distinct phases: the construction of a tunnel (its entrance camouflaged by the wooden vaulting horse in the exercise yard) and hiding the large quantities of sand he dug; the escape; and the journey on foot and by train to the port of Stettin, where Williams and his fellow escapee stowed away aboard a Danish ship, the Norensen.
The story of the flight across Germany is particularly tense, as Williams relates how their clothing and fabricated travel papers became shabbier and more conspicuous. This classic escape-and-evasion story, an exciting read and is arguably the most ingenious POW escape of WWII. The Wooden Horse became a legend among servicemen long before its publication in 1949.
It was famously filmed by Jack Lee, starring David Tomlinson, Anthony Steel, Bryan Forbes and Peter Finch.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
A Real-Life Trojan Horse that Fooled the German Captors February 3, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This amazing escape episode involved three men, and was not part of the much-publicized Great Escape, but took place from the same camp (Stalag Luft III). This review is an expansion of an earlier one that I had written.
The original Trojan Horse contained soldiers in the process of sneaking into a city. This real-life WWII thriller describes a Trojan Horse used by Allied POWs to tunnel their way out of a German POW camp. While the horse was ostensibly being used for vaulting exercise, a small group of men hidden within the horse dug a tunnel underneath. Eventually it led them to freedom. Years later, "Eric Williams" was surprised that a mere plywood box could have fooled the Germans for so long. Indeed, the Germans apparently never became suspicious of the fact that the horse was always placed at the identical location, and not far from the wire.
The idea was conceived out of the frustration of digging tunnels long distances from the huts to past the camp wire, and the Germans expecting the traps to originate from the huts and finding them. What if there was some way to get much closer to the wire, to dig a tunnel from there, and to conceal the trap from that unexpected location?
The Trojan Horse episode came to mind. It would be a long and laborious tunneling process, as only a few tunnelers and relatively small amounts of sand could be concealed within the horse per exercise session. Otherwise, the horse would be too heavy to be carried.
The vaulting horse was at first used without any tunnelers concealed in it. In fact, the vaulters purposely knocked it over a number of times so that the Germans would see nothing on the inside of it. The Germans were told that the vaulting stemmed from the English craze for exercise.
After innumerable episodes of vaulting and tunneling, the tunnel was past the wire. Three escapees went from inside the horse down the tunnel, and, after many hours, dug there way to freedom. All three made it safely to the Allied lines.
Two versions October 23, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
There are two editions of this book. In the original edition and in subsequent reprints there is a last desperate moment where all the remains between Williams and freedom is a German guard on a bridge. He kills him and escapes...
Only as Williams admitted years later in an anniversary update - that part never happened and was put in to satisfy the publishers who wanted a more "exciting" ending.
...and he is right to come clean on the point - the story was exciting enough without needing tweaking - ingenuity under strain of captivity is well portrayed in the book and after the frightening journey across Germany - his debriefing by an Intelligence Officer counterpoints what went before in a very British and understated way.
The story of a daring escape during World War II December 3, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Eric Williams' The Wooden Horse is another military classic which shouldn't be missed, even though it first appeared over fifty years ago. Here's the story of a daring escape during World War II in an expanded, revised edition that tells of a break from one of Germany's most escape-proof camps. The account doesn't just tell how they did it - it covers the aftermath of the break-out, which involved getting out of Germany entirely. It may read like fiction with high drama, but The Wooden Horse is pure fact and an important chronicle in the history of the war.
A Gripping True WWII POW Escape Story!! November 10, 2002
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A Gripping True WWII POW Escape Story!!This book took me over until the very last page. I usually don't care for reading as a past time and especially novels that take too long to get through. I read this book over 20 years ago (and only did so by chance after finding it in the school library), because I had to submit a book report during my junior high school years. I enjoyed the book so much I eagery and ultimately compiled a great book report and was awarded 9/10 as a grade. Funny enough, I did so well with it that I took the liberty to re-submitted the same book report the following year and again was awarded another high mark (of course it was a different teacher and I had to re-write and date it). In fact here I am over 20 years later I plan to get my very own copy. That's how much I enjoyed it! "The Wooden Horse" by Eric Williams is a fabulous book and would make a perfect gift to that person who you think should read more...but doesn't. They'll thank you for it!
One of the best prison breakout novels of all time July 8, 2000
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Don't be put off by the recent "out of print" status, this book is a great true story of a prison breakout in WW2. You can also easily pick it up through Amazons second hand bookstores for a relatively cheap price.Written by the escapee himself, it retains all its charm and spirit since it first received rave reviews in the late 1940s to early 1950s. The breakout came from a novel, yet brilliant idea inspired by the Legend of the Trojan Horse- ie to use a gym vaulting horse as cover to hide an inmate who dug a tunnel to the nearest concentration camp fence. It succeeded, but I won't ruin the story with all the details, you will have to read it yourself! Rest assured the book is well written, and as it is told by one of the escapees himself it has a certain charm, readability and authenticity about it. Getting out was just the first part, the escapees still had to travel across most of Germany to reach home, right amidst the heartlessness and desparation of WW2. I found the description of the lives of everyday German people within a major war as soulful, revealing and harrowing as the concentration camp itself. A remarkable story, a great and uplifting novel, sure to inspire for many years to come. No mundane "political correctness" here, truthfully told and recorded with all the desperation, fear, and courageous spirit of many involved in the war-on both sides. There was a film also made in the 1960s I think, which was almost as good as the book, but not quite. Of similar genre to The Wooden Horse is "the Great Escape", also made into a film, but the Wooden Horse is more realisitic and better done overall in my opinion. Uplifts the spirit.
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