Ben Macintyre is well known for his books on spies and espionage, like Agent Zigzag, Double Cross, and Philby. Earlier this year, one of his other works, Operation Mincemeat, was adapted into a hugely successful movie (see MHM June/July 2022).
So I was surprised to find that Macintyre’s latest book was about prisoners of war in the high-security officers’ prison in Colditz Castle. However, in many ways, Colditz just continues the line that links his previous books. It has a cast of wonderful and often eccentric characters, all brilliantly well drawn by the author. And it is packed with remarkable stories, many of which read more like fiction than fact.
Colditz Castle in Saxony dates back to the Middle Ages and is built on a high rocky outcrop. Imagining it to be escape-proof, the Wehrmacht selected it to host officer prisoners of war (POWs) in 1939. Initially there were French, Polish, Belgian, and Canadian inmates, but from May 1943 the authorities decided to hold only British and American captives.
War Classics – Thermopylae: The Battle for the West