Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle by Ben Macintyre (2022)

Every few months it is my turn to select a book for my non-fiction reading group to read. Each time I agonise as I have in the past sometimes chosen books that I like, but the other group members really dislike and do not even finish. So now I read the first few chapters of several possible candidates before settling on one I hope will have broad appeal.

This one has been on my shelves for a long time and I was delighted to have the opportunity of reading it.

The prison camp at Colditz was something I only had vague knowledge of, not having read anything else about it or having seen any of the film adaptations. So this book was completely fresh for me and I found it fascinating. So much is packed in to 300 pages.

Some of the officers held in the castle come over here as not being especially pleasant, but then they were after all the most awkward of the awkward squad and would thus, no doubt, have been boring egocentrics in civilian life. But their wartime story is just extraordinary.

The narrative of the various escape attempts is interesting enough, but Ben Macintyre does so much more in this book, giving a full and balanced account of what life was like in the castle for both the prisoners and the German officers charged with guarding them.

There was a degree of mutual respect there and it was particularly interesting to read the stories of the anti-nazis in the town who provided intelligence to the guys holed up above in the castle.

The book is just brilliant in its final chapters as the allied armies advance and preparations are made for the end of the war.

The account of the way that the German officer eventually collaborated with their prisoners to surrender control, while appearing to the SS to remain in control was so well done. I became pretty emotional reading these last passages.

So well well-written and researched. A great read.