THE LATTER DAYS AT COLDITZ by Paul Reid

Narrated by Terrence Hardiman

Die Gedanken Sind Frei

In this follow-up book to THE COLDITZ STORY Paul Reid goes beyond his personal involvement and relates many of the other fascinating escape attempts that took place in Colditz castle as WWII played out. This book is every bit as interesting and exciting as the first one.

Of great interest to me is the detailed account of the formidable project of constructing a glider as an escape vehicle in a prison especially chosen to discourage escape. I am a fan of the old made for 1971 TV movie “The Escape of the Birdmen” starring Doug MacClure (Alternate titles: “Colditz: Escape of the Birdmen,” “The Birdmen,” and “Operation Braindrain – Codename Chessboard.”) That movie is set in Colditz and seems a lot like Hogan’s Heroes or Stalag 17. But even though the story is told in an engaging light-hearted fashion the true spirit is that they can imprison your body but they can’t hold your mind captive. Well this book is much the same as that movie in that is is an inspiring fun account of the effort men will put out to get free.

Terrence Hardiman is a fine narrator, handling multiple character voices in expert fashion.