And The Walls Came Tumbling Down by Jack Fishman newly listed for sale on the fantastic BookLovers of Bath web site!Souvenir Press, 1982, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Illustrated by way of: Black & White Photographs; Maps to the endpapers and blanks;
From the cover: What was inside Amiens prison, in northern France, so important that the Allies were forced to bomb it on February 18, 1944?
Only a handful of people knew the extent of the crisis. At risk was the postponement for at least a year of the June 1944 Allied invasion and liberation of Europe; millions more lives, and even the outcome of the war itself.
Unknowingly, the Gestapo had within its grasp the chance to destroy the freedom hopes of the enslaved continent. They had killed or captured most of the key members of underground networks on whom General Eisenhower depended for information and invasion support. With the survivors demoralised and virtually leaderless, drastic action was imperative. But the decisive factor that launched Operation Jericho the spectacular tree-top height air attack on the prison was something even more startling, and unrecorded until now.
It resulted in the most breathtaking jailbreak and mass manhunt ever, with more than seven hundred men and women convicted spies, burglars, saboteurs, pickpockets. Resistance fighters, confidence tricksters, clandestine radio operators, murderers and forgers, shot-down Allied aircrew and prostitutes, pimps and Black Marketeers all comrades on the run in one extraordinary escape-or-die dash for liberty. Luftwaffe, tanks, infantry, counter-intelligence agents, Gestapo and police, hunted them. And so did the underground and Allied forces.
For the first time, one of the most dramatic stories of the Second World War is revealed in detail. From secret documents and interviews with hundreds of surviving participants from British, American and French Secret Service chiefs to petty criminals Jack Fishman pieced together a narrative so incredible and exciting that his true story reads like a power-packed novel.
The kaleidoscope of ordinary and extraordinary people thrown together as allies and enemies before, on, and after February 18, 1944, captures in a single event both the struggle, endurance, deceit, treachery and courage that is war, and the amazing heights to which the most humble people can rise when faced with a crisis.
Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper. Dust wrapper a little tanned at the spine and the margins. Pages lightly age-tanned.
Black boards with Silver titling to the Spine. 448 pages. Index. 8¾” x 5¾”.
Of course, if you don’t like this one, may I tempt with you something from here?
BookLovers of Bath 