THE WOODEN HORSE - 1949 - P R E F A C E - SOON after returning from Germany in 1943 L wrote a book which I called Goon in the Block. This was the story of Peter Howard, an airman who was shot down over Germany, taken prisoner, and who later managed to escape into Sweden. At that time the war was still being fought, the prisoners still in Germany, and I could not give details of the escape nor any information that would have helped the enemy. The story became fact thinly disguised as fiction and any, reference to escape was ...
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THE WOODEN HORSE - 1949 - P R E F A C E - SOON after returning from Germany in 1943 L wrote a book which I called Goon in the Block. This was the story of Peter Howard, an airman who was shot down over Germany, taken prisoner, and who later managed to escape into Sweden. At that time the war was still being fought, the prisoners still in Germany, and I could not give details of the escape nor any information that would have helped the enemy. The story became fact thinly disguised as fiction and any, reference to escape was intentionally misleading. Now I am free to write of the escape and in doing so I have used a little of the material of Goon in the Block. To those who have read the earlier book I apologise for the use of material already published. ERIC WILLIAMS. INTRODUCTION IT WAS January When they had first come to Stalag-Luft 111, and for the whole of that month the ground was under snow. Snow lay thickly on the roofs of the barrack blacks and gave an air of gaiety to the barbed wire which sparkled and glittered in the sun. Every post carried its cap of crisp, powdery snow, and when the wind blew, the snow drifted up against the coiled wire, softening its gauntness. Escape in this weather was impossible, and when the snow stopped falling the prisoners made a bobsleigh run and cut up their bed-boards to make toboggans. They flooded the football pitch and made an ice rink on which they skated from morning until evening. The camp was pure and clean while the snow lay on the ground, and the air loud with the shouts of the skaters. It was only when the night-carts came to empty the aborts that the compound became offensive, and then the air was malodorous and long yellow streaksmarked the white snow where the carts had been. When the thaw came the camp was a sea of mud. The packed ice of the toboggan run was the last to melt, and the skating rink was a miniature lake on which a few enthusiasts sailed their home-made yachts. Then that dried up and the football pitch was reconditioned. The goalposts were replaced and the earth dams that had held the water were removed. With the spring came a renewed interest in escape. Spring is the escaping season. Peter and John had already escaped oncefrom their previous camp, only to be brought back after two days of wandering aimlessly around the Polish countryside. That had been in the winter when the country was cold and bare and they had been exhausted and almost glad to be recaptured and brought back into the camp. As the weather grew warmer they were ready to try again. For weeks now they had been talking of starting a tunnel. But all the possible starting places had been used before. The camp was set in a clearing of the pine forest a few single-storey wooden barracks raised on piles three feet above the ground, huddled together inside the wire the wire itself, the main feature of the camp, strong and heavily interlaced, a twelve-foot double fence of bristling spikes. There were arc lamps hanging above the wire and at intervals along each fence stood goon boxes, small sentry boxes on stilts higher than the wire. These goon boxes were armed with machine-guns and carried searchlights which swept the camp continually during the hours of darkness. There were two guards in each box, connected by telephone to the main guardroom at the prison gates. Posten carrying tommy-guns patrolled the wire between the sentry boxes...
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Add this copy of The Wooden Horse to cart. $4.93, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published by Abelard-Schuman.
Add this copy of The Wooden Horse to cart. $5.08, good condition, Sold by Days of Old Books and More rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wadesville, IN, UNITED STATES, published 1968 by Dell.
Add this copy of The Wooden Horse to cart. $8.00, good condition, Sold by Ken's Book Haven rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Coopersburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1950 by The Reprint Company.
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Seller's Description:
Stated first printing, 1949. Black cloth boards, no jacket. Cover a bit rubbed and shelfworn with age. Spine cracked, but all pages intact. Various markings and inscriptions blacked out by previous owner on flyleaf. Minor yellowing to page edges. Text clean and unmarked. Good copy overall.
Add this copy of The Wooden Horse to cart. $15.95, good condition, Sold by Judith Patton rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Burlington, ON, CANADA, published 1950 by Collins.
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Seller's Description:
Good in Near Poor jacket. pp.256 The story of the most daring and ingenious escape of the whole war. clean tight copy with tanning to text pages and a couple of soil spots in margins, d/j pieces missing to top and bottom spines some chips, creasing to all extremites of d/j, d/j sun fadded with some spots of soiling, rubbing to spine hinges, tear down bck top on edge, bumping to corner boards with shelf wear to board extremites, creases to top/bottom spine boards, gift inscription on frontpiece, book slightly to cocked Size: 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall.
Add this copy of The Wooden Horse to cart. $16.16, good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES.
Add this copy of The Wooden Horse to cart. $16.19, good condition, Sold by Balfour Books rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sidmouth, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM.
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Seller's Description:
Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" Tall A Good + copy, in Fair unclipped D/J with tears and some portions missing. Clean endpapers. Text and b/w illustrations clean.
Add this copy of The Wooden Horse to cart. $17.42, very good condition, Sold by Yare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Great Yarmouth, NORFOLK, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1950 by The Reprint Society.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Good jacket. Size: 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall; There is one small tear to the dustjacket which also has some sunning on the spine Size: 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall.
Add this copy of The Wooden Horse to cart. $17.42, good condition, Sold by Yare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Great Yarmouth, NORFOLK, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1949 by Collins.
Add this copy of The Wooden Horse to cart. $17.66, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published by Fontana.
