The Escaping Club

Without being disrespectful to the combatants/prisoners of war written about in this book and for whom I have the utmost regard, this could have easily been written by one Michael Palin in the way it's almost a virtual 'Jolly Japes' style of story. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

An enjoyable read, with some keen observations. The author is quite an interesting chap, having played cricket professionally too.

A VERY WELL WRITTEN AND REALISTIC ACCOUNT OF ESCAPING PRISONERS. WORTH GETTING EVEN FOR HISTORICAL VALUE, REAL ISSUES THAT SO MANY PEOPLE HAD TO ENDURE. HISTORY BOOKS ARE NOT PERSONAL BUT THESE BOOKS REVEAL THE PEOPLE AND THE VERY CHALLENGING SITUATIONS THEY HAD TO FACE.

I heard about this book on the radio and had to read it... excellent read and true story, amazing he survived at all

The Escaping Club is a book of two halves - the first, and most enjoyable part, being set in Germany during WW1, the second, somewhat disjointed part, set in Asia Minor just before the Armistice. The Kindle version that I read unfortunately lacked a few diagrams which would've made the German part easier to follow. Evans' story-telling made this section quite a page-turner and I enjoyed the whole Ingolstadt saga, appreciating that the quite frequent phrases of French, German and Latin were left unaltered. This is not, as one might imagine, a glorious one-sided John Bull story where British is best and that's that. Evans gives a mostly even-handed commentary on all the people of various nationalities he met along the way, and despite his own unenviable predicaments, often sympathising with their respective circumstances. This is less true of the Turks where ill treatment as a prisoner by most of them has understandably left Evans somewhat bitter towards them as a whole. The general vocabulary and sentiment may seem slightly dated to modern readers, but making allowances for that, this is essentially an enlightening book from a POW's viewpoint in WW1.

fantastic reading!

This biography gives us true perspective of what life was like as a P.O.W in the 1st World War, follow A.J.Evans through his constant plannings of escape, and many cunning attempts. It is a well written book thats keeps the reader addicted from the beginning to the end.

The author of this book was a pilot in No 3 Squadron R.F.C and was artillery spotting behind enemy lines when his engine cut out . He deliberately crash landed so as to disable his machine , he was unhurt but his observer suffered concussion . He eventually ended up in Guterslob P.O.W camp , the food was bad but the sporting facilities were good , he stayed here 3 weeks . Then , together with other airman captured on the Somme, he was sent to Clausthal camp , where the food was much better . He became friendly with a Belgian called Kicq and they decided to try and escape together . They teamed up with 2 other men ( Ding & Nichol ) and attempted to cut the wire fence of the camp but had to stop when a sentry came too close . The next attempt was successful but only the author and Kicq tried it , they caught a train but Kicq was apprehended . The author was caught whilst on foot near the frontier , he tried to break free but was roughed up by his guards .Later he was sent to Ingolstadt and a prison camp called Fort No 9 ( the Colditz of WW1 ) , there he met other persistent escapers like Medlicott , Oliphant , Fairweather and Grinnell-Milne ( brother of the man who wrote 'An Escaper's Log ' ) . They nicknamed the fort 'The Escaper's Club' because they all swapped ideas on how to escape , the place was partly underground , damp and dark with high walls and a moat . The food was poor as was the fuel ration for heating and they resorted to stealing lamp oil and as much wood as they could get their hands on . Several escape attempts were carried out , including hiding in the rubbish being taken out and crossing the frozen moat . They also dug a tunnel which was to come out by the moat , which the author was to cross with the aid of a homemade wet suit made from his burberry , but this was discovered when almost complete . The frozen moat crossing was successful but they were soon caught , they were not sent away to be punished however as the civilian jails were easier to escape from than Fort 9, where there was a waiting list for the 'jug' .The author had arranged a secret code which he would use if he were captured so was able to write home for escape equipment , which was smuggled in contained within his food parcels . There was much friction within the fort between the commandant , his fieldwebel and the prisoners who wasted no opportunity in winding the both of them up . The resulting tensions boiled over in May 1917 and the British and Russian prisoners were moved from the fort , the British to Fort Zorndorff which was another infamous place . The author was determined to try and escape before he got there and together with a pal called Buckley they jumped from the train taking them there whilst the guard was distracted . They traveled by night because although they spoke good German they had been unable to wear civilian clothes , although they did have civilian hats and their burberrys . They spent 18 nights walking to the Swiss frontier , they crossed it on June 9th although by this time they were half starved and totally exhausted .Next the author became the commander of a bombing squadron in Palestine and in March 1918 he again was forced down in enemy territory , together with 2 other flyers who had bravely landed to help him ( Austin & lee ).They were captured by Arabs and were lucky not to be killed , these then handed them over to the Turks . They were allowed to visit a near by German air base and were treated well but soon were back in Turkish hands . The author again escaped , although his two friends were too ill to go with him . He tried to make it to the coast but the going was hard and he had little food and was suffering from sunstroke . At one point he lost the soles of his shoes in a bog , got totally lost ( he had no compass ) and thoroughly worn out he found a house and gave himself up . He was treated better than he expected by the Turks on recapture, although he doesn't have a good word to say about them, and was sent on a long train journey to Constantinople ( 3 weeks ) . Then sent to a camp in the interior , where escaping was frowned on . He later bribed a doctor to be sent to the coast to be exchanged and sent home , by this time the war was nearly over .I did enjoy this book but to my mind it's not the best escape book , ' An Escaper's Log ' is better , for example .

I first encountered this little book when I was getting ready to attend the SERE course. What it showed me was that the basics of escaping never change. Evans' book influenced an entire generation of young boys between the World Wars. It fired many a capture English or American pilot with dreams of making a "home run." A very fine read indeed!

Excellent account of escapes from POW camps during WW I. The author wrote his book from personal experience in his escaping from the Germans. His text would serve to aid prisoners of war during the Second World War in their efforts to escape. Very informative and entettaining!

Gripping true story, well worth the read.