Moonless Night

From the moment he was shot down to the final whistle, Jimmy James' one aim as a POW of the Germans was to escape.

The movie, The Great Escape, describes his experiences and those of his fellow prisoners in the most gripping and thrilling manner. The author made more than 12 escape attempts including his participation in The Great Escape, where 50 of the 76 escapees were executed in cold blood on Hitler's orders.

On recapture, James was sent to the infamous Sachsenhausen concentration camp where, undeterred, he tunneled out. That was not the end of his remarkable story.

Moonless Night has strong claim to be the finest escape story of the Second World War.