The Great Escaper ─ The Life and Death of Roger Bushell - Love, Betrayal, Big X and the Great Escape

For the 70th anniversary of the Great Escape comes the first biography of its mastermind

Roger Bushell was "Big X," mastermind of the mass breakout from Stalag Luft III in March 1944, immortalized in the Hollywood film The Great Escape. Very little was known about Bushell until 2011, when his family donated his private papers—a treasure trove of letters, photographs, and diaries—to the Imperial War Museum. Exclusive access to this material and fascinating new research have resulted in the first biography of this iconic figure. Born in South Africa as the son of a British mining engineer, by the age of 29 he was a British lawyer who spoke nine languages and had a reputation for successfully defending those less fortunate than him. He was also renowned as an international ski champion and fighter pilot with a string of glamorous girlfriends. In May of 1940 his Spitfire was shot down over Boulogne after destroying two German fighters. From then on his life was governed by an unquenchable desire to escape Occupied Europe. Over the next four years he made three escapes, coming within 100 yards of the Swiss border during his first attempt. His second escape found him sheltered by the Czech resistance in Prague for eight months before capture. Three months of savage interrogation in Berlin by the Gestapo made him even more determined. His third and last escape destabilized the Nazi leadership and captured the imagination of the world. He was murdered on March 29, 1944, per Hitler's explicit instructions. This revealing biography is a vivid account of war and love, triumph and tragedy—one man's attempt to challenge remorseless tyranny in the face of impossible odds.