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Loading... The White Rabbit (1952)by Bruce Marshall
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. 4427. The White Rabbit, by Bruce Marshall {from the story told to him by Wing Commander F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, G.C., M. C. (read 14 Apr 2008) This is an excellent book telling of the awful ordeal that a British officer went through when, while working with the French Resistance, he fell into the hands of the Gestapo. He was tortured fiercely, including undergoing waterboarding (the Attorney General doesn't know if that is torture?? He should read this book.) He came in contact with very few Nazis who were not subhuman sadists. One is filled with admiration for the British officer--very few persons could undergo what he did. An epic account of a real hero. no reviews | add a review
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The harrowing, and inspiring, story of the capture of one of Britain's top SOE agents in World War Two, his refusal to crack under the most horrific torture, and his final imprisonment in a concentration camp. 'The White Rabbit' was the code name of Wing Commander F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas when he parachuted into France in 1942 as a member of the Special Operations Executive with the Resistance. For the next eighteen months he was responsible for organising all the separate factions of the French Resistance into one combined 'secret army'. On three separate missions into occupied France he met with the heads of Resistance movements all over the country, and he spoke personally with Winston Churchill in order to ensure they were properly supplied. His capture by the Gestapo in March 1944 was therefore a terrible blow for the Resistance movement. For months he was submitted to the most horrific torture in an attempt to get him to spill his unparalleled knowledge of the Resistance, but he refused to crack. Finally he was sentenced to death, and sent to Buchenwald, one of the most infamous German concentration camps. The story of his endurance, and survival, is an inspiring study in the triumph of the human spirit over the most terrible adversity. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)940.5344History and Geography Europe Europe 1918- World War II Europe FranceLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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After he was compromised and captured, he suffered a great deal of torture both physical and mental but refused to give in. Eventually he and other members of the Resistance were sent to Buchenwald where they were to be worked to death and terminated. Through clever ruses and much luck he escaped and walked across Germany to France and rescue by American forces shortly before the war ended.
If I have a criticism of this book, it is I found it very difficult to believe Yeo-Thomas could remember all the details including names of the many SS and Gestapo nut cases who tortured him as well as the many people who risked their lives to help him including German soldiers. Still having read other memoirs of POW's and prisoners of the Gestapo I know these treatments were administered to others. It did remind me of the book Eastern Approaches by Fitzroy Maclean because of the detail remembered.
Great description of the Resistance and its organization. ( )