The White Rabbit

White Rabbit was the code name of Commander F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas when he parachuted into France in 1942 as a member of the Special Operations Executive with the French Resistance. He was to organize the Resistance and supply them with the weapons and resources to sabotage the German occupiers.

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 show more 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. show less

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.

The ornate style might have suited a late nineteenth century account of the Franco-Prussian War but it seemed inappropriate to the mid-twentieth century and I soon abandoned the book.

Fu un talismano, o fu la sua stessa audacia, a proteggere Yea-Thomas nei tremendi pericoli fra i quali si gettava a capofitto in nome di un ideale di giustizia? Yeo-Thomas era il "Coniglio bianco", il geniale agente segreto inglese paracadutato in Francia, tra i partigiani, negli anni più duri della resistenza. Ardente, spericolato, impegnato nelle imprese più rischiose, era incapace di risparmiarsi, persino fra le torture, la fame e i macabri orrori di BUchenwald. E' un libro che, a una intensa carica umana, unisce un'altra virtù: tutti i fatti narrati, straordinari, tragici, e persino comici, sono veramente accaduti. Marshall se li è fatti raccontare dal suo amico Yeo-Thomas, tornato sano e salvo in Inghilterra dopo una fuga show more incredibile. Bruce Marshall è nato a Edinburgo nel 1899; giovanissimo ha combattuto nella guerra 1914-18, nella quale ha perso una gamba; ha lavorato a lungo in Francia e, durante la seconda guerra mondiale, ha fatto parte dei servizi segreti britannici. Autore di numerosi romanzi, è uno dei più noti scrittori cattolici contemporanei. show less