The Evaders

New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc, 1976. Book Club Edition. Hardcover. Very good in good dust jacket. DJ has some wear and soiling.. 245, [1] p. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index. "In the tradition of the great escape adventure classics, this is a thrilling account of the miracle that took place behind German lines in Holland during the weeks following one of the worst disasters of World War II-the Battle of Arnhem, September 17-26, 1944. Out of an Allied force of 10, 000, only 2, 000 returned across the Rhine; 8, 000 were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. While in an area occupied by several divisions of German combat troops, 250 men were hidden by the Dutch. Singly and in groups, assisted by the Resistance, these men made some of the most remarkable individual and mass escapes of World War II, a saga of human ingenuity and courage. Leo Heaps, who was one of the evaders, interweaves the stories of the men who escaped and the brave Dutch people who helped them. It is a book of great distinction, high adventure, and excitement-the true story of what happened beyond "a bridge too far." Information from the Internet: "During the Second World War, Heaps was seconded to the British Army and found himself commanding the 1st Battalion's Transport, even though he was not officially a member of the 1st Airborne Division and had never before made a parachute jump....'I had been in my quaint, thatch-roofed cottage on the marshes for a week before Lieutenant Colonel David Dobie arrived. But before I met Dobie I met Major Airey Neave of IS9, Major Hugh Fraser of the SAS and Captain Maurice MacMillan, a communications officer from Phantom. They seemed to work together. On my first introduction to Neave at Nijmegen the night after I returned, he asked whether I would care to work for IS9 in Holland. The idea appealed to me. Also, I had nothing else to do. On my way back to London I caught my first glimpse of the headquarters of the rescue organisation and its charming, one-armed Lieutenant Colonel, Jimmy Langley, dining in his luxurious apartment in Brussels. Champagne and oysters were being consumed in quantity by the chief for breakfast when I dropped in shortly before noon. Langley, between oysters, agreed I could serve a useful purpose in bringing back airborne survivors and establishing escape routes over the rivers of northern Holland. I did not know much about IS9 but I was certainly willing to learn. The languorous, affluent life-style impressed me. I would not be fighting the grubby, filthy, tedious war of the masses but the elite, sophisticated war of the few who ate with clean cutlery. I did not anticipate there would be objections to working for IS9 from my commander. There was not really very much of a battalion to go back to. Two officers out of forty and ten men from eight hundred were all that remained. ' 'At Airborne Headquarters in Moor Park I paid my respects to the elegant Lieutenant Colonel Ian Collins and reported on the state of the Belgian SAS Captain Kirschen. Evidently Kirschen had fled his chicken coop but his daily messages failed to come in on time. Collins told me that the General expected to see me at the War Office and a car waited outside to take me to Urquhart. At the war office the General greeted me with his usual warmth. He seemed genuinely glad to have me back. However, he did explain that he never expected to me again alive. Reports had circulated several times that I had been killed. When we met the last time at Hartenstein he thought I would never reappear. I assured the General that the reports of my death were highly exaggerated. However, I was the first evader to come back. I told Urquhart that I might be only one of many who would follow. When I asked permission to return to Holland the General gave me his consent, but I never thought I would see Dobie again or that we would be working together to bring back our comrades. There would be other occasions when I would report to the General in England on my progress, but he always seemed too polite to ask the one question which constantly perplexed him. (Thirty years later in a request for information I asked whether he.