Silent Heroes: Downed Airmen and the French Underground

Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2001. AS6 - A first printing hardcover book SIGNED and dated by author on the front free endpaper in very good condition in very good dust jacket that is mylar protected. Book lightly bowed, dust jacket and book have some light discoloration and shelf wear. 9.5"x6.5", 235 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Under the shadow of Nazi occupation, ordinary men and women leading apparently quiet lives as doctors, farmers, housewives, priests, and teachers engaged in spy thriller adventures to save the Allied airmen raining down among them. French and Belgian patriots, usually without aid or training, created elaborate escape lines that enabled thousands of Allied airmen to evade enemy capture. Known simply as "helpers," these men and women organized prison breakouts, seaside evacuations, and parachute drops as well as provided food, shelter, and traveling papers for the men in their care. All this was done amidst the constant threat of betrayal by a traitor or brutal arrest and interrogation by Gestapo agents. In the early years of World War II, it was an amazing feat for an Allied airman shot down over occupied Europe to make it back to England. By 1943, however, pilots and crew members, supplied with "escape kits," knew they had a 50 percent chance of evading capture and returning home with the assistance of European helpers. More than 5,000 American, British, and Commonwealth airmen successfully traveled along escape lines organized much like those of the U.S. Underground Railroad, hiding in safe houses until they could be moved further down the line. To research these stories, Ottis hiked the Pyrenees and interviewed many of the surviving helpers and evaders. She tells of the extreme difficulty helpers had in avoiding Nazi infiltration by double agents; of their creativity in hiding evaders in their homes, sometimes in the midst of unexpected searches; and of their generosity in sharing their meager food supplies during wartime. Silent Heroes is filled with dashing heroes, dastardly villains, well-planned traps, and last-minute escapes. The sum of these stories reveals the unflagging spirit and courage of these men and women in the face of a war fought on a very personal level.. Signed by Author. First Printing. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.