First Edition, with 16 plates on 8, 6 illustrations and plans (5 full-page) and full-page map in the text; salmon cloth, backstrip lettered in blue, a very good copy in unclipped dustwrapper with three chips on the spine. It features a large original pencil drawing Remarque by Steve Teasdale. Mounted underneath the drawing are two genuine Great Escape veteran signatures. Len Trent VC was the last of the prisoners to leave the tunnel and was caught immediately. Jack Lyon was a lookout during the tunnel construction but was waiting to escape when the tunnel was discovered. The original account of arguably the greatest POW story of WWII - the escape of no fewer than seventy-six Allied POW's from Stalag Luft III at Sagan in March 1944. Known ever since as the 'Great Escape', it was a gallant endeavour with a sordid ending, and has inspired a minor industry of research and publication, including John Sturges' immensely successful (though heavily fictionalised) feature film of 1963 starring Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough. True first editions are highly sought after. AN UNDISPUTED CLASSIC OF WWII AND SCARCE IN THIS CONDITION - A LOVELY COLLECTABLE COPY.