Castle of the Eagles: Escape from Mussolini’s Colditz

Author: Mark Felton

Number of Pages: 304

High in the Tuscan hills above Florence, the menacing Vincigliata Castle – a very special prisoner-of-war camp converted on Mussolini’s personal orders – held thirteen of the most senior British and Commonwealth officers captured during the campaign in North Africa. Against insuperable odds, these extraordinary middle-aged POWs drove a complex tunnel beneath the castle, and by March 1943 it was ready… Six men would attempt the impossible: an air marshal, three brigadiers, two lieutenant-generals. Three were knights of the realm and two held the Victoria Cross. One was missing a hand and eye, another suffered a gammy hip. The youngest was 48, the oldest 63. During that rainswept night, three teams burst out of the earth and slipped away, intent on reaching neutral Switzerland. Acclaimed historian Mark Felton, author of Zero Night and The Sea Devils, tells the amazing true story of their adventures on the run. But did any of them make it to freedom?