Faces of Holzminden


Captain George Guyatt Gardiner,
Australian Imperial Force, in Holzminden


Above and background photos courtesy of
Ron Gardner, private collection.
Original photographer unknown.


Landing page quote by Dwight D Eisenhower

PUBLICATION BY RANDOM HOUSE AUSTRALIA DUE NOVEMBER 2013 UNDER THE TITLE THE REAL GREAT ESCAPE


Many a man and woman have been forged by fire in the unholy pressure cooker that is war.  It is an environment in which the best and worst of humanity is illuminated in equal measure.


Over the course of WWI, over 8.5 million troops and civilians were taken prisoner. From September 1917 to December 1918, a group of over 550 Allied military personnel and merchant mariners existed within the confines of the barbed wire of one of the most notoriously inescapable officers' POW camps, Kaserne Holzminden, in Lower Saxony, Germany, enduring the drudgery of boredom and deprivation of food, comfort and freedom.


Dedicated to the art of cuckolding their captors as they plotted outrageous escapes under the nose of the despised Kommandant, Hauptmann Niemeyer, these men came from the far-flung dominions of the British Empire -- England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, South Africa and India. Despite their incarceration experience, many went on to forge blazing careers and lives as captains of industry, artists and poets, engineers, aviators, film directors, inventors and international sportsmen.


These are their stories.

 

 

<table style="width: 838px; height: 549px;" _mce_new="1" border="0" data-mce-style="width: 838px; height: 549px;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><p><img style="margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 7px;" alt="George - sepia" src="/book/images/George%20-%20sepia.jpg" height="205" width="298" data-mce-src="/book/images/George%20-%20sepia.jpg" data-mce-style="margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 7px;" /></p><p><span style="font-size: 8pt;" data-mce-style="font-size: 8pt;"><em><br />Captain George Guyatt Gardiner,<br />Australian Imperial Force, in Holzminden<br /><br /><br />Above and background photos courtesy of <br />Ron Gardner, private collection.<br />Original photographer unknown.<br /><br /><br />Landing page quote by Dwight D Eisenhower<br /><br /><br /><br /></em></span></p></td><td valign="top"><p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">Many a man and woman have been forged by fire in the unholy pressure cooker that is war.  It is an environment in which the best and worst of humanity is illuminated in equal measure.<br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">Over the course of WWI, over 8.5 million troops and civilians were taken prisoner. From September 1917 to December 1918, a group of over 550 Allied military personnel and merchant mariners existed within the confines of the barbed wire of one of the most notoriously inescapable officers' POW camp, Kaserne Holzminden, in Lower Saxony, Germany, enduring the drudgery of boredom and deprivation of food, comfort and freedom.<br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">Dedicated to the art of cuckolding their captors as they plotted outrageous escapes under the nose of the despised Kommandant, Hauptmann Niemeyer, these men came from the far-flung dominions of the British Empire -- England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, South Africa and India. Despite their incarceration experience, many went on to forge blazing careers and lives as captains of industry, artists and poets, engineers, aviators, film directors, inventors and international sportsmen.  <br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">These are their stories.</p><p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;">________________________________________________________________________</p><p style="text-align: justify;" data-mce-style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="font-size: 8pt;" data-mce-style="font-size: 8pt;">Currently in development,</span></em><span style="font-size: 8pt;" data-mce-style="font-size: 8pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" data-mce-style="font-size: 8pt;">Faces of Holzminden</span><em><span style="font-size: 8pt;" data-mce-style="font-size: 8pt;"> is a collection of short biographies of the real-life POWs of Holzminden.  </span></em><em><span style="font-size: 8pt;" data-mce-style="font-size: 8pt;">The book is a companion piece to a feature film, </span></em><span style="font-size: 8pt;" data-mce-style="font-size: 8pt;">The Enemy Within</span><em><span style="font-size: 8pt;" data-mce-style="font-size: 8pt;">, dramatising the Holzminden tunnel escape, also in development.</span></em></p></td></tr></tbody></table>