Hans Onderwater, Brian Lissette

Journey to the Horizon

Escape and Evasion during World War II

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This is the epic story of Escape and Evasion during World War Two. Main character is Donald Kenyon Willis, an American pilot who fought with the Fins against the Russians in 1940, then joined the Norwegian Naval Air Arm against the Germans, escaped to the Shetlands, joined the RAF as one of the first Eagle Squadron pilots, until he joined the USAAF. After the war and a spell as a base commander in Austria and Germany he became a test pilot in JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) experiments from Wright-Patterson Air Base in Ohio, USA.He was one of the last five airmen to evade capture via de Pyrenees, the night before D-Day with American Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas H. Hubbard and 2nd Lieutenant Jack Cornett and Britons Pilot Officer Len Barnes and Sergeant Ron Emeny.JOURNEY TO THE HORIZON tells the story of three fighter pilots and two Lancaster crews who were shot down by the Germans. It follows them on the run, hiding, in captivity and in some cases in death. They were Britons, Canadians, New Zealanders and Americans. Five of them met in Paris while being guided by members of the Comete Escape line, others evaded in different ways. Some endured the harsh life in a POW-camp, while in one case an airmen even ended up in Buchenwald concentration camp. Those who died now rest at various cemeteries in France.In the book Onderwater and Lissette also tell about the sometimes dreadful experiences of the fellow crew members of Barnes and Emeny after their two Lancasters crashed in France. In the course of the research Hans Onderwater followed the same evasion route, meeting the helpers who risked their lives, crossed the Pyrenees on foot with the Basque guide of 1944 until he too reached Gibraltar. He visited Stalag Luft 1 Barth on the Baltic coast and Stalag Luft 3 Sagan in Poland, Buchenwald near Weimar and Ravensbruck near Berlin. He spoke with the five airmen or their families and corresponded with the others. During the last forty years he interviewed over 100 peoplewho were in some major or minor way connected to the airmen and their experiences.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Nedvision
• Seitenzahl: 272
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Juli 2021
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 240mm x 170mm x 17mm
• Gewicht: 523g
• ISBN-13: 9789083086019
• ISBN-10: 9083086011
• Artikelnr.: 62202718

Autorenporträt

Hans Onderwater MBE (1946) is a historian, researcher and author from the Netherlands. He was a teacher and a member of the National Reserve Corps of the Royal Netherlands Army for 40 and 30 years respectively. Hans is also the historian of No.II (Army Co-operation) Squadron, the oldest fixed-wing Squadron in the world. He wrote three books about this famous RAF Squadron. As the secretary of the Food & Freedom Foundation Hans was involved in the commemorations of Operations Manna and Chowhound, the Allied food drops over starving Holland in April and May 1945. Hans was secretary of the Netherlands Coastal Defence Museum, governor of the War and Resistance Museum in Rotterdam and chairman of the Documentation Group 40-45. Hans identified several airmen who were buried. He also found the next of kin and arranged for visits to the graves and crash sites of their loved ones. For his research, his many publications and much other work Hans did in the service of the Netherlands, HM Queen Beatrix made him a member of the Order of Oranje-Nassau. In January 2017 HM Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain honoured with the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Since 1974 he has written 27 books about World War Two, of which a number were also published in English. He also co-operated in the making of a number of documentary films in Canada and the United Kingdom. Hans is married to Marjoan since 1970. They live in Barendrecht, not far from Rotterdam.