Drawing on the memories of the last surviving prisoners of the 1914-1918 war, this book tells the dramatic story of life as a POW in Germany. Stories include the shock of capture on the Western Front, to the grind of daily life in imprisonment in Germany. Veterans recall work in salt mines, punishments, and escape attempts, as well as the torture of starvation and the relief at their eventual release. Vivid stories are told using over 200 photographs and illustrations, almost all never published before. AUTHOR: The author has written a number of books about the First World War, largely based on oral history. His books include: Veterans, the Last Survivors of the Great War, 1998. Prisoners of the Kaiser, 2000, The Trench (accompanying the BBC2 series, 2001). All Quiet on the Home Front, 2003. Boy Soldiers, 2005 (to accompany Channel 4 documentary 'Britain's Boy Soldiers). The bestselling Britain's Last Tommies (accompanying the BBC1 documentary 2005). SELLING POINTS: * Fills a yawning gap in WW1 literature. * The treatment of POWs has been overlooked. * Has both popular and specialist appeal. * TV tie-in with documentary of same name. ILLUSTRATIONS: Text and Plates

Author Biography

Richard van Emden interviewed 270 veterans of the Great War, has written extensively about the soldiers' lives, and has worked on many television documentaries, always concentrating on the human aspects of war, its challenge and its cost to the millions of men involved. Richard van Emden's books have sold over 660,000 copies and have appeared in The Times' bestseller chart on a number of occasions. He has also worked on more than a dozen television programmes on the Great War, including the award-winning Roses of No Man's Land, Britain's Boy Soldiers, A Poem for Harry, War Horse: the Real Story, Teenage Tommies with Fergal Keane and most recently, Hidden Histories: WW1's Forgotten Photographs. He lives in London.