Zemke's Stalag : the final days of World War II /

Shot down over Germany on his last mission in October 1944, Colonel Hub Zemke ( Zemke's Wolf Pack, LJ 12/89) spent the rest of the war as a POW. A regular army officer and a full colonel at 27, he was appointed senior Allied officer in charge of 9000 American and British prisoners. The go-between for the prisoners and the German administration, he was responsible for the safety, health, and discipline of the inmates of the notorious Stalag Luft I. This prison, like all German POW camps, was not remotely similar to that in Hogan's Heroes . Here everything was in deadly earnest. Hunger, cold, boredom, and brutal guards made life miserable and dangerous. Zemke kept order and discipline in his camp by preventing premature escapes and by protecting the prisoners from the guards, the SS, former slave laborers, and the advancing Soviet Army. This well-written memoir is not an essential purchase, but libraries with a strong interest in World War II should buy it.-- Stanley Itkin, Hillside P.L., New Hyde Park, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.