For Fuhrer and Fatherland

Book excerpt: For Fuhrer and Fatherland is the extraordinary story of how British and American Intelligence thwarted a wartime plan for a daring mass break-out of German prisoners-of-war from the PoW camp at Devizes in Wiltshire, led by a hard core of SS troops. As December 1944 drew to a close, trained US interrogators stumbled on a plan so fantastic in concept that it was hard to take seriously. The Interrogation Centre operatives broke the wills of the prisoners involved and got to the bottom of the story. With their escape plan in tatters, the SS took their revenge and 'tried' and murdered one of their fellow prisoners, who was accused of betraying the Fuhrer. Despite the SS code of silence, those involved were brought to justice and hanged at Pentonville Prison in October 1945. In this book, the author asks the questions: Why was Devizes Camp so woefully unprepared for a possible break-out? Why were the SS allowed to continue their reign of terror on British soil? Why did the Government of the day try to cover up the events?