Our Chances Were Zero

In this WWII memoir, a German civilian POW recounts his harrowing experience of survival after escaping a British prison camp in India.

During World War II, the British imprisoned many German and Italian civilian internees in India. The less cooperative prisoners were kept under harsh conditions in camps in the Himalayan foothills. Rolf Magener was a German civilian working in India at the outbreak of war when he was promptly interned by the British.

In 1942, Magener and fellow prisoner Heins von Have finally managed to escape. But getting out of the camp was only the prelude to the difficult task of making their way across the entire Indian sub-continent toward friendly territory. Disguising themselves as British officers, the two Germans made an epic journey across India and through British forces on the Burma frontier in an attempt to link up with advancing Japanese forces.

Ironically, the Japanese unit they finally located did not believe their story and they were nearly executed as spies. Magener’s personal narrative of escape from Allied custody is unique in the annals of POW literature.