Zero Night

A thrilling, moment by moment account of an epic World War II prison escape and the real-life adventures that followed.

“In this exciting book, Felton has captivatingly captured the bravery of the prisoners.” -Kirkus Reviews

“This is undeniably history as it should be told and a thundering good read.” -The Daily Mail (UK)

On August 30, 1942—“Zero Night”—forty Allied officers staged the most audacious mass escape of World War II. Months of meticulous planning and secret training hung in the balance during three minutes of mayhem as the officers boldly stormed the huge double fences at Oflag VI-B Prison. Employing wooden ladders and bridges previously disguised as bookshelves, the highly coordinated effort succeeded and set thirty-six men free into the German countryside. Later known as the “Warburg Wire Job,” fellow prisoner and fighter ace Douglas Bader once described the attempt as “the most brilliant escape conception of this war.”

The first author to tackle this remarkable story in detail, historian Mark Felton brilliantly evokes the suspense of the escape and the adventures of those escapees who managed to elude the Germans, as well as the courage of the civilians who risked their lives to help them in enemy territory. Fantastically intimate and told with a novelist's eye for drama and detail, this rip-roaring adventure is even more thrilling because it really happened.