[World War II]....

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[World War II]. POW Bob Neary's self-published book, Stalag Luft III: A Collection of German Prison Camp Sketches with Descriptive Text Based on Personal Experiences, (1946, Bob Neary, North Wales, Pa., U.S.A.), 52 pp, 19 full page illustrations, (11.75 x 8.75 in.; 298 x 222 mm.), softcover in metal ring binder, Sgt. Neary tells of his experiences after being captured. Only 100 were printed. Half-title page loose. Corners and edges of covers worn and chipped. Internally in very good condition. Rare original copy of the illustrated account by a POW of life in the infamous Stalag Luft III - The Great Escape POW camp - with a small section of barbed wire from the electric fence encircling the prison camp. Together with: A 6 in. (152 mm.) section of barbed wire from the electric fence system encircling Stalag Luft III. Expected rust due to long exposure to the elements. Stalag Luft III POW camp was situated in Sagan, 100 miles southeast of Berlin, now called Zagan, in Upper Silesia, Poland. All the prisoners of war were flying officers of the British Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm and American U.S. Army Air Force. The first camp compound opened in March 1942, followed by other compounds in 1943 and 1944. It held about 10,000 officers. Stalag Luft III was immortalized in the 1963 motion picture, The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen. On the night of 24-25 March 1944, 76 of the 600 prisoners involved in the plan escaped through tunnels they had dug before German guards spotted them. The escape from the camp was the single greatest freedom attempt by POWs in World War II. Of the 76 who tried to escape, 50 were recaptured and executed by the Gestapo on Hitler's orders, three successfully escaped, and the rest were returned to Stalag Luft III. Sgt. Robert P. (Bob) Neary was a gunner with the 450th Bomb Group, 720th Squadron, who was shot down, captured, and sent to the Stalag Luft III POW camp. The camp was evacuated in January 1945 as Russian forces pushed into eastern Germany. Neary was moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser, then to Moosburg's Stalag VII-A on 13 April 1945, when he and the others were informed of the death the previous day of President Roosevelt. Sixteen days later, the camp was liberated by Gen. Patton's Third Army. "I shall never forget the most beautiful sight I have ever seen," wrote Sgt. Neary in his privately printed book of sketches, "Stalag Luft III," "the Swastika coming down and the Stars and Stripes rising gloriously in Moosburg, not far from camp. Several hours later, General Patton came into camp to meet a thunderous ovation according him by the shrieking mob of deliriously happy and supremely grateful prisoners, who literally swarmed over every accessible spot to see their Liberator..." Provenance: The War Museum (Neary's book). Closed at the end of January 1945 as the Russians advanced through Poland, Stalag Luft III was bulldozed completely by the middle of 1946. Polish souvenir hunters began unearthing pieces for the British market from the mid 1950s. The barbed wire was purchased from a British source in the 1970s and sold to the consignor by Bonhams, U.K.