The author was shot down on a mine-laying trip in 1942 to Terschelling and coolly describes the horror of capture and the endless tedium of prison life, the deprivations, the failed attempts at escape and the loneliness even in company Originally published in 1947 as a novel, it led the way to a new, realistic way of writing about war, eschewing heroics and glamour It is now re-printed in its more accurate autobiographical form