Kenneth W. Simmons was a bombardier onboard one of the B-24 liberators of 389th Bombardment Group stationed in Europe during the Second World War. As the war ground to a close he had the sheer bad luck to be shot down in October 1944 near Bad Kreuznach and was captured and made prisoner of war. In this book he gives a vivid description of the life of POWs in the American section of Stalag Luft III (in what is now Poland) during the final months of the war, ending with the winter forced-march away from the camp, escaping the advancing Russian troops, and eventually being liberated.