John Nichol is a former RAF flight lieutenant whose Tornado fighter was shot down on a mission over Iraq during the Gulf War. He was captured and became a prisoner of war. He is the bestselling author of TORNADO DOWN and five other novels. He livesin Hertfordshire. Tony Rennell is the author of LAST DAYS OF GLORY for Viking, and WHEN DADDY CAME HOME. He lives in London NW3.

The Russians are coming; abandoned to their fate; out into the cold; fears of a massacre; the retreat from Stalag Luft IV; the deadly road to the west; the rivers of humanity; liberated by the Red Army; hostages of Stalin; waiting for Patton; the hell of a Fallingbostel; death by "friendly fire"; a German saviour?; heading for home; welcome back. Appendices: chronology of the end of the Second World War; the Yalta Agreement on prisoners of war, February 1945; the Senior American Officer's complaint about conditions at Stalag XIIID, Nuremberg; the numbers game.