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Eric Williams' "true account" of one of World War II's most original escapes (he is the "Peter Howard" of the story) sold more than 200,000 copies in England last year. An equally avid U.S. appetite for well-paced excitement could make The Wooden Horse one of the U.S. bestsellers of the year.
*Later on, the German camp authorities became less efficient. In March 1944, using a patiently dug tunnel, some 80 P.O.W.s crushed out of Stalag-Luft III in a single night. Yet only a few escaped from Nazi territory. Of those recaptured, the Germans reported they shot 50.