...of the camp for the 'bad boys' WHENEVER the word "escape" is mentioned, people invariably think of Colditz. More than 300 attempts were made. The story of Colditz is not about the war: it is about prisoners in a castle. In this book, Henry Chancellor tells the story of Colditz from the point of view of escapers, non-escapers, guards and orderlies from all the different nationalities in the camp.

The book is based on a collection of 76 interviews conducted over 14 years in addition to diaries and privately published memoirs. Many of those interviewed have never spoken of their experiences before.

The Allied officers who were sent to Colditz had one thing in common; they had escaped, or proven themselves to be anti-German. They were "bad boys", and Colditz became the bad boys camp.

Colditz is a story of breathtaking ingenuity and daring, a game of wits between captives and captors bound together by mutual respect and extraordinary tolerance.

During the Second World War, this mediaeval fortress served as the only high security camp in Germany. Its massive walls contained every persistent escaper, trouble maker and valuable hostage captured by the Germans. There were as many guards as prisoners, Colditz was considered escape proof, it proved to be the very opposite.

The prisoners pooled their talents to create the greatest escape academy of the war. More than 300 officers attempted to escape, and 32 of those achieved a "home run", returning to their mother country. For the first time, Colditz contains the prisoners' own story. The English, French, Dutch and Polish officers, and their guards describe their experiences.

Colditz also tells of the boredom, desperation, jealousies and sexual frustrations; it invites readers to experience the challenges of making maps out of jelly, constructing tunnels using cutlery knives, and building a glider from bed boards and sheets. The stories are comic and tragic by turns, as so much labour and invention ended in failure, but in the end what was a prison has become a symbol of the invincibility of the human spirit.

This book grew out of the remarkable television series, Escape From Colditz, which was 12 years in the making, won sweeping critical praise and has been shown around the world.

Colditz -- the Definitive History, is published by Hodder and Stoughton at £20.