A major feature in this volume is the link-up between East and West in April 1945: at Torgau, where American and Soviet forces joined hands, and at Wismar where the British first met the Red Army. The escapes from Sagan's Stalag Luft 3 in Lower Silesia are portrayed in actuality and in the film recreations, The wooden Horse and The Great Escape. The escape of some 76 RAF officer prisoners and the subsequent murder of 50 of their number by the Gestapo is covered in detail, rounded off with a 50th anniversary pilgrimage to the camp site by seven of the original escapers. The little-known aircraft accident which took the life of the Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, in January 1945 is described using unique stills from cine film taken at the time. Another tragic death covered in this volume is that of Violette Szabo, posthumously awarded the George Cross for her exploits in France while serving with the Special Operations Executive, and epitomised in the film, Carve Her Name with Pride. Other important features cover the various air headquarters at High Wycombe used by RAF Bomber Command and the US Eighth Air Force; the capture of Boulogne in Operation 'Wellhit', the executions of US military offenders in Normandy; and the battle for Merksem. The preservation of military artifacts in the Pacific; the conservation of American wall art in Britain; the initiative by one Australian to commemorate notable battlefields; the reovery of a Spitfire in Scotland and the 50th anniversary 'Corridor Tour' to commemorate Operation 'Market Garden' in Holland, round off this, the 22nd bound volume in the After the Battle series.
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