Many stories have survived about acts of heroism in World War II. This book beautifully captures one of these events ... encompasses a powerful story about human brotherhood and comradeship reckoning with—and overcoming—the evil realities of Hitler’s Nazi regime. We should all be grateful that Roddie’s wartime diaries did survive to become the basis for this very thoughtful and engaging book.
World War II has been covered so extensively that there’s little left to add to the broader narrative. What remains are many personal stories that give us a deeper understanding of the men who did the grunt work to defeat the Axis Powers. The best to come out recently is No Surrender ... a very moving story.
... page-turning ... The authors have skillfully transformed war records, interviews, and archival data into a dramatic account of Edmonds’s grueling experience as a prisoner, which culminates in the March 1945 liberation of Stalag IXA. More than a story of brothers in arms, this work is a son’s labor of love.
... a fascinating war story ... Ostensibly, the narrative—essentially a love letter from a son to his late father that is occasionally cloying—is about those two episodes, although Edmonds only devotes roughly 10 pages to them. In the bulk of the book, the author describes in chilling, horrifying detail how Nazi soldiers overran an American front line, captured thousands of GIs, forced them to march on frozen and frostbitten feet for days without food or water, and then tortured and starved them in POW camps, often leading to death ... A you-are-there portrait of the horrors of war and the incredible effect one selfless person can have on hundreds.
