22 MARCH 1930, Page 37

Of the many books recently published dealing with the Great

War, not the least interesting is a revised edition of The Tunnellers of Holzminden (Cambridge University Press, Os.). Mr. H. G. Durnford's book does not deal with the actual warfare, but gives an excellent account of the life led by those unfortunate men, of whom he himself was one, who were captured by the Germans and sent to a prison camp. Holz- minden, made one of the worst prison camps in Germany by the typically Prussian actions of its Commandant, was the scene of one of the most amazing schemes for escape ever con- templated. A number of English officers set themselves to the task of constructing a tunnel [from the building in which they lived to the far side of the outer wall of the camp,. This tunnel, which took nine months to complete, was instrue mental in the escape of no fewer than twenty-nine prisoners. We must confess, however, that our interest in the tunnel was not so great as in the remarkable account Mr. Durnford gives of everyday life in a German prison camp.

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