'Four Fifty Miles to Freedom' - the first ever published POW story? | World War One

Captain Victor Clarke, second from right, post-escape

During World War One my great-great-uncle, Captain Victor Clarke (my grandad's father's brother, I think) was in Mesopotamia, fighting the Turkish Army, then part of the Ottoman Empire. His friend Frank was badly wounded (hence the part in the book when he went for an X ray and they find a bullet in his spine) and evacuated but Victor was captured at the disastrous Kut al Amara defeat and then went on to escape.  The story is told in the book '450 Miles To Freedom'...

The story is supposed to be one of the first POW escapes ever published. 

You can read / download a PDF of the full book below...

Click here for a full screen version

To find out more about story, this Yahoo Answers page has some info & links, for info on the Toronto University repress, click here...

British Army in Mesopotamia

Turkish Army