Publisher's Synopsis
In either World War, only one German escaped from mainland Britain: Gunther Pluschow. "Escape From England" tells his story - and of his previous escape halfway round the world to get back to Europe.;But this book is special for more reasons than that: it gives a unique account of the siege of Tsingtao (Germany's Chinese enclave), describes possibly the first aerial combat of WW1 and finally tells of the British Home Front in 1915 (as seen through German eyes!).;In 1914, Pluschow was based in the German colony of Tsingtao in China (similar to Hong Kong). Japan declared war on Germany in 1914 and besieged the colony. Pluschow flew reconnaissance missions until Tsingtao fell, when he escaped to China. He escaped from internment and caught a ship to San Francisco, travelled overland across the USA and caught another ship to Europe.;However, having succeeded in escaping halfway round the world, Pluschow's luck ran out. The ship was stopped by the British at Gibraltar and Pluschow was captured again, from where he was taken to England. It was then that he made his daring escape.;Pluschow spoke English well enough to pass off as an American sailor on the streets of London. Whilst waiting to try and stowaway on a neutral vessel, he was nearly press-ganged into being recruited for the British Army, which would have been irony indeed.;As well as his escape from the POW camp, "Escape from England" contains Pluschow's narrative of the little-known siege of Tsingtao. During his reconnaissance sorties, he was unofficially credited with shooting down a Maurice Farman aircraft - an aviation first.;Pluschow's book has been out-of-print in English for seventy-eight years. "Escape from England" at last brings this remarkable man's stories back into press. It has been too long in coming.
