Crawl to Freedom

During World War One over 4000 Australian servicemen were taken prisoner. Yet the prisoner of war experiences of the Anzacs are frequently forgotten, treated as mere footnotes in the proliferation of the literature of Australian military history. Where individual stories have been told they are often from the perspective of life as a POW. It could be assumed that the Australian POWs of WWI passed quietly into captivity. The opposite was in fact the case.

Many of the Anzacs attempted escape, with over 40 successfully making their way to England or across the battlefields of Western Europe to allied lines – to ultimately score home-runs! Crawl to Freedom is a collection of stories of those successful home-runs. From enlistment to capture, the journeys and efforts of the escapees are forensically explored as the Anzacs fight for their freedom. The astonishing stories tell of mateship, courage and determination in the face of adversity, these soldiers succeeded in overcoming their hardships to fulfill their ingenious endeavours to escape.

Crawl to Freedom combines meticulous research with a forensic analysis to tell these astonishing stories of daring, perseverance and endurance ... stories crying out to be told for over 100 years!

About the Author

Darren Prickett was born and raised in Brisbane. His working career included time with the Royal Australian Air Force and 24 years with the Queensland Police Service, the majority of that service as a designated Detective. Darren has an avid interest in military history, particularly Australia's involvement in World War One. This is the second book Darren has authored. His first book, Purple Patch: History of the 3rd Field Company Engineers in World War One , was published through Big Sky Publishing in 2019. Darren now resides in Victoria and enjoys spending his leisure time with his wife, Cara, raising their two active, young boys.