Head of Zeus seizes 'thrilling' Second World War allied escape history

Head of Zeus has seized The Lost Tunnel: The Forgotten Great Escape of WWII by military historian, broadcaster, journalist and author Guy Walters.

Non-fiction publishing director Iain MacGregor acquired world rights direct from the author. The book will be published in hardback, trade paperback, audiobook and e-book in the spring of 2026.

The synopsis says: "The Lost Tunnel will bring to life the incredible story of the mass breakout of British soldiers out of a tunnel from Oflag V-B near the town of Biberach in southwest Germany in September 1941… This successful escape features many of the same dramatic elements of the stories of tunnelling out of camps such as Stalag Luft III.

"There are the cunning ways in which soil was disposed of; air lines constructed to assist the diggers, guards outwitted, escape materials obtained through bribery, compasses constructed, calorie-rich ‘escape bars’ confected, disguises tailored, and so on […] Travelling to Germany with his research in the archives, Guy Walters will create a page-turning tale that will put this event and the men who did it firmly back in the limelight."

Walters is a historian and a journalist, as well as the author of books including The Real Great Escape (Transworld/ Bantam), Hunting Evil (Bantam) and The Colditz Legacy (Headline). He said: "It seems extraordinary that this most brilliant and audacious escape by British prisoners of war has been completely ignored. More successful than the Great Escape – which used many of the techniques developed at Biberach – this is a proper wartime adventure story that will now finally be brought to a deservedly wider audience.

"As well as drawing on diaries and documents, I shall also be walking the route used by the successful escapers to get to Switzerland so that I can gain an even stronger idea of what these intrepid young men went through. Make no mistake – this will be hands-on history."

MacGregor added: "Charles Bronson digging his way to freedom, Steve McQueen trying to jump the wire on his captured German army motorcycle, or Richard Attenborough being executed by his SS captors – all are iconic moments in arguably Hollywood’s greatest Second World War-era film – ’The Great Escape’. While it is rightly lauded as a remarkable mass breakout of allied PoWs that ended in many of them being murdered, there was another incredible, far more successful breakout that was lost to history – until now."