We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance

It is a simple tale of escape and those brave souls who helped him make his way from Norway to neutral Sweden. In March 1943 Jan was part of group of 11 other men who travelled secretly to German held Norway in order to sabotage an airbase. However through an extraodinarily bad coincidence the contact they made there was with a man who betrayed them. Their boat was ambushed by the Germans the following morning, 30th of March. Interestingly there is the German news account of this ambush in the appendix at the back of the book and it does not tally well with the real event. Only Jan managed to escape from the ambush. The fate of the rest of his crew, which is only known in sketchy detail was horrific so his decision to try flee rather than surrender proved the right thing to do. However this left him alone on a bleak tiny island in the Norwegian Sounds with his toe shot off in the freezing arctic spring. The next two months he swam through icy seas, got caught in blizzards and avalanches and finally too injured to carry on himself, was carried by partisan Norwegians to Sweden. I don't know what is more incredible about this story or this man. His will was astonishing. For one week he was left alone on a deserted plateau alone with almost no food, frost bitten feet and wet clothes. When he was finally found again he had to endure a further two weeks living alone on the plateau with only occassional visitors.

I have read a lot of epic survival stories in my time - of Shackleton, and Scott and their epic journeys, but these men were generally part of a group and if nothing else may draw strength from their companions. For much of Jan's trip he was alone, and very often so weak and vulnerable his survival while others worked for his survival, very often for days at a time he was vulnerable and alone and with no hope that anyone would come and rescue him, yet he survived. Each time men came to him expecting to find him dead and he wasn't - he was clinging to life. This is such a powerful story, and well told. I don't think you could read it and remain unmoved.


You'll be hard pressed to find a better survival story   May 31, 2000
Keith Endres (United States)
21 out of 23 found this review helpful

Not at all a book about WWII combat action, We Die Alone is a gripping account of a Norwegian commandos race for the Swedish border agoinst the Nazis and some horrificlly overwhelming odds. This one is a fast-paced page turner, as time after time it might seem as though the escape is complete and then the story throws another twist that truly turns this story of escape into an unforgettable epic. Anyone who enjoys survival or adventure or even war reading will likely cherish this story that tells a true story of all three of those subjects. It also proves to be a superb discussion of the Nazi occupation and ruling of Norway, an area of WWII that is often forgotten but was in reality a key area for the Germans and one the British truly paid for losing. I can't say anything truly negative about this book.


a survival classic   November 28, 2000
l a davis (athens, pa, usa)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

first read this incredible tale of one man's refusal to die alone forty years ago--have been recommending to people ever since. jan baalsrud--a norwegian patriot during wwII--captured my imagination in the page's of david howarth's riveting book, and his story of survival under the relentless pursuit of the nazi's, is maybe the best to come out of that war. page after page, the twists and turns, the chance meetings and narrow escapes, the unrelenting suspense...a book you simply can't put down. and written well enough that it doesn't matter if you're a seventh grader, as i was four decades ago, or a senior citizen, as i'm rapidly becoming. its just a great read. you'll never forget jan baalsrud..guaranteed.


Incredible true WWII survival tale, rippingly told.   July 11, 1997
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

One winter, in the midst of WWII, a crew of expatriate Norwegians attempted to land a cargo of guerilla supplies on Nazi-occupied Norway's far-northern coast. This book tells the story of the incredible privation endured by one of those men, Jan Balsruud, his hardihood and survival, and the risks and sacrifices undertaken on his behalf by the men and women who help him evade capture.

I first read _We_Die_Alone_ some thirty years ago, in the first paperback edition, and I know that certain of its scenes and events will stay with me so long as I live. Howarth recounts the story simply, and lets the facts provide the drama.

Strongly recommended.


Physical and Emotional Endurance in WWII   November 24, 2002
A. Ross (Washington, DC)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

Second only to Slavomir Rawicz's The Long Walk in the annals of WWII escape stories I've read, the story of Jan Baalsrud's amazing escape after a failed commando insertion into occupied Norway is more a tale of endurance than one of derring-do. Penned by a former British spymaster, the book is a clear, if somewhat simply written, account of how Baalsrud was sheltered for weeks by various patriotic Norwegians who did their best to keep him out of German hands.

An expatriate Norwegian, Baalsrud and his fellow commandos were attempting to establish a resistance cell in northern Norway that would disrupt the operations of a major German airfield nearby. Betrayed, the commandos were ambushed by German soldiers, with only Baalsrud escaping. The bulk of the book described how over the next several weeks, regular citizens in remote villages attempted to keep him alive while arranging for him to get to Sweden. This was greatly hampered by the frostbite that made walking or skiing impossible for him. It's an excellent glimpse into the mundane details of how regular people did their best to resist the Germans with the knowledge that they and their families would be killed if their plotting was uncovered.

Ultimately though, the book is a tribute to Baalsrud's incredible physical and emotional endurance-he was buried alive for days under snow, left by himself for days at a time unable to move and in excruciating pain, and had to contemplate self-surgery-all while knowing that his discovery could mean the deaths of many innocent people. Think you're tough? Read this and think again! It would have been nice if the publisher had included a map.