Eleven Months to Freedom: A German POW’s Unlikely Escape from Siberia in 1915

Eleven Months to Freedom recounts the daring World War I escape of Germanmidshipman Erich Killinger. Falsely accused of bombing a railway station aftercrashing his plane at sea, he was sentenced to life in the Sakhalin coal mines.Shipped by rail with several other POWs across Russia, Killinger wasdetermined to return home. In order to do this, though, he needed to jumpfrom the train, cross Siberia, and make it to a German-run escape pipeline inChina-all while braving bandits, subzero temperatures, threats of starvation,the risk of capture by Japanese and Russian troops, and possible internmentby the Chinese. Once he made it to China, Killinger used money and fakeidentity papers to survive along the 800 miles to Shanghai. Improbably playing the role of a dashing French blade, Killinger lived the highlife on one ship, then later served as a humble deckhand on another. Riskingdiscovery by the British, he made a bold and risky move as his finaldestination neared.