"Von Ryan's Express" by David Westheimer (First Edition Hardcover)

A thousand British and American POWs learn to hate the American colonel who singlehandedly shapes them up. His strict discipline brings order to the camp; it also earns him a derisive "von." When Italy surrenders, German guards herd the men into boxcars for shipment to the Reich. Ryan has other ideas. He reckons to take the train to Switzerland...and freedom.

First edition published in 1964 by Doubleday & Company.