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Table of Contents
About The Book
A London Sunday Times bestseller
The dramatic true story of the heroic rescue of Allied resistance fighters from a Nazi prison train after a devastating betrayal.
In the final hours before the liberation of Brussels in 1944, the Germans loaded more than 1,400 members of the Resistance, SOE agents, and Allied airmen onto a train bound for the Neuengamme concentration camp. What happened next came to be known as the miracle of “The Ghost Train,” as members of the Resistance rose up to delay, divert, and eventually derail the train and save the lives of all of those on board.
The book shines a light on everyday heroes who have been lost to history: such as New Yorker Ted Kleinman, a Jew who risked his life to carry out sabotage behind the lines; young Resistance heroines such as Michou Dumon, who ordered an attempt to kill one traitor and escaped to London to expose another to British intelligence; and Belgian businessman Gaston Masereel, who planned to parachute into his homeland as an SOE agent. Badly hurt when his plane was attacked, he killed all four German soldiers who came to arrest him.
As well as the heroes, there is a villain every bit as keenly drawn and despicable as any in a spy thriller: the most heartless double agent of all—Prosper Dezitter—a traitor of such cunning that he came to be seen as an almost mythical bogey man. A convicted rapist and swindler, he enlisted the aid of his Spanish-born mistress to create a false network of helpers to ensnare airmen and résistants. It was a process which made Dezitter a millionaire.
Investigative journalist Greg Lewis draws upon a wealth of primary sources and his own extensive interviews to bring to life a cast of unforgettable characters, as The Nazi Ghost Train unfolds in a tense and pacy narrative, describing the feeling of terror after being shot down on bombing missions, the fight to stay alive with the Gestapo on your trail, and the gut-wrenching horror of betrayal.
The dramatic true story of the heroic rescue of Allied resistance fighters from a Nazi prison train after a devastating betrayal.
In the final hours before the liberation of Brussels in 1944, the Germans loaded more than 1,400 members of the Resistance, SOE agents, and Allied airmen onto a train bound for the Neuengamme concentration camp. What happened next came to be known as the miracle of “The Ghost Train,” as members of the Resistance rose up to delay, divert, and eventually derail the train and save the lives of all of those on board.
The book shines a light on everyday heroes who have been lost to history: such as New Yorker Ted Kleinman, a Jew who risked his life to carry out sabotage behind the lines; young Resistance heroines such as Michou Dumon, who ordered an attempt to kill one traitor and escaped to London to expose another to British intelligence; and Belgian businessman Gaston Masereel, who planned to parachute into his homeland as an SOE agent. Badly hurt when his plane was attacked, he killed all four German soldiers who came to arrest him.
As well as the heroes, there is a villain every bit as keenly drawn and despicable as any in a spy thriller: the most heartless double agent of all—Prosper Dezitter—a traitor of such cunning that he came to be seen as an almost mythical bogey man. A convicted rapist and swindler, he enlisted the aid of his Spanish-born mistress to create a false network of helpers to ensnare airmen and résistants. It was a process which made Dezitter a millionaire.
Investigative journalist Greg Lewis draws upon a wealth of primary sources and his own extensive interviews to bring to life a cast of unforgettable characters, as The Nazi Ghost Train unfolds in a tense and pacy narrative, describing the feeling of terror after being shot down on bombing missions, the fight to stay alive with the Gestapo on your trail, and the gut-wrenching horror of betrayal.
Product Details
- Publisher: Pegasus Books (June 2, 2026)
- Length: 320 pages
- ISBN13: 9798897101030
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Raves and Reviews
"This is a moving and significant story about endurance under the most trying conditions, from eluding enemy pursuers to surviving beatings, lack of proper food, and more. Lewis indelibly captures the hellish circumstances these men and women endured while also illustrating how resilience, coupled with acts of genuine human kindness, saw them through."
– Booklist
“The Nazi Ghost Train focuses on unheralded British and American flyers, many of whom were young recruits who—unexpectedly, and to their horror—were forced to abandon their planes and parachute into Belgium. The tale of ‘the ghost train’ is riveting. This overlooked, dramatic story deserves telling.”
– The Jewish Book Council
“Lewis offers a by turns hair-raising and humane saga of resistance against the Third Reich in its waning hours. WWII history buffs will relish this.”
– Publishers Weekly
"Lewis has turned up a little-known but dramatic story of opposition to Nazi occupation. He recounts the anecdotes of fliers, Belgian resisters, and their Nazi opponents. He emphasizes that Nazi occupation forces were efficient. Most unsettling, Lewis turns up a Belgian career criminal who offered his services to the Nazis, formed his own rescue organization that employed many genuine Belgian resisters, and sent a steady stream of fliers and patriots directly into captivity. An expert account of heroic Belgian resistance."
– Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Greg Lewis’s Defying Hitler:
“Stirring.”
– USA Today
“Fascinating.”
– New York Post
"In Defying Hitler, Gordon Thomas and Greg Lewis show in chilling and vivid detail just how courageous were those who dared to defy Hitler. A terrifying and timely account of resistance in the face of the greatest of evils.”
– Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of The First Wave
“Gripping. Manages to keep you guessing what some of the outcomes might be, despite our overall knowledge of Germany’s ultimate fate. [Defying Hitler] reminds us all that good people can dare to stand and fight evil and powerful regimes regardless of the odds.”
– Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“This important book offers alternative profiles in courage—portraits of the ordinary men and women who resisted Hitler, aided Jews and spied for the Allies during the dark days of World War II."
– Newsday
“[A] well-researched volume that drills into the darkness to examine the lives of those within the Third Reich who actively defied Hitler’s orders from 1933 to 1945. Highly recommended. This masterful work will best serve general audiences and historians alike.”
– Library Journal (starred review)
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