Book excerpt: Lying in his prone shelter on an Italian battlefield, Nick Bremer wakes to the sound of German voices. Without ammunition, his squad has no choice but to surrender. Thus begins months of peril as the men go from prisoners-in-transit to permanent internment in Stalag IIB, reported by 1943 Military Intelligence as the worst POW camp in Germany. Heartened by memories of home, buoyed by a brotherhood of prisoners, Nick combats suspicion and hopelessness, endures near-starvation, physical torture, psychological terror, and mind-numbing monotony. But, can his tenacity and wit help him survive the brutal European death march to the Western Front?