“The Long Walk is a book that I absolutely could not put down and one that I will never forget.” - Stephen Ambrose, New York Times bestselling author There are a few times where this book is tough to read, but overall I'd highly recommend it.' A couple of comments that Rawicz makes about Communism within Russia really hit home with me - specifically where he discusses how Communism was about taking away the class system, but the Gulag system brought it back. I know a lot about the Gulag system and I found it pretty tough to believe that the men were able to get away. The ability of these men to survive is unbelievable and the fact that they survived is amazing. 'This is the incredibly journey of seven men as they escape the Russian Gulag and their arduous journey that takes over 18 months. Finally returning home, Rawicz reenlisted in the Polish army to fight the Germans. They braved the Himalayas, the desolate Siberian tundra, icy rivers, and the great Gobi Desert, always a hair’s breadth from death. With no map or compass but only an ax head, a homemade knife, and a week’s supply of food, the compatriots spent a year making their way on foot to British India, through four thousand miles of the most forbidding terrain on earth. Thus began their astonishing trek to freedom. In the spring of 1941, he escaped with six of his fellow prisoners, including one American. Twenty-six-year-old cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and sent to the Siberian Gulag.

The film The Way Back, starring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris, is based on this amazing true story.

Slavomir rawicz survival story