I Was a Stranger

Badly wounded at the battle of Arnhem, and then spirited from his hospital bed by the Dutch Resistance, Brigadier John Hackett spent the winter of 1944 in Nazi-occupied Holland, hidden by a Dutch family, at great risk to their own lives, in a house a stone's throw from a German military police billet. After four months in hiding, Hackett was at last well enough to strap a battered suitcase to an ancient bicycle and set out on a high adventure which would, he hoped, lead him to freedom.

General Sir John Hackett was born in Western Australia in 1910 and educated at Geelong Grammar School and New College, Oxford. He was commissioned into the 8th Hussars in 1931, and remained a regular soldier until 1968. During the Second World War he fought in Syria, the Western Desert and Italy, and also at the Battle of Arnhem. From 1968 to 1975 he was was Principal of King's College, London. He was President of both the Classical Association and the English Association of the United Kingdom. His publications include The Third World War (1978), The Third World War: The Untold Story (1982) and The Profession of Arms (1983).