Rudi Kratschmer, youngest of eight sons, was brought up in a tiny forested village within walking distance of the borders of Sudetanland. As Hitler advanced, the self-contained farming lifestyle was ripped apart, causing 19-year-old Rudi to join the partisans to fight for his country; and he was soon fleeing for his life across Czechoslovakia and Poland. After arriving in England, he encountered more collaborators, but settled into the ways and language of his new home, using his engineering skills to help the war effort, becoming a highly respected design engineer in a wide range of...