author
Maurice Andrew Brackenreed Johnston
b. 1892
Best known for a vivid First World War escape memoir, this British officer wrote from direct experience after surviving imprisonment in Turkey and joining a daring breakout. His story combines wartime hardship, planning, and sheer nerve.
1 Audiobook
Four-Fifty Miles to Freedom
by Maurice Andrew Brackenreed Johnston, Kenneth Darlaston Yearsley
About the author
Born on 30 November 1892 and later known as Brigadier M. A. B. Johnston, he was a British soldier whose life was shaped by military service in both world wars. Reliable records found during this search show that he lived until 15 August 1979.
He is best remembered as the co-author of Four-Fifty Miles to Freedom (1919), written with Kenneth Darlaston Yearsley. The book tells the true story of eight British prisoners of war who escaped from a Turkish POW camp during the First World War, drawing on Johnston's own experience as one of the escapees.
That background gives his writing its appeal: it is not a distant account of war, but a firsthand narrative of captivity, endurance, and escape. For listeners interested in memoir, military history, and real-life adventure, his work offers an immediate window into an extraordinary episode of wartime survival.