First Quote Added
April 10, 2026
Latest Quote Added
"We have in effect put all our rotten eggs in one basket. And we intend to watch this basket carefully."
"[After reciting the extensive history of Allied POW escapes and the vast resources Germany has been forced to spend on the matter] This is quite close to insanity. And it must stop!"
"[To Hilts, after being relieved as camp commandant] It looks, after all, as if you will see Berlin before I do."
"Look, sir, you talk about the High Command and the Luftwaffe, and then you talk about the Gestapo and the SS. To me, they're the same! We're fighting the bloody lot! There's only one way to put it, sir: they are the common enemies of everyone who believes in freedom. If the High Command didn't approve of Hitler, then why didn't they throw him out?"
"Colonel Von Luger, it is the sworn duty of all officers to try to escape. If they cannot escape, then it is their sworn duty to cause the enemy to use an inordinate number of troops to guard them, and their sworn duty to harass the enemy to the best of their ability."
"Ah, Herr Bartlett. And Herr MacDonald. We are together again. You are going to wish you had never put us to so much trouble..."
"Put a fence in front of these men...and they'll climb it."
"Hours ago... Minutes ago.... These men were behind barbed wire."
"Steve McQueen – Capt. Hilts "The Cooler King""
"James Garner – Flight Lt. Hendley "The Scrounger""
"Richard Attenborough – Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett "Big X""
"James Donald – Group Capt. Ramsey "The SBO""
"Charles Bronson – Flight Lt. Danny Velinski "The Tunnel King""
"Donald Pleasence – Flight Lt. Colin Blythe "The Forger""
"James Coburn – Flying Officer Louis Sedgwick "The Manufacturer""
"Hannes Messemer – Col. von Luger"
"David McCallum – Lt. Cmdr. Eric Ashley-Pitt "Dispersal""
"Gordon Jackson – Flight Lt. Sandy MacDonald "Intelligence""
"John Leyton – Flight Lt. William Dickes "The Tunneler""
"Angus Lennie – Flying Officer Archibald Ives "The Mole""
"Nigel Stock – Flight Lt. Denys Cavendish "The Surveyor""
"Robert Graf – Werner 'The Ferret'"
"Jud Taylor – Goff"
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.