When Danish pilot Hans Gundelach escapes occupied France to England in 1940 with sensitive German documents, he’s soon arrested as a spy. Can a young English boy save him from the death penalty?

SYNOPSIS:

Danish engineer and pilot Hans Gundelach travels to Germany to help a Jewish arms manufacturer escape The Third Reich. When Gundelach reaches the factory, he learns that Germany has invaded Denmark and he and Herr Halflinger are stranded.

Instead of trying to return home, Gundelach convinces Halflinger to give him the plans to a top-secret U-boat gun sight. The new sight will allow the submarines to sink more Allied ships and the war in the West might be lost.

The SS have Gundelach under surveillance, however, and they try to capture him before he can escape across the border. Gundelach evades their clutches but is shot as he slips into France.

A farming family nurse him back to health and Gundelach begins to fall in love with their daughter, Louise. Their relationship doesn’t have time to blossom, however, as Gundelach knows his secret is vital to the war effort and he must move on.

He eventually leaves the farm and stumbles across a British airfield that is about to be overrun by the Nazis. All the aircraft have been destroyed but one Hurricane is just about serviceable. Gundelach repairs the fighter and flies across the Channel to England.

Having crash-landed, he’s arrested as an Abwehr agent. During his interrogation, he learns that German master-spy Wilhelm Mörz has established a network of agents in England who will pave the way for German forces to invade during Operation Sealion.

Gundelach finds it impossible to convince his captors that he isn’t one of the spies until he suggests the British try to contact his neighbours in Denmark, an English family with a holiday home in his village. The family’s seven-year-old son, Ned Potter, eventually identifies Gundelach and he’s released.

The Secret Intelligence Service then ask Gundelach to infiltrate the German spy ring so he can bring Mörz to justice. Gundelach arranges a meeting with the German agent and overpowers him during a tense encounter at a hotel in Brighton.

Gundelach remains in England to fly Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain, and it’s not until the end of the war that he finally returns to France to marry Louise.

This incredible true story is based on Gundelach and Potter’s diaries – which have never been publicised – as well as files recently declassified by the British government. The novel on which the script is based has now been preserved by the National Archives in the UK as a record of Gundelach’s exploits.

THE LITTLE ENGLISH BOY