Brothers Alf and Kaj as well as Knud Hornbo, still at King Hans Gades Jail, are using the dummy bar to escape every night. They conduct sabotage, destroying German vehicles, afterward eating dinner with Alf and Kaj’s family. By day, they are seen by the jailers sleeping, reading, and playing chess. One day, they become too comfortable with escaping and accidentally go out while it is still daylight. They duck into a movie theater to find that it is full of German soldiers watching newsreels of the war.

The men escape nineteen nights in a row. One night, they are walking the streets when sirens go off, a signal that everyone must go into a shelter. The man cannot, since showing an identification card is required for entry, and they duck into a doorway. A policeman who notices them acting suspiciously catches them. Germany insists on handling the case, accusing the Danish authorities of complicity in the men’s nightly escapes. Each man receives a sentence of more than ten years in a German prison.

At Nyborg State Prison, the boys are separated and strip-searched. Their heads are shaved, and each is assigned a number to replace his name. They are subject to “countless rules,” are watched constantly, and follow a “harsh daily routine” (124). Sunday church services offer a welcome break. Meals are small, and the boys lose a great deal of weight. As their sentences progress, they are allowed more freedom and hobby materials.

Eigil struggles with feelings of despair and contemplates suicide. Uffe, in contrast, is able to stay cheerful and is heard singing songs at all hours. Knud is not suicidal, but he is not cheerful, either—he is angry, feeling that he is in “enemy land,” surrounded by “German cooperators and traitors” (125) in the jailers. He is unruly, and the guards punish him often, confiscating his belongings and privileges. One night, the guards mock him when he is scared of a mouse in his cell. Knud becomes obsessed with Grethe, drawing her and writing about her to his parents.

In late 1942, the boys are assigned a teacher, Mr. Worsaae, who is “a breath of fresh air” (131). He arranges visits by poets, gets the boys’ personal items returned to them, and convinces some of the guards to call them by their real names instead of numbers. He encourages Knud’s interest in art and makes sure the boys are treated specially on Christmas, a meaningful gesture for them. Christmastime floods Knud with memories of family and friends, and he sings Christmas songs to make himself weep.

The Danish secretary of justice, Jacobsen Thune, visits the boys in prison. His tone is “apologetic” (129) and gentle. He tells the boys that their sabotage has been pointless because the British did not want Danes resisting the Germans. Knud knows he is lying. The boys find him despicable, “the worst kind of Nazi collaborator” (129). Outside of prison, the Churchill Club’s impact grows as the boys’ story is dramatized in an American radio series and promoted by British leaflets dropped onto Denmark.

The boys yearn for news of the war, but the news they receive is heavily censored. They manage to hear about the Allied victory in North Africa and progress in Stalingrad. One day, a fellow prisoner gives Knud a coded message informing him of the British bombing of the shipyard in Copenhagen. In August 1943, Knud and the others see Allied bombers from the jail window, a “glorious” (132) sight that signals the end of good relations between the Danes and Germans. The prison is taken over by Germans, but very little changes. In September 1943, Denmark evacuates thousands of Jews to Sweden.

The boys of the club are released until only the Pedersen brothers, who have the longest sentences, remain.