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Coming Down in the Drink: The Survival of Bomber 'Goldfish', John Brennan DFC
Par Sean Feast. 2017
Coming Down in the Drink is the story of Flight Lieutenant John Brennan DFC. John is an Irishman who need…
not have fought in the war at all. A sense of adventure took him to London where he trained as a chef before joining the RAF and qualifying as a wireless operator/air gunner.Posted to 148 Squadron in the Middle East in 1941, John was soon in the fray as the front gunner of a Wellington, flying daily sorties to Benghazi in what was known as the mail run, bombing enemy ships that were offloading vital supplies to Rommel and the Afrika Korps. As much at risk from faulty engines as enemy action, John completed a tour of almost 300 hours of operational flying, including an operation in March 1942 in which his Wellington suffered an engine failure and came down in the sea. He thus became a member of the Goldfish Club.Posted home and commissioned, he spent time instructing in Scotland, surviving yet another accident in which his pilot crashed into a mountainside. Volunteering for a second tour, John joined 78 Squadron in the summer of 1944, being crewed with one of the flight commanders. He completed his tour, this time as a wireless operator, in March 1945, by which time they were operating in daylight in support of the Allied advance. He was awarded the DFC.John is one of the only surviving wartime members of the Goldfish Club, and has a fascinating record of 63 operations that covers both the forgotten bombing war in the Middle East in 1941/42, operating from strips of sand in the barren desert, to a main force heavy bomber squadron in the snow of Yorkshire at the end of the war.Tempting the Fates: A Memoir of Service in the Second World War
Par Major General Dare Wilson. 2006
General Dare Wilson saw action in France 1940 (Dunkirk), Italy and North West Europe (where he won his MC) with…
the Northumberland Fusiliers and later the Recce Regiment. He then served in Palestine and Korea which he rates as the most vicious war he fought in. He was picked to command 22 SAS and was responsible for basing them at Hereford. His account of the world record-breaking free fall jump free falling from 34,000 feet makes thrilling reading one member died. He went on to fight the Mau Mau in Kenya and was in the last party to leave Aden when we withdrew in 1968. Dare then learnt to fly helicopters and commanded the fledgling Army/Air Corps. We believe that this is one of the most enthralling of the many superb memoirs we have published. Certainly it is the widest in its scope and makes for thrilling reading.Fight Another Day
Par J. M. Langley. 2013
As a young subaltern in the Coldstream Guards, the author lost his arm at Dunkirk and was captured but eventually…
escaped via Lille, Paris, Marseilles, Spain and Gibraltar. He describes the fierce fighting outside Dunkirk, his captivity, escape and extraordinary life in Vichy France, before the Germans controlled it. His fellow escapees and the French who sheltered them make a rich cast of characters.On return to London, Langley is recruited into the Secret Service and told to organize the safe return of allied soldiers, sailors and airmen who had succeeded in either escaping from or evading the Germans. He describes the astonishing courage and sacrifice of the heroic underground operators who ran these escape lines across Belgium and France. Despite betrayal and infiltration from Germans, collaborators and traitors, over 3000 men were safely brought back to fight another day.Langley and Airey Neave, who joined him after his historic home run from Colditz, had to wrestle with rival secret organizations for resources to carry out their vital work.All this and more is brilliantly described in this gripping, beautifully written book.The War Lords: Military Commanders Of The Twentieth Century (Pen & Sword Military Classics)
Par Michael Carver. 2005
Detailed profiles of forty-three military commanders of the twentieth century, from Patton to Rommel, Yamamoto, and Zhukov, written by top…
historians. In The War Lords, Field Marshal Lord Carver has assembled an engrossing series of short, detailed biographies of forty-three of the dominant military commanders on the twentieth-century world stage, written by such prominent historians as Alistair Horne, Norman Stone, Stephen Ambrose, Lord Kinross, and Martin Middlebrook. Included are: Field-Marshal the Earl Alexander, E.H.H. Allenby, Claude Auchinleck, Field-Marshal Sir, Omar N. Bradley, General of the Army, Andrew Browne Cunningham, Admiral of the Fleet the Viscount, Karl Doenitz, Admiral, Hugh C.T. Dowding, Air Chief Marshal, Dwight D. Eisenhower, General of the Army, Ferdinand Foch, Bernard Freyberg, Lieutenant-General Lord, Heinz Guderian, General, Douglas Haig, William F. Halsey, Fleet Admiral, Ian Hamilton, Arthur Harris, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir, Paul von Hindenburg, John Rushworth Jellicoe, Joseph Joffre, Alphonse Juin, Marshal, Mustafa Kemal, Ivan Koniev, Marshal, Erich Ludendorff, Douglas C. MacArthur, General of the Army, John Monash, Bernard L. Montgomery, of Alamein, Louis Mountbatten, Earl of Burma, Chester W. Nimitz, Fleet Admiral, George S. Patton, General, John J. Pershing, Philippe Petain, Erwin Rommel, Field-Marshal, William Joseph Slim, Field-Marshal the Viscount, Carl A. Spaatz, General, Raymond A. Spruance, Admiral, Joseph W. Stilwell, General, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Tedder, Hugh Trenchard, Erich Von Falkenhayn, Erich Von Manstein, Field Marshal, Gerd Von Rundstedt, Field-Marshal, Archibald Wavell, Field-Marshal Earl, Isoroku Yamamoto, Admiral & Georgii Zhukov, Marshal.Last Days of the Reich: The Diary of Count Folke Bernadotte
Par Folke Bernadotte. 2009
Count Folke Bernadotte was one of those rare figures in war ' a man trusted by both sides alike. Shortly…
before the war ended, Bernadotte was the leader of a rescue operation to transfer western European inmates to Swedish hospitals in the so-called 'White Buses'. This work through the Swedish Red Cross involved mercy missions to Germany and it was through this link that Bernadotte came into touch with prominent Nazi leaders in the 1940s. During the last months of the war, Bernadotte was introduced to Heinrich Himmler ' one of the most sinister men of the Third Reich. Bernadotte was asked by Himmler to approach the Allies with the proposal of a complete surrender to Britain and the US ' providing Germany could continue to fight the Soviet Union. The offer was passed to Winston Churchill and Harry Truman, but rejected. The course of these negotiations is narrated in this book with a simple, compelling clarity and thrilling immediacy. This new edition of Bernadotte's memoir includes a Preface by his two sons, and an Introduction by a leading Swedish author discussing Count Bernadotte's wartime record and his post-war assassination.Voices in Flight: Conversations with Air Veterans of the Great War
Par Mauriel Joslyn, Anna Malinovska. 2006
Thanks to the foresight of the authors, Voices in Flight is a literary memorial to the hugely gallant men who…
fought their war in small dangerous and vulnerable aeroplanes. We hear told the stories and thoughts of not only pilots but ground crew and others closely associated with this form of combat. These interviews bring home vividly the comraderie, the humour, the sadness but above all the thrill of flying experienced by members of the RFC and later the fledgling RAF. First hand accounts of dog fights make graphic reading. This is a never-to-be repeated opportunity to honour the memories of old aviators by bringing their experiences to the attention of younger generations.Marlborough: His Life and Times (Marlborough: His Life and Times #4)
Par Winston S. Churchill. 2014
The moving conclusion to the acclaimed multivolume biography of one of Britain&’s greatest military leaders by his Nobel Prize–winning descendant.…
The final installment in Winston S. Churchill&’s four-volume biography of John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough—a famed military leader known for never having lost a military campaign. Despite his successes, Marlborough&’s later years were full of struggle—including attacks from political and personal enemies. Winston S. Churchill vividly recounts the intrigues and challenges of his ancestor&’s extraordinarily eventful life. In this last volume, detailing the end of his career, Marlborough&’s story is told with sensitivity and nuance—giving the reader an intimate glimpse into his state of mind. It&’s a fascinating read for anyone interested in English history—and provides profound insights into leadership, loyalty, and personal conduct as valuable today as three centuries ago. &“A sustained meditation on statecraft and war by the greatest war leader of our time.&” —Foreign Affairs &“The greatest historical work written in our century, an inexhaustible mine of political wisdom and understanding, which should be required reading for every student of political science.&” —Leo StraussDieppe: Canada's Forgotten Heroes
Par John Mellor. 2016
This WWII historical memoir chronicles the Canadian-led raid on a Nazi-occupied port in Northern France, as well as capture and…
escape from POW camps. Gripping in its intensity and detail, John Mellor&’s account of the doomed raid on Dieppe, France, in 1942 combines authoritative research with his own firsthand experience. Examining the debate surrounding this tactical failure, Mellor also puts the reader in the landing craft and on the beaches with individual Canadian soldiers. Dieppe recounts the terrible deaths of 807 Canadians and the damage to 1,946 survivors whose subsequent march to German prisoner-of-war camps is nearly as tragic as the raid itself. Mellor writes candidly about the survival tactics, the successful tunnel escapes, and the heroism of nearly three years in appalling captivity, including the desperate &“death marches&” the prisoners endured.Marlborough: His Life and Times (Marlborough: His Life and Times #3)
Par Winston S. Churchill. 2014
The third volume of the Nobel Prize winner&’s hailed biography of John Churchill covers his military leadership in the seventeenth…
and eighteenth centuries. John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, was an accomplished military leader who never lost a battle. This is the third volume in Winston S. Churchill&’s sweeping, four-part biography of his illustrious ancestor, in which he recounts Marlborough&’s military successes in thrilling detail—including his support of William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution, his crucial role in the suppression of the Duke of Monmouth&’s rebellion, and his success in negotiating England&’s diplomatic position in the War of the Spanish Succession. With characteristic flair, Winston S. Churchill brings his ancestor&’s campaigns, intrigues, and personal relationships to life—and restores him to a prominent place in English history. &“A sustained meditation on statecraft and war by the greatest war leader of our time.&” —Foreign Affairs &“The greatest historical work written in our century, an inexhaustible mine of political wisdom and understanding, which should be required reading for every student of political science.&” —Leo StraussWellington's Scapegoat: The Tragedy of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Bevan
Par Archie Hunter. 2003
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Bevan was the key figure in an extraordinary, controversial and ultimately tragic episode during the Peninsula War.…
He was the commanding officer held responsible for the dramatic night escape of the French garrison from Almeida over a vital bridge. For this disaster he incurred the extreme wrath of the Duke of Wellington but whether this was fair remains highly debatable.In Presence of My Foes: A Memoir Calais, Colditz, and Wartime Escape Adventures
Par Gris Davies-Scourfield. 2004
This is a wartime escape memoir that ranks with the finest. Seriously wounded and captured at Calais, the Author recovered…
to escape from his POW camp in a load of rubbish. He was on the run thanks to the Polish Underground for nine months and was recaptured within sight of the Swiss border. Interrogation by the Gestapo failed to break him—his greatest fear was that he would betray his friends. Sent to Colditz he again escaped only to be recaptured, due to a minor misspelling on his documents.Red Partisan: The Memoirs of a Soviet Resistance Fighter on the Eastern Front
Par Nikolai I. Obryn'Ba. 2006
A memoir of a Soviet artist who became a resistance fighter against Nazi Germany during World War II. The epic…
World War II battles between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are the subject of a vast literature, but little has been published in English on the experiences of ordinary Soviets?civilians and soldiers?who were sucked into a bitter conflict that marked their lives forever. Their struggle for survival, and their resistance to the invaders&’ brutality in the occupied territories, is one of the great untold stories of the war. Written late in the author&’s life, Nikolai Obryn&’ba&’s unforgettable, intimate memoir tells of Operation Barbarossa, during which he was taken prisoner; the horrors of SS prison camps; his escape; his war fighting behind German lines as a partisan; and the world of suffering and tragedy around him. His perceptive, uncompromising account lays bare the everyday reality of war on the Eastern Front.Praise for Red Partisan&“[Obryn&’ba&’s] descriptions of life in a German POW camp offer unique insights into a little-discussed aspect of the Eastern Front.&” —Military Review&“Obryn&’ba&’s simple and candid yet gripping memoir presents a credible mosaic of vivid images of life in the Red Army during the harrowing first few months of war and unprecedented details about his participation in the brutal but shadowy partisan war that raged deep in the German army&’s rear. A must read for those seeking a human face on this most inhuman of twentieth-century wars.&” —David M. Glantz, historian of the Soviet militaryHaig: A Re-Appraisal 80 Years On
Par Brian Bond, Nigel Cave. 2009
Field Marshal Earl Haig's reputation continues to arouse as much interest and controversy as ever. This volume represents the collaboration…
of two leading historical societies, The British Commission for Military History and The Douglas Haig Fellowship. Leading historians have produced a comprehensive and fascinating study of the most significant and frequently debated aspects of Haig's momentous career.Memories of an S.O.E. Historian
Par M. R. Foot. 2008
The historian of the British World War II intelligence organization chronicles his life and service career in this memoir.Michael (M.R.D.)…
Foot enjoys the rare distinction of being the only person referred to by his real name in a John Le Carré novel. A highly significant tribute to the man entrusted with writing the official record of the Special Operations Executive. He authored first (1966) the History of SOE in France and twenty years later the highly sensitive accounts of SOE operations in Belgium and Holland (which the Germans infiltrated with disastrous results). With his own war service background and academic reputation M.R.D. was an inspired choice for these historic tasks. He was fearless in pursuit of the truth and in thwarting bureaucratic attempts to muzzle him. His war exploits make thrilling reading. His behind-the-lines mission to track down a notorious SD interrogator went badly wrong, and he only just escaped with his life. His career has brought him into close contact with an astonishing cast of characters, and his tongue-in-cheek account of academic life makes lively reading.Gunship Ace: The Wars of Neall Ellis, Gunship Pilot and Mercenary
Par Al J. Venter. 2011
“Spotlights the career of a fascinating modern warrior, while also shedding light on some of the conflicts that have raged…
throughout the world” (Tucson Citizen).A former South African Air Force pilot who saw action throughout the region from the 1970s on, Neall Ellis is the best-known mercenary combat aviator alive. Apart from flying Alouette helicopter gunships in Angola, he fought in the Balkan war for the Islamic forces, tried to resuscitate Mobutu’s ailing air force during his final days ruling the Congo, flew Mi-8s for Executive Outcomes, and piloted an Mi-8 fondly dubbed “Bokkie” for Colonel Tim Spicer in Sierra Leone. Finally, with a pair of aging Mi-24 Hinds, Ellis ran the Air Wing out of Aberdeen Barracks in the war against Sankoh’s vicious RUF rebels. As a “civilian contractor,” Ellis has also flown helicopter support missions in Afghanistan, where, he reckons, he had more close shaves than in his entire previous four decades.From single-handedly turning the enemy back from the gates of Freetown to helping rescue eleven British soldiers who’d been taken hostage, Ellis’s many missions earned him a price on his head, with reports of a million-dollar dead-or-alive reward. This book describes the full career of this storied aerial warrior, from the bush and jungles of Africa to the forests of the Balkans and the merciless mountains of Afghanistan. Along the way the reader encounters a multiethnic array of enemies ranging from ideological to cold-blooded to pure evil, as well as examples of incredible heroism for hire.Confederate General Stephen Elliott: Beaufort Legend, Charleston Hero (Civil War Ser.)
Par D. Michael Thomas. 2020
This Civil War biography offers a lively account of the Confederate brigadier general whose defense of Fort Sumter was honored…
by the Union Army. General Stephen Elliott rose from captain of a militia artillery battery to command of an infantry brigade. His early war reputation as a daring raider and superb artilleryman grew to true hero status through his exemplary service at Fort Sumter. Handpicked to defend Sumter to the last extremity, Elliott performed so well that his Yankee foes saluted him by dipping the Union flag in recognition of his courage and steadfastness. Wounded on five separate occasions, Elliott exemplified courage and inspirational leadership that justified promotions advocated by Generals Robert E. Lee, P.G.T. Beauregard, and President Jefferson Davis. In the first in-depth study of Elliott, D. Michael Thomas presents the life of a renowned soldier with fresh, previously unpublished material.The Fremantle Diary: A Journal of the Confederacy (Classics Of War Ser.)
Par Lt. Col. James Fremantle. 1954
The fascinating diary of English colonel James Fremantle, who spent three months behind Confederate lines at the height of the…
American Civil WarThree hours after stepping onto American soil, James Fremantle saw his first corpse: that of a bandit lynched for taunting Confederate officers. But Fremantle was not shocked by this grisly introduction to the Civil War. On leave from Her Majesty&’s army, the Colonel had come to tour the fight, and see firsthand the gallant Southerners about whom he had read. In the next three months, he witnessed some of the most monumental moments of the entire war. Starting on the war&’s western fringe, Fremantle worked his way east, arriving on the Confederate lines in time for Gettysburg, which he watched with a telescope in a tree outside the tent of General Hood. Along the way he met Robert E. Lee, P. G. T. Beauregard, Jefferson Davis, and nearly every other Confederate leader at the time. Including an insightful introduction and notes by bestselling author Walter Lord, The Fremantle Diary is an elegant memoir and intimate portrait of one of the nation&’s most savage conflicts.Goodbye Vietnam
Par William Broyles. 1986
In this &“essential&” memoir, a former marine returns to Vietnam years later to try to make sense of the war…
(Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead). When William Broyles Jr. was drafted, he was a twenty-four-year-old student at Oxford University in England, hoping to avoid military service. During his physical exam, however, he realized that he couldn&’t let social class or education give him special privileges. He joined the marines, and soon commanded an infantry platoon in the foothills near Da Nang. More than a decade later, Broyles found himself flooded with emotion during the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. He decided to return to Vietnam and confront what he&’d been through. Broyles was one of the very first combat veterans to return to the battlefields. No American before or since has gone so deeply into the other side of the war: the enemy side. Broyles interviews dozens of Vietnamese, from the generals who ran the war to the men and women who fought it. He moves from the corridors of power in Hanoi—so low-tech that the plumbing didn&’t work—to the jungles and rice paddies where he&’d fought. He meets survivors of American B-52 strikes and My Lai, and grieves with a woman whose son was killed by his own platoon. Along the way, Broyles also explores the deep bonds he shared with his own comrades, and the mystery of why men love war even as they hate it. Amidst the landscape of death, his formerly faceless enemies come to life. They had once tried to kill each other, but they are all brothers now. Previously published as Brothers in Arms, this edition includes a new preface by the author.Nelson: The Essential Hero
Par Ernle Bradford. 1977
A gripping biography of Admiral Nelson, Napoleonic War hero and one of Britain&’s greatest naval tacticians. In the Battle of…
Trafalgar, Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson sent the signal from his flagship HMS Victory, &“England expects that every man will do his duty.&” His defeat of the French that day in 1805 was a decisive turning point in the Napoleonic Wars, establishing British control of the seas. His death in that heroic battle gave those words immortal significance. For his bravery in battle and brilliance as a naval tactician, Admiral Nelson remains one of Britain&’s most inspiring heroes. In this nuanced and lively biography, Ernle Bradford presents the man behind the legend. From his youthful days in the Royal Navy to his famous battles and scandalous personal life, Horatio Nelson is shown here in all his human complexity. &“This skillful portrait . . . combines accessible naval history with a psychological examination of heroism.&” —Kirkus Reviews12, 20 & 5: A Doctor's Year in Vietnam
Par John A. Parrish. 1972
The wry and heart-wrenching memoir of a young doctor&’s year behind the frontlines in Vietnam. Assigned to the marine camp…
at Phu Bai, Dr. John A. Parrish confronted all manner of medical trauma, quickly shedding the naïveté of a new medical intern. With this memoir, he crafts a haunting, humane portrait of one man&’s agonizing confrontation with war. With a wife and two children awaiting his return home, the young physician lives through the most turbulent and formative year of his life—and finds himself molded into a true doctor by the raw tragedy of the battlefield. His endless work is punctuated only by the arrival of the next helicopter bearing more casualties, and the stark announcements: &“12 litter-borne wounded, 20 ambulatory wounded, and 5 dead.&”12, 20 & 5 is an intimate and unique look at the effects of war that Library Journal calls &“an autobiographical M*A*S*H* . . . phenomenal.&”