Heritage and History» Second World War

Battleground Sussex – A Military History of Sussex From the Iron Age to the Present Day

Pen and Sword Books — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Battleground Sussex - A Military History of Sussex From the Iron Age to the Present Day

From its south-eastern tip Sussex is little more than sixty miles from continental Europe and the county’s coastline, some seventy-six miles long, occupies a large part of Britain’s southern frontier.

Before the days of Macadam and the Turnpike, water travel could prove more certain than land transportation and the seas that define the borders of our nation aided, rather than deterred, the invader.

Though the last successful invasion of Britain took place almost 1,000 years ago, the gently shelving beaches of Sussex have tempted the prospective invader with the promise of both an easy disembarkation and a short and direct route to London – the last time being just seven decades ago.

As the authors demonstrate, the repeated threat of invasion from the Continent has shaped the very landscape of the county.

The rounded tops of the Iron Age hill forts, the sheer walls of the medieval castles, the squat stumps of Martello towers, the moulded Vaubanesque contours of the Palmerstone redoubts and the crouched concrete blocks and bricks of the Second World War pillboxes constitute the visible evidence of Sussex’s position on Britain’s front line.

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A Reluctant Hero – The Life of Captain Robert Ryder VC

Pen and Sword Books — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

A Reluctant Hero - The Life of Captain Robert Ryder VC

This is the first biography of Captain Robert Ryder V.C., Royal Navy (1908-1986), one of the greatest naval heroes of the Second World War.

Ryder led the audacious raid on St Nazaire in March 1942 which completely destroyed the port’s dry dock, depriving the German’s mighty pocket battleships of its use for the remainder of the war.

The raid was one of the most brilliantly-executed combined operations of the war, much of the credit for which must go to Ryder’s outstanding planning and courageous leadership.

He received one of five Victoria Crosses awarded for the operation.

Although Ryder’s name will be forever linked with the raid on St Nazaire, the rest of his war service was no less distinguished. Torpedoed in a ‘Q’ ship in 1940 he was rescued after clinging to a piece of wreckage for four days.

After St Nazaire, he was heavily involved in the planning of combined operations and took part in the ill-fated raid on Dieppe. On ‘D’ Day he lead a naval assault party in the first wave of the invasion.

For the rest of the war Ryder commanded a destroyer on the Arctic convoys.

Ryder’s naval career before the war was, as The Times put it on his death, unorthodox.

In 1933-34 he, as captain, and four other young naval officers sailed the Tal-Mo-Shan, a 54 food ketch, from Hong Kong to England via the Panama Canal in a voyage lasting exactly a year, an outstanding achievement.

Recently there has been press speculation that the voyage was a cover for naval espionage in Japanese waters.

The Tal-Mo-Shan herself has now acquired international celebrity as a result of her sail-on part in the Abba film Mamma Mia.

Between 1934 and 1937 Ryder served in the Antarctic as captain of the Penola, the base ship of the British Graham Lane Expedition.

His formidable navigation and seamanship was largely responsible for the Penola, which was ill-adapted to polar conditions, surviving her ordeal intact.

Ryder also took part in some of the earliest ocean yacht races, including the second Fastnet race in 1926.

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Surgeon at Arms – Parachuting into Arnhem with the First Airbornes

Pen and Sword Books — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Surgeon at Arms - Parachuting into Arnhem with the First Airbornes

Surgeon at Arms is without doubt one of the most interesting and dramatic personal memoirs to come out of the Second World War.

The author, a surgeon, was parachuted into Arnhem with the First Airborne Division.

His professional skill was at once tested to the limit and the modest detachment with which he describes serious operations performed under appalling conditions would alone be enough to merit the reissue of the book. But of equal significance is the author’s account of his unceasing efforts to stop the Germans evacuating the hospital, a struggle which must inevitably be seen against his Jewish background.

Add to this the author’s hair-raising escape and the heroism of the Dutch Resistance and you have all the ingredients of a truly remarkable book.

The flame of ‘Arnhem’ has lately been rekindled by Cornelius Ryan’s book and the thirtieth anniversary ceremonies.

But Ryan was an historian; Kessel was a participant; and it is only through the eyes of the participants that the reader can honestly assess the validity of the historian’s viewpoint.

Lipmann Kessel’s book has lost nothing of its freshness or its drama in the thirty years since the events it describes took place.

Now republished after being unavailable for many years, it warmly deserves to find a new generation of readers.

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Healing in Hell – The Memoirs of a Far Eastern POW Medic

Pen and Sword Books — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Healing in Hell - The Memoirs of a Far Eastern POW Medic

Like many thousands of other unsuspecting young soldiers, Ken Adams was sent out to the Far East during the Second World War.

He immediately saw action on the Malay Peninsula before being captured at Singapore. As a trained medic he was initially assigned to work at Changi Hospital, where conditions were bad enough. However, this was only the start of the three-year ordeal and many moves and far worse camps in Thailand were to follow.

In Healing in Hell, Ken describes his life, work and the terrible conditions endured at the hands of the Japanese and Korean guards and, worst of all, the Kempetai secret police.

He found himself faced with cases far beyond his medical expertise. Diseases such as dysentery, malaria, avitaminosis, cholera and smallpox were prevalent and had to be treated with minimal or no medicines. Starvation was a fact of life.

He and his comrades and patients were frequently moved around from camp to ghastly camp and, in 1945, he took part in a gruelling march of many hundreds of miles, which proved fatal to many.

All books by former POWs of the Japanese are harrowing and this one is no exception given the Author’s experiences.

What sets this account apart from others is the way he deals frankly with issues like death when seen for the first time, and the powerlessness and endless frustration of indeterminate imprisonment.

What also sets this account apart from others is the way he addresses the too often overlooked and painful difficulties of resettling back into his family and society after being cut off for so long in captivity of the worst kind.

For all these reasons, Healing in Hell is an exceptional memoir that demands reading.

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Battlefield General: Arnhem 1944

Pen and Sword Books — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Battlefield General: Arnhem 1944

This is the first in a series of game books which put you in command of the forces in engaged in some of history’s most famous battles.

Your tactical skill and ability to make the right command decision will be tested at every turn of the page. Operation Market Garden in September 1944 was one of the most daring Allied plans of the Second World War.

An audacious surprise assault from the air, it was intended to give the Allies a bridgehead across the Rhine, removing the last significant natural barrier on the road to Berlin.

If successful it might have shortened the war by months. Will the brave British paratroopers be able to seize the vital bridge at Arnhem and hold it until reinforcements fight their way through? Or will the Germans be able to recover the initiative and crush them in a skilful counterattack?

The book presents you with a series of command decisions, aided by situation maps; directing you to the next relevant briefing depending on the option you choose.

No dice are necessary to play, just this book and your tactical skill. When you buy this book, the fate of nations is in your hands

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He Who Dared And Died – The Life and Death of a SAS Original, Sergeant Chris O’Dowd, MM

Pen and Sword Books — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:00:00 +0000

He Who Dared And Died - The Life and Death of a SAS Original, Sergeant Chris O'Dowd, MM

He Who Dared and Died is the action-packed account of a young Irish hero who selflessly risked and gave his life serving with elite Special Forces in the Second World War.

Brought up in poverty in the West of Ireland, Chris O’Dowd ran away to join the Irish Guards aged 18.

In no time he tasted bitter action in Norway but, hungry for more, he volunteered for the newly formed Commandos.

After intensive training he sailed for Egypt, serving with Churchill’s son Randolph, novelist Evelyn Waugh, George Jellicoe and, most significantly, David Stirling.

When Stirling got the go-ahead to form the SAS, his handpicked team included the young Chris O’Dowd.

After his outstanding performance on the early SAS behind-thelines raids on enemy airfields, O’Dowd was awarded the Military Medal and promoted to Lance-Sergeant.

When Colonel David Stirling was captured, the SAS’s future was in danger (it was always threatened by enemies within the Army) but Ulsterman Major Paddy Mayne managed to keep it alive.

O’Dowd’s courage and toughness typified the spirit of the SAS and he became a key member of this elite band along with legends such as Mayne, Jock Lewes and ‘Gentleman’ Jim Almonds.

The SAS spearheaded the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and then was ordered to the Italian mainland.

Tragically Chris O’Dowd was killed in action along with fourteen others in October 1943.

This book is a fitting memorial to a courageous soldier whose example has inspired, and been emulated by, successive generations of SAS elite.

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He Who Dared And Died – The Life and Death of a SAS Original, Sergeant Chris O’Dowd, MM

In Search of the Real Dad’s Army – The Home Guard and the Defence of the United Kingdom 1940-1944

Pen and Sword Books — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:00:00 +0000

In Search of the Real Dad's Army - The Home Guard and the Defence of the United Kingdom 1940-1944

What was the Home Guard? Who were the men and women who served in it? And what can be said of their real role and significance once the popular myths have been stripped away?

Despite the fame of the Home Guard – of Dad’s Army – the true story of this wartime organization tends to be neglected.

The myths obscure the reality. Stephen Cullen’s aim in this thoroughgoing new study is to cut through the misunderstandings in order to reassess the Home Guard and its contribution to Britain’s war effort – and to deepen our understanding of the men and women who were members of it.

He sets the Home Guard in the long historical context of domestic defence planning, then focuses on the preparations made before the outbreak of the Second World War.

In detail he traces the changing role of the Home Guard during its wartime existence as it adapted to meet the multitude of challenges it faced – from civil defence and intelligence gathering to training for guerrilla warfare.

Using vivid eyewitness testimony and oral history, he takes a grassroots look at the men – and women – from all ages and social backgrounds who made up this national defence force.

The equipment, uniforms, weapons and vehicles they used and the field defences they manned are described as their role developed over the course of the war.

He also examines the evolution of popular views of the Home Guard from wartime days to the present – the notion of the People’s Army, the thinking of early Home Guard commentators like George Orwell, and the writings of more recent historians who have sought to explain an organization that retains such an extraordinary hold on the popular imagination.

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In Search of the Real Dad’s Army – The Home Guard and the Defence of the United Kingdom 1940-1944

‘From Exile to Freedom’ by Polish Expats Association, Worcester

admin — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:04:58 +0000

A collection of oral history, photography and written stories examining the unique experience of Polish expats is to open in Worcester.

The project ‘From Exile to Freedom’ is created by Polish Expats Association in Birmingham and is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Tomasz Piotrowski, MIRA Project Coordinator for Worcestershire said “The exhibition portrays the new wave of Polish arrivals to the UK after the enlargement of the European Union in 2004.

“It also provides the historical context of previous Polish migrations to the British Isles with a special focus on the West Midlands region.”

The stories of young and old generations of Poles have been collected in order to present their experiences and socio-political context connected with their arrival to the new country.

The organisers have interviewed representatives of three different generations of emigrants: those who arrived to the Great Britain just after the Second World War, during the years of communist regime in Eastern Europe and those who arrived after 2004.

These stories give a unique insight into how the new community is being formed and the reasons of current and previous waves of Polish migrations to the UK.

‘From Exile to Freedom’ is written by the migrants themselves and is dedicated to them.

To gather these stories Polish Expats Association have been working with a group of young volunteers, who conducted interviews with members of the Polish community.

The project also portrays the process of community integration and sheds light on the rich and positive history of Polish presence in the UK.

The collected stories, photographic evidence and recorded interviews can be seen free of charge at the exhibition which is going to be shown at the Worcester Commandery from 15th Oct until 11th Nov or for more information visit www.fromexiletofreedom.org.uk

The Real Tenko – Extrodinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the japanese

Pen and Sword Books — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:00:00 +0000

The Real Tenko - Extrodinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the japanese

The mistreatment and captivity of women by the Japanese is a little known and poorly documented aspect of the Second World War.

In The Real Tenko, Mark Felton, who has a fast growing reputation as an authority and author on the war in the Far East, redresses this omission with a typically well researched yet necessarily gruesome account of the plight of Allied service-women, female civilians and local women in Japanese hands.

Among the atrocities shamefully committed by the Emperor’s forces were numerous massacres of nurses; that at Alexandra Hospital, Singapore being perhaps the best known.

The lack of respect for their defeated enemies extended in full measure to both European and Asian women and their vulnerability was all too often shockingly exploited.

Those who found themselves imprisoned fared little better and suffered appalling indignities and starvation. A

lso covered are the hardships of gruelling marches under extreme conditions. Whereas the sexual enslavement of so called ‘Comfort Women’ has been regarded as affecting only Asiatic women, it transpires that this horror was experienced by whites as well.

The Real Tenko is a disturbing and shocking testimony both to the callous and cruel behaviour of the Japanese and to the courage and fortitude of those who suffered at their hands.

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The Real Tenko – Extrodinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the japanese

Tracing Your Second World War Ancestors – A Guide for Family Historians

Pen and Sword Books — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:00:00 +0000

Tracing Your Second World War Ancestors - A Guide for Family Historians

The Second World War was the defining conflict of the twentieth century and it is one of the most popular and fascinating areas for historical research – and for family historians.

More records than ever are available to researchers whose relatives served during the war. And this new book by Phil Tomaselli is the perfect guide to how to locate and understand these sources – and get the most out of them.

He explains how, and from where, service records can be obtained, using real examples showing what they look like and how to interpret them.

He also examines records of the military units relatives might have served in so their careers can be followed in graphic detail.

The three armed services are covered, along with the merchant navy, the Home Guard, civilian services, prisoners of war, gallantry and campaign medals, casualties, women’s services and obscure wartime organizations.

Also included are a glossary of service acronyms, information on useful websites, an introduction to the National Archives and details of other useful sources.

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Tracing Your Second World War Ancestors – A Guide for Family Historians