Download or read book Forgotten Voices of the Secret War written by Roderick Bailey and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Forgotten Voices of the Secret War written by Roderick Bailey and published by Random House. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The Gestapo kept me three days in this interrogation house. They especially wanted to know what I did after my escape, and precise things on the organisation of the SOE. And just for fun I suspect, because I had really not much to tell them, they pulled one of my toenails out...' - Robert Sheppard, SOE agent The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British organisation created early in World War 2 to encourage resistance and carry out sabotage behind enemy lines: in Winston Churchill's famous phrase, to 'set Europe ablaze'. Drawing on the vast resources of the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive and featuring a mass of previously unpublished personal testimonies, Forgotten Voices of the Secret War tells the stories of SOE agents, HQ staff, diplomats, aircrew and naval personnel in their own words. As the war unfolds, we learn of parachute drops into enemy territory, torture by the Gestapo and nerve-wracking sabotage missions in far-flung climes. Forgotten Voices of the Secret War is both an incredible account of espionage during World War 2 and a fitting testament to the efforts and sacrifices of a dedicated group of courageous men and women.

Download or read book Forgotten Voices Desert Victory written by Imperial War Museum and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-05-12 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Between Friday and Monday we never slept at all. Everyone’s face was one mass of sand ... The guns were so hot, all the paint had gone’ Bombardier Ray Ellis Had the Allies lost in North Africa, Rommel’s Afrika Korps would have swept through the Middle East, cutting the vital supply line through the Suez Canal to Australia and India, and taking the oilfields of the Persian Gulf. Britain would have been isolated, without oil, and unable to fight. These historic battles of 1940–1943 were fought over vast distances on rugged terrain, with supply lines often stretched to breaking point. It was here that David Stirling formed the SAS to perform audacious sabotage missions, and the Long Range Desert Group collected intelligence from behind enemy lines. This is the story of the Allies’ first victory against Hitler’s army, told in the voices of the men who were there, which proved that the seemingly unstoppable Germans could be beaten.

Download or read book Forgotten Voices of D Day written by Roderick Bailey and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010-01-26 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 6 June 1944: the day Allied forces crossed the Channel and began fighting their way into Nazi-occupied Northwest Europe. Initiated by airborne units and covered by air and naval bombardment, the Normandy landings were the most ambitious combined airborne and amphibious assault ever attempted. Their success marked the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. Drawing on thousands of hours of eyewitness testimony recorded by the Imperial War Museum, Forgotten Voices of D-Day tells the compelling story of this turning point in World War 2. Hearing from paratroopers and commandos, glider pilots and landing craft crewmen, airmen and naval personnel, we learn first-hand what it was like as men waited to go in, as they neared the beaches and drop zones, and as they landed and met the enemy. Accounts range from memories of the daring capture of 'Pegasus' bridge by British glider-bourn troops to recollections of brutal fighting as the assault forces stormed the beaches. Featuring a mass of previously unpublished material, Forgotten Voices of D-Day is a powerful and important new record of a defining moment in modern history.

Download or read book Forgotten Voices of the Blitz and the Battle for Britain written by Joshua Levine and published by Random House. This book was released on 2007 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing material from the Imperial War Museum's extensive aural archive, Joshua Levine brings together voices from both sides of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain to give us a unique, complete and compelling picture of this turbulent time. We hear from the soldiers, airmen, fire-fighters, air-raid wardens and civilians, people in the air and on the ground, on both sides of the battle, giving us a thrilling account of Britain under siege. With first-hand testimonies from those involved in Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, Black Saturday on 7th September 1940 when the Luftwaffe began the Blitz, to its climax on the 10th May 1941, this is the definitive oral history of a period when Britain came closer to being overwhelmed by the enemy than at any other time in modern history.

Download or read book Forgotten Voices of Burma written by Julian Thompson and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-09-30 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the end of 1941 to 1945 a pivotal but often overlooked conflict was being fought in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War 2 - the Burma Campaign. In 1941 the Allies fought in a disastrous retreat across Burma against the Japanese - an enemy more prepared, better organised and more powerful than anyone had imagined. Yet in 1944, following key battles at Kohima and Imphal, and daring operations behind enemy lines by the Chindits, the Commonwealth army were back, retaking lost ground one bloody battle at a time. Fighting in dense jungle and open paddy field, this brutal campaign was the longest fought by the British Commonwealth in the Second World War. But the troops taking part were a forgotten army, and the story of their remarkable feats and their courage remains largely untold to this day. The Fourteenth Army in Burma became one of the largest and most diverse armies of the Second World War. British, West African, Ghurkha and Indian regiments fought alongside one another and became comrades. In Forgotten Voices of Burma - a remarkable new oral history taken from Imperial War Museum's Sound Archive - soldiers from both sides tell their stories of this epic conflict.

Download or read book Forgotten Voices of Dunkirk written by Joshua Levine and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010-05-13 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The subject of the new major film by Christopher Nolan It could have been the biggest military disaster suffered by the British in the Second World War, but against all odds the British Army was successfully evacuated, and 'Dunkirk spirit' became synonymous with the strength of the British people in adversity. On the same day that Winston Churchill became Prime Minister, Nazi troops invaded Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium. The eight-month period of calm that had existed since the declaration of war was over. But the defences constructed by the Allies in preparation failed to repel a German army with superior tactics.The British Expeditionary Force soon found themselves in an increasingly chaotic retreat. By the end of May 1940, over 400,000 Allied troops were trapped in and around the port of Dunkirk without shelter or supplies. Hitler's army was just ten miles away. On 26 May, the British Admiralty launched Operation Dynamo. This famous rescue mission sent every available vessel - from navy destroyers and troopships to pleasure cruisers and fishing boats - over the Channel to Dunkirk. Of the 850 'Little Ships' that sailed to Dunkirk, 235 were sunk by German aircraft or mines, but over this nine day period 338,000 British and French troops were safely evacuated. Drawing on the wealth of material from the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, Forgotten Voices of Dunkirk presents in the words of both rescued and rescuers in an intimate and dramatic account of what Winston Churchill described as a 'miracle of deliverance'.

Download or read book Innocents Lost written by Jimmie Briggs and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-04-27 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ida, a member of Sri Lanka's Female Tamil Tigers, fought with one of the longest-surviving and successful guerilla movements in the world. She is sixteen. Francois, a fourteen-year-old Rwandan child of mixed ethnicity, was forced by Hutu militiamen to hack to death his sister's Tutsi children. More than 250,000 children have fought in three dozen conflicts around the world, but growing exploitation of children in war is staggering and little known. From the "little bees" of Colombia to the "baby brigades" of Sri Lanka, the subject of child soldiers is changing the face of terrorism. For the last seven years, Jimmie Briggs has been talking to, writing about, and researching the plight of these young combatants. The horrific stories of these children, dramatically told in their own voices, reveal the devastating consequences of this global tragedy. Cogent, passionate, impeccably researched, and compellingly told, Innocents Lost is the fullest, most personal and powerful examination yet of the lives of child soldiers.

Download or read book Forgotten Voices of the Victoria Cross written by Roderick Bailey and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010-10-14 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'It wasn't until after he was safely back in the aircraft again that I heard that he'd actually been out on the wing to try to put the fire out ... Remember that we were flying at about 90 miles an hour at a height of 13,000 feet' Squadron Leader RP Widdowson on Sergeant James Ward, who earned his VC in 1941 The Victoria Cross, awarded to the most courageous and determined servicemen, is the highest military decoration that can be bestowed. In Forgotten Voices: Victoria Cross, first-hand accounts of soldiers, sailors and airmen describe the incredible events that earned these extraordinary men the VC in the last century. Captivating and often humbling, these stories depict exceptional acts of bravery in unimaginable situations, of men who would say they were just doing their duty. Introduction by General Sir Richard Dannatt.

Download or read book Forgotten Voices of the Somme written by Joshua Levine and published by Random House. This book was released on 2009 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on a wealth of material from the vast Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, 'Forgotten Voices of the Somme' presents an intimate, harsh but often poignant insight into life on the front line: from the day-to-day struggle of extraordinary circumstances to the white heat of battle and the constant threat of injury or death.

Download or read book Sketches from a Secret War written by Timothy Snyder and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2007-10-10 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The forgotten protagonist of this true account aspired to be a cubist painter in his native Kyïv. In a Europe remade by the First World War, his talents led him to different roles—intelligence operative, powerful statesman, underground activist, lifelong conspirator. Henryk Józewski directed Polish intelligence in Ukraine, governed the borderland region of Volhynia in the interwar years, worked in the anti-Nazi and anti-Soviet underground during the Second World War, and conspired against Poland’s Stalinists until his arrest in 1953. His personal story, important in its own right, sheds new light on the foundations of Soviet power and on the ideals of those who resisted it. By following the arc of Józewski’s life, this book demonstrates that his tolerant policies toward Ukrainians in Volhynia were part of Poland’s plans to roll back the communist threat. The book mines archival materials, many available only since the fall of communism, to rescue Józewski, his Polish milieu, and his Ukrainian dream from oblivion. An epilogue connects his legacy to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the democratic revolution in Ukraine in 2004.

Download or read book The Shadow of the Wind written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005-01-25 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller “The Shadow of the Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero.” —Entertainment Weekly (Editor's Choice) “One gorgeous read.” —Stephen King Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

Download or read book Voices from the Gathering Storm written by Glenn M. Linden and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2001 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Voices from the Gathering Storm explains the dramatic change in thinking about the nature and value of the American Union from 1846 to 1861 which impelled citizens from 11 southern states to declare independence and the remaining 22 states to fight the bloodiest war in the nation's history. This reader tells the story of seventeen Northerners and Southerners who lived through the critical fifteen years prior to the Civil War. In their letters and diaries, they describe in their own words what it was like to live during the sectional crisis and the coming of the war. Men like Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis thought deeply about issues of patriotism and states' rights, issues which remain of great importance today. Women and black Americans were also passionate in their beliefs. Harriet Beecher Stowe felt so strongly about slavery that she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. Frederick Douglass and Charlotte Forten GrimkÈ wrote of their abhorrence of slavery and the need to end that 'evil institution.' The lives of Southern women were also affected as they were forced to confront the issue of slavery and the Northern effort to end it. The voices of these men and women are heard in this new volume. At this time the North and South made decisions that resulted in two very different civilizations-the South embraced slavery and states' rights, while the North rejected the expansion of slavery and accepted the idea of an indivisible Union. These pre-Civil War years contain the key to understanding how the war came to be and also enable students to comprehend the modern North and South. Voices from the Gathering Storm is the only text that uses primary sources to illustrate the conflicts that divided the nation before the war. This use of primary sources allows students to enter more deeply into the lives of Northerners and Southerners and to understand and appreciate the way in which they responded to this tense period in American history. The author provides chapter introductions that connect the d

Download or read book Lost Band of Brothers written by Tom Keene and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2015-03-02 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They were Britain’s Second World War ‘Band of Brothers’, a secret army of fifty handpicked, cross-Channel raiders who carried the fight to the enemy shore long before D-Day. Created after the fall of Dunkirk, they commandeered a Brixham fishing boat and planned clandestine attacks on German warships in the Channel. But not all their enemies wore German uniform. Thwarted by rivals working for Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), the unit sailed to West Africa where, as part of Special Operations Executive (SOE), they carried out an audacious top-secret raid on neutral shipping. Returning to Britain in triumph and feted now by Churchill himself, they expanded into the Small Scale Raiding Force. In almost twenty daring missions for Combined Operations, whilst operating from a secret manor house in Dorset, they raided German outposts, kidnapped sentries, ambushed patrols and shot prisoners, all the while sowing fear and havoc along the rim of Hitler’s Fortress Europe. Britain’s Band of Brothers is their story of courage and comradeship, of patriotism, tragedy and dawn-cold courage, told here in full for the first time.

Download or read book Normandy 44 written by James Holland and published by Atlantic Monthly Press. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of World War II’s Operation Overlord, from the campaign’s planning to its execution, as Allied forces battled to take France back from Germany. D-Day, June 6, 1944, and the seventy-six days of bitter fighting in Normandy that followed the Allied landing, have become the defining episode of World War II in the west—the object of books, films, television series, and documentaries. Yet as familiar as it is, as James Holland makes clear in his definitive history, many parts of the Overlord campaign, as it was known, are still shrouded in myth and assumed knowledge. Drawing freshly on widespread archives and on the testimonies of eye-witnesses, Holland relates the extraordinary planning that made Allied victory in France possible; indeed, the story of how hundreds of thousands of men, and mountains of materiel, were transported across the English Channel, is as dramatic a human achievement as any battlefield exploit. The brutal landings on the five beaches and subsequent battles across the plains and through the lanes and hedgerows of Normandy—a campaign that, in terms of daily casualties, was worse than any in World War I—come vividly to life in conferences where the strategic decisions of Eisenhower, Rommel, Montgomery, and other commanders were made, and through the memories of paratrooper Lieutenant Dick Winters of Easy Company, British corporal and tanker Reg Spittles, Thunderbolt pilot Archie Maltbie, German ordnance officer Hans Heinze, French resistance leader Robert Leblanc, and many others. For both sides, the challenges were enormous. The Allies confronted a disciplined German army stretched to its limit, which nonetheless caused tactics to be adjusted on the fly. Ultimately ingenuity, determination, and immense materiel strength—delivered with operational brilliance—made the difference. A stirring narrative by a pre-eminent historian, Normandy ‘44 offers important new perspective on one of history’s most dramatic military engagements and is an invaluable addition to the literature of war. Praise for Normandy ‘44 An Amazon Best Book of the Month (History) An Amazon Best History Book of the Year “Detail and scope are the twin strengths of Normandy ’44. . . . Mr. Holland effectively balances human drama with the science of war as the Allies knew it.” —Jonathan W. Jordan, Wall Street Journal “A superb account of the invasions that deserves immense praise. . . . To convey the human drama of Normandy requires great knowledge and sensitivity. Holland has both in spades.” —Times (UK)

Download or read book The BBC and the Pigeon Spies written by Bernard O'Connor and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-05-30 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 16,000 pigeons were dropped into occupied Europe during the Second World War. Some were used by secret agents to send messages back to headquarters. Others were dropped into selected areas of France, Belgium, Holland and Denmark in the hope that people would complete the attached questionnaire and provided military, political, economic or other intelligence of value for the Allies. There were also requests for information on the reception and content of the BBC Overseas Service news. Many messages sent back requests that the BBC acknowledge receipt of the message. This book investigates the work of MI14, known as the Colomba Service, and for the first time sheds light on conditions in Occupied Europe described by extremely brave men and women who risked execution if found in possession of a pigeon. MI14 staff, decoded or translated messages and forwarded copies to the SOE, SIS, MI19, the War Office, RAF, Royal Navy, Ministry of Economic Warfare, Churchill, de Gaulle and the BBC.

Download or read book Forgotten Voices of Mao s Great Famine 1958 1962 written by Xun Zhou and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-11-26 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful account of China’s Great Famine as told through the voices of those who survived it