Download or read book From Calais to Colditz written by Philip Pardoe and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-07-31 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Calais to Colditz has never been published before but readers will surely agree that the wait has been worthwhile. The author was a young platoon commander when his battalion were ordered by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to defend Calais to the last man and so distract German attention from the evacuation of the BEF at Dunkirk.After an intense four day battle, the survivors were subjected to a gruelling twelve day march towards Germany. There followed incarceration in a succession of POW camps during which the author succeeded in escaping twice, both over the wire and by tunnelling, remaining at large on one occasion for twelve days. These exploits qualified him for a place in the notorious Colditz Castle, the supposed escape-proof camp. The descriptions of his colourful fellow prisoners, their captors and their extraordinary experiences are as good as any of the previous accounts and in many respects more revealing.How fortunate it is that From Calais to Colditz can now be read by a wide audience.
Download or read book Prisoners of the Castle written by Ben Macintyre and published by Crown. This book was released on 2023-08-01 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “entertaining [and] often-moving account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor “Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend. But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre’s telling, Colditz’s most famous names—like the indomitable Pat Reid—share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America’s oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs. Prisoners of the Castle traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.
Download or read book The Traitor of Colditz written by Robert Verkaik and published by Headline Welbeck Non-Fiction. This book was released on 2022-07-07 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A vastly entertaining tale, bursting with astonishing stories and extraordinary characters ... A fascinating read' Sunday Telegraph 'Brilliant ... An amazing story, one I hadn't heard too much about' Dan Snow IT IS THE DEPTHS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. The Germans like to boast that there is 'no escape' from the infamous fortress that is Colditz. The elite British officers imprisoned there are determined to prove the Nazis wrong and get back into the war. As the war heats up and the stakes are raised, the Gestapo plant a double-agent inside the prison in a bid to uncover the secrets of the British prisoners. Captain Julius Green of the Army Dental Corps and Sergeant John 'Busty' Brown must risk their lives in a bid to save the lives of hundreds of Allied servicemen and protect the secrets of MI9. Drawn from unseen records, The Traitor of Colditz brings to light an extraordinary, never-before-told story from the Second World War, an epic tale of how MI9 took on the Nazis and exposed the traitors in their midst.
Download or read book German Infantryman vs British Infantryman written by David Greentree and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-20 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Hitler's forces poured into France and the Low Countries in 1940, the uneasy peace of the 'Phoney War' was shattered, and Europe was ripped apart by another Blitzkrieg. Forming the backbone of the German advance were the well-equipped Schützen (Rifles), motorized infantry who embodied the essence of the fluid, swift warfare that had characterized World War II thus far. Facing them were infantrymen of the British Expeditionary Force, units of considerable fighting quality who had nevertheless received no special training to conduct combined-arms warfare in conjunction with armour. This study investigates the combat between the two adversaries at small-unit level, recreating the ferocity of the fighting on the front lines of the Battle of France in three key clashes at Arras, Calais and Merville. Assessing the training, organization and unit ethos of both sides in the context of a new type of mobile warfare, David Greentree reveals the extraordinary difficulties encountered by infantry units in trying to remain in contact with their armoured and mechanized formations.
Download or read book Colditz written by P. R. Reid and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 2015-01-15 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Nazis thought escape was impossible. Colditz is the true story of the Allied prisoners held there and their (sometimes successful) efforts to escape, written by one of the POWs.
Download or read book Never Surrender written by Michael Dobbs and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2007-09-01 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Michael Dobbs, author of the book that inspired the smash hit Netflix series House of Cards, Never Surrender finds newly-elected Prime Minister Winston Churchill in a personal confrontation with Adolf Hitler. The battle begins on Friday, May 10, 1940, when Hitler launches a devastating attack that within days will overrun France, Holland and Belgium and bring Britain to its knees at Dunkirk. Never Surrender examines Churchill's courage and defiance and his ability to lead a nation during three of the most crucial weeks in its history. Without the physical forces necessary to stave off German attack, Churchill uses the force of words to stand in Hitler's way, to show that no accords will be made. Dobbs is at his best in Never Surrender, a novel about the remarkable courage and defiance needed to save a nation at risk. Praise for Michael Dobbs, bestselling author of House of Cards, the book that inspired the Netflix series: "Dobbs is an author who can bring historical happenings to life." —The Times "Dobbs has done a brilliant job in evoking the drama and despair of Britain hovering on the edge of the abyss." —Sunday Express
Download or read book History s Narrowest Escapes written by James Moore and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2013-08-05 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did you know that Winston Churchill narrowly avoided assassination in the Second World War? Or that Prince Albert helped Britain avoid war with the United States in the nineteenth century from his deathbed? In this riveting read, James Moore and Paul Nero reveal fifty of history's most dramatic narrow escapes. From wars that were averted to invasions, revolutions and apocalyptic scenarios that we avoided by the skin of our teeth, History's Narrowest Escapes chronicles such stories as how a Soviet Army colonel stopped the Third World War in 1983, and how Nelson's heroics at The Battle of Trafalgar might never have happened if it hadn't been for the quick thinking of a humble seaman eight years before. Full of fascinating little-known facts, heroic acts, daring deeds and stories of serendipity, this book reveals how our history could have been very different... and possibly much worse!
Download or read book From Nuremberg to Nineveh written by Mark Turley and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2008-09-01 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The early 21st century is a time of uncertainty. The American led global order, which rose from the ashes of World War Two, is beginning to crumble. With Russia, China and the European Union all threatening American domination, upheaval, in some form, is certain. Conflict is inevitable. In 'From Nuremberg to Nineveh', Mark Turley goes back to the launch-pad of the American era, the Nuremberg Trial, in which the great evil of Nazism was defeated, the ideals of Liberal democracy were championed and political correctness was born. Stripping away the layers of propaganda, this thorough analysis provides a fresh interpretation of what the trial really meant and the purposes it served. Utilising standard sources, as well as those purposely ignored by mainstream history, conclusions are reached that are both controversial and significant. The result is not only a rethink of the Nazi epoch, but an up-to-date expose of the motivations behind current world affairs.
Download or read book Days of Adversity written by Evan McGilvray and published by Helion. This book was released on 2015-07-19 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work is a reexamination of the decisions regarding the 1944 Warsaw Uprising made by the leadership of the underground Polish Army (AK), as well as the questionable attitudes of senior Polish commanders in exile in London. The questions raised are, was the uprising necessary and why was it so poorly conducted by a totally indifferent leadership? The challenge is made that the Polish leaders in Warsaw and in London were clearly unfeeling. In Warsaw the uprising was allowed to happen and was doomed from the very beginning owing to poor generalship. The Soviets can be seen rather than to have betrayed the Poles, to have behaved in the same manner as they had always behaved to the Poles and Poland, that is underhanded and with great deceit. Therefore why did the Warsaw Poles rise up when encouraged by the Soviets? The Poles should have known that it was a trick. Despite plans laid down by the Allies to support such uprisings, as had been the case in Paris during August 1944, the Red Army watched the AK be destroyed by the Germans, to save themselves the same job. Once the uprising failed, the Polish leadership went into what could only be described as ‘genteel’ captivity, compared with the fate of hundreds of thousands of their countrymen and women who were herded out of Warsaw by German armed forces and sent to concentration camps, illegal prisoner of war camps or forced into slave labor. In the West senior Polish commanders did not consider a 100% casualty rate to be unacceptable as they pushed for Allied flights to resupply Warsaw. This callous disregard for life was part of the lack of understanding in the leadership of the reality of the Polish situation in 1944: the war was not about Poland but the complete defeat of Germany. If Polish freedom came out of this, then good, otherwise the Allies were not going to be diverted from the constant aerial bombardment of Germany, as the Allies swept eastward and westward towards Germany. This work is supplemented with Polish sources as well as interviews with five women who had been involved in the Warsaw Uprising as young women and girls in 1944. Now in their 80s these ladies kindly granted interviews with the author in Poland during 2012.
Download or read book In Presence of My Foes written by Gris Davies-Scourfield and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2005-04-19 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Enemy Sighted written by Dilip Amin and published by Air World. This book was released on 2023-11-30 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enemy Sighted is the story of the world’s first integrated air defense system and how the coalition of Hurricanes and Spitfires, Fighter Command’s Operations Rooms and Sector Stations, Radar Stations, Observer Corps posts, anti-aircraft gun and searchlight batteries, and balloon barrages, stood resolutely in the way of Operation Seelöwe, Hitler’s plan for invading Britain in the Summer of 1940. Dilip Amin provides a fascinating insight into their development and eventual operationalization. The system provided a recognized air picture, giving everyone the same information at the same time, much like computers linked through the internet do today, except, in 1939 there was no computer and there was no internet! Fundamental to its telling is the 11 Group Operations Room, today referred to as the Battle of Britain Bunker, and the people who worked there, deep below RAF Uxbridge. It was after visiting the Bunker that Churchill first uttered the immortal words, ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few’. Hidden underground, with its large map table and squadron display boards, and balloon and weather states, it is preserved as it was on 15 September 1940, the date celebrated as Battle of Britain Day. Dilip Amin describes how the Bunker operated, transporting the reader back to the time of the Battle of France and the final evacuation from Dunkirk. He guides the reader through the Battle of Britain, examining in detail, the events of 15 September, as seen by those in the Bunker and the combat reports of those flying the Hurricanes and Spitfires on that tumultuous day. Finally, the book provides an insight into how the Bunker operated to protect Britain during the Blitz; support the exploratory raid on Dieppe; shield the troops landing in Normandy; and defend against Hitler’s V1 and V2 Vengeance Weapons. Enemy Sighted provides a compelling insight into the remarkable history of a secret Operations Room, that was pivotal within a world leading air defense system, and without which, an Allied victory in the Second World War would have been far from certain.
Download or read book Guests of the Third Reich written by Anthony Richards and published by Imperial War Museum. This book was released on 2016-11-10 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 170,000 prisoners of war were taken by German and Italian forces during the Second World War. Conditions were tough. Rations were meager. The days dragged and there was a constant battle against boredom. Some men were forced to work, often at heavy labor. Utilizing IWM's collections of letters, diaries, memoirs and sound interviews, this gripping and poignant narrative tells the story of what daily life was like for the men who were captured, and photographs from the IWM archive give a rare glimpse inside these infamous internment camps.
Download or read book Public Schools and the Second World War written by David Walsh and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-09-30 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A historical analysis of the contribution of Great Britain’s public schools to the conduct of World War II. Following their ground-breaking book on Public Schools and the Great War, David Walsh and Anthony Seldon now examine how those same schools fared in the Second World War. They use eye-witness testimony to recount stories of resilience and improvisation in 1940 as the likelihood of invasion and the terrors of the Blitz threatened the very survival of public schools. They also assess the giant impact that public school alumni contributed to every aspect of the war effort. The authors examine how the “People’s War” brought social cohesion, with the opportunity to end public school exclusiveness to the fore, encouraged by Winston Churchill among others. That opportunity was ironically squandered by the otherwise radical Clement Attlee’s post-war Labour government, prolonging the “public school problem” right through to the present day. The public schools shaped twentieth century history profoundly, never more so than in the conduct of both its world wars. The impact of the schools on both wars was very different, as were the legacies. Drawing widely on primary source material and personal accounts of inspiring courage and endurance, this book is full of profound historical reflection and is essential reading for all who want to understand the history of modern Britain.
Download or read book Poland Alone written by Jonathan Walker and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-08-26 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Poland was the 'tripwire' that brought Britain into the Second World War, but it was largely the fear of the new Nazi-Soviet Pact rather than the cementing of an old relationship that created the formal alliance. But neither Britain, nor Poland's older ally, France, had the material means to prevent Poland being overrun in 1939. The broadcast, 'Poland is no longer alone' had a distinctly hollow ring. During the next four years the Polish Government in exile and armed forces made a significant contribution to the allied war effort; in return the Polish Home Army received a paltry 600 tons of supplies. Poland Alone focuses on the bloody Warsaw Uprising of 1944, when the Polish Resistance attempted to gain control of their city from the German Army. They expected help from the Allies but received none, and they were left helpless as the Russians moved in. The War ended with over five million Poles dead, three million of whom died in the concentration camps. Jonathan Walker examines whether Britain could have done more to save the Polish people in their crisis year of 1944, dealing with many different aspects such as the actions of the RAF and SOE, the role of Polish Couriers, the failure of British Intelligence and the culpability of the British Press.
Download or read book Tunnelling Into Colditz written by Jim Rogers and published by Robert Hale. This book was released on 1986 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Secret Duties of a Signals Interceptor written by Jenny Nater and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII memoir recounts a woman’s experience translating top-secret German communications for British intelligence. Like many British women on the homefront of World War II, Jenny Nater discovered an unexpected way to put her talents to use. She served as a bilingual wireless operator in the top-secret Special Duties service at Dover, intercepting traffic from German surface craft in the English Channel and reporting it back to Bletchley Park. In this memoir, Nater discusses this important work, as well as the life-changing relationships she made in that time—most notably with a Coastal Force Command Lieutenant who would be tragically lost. She also describes working in Germany for America’s Office of Strategic Services (OSS). It was during this time that she met her husband, a Mosquito pilot and member of the Caterpillar Club whose spy missions over occupied Europe are also described here in full. This memoir add an important layer to our understanding of allied intelligence practices during this conflict. They also tell the story of one woman’s very private war, and the opportunities, sacrifices, and victories it encompassed.
Download or read book Facing Fearful Odds written by John Jay and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-10-30 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 22 May 1940 Alec Jay arrived in Calais with his Battalion, the Queen Victoria Rifles. After four days of intense fighting, he was taken prisoner of war along with those of his colleagues who were not killed. The Calais Garrison was not evacuated.?His situation as a POW was exceptionally perilous as he was a Jew. Made to wear distinctive clothing, he was all too aware of the Nazis' determination to eradicate his race. Undeterred he made five escape attempts as well as leading a successful protest strike, one of the few during the War.??When he finally escaped, he teamed up with Czech partisans and fought alongside them during the closing stages of the War.??John Jay, a distinguished journalist and Investment manager, has reconstructed his Father's war using the archive material from four countries and numerous other sources and POW accounts. The result is a fascinating and inspiring story.
