Download or read book The Long Range Desert Group in the Aegean written by Brendan O'Carroll and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-10-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortly after the invasion of Sicily and to distract German attention from the Italian campaign, Churchill ordered the occupation of the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean.The Long Range Desert Group, retraining in Lebanon, were now part of Raiding Forces, Middle East, along with the Special Boat Service and No 30 Commando. In support of 3,000 regulars in 234 Brigade, the LRDG landed covertly on Leros establishing observation posts, reporting movement of enemy shipping and aircraft.In October the LRDG were ordered to assault the island of Levitha losing forty highly skilled men killed or captured. The Germans invaded Leros with overwhelming force on 12 November 1943, five days later the battle was over. While many British troops were captured most of the LRDG and SBS escaped. Their individual stories make for enthralling reading.A measure of the intensity of the fighting is the fact that the LRDG lost more men in three months in the Aegean than in three years in the desert operating behind enemy lines.The author, an acknowledged expert on the LRDG uses official sources, both British and German, and individual accounts to piece together the full story of this dramatic, costly but little-known campaign. It is a valuable addition to the history of special forces in the Second World War.

Download or read book The Long Range Desert Group in the Aegean written by Brendan O'Carroll and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-09-30 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the British Army unit’s deployment to and defense of a group of islands between Greece and Turkey during World War II. Shortly after the invasion of Sicily, in order to distract German attention from the Italian campaign, Churchill ordered the occupation of the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean. The Long Range Desert Group, retraining in Lebanon, were now part of Raiding Forces, Middle East, along with the Special Boat Service and No 30 Commando. In support of 3,000 regulars in 234 Brigade, the LRDG landed covertly on Leros establishing observation posts, reporting movement of enemy shipping and aircraft. In October the LRDG were ordered to assault the island of Levitha, losing forty highly skilled men killed or captured. The Germans invaded Leros with overwhelming force on 12 November 1943, five days later the battle was over. While many British troops were captured most of the LRDG and SBS escaped. Their individual stories make for enthralling reading. A measure of the intensity of the fighting is the fact that the LRDG lost more men in three months in the Aegean than in three years in the desert operating behind enemy lines. The author, an acknowledged expert on the LRDG uses official sources, both British and German, and individual accounts to piece together the full story of this dramatic, costly but little-known campaign. It is a valuable addition to the history of special forces in the Second World War. Praise for The Long Range Desert Group in the Aegean “O’Carroll provides an interesting and informative read about a little known action by a World War II era special operations unit and an important part of SOF history.” —SOF News

Download or read book R Patrol Long Range Desert Group written by Brendan O'Carroll and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2024-11-30 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the New Zealand R Patrol, Long Range Desert Group, who within their ranks had some very distinguished icons such as Jake Easonsmith, Don Steele, Dick Croucher Tony Browne, Bluey Grimsey, and Buster Gibb. Their stories are told, including that of many others, mostly in the words of the participants themselves by way of wartime operational reports, diaries, personal letters, and post war interviews. This provides a human touch to the narrative, examining the thoughts and observations of those who served. The work also explains the formation of the unit, including its early missions and of the vehicles, supplies, weapons, and equipment used. In addition, serving as a ‘Taxi Service’ for behind the line missions carrying agents, commandos, military observers, rescuing downed airmen and escaped PoWs. Chapters are also devoted to working with the SAS and Free French, supporting the Eighth Army, and undertaking the Road Watch. This includes dramatic accounts of air attacks and ground actions against enemy convoys and engagements with Axis forces. This is all supported by 288 images including maps and art.

Download or read book The Long Range Desert Group in World War II written by Gavin Mortimer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-04-20 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major illustrated history of the Long Range Desert Group from the foremost expert on British wartime special forces. Formed in June 1940 for the purpose of gathering intelligence behind enemy lines, the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) played a secretive but vital role in North Africa during World War II. Highly trained in mechanized reconnaissance and specializing in desert operations, the unit provided support to the Special Air Service (SAS) in missions across the vast and treacherous terrain of the Western Desert. In this highly illustrated history of the LRDG, Gavin Mortimer reveals the origins and dramatic operations of Britain's first ever special forces unit.

Download or read book The Long Range Desert Group in Action 1940 1943 written by Brendan O'Carroll and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-12-30 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first pictorial history of the LRDG “covers all aspects of [its] work and the vehicles and weapons they used in their devastating raids” (Beating Tsundoku). The Long Range Desert Group has a strong claim to the first Special Forces unit in the British Army. This superb illustrated history follows the LRDG from its July 1940 formation as the Long Range Patrol in North Africa, tasked with intelligence gathering, mapping and reconnaissance deep behind enemy lines. Manned initially by New Zealanders, in 1940 the unit became the LRDG with members drawn from British Guards and Yeomanry regiments and Rhodesians. So successful were the LRDG patrols, that when the Special Air Service was formed, it often relied on their navigational and tactical skills to achieve their missions. After victory in North Africa the LRDG relocated to Lebanon before being sent on the ill-fated mission to the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean. Serving independently, when the Germans overwhelmed and captured the British garrisons, many LRDG personnel escaped using their well-honed skills. Many images in this, the first pictorial history of the LRDG, were taken unofficially by serving members. The result is a superb record of the LRDG’s achievements, the personalities, their weapons and vehicles which will delight laymen and specialists alike. “Well written . . . The photographs brought together here are a stunning selection despite the various quality as it shows the men and machines living the war they fought in.”—Armorama “A must-read page turner.”—Richard Gough, military author and historian “Informative and full of exciting detailed accounts of operations that occurred throughout the LRDG’s reign of terror on the Axis forces during the war.”—AMPS

Download or read book Long Range Desert Group in the Mediterranean written by R. L. Kay and published by Merriam Press. This book was released on 1998-09 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Kos and Leros 1943 written by Anthony Rogers and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-08-22 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title is an illustrated account of the autumn 1943 battle for the Dodecanese, as Winston Churchill attempted to secure the Aegean islands in the wake of the Italian armistice. The occupation was a gamble intended to increase pressure against Germany and at the same time possibly provide encouragement for Turkey to join the Allies. Spearheaded by the Special Boat Squadron and the Long Range Desert Group, garrison troops were deployed to the Italian-occupied Dodecanese, but they were too late to prevent the Germans from taking control of the key island of Rhodes and its all-important airfields. An all-out German offensive followed. Air force and naval units supported a series of assaults by infantry and paratroopers, including specialist forces of the Division Brandenburg. Within three months, only Castelorizzo was still in British hands. Rhodes, Kos and Leros remained under German occupation until May 1945 and the end of the war in Europe. The Dodecanese would be Adolf Hitler's last enduring victory – and the last enduring British-led defeat.

Download or read book The Long Range Desert Group 1940 1945 written by David Lloyd-Owen and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2009-05-29 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This splendid record takes the reader behind enemy lines not only in North Africa but in Italy, the Aegean and the Balkans.The Author, who commanded the LRDG, paints a vivid picture of the unit's colourful characters: for example, Ralph Bagnold who put to good use the knowledge he gained from his pre-war desert travels.The LRDG was truly international with New Zealanders and Rhodesians playing key roles.This classic book won acclaim from the critics on its first publication by virtue of the author's unique knowledge, experience and narrative skills.

Download or read book The SBS in World War II written by Gavin Mortimer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-09-20 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gripping history of Britain's Special Boat Squadron in World War II, drawing on veteran interviews and including rare photographs from the SAS Regimental Association. The Special Boat Squadron was Britain's most exclusive Special Forces unit during World War II, and yet its exploits have been largely forgotten. This book tells its story. Highly trained, totally secretive and utterly ruthless, the SBS was established as an entity in its own right in early 1943. Unlike its sister unit, which numbered more than 1,000 men, the SBS never comprised more than 100. Led by men such as the famed Victoria Cross recipient Anders Lassen, the SBS went from island to island in the Mediterranean, landing in the dead of night in small fishing boats and launching savage hit and run raids on the Germans. Through unrivalled access to the archives of the SAS Regimental Association and interviews with the surviving members of the unit, Gavin Mortimer has pieced together the dramatic feats of this elite fighting force. In this new and updated paperback edition, featuring additional content including new text and photographs, the unit and its members are finally granted the recognition that they so richly deserve.

Download or read book George Jellicoe written by Nicholas C. Jellicoe and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2021-07-21 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Jellicoe, son of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, commander of the British Grand Fleet at Jutland, was never compromised by his privileged upbringing. In this insightful biography, his son describes a life of action, drama, public service and controversy. George’s exploits with the newly formed SAS, as David Stirling’s second-in-command, and later commanding the SBS, make for fascinating reading. Over four years it embraced the North African and Mediterranean campaigns and culminated in the saving of a newly-liberated Athens from the communist guerrillas of ELAS. The brutality of Stalinist communism led him to join the post-war Foreign Office. In Washington he worked with Kim Philby and Donald Maclean in the cloak and dagger world of espionage. Resigning in 1958 so he could marry the woman he loved, he turned to politics. Although his ministerial career ended in 1973 after unwittingly become entangled with the Lambton scandal, he continued to sit in the House of Lords becoming ‘Father of the House’. He held numerous public appointments including President of the Royal Geographical Society, Chairman of the Medical Research Council, President of the SAS Regimental Association and the UK Crete Veterans Association. Thanks to the author’s research and access, this is more than a biography of a significant public figure. It provides fascinating detail of Special Forces operations and the characters of the countless figures with whom he mixed.

Download or read book Ghost Patrol written by John Sadler and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of D-Day: “an amazing tale of how the world’s very first special force was created specifically for North Africa during WWII” (Books Monthly). The origins of most of the West’s Special Forces can be traced back to the Long Range Desert Group, which operated across the limitless expanses of the Libyan Desert, an area the size of India, during the whole of the Desert War from 1940 to 1943. After the defeat of the Axis in North Africa, they adapted to serve in the Mediterranean, the Greek islands, Albania, Yugoslavia, and Greece. In the process, they became the stuff of legend. The brainchild of Ralph Bagnold, a prewar desert explorer featured in fictional terms in The English Patient, the LRDG used specially adapted vehicles and recruited only men of the right temperament and high levels of fitness and endurance. Their work was often dangerous, always taxing, exhausting, and uncomfortable. They were a new breed of soldier, and the Axis never managed to field a similar unit. Once the desert war was won, they transferred their skills to the Mediterranean sector, retraining as mountain guerrillas, serving in the ill-fated Dodecanese campaign, then in strife-torn Albania, Yugoslavia, and Greece, fighting alongside the mercurial partisans. In addition, the LRDG worked alongside the fledgling SAS and established, beyond all doubt, the value of highly trained Special Forces, a legacy which resonates today. “Genuinely gripping, a tale of eccentrics and their high adventures during very dangerous times.” —Classic Military Vehicle

Download or read book Seals and Sealing in the Ancient World written by Marta Ameri and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-03 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Studies of seals and sealing practices have traditionally investigated aspects of social, political, economic, and ideological systems in ancient societies throughout the Old World. Previously, scholarship has focused on description and documentation, chronology and dynastic histories, administrative function, iconography, and style. More recent studies have emphasized context, production and use, and increasingly, identity, gender, and the social lives of seals, their users, and the artisans who produced them. Using several methodological and theoretical perspectives, this volume presents up-to-date research on seals that is comparative in scope and focus. The cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach advances our understanding of the significance of an important class of material culture of the ancient world. The volume will serve as an essential resource for scholars, students, and others interested in glyptic studies, seal production and use, and sealing practices in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Ancient South Asia and the Aegean during the 4th-2nd Millennia BCE.

Download or read book The Sting of the Scorpion written by Mike Morgan and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-11-30 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The exclusive, authorised inside story of the tough LRDG raiders of the Second World War, drawn from the unpublished records of the famous force. The unit won unrivalled mastery of the North African desert in their wide-ranging and heavily armed trucks, earning grudging praise even from Rommel, the Desert Fox himself, for their skilful reconnaissance, punishing raids and powers of evasion.

Download or read book Fighting with the Long Range Desert Group written by Brendan O'Carroll and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2022-06-30 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Formed in 1940 the Long Range Desert Group was the first Allied Special Forces unit established to operate behind German and Italian lines in North Africa. Its officers and men were volunteers recruited from British and Commonwealth units. Merlyn Craw was serving with the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force when he joined the LRDG in 1941. He took part in numerous missions in the desert. The navigational driving and fighting skills of the LRDG were legendary and they were frequently responsible for transporting Stirling’s SAS detachments on raids. Merlyn’s luck ran out when he was captured on the Barce raid in September 1942, but he escaped twice, the second time making it back to Allied lines. Sent home on leave, he returned to Italy with the New Zealand Army. After a ‘disagreement’ he went AWOL and rejoined the LRDG with no questions asked, serving until the end of the war. Drawing on interviews with Merlyn and other former LRDG veterans, the author has created a vivid picture of this exceptional and highly decorated fighting man. Readers cannot fail to be impressed by the courage and ruthless determination of Merlyn Craw MM and his comrades.

Download or read book The War at Sea in the Mediterranean 1940 1944 written by John Grehan and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-04-30 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despatches in this volume include those covering the Battle of Matapan in 1941, Fleet Air Arm operations in 1940, the Battle of Sirte in 1942, the action with the Italian Fleet off Calabria (Central Mediterranean) in 1940, the engagement between British and Italian forces off Cape Spartivento (Central Mediterranean) in 1940, the Mediterranean convoys between January 1941 and August 1942 – which includes the famous Operation Pedestal, operations in the Aegean in 1943, the engagement with an Italian convoy in 1941, and the despatch covering Coastal Force actions, including those in the Mediterranean.??This unique collection of original documents will prove to be an invaluable resource for historians, students and all those interested in what was one of the most significant periods in British military history.??The Coastal Forces despatch also includes those vessels assigned to the Levant, Dover and Nore stations – i.e. outside of the Mediterranean theatre.

Download or read book Hitler s Island War written by Julie Peakman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-12-05 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Highly Commended by the British Records Association for the 2019 Janette Harley Prize* In September 1943, at the height of World War II, the Aegean island of Leros became the site of the most pivotal battle of the Dodecanese campaign as the British tried, in vain, to retain control of the island. Over the course of two short months - from 15 September 1943 to 17 November 1943 - almost 1500 men lost their lives and hundreds more ended up in Prisoner-of-War camps. In this book, Julie Peakman, a modern-day resident of Leros, brings to life the story of the men caught up in the battle based on first-hand interviews and written accounts including diaries, letters and journals. She tells of the preparations of the soldiers leading up to the battle, the desperate hand-to-hand fighting, and the suffering endured from continual bombings. She also shows the extent of the men's despair at the allied surrender, the many subsequent daring escapes as well as the terrible years of incarceration for those who were captured and imprisoned. Many of the heart-rending accounts of the battle are told here for the first time, providing a unique eyewitness take on this forgotten corner of World War II.

Download or read book War in the Aegean written by Peter C. Smith and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2008-07-07 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First complete retelling of an important but little-known campaign. Eyewitness accounts from a colorful cast of German SS troops, British commandos, partisans, spies, Greek pirates, and more.