Farewell Campo 12

Farewell Campo 12 PDF Author: James Hargest
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Farewell Campo 12

Farewell Campo 12 PDF Author: Brigadier James Hargest CBE DSO Two Bars MC
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1786257599
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Brigadier James Hargest was a decorated New Zealand officer who served during World War I and II. Having fought in the bloody battles of the Invasion of Crete, he went on to lead the 5th Brigade in the Western Desert during Operation Crusader but was captured soon into the campaign. Never one to take a defeat lying down Hargest, determined to escape his Italian Prisoner of War camp “Campo 12”, this journey and its adventures are recounted here in this book of his journey to Switzerland and freedom. Throwing himself back into the fray immediately he served on staff during the invasion of Normandy, but was killed by shellfire in August 1944. As one of only three men known to British Military Intelligence to have successfully escaped an Italian PoW camp, Hargest was awarded a second bar to his DSO and was later appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Farewell Campo 12

Farewell Campo 12 PDF Author: James Hargest
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Castle of the Eagles

Castle of the Eagles PDF Author: Mark Felton
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250095859
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
"The astonishing story of twenty-four British prisoners who used tunnels to break out of a highly fortified Italian castle-turned-prison during World War II. In March 1943, at Vincigliata Castle, a menacing medieval fortress set in the beautiful Tuscan hills of Italy, an extraordinary assemblage of middle-aged British POWs were finally ready to execute an escape. The castle, which became a special prisoner of war camp on Benito Mussolini's personal order, housed some of the most senior officers of the Allied army during World War II and was guarded by almost two hundred Italian soldiers and a vicious fascist commando who answered directly to Il Duce, Mussolini himself. The POWs housed there spent six months digging a tunnel, crafting civilian clothes, forging identity papers, gathering rations, and even constructing dummies to place in their beds. Castle of the Eagles tells the story of this unbelievable escape, which today is a little-known marvel of World War II. With an eccentric cast of characters, a riveting story, and exceptional writing, Mark Felton tells a remarkable story that reads like fiction but is nonetheless true to its core."--Jacket.

Life and Times of Lieutenant General Adrian Carton de Wiart

Life and Times of Lieutenant General Adrian Carton de Wiart PDF Author: Alan Ogden
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350233145
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
In this ground-breaking new book, Alan Ogden brings to life Lt Gen sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, soldier, statesman and an often-overlooked figure in British Military and Diplomatic History. Framed through the life of Carton de Wiart this book also offers an exploration of important topics and developments in the first half of the 20th-century, including the Boer War, World War I, World War II and Anglo-Sino relations. This biography ranges from de Wiart's early life, his wartime experiences and role as Churchill's personal representative to Chiang Kai-shek. Ogden draws from an extensive array of primary sources including previously unseen private family papers to examine, in exquisite detail, the life and times of a man who experienced the horrors of war to rise up the ranks and become a personal representative of Winston Churchill and then Clement Attlee. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as scholars studying British Military and Diplomatic history in the first half of the twentieth century.

Gallipoli to the Somme

Gallipoli to the Somme PDF Author: Alexander Aitken
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 1775589781
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Alexander Aitken was an ordinary soldier with an extraordinary mind. The student who enlisted in 1915 was a mathematical genius who could multiply nine-digit numbers in his head. He took a violin with him to Gallipoli (where field telephone wire substituted for an E-string) and practiced Bach on the Western Front. Aitken also loved poetry and knew the Aeneid and Paradise Lost by heart. His powers of memory were dazzling. When a vital roll-book was lost with the dead, he was able to dictate the full name, regimental number, next of kin and address of next of kin for every member of his former platoon—a total of fifty-six men. Everything he saw, he could remember. Aitken began to write about his experiences in 1917 as a wounded out-patient in Dunedin Hospital. Every few years, when the war trauma caught up with him, he revisited the manuscript, which was eventually published as Gallipoli to the Somme in 1963. Aitken writes with a unique combination of restraint, subtlety, and an almost photographic vividness. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society of Literature on the strength of this single work—a book recognised by its first reviewers as a literary memoir of the Great War to put alongside those by Graves, Blunden and Sassoon. Long out of print, this is by some distance the most perceptive memoir of the First World War by a New Zealand soldier. For this edition, Alex Calder has written a new introduction, annotated the text, compiled a selection of images, and added a commemorative index identifying the soldiers with whom Aitken served.

World War II in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, with General Sources

World War II in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, with General Sources PDF Author: Loyd Lee
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313033145
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description
A broadly interdisciplinary work, this handbook discusses the best and most enduring literature related to the major topics and themes of World War II. Military historiography is treated in essays on the major theaters of military operations and the related themes of logistics and intelligence, while political and diplomatic history is covered in chapters on international relations, resistance movements, and collaboration. The volume analyzes themes of domestic history in essays on economic mobilization, the home fronts, and women in the military and civilian life. The book also covers the Holocaust. This handbook approaches each topic from a global viewpoint rather than focusing on individual national communities. Except for nonprint material, the literature, research, and sources surveyed are primarily those available in English. The volume is aimed at both experts on the war and the general academic community and will also be useful to students and serious laymen interested in the war.

Escapes

Escapes PDF Author: D.O.W. Hall
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1576385744
Category : Escapes
Languages : en
Pages : 113

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Book Description


RAF Evaders

RAF Evaders PDF Author: Oliver Clutton-Brock
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1908117710
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 959

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Book Description
Stories of the British airmen shot down over Western Europe who evaded capture by the Germans and made their way to Allied territory during World War II. During the five years from May 1940 to May 1945 several thousand Allied airmen, forced to abandon their aircraft behind enemy lines, evaded capture and reached freedom, by land, sea and air. The territory held by the Germans was immense—from Norway and Denmark in the north, through Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg to the south of France—and initially there was no organization to help the men on the run. The first one to assist the evaders and escapers (“E & E” as the Americans called them) was the PAT line, along the Mediterranean coast to Perpignan and down the Spanish border; named after a naval officer Pat O’Leary, from 1942 it became the PAO line. Next was the Comet line, from Brussels to the Pyrenees. Thousands of brave people were to be involved for whom, if caught, the penalty was death. Theirs is a stirring and awe-inspiring story. Respected historian Oliver Clutton-Brock has researched in depth this secret world of evasion, uncovering some treachery and many hitherto unpublished details, operations and photos. It is a tremendous reference work, written in his own colorful style with numerous anecdotes, which fills a gap of knowledge formerly unavailable to historians, professional or amateur. Packed the information, key figure biographies and listings—2, 094 evaders identified—this is a valuable testimony to the courage of all those involved.

The 21 Escapes of Lt Alastair Cram

The 21 Escapes of Lt Alastair Cram PDF Author: David M. Guss
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 150982958X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
A genuinely new Second World War story, The 21 Escapes of Lt Alastair Cram by David M. Guss is a riveting account of the wartime exploits of the Scotsman. It is a tale of courage in the face of extraordinary odds and a testament to one man's dogged determination never to give up. ‘The greatest serial escaper of the Second World War’ – The Times 'Endlessly fascinating. Cram's story sizzles with adventure' – Giles Milton, Sunday Times In November 1941 Lt Alastair Cram was taken prisoner in North Africa as a devastating tank battle unfolded as Operation Crusader struggled to relieve Tobruk. His capture began a four year-long odyssey as he passed through twelve different POW camps, three Gestapo prisons and one asylum. Determined to regain his freedom, he became a serial escapee fleeing his captors no fewer than twenty-one times. The most dramatic of these attempts was from Gavi, the ‘Italian Colditz’. This maximum-security prison built inside a thousand year old stone fortress was for the pericolosi, those classified as the ‘most dangerous’ prisoners due to their unrelenting desire to escape. It was here that Alastair met David Stirling, the legendary founder of the SAS, and cooked up the plan for the ‘Cistern Tunnel’, one of the most audacious but little-known mass escape attempts of the entire war. ______________ 'Fascinating' – Daily Express 'An enthralling portrait of true courage' Sunday Express S Magazine

Desert War

Desert War PDF Author: Peter Cox
Publisher: Exisle Publishing
ISBN: 1775592162
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
Sir Geoffrey Cox described Sidi Rezegh, fought during Operation Crusader in Libya over November and December 1941, as ‘the forgotten battle of the Desert War’. The objective of Crusader was to retake Cyrenaica, the eastern region of Libya, and ultimately drive the Italians and Germans out of North Africa. The campaign also involved British and South African troops, and did achieve the badly needed relief of Tobruk. Despite the New Zealand Division’s major role, and the importance of this campaign in achieving British victory in North Africa, it has largely been neglected by historians, failing to receive as much attention as Crete, El Alamein or Cassino. Yet more New Zealand soldiers were killed or taken prisoner during Crusader than in any other campaign fought by ‘the Div’ during the war. Peter Cox, whose father fought at Sidi Rezegh, draws on his experience of twice visiting the battlefield to tell the story of this complex and costly campaign. He sets the scene for the fighting in Libya, describes the unforgiving and inhospitable desert landscape, follows the stages of the action itself and recounts the often moving and heroic stories of the New Zealanders who fought there. Many never returned home. This is both a very accessible account of a significant New Zealand contribution to World War II and a tribute to the thousands of men who took part in this punishing battle.