Stalag XXA Torun Enforced March from Poland

Stalag XXA Torun Enforced March from Poland PDF Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1526754479
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Get Book Here

Book Description
“Based largely on a POW diary, this book sheds fresh light on the conditions facing POWs in Poland as the Nazi State collapsed . . . Very Highly Recommended.” —Firetrench Stalag XXA was a Second World War German POW camp for noncommissioned officers located in Nazi occupied Torun, in northern Poland. This book examines in detail what life was like in the camp for those held there, which over the course of the war numbered more than 60,000 men, including Polish, French, Belgians, British, Yugoslavians, Russians, Americans, Italians and Norwegians. The bulk of the book is based on a diary kept by Leonard Parker, a POW at Stalag XXA who was forced to undertake a march from the camp, commencing on January 19 1945, taking himself and his comrades to the Russian port of Odessa. It was a difficult march undertaken in harsh wintery conditions, where lack of food, the cold, and the fear of death were their constant companions. The final leg of their liberation saw the men of Stalag XXA board the Duchess of Richmond at Odessa, before arriving at Greenock, Scotland, on April 17 1945, and finally finding their freedom. “Under the format of a diary this book tells the story of Leonard Parker, his life and daily struggle of living in a prison camp . . . a great read . . . I would recommend this book to all. 5 stars.” —UK Historian

Stalag XXA Torun Enforced March from Poland

Stalag XXA Torun Enforced March from Poland PDF Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1526754479
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Get Book Here

Book Description
“Based largely on a POW diary, this book sheds fresh light on the conditions facing POWs in Poland as the Nazi State collapsed . . . Very Highly Recommended.” —Firetrench Stalag XXA was a Second World War German POW camp for noncommissioned officers located in Nazi occupied Torun, in northern Poland. This book examines in detail what life was like in the camp for those held there, which over the course of the war numbered more than 60,000 men, including Polish, French, Belgians, British, Yugoslavians, Russians, Americans, Italians and Norwegians. The bulk of the book is based on a diary kept by Leonard Parker, a POW at Stalag XXA who was forced to undertake a march from the camp, commencing on January 19 1945, taking himself and his comrades to the Russian port of Odessa. It was a difficult march undertaken in harsh wintery conditions, where lack of food, the cold, and the fear of death were their constant companions. The final leg of their liberation saw the men of Stalag XXA board the Duchess of Richmond at Odessa, before arriving at Greenock, Scotland, on April 17 1945, and finally finding their freedom. “Under the format of a diary this book tells the story of Leonard Parker, his life and daily struggle of living in a prison camp . . . a great read . . . I would recommend this book to all. 5 stars.” —UK Historian

Stalag XXA and the Enforced March from Poland

Stalag XXA and the Enforced March from Poland PDF Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
ISBN: 9781526754462
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book Here

Book Description
Stalag XXA was a Second World War German POW camp for non-commissioned officers located in Nazi occupied Torun, in northern Poland. The camp consisted of fifteen forts, which in September 1939, under the name of Stalag 357, was used to house Polish POWs who were captured after German forces had taken the Polish fort at Westerplatte. British POWs didn't arrive at the camp until June 1940, and were those captured during the Allied campaign in Norway, the evacuations of the British at Dunkirk, and the men of the 51st (Highland) Division at St. Valery. At its peak, the camp housed more than 10,000 men and was liberated by Russian forces on 1 February 1945.This book examines in detail what life was like in the camp for those held there, which over the course of the war numbered more than 60,000 men, including Polish, French, Belgians, British, Yugoslavians, Russians, Americans, Italians and Norwegians.The bulk of the book is based on a diary kept by Leonard Parker, a POW at Stalag XXA who was forced to undertake a march from the camp, commencing on 19 January 1945, taking himself and his comrades to the Russian port of Odessa. It was a difficult march undertaken in harsh wintery conditions, where lack of food, the cold, and the fear of death were their constant companions.The final leg of their liberation saw the men of Stalag XXA board the Duchess of Richmond at Odessa, before arriving at Greenock, Scotland, on 17 April 1945, and finally finding their freedom.

Guy Grey-Smith Life Force

Guy Grey-Smith Life Force PDF Author: Andrew Gaynor
Publisher: Apollo Books
ISBN: 9781742583945
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description
Guy Grey-Smith (1916-1981) remains one of the most important Australian artists of his generation. His artwork has been collected by every major public gallery in the country. Based in Western Australia, Grey-Smith exhibited nationally, participated in key international exhibitions, received Queens Honors Awards, and was a spirited contributor and active participant in the national arts scene. Granted access for the first time to Guy Grey-Smith's notebooks, war-time sketches, correspondence, and estate, author Andrew Gaynor draws a fascinating portrait of a country boy whose life was first liberated, then stalled, by the brutality of war. Teaching himself to draw while interned in prisoner of war camps, Grey-Smith went on to create some of the most enduring and powerful images of the Australian landscape, redolent with color, texture, and an unmistakable life force. He studied under the modernist sculptor Henry Moore at the Chelsea School of Art, London. Although primarily a painter, Grey-Smith also produced sculptures, pen and ink drawings, etchings, and wood blocks. This is the first book about this outstanding Australian artist and his remarkable 35-year career.

The Siege of Tsingtau

The Siege of Tsingtau PDF Author: Charles Stephenson
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1526702940
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Get Book Here

Book Description
“A well-written, modern narrative of the political and military events leading up to, during and after the German-Japanese War of 1914.”—The Australian Naval Institute The German-Japanese War was a key, yet often neglected, episode in the opening phase of the First World War. It had profound implications for the future, particularly in respect of Japan’s acquisition of Germany’s Micronesian islands. Japan’s naval perimeter was extended and threatened the United States naval strategy of projecting force westward. The campaign to relieve Germany of Tsingtau, the port and naval base in China, and its hinterland posed a grave threat to Chinese independence. The course of the Second World War in China and the Pacific cannot be explained without reference to these events. Charles Stephenson’s account makes fascinating reading. The siege of Tsingtau by the Japanese, with token British participation, forms the core of his story. He draws on Japanese and German primary sources to describe the defenses, the landings, the course of the siege, and eventual German surrender. His study will be absorbing reading for anyone interested in the campaigns of the First World War outside of Europe, in German colonial expansion and the rise to power of Japan. “Overall the volume delivers a much needed, interesting and often highly detailed overview of operations in the Pacific and the siege of Tsingtau. The volume excels especially in its detailed narrative of naval and land operations in the Pacific and in China. The geopolitical background provides a most useful introduction to the history of the region.”—International Journal of Maritime History

On Operations with C Squadron SAS

On Operations with C Squadron SAS PDF Author: Michael Graham
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1526772825
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
The author of the bestselling Secret SAS Missions in Africa and its sequel, SAS Action in Africa,continues the fight againstcommunist terrorist groups. Drawing on first-hand experiences, Michael Graham describes operations against communist-backed terrorists in Angola and Mozambique, aiding the Portuguese and Renamo against the MPLA and Frelimo respectively. Back in Southern Rhodesia SAS General Peter Walls, realizing the danger that Mugabe and ZANU represented, appealed directly to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. This correspondence, published here for the first time, changed nothing and years of corruption and genocide followed. Although C Squadron was disbanded in 1980 many members joined the South African special forces. Operations undertaken included unsuccessful and costly destabilization attempts against Mugabe and missions into Mozambique including the assassination of Samora Machel. By 1986 deteriorating relationships with the South African authorities resulted in the break-up of the SAS teams who dispersed worldwide. Had Mike Graham not written his three action-packed books, C Squadron SAS’s superb fighting record might never have been revealed. For those who are fascinated by special forces soldiering his accounts are “must reads.” “Takes us into the African bush to fight communist terrorists during the late 1960s and 1970s. His stories are sometimes hair-raising, sometimes amusing, but always interesting and worth reading.” —Beating Tsundoku “This account of SAS actions in Africa as part of the Cold War is lively interesting, nicely written and feels authentic. The photographs are particularly interesting in support of the text. A fascinating read.” —Firetrench

Survivor of the Long March

Survivor of the Long March PDF Author: Charles Waite
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752477528
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Get Book Here

Book Description
Nothing prepares a man for war and Private Charles Waite, of the Queen's Royal Regiment, was ill-prepared when his convoy took a wrong turning near Abbeville and met 400 German soldiers and half a dozen tanks. 'The day I was captured, I had a rifle but no ammunition.' He lost his freedom that day in May 1940 and didn't regain it until April 1945 when he was rescued by Americans near Berlin, having walked 1,600 kms from East Prussia. Silent for seventy years, Charles writes about his five lost years: the terrible things he saw and suffered; his forced work in a stone quarry and on farms; his period in solitary confinement for sabotage; and his long journey home in one of the worst winters on record, across the frozen river Elbe, to Berlin and liberation. His story is also about friendship, of physical and mental resilience and of compassion for everyone who suffered. Part of that story includes the terrible Long March, or Black March, when 80,000 British POWs were forced to trek through a vicious winter westwards across Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany as the Soviets approached. Thousands died. There are simply no memoirs of that terrible trek – except this one.

St Valéry and Its Aftermath

St Valéry and Its Aftermath PDF Author: Stewart Mitchell
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
ISBN: 9781473886582
Category : Escaped prisoners of war
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
During the German May 1940 offensive, the 51st (Highland) Division, including the 1st and 5th Battalions Gordon Highlanders, became separated from the British Expeditionary Force. After a heroic stand at St Valery-en-Caux the Division surrendered when fog thwarted efforts to evacuate them. Within days, scores of Gordons had escaped and were on the run through Nazi-occupied France. Many reached Britain after feats of great courage and tenacity, including recapture and imprisonment often in atrocious conditions in France, Spain or North Africa. Those imprisoned in Eastern Europe were forced to work in coal and salt mines, quarries, factories and farms. Some died through unsafe conditions or the brutality of their captors. Others escaped, on occasion fighting with distinction alongside Resistance forces. Many had to endure the brutal 1945 winter march away from the advancing Allies before their eventual liberation. This superbly researched book contains many inspiring stories that deserve and merit reading.

Dunkirk

Dunkirk PDF Author: Sean Longden
Publisher: Constable
ISBN: 184901230X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Get Book Here

Book Description
THE TRUE STORY OF THE 41,000 BRITISH SOLDIERS WHO WERE LEFT BEHIND AFTER THE EVACUATION OF DUNKIRK, MAY 1940 'Meticulously researched, very well written and deeply moving' Andrew Roberts 'Few readers will be unmoved by Sean Longden's account' Dominic Sandbrook At 2am on the morning of the 3rd of June 1940, General Harold Alexander searched along the quayside, holding onto his megaphone and called "Is anyone there? Is anyone there?" before turning his boat back towards England. Tradition tells us that the dramatic events of the evacuation of Dunkirk, in which 300,000 BEF servicemen escaped the Nazis, was a victory gained from the jaws of defeat. For the first time, rather than telling the tale of the 300,000 who escaped, Sean Longden reveals the story of the 40,000 men sacrificed in the rearguard battles. On the beaches and sand dunes, besides the roads and amidst the ruins lay the corpses of hundreds who had not reached the boats. Elsewhere, hospitals full of the sick and wounded who had been left behind to receive treatment from the enemy's doctors. And further afield - still fighting hard alongside their French allies - was the entire 51st Highland Division, whose war had not finished as the last boats slipped away. Also scattered across the countryside were hundreds of lost and lonely soldiers. These 'evaders' had also missed the boats and were now desperately trying to make their own way home, either by walking across France or rowing across the channel. The majority, however, were now prisoners of war who were forced to walk on the death marches all the way to the camps in Germany and Poland, where they were forgotten until 1945. 'Sean Longden is a rising name in military history, and is able to uncover the missing stories of the Second World War' Guardian

St. Valery

St. Valery PDF Author: Bill Innes
Publisher: Birlinn
ISBN: 0857905198
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Get Book Here

Book Description
The gallant rearguard action which led to the capture of the 51st Highland Division at St Valéry-en-Caux (two weeks after the famous evacuation of the main British army from Dunkirk) may have burned itself into the consciousness of an older generation of Scots but has never been given the wider recognition it deserves. This new book re-examines that fateful chain of events in 1940 and reassesses some of the myths that have grown up in the intervening years. Two of the main contributors to this collection of soldiers' reminiscences, Angus Campbell from Lewis and Donald John MacDonald from South Uist, were both traditional Gaelic bards. Their work has been translated from their native language and reflects both the richness of the vocabulary they had acquired through the Gaelic oral tradition and their individual gifts as natural story-tellers born out of that tradition. These vivid accounts bring alive the chaos and horror of war and the grim deprivation of the camps and forced marches which so many endured. Yet the personal stories also resound with the spirit, humour and sense of comradeship which enabled men to fight on in desperate situations and refuse to be cowed by their captors.

Two Sons in a War Zone

Two Sons in a War Zone PDF Author: Stephen Wynn
Publisher: CLAIRVIEW BOOKS
ISBN: 190557049X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Get Book Here

Book Description
When soldiers go to war, what do their families and friends experience? There is huge public support for the military, who risk their lives in faraway war zones, but do we really have any idea what their ‘nearest and dearest’ go through while the troops are away? This book started out as a diary of a year in the life of Stephen Wynn, a police officer who happens to have two sons in the military. The diary was his mechanism for coping with the passion, distress and rage he felt while his sons - Luke and Ross - were on active service in Afghanistan. Two Sons in a War Zone is his compelling true story, illustrating the raw inner conflict between one man’s pride for his sons and their chosen profession, and his natural fears for their safety. In vivid, everyday language he describes the intense experiences - the joys and sorrows - of being a ‘loved one’ at home, whilst his sons battle a deadly foe in gruelling and treacherous conditions. Stephen describes Luke’s and Ross’s personal stories - why they joined the military and how they relate to the work - and quotes from private letters and documents. Both sons are injured whilst on their first tour of duty (one narrowly escaping serious harm from a bullet wound) but thankfully they return safely home. Nobody reading this book will have any doubt about the sacrifices made by soldiers who go to war, as well as the anguish their loved ones experience at home. ‘I promised myself that I would not hide my feelings from anyone. I would not be wilfully ignorant of the risks my sons were facing out there. Though they were men, to me they were still boys, and they would be facing boys like themselves; boys, and men younger than me, who would shoot at them. Knowing this, how would I get through a single day? Would I have to bottle up how I felt? No, I’d be open, and honest...’