Commando Despatch Rider

Commando Despatch Rider PDF Author: Raymond Mitchell
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783379294
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book Here

Book Description
“A year of a man and his motorcycle during WW2 . . . The guy was catapulted from teenager to soldier in a few short bounds.” —War History Online In 1944, Ray Mitchell landed in Normandy with his unit 41 Royal Marine Commando. His role in bringing the Third Reich to its knees was that of despatch rider. Often operating alone in totally unfamiliar and hostile terrain, he and his motorbike delivered vital messages to forward units. This is a fighting soldier’s account of war—warts and all—and describes in vivid terms his and his fellow commandos’ experiences and emotions. Over the next ten months the commandos were in the thick of the action in France, the Low Countries and Germany itself. Of particular note was the amphibious landing on the Walcheren Peninsula where the beleaguered German garrison fought fiercely to deny the Allies the vital port of Antwerp. Raymond Mitchell’s vivid memoirs of life and war on the road will be of interest to both military and motorcycling enthusiasts. “A delightful account of life in battle and between battles. It is by turns gripping, exciting, colourful, authentic and human.” —Firetrench “It is a richly detailed account and would be worthy of mention if it were just that of an ordinary infantryman’s experience, but it is all the more valuable as the lot of the despatch rider has never received much attention.” —The Pegasus Archive

Commando Despatch Rider

Commando Despatch Rider PDF Author: Raymond Mitchell
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783379294
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book Here

Book Description
“A year of a man and his motorcycle during WW2 . . . The guy was catapulted from teenager to soldier in a few short bounds.” —War History Online In 1944, Ray Mitchell landed in Normandy with his unit 41 Royal Marine Commando. His role in bringing the Third Reich to its knees was that of despatch rider. Often operating alone in totally unfamiliar and hostile terrain, he and his motorbike delivered vital messages to forward units. This is a fighting soldier’s account of war—warts and all—and describes in vivid terms his and his fellow commandos’ experiences and emotions. Over the next ten months the commandos were in the thick of the action in France, the Low Countries and Germany itself. Of particular note was the amphibious landing on the Walcheren Peninsula where the beleaguered German garrison fought fiercely to deny the Allies the vital port of Antwerp. Raymond Mitchell’s vivid memoirs of life and war on the road will be of interest to both military and motorcycling enthusiasts. “A delightful account of life in battle and between battles. It is by turns gripping, exciting, colourful, authentic and human.” —Firetrench “It is a richly detailed account and would be worthy of mention if it were just that of an ordinary infantryman’s experience, but it is all the more valuable as the lot of the despatch rider has never received much attention.” —The Pegasus Archive

Commando Despatch Rider

Commando Despatch Rider PDF Author: Raymond Mitchell
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 085052797X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Get Book Here

Book Description
Raymond Mitchell, already a veteran of Sicily and Salerno, served as a Despatch Rider (DR) with 41 Royal Marines Commando throughout the North-West Europe campaign. Fortunately he considered his position in the military hierarchy as too lowly for the ban on keeping diaries to apply to him. As a result, Commando Despatch Rider is both an accurate and atmospheric record of one man's war seen from an unusual perspective. Use of the Unit's War Diary and contemporary records gives this war story a broader dimension.

Sand and Steel

Sand and Steel PDF Author: Peter Caddick-Adams
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190601906
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1070

Get Book Here

Book Description
Peter Caddick-Adams's account of the Allied invasion of France in June 1944 matches the monumental achievement of his book on the Battle of the Bulge, Snow and Steel, which Richard Overy has called the "standard history of this climactic confrontation in the West." Sand and Steel gives us D-Day, arguably the greatest and most consequential military operation of modern times, beginning with the years of painstaking and costly preparation, through to the pitched battles fought along France's northern coast, from Omaha Beach to the Falaise and the push east to Strasbourg. In addition to covering the build-up to the invasion, including the elaborate and lavish campaigns to deceive Germans as to where and when the invasion would take place, Caddick-Adams gives a full and detailed account of the German preparations: the formidable Atlantikwall and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's plans to make Europe impregnable-plans not completed by June 6. Sand and Steel reveals precisely what lay in wait for the Allies. But the heart of the book is Caddick-Adams' narratives of the five beaches where the terrible drama played out--Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword, and the attempt by American, British, and Canadian soldiers to gain a foothold in Europe. The Allied invasion of Europe involved mind-boggling logistics, including orchestrating the largest flotilla of ships ever assembled. Its strategic and psychological demands stretched the Allies to their limits, testing the strengths of the bonds of Anglo-American leadership. Drawing on first-hand battlefield research, personal testimony and interviews, and a commanding grasp of all the archives and literature, Caddick-Adams's gripping book, published on the 75th anniversary of the events, does Operations Overlord and Neptune full justice.

Stout Hearts

Stout Hearts PDF Author: Ben Kite
Publisher: Helion and Company
ISBN: 1911096907
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 489

Get Book Here

Book Description
“At last a book has been written that forensically examines how the British Armed Forces fought its way through Normandy . . . utterly absorbing.” —James Holland, bestselling author of Brothers in Arms Stout Hearts is a book which offers an entirely new perspective on the British Army in Normandy. This fresh study explores the anatomy of war through the Army’s operations in the summer of 1944, informing and entertaining the general nonfiction reader as well as students of military history. There have been so many books written on Normandy that the publication of another one might appear superfluous. However most books have focused on narrating the conduct of the battle, describing the factors that influenced its outcome, or debating the relative merits of the armies and their generals. What was missing from the existing body of work on Normandy specifically and the Second World War generally is a book that explains how an army actually operates in war and what it was like for those involved; Stout Hearts fills this gap. Stout Hearts is essential reading for those who wish to understand the “mechanics” of battle. How does an Army care for its wounded? How do combat engineers cross obstacles? How do tanks fight? How do Air and Naval Forces support the Army? But to understand what makes an Army “tick” you must also understand its people. Therefore explanations of tactics and techniques are not only well illustrated with excellent photographs and high quality maps but also effectively combined with relevant accounts from the combatants themselves. These dramatic stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things are the strength of the book, bringing the campaign to life and entertaining the reader.

On Commando

On Commando PDF Author: Dietlof Van Warmelo
Publisher: IndyPublish.com
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description


Kekewich in Kimberley

Kekewich in Kimberley PDF Author: Walter Alfred John O'Meara
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Kimberley (South Africa)
Languages : en
Pages : 186

Get Book Here

Book Description


Opening The Gates of Hell

Opening The Gates of Hell PDF Author: Mark Hodkinson
Publisher: Cassell
ISBN: 1788404874
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Get Book Here

Book Description
Herbert Kenny, an army dispatch rider, was the first Allied soldier to push open the gates at Belsen Concentration Camp, in April 1945. He kept his story from the world until an encounter with a trainee journalist brought it to light. Now, forty years on, that reporter is ready to share Herbert's incredible tale with the world. With unprecedented access to Herbert's diaries, letters and interviews, Mark Hodkinson brings to life the harrowing conditions of Belsen and its eventual liberation. From the events leading up to its gruesome discovery, to the trauma Herbert faced and his abandonment in the aftermath, this is a testament to the power of one person in the face of unimaginable darkness. This is the tale of an ordinary man thrown into an extraordinary, life-changing situation. How can a person cope when they come face-to-face with history's darkest moment? Herbert Kenny was that man. This is his story. 'I have carried this story for many years, as Herbert did. I have written it because I owe it to him and others, the unknown and unsung, who, across many areas of life, have been burdened indiscriminately by great adversity and grief. They do really walk among us. And their grace, humility and strength is inspirational. While this is a tale of systematic malevolence, it is also about the resilience of the human spirit and a celebration of hope: there is more good than bad in the world, however it may sometimes seem.'

The Incredibly Simple Guide to Self-Publishing on Kindle

The Incredibly Simple Guide to Self-Publishing on Kindle PDF Author: David Spiller
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1291628819
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 37

Get Book Here

Book Description


We Remember D-Day

We Remember D-Day PDF Author: Frank Shaw
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473502039
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 429

Get Book Here

Book Description
'On leaving the plane I can only say I felt very lonely, except that the sky was full of bullets coming upwards. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before my feet hit the ground with a thud. Almost as soon as my feet touched the ground, I was to find that I had landed directly in front of the muzzle of a German Machine Gun and I received a burst of fire straight at me. I can remember being hit and spinning round with a sudden yell of shock and finishing up flat on my back... I lay there rather dazed for a while, expecting to be hit again at any moment.' John Hunter, Parachute Regiment, Northants. Seventy years ago, on 6 June 1944, a great Allied Armada landed on the coast of Normandy. The invasion force launched on D-Day was a size never seen before and never likely to be seen again. 150,000 soldiers, more than 6,000 ships and 11,000 combat aircraft took part in the assault. The success of that attack led 11 months later to the final liberation of Europe from a ruthless dictatorship that had threatened to permanently enslave it. Such an undertaking on such a scale could not have been achieved without tremendous cooperation between Land, Sea and Air Forces. In We Remember D-Day we hear from the men and women who were involved in the assault; those who risked their lives for a better future. Their stories tell of human bravery and endeavour, pain and heartache, and, most importantly, freedom and hope.

History of the War in South Africa, 1899-1902

History of the War in South Africa, 1899-1902 PDF Author: Great Britain. War Office
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : South African War, 1899-1902
Languages : en
Pages : 638

Get Book Here

Book Description