10 War Memoirs


his acolyte Joseph Goebbels. In their version of Hollywood there were scandals, starlets, secret agents, premières, the infamous ‘casting couch’ and even a Soviet spy who posed as an actress. This revelatory book probes into the manner in which films were used as weapons and uncovers the sexual predilections of the Nazi hierarchy. It also brings to light previously unpublished information about the ‘Hitler film’ that Goebbels saw as ‘the greatest story ever told.’ 290 pages, archive photos. £20 NOW £7


73865 WORLD AT WAR


by Richard Holmes First broadcast in 1973, the programme’s producers committed hundreds of interview-hours to tape. For more than 30 years the interviews have never been allowed to be published - until now. Richard Holmes skilfully weaves the original material into a compelling narrative, first of all listing all interviewees, their dates, ranks and where the interview was conducted


and their background. Beginning with Hitler’s Germany, Japan’s militarism, Winston Churchill, Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust, Casablanca and Tehran, D-Day in Normandy, Yalta Poland and ending with Reflections among the 35 chapter headings. 662pp, colour photos. £9.99 NOW £4


WAR MEMOIRS


Gunner Octavian Neat would suddenly appear naked in a barrack room and say ‘Does anybody know a good tailor?’ or ‘Gentleman – I thinks there’s a thief in the battery’.


- Spike Milligan 74447 RIFLEMAN: A Front


Line Life by Victor Gregg Among the millions of participants WWII, few will have seen more action, performed more daring deeds and escaped from the clutches of death - by incredible pluck and incredible luck - than Rifleman Victor Gregg. Signing up for the Rifle Brigade on his 18th birthday in 1937, not long after the war began he was seconded to a


unit operating behind enemy lines in North Africa and was subsequently part of the legendary Snipe Action of the Battle of Alamein. In 1943 he retrained for the Parachute Regiment and was once again in the thick of things at Arnhem. Captured at the end of the battle, following an escape attempt he was sentenced to death for sabotaging a factory in Dresden. Thereafter ensued a truly amazing sequence of events. Just before the sentence was due to be carried out, the prison in which he was held was destroyed in the infamous Allied raid on 13 February 1945. Miraculously escaping, he fled the obliterated city, meeting up with the advancing Red Army. Not the friendliest of Allies, they nevertheless provided him with food and water in exchange for his skills as a mechanic, but this action was regarded as treachery, and after returning to England he was forced out of the army. In the 1950s, now a member of the British Communist Party, British Intelligence got him a job as chauffeur to the chairman of the Moscow Narodny Bank. This job, and his apparently innocent hobby of attending motorcycle rallies behind the Iron Curtain, saw him drawn into the deadly world of Cold War espionage. 273pp, photos. £17.99 NOW £7.50


74808 JAMBUSTERS: The Story of the Women’s Institute in the Second World


War by Julie Summers In a heartfelt tribute to the ordinary country women who were at the core of the village Women’s Institutes, a researcher and historian draws on interviews with many WI members and uses hitherto unexplored material to tell the story of the remarkable role they played


in rural Britain during the Second World War. ‘Unpaid, unsung, to a large extent uncomplaining, these women quietly and often with humour made the countryside tick’, she writes. Here, in graphic detail, is their nitty- gritty approach to the daily problems presented by the conflict. Making jam, gathering rosehips to provide Vitamin-C-packed rosehip syrup for children, setting up canteens for the troops and knitting much-needed balaclava helmets, gloves, warm socks and scarves for them, as well as singing to entertain and cheer everybody up, really did make their lives, and the lives of those people around them, more bearable during what they described as ‘a period of insanity’. They also, in a collective desire to ‘do their bit’ for Britain, educated and supported women and campaigned on women’s issues at a time when it was particularly needed. A nostalgic 348 pages with archive b/w photos. £18.99 NOW £7


74940 BOY SOLDIERS OF THE GREAT WAR:


Completely Revised Edition by Richard Van Emden Based on a unique collection of personal testimonies, diaries and letters, now completely revised and with additional material, this astonishing book tells the incredible stories of the very young boys who, during the First World War, lied about their ages and insisted on


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fighting for their country. The youngest soldier who ever enlisted is believed to have been just 12 years old! Caught up in a wave of patriotism, many thousands of other boys are known to have lied about their age, inflated their chests and stood on tiptoes to bluff their way into a situation of unforeseen horror. Until now, how and why so many under-age boys were able to get to the Western Front has remained unexplained and largely unexplored. Here, the author reveals how a 13- year-old boy impersonated his elder brother and reached the Front with no knowledge of even how to hold a gun. Here too is the tragic case of a 16-year-old who, after months of serving in the line of fire, died within hours of gaining his release from the army. On an even more serious level, this frank volume explores the degree to which, as the number of volunteers dropped, recruitment sergeants harried young boys into the forces. 394 powerful paperback pages with b/w archive photographs and reproductions of contemporary documents. £8.99 NOW £5.50


74971 LONDON’S EAST END SURVIVORS: Voices of the


Blitz Generation by Andrew Bissell


In 1940, Hitler’s Luftwaffe started a devastating aerial assault on London’s East End. The capital was pounded for 57 consecutive nights. Bombs rained down as the tightly packed homes, pubs, shops and


markets bore the full brunt of the Nazis’ attempts to break Britain’s will to fight. This was followed by a sustained long-distance missile attack from V1 and V2 flying bombs and rockets. Inspired by the childhood memories of the author’s father, who lived in Plaistow, East London, this profoundly moving volume is based on hundreds of in-depth interviews with surviving East Enders. They reveal what life was like during the Blitz and provide harrowing, eye-witness accounts of the tragic events, including Britain’s worst civilian wartime disaster at Bethnal Green tube station in 1943. To put these events in context, the book begins with a historical background to the area and then a description of the immediate pre-war East End, a proud community that, despite hunger and hardship, had its own richness, closeness and irrepressible love for life. The tragedies that followed reveal an East End that became synonymous with civilian courage, stoicism and defiance, coupled with a determination to survive. We defy readers not to be moved. 240 pages lavishly illustrated with b/w, previously unseen archive photos, map and plans. £20 NOW £8


74990 SUBMARINE: An Anthology of First-Hand Accounts of the War Under


the Sea 1939-1945 by Jean Hood


This outstanding anthology is a testament to the courage, tenacity, initiative and humour of the many thousands of WWII submariners who served their countries in what were probably the most difficult and


extraordinary circumstances of all. Here are men of all ranks and nationalities, telling of their experiences in their own words, with some accounts taken from post-war autobiographies and others from interviews and correspondence with veterans themselves. Relive the attack on HMS Royal Oak by U-47 off Scapa Flow in the words of her commander Günther Prien and the account of the sinking of U-99 by HMS Walker by Midshipman Volkmar König. A Royal Navy officer describes a fiendishly tricky attack on a tanker and a young French sub-lieutenant narrates the poignant account of his escape from the German assault on Toulon in 1942. Here too is the dramatic account of a US torpedoman whose sub was fired on by one of his own destroyers in the confusion following the attack on Pearl Harbor, British and Italian accounts that cover Operation Pedestal, the desperate Allied convoy to relieve Malta, the attacks on the Tirpitz by X-Class midget subs and the moving account by the pilot of one of Japan’s Kaitens, which were effectively manned torpedoes which sent their operators to their deaths. Chronologically arranged, 448pp with b/w photos. £20 NOW £8


74955 ELSIE AND MAIRI GO TO WAR: Two Extraordinary


Women on the Western Front by Diane Atkinson


The names Flanders Field, Ypres and Dunkirk usually evoke, in the reader, scenes of bleak landscapes, terror and mass slaughter. While the bloody horrors of the trenches cannot be glossed over, this heart- warming account of two courageous and spirited women working on the


Western Front during World War I manages to focus on the positive and cheerful side of what seemed to them an exciting adventure. When they met at a motorcycle club in 1912, Elsie Knocker was a 30-year-old motorcycling divorcée, dressed in what were for that time very daring bottle-green Dunhill leathers, and Mairi Chisholm was a brilliant 18-year-old mechanic, living at home, borrowing tools from her brother. In 1914, they roared off into the thick of the conflict in Belgium, driving ambulances to distant military hospitals. They soon became frustrated and worried at the number of men who died of shock while in the back of their vehicles, and decided to set up their own first-aid post on the front line in the village of Pervyse, near Ypres. Here, they risked their lives and saved hundreds of wounded soldiers, working under sniper fire and heavy bombardment for months at a time. For four years, they persevered until, in the spring of 1918, they were nearly killed by arsenic gas. Then came the challenging task of returning home and adjusting to peacetime life in a Britain where women were expected to relinquish their important roles and fade into the background again. 280 paperback pages with archive b/w photos, map and Place Names, Then and Now. $15.95 NOW £6


74524 WE WERE BERLINERS:


From Weimar to the Wall by Helmut and Charlotte Jacobitz and Douglas Niles Helmut and Charlotte Jacobitz were born in Berlin in the mid-1920s. In their early years they lived in the time of depression and rampant inflation brought about by the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles which ended the Great War. As they grew older they witnessed the


escalating violence as Communists and Fascists vied for control of a humiliated yet still proud Germany. When Hitler’s Nazis prevailed, and used that patriotic pride to create another, far more terrifying military machine, they survived 12 years of the Third Reich. Helmut was drafted in 1943, and in August 1944 was badly wounded by shrapnel, attempting to stop Montgomery’s advance from Caen. His “million dollar wound” saw him leave the front line - where he would without doubt have perished - to a hospital in Austria, from where he managed to avoid further front line duty, as from there it was clear where the war was heading. Meanwhile, Charlotte was working in Berlin’s Reichsbank, sheltering from the daily Allied bombing raids. When the Russians arrived in April 1945 she witnessed firsthand the terrible battle for the city, and after the war was over, she and Helmut met and fell in love. The two of them lived a precarious existence smuggling food into Berlin through the Russian blockade then, as Stalin’s grip upon the city tightened, they fled for America, just days before the Wall split the city in two. We Were Berliners skilfully blends the personal reminiscences of Helmut and Charlotte with a lively and detailed overview of the historic events that were unfolding around them in Germany and the rest of Europe. Accompanied by a selection of 33 personal photos and other images. 192pp. £18.99 NOW £6


74968 KING OF AIRFIGHTERS: The Biography of Major ‘Mick’


Mannock VC, DSO, MC by Ira ‘Taffy’ Jones Originally published in 1934, this important historical memoir of one great aviator by another is a story of inspired heroism. On the award of his posthumous VC, Mannock was described as ‘an outstanding example of fearless courage, remarkable skill, devotion to duty


and self-sacrifice that has never been surpassed’. Yet, although other First World War aces may have enjoyed more press, Mannock in his own quiet way topped them all, earning the respect of both friend and foe during his brief but action-packed career. Told by a man who himself ranks sixth in the list of British Great War aces with 41 victories, this is a tale of adventure and gallantry, told from a first-hand perspective, with an experienced insider’s understanding of the feelings and psychology of the air aces, and with a thorough analysis of aerial combat techniques. Whether Mannock achieved 51 ‘kills’ or 73 has been a matter of some controversy but this does not detract from a fighter who personified dash, bravery and also the modesty that came to be expected of aerial heroes. 340 pages with archive b/w photos. £17.99 NOW £6.50


72783 READER’S DIGEST WAR STORIES: Daring First- Hand Accounts of World War II from the Magazine Archives


edited by Gill Hudson Profiles of famous war leaders, a feature on Winston Churchill’s Cabinet War Rooms, untold stories of D-Day, and compelling accounts


of history as it happened, by soldiers, seamen, pilots, prisoners and spies. A leader of the French underground recounts how a cold-hearted Nazi guard melted before his prisoners’ makeshift crèche. 159 pages, original photos. £9.99 NOW £1.50


73246 GURKHAS AT WAR: Eyewitness Accounts from World War II to Iraq


by J. P. Cross and Buddhiman Gurung The result of in-depth interviews with more than 100 Gurkha soldiers past and present. These eyewitness accounts include the lengthy battles against the Japanese in the Burmese jungle, and the action against Communist rebels in Malaya and Hong Kong, as well as more recent deployments in the Falklands and Iraq. The authors also provide a thorough introduction to Gurkha culture and a historical overview of each campaign fought. 320 paperback pages, illus and maps. £16.99 NOW £5


74349 UPWARD AND ONWARD: The Life of Air Vice-Marshall John Howe by Bob Cossey


Subtitled ‘The Life of Air Vice-Marshall John Howe CB CBE ASC’, we learn that John Howe started his flying career in the post-war South African Air Force. He learned to fly on Tiger Moths, Harvards and Spitfires and was posted to No.2 Squadron SAAF which was sent to Korea. There he flew the Mustang F-51D fighter-bomber in front-line action during his first tour. A second tour saw him with the US Infantry as a Forward Air Controller operating on the ground with the troops to call in air support. He resigned from the SAAF and travelled to England where he was welcomed by the RAF to fly their first jet fighters, and later to instruct on Vampires. He then converted to the Hunter and joined 222 Squadron at Leuchars. During the Suez Crisis he again operated as a Forward Ground Controller and landed on the beaches with 40 Commando. Later he was appointed CO of 74 Squadron, The Tigers to introduce a supersonic Lightning into service. His final posting was as Commandant of the RAF Regiment. Covers maritime operations, the MOD, Phantoms, display and Op aircraft, many now the stuff of aviation history. 327pp plus index and appendices and photos. £25 NOW £6.50


72451 FROM THE FRONT LINE by Hew Pike


Family letters and diaries 1900 to the Falklands and Afghanistan, the book is a unique record of one family’s military service. Eight soldiers of four generations write from the South African war and operations in West Africa, Korea, Aden, the Falklands and Afghanistan as well as from both world wars. Three became generals, many were decorated.


Lieutenant General Sir Hew Pike describes commanding 3 Para during their arduous advance across the Falklands and in the decisive battle for Mount Longdon. His son Will gives a revealing account of his 2006 tour in Helmand. Chapter one begins with Reggie Tompson in Southern Nigeria 1901-2 following an explanation of the family tree of Pikes, Thicknesses and Tompsons. Maps and photos. 237pp. £19.99 NOW £4


73880 HEDY’S FOLLY


by Richard Rhodes Billed as the most beautiful girl in the world by Viennese impresario Max Reinhardt, Hedy Lamarr achieved notoriety when she starred in the 1933 erotic film Ecstasy. Other leading roles followed, until Hedy married the Austrian arms dealer Fritz Mandl who insisted that she should end her career. Hedy soon found her marriage oppressive and began to


make plans to escape. With Prince Ernst Starhemberg, Mandl developed a right-wing Austrian private militia, and as the hostess at her husband’s dinner parties with high-ranking Nazi officials, Hedy used her ears. Superficially an archetypal dumb brunette, in reality she was an extremely clever woman with a keen interest in scientific research, and she memorised compromising details for future use. Meanwhile the avant-garde composer George Antheil, who would become Hedy’s collaborator, left Europe to revive his career in America. In Paris Antheil lodged above the famous bohemian bookshop Shakespeare and Co., and in 1926 his composition for 16 synchronised mechanical pianos and aeroplane propeller had premiered to the accompaniment of riots. In 1937 Hedy escaped to America via London, where she met the film producer Louis B. Mayer. Her film career was now secure, but when friends introduced her to Antheil, her military knowledge, combined with his synchronisation experience, led against all the odds to the development of vital technology for variable frequency radio-controlled torpedoes.


An extraordinary


story, told in highly readable style. 261pp. Apologies for small remainder mark. $26.95 NOW £7


73257 ON THE DECK OR IN THE DRINK: Flying with the Royal Navy 1952-1964 by Lt. Brian R. Allen RN (Rtd)


Brian Allen first went to sea as a naval aviation officer cadet on board HMS Indefatigable in 1952 and by 1954 he was flying a Vampire T22. He moved on to Anti- Submarine duties in 1955 with 737 Sqn, flying Fairey Fireflys, before being among the first to fly the Navy’s new anti-sub aircraft, the twin turboprop Fairey Gannet. A successful tour of the far-East aboard HMS Albion followed, after which he was transferred to 751 Sqn aboard HMS Warrior, an old WWII carrier on its final commission. He transferred to helicopters in 1960, surviving a ditching after whilst with HMS Albion and was posted to Helicopter Trials and Development. It was while trialling a prototype Wasp in 1961 that his tail rotor failed and he, the machine and his co-pilot Colin spun out of control into the sea off Portland Bill. Tragically Colin died and Brian suffered back injuries. Photos, 176pp.


£19.99 NOW £5.50 74211 STORY OF A SECRET STATE: My


Report to the World by Jan Karski In 1939 Karski was a brilliant 25 year old linguist in Warsaw, living a charmed life of study, parties and pleasure. By the beginning of September that life and his comfortable, familiar world had ceased to exist. Captured by the Red Army and imprisoned in Russia, he escaped and returned to occupied Poland. With his language skills and contacts, he was recruited into the Polish resistance as a secret messenger. He had to forget all about his previous life, and would experience bravery and cruelty at their most extreme. Then, infiltrating the Warsaw Ghetto, he is inspired to an act of heroism that could change the course of the war, letting the world know about the mass extermination of Jews. Eventually he got to London, was debriefed there, providing invaluable information, then to New York for more of the same. Photos, 454pp. £20 NOW £6


74030 A COUPLE OF DUFFERS GO TO WAR by Geoffrey Lee Williams


The government had long planned the mass evacuation of children under the codename ‘Pied Piper’, but the details were kept secret from local authorities and the population at large. This book begins from the author’s first evacuation to Hartley in Kent and then goes on to record his impressions of three subsequent evacuations and his adventures or misadventures during the Battle of Britain, the London Blitz, D-Day and the V1 and V2 raids until the end of the war in 1945. Illustrated softback, 96pp.


£10.99 NOW £3 72452 FRONTIER FIGHTERS ON ACTIVE


SERVICE IN WAZIRISTAN edited by Jules Stewart


Subtitled ‘The Memoirs of Major Walter James Cumming’. With dramatic fighting action throughout, and atmospheric descriptions of what life was like for a young British officer in Britain’s Indian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century, the setting for this incredible true story is Waziristan, the home of the Wazirs and Mahsuds, who are the most warlike of the Pathan


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