Reconnaissance Report...


Britain at War Bookstore To buy at the discounted prices shown, see page 100


SURVIVAL AGAINST ALL ODDS Sunday, 8th June 1942: Shot Down Over France John Misseldine with Oliver Clutton-Brock Publisher: Grub Street ISBN: 978-1-906502-75-1 Hardback. 208 pages. Illustrated RRP: £20.00


Bookstore Price: £14.50


JohnMisseldine enlisted in the RAF as soon as he was 18. After training, inMarch 1942 he was posted to fly fighters with 611 Squadron. On 8


June the same year,Misseldine was shot down over France.


For over two months he was on the run, being aided and abetted by the French Resistance and British Intelligence – with not a few alarms along the way. Journeying south through occupied France, he eventually reached Gibraltar. This isMisseldine’s story of “survival against all odds”.


HIGH PEAK AIR CRASH SITES Central Region Pat Cunningham Publisher: Countryside Books ISBN: 978-1-84674-219-4 Softback. 192 pages. Highly illustrated RRP: £12.99


Bookstore Price: £12.99


Over the years, the High Peak andWhite Peak areas of Derbyshire have accounted for over three hundred air crashes. In the era before satellite-assisted navigation it was not difficult


for aircraft to drift off course from their sea-level


aerodromes in, for example, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. In this book the author provides detailed accounts of the thirty locations where debris is still to be seen, as well as a further thirty-six shorter summaries of some of the sites where no debris remains.


TRACING THE RIFLE VOLUNTEERS A Guide For Military and Family Historians Ray Westlake Publisher: Pen & Sword ISBN: 978-1-84884-211-2 Hardback. 275 pages. Illustrated RRP: £25.00


Bookstore Price: £18.12


From 1859 to 1908 the Rifle Volunteers played an essential role in Britain’s national defence. Little information is available on these


dedicated amateur soldiers who were recruited into the


ranks of a military organization that flourished across the country. But now, in this invaluable book, the author and historian RayWestlake provides a concise, accessible introduction to the Rifle Volunteers and a comprehensive directory of the units raised in each county and each town.


SKYMEN The Real Story of the Paras Robert Kershaw Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton ISBN: 978-0-340-96204-6 Hardback. 392 pages. Illustrated RRP: £25.00


Bookstore Price: £17.00


Seventy years ago the Parachute Regiment was formed, and to mark this anniversary the author, himself an ex-Parachute Regiment officer, reveals the history of this airborne force. Using


interviews with veterans, supported by letters and diaries,


Kershaw examines the regiment’s formation, its participation in the epic battles of the SecondWorldWar (Sicily, D-Day and Arnhem but a few examples), and through the post-war decades until the present time and the events in Afghanistan.


AUGUST 2010


THEY STAND READY Films From Britain: Volume 3 Studio: BFI Video Number of Discs: Two Run Time: 264 minutes Recommended Retail Price: £19.99


Britain at War Bookstore price: £13.99


In 1946 the Central Office of Information (COI) was established as a successor to the wartime Ministry of Information. Its objective was to help boost the morale of a nation that was suffering the after-effects of the world’s most destructive conflict.


To this end its Films Division produced thousands of films to reflect the culture and concerns of the nation, and this included many films relating to the armed forces. Some of these have now been released by the British Film Institute on DVD.


Under the title They Stand Ready the films provide a fascinating glimpse into the key events of the post-war years and the everyday experiences of the ordinary men called up for National Service. The series continues through the difficult times of the withdrawal from colonialism during the 1950s and 60s and into the 1970s and 80s, showing the development of the modern high-tech weapons of those more recent times.


As all these films were made at the time, not retrospectively, they are composed of entirely original footage and make for utterly absorbing watching. The first film is of the Victory Parade of 1946 in London where troops from all across the Empire gathered to celebrate together in a way that has never been repeated.Watching all the different nations assembling together so happily makes the viewer wonder what has gone so badly wrong with international relations since those days.


The second film,Men of theWorld, follows the Crown Film Unit as it visits Britain’s outposts inMalta, Tripoli, Suez andMalaya. It starts, as the title suggests, as a travelogue showing these exciting and remote locations in which the British soldier serves and campaigns. It shows the men in relaxing off-duty moments in sun-bakedMalta as well as fighting insurgents in the steaming, tangled jungles of Malaya. Throughout, the theme is one of our forces being both a stabilizing and a civilizing influence in the countries concerned.


The 1950 film Eagles of the Fleet is a visual treat, with cameras following the carriers and aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm in combat exercises in the Mediterranean. The film Out of the Groove, also produced in 1950, is an attempt to persuade women to join the Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC) by showing them just how interesting and varied a life they could have as drivers or typists or switchboard operators…? If such tasks sounded familiar to women working in “Civvy Street”, the opportunity to shop in exotic bazaars abroad and the lavish washing facilities provided for them by the “modern” army get almost as much screen time as the actual work of theWRAC.


Eagles of the Fleet


Out Of The Groove


A considerably different tone is taken up with the 1957 film Suez in Perspective. Its production was decided upon by theMinistry of Defence with its objective being to show “what the British had done and why they had done it, stressing the large amounts of Soviet equipment in Egyptian hands…and the great care Allied forces had taken to avoid civilian casualties and material damage”. Already a darker, less optimistic, view of Britain’s place in the world was having to be confronted.


Altogether there are twenty-three films on the two DVDs (which come with an explanatory illustrated booklet). Together they provide an unrivalled insight into not just the development of Britain’s armed forces but also of the conscience of the nation throughout forty years of considerable change.Wonderful stuff!


• Reviewed by Robert Mitchell 99


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