Churchill's Great Escapes
Churchill's Great Escapes

Author: Damien Lewis

Publisher: Citadel Press

Published: 2022-04-26

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 080654211X

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From Damien Lewis, bestselling author and award-winning historian and war reporter, comes the thrillingly told stories of seven dramatic and epic WWII escapes executed by members of one of the world’s legendary military fighting forces: the British Special Air Service. No food. No water. Out of ammo. Hunted and on the run. The dreaded certainty of discovery looming between recapture and safe haven. What would you do? Give up? For the seven heroes of Churchill’s Great Escapes the answer was simple: keep moving against all odds. These are the extraordinary stories of the bravery and endurance of the men of SAS, legendary pioneers of escape and evasion who, through the darkest of days and nights of World War II, endeavored and succeeded in slipping through the clutches of the enemy. Based on in-the-moment personal diaries and notebooks, mission reports, debriefings and letters, Damien Lewis recounts the most terrifying and adrenaline-fueled days and nights in the lives of men for whom survival was the only option. We follow every desperate step, facing unknowable threats and death around every corner, and share in the breathtaking endurance that brought them freedom against the most formidable of threats: the seemingly invincible Nazi war machine.

Hero of the Empire
Hero of the Empire

Author: Candice Millard

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2016-09-20

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 0385535740

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From the bestselling author of Destiny of the Republic, this thrilling biographical account of the life and legacy of Wintson Churchill is a "nail-biter and top-notch character study rolled into one" (The New York Times). At the age of twenty-four, Winston Churchill was utterly convinced it was his destiny to become prime minister of England. He arrived in South Africa in 1899, valet and crates of vintage wine in tow, to cover the brutal colonial war the British were fighting with Boer rebels and jumpstart his political career. But just two weeks later, Churchill was taken prisoner. Remarkably, he pulled off a daring escape—traversing hundreds of miles of enemy territory, alone, with nothing but a crumpled wad of cash, four slabs of chocolate, and his wits to guide him. Bestselling author Candice Millard spins an epic story of bravery, savagery, and chance encounters with a cast of historical characters—including Rudyard Kipling, Lord Kitchener, and Mohandas Gandhi—with whom Churchill would later share the world stage. But Hero of the Empire is more than an extraordinary adventure story, for the lessons Churchill took from the Boer War would profoundly affect twentieth century history.

Dodger
Dodger

Author: Tim Carroll

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2013-05-07

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 0762794208

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The Dodger is the story of John Bigelow "Johnny" Dodge, a wartime hero and a pivotal figure in the escapade immortalised in the legendary Hollywood film The Great Escape. The American-born and well-connected Dodge was a cousin by marriage of Winston Churchill and friends with the rich and famous of both countries, including Kermit Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt's son. When the Second World War broke out, he volunteered for the Army but was quickly captured after the debacle of Dunkirk. He became a prisoner of war and an inveterate escapologist and troublemaker - eventually becoming one of the ringleaders of the "Great Escape." Surviving the murderous Gestapo, he was thrown into a VIP compound of Sachsenhausen concentration camp on the orders of Heinrich Himmler - but escaped once more. After recapture, Johnny was spirited away by the SS to a meeting in Berlin with Hitler's interpreter, who sent him on a clandestine mission to his cousin in Downing Street. His odyssey through the dying embers of the Third Reich to Switzerland and freedom in the company of a louche apparatchik is the last curious escapade in the story of Johnny's adventurous life.

Churchill's Secret Messenger
Churchill's Secret Messenger

Author: Alan Hlad

Publisher: A John Scognamiglio Book

Published: 2021-04-27

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 1496728416

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A riveting story of World War II and the courage of one young woman as she is drafted into Churchill’s overseas spy network, aiding the French Resistance behind enemy lines and working to liberate Nazi-occupied Paris… London, 1941: In a cramped bunker in Winston Churchill’s Cabinet War Rooms, underneath Westminster’s Treasury building, civilian women huddle at desks, typing up confidential documents and reports. Since her parents were killed in a bombing raid, Rose Teasdale has spent more hours than usual in Room 60, working double shifts, growing accustomed to the burnt scent of the Prime Minister’s cigars permeating the stale air. Winning the war is the only thing that matters, and she will gladly do her part. And when Rose’s fluency in French comes to the attention of Churchill himself, it brings a rare yet dangerous opportunity. Rose is recruited for the Special Operations Executive, a secret British organization that conducts espionage in Nazi-occupied Europe. After weeks of grueling training, Rose parachutes into France with a new codename: Dragonfly. Posing as a cosmetics saleswoman in Paris, she ferries messages to and from the Resistance, knowing that the slightest misstep means capture or death. Soon Rose is assigned to a new mission with Lazare Aron, a French Resistance fighter who has watched his beloved Paris become a shell of itself, with desolate streets and buildings draped in Swastikas. Since his parents were sent to a German work camp, Lazare has dedicated himself to the cause with the same fervor as Rose. Yet Rose’s very loyalty brings risks as she undertakes a high-stakes prison raid, and discovers how much she may have to sacrifice to justify Churchill’s faith in her . . . "A rousing historical novel." - The Akron Beacon Journal, Best Books of the Year for Churchill's Secret Messenger

Summary of Damien Lewis's Churchill's Great Escapes
Summary of Damien Lewis's Churchill's Great Escapes

Author: Everest Media,

Publisher: Everest Media LLC

Published: 2022-08-08T22:59:00Z

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13:

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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The first Allied airborne operation was codenamed Operation Colossus, and it took place in September 1943. It involved the British Special Air Service dropping into the heart of Mussolini’s Fascist Italy to blow up the country’s life-giving watercourse, the Aqueduct Pugliese. #2 The mission was successful, and the aqueduct was destroyed. However, the mission commander, Pritchard, brought the team of sappers up to speed on two matters: the Whitley carrying the main team of sappers was missing, along with the majority of their explosives; and as the raiders gathered together all their explosives, the total amounted to just seven hundred pounds. #3 The British raiders were captured and taken to a small village. They were handed over to the Italian military police, and transported to Naples. They were interrogated by the Questura, Fascist Italy’s secret police. But despite their many attempts to extract information, Paterson maintained a rigid silence. #4 The Colossus prisoners were transferred to a camp in the mountains, at Sulmona. They were given half a litre of wine per day, and most saved it up to have a party. But Paterson was appointed Dominion House Wine Secretary, and he tried to limit their consumption.

How Churchill Waged War
How Churchill Waged War

Author: Allen Packwood

Publisher: Grub Street Publishers

Published: 2018-10-30

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 1473893917

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An analytical investigation into Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s decision-making process during every stage of World War II. When Winston Churchill accepted the position of Prime Minister in May 1940, he insisted in also becoming Minister of Defence. This, though, meant that he alone would be responsible for the success or failure of Britain’s war effort. It also meant that he would be faced with many monumental challenges and utterly crucial decisions upon which the fate of Britain and the free world rested. With the limited resources available to the UK, Churchill had to pinpoint where his country’s priorities lay. He had to respond to the collapse of France, decide if Britain should adopt a defensive or offensive strategy, choose if Egypt and the war in North Africa should take precedence over Singapore and the UK’s empire in the East, determine how much support to give the Soviet Union, and how much power to give the United States in controlling the direction of the war. In this insightful investigation into Churchill’s conduct during the Second World War, Allen Packwood, BA, MPhil (Cantab), FRHistS, the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, enables the reader to share the agonies and uncertainties faced by Churchill at each crucial stage of the war. How Churchill responded to each challenge is analyzed in great detail and the conclusions Packwood draws are as uncompromising as those made by Britain’s wartime leader as he negotiated his country through its darkest days.

With Winston Churchill at the Front
With Winston Churchill at the Front

Author: Andrew Dewar Gibb

Publisher: Frontline Books

Published: 2016-06-30

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1848324316

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A unique and absorbing account of Churchill’s life during World War I, as written by his battalion’s adjutant who would later become his friend. Following his resignation from the Government after the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, Winston Churchill’s political career stalled. Never one to give in, Churchill was determined to continue fighting the enemy. He was already a Major in the Territorial Reserve and he was offered promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and with it command of a battalion on the Western Front. On 5 January 1916, Churchill took up his new post with the 6th (Service) Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. The battalion’s adjutant was Captain Andrew Dewar Gibb who formed a close relationship with Churchill that lasted far beyond their few weeks together in the war. Dewar Gibb subsequently wrote an account of his and Churchill’s time together in the trenches. Packed with amusing anecdotes and fascinating detail, Gibb’s story shows an entirely different side to Churchill’s character from the forceful public figure normally presented to the world. Churchill proved to be a caring and compassionate commander and utterly fearless. Despised on his arrival, he was adored by his men by the time he departed . . . Supplemented with many of Churchill’s letters, the observations of other officers and additional narrative, this is the most unusual and absorbing account of this part of Churchill’s life that has ever been told. Praise for With Winston Churchill at the Front “A good book for anyone interested in Churchill, and also for those who might want to learn more about command at the front during the Great War.” —The NYMAS Review “This is a view of Churchill different from every episode in his memorable life.” —Roads to the Great War

Winston Churchill Reporting
Winston Churchill Reporting

Author: Simon Read

Publisher: Da Capo Press

Published: 2015-10-13

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0306823810

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Combat, cigars, and whiskeyÑfrom the jungles of Cuba and the mountains of the Northwest Frontier, to the banks of the Nile and the plains of South Africa, comes this action-packed tale of Winston ChurchillÕs adventures as a war correspondent in the Age of Empire.

Winston Churchill Soldier
Winston Churchill Soldier

Author: Douglas S. Russell

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-11-19

Total Pages: 517

ISBN-13: 1844862046

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As a young man Winston Churchill set out to become a hero, to make a name for himself in the public eye as a soldier and so make possible a life of politics and statesmanship. There were many chances to fail and many close calls in the face of sword, spear and bullet along the way. Yet Churchill survived and succeeded – an early measure of his courage and stubborn will that the world would come to know so well in the Second World War. This is the first full-length, fully-researched biography of Churchill's colourful military career. Using an unrivalled range of sources, and with previously unpublished photographs, and detailed maps by Sir Martin Gilbert, it brings to life Churchill's motives, abilities, experiences, successes and failures, and his unswerving sense of destiny as an officer in the British Army. The result is a story to echo the man himself – rich in action, courage, charismatic self-belief, patriotism and humour. Making extensive use of the contemporary accounts of Churchill and his fellow soldiers and archival documents from three continents, illustrated with many maps and previously unpublished photographs, Douglas S. Russell vividly brings to life the military career of the vigorous young officer of hussars who later became the greatest Briton of the twentieth century. From Sandhurst to the mountainous North-West Frontier of India, to the charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman, from the South African veldt to the deadly trench warfare of the Great War, the author – whom Sir Martin Gilbert calls 'a keen portraitist' – tells the gripping story of Churchill's army life with careful attention to historical detail and all the drama that the real life adventures of his subject deserve.

Churchill's Shadow Raiders
Churchill's Shadow Raiders

Author: Damien Lewis

Publisher: Citadel Press

Published: 2020-04-28

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 0806540656

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From bestselling and award-winning war reporter Damien Lewis and for fans of Erik Larsen’s The Splendid and Vile and Alex Kershaw’s The Forgotten 500 comes a thrilling account of one of the most daring raids of WWII…the true story of the race to stop Hitler from developing a top-secret weapon that would change the course of history. "One of the most readable World War 2 history books I have read in years” —We Are the Mighty In the winter of 1941, as Britain faced defeat on all fronts, an RAF reconnaissance pilot photographed an alien-looking object on the French coast near Le Havre. The mysterious device—a “Wurzburg Dish”—appeared to be a new form of radar technology: ultra-compact, highly precise, and pointed directly across the English Channel. Britain’s experts found it hard to believe the Germans had mastered such groundbreaking technology. But one young technician thought it not only possible, he convinced Winston Churchill that the dish posed a unique and deadly threat to Allied forces, one that required desperate measures—and drastic action . . . Capturing the radar on film had been an amazing coup. Stealing it away from under the noses of the Nazis would be remarkable. So was launched Operation Biting, a mission like no other. An extraordinary “snatch-and-grab” raid on Germany’s secret radar installation, it offered Churchill’s elite airborne force, the Special Air Service, a rare opportunity to redeem themselves after a previous failed mission—and to shift the tides of war forever. Led by the legendary Major John Frost, these brave paratroopers would risk all in a daring airborne assault, with only a small stretch of beach menaced by enemy guns as their exit point. With the help of a volunteer radar technician who knew how to dismantle the dish, as well as the courageous men and women of the French Resistance, they succeeded against all odds in their act of brazen robbery. Some would die. Others would be captured. All fought with resolute bravery . . . This is the story of that fateful night of February 27, 1942. A brilliantly told, thrillingly tense account of Churchill’s raiders in their finest hour, this is World War II history at its heart-stopping best. “This highly informative book almost reads like a genuine techno-thriller." —New York Journal of Books “A little-known behind-the-lines spectacular led by two heroic British officers.” —Kirkus Reviews “Anyone who wants to learn more about the origins of the British Special Forces should read this book. It intertwines historical research and eyewitness testimony to tell the untold story of heroism, courage, and ingenuity.” —Military Press “Lewis presents a richly detailed and nail-biting tale.” —Library Journal