A concise and balanced view of what is known as the Blitz on London. The title emphasizes bombing over blitz and recognises that the meaning of ‘the Blitz’ has now acquired other general connotations and is often equated to ‘Britain in wartime’ or the spirit of carrying on.
In this sequel to his successful first volume Peter Liddle brings his years of Oral History experience to the Thirties and the Second World War. He was the founder/Director of a new archive in 1999 specifically dedicated to the rescue of evidence of the Second World War which now documents the lives of more than nine thousand people in that war. Many of the most vivid recollections he has recorded covering this period appear in this book.For the Thirties poverty is movingly exemplified in recall of orphanage upbringing, labor in an East Lancashire mill and Glasgow childhood. Privileged public schools and university education is here too, with political convictions expressed by Barbara Castle and quite exceptionally by Oswald Mosley.For the War, there is a section on the sea which includes graphic detail of battle, lifeboat command, the St Nazaire Raid, and of Pearl Harbor. A George Medallist and an Admiral of the Fleet add special distinction here.For the air, a Battle of Britain Spitfire Pilot, Britains most successful night-fighter pilot, a Lancaster Bomber Pilot VC, an American pilot shot down over Belgium, surviving to fight with the Resistance, and a German Pilot retaining his national Socialist convictions present outstanding material.For the land, Dunkirk, North Africa, Italy, Singapore, D-Day, Arnhem, the Rhine Crossing, are all there but so Commando raids, SOE operations, capture, escapes, severe wounding, and a VC earned in Somaliland. A German describes the hand to hand fighting at Cassino, a Field Marshal, his service in North Africa, and Joachim Ronneberg his part in the Telemark Raid in Norway.In the Home Front section, women feature prominently was WAAF, Wrens, ATS, Bletchley Park, the Land Army, war work in factories, dance band singing, Blitz experience in several towns, war widowhood, and overseas evacuation, all feature. There is an account of bomb disposal, of the stance of a Conscientious Objector, and then four people quite exceptional for the significance of their material. Two are from Poland, a jewess who survived against all odds, and a woman who became involved in the Warsaw Uprising; the others are Sir Basil Blackwell working on the development of weaponry for the Admiralty and finally Sir Bernard Lovell on radar.This book does much to dissolve the intervening years. The essence of what is was to be young and to be there lies within these pages.
When it comes to being bombed, London is unique. Although it cannot claim to be the most bombed capital city in terms of the weight of explosive detonated it has endured the most varied and unrelenting attack since the discovery of explosives. From the first Irish Republican bomb in 1867, London and its population have been under almost constant assault. Terrorism features in virtually every decade from the 1860s to the present and has caused much damage, particularly during the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, by far the greatest destruction was from the air. The Zeppelin and Gotha bomber raids in the First World War being but a foretaste of what would happen in the Second. Then the capital was devastated, firstly by the LuftwaffeÕs aeroplanes and then HitlerÕs ÔvengeanceÕ weapons, the V-1s and V-2s. After the Second World War the bombers returned, in the form of the IRA and then the homegrown terrorists of 2005. Written by a former Explosives Officer who worked for the Counter Terrorism Command of the Metropolitan Police, this is the most comprehensive record of BritainÕs capital under attack that has ever been compiled.
The love story of Zippa and Tony is nothing without the context of the Second World War. The war introduced them - they met as blackout wardens in London. It gave them darkened streets to wander in, hand in hand, then, by sending Tony away to officer training camps, it sharpened their hunger for each other, casting a glow over his comings and goings. It turned them into schemers and wanglers against fate and army regulations. It pressed them into marriage, and when the war decided to deploy him to North Africa, it whispered the urgent question of a baby. To which Tony, thinking of the war, replied maybe not; and Zippa, thinking of the war, said yes. In spite of themselves, the war experience was changing them both, and yet both were hanging on, looking back, suspended in memory and time, and living from letter to letter. Decades later, their daughter Julie discovered their letters, and piecing them together began to create a portrait of her parents and their relationship that was completely unfamiliar to her. Vivid, honest and completely absorbing, Damn This War! is a true insight into a wartime love story.
This is the second volume of the classified history of air defence in Great Britain. Written while World War II was still being fought, the account has an analysis of the defensive tactics of Fighter Command, and attempts a day-by-day analysis of the action as it took place.
“Mr. Gilbert brings the strongest possible credentials to his history of World War II, and the result is a magisterial work” (The New York Times). In the hands of master historian Martin Gilbert, the complex and compelling story of the Second World War comes to life. This narrative captures the perspectives of leading politicians and war commanders, journalists, civilians, and ordinary soldiers, offering gripping eyewitness accounts of heroism, defeat, suffering, and triumph. This is one of the first historical studies of World War II that describes the Holocaust as an integral part of the war. It also covers maneuvers, strategies, and leaders operating in European, Asian, and Pacific theatres. In addition, this book brings in survivor testimonies of occupation, survival behind enemy lines, and the experience of minority groups such as the Roma in Europe, to offer a comprehensive account of the war’s impact on individuals on both sides. This is a sweeping narrative of one of the most deadly wars in history, which took almost forty million lives, and irrevocably changed countless more. “Gilbert’s flowing narrative is spiced with anecdotal details culled from diaries, memoirs, and official documents. He is especially skillful at interweaving summaries of military strategy with vignettes of civilian suffering.” —Newsweek “[A] masterful account of history’s most destructive conflict.” —Publishers Weekly
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis “One of [Erik Larson’s] best books yet . . . perfectly timed for the moment.”—Time • “A bravura performance by one of America’s greatest storytellers.”—NPR NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • Vogue • NPR • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • The Globe & Mail • Fortune • Bloomberg • New York Post • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • LibraryReads • PopMatters On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end. In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments. The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.
Bestselling author Christopher Winn takes us on a fascinating journey around Ireland, discovering the traditions, triumphs and disasters, foibles, quirks and customs that make up the Irish people. From their peccadilloes to their passions he uncovers entertaining stories and astonishing facts that will amuse and inform in equal measure. Travel from coast to coast across Ireland and learn how every county contributes to the distinct Irish personality in its own unique and different ways. From County Leitrim, the most sparsely populated county in the Republic of Ireland to County Louth, Ireland's smallest geographic county, discover the site of the first play performed in the Irish language, sail the longest navigable inland waterway in Europe and watch the horse racing at Ireland's first all-weather racecourse. Listen to the memories and tales of ordinary folk from every walk of life and find out from them what it means to be Irish. I Never Knew That About the Irish is an irresistible book, beguilingly illustrated with pen and ink drawings. It gives a captivating insight into the heritage, memories and monuments that have shaped each county in Ireland.
A chance finding of a watercolour began the author's journey of discovery leading to the remarkable and heroic acts by the artist AFJ Hannaford and his colleagues. The author enthusiastically pieced together his life story and was gripped by coincidences, stirred by the passionate heartache present in his many notes, also heard in his conversations filmed for a Channel 4 documentary and an interview for the Imperial War Museum. The search lead to dark and dangerous times and brave men blown up doing their job. It unearthed the secrecy surrounding their acts of courage and the often untimely end of their young lives from booby-trapped enemy bombs and, tragically, from our own mine clearance. Captain John Hannaford, Royal Engineer Bomb Disposal Officer WWII, was a leader of men at 24. He was told he would have only 10 weeks life expectancy in that job. But he died on Armistice Day, 2015, at the age of 98. He was one of the last surviving officers, never forgetting, still hearing the voices of those young men from the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal, 8 Section 16 Company, blown up on a beach in South Wales. The author hopes that this record will show that the officers and men who died should receive the recognition for their bravery and sacrifice, that John so longed for.