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General Recommendations
Remembrance Day 2020
Surrey Libraries
Staff-created list
SurreyLibraries_Reads - Remembrance Day is commemorated on November 11th each year and marks the end of World War I in 1918. It may also be commonly known as Armistice Day.
The intention of the day is to remember the fallen on both sides in the 'Great War'.
In Canada, Remembrance Day is a public holiday and federal statutory holiday, as well as a statutory holiday in all three territories and in six of the ten provinces.
On Remembrance Day, Canadians pause to honour the men and women who have served and continue to serve Canada during times of war, conflict, and peace. More than 2,300,000 Canadians have served and more than 118,000 made the ultimate sacrifice.
The poppy is the symbol of Remembrance Day. In the run-up to Remembrance Day, replica poppies are sold by the Royal Canadian Legion to provide assistance to veterans.
The reason that the poppy is worn for Remembrance Day is due to a Canadian physician and poet who noticed how quickly poppies had grown over the graves of soldiers who had died during the Battle of Ypres. This symbolism of the blood-red flowers was beautifully captured by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae in his 1915 poem “In Flanders Fields.” The poem was apparently discarded by McCrae but was found by soldiers who sent it to a London-based magazine named Punch.
November 11th marks the signing of the armistice (peace agreement) between the Allies and Germany at Compiègne, France.
The armistice took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning - the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month."
Surrey Libraries
Canada's Final Campaign in World War II Italy
Book - 2019
The Canadians called it the Promised Land. In late September 1944, the Emilia-Romagna plain before I Canadian Corps stretched to the far horizon--a decept...Show more
The Canadians called it the Promised Land. In late September 1944, the Emilia-Romagna plain before I Canadian Corps stretched to the far horizon--a deceptively wide-open space where the tanks could run free. Throughout British Eighth Army, hopes ran high that once it entered the plain, the Germans could be driven from Italy. As soon as the advance began, however, the plain's true nature was revealed: the land was criss-crossed by rivers, canals and drainage ditches over which all bridges had been demolished.
With higher command urging haste, the Canadians entered a long and nightmarish series of battles to win crossings over each waterway, whose high banks provided the Germans with perfect defensive positions. Early fall rains caused rivers to spill their banks and transformed the countryside into the worst quagmire the soldiers had ever seen.
More than five months of battle followed, with weeks of hard fighting required to advance from one river to the next. Each month, conditions only worsened, and the casualty rates rose appallingly. As their comrades fell one by one, most soldiers sought merely to survive. Doing that much required every measure of stamina, courage and fighting skill they possessed.
The fifth and final Canadian Battle Series volume set in Italy, The River Battles tells the story of this campaign's last and hardest months. In riveting detail and with his trademark "you-are-there" style, Mark Zuehlke shines a light on this forgotten chapter of Canada's World War II experience.
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The Canadians called it the Promised Land. In late September 1944, the Emilia-Romagna plain before I Canadian Corps stretched to the far horizon--a decept...Show more
The Canadians called it the Promised Land. In late September 1944, the Emilia-Romagna plain before I Canadian Corps stretched to the far horizon--a deceptively wide-open space where the tanks could run free. Throughout British Eighth Army, hopes ran high that once it entered the plain, the Germans could be driven from Italy. As soon as the advance began, however, the plain's true nature was revealed: the land was criss-crossed by rivers, canals and drainage ditches over which all bridges had been demolished.
With higher command urging haste, the Canadians entered a long and nightmarish series of battles to win crossings over each waterway, whose high banks provided the Germans with perfect defensive positions. Early fall rains caused rivers to spill their banks and transformed the countryside into the worst quagmire the soldiers had ever seen.
More than five months of battle followed, with weeks of hard fighting required to advance from one river to the next. Each month, conditions only worsened, and the casualty rates rose appallingly. As their comrades fell one by one, most soldiers sought merely to survive. Doing that much required every measure of stamina, courage and fighting skill they possessed.
The fifth and final Canadian Battle Series volume set in Italy, The River Battles tells the story of this campaign's last and hardest months. In riveting detail and with his trademark "you-are-there" style, Mark Zuehlke shines a light on this forgotten chapter of Canada's World War II experience.
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Canada's First World War Internment Camps
Book - 2019
From 1914 to 1920, thousands of men who had immigrated to Canada from the Austro-Hungarian Empire were imprisoned as "enemy aliens," many with t...Show more
From 1914 to 1920, thousands of men who had immigrated to Canada from the Austro-Hungarian Empire were imprisoned as "enemy aliens," many with their families. Most were Ukrainians; almost all were civilians. The Stories Were Not Told presents this largely unrecognized event through photography, cultural theory, and personal testimony, including stories told at last by internees and their descendants. Semchuk describes how lives and society have been shaped by acts of legislated racism and how to move toward greater reconciliation, remembrance, and healing. This is necessary reading for anyone seeking to understand the cross-cultural and intergenerational consequences of Canada's first internment camps.
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From 1914 to 1920, thousands of men who had immigrated to Canada from the Austro-Hungarian Empire were imprisoned as "enemy aliens," many with t...Show more
From 1914 to 1920, thousands of men who had immigrated to Canada from the Austro-Hungarian Empire were imprisoned as "enemy aliens," many with their families. Most were Ukrainians; almost all were civilians. The Stories Were Not Told presents this largely unrecognized event through photography, cultural theory, and personal testimony, including stories told at last by internees and their descendants. Semchuk describes how lives and society have been shaped by acts of legislated racism and how to move toward greater reconciliation, remembrance, and healing. This is necessary reading for anyone seeking to understand the cross-cultural and intergenerational consequences of Canada's first internment camps.
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Extraordinary Wartime Stories of Ordinary People
Book - 2019
Invisible Heroes of World War II documents ten fascinating true stories of a diverse group of soldiers and noncombatants from all over the world, includin...Show more
Invisible Heroes of World War II documents ten fascinating true stories of a diverse group of soldiers and noncombatants from all over the world, including African Americans, women, and Native Americans, who fought with the Allies during World War II. These heroes made significant contributions in the war effort, and sometimes gave their lives for freedom and liberty, often without much recognition or fanfare. Some were frontline soldiers who were captured by the enemy and endured horrific conditions as POWs, others were ordinary citizens who fought in the French Resistance and provided vital operations to undermine Nazi occupation, while others were engineers, workers in industry, or war correspondents and photographers. All served with valor and distinction as part of the massive Allied forces who fought to free the world from tyranny and oppression.
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Invisible Heroes of World War II documents ten fascinating true stories of a diverse group of soldiers and noncombatants from all over the world, includin...Show more
Invisible Heroes of World War II documents ten fascinating true stories of a diverse group of soldiers and noncombatants from all over the world, including African Americans, women, and Native Americans, who fought with the Allies during World War II. These heroes made significant contributions in the war effort, and sometimes gave their lives for freedom and liberty, often without much recognition or fanfare. Some were frontline soldiers who were captured by the enemy and endured horrific conditions as POWs, others were ordinary citizens who fought in the French Resistance and provided vital operations to undermine Nazi occupation, while others were engineers, workers in industry, or war correspondents and photographers. All served with valor and distinction as part of the massive Allied forces who fought to free the world from tyranny and oppression.
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A Memoir of D-Day, the First Wave at Omaha Beach, and A World at War
by Lambert, Ray
Book - 2019
Seventy-five years ago, he hit Omaha Beach with the first wave. Now Ray Lambert, ninety-eight years old, delivers one of the most remarkable memoirs, a to...Show more
Seventy-five years ago, he hit Omaha Beach with the first wave. Now Ray Lambert, ninety-eight years old, delivers one of the most remarkable memoirs, a tour-de-force of remembrance evoking his role as a decorated World War II medic who risked his life to save the heroes of D-Day.
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Seventy-five years ago, he hit Omaha Beach with the first wave. Now Ray Lambert, ninety-eight years old, delivers one of the most remarkable memoirs, a to...Show more
Seventy-five years ago, he hit Omaha Beach with the first wave. Now Ray Lambert, ninety-eight years old, delivers one of the most remarkable memoirs, a tour-de-force of remembrance evoking his role as a decorated World War II medic who risked his life to save the heroes of D-Day.
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The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
Book - 2019
Virginia Hall-- rejected from the foreign service because of her gender and her prosthetic leg-- became the first woman to deploy to occupied France, befo...Show more
Virginia Hall-- rejected from the foreign service because of her gender and her prosthetic leg-- became the first woman to deploy to occupied France, before the United States had even entered the war. At a time when sending female secret agents into enemy territory was still strictly forbidden, Hall coordinated a network of spies to blow up bridges, report on German troop movements, arrange equipment drops for Resistance agents, and recruit and train guerrilla fighters. The Gestapo considered her the most dangerous of all Allied spies. Purness tells the breathtaking story of how one woman's fierce persistence helped win the war.
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Virginia Hall-- rejected from the foreign service because of her gender and her prosthetic leg-- became the first woman to deploy to occupied France, befo...Show more
Virginia Hall-- rejected from the foreign service because of her gender and her prosthetic leg-- became the first woman to deploy to occupied France, before the United States had even entered the war. At a time when sending female secret agents into enemy territory was still strictly forbidden, Hall coordinated a network of spies to blow up bridges, report on German troop movements, arrange equipment drops for Resistance agents, and recruit and train guerrilla fighters. The Gestapo considered her the most dangerous of all Allied spies. Purness tells the breathtaking story of how one woman's fierce persistence helped win the war.
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The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II
Book - 2019
Beginning in the predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows the remarkable men who carried out D-Day's most perilous missions. The charismat...Show more
Beginning in the predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows the remarkable men who carried out D-Day's most perilous missions. The charismatic, unforgettable cast includes the first American paratrooper to touch down on Normandy soil; the British glider pilot who braved antiaircraft fire to crash-land mere yards from the vital Pegasus Bridge; the Canadian brothers who led their troops onto Juno Beach under withering fire; as well as a French commando, returning to his native land, who fought to destroy German strongholds on Sword Beach and beyond. Readers will experience the sheer grit of the Rangers who scaled Pointe du Hoc and the astonishing courage of the British airborne soldiers who captured the Merville Gun Battery in the face of devastating enemy counterattacks. The first to fight when the stakes were highest and the odds longest, these men would determine the fate of the invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe--and the very history of the twentieth century. The result is an epic of close combat and extraordinary heroism. It is the capstone Alex Kershaw's remarkable career, built on his close friendships with D-Day survivors and his intimate understanding of the Normandy battlefield. For the seventy-fifth anniversary, here is a fresh take on World War II's longest day
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Beginning in the predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows the remarkable men who carried out D-Day's most perilous missions. The charismat...Show more
Beginning in the predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows the remarkable men who carried out D-Day's most perilous missions. The charismatic, unforgettable cast includes the first American paratrooper to touch down on Normandy soil; the British glider pilot who braved antiaircraft fire to crash-land mere yards from the vital Pegasus Bridge; the Canadian brothers who led their troops onto Juno Beach under withering fire; as well as a French commando, returning to his native land, who fought to destroy German strongholds on Sword Beach and beyond. Readers will experience the sheer grit of the Rangers who scaled Pointe du Hoc and the astonishing courage of the British airborne soldiers who captured the Merville Gun Battery in the face of devastating enemy counterattacks. The first to fight when the stakes were highest and the odds longest, these men would determine the fate of the invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe--and the very history of the twentieth century. The result is an epic of close combat and extraordinary heroism. It is the capstone Alex Kershaw's remarkable career, built on his close friendships with D-Day survivors and his intimate understanding of the Normandy battlefield. For the seventy-fifth anniversary, here is a fresh take on World War II's longest day
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The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler
by Olson, Lynne
Book - 2019
The little-known story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the woman who headed the largest spy network in occupied France during World War II ... In 1941 a thir...Show more
The little-known story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the woman who headed the largest spy network in occupied France during World War II ... In 1941 a thirty-one-year-old Frenchwoman, a young mother born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamour, became the leader of a vast intelligence organization--the only woman to serve as a chef de résistance during the war. Strong-willed, independent, and a lifelong rebel against her country's conservative, patriarchal society, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was temperamentally made for the job. Her group's name was Alliance, but the Gestapo dubbed it Noah's Ark because its agents used the names of animals as their aliases. The name Marie-Madeleine chose for herself was Hedgehog: a tough little animal, unthreatening in appearance, that, as a colleague of hers put it, 'even a lion would hesitate to bite.' No other French spy network lasted as long or supplied as much crucial intelligence--including providing American and British military commanders with a 55-foot-long map of the beaches and roads on which the Allies would land on D-Day--as Alliance. The Gestapo pursued them relentlessly, capturing, torturing, and executing hundreds of its three thousand agents, including Fourcade's own lover and many of her key spies. Although Fourcade, the mother of two young children, moved her headquarters every few weeks, constantly changing her hair color, clothing, and identity, she was captured twice by the Nazis. Both times she managed to escape--once by slipping naked through the bars of her jail cell--and continued to hold her network together even as it repeatedly threatened to crumble around her. Now, in this dramatic account of the war that split France in two and forced its people to live side by side with their hated German occupiers, Lynne Olson tells the fascinating story of a woman who stood up for her nation, her fellow citizens, and herself.
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The little-known story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the woman who headed the largest spy network in occupied France during World War II ... In 1941 a thir...Show more
The little-known story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the woman who headed the largest spy network in occupied France during World War II ... In 1941 a thirty-one-year-old Frenchwoman, a young mother born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamour, became the leader of a vast intelligence organization--the only woman to serve as a chef de résistance during the war. Strong-willed, independent, and a lifelong rebel against her country's conservative, patriarchal society, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was temperamentally made for the job. Her group's name was Alliance, but the Gestapo dubbed it Noah's Ark because its agents used the names of animals as their aliases. The name Marie-Madeleine chose for herself was Hedgehog: a tough little animal, unthreatening in appearance, that, as a colleague of hers put it, 'even a lion would hesitate to bite.' No other French spy network lasted as long or supplied as much crucial intelligence--including providing American and British military commanders with a 55-foot-long map of the beaches and roads on which the Allies would land on D-Day--as Alliance. The Gestapo pursued them relentlessly, capturing, torturing, and executing hundreds of its three thousand agents, including Fourcade's own lover and many of her key spies. Although Fourcade, the mother of two young children, moved her headquarters every few weeks, constantly changing her hair color, clothing, and identity, she was captured twice by the Nazis. Both times she managed to escape--once by slipping naked through the bars of her jail cell--and continued to hold her network together even as it repeatedly threatened to crumble around her. Now, in this dramatic account of the war that split France in two and forced its people to live side by side with their hated German occupiers, Lynne Olson tells the fascinating story of a woman who stood up for her nation, her fellow citizens, and herself.
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The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy
Book - 2019
The extraordinary true story of Odette Sansom, the British spy who operated in occupied France and fell in love with her commanding officer during World War II--perfect for fans of Unbroken, The Boys in the Boat, and Code Girls.
The extraordinary true story of Odette Sansom, the British spy who operated in occupied France and fell in love with her commanding officer during World War II--perfect for fans of Unbroken, The Boys in the Boat, and Code Girls.
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The extraordinary true story of Odette Sansom, the British spy who operated in occupied France and fell in love with her commanding officer during World War II--perfect for fans of Unbroken, The Boys in the Boat, and Code Girls.
The extraordinary true story of Odette Sansom, the British spy who operated in occupied France and fell in love with her commanding officer during World War II--perfect for fans of Unbroken, The Boys in the Boat, and Code Girls.
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The Battle That Doomed Japan in World War II
Book - 2019
James Hallas reconstructs the full panorama of the Battle of Saipan in a way that no recent chronicler has done. In its comprehensiveness, attention to de...Show more
James Hallas reconstructs the full panorama of the Battle of Saipan in a way that no recent chronicler has done. In its comprehensiveness, attention to detail, scope of research, and ultimate focus on the men who fought and won the battle, this is the definitive military history of Saipan, a turning point of the Pacific War.
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James Hallas reconstructs the full panorama of the Battle of Saipan in a way that no recent chronicler has done. In its comprehensiveness, attention to de...Show more
James Hallas reconstructs the full panorama of the Battle of Saipan in a way that no recent chronicler has done. In its comprehensiveness, attention to detail, scope of research, and ultimate focus on the men who fought and won the battle, this is the definitive military history of Saipan, a turning point of the Pacific War.
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The Arctic Voyage That Defied the Nazis
Book - 2019
On the fourth of July, 1942, four Allied ships traversing the Arctic separated from their decimated convoy to head further north into the ice field of the...Show more
On the fourth of July, 1942, four Allied ships traversing the Arctic separated from their decimated convoy to head further north into the ice field of the North Pole, seeking safety from Nazi bombers and U-boats in the perilous white maze of ice floes, growlers, and giant bergs. Despite the risks, they had a better chance of survival than the rest of Convoy PQ-17, a fleet of thirty-five cargo ships carrying $1 billion worth of war supplies to the Soviet port of Archangel--the limited help Roosevelt and Churchill extended to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to maintain their fragile alliance, even as they avoided joining the fight in Europe while the Eastern Front raged. The high-level politics that put Convoy PQ-17 in the path of the Nazis were far from the minds of the diverse crews aboard their ships. U.S. Navy Ensign Howard Carraway, aboard the SS Troubadour, was a farm boy from South Carolina and one of the many Americans for whom the convoy was to be a first taste of war; aboard the SS Ironclad, Ensign William Carter of the U.S. Navy Reserve had passed up a chance at Harvard Business School to join the Navy Armed Guard. All the while, The Ghost Ships of Archangel turns its focus on Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin, playing diplomatic games that put their ships in peril. The twenty-four-hour Arctic daylight in midsummer gave no respite from bombers, and the Germans wielded the terrifying battleship Tirpitz, nicknamed The Big Bad Wolf. Icebergs were as dangerous as Nazis. As a newly forged alliance was close to dissolving and the remnants of Convoy PQ-17 tried to slip through the Arctic in one piece, the fate of the world hung in the balance
Show less
On the fourth of July, 1942, four Allied ships traversing the Arctic separated from their decimated convoy to head further north into the ice field of the...Show more
On the fourth of July, 1942, four Allied ships traversing the Arctic separated from their decimated convoy to head further north into the ice field of the North Pole, seeking safety from Nazi bombers and U-boats in the perilous white maze of ice floes, growlers, and giant bergs. Despite the risks, they had a better chance of survival than the rest of Convoy PQ-17, a fleet of thirty-five cargo ships carrying $1 billion worth of war supplies to the Soviet port of Archangel--the limited help Roosevelt and Churchill extended to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to maintain their fragile alliance, even as they avoided joining the fight in Europe while the Eastern Front raged. The high-level politics that put Convoy PQ-17 in the path of the Nazis were far from the minds of the diverse crews aboard their ships. U.S. Navy Ensign Howard Carraway, aboard the SS Troubadour, was a farm boy from South Carolina and one of the many Americans for whom the convoy was to be a first taste of war; aboard the SS Ironclad, Ensign William Carter of the U.S. Navy Reserve had passed up a chance at Harvard Business School to join the Navy Armed Guard. All the while, The Ghost Ships of Archangel turns its focus on Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin, playing diplomatic games that put their ships in peril. The twenty-four-hour Arctic daylight in midsummer gave no respite from bombers, and the Germans wielded the terrifying battleship Tirpitz, nicknamed The Big Bad Wolf. Icebergs were as dangerous as Nazis. As a newly forged alliance was close to dissolving and the remnants of Convoy PQ-17 tried to slip through the Arctic in one piece, the fate of the world hung in the balance
Show less
Canada's Battle for Normandy and the Rise of the Black Watch Snipers
Book - 2019
Centred around one of Canada's most storied regiments, Seven Days in Hell tells the epic story of the men from the Black Watch during the bloody battle fo...Show more
Centred around one of Canada's most storied regiments, Seven Days in Hell tells the epic story of the men from the Black Watch during the bloody battle for Verrières Ridge, a dramatic saga that unfolded just weeks after one of Canada's greatest military triumphs of the Second World War. O'Keefe takes us on a heart-pounding journey at the sharp end of combat during the infamous Normandy campaign. More than 300 soldiers from the Black Watch found themselves pinned down, as the result of strategic blunders and the fog of war, and only a handful walked away. Thrust into a nightmare, Black Watch Highlanders who hailed from across Canada, the United States, Great Britain and the Allied world found themselves embroiled in a mortal contest against elite Waffen-SS units and grizzled Eastern Front veterans, where station, rank, race and religion mattered little, and only character won the day. Drawing on formerly classified documents and rare first-person testimony of the men who fought on the front lines, O'Keefe follows the footsteps of the ghosts of Normandy, giving a voice yet again to the men who sacrificed everything in the summer of 1944.
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Centred around one of Canada's most storied regiments, Seven Days in Hell tells the epic story of the men from the Black Watch during the bloody battle fo...Show more
Centred around one of Canada's most storied regiments, Seven Days in Hell tells the epic story of the men from the Black Watch during the bloody battle for Verrières Ridge, a dramatic saga that unfolded just weeks after one of Canada's greatest military triumphs of the Second World War. O'Keefe takes us on a heart-pounding journey at the sharp end of combat during the infamous Normandy campaign. More than 300 soldiers from the Black Watch found themselves pinned down, as the result of strategic blunders and the fog of war, and only a handful walked away. Thrust into a nightmare, Black Watch Highlanders who hailed from across Canada, the United States, Great Britain and the Allied world found themselves embroiled in a mortal contest against elite Waffen-SS units and grizzled Eastern Front veterans, where station, rank, race and religion mattered little, and only character won the day. Drawing on formerly classified documents and rare first-person testimony of the men who fought on the front lines, O'Keefe follows the footsteps of the ghosts of Normandy, giving a voice yet again to the men who sacrificed everything in the summer of 1944.
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The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II
by Rose, Sarah
Book - 2019
In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was fighting. Believing that Britain was locked in an existenti...Show more
In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was fighting. Believing that Britain was locked in an existential battle, Winston Churchill had already created a secret agency, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharpshooting. Their job, he declared, was to "set Europe ablaze." But with most men on the front lines, the SOE was forced to do something unprecedented: recruit women. Thirty-nine answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France. In [this book], Sarah Rose draws on recently declassified files, diaries, and oral histories to tell the thrilling story of three of these remarkable women. There's Andréee Borrel, a scrappy and streetwise Parisian who blew up power lines with the Gestapo hot on her heels; Odette Sansom, an unhappily married suburban mother who saw the SOE as her ticket out of domestic life and into a meaningful adventure; and Lise de Baissac, a fiercely independent member of French colonial high society and the SOE's unflappable "queen." Together, they destroyed train lines, ambushed Nazis, plotted prison breaks, and gathered crucial intelligence--laying the groundwork for the D-Day invasion that proved to be the turning point in the war. Rigorously researched and written with razor-sharp wit, D-Day Girls is an inspiring story for our own moment of resistance: a reminder of what courage--and the energy of politically animated women--can accomplish when the stakes seem incalculably high.
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In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was fighting. Believing that Britain was locked in an existenti...Show more
In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was fighting. Believing that Britain was locked in an existential battle, Winston Churchill had already created a secret agency, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharpshooting. Their job, he declared, was to "set Europe ablaze." But with most men on the front lines, the SOE was forced to do something unprecedented: recruit women. Thirty-nine answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France. In [this book], Sarah Rose draws on recently declassified files, diaries, and oral histories to tell the thrilling story of three of these remarkable women. There's Andréee Borrel, a scrappy and streetwise Parisian who blew up power lines with the Gestapo hot on her heels; Odette Sansom, an unhappily married suburban mother who saw the SOE as her ticket out of domestic life and into a meaningful adventure; and Lise de Baissac, a fiercely independent member of French colonial high society and the SOE's unflappable "queen." Together, they destroyed train lines, ambushed Nazis, plotted prison breaks, and gathered crucial intelligence--laying the groundwork for the D-Day invasion that proved to be the turning point in the war. Rigorously researched and written with razor-sharp wit, D-Day Girls is an inspiring story for our own moment of resistance: a reminder of what courage--and the energy of politically animated women--can accomplish when the stakes seem incalculably high.
Show less
!["Dangerous Enemy Sympathizers"](https://secure.syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=9781773101248/MC.GIF&client=519-255-6770&type=xw12&oclc= ""Dangerous Enemy Sympathizers"")
Canadian Internment Camp B, 1940-1945
Book - 2019
Provides a comprehensive and scholarly account of the Second World War internment camp at Ripples (35 km East of Fredericton), New Brunswick. The camp had...Show more
Provides a comprehensive and scholarly account of the Second World War internment camp at Ripples (35 km East of Fredericton), New Brunswick. The camp had two distinct phases. In the first (1940-41), the camp housed German and Austrian Jewish refugees who had come to Britain but had then been imprisoned by the British government because they were enemy citizens. In the second phase (1941-45), the camp housed German and Italian PoWs as well as individuals (especially Italian-Canadians) who spoke out against the war effort and were thought to be supporting Germany and Italy.
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Provides a comprehensive and scholarly account of the Second World War internment camp at Ripples (35 km East of Fredericton), New Brunswick. The camp had...Show more
Provides a comprehensive and scholarly account of the Second World War internment camp at Ripples (35 km East of Fredericton), New Brunswick. The camp had two distinct phases. In the first (1940-41), the camp housed German and Austrian Jewish refugees who had come to Britain but had then been imprisoned by the British government because they were enemy citizens. In the second phase (1941-45), the camp housed German and Italian PoWs as well as individuals (especially Italian-Canadians) who spoke out against the war effort and were thought to be supporting Germany and Italy.
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The War Journals, 1941-1945 : Including "Notes From the Caucasus" and "Kirchhorst Diaries"
Book - 2019
Over an amazing 80-year career as a writer, Ernst Jünger (1895-1998) fought in WWI, became a leading writer of "soldierly nationalism" in the 19...Show more
Over an amazing 80-year career as a writer, Ernst Jünger (1895-1998) fought in WWI, became a leading writer of "soldierly nationalism" in the 1920s, and produced possibly the only anti-Nazi novel during the Third Reich, On the Marble Cliffs. Jünger's seeming moral ambiguities have made him the subject of much controversy in his home country. He has long been the subject of a series of highly charged debates about his work, and his presentation with the Goethe Prize (Germany's highest literary honor) in 1982 revived an old charge that Jünger had helped pave the way for fascism. The French, however, regard him as Germany's greatest twentieth-century author. Jünger's war diaries are important historical documents. He rejoined the army in 1941 and was sent to Paris, where he was in a unique position to observe the German occupation of France from the point of view of an occupier, but one who was not blinded by Nazi ideology. The First Paris Diary begins in 1941, when Jünger began his war duties as a mail censor of the occupying regime, and ends in October of 1942, as he leaves Paris to travel to the Eastern Front. Through his high-level contacts, Jünger was aware of the situation on the Eastern front and the atrocities being committed there. He was also a member of a secret circle of aristocratic officers, led by Rommel, who opposed Hitler's conduct of the war and were conspiring to arrest him in France in 1944 and turn him over to allies in exchange for lenient armistice conditions. In addition to descriptions of his official duties, the diaries describe Jünger's wanderings through Parisian bookshops and cafes, his conversations at salons with French intellectuals, and his reflections on books and nature (he was a trained biologist)
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Over an amazing 80-year career as a writer, Ernst Jünger (1895-1998) fought in WWI, became a leading writer of "soldierly nationalism" in the 19...Show more
Over an amazing 80-year career as a writer, Ernst Jünger (1895-1998) fought in WWI, became a leading writer of "soldierly nationalism" in the 1920s, and produced possibly the only anti-Nazi novel during the Third Reich, On the Marble Cliffs. Jünger's seeming moral ambiguities have made him the subject of much controversy in his home country. He has long been the subject of a series of highly charged debates about his work, and his presentation with the Goethe Prize (Germany's highest literary honor) in 1982 revived an old charge that Jünger had helped pave the way for fascism. The French, however, regard him as Germany's greatest twentieth-century author. Jünger's war diaries are important historical documents. He rejoined the army in 1941 and was sent to Paris, where he was in a unique position to observe the German occupation of France from the point of view of an occupier, but one who was not blinded by Nazi ideology. The First Paris Diary begins in 1941, when Jünger began his war duties as a mail censor of the occupying regime, and ends in October of 1942, as he leaves Paris to travel to the Eastern Front. Through his high-level contacts, Jünger was aware of the situation on the Eastern front and the atrocities being committed there. He was also a member of a secret circle of aristocratic officers, led by Rommel, who opposed Hitler's conduct of the war and were conspiring to arrest him in France in 1944 and turn him over to allies in exchange for lenient armistice conditions. In addition to descriptions of his official duties, the diaries describe Jünger's wanderings through Parisian bookshops and cafes, his conversations at salons with French intellectuals, and his reflections on books and nature (he was a trained biologist)
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An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and A Collision of Lives in World War II
by Makos, Adam
Book - 2019
Clarence Smoyer began the war as a gentle giant, a factory worker from Pennsylvania coal country reluctant to unleash the power of the Sherman tank he cre...Show more
Clarence Smoyer began the war as a gentle giant, a factory worker from Pennsylvania coal country reluctant to unleash the power of the Sherman tank he crewed. But as his tank platoon fought its way from Normandy to the Rhine and beyond, and he watched his friends cut down one by one, he learned to kill with deadly accuracy and efficiency. His fight would climax in Cologne, in the shadow of the great cathedral, where he took a shot immortalized by a chance photograph--and where he would later forge a friendship with the German tanker he tragically dueled soon after.
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Clarence Smoyer began the war as a gentle giant, a factory worker from Pennsylvania coal country reluctant to unleash the power of the Sherman tank he cre...Show more
Clarence Smoyer began the war as a gentle giant, a factory worker from Pennsylvania coal country reluctant to unleash the power of the Sherman tank he crewed. But as his tank platoon fought its way from Normandy to the Rhine and beyond, and he watched his friends cut down one by one, he learned to kill with deadly accuracy and efficiency. His fight would climax in Cologne, in the shadow of the great cathedral, where he took a shot immortalized by a chance photograph--and where he would later forge a friendship with the German tanker he tragically dueled soon after.
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One Man, An Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz
Book - 2019
Superbly written and breathtakingly researched, The Volunteer smuggles us into Auschwitz and shows us--as if watching a movie--the story of a Polish agent...Show more
Superbly written and breathtakingly researched, The Volunteer smuggles us into Auschwitz and shows us--as if watching a movie--the story of a Polish agent who infiltrated the infamous camp, organized a rebellion, and then snuck back out. We are squarely confronted with the other human truth: ordinary people will happily risk their lives to help others. Fairweather has dug up a story of incalculable value and delivered it to us in the most compelling prose I have read in a long time." --Sebastian Junger, bestselling author of The Perfect Storm and Tribe
The incredible true story of a Polish resistance fighter's infiltration of Auschwitz to sabotage the camp from within, and his death-defying attempt to warn the Allies about the Nazis' plans for a "Final Solution" before it was too late.
To uncover the fate of the thousands being interred at a mysterious Nazi camp on the border of the Reich, a thirty-nine-year-old Polish resistance fighter named Witold Pilecki volunteered for an audacious mission: assume a fake identity, intentionally get captured and sent to the new camp, and then report back to the underground on what had happened to his compatriots there. But gathering information was not his only task: he was to execute an attack from inside--where the Germans would least expect it.
The name of the camp was Auschwitz.
Over the next two and half years, Pilecki forged an underground army within Auschwitz that sabotaged facilities, assassinated Nazi informants and officers, and gathered evidence of terrifying abuse and mass murder. But as he pieced together the horrifying truth that the camp was to become the epicenter of Nazi plans to exterminate Europe's Jews, Pilecki realized he would have to risk his men, his life, and his family to warn the West before all was lost. To do so, meant attempting the impossible--an escape from Auschwitz itself.
Completely erased from the historical record by Poland's post-war Communist government, Pilecki remains almost unknown to the world. Now, with exclusive access to previously hidden diaries, family and camp survivor accounts, and recently declassified files, Jack Fairweather offers an unflinching portrayal of survival, revenge and betrayal in mankind's darkest hour. And in uncovering the tragic outcome of Pilecki's mission, he reveals that its ultimate defeat originated not in Auschwitz or Berlin, but in London and Washington.
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Superbly written and breathtakingly researched, The Volunteer smuggles us into Auschwitz and shows us--as if watching a movie--the story of a Polish agent...Show more
Superbly written and breathtakingly researched, The Volunteer smuggles us into Auschwitz and shows us--as if watching a movie--the story of a Polish agent who infiltrated the infamous camp, organized a rebellion, and then snuck back out. We are squarely confronted with the other human truth: ordinary people will happily risk their lives to help others. Fairweather has dug up a story of incalculable value and delivered it to us in the most compelling prose I have read in a long time." --Sebastian Junger, bestselling author of The Perfect Storm and Tribe
The incredible true story of a Polish resistance fighter's infiltration of Auschwitz to sabotage the camp from within, and his death-defying attempt to warn the Allies about the Nazis' plans for a "Final Solution" before it was too late.
To uncover the fate of the thousands being interred at a mysterious Nazi camp on the border of the Reich, a thirty-nine-year-old Polish resistance fighter named Witold Pilecki volunteered for an audacious mission: assume a fake identity, intentionally get captured and sent to the new camp, and then report back to the underground on what had happened to his compatriots there. But gathering information was not his only task: he was to execute an attack from inside--where the Germans would least expect it.
The name of the camp was Auschwitz.
Over the next two and half years, Pilecki forged an underground army within Auschwitz that sabotaged facilities, assassinated Nazi informants and officers, and gathered evidence of terrifying abuse and mass murder. But as he pieced together the horrifying truth that the camp was to become the epicenter of Nazi plans to exterminate Europe's Jews, Pilecki realized he would have to risk his men, his life, and his family to warn the West before all was lost. To do so, meant attempting the impossible--an escape from Auschwitz itself.
Completely erased from the historical record by Poland's post-war Communist government, Pilecki remains almost unknown to the world. Now, with exclusive access to previously hidden diaries, family and camp survivor accounts, and recently declassified files, Jack Fairweather offers an unflinching portrayal of survival, revenge and betrayal in mankind's darkest hour. And in uncovering the tragic outcome of Pilecki's mission, he reveals that its ultimate defeat originated not in Auschwitz or Berlin, but in London and Washington.
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Dieppe, D-Day, & the Battle of Normandy : A Visitor's Guide
by Copp, J. T.
Book - 2019
This guidebook offers an introduction to the strategic, operational and tactical aspects of the Dieppe Raid and the Normandy campaign plus information on ...Show more
This guidebook offers an introduction to the strategic, operational and tactical aspects of the Dieppe Raid and the Normandy campaign plus information on accommodation, museums, memorials and other points of interest. The battlefields of the Second World War have long played an important part in the collective memory and imagination of Canadians. This guide is intended to encourage a new generation to set out on their own journey not just to the iconic landing beaches, memorials and museums but to the villages and fields where young Canadians fought to free France from the yoke of Nazi tyranny.
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This guidebook offers an introduction to the strategic, operational and tactical aspects of the Dieppe Raid and the Normandy campaign plus information on ...Show more
This guidebook offers an introduction to the strategic, operational and tactical aspects of the Dieppe Raid and the Normandy campaign plus information on accommodation, museums, memorials and other points of interest. The battlefields of the Second World War have long played an important part in the collective memory and imagination of Canadians. This guide is intended to encourage a new generation to set out on their own journey not just to the iconic landing beaches, memorials and museums but to the villages and fields where young Canadians fought to free France from the yoke of Nazi tyranny.
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Book - 2019
The author's great-uncle John Bear King was a Sioux Indian in the First Cavalry in the Second World War. Her book follows seven Sioux who put aside a long...Show more
The author's great-uncle John Bear King was a Sioux Indian in the First Cavalry in the Second World War. Her book follows seven Sioux who put aside a long history of prejudice against their people and joined the fight against Japan, using their native language as a secret code for the Americans. The Sioux and other tribal code-talking groups have historically taken a backseat to the Navajo Code Talkers, until a presidential act of recognition was signed in 2008.
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The author's great-uncle John Bear King was a Sioux Indian in the First Cavalry in the Second World War. Her book follows seven Sioux who put aside a long...Show more
The author's great-uncle John Bear King was a Sioux Indian in the First Cavalry in the Second World War. Her book follows seven Sioux who put aside a long history of prejudice against their people and joined the fight against Japan, using their native language as a secret code for the Americans. The Sioux and other tribal code-talking groups have historically taken a backseat to the Navajo Code Talkers, until a presidential act of recognition was signed in 2008.
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Map by Map
by Adams, Simon
Book - 2019
In this stunning visual history book, custom maps tell the story of the Second World War from the rise of the Axis powers to the dropping of the atom bomb...Show more
In this stunning visual history book, custom maps tell the story of the Second World War from the rise of the Axis powers to the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Each map is rich with detail and graphics, helping you to chart the progress of key events of World War II on land, sea, and air, such as the Dunkirk evacuation, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the D-Day landings, and the siege of Stalingrad. Historical maps from both Allied and Axis countries also offer unique insights into the events. There are timelines to help you follow the story as it unfolds, while narrative overviews explain the social, economic, political, and technical developments at the time. Fascinating, large-scale pictures introduce topics such as the Holocaust, blitzkrieg, kamikaze warfare, and code-breaking. Written by a team of historians in consultation with Richard Overy, World War II Map by Map examines how the deadliest conflict in history changed the face of our world.
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In this stunning visual history book, custom maps tell the story of the Second World War from the rise of the Axis powers to the dropping of the atom bomb...Show more
In this stunning visual history book, custom maps tell the story of the Second World War from the rise of the Axis powers to the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Each map is rich with detail and graphics, helping you to chart the progress of key events of World War II on land, sea, and air, such as the Dunkirk evacuation, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the D-Day landings, and the siege of Stalingrad. Historical maps from both Allied and Axis countries also offer unique insights into the events. There are timelines to help you follow the story as it unfolds, while narrative overviews explain the social, economic, political, and technical developments at the time. Fascinating, large-scale pictures introduce topics such as the Holocaust, blitzkrieg, kamikaze warfare, and code-breaking. Written by a team of historians in consultation with Richard Overy, World War II Map by Map examines how the deadliest conflict in history changed the face of our world.
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Book - 2018
In 1921, Françoise Frenkel - a Jewish woman from Poland - opens Berlin's very first French bookshop. It is a dream come true. The bookshop attracts artist...Show more
In 1921, Françoise Frenkel - a Jewish woman from Poland - opens Berlin's very first French bookshop. It is a dream come true. The bookshop attracts artists and diplomats, celebrities and poets - even the French ambassador himself. It brings Françoise peace, friendship and prosperity. Then one summer's day in 1939, the dream ends. It ends after Kristallnacht, when Jewish shops and businesses are smashed to pieces. It ends when no one protests. So, just weeks before the war breaks out, Françoise flees to France. In Paris, on the wireless and in the newspapers, horror has made itself at home. When the city is bombed, Françoise seeks refuge in Nice, which is awash with refugees and terrible suffering. Children are torn from their parents; mothers throw themselves under buses. Horrified by what she sees, Françoise goes into hiding. She survives only because strangers risk their lives to protect her. Unfolding in Berlin, Paris and against the romantic landscapes of Southern France, No Place to Lay One's Head is a heartbreaking tale of human cruelty and unending kindness; of a woman whose lust for life refuses to leave her, even in her darkest hours.
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In 1921, Françoise Frenkel - a Jewish woman from Poland - opens Berlin's very first French bookshop. It is a dream come true. The bookshop attracts artist...Show more
In 1921, Françoise Frenkel - a Jewish woman from Poland - opens Berlin's very first French bookshop. It is a dream come true. The bookshop attracts artists and diplomats, celebrities and poets - even the French ambassador himself. It brings Françoise peace, friendship and prosperity. Then one summer's day in 1939, the dream ends. It ends after Kristallnacht, when Jewish shops and businesses are smashed to pieces. It ends when no one protests. So, just weeks before the war breaks out, Françoise flees to France. In Paris, on the wireless and in the newspapers, horror has made itself at home. When the city is bombed, Françoise seeks refuge in Nice, which is awash with refugees and terrible suffering. Children are torn from their parents; mothers throw themselves under buses. Horrified by what she sees, Françoise goes into hiding. She survives only because strangers risk their lives to protect her. Unfolding in Berlin, Paris and against the romantic landscapes of Southern France, No Place to Lay One's Head is a heartbreaking tale of human cruelty and unending kindness; of a woman whose lust for life refuses to leave her, even in her darkest hours.
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How the Indian Army Finally Stopped the Japanese Juggernaut
Book - 2017
In the spring of 1944, on the eastern front of India near the Burmese border, the seemingly unstoppable Imperial Japanese Army suffered the worst defeat i...Show more
In the spring of 1944, on the eastern front of India near the Burmese border, the seemingly unstoppable Imperial Japanese Army suffered the worst defeat in its history at the hands of Lieutenant General William Slim's British XIV Army, most of whose units were drawn from the little-esteemed Indian Army. Triumph at Imphal-Kohima tells the largely unknown story of how an army that Winston Churchill had once dismissed as "a welter of lassitude and inefficiency" came to achieve such an unlikely, unprecedented, and critical victory for the Allied forces in World War II.
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In the spring of 1944, on the eastern front of India near the Burmese border, the seemingly unstoppable Imperial Japanese Army suffered the worst defeat i...Show more
In the spring of 1944, on the eastern front of India near the Burmese border, the seemingly unstoppable Imperial Japanese Army suffered the worst defeat in its history at the hands of Lieutenant General William Slim's British XIV Army, most of whose units were drawn from the little-esteemed Indian Army. Triumph at Imphal-Kohima tells the largely unknown story of how an army that Winston Churchill had once dismissed as "a welter of lassitude and inefficiency" came to achieve such an unlikely, unprecedented, and critical victory for the Allied forces in World War II.
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Canada's Boy Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen in the Second World War
Book - 2016
Dan Black and John Boileau tell the stories of some of the 30,000 underage youths --some as young as fourteen--who joined the Canadian Armed Forces in the...Show more
Dan Black and John Boileau tell the stories of some of the 30,000 underage youths --some as young as fourteen--who joined the Canadian Armed Forces in the Second World War. This is the companion volume to the authors' popular 2013 book Old Enough to Fight about boy soldiers in the First World War. Like their predecessors a generation before, these boys managed to enlist despite their youth. Most went on to face action overseas in what would become the deadliest military conflict in human history. They enlisted for a myriad of personal reasons--ranging from the appeal of earning regular pay after the unemployment and poverty of the Depression to the desire to avenge the death of a brother or father killed overseas. Canada's boy soldiers, sailors and airmen saw themselves contributing to the war effort in a visible, meaningful way, even when that meant taking on very adult risks and dangers of combat. Among the individuals whose stories are told: Ken Ewing, at age sixteen taken prisoner at Hong Kong and then spent his teen years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp; Ralph Frayne, so determined to fight that he enlisted in the army, navy and Merchant Navy all before the age of seventeen; Robert Boulanger, at age eighteen the youngest Canadian to die on the Dieppe beaches. Meticulously researched and extensively illustrated with photographs, personal documents and specially commissioned maps, Too Young to Die provides a touching and fascinating perspective on the Canadian experience in the Second World War.
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Dan Black and John Boileau tell the stories of some of the 30,000 underage youths --some as young as fourteen--who joined the Canadian Armed Forces in the...Show more
Dan Black and John Boileau tell the stories of some of the 30,000 underage youths --some as young as fourteen--who joined the Canadian Armed Forces in the Second World War. This is the companion volume to the authors' popular 2013 book Old Enough to Fight about boy soldiers in the First World War. Like their predecessors a generation before, these boys managed to enlist despite their youth. Most went on to face action overseas in what would become the deadliest military conflict in human history. They enlisted for a myriad of personal reasons--ranging from the appeal of earning regular pay after the unemployment and poverty of the Depression to the desire to avenge the death of a brother or father killed overseas. Canada's boy soldiers, sailors and airmen saw themselves contributing to the war effort in a visible, meaningful way, even when that meant taking on very adult risks and dangers of combat. Among the individuals whose stories are told: Ken Ewing, at age sixteen taken prisoner at Hong Kong and then spent his teen years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp; Ralph Frayne, so determined to fight that he enlisted in the army, navy and Merchant Navy all before the age of seventeen; Robert Boulanger, at age eighteen the youngest Canadian to die on the Dieppe beaches. Meticulously researched and extensively illustrated with photographs, personal documents and specially commissioned maps, Too Young to Die provides a touching and fascinating perspective on the Canadian experience in the Second World War.
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The Subcontinent and the Second World War
by Khan, Yasmin
Book - 2015
World War II was a global catastrophe. Far broader than just the critical struggle between Allies and Axis, its ramifications were felt throughout the wor...Show more
World War II was a global catastrophe. Far broader than just the critical struggle between Allies and Axis, its ramifications were felt throughout the world. It was a time of social relocation, reorienting ideas of patriotism and geographical attachment, and forcing the movement of people across oceans and continents. In India at War, Yasmin Khan offers an account of India's role in the conflict, one that takes into consideration the social, economic, and cultural changes that occurred in South Asia between 1939 and 1945-and reveals how vital the Commonwealth's contribution was to the war effort.
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World War II was a global catastrophe. Far broader than just the critical struggle between Allies and Axis, its ramifications were felt throughout the wor...Show more
World War II was a global catastrophe. Far broader than just the critical struggle between Allies and Axis, its ramifications were felt throughout the world. It was a time of social relocation, reorienting ideas of patriotism and geographical attachment, and forcing the movement of people across oceans and continents. In India at War, Yasmin Khan offers an account of India's role in the conflict, one that takes into consideration the social, economic, and cultural changes that occurred in South Asia between 1939 and 1945-and reveals how vital the Commonwealth's contribution was to the war effort.
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One Man, One Dog, and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage and Survival in WWII
Large Print - 2015
[T]ells the remarkable story of Royal Air Force technician Frank Williams and Judy, a purebred pointer, who met in an internment camp during WWII. Judy wa...Show more
[T]ells the remarkable story of Royal Air Force technician Frank Williams and Judy, a purebred pointer, who met in an internment camp during WWII. Judy was a fiercely loyal animal who sensed danger and instinctively mistrusted anyone in enemy uniform. Their relationship deepened throughout their imprisonment. The prisoners suffered severe beatings which Judy would interrupt with her barking. The dog became a beacon for the men, who saw in her survival a flicker of hope for their own. Judy was the war's only canine POW, and when she passed away in 1950, she was buried in her Air Force jacket. Williams would never own another dog. Their story-of an unbreakable bond forged in the worst circumstance-is one of the great undiscovered sagas of World War II
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[T]ells the remarkable story of Royal Air Force technician Frank Williams and Judy, a purebred pointer, who met in an internment camp during WWII. Judy wa...Show more
[T]ells the remarkable story of Royal Air Force technician Frank Williams and Judy, a purebred pointer, who met in an internment camp during WWII. Judy was a fiercely loyal animal who sensed danger and instinctively mistrusted anyone in enemy uniform. Their relationship deepened throughout their imprisonment. The prisoners suffered severe beatings which Judy would interrupt with her barking. The dog became a beacon for the men, who saw in her survival a flicker of hope for their own. Judy was the war's only canine POW, and when she passed away in 1950, she was buried in her Air Force jacket. Williams would never own another dog. Their story-of an unbreakable bond forged in the worst circumstance-is one of the great undiscovered sagas of World War II
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An Indian Story of the Second World War
Book - 2015
A war narrated through the lives and deaths of a single family. A young man from the sleepy south Indian coast, sensing adventure and opportunity, follows...Show more
A war narrated through the lives and deaths of a single family. A young man from the sleepy south Indian coast, sensing adventure and opportunity, follows his brothers-in-law into the army--and onto the front lines of India's Second World War. His army fights for the British empire, even as his countrymen fight for freedom from it, and Indian soldiers end up on both sides of the vast conflict. The narrative travels from Madras to Eritrea, Iraq, and Burma, unfolding the saga of a young family amazed by their swiftly changing world and devastated by its violence. How the war transformed India, its army, and the British empire that had ruled the country for so long and would, barely two years after the end of the war, abandon it to the horrors of partition
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A war narrated through the lives and deaths of a single family. A young man from the sleepy south Indian coast, sensing adventure and opportunity, follows...Show more
A war narrated through the lives and deaths of a single family. A young man from the sleepy south Indian coast, sensing adventure and opportunity, follows his brothers-in-law into the army--and onto the front lines of India's Second World War. His army fights for the British empire, even as his countrymen fight for freedom from it, and Indian soldiers end up on both sides of the vast conflict. The narrative travels from Madras to Eritrea, Iraq, and Burma, unfolding the saga of a young family amazed by their swiftly changing world and devastated by its violence. How the war transformed India, its army, and the British empire that had ruled the country for so long and would, barely two years after the end of the war, abandon it to the horrors of partition
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