Author: Angela Walker Publisher: Pen and Sword ISBN: 1473890748 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 254
Book Description
This is the Second World War story of a champion cyclist turned airman who lived to tell the tale against almost impossible odds. A New Zealander in the RAF, Ian Walker took part in the Battle of Britain before transferring to Bomber Command and surviving three plane crashes in his Wellington bomber. The last of these saw him crash land in enemy territory, where he was eventually captured and taken prisoner. Confined within the claustrophobic walls of a POW camp, he hatched a plot with a fellow inmate to escape. This they achieved, almost miraculously, in broad daylight. Living on basic rations, they navigated the enemy wilds until they were captured, yet again, and taken back to prison.After languishing in POW camps and hospitals for more than two years, Ian had the good fortune of being placed on a list of injured men to be exchanged, man for man, with German prisoners. The little-known story of the history-making exchange that took place in Barcelona in October 1943 is detailed here, describing how thousands of allied and axis prisoners were safely returned to their homelands in the midst of war.Ians daughter, Angela Walker, has endeavored to preserve the details of her fathers extraordinary odyssey in full. Her tale circumnavigates the globe, weaving snippets taken from letters and extensive journals kept by her father in order to create a compelling, warm hearted and thrilling account of his war. Having once inspired her to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, her father now continues to inform and inspire her through the stories shes recovered from his past. Her book commemorates the efforts of all New Zealands wartime airmen who, like her father, made significant contributions in the fight for allied victory.
Author: Kenneth G. Wynn Publisher: Frontline Books ISBN: 1526785285 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 778
Book Description
“Tells about various details of data, squadrons, training, life path, passport photos and more. This supplement contains addition for about 350(!) airmen.” —Aviation Book Reviews Since it was first published in 1989, Men of the Battle of Britain, the complete third edition of which was published in 2015, has become a standard reference book for academics and researchers interested in the Battle of Britain. This remarkable publication records the service details of every airman who took part in the Battle of Britain, and who earned the Battle of Britain Clasp, in considerable detail. Where known, an individual’s various postings and their dates are included, as are promotions, decorations, and successes claimed while flying against the enemy. There is also much personal detail, often including dates and places of birth, civilian occupations, dates of death and place of burial or, for those with no known grave, place of commemoration. There are many wartime head-and-shoulders photographs. Inevitably, the passage of time ensures that there is a constant reevaluation of the wealth of information contained within Men of the Battle of Britain. At the same time, since the 2015 edition it has been possible to expand many individual entries, some 330 in total, to give some idea of the wider social context around the aircrew who earned the Battle of Britain Clasp. This has been achieved by reference to existing sources, including information supplied by The Few themselves and their relatives over many years, as well as new research. This invaluable supplement to the 2015 edition ensures that these additions and revisions are available to all researchers, historians, enthusiasts and general readers.
Author: Garry Campion Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3030261107 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 384
Book Description
The Battle of Britain has held an enchanted place in British popular history and memory throughout the modern era. Its transition from history to heritage since 1965 confirms that the 1940 narrative shaped by the State has been sustained by historians, the media, popular culture, and through non-governmental heritage sites, often with financing from the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund. Garry Campion evaluates the Battle’s revered place in British society and its influence on national identity, considering its historiography and revisionism; the postwar lives of the Few, their leaders and memorialization; its depictions on screen and in commercial products; the RAF Museum’s Battle of Britain Hall; third-sector heritage attractions; and finally, fighter airfields, including RAF Hawkinge as a case study. A follow-up to Campion’s The Battle of Britain, 1945–1965 (Palgrave, 2015), this book offers an engaging, accessible study of the Battle’s afterlives in scholarship, memorialization, and popular culture.
Author: Daniel Culler Publisher: Casemate Publishers ISBN: 1612005551 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 170
Book Description
A harrowing memoir revealing the horrors that occurred within a little-known prison camp in Switzerland, by a POW who survived it. During WWII, 1,517 members of US aircrews were forced to seek asylum in Switzerland. Most neutral countries found reason to release US airmen from internment, but Switzerland took its obligations under the Hague Convention more seriously than most. The airmen were often incarcerated in local jails, then transferred to prison camps. The worst of these camps was Wauwilermoos, where at least 161 US airmen were sent for the honorable offense of escaping. To this hellhole came Dan Culler, the author of this incredible account of suffering and survival. Prisoners slept on lice-infested straw, were malnourished, and had virtually no hygiene facilities or access to medical care. But worse, the commandant of Wauwilermoos was a diehard Swiss Nazi. He allowed the mainly criminal occupants of the camp to torture and rape Dan Culler with impunity. After many months of such treatment, starving and ravaged by disease, he was finally aided by a British officer. Betrayal dominated his cruel fate—by the American authorities, by the Swiss, and, in a last twist, in a second planned escape that turned out to be a trap. But Dan Culler’s courage and determination kept him alive. Finally making it back home, he found he had been abandoned again. Political expediency meant there was no such place as Wauwilermoos. He had never been there, so he had never been a POW and didn‘t qualify for any POW benefits or medical or mental treatment for his many physical and emotional wounds. His struggle to make his peace with his past forms the final part of the story. An introduction and notes from military historian Rob Morris provide historical background and context, including recent efforts to recognize the suffering of those incarcerated in Switzerland and afford them full POW status.
Author: Kendal Burt Publisher: Pen and Sword ISBN: 1473816939 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 309
Book Description
In World War II James Leasor was commissioned into the Royal Berkshire Regiment and posted to the 1st Lincolns in Burma and India, where he served for three and a half years. His experiences inspired him to write such books as Boarding Party (filmed as The Sea Wolves). He later became a feature writer and foreign correspondent at the Daily Express. Here he wrote The One that Got Away. As well as non-fiction, Leasor has written novels, including Passport to Oblivion, filmed as Where the Spies Are with David Niven
Author: Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society Publisher: Turner Publishing Company ISBN: 9781563110344 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 132
Book Description
A history of the brave American men who flew and were shot down in Europe during World War II, but were able to escape imprisonment due to the efforts of those who aided them. A source of information on the European underground resistance groups of World War II. The book contains rare photographs, maps, and war documents.
Author: Arthur Harris Publisher: Pen and Sword ISBN: 1844152103 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 288
Book Description
Sir Arthur Harris - Bomber Harris - remains the target of criticism and vilification by many, while others believe the contribution he and his men made to victory is grossly undervalued. He led the men of Bomber Command in the face of appalling casualties, had fierce disagreements with higher authority and enjoyed a complicated relationship with Winston Churchill. Written soon after the close of World War 2, this collection of Sir Arthur Harris's memoirs reveals the man behind the Allied bombing offensive that culminated in the destruction of the Nazi war machine but also many beautiful cities, including Dresden.
Author: Robin Quinn Publisher: The History Press ISBN: 0752483315 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 368
Book Description
After the Second World War, 400,000 German servicemen were imprisoned on British soil, some remaining until 1948. These defeated men in their tattered uniforms were, in every sense, Hitler’s Last Army. Britain used the prisoners as an essential labour force, especially in agriculture, and in the devastating winter of 1947 the Germans helped avert a national disaster by clearing snow and stemming floods, working shoulder to shoulder with Allied troops. Slowly, friendships were forged between former enemies. Some POWs fell in love with British women, though such relationships were often frowned upon: ‘Falling pregnant outside marriage was bad enough – but with a German POW ...!’ Using exclusive interviews with former prisoners, as well as extensive archive material, this book looks at the Second World War from a fresh perspective – that of Britain’s German prisoners, from the shock of being captured to their final release long after the war had ended.
Author: Angela Walker
Author: Kenneth G. Wynn
Author: Garry Campion
Author: Daniel Culler
Author: Kendal Burt
Author: Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society
Author: Maurer Maurer
Author: Anton Rippon
Author: Arthur Harris
Author: Robin Quinn