Author: Jerome W. SheridanPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
American Airman in the Belgian Resistance
Author: Jerome W. SheridanAmerican Airman in the Belgian Resistance
Author: Jerome W. SheridanPublisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786494972
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 259
Book Description
In May of 1944, American airman Gerald E. Sorensen was shot down over Nazi occupied Belgium. The Belgian Resistance recovered Sorensen and sheltered him in the home of the Abeels family. Friendship between Sorensen and the Abeels blossomed and they came to consider each other as family. The Abeels were active in the Resistance and Sorensen ultimately volunteered to join his Belgian brother Roger Abeels in the Secret Army. Just moments before the British Army arrived to liberate the village of Marcq-lez-Enghien, Sorensen and Abeels were killed in combat with the Nazis, fighting side-by-side. This book tells Sorensen's story: his upbringing, education, marriage and military service; his evasion of capture and kinship with the Abeels; his experience in the Resistance; his final combat and his impact on those he left behind. But this book is more than a biography. It recounts the courageous struggle of the Belgians who risked everything to save Allied airmen and explains why Sorensen and Abeels are extraordinary symbols of the enduring values at the heart of today's transatlantic alliance.
Silent Heroes
Author: Sherri Greene OttisPublisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813147980
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248
Book Description
In the early years of World War II, it was an amazing feat for an Allied airman shot down over occupied Europe to make it back to England. By 1943, however, pilots and crewmembers, supplied with "escape kits," knew they had a 50 percent chance of evading capture and returning home. An estimated 12,000 French civilians helped make this possible. More than 5,000 airmen, many of them American, successfully traveled along escape lines organized much like those of the U.S. Underground Railroad, using secret codes and stopping in safe houses. If caught, they risked internment in a POW camp. But the French, Belgian, and Dutch civilians who aided them risked torture and even death. Sherri Ottis writes candidly about the pilots and crewmen who walked out of occupied Europe, as well as the British intelligence agency in charge of Escape and Evasion. But her main focus is on the helpers, those patriots who have been all but ignored in English-language books and journals. To research their stories, Ottis hiked the Pyrenees and interviewed many of the survivors. She tells of the extreme difficulty they had in avoiding Nazi infiltration by double agents; of their creativity in hiding evaders in their homes, sometimes in the midst of unexpected searches; of their generosity in sharing their meager food supplies during wartime; and of their unflagging spirit and courage in the face of a war fought on a very personal level.
Escape from Hitler's Europe
Author: George WattPublisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813144124
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
"A hell of an adventure story."—Ring Lardner Jr. "A story of what is best in human beings triumphing over what is worst."—John Sayles November 1943: American flyer George Watt parachutes out of his burning warplane and lands in rural Nazi-occupied Belgium. Escape from Hitler's Europe is the incredible story of his getaway—how brave villagers spirited him to Brussels to connect with the Comet Line, a rescue arm of the Belgian resistance. This was a gravely dangerous mission, especially for a Jewish soldier who had fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Watt recounts dodging the Gestapo, entering Paris via the underground, and finally, crossing the treacherous Pyrenees into Spain. In 1985, he returned to Belgium and discovered an astonishing postscript to his wartime experiences.
Resistance
Author: Anita ShrevePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 222
Book Description
In World War II, an American flier is shot down over Belgium. He is rescued by a farmer and his wife who are in the resistance. The wife cares for the airman's wounds and while the husband is away they have a doomed affair which ends in betrayal.
The Quest for Freedom
Author: Yvonne de Ridder FilesPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Belgium
Languages : en
Pages : 184
Book Description
Escape from Hitler's Europe
Author: George WattPublisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 9780813131498
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
Living and Fighting with the French Underground
Author: David Paul SwanzyPublisher: Uniqpublishing/Uniqware by Design LLC
ISBN: 9780983262800
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299
Book Description
A World War Two air battle over Southern France in July of 1944 sets the stage for several heroic stories, carefully woven into an historical narrative. Indeed, as told by both the downed American airmen as well as the maquisards who rescued them, these stories provide a keen insight into the workings of Resistance fighters who contributed ultimately to the defeat of the occupying Nazis. The eight American airmen, while escaping capture for six weeks, participated shoulder to shoulder with the British-directed Buckmaster Network in dangerous parachute drops. These and other clandestine operations are described in vivid detail and with amazing consistency by the Americans and Frenchmen who dared to challenge German authority. But efforts were not without their hardships, from clashes with the communist faction of the Resistance and even those directly under General de Gaulle, to the irritating domination of the French Vichy and its milice. The climax of such efforts to survive came with the near-fatal raid of the Mirabeau maquis camp by the occupying Nazi forces. Personal stories are often moving, and there are several in this book. For example, tail gunner Walter Wilson jumped rather awkwardly from the American B-24 bomber and, after sustaining life-threatening injuries, was saved by Gilbert Gay, who placed Wilson on a crudely-made stretcher and then hid him in a cave. It was during those first few minutes on the ground when the first of several encounters with British spies occurred. So it was that, ultimately, three of the War's most famous British Agents--Roger, Raymond, and Pauline (codenames), crossed paths with the Americans. Here are a few excerpts. As I drifted down, one of the attacking ME-109's made a sharp turn and came back within fifty feet of me. The German pilot waved; I waved back. Paul Hooge, B-24 flight engineer, Written Narrative Account, 1944 We put Walter on a make-shift stretcher to move him to the Delevy Farm. His parachute was still under him to help make him comfortable. Gilbert Gay, former maquisard, interview of July 1996 When I saw the Germans starting to dig a grave out next to a nearby stream, I worked up my courage, approached them, and offered to help. They handed me the shovel, but I said I would like to organize a Christian burial. They didn't answer but turned and left me alone. Felix Reynaud FFI Resistance leader in La Tour d Aigues, interview of July 1996 Roger had just asked me if it would be possible to form a Resistance group and find a suitable site where airplanes could drop supplies. I said I would do it if Andre Marcel would help me. He knew the woods like no other person. Francis Moucan, Buckmaster Network cell leader, in "Account by Francis Moucan," Pertuis (France) Archives The book contains twenty chapters and also has an extensive bibliography of both primary and secondary sources. The chapter headings are: View from Below, Shaping the Vision, Jenny Doesn t Like Chocolate What s This All About? Gilbert Gay Musician and Resistance Fighter, The Broad Perspective, Flying the Wild Blue Yonder, Marcel Andre: Freedom Fighter Extraordinaire, The Air Battle over La Tour d Aigues, The Crash at La Tour d Aigues, From Plane to Ground, Saving Walter Wilson, The Gathering of the Crew, Americans in Mirabeau, Resistance and Assistance in La Tour d Aigues, Patriotism in the Vineyards, The People of La Tour d Aigues, The Navigator s Tale, British Agents: Roger, Raymond, and Pauline. Epilogue, and Reflection.
Air Force Combat Units of World War II
Author: Maurer MaurerPublisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428915850
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 520
Book Description
Agent for the Resistance
Author: Herman BodsonPublisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9780890966075
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276
Book Description
This dramatic memoir traces Herman Bodson's transformation from a pacifist and scientist to, in his own words, "a cold fighter and a killer" in the Belgian underground, an expert in explosives and sabotage. Serving first in the OMBR (Office Militaire Belge de Resistance), he later formed a group of underground fighters in the Belgian Ardennes. They undertook blowing up military trains and installations - including the sabotage of a bridge which resulted in the deaths of some six hundred German soldiers - cutting German communication lines, and rescuing downed American fliers. Bodson also served as a medical aide to an American military doctor at Bastogne in the crucial days of the Battle of the Bulge.