- Table View
- List View
Last Man Out: Surviving the Burma-Thailand Death Railway: A Memoir
by H. Robert CharlesAn American Marine recounts his ordeal as a World War II POW forced by the Japanese to build the railway immortalized in The Bridge on the River Kwai.From June 1942 to October 1943, more than 100,000 Allied POWs who had been forced into slave labor by the Japanese died building the infamous Burma-Thailand Death Railway, an undertaking immortalized in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai. One of the few who survived was American Marine H. Robert Charles, who describes the ordeal in vivid and harrowing detail in Last Man Out. The story mixes the unimaginable brutality of the camps with the inspiring courage of the men, such as a Dutch Colonial Army doctor whose skill and knowledge of the medicinal value of wild jungle herbs saved the lives of hundreds of his fellow POWs, including the author.Praise for Last Man Out“A remarkable story, long overdue, of the treatment of POW’s captured by Japan.” —Arthur L. Maher, USN, Senior officer to survive sinking of the USS Houston, POW of the Japanese in World War II“In World War II, to move materials and troops from Japan to Burma by avoiding the perilous sea route around the Malay Peninsula, the Japanese military built a railroad through the jungles of Thailand and Burma at great human cost to its prisoner laborers. Last Man Out is an effective addition to the history of this tragedy.” —Library Journal
Last Man Standing (The Taylor Clan #6)
by Julie MillerUndercover cop Cole Taylor had his hands full sustaining a secret identity as he worked to expose a Kansas City crime boss--while living under the enemy's roof! The last thing he needed was a snooty intellectual type interfering in his investigation, asking suspicious questions and snooping where she shouldn't. Besides, with all that fiery red hair and miles of silky skin, Victoria Westin didn't look like any professor he knew....She had the touch-me-not beauty of an aristocrat and fit right in with their upper-crust hosts. But the streetwise Taylor from working-class roots would have to persuade Miss High-and-Mighty to cooperate with his plan to save his life--and now hers, too. And if he couldn't gain her cooperation by his usual methods, he'd blackmail her with bedroom fantasies to "maintain cover."
Last Man Standing: The Memiors of a Seaforth Highlander During the Great War
by Norman CollinsA first-hand account of World War I by a nineteen-year-old Englishman who led a platoon into the carnage of the Battle of the Somme. While researching his excellent earlier book: Veterans of World War I, author Richard Van Emden encountered a fascinating personality of that long-ago conflict. After witnessing German naval attacks on British civilians, Norman Collins enlisted in the Seaforth Highlanders of the 51st Highland Division, even though he was under age. Collins fought at the battles of Beaumont Hamel, Arras, and Passchendaele, and was wounded several times. Collins lived to be 100 and had an unusually detailed collection of letters, documents, illustrations and photographs. Richard Van Emden has written a moving biography of a unique personality at war, and his long life after the dramatic events of his youth.&“This is a harrowing tale of battle, loss and the horrors of war.&” —Scotland Magazine&“His collection of letters, photographs and the record of interviews as an old man are a treasure trove of information on Western Front fighting.&” —British Army Review/Soldier Magazine&“Enthralling memoir. These letters form the freshest part of this book, full of detail about kit and food that obsessed soldiers but which do not find a place in the history books.&” —Who Do You Think You Are?&“This is one of the last great first-person memoirs of the Great War. Extraordinary diary, letter collection and photos.&” —Scottish Legion News
Last Men Out: The True Story of America's Heroic Final Hours in Vietnam
by Bob Drury Tom ClavinThe monsoon winds swirling up from the South China Sea had doubled in magnitude as Marine Staff Sergeant Mike Sullivan stood on the roof of the American Embassy, watching North Vietnamese artillery pound Saigon's airport. It was late in the afternoon of April 29, 1975, and for the past eight days the airstrip had been the busiest in the world as flight after flight of United States cargo planes ferried Vietnamese refugees, American civilians, and soldiers of both countries to safety while 150,000 North Vietnamese troops marched on the city. With Saigon now encircled and the airport bombed out, thousands were trapped.Last Men Out tells the remarkable story of the drama that unfolded over the next twenty-four hours: the final, heroic chapter of the Vietnam War as improvised by a small unit of Marines, a vast fleet of helicopter pilots flying nonstop missions beyond regulation, and a Marine general who vowed to arrest any officer who ordered his choppers grounded while his men were still on the ground. It would become the largest-scale evacuation ever carried out--what many would call an American Dunkirk.In a gripping, moment-by-moment narrative based on a wealth of recently declassified documents and indepth interviews, Bob Drury and Tom Clavin focus on the story of the eleven young Marines who were the last men to leave, rescued from the Embassy roof just moments before capture, having voted to make an Alamo-like last stand. As politicians in Washington struggled to put the best face on disaster and the American ambassador refused to acknowledge that the end had come and to evacuate, these courageous men held their ground and helped save thousands of lives. They and their fellow troops on the ground and in the air had no room for error as frenzy broke out in the streets and lashing rains and enemy fire began to pelt the city. One Marine pilot, Captain Gerry Berry, flew for eighteen straight hours and had to physically force the American ambassador onto his helicopter.Drury and Clavin gained unprecedented access to the survivors, to the declassified "After-Action reports" of the operation, and to the transmissions among helicopter pilots, their officers, and officials in Saigon secretly recorded by the National Security Agency. They deliver a taut and stirring account of a turning point in American history which unfolds with the heart-stopping urgency of the best thrillers--a riveting true story finally told, in full, by those who lived it.
Last Men Outt: The True Story of America's Heroic Final Hours in Vietnam
by Bob Drury Tom ClavinThe monsoon winds swirling up from the South China Sea had doubled in magnitude as Marine Staff Sergeant Mike Sullivan stood on the roof of the American Embassy, watching North Vietnamese artillery pound Saigon's airport. It was late in the afternoon of April 29, 1975, and for the past eight days the airstrip had been the busiest in the world as flight after flight of United States cargo planes ferried Vietnamese refugees, American civilians, and soldiers of both countries to safety while 150,000 North Vietnamese troops marched on the city. With Saigon now encircled and the airport bombed out, thousands were trapped.Last Men Out tells the remarkable story of the drama that unfolded over the next twenty-four hours: the final, heroic chapter of the Vietnam War as improvised by a small unit of Marines, a vast fleet of helicopter pilots flying nonstop missions beyond regulation, and a Marine general who vowed to arrest any officer who ordered his choppers grounded while his men were still on the ground. It would become the largest-scale evacuation ever carried out--what many would call an American Dunkirk.In a gripping, moment-by-moment narrative based on a wealth of recently declassified documents and indepth interviews, Bob Drury and Tom Clavin focus on the story of the eleven young Marines who were the last men to leave, rescued from the Embassy roof just moments before capture, having voted to make an Alamo-like last stand. As politicians in Washington struggled to put the best face on disaster and the American ambassador refused to acknowledge that the end had come and to evacuate, these courageous men held their ground and helped save thousands of lives. They and their fellow troops on the ground and in the air had no room for error as frenzy broke out in the streets and lashing rains and enemy fire began to pelt the city. One Marine pilot, Captain Gerry Berry, flew for eighteen straight hours and had to physically force the American ambassador onto his helicopter.Drury and Clavin gained unprecedented access to the survivors, to the declassified "After-Action reports" of the operation, and to the transmissions among helicopter pilots, their officers, and officials in Saigon secretly recorded by the National Security Agency. They deliver a taut and stirring account of a turning point in American history which unfolds with the heart-stopping urgency of the best thrillers--a riveting true story finally told, in full, by those who lived it.
Last Mission to Tokyo: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raiders and Their Final Fight for Justice
by Michel ParadisA thrilling narrative that introduces a key but underreported moment in World War II: The Doolitte Raids and the international war crimes trial in 1945 that defined Japanese-American relations and changed legal history.In 1942, freshly humiliated from the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States was in search of a plan. President Roosevelt, determined to show the world that our nation would not be intimidated or defeated by enemy powers, he demanded recommendations for a show of strength. Jimmy Doolittle, a stunt pilot with a doctorate from MIT, came forward, and led eighty young men, gathered together from the far-flung corners of Depression-era America, on a seemingly impossible mission across the Pacific. Sixteen planes in all, they only had enough fuel for a one-way trip. Together, the Raiders, as they were called, did what no one had successfully done for more than a thousand years. They struck the mainland of Japan and permanently turned the tide of the war in the Pacific. Almost immediately, The Doolittle Raid captured the public imagination, and has remained a seminal moment in World War II history, but the heroism and bravery of the mission is only half the story. In Last Mission to Tokyo, Michel Paradis reveals the dramatic aftermath of the mission, which involved two lost crews captured, tried, and tortured at the hands of the Japanese, a dramatic rescue of the survivors in the last weeks of World War II, and an international manhunt and trial led by two dynamic and opposing young lawyers—in which both the United States and Japan accused the other of war crimes—that would change the face of our legal and military history. Perfect for fans of Lucky 666 and Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial, Last Mission to Tokyo is a thrilling war story-meets-courtroom-drama that explores a key moment in World War II.
Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram
by Dang Thuy TramAt the age of twenty-four, Dang Thuy Tram volunteered to serve as a doctor in a National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) battlefield hospital in the Quang Ngai Province. Two years later she was killed by American forces not far from where she worked. Written between 1968 and 1970, her diary speaks poignantly of her devotion to family and friends, the horrors of war, her yearning for her high school sweetheart, and her struggle to prove her loyalty to her country. At times raw, at times lyrical and youthfully sentimental, her voice transcends cultures to speak of her dignity and compassion and of her challenges in the face of the war’s ceaseless fury.The American officer who discovered the diary soon after Dr. Tram’s death was under standing orders to destroy all documents without military value. As he was about to toss it into the flames, his Vietnamese translator said to him, “Don’t burn this one. . . . It has fire in it already.” Against regulations, the officer preserved the diary and kept it for thirty-five years. In the spring of 2005, a copy made its way to Dr. Tram’s elderly mother in Hanoi. The diary was soon published in Vietnam, causing a national sensation. Never before had there been such a vivid and personal account of the long ordeal that had consumed the nation’s previous generations.Translated by Andrew X. Pham and with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize winner Frances FitzGerald, Last Night I Dreamed of Peace is an extraordinary document that narrates one woman’s personal and political struggles. Above all, it is a story of hope in the most dire of circumstances—told from the perspective of our historic enemy but universal in its power to celebrate and mourn the fragility of human life.
Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen: A Novel
by Sarah James"Glamorous and suspenseful." —Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling authorPerhaps the best place in 1943 Hollywood to see the stars is the Hollywood Canteen, a club for servicemen staffed exclusively by those in show business. Murder mystery playwright Annie Laurence, new in town after a devastating breakup, definitely hopes to rub elbows with the right stars. Maybe then she can get her movie made.But Hollywood proves to be more than tinsel and glamour. When despised film critic Fiona Farris is found dead in the Canteen kitchen, Annie realizes any one of the Canteen's luminous volunteers could be guilty of the crime. To catch the killer, Annie falls in with Fiona's friends, a bitter and cynical group—each as uniquely unhappy in their life and career as Annie is in hers—that call themselves the Ambassador's Club.Solving a murder in real life, it turns out, is a lot harder than writing one for the stage. And by involving herself in the secrets and lies of the Ambassador's Club, Annie just might have put a target on her own back. "This vibrant, utterly delightful mystery expertly captures the drama, glamour and absurdity of wartime Hollywood. Sarah James's swift dialogue, dry wit and clever characters transport you into a 1940s movie, where the jokes are quick, the love affairs scandalous and the cast as charming as they are flawed." —Brianna Labuskes, author of The Librarian of Burned Books
Last One Out: Yates McDaniel: World War II's Most Daring Reporter
by Jack TorryThis is an exciting story about a newspaper reporter who risked his life on countless occasions in Nanking, Singapore, and Manila to provide people throughout the world with riveting coverage of the war in Asia.Author Jack Torry spent two and a half years reading hundreds of the subject's newspaper articles, examining scores of letters written by McDaniel's parents and sister, going through personal letters he wrote during the war, and reviewing extensive interview notes in the Library of Congress.McDaniel was the last reporter to leave Singapore before its fall to the Japanese in 1942. He escaped on one of the last ships leaving Singapore, and when it was sunk by Japanese aircraft, he and 130 others had to survive on a deserted island.
Last Orders
by Harry TurtledoveHistory is changed by one small act.In an extraordinary saga of nations locked in war, master storyteller Harry Turtledove tells the story of World War II, which begins over Czechoslovakia rather than Poland, eleven months earlier than it really came. Now we have the final installment in Turtledove's landmark World War II series. Hitler's Plan A was to win in a hurry, striking hard and deep into France. There was no Plan B. Now the war grinds on. Countries have been forced into strange alliances. The Nazis fortify thin lines with Hungarian and Romanian troops. England, finding its footing after the suspicious death of Winston Churchill and a coup d'état, fights back in Europe and on the seas of the North Atlantic. Jews fight on both sides of the war--in secret in German uniform, openly in Spain, France, and Russia. Into the standoff come new killing tools, from tanks to bazookas. In the Pacific, Japan prepares bombs filled with macabre biological concoctions to be dropped on Hawaii. For the U.S., the only enemy is Japan, as there has been no casus belli for America in Europe. Then Hitler becomes desperate and declares war on the United States. But is it too late? His own people are rising up in revolt. The German military may have to put down the violence, even perhaps bomb its own cities. In this epic drama, real men and women are shaped by the carnage, and their individual acts in turn shape history. Drawing on the gritty, personal reality of war and on a cast of unforgettable characters, Harry Turtledove has written an alternate history that intrigues, fascinates, and astounds. Praise for Harry Turtledove "If you like alternate histories, you're going to like this series a lot."--The San Diego Union-Tribune "Turtledove is the standard-bearer for alternate history."--USA Today Coup d'Etat "This is what alternative history is all about."--Historical Novel Society The Big Switch "The Hugo Award winner continues to delight in exploring the world of 'what if?'"--Library Journal West and East "There's plenty to satisfy fans of military strategy, tactics, and armaments."--Publishers WeeklyHitler's War "Turtledove is always good, but this return to World War II . . . is genuinely brilliant. . . . The characterizations in particular bring the book to extraordinary life."--BooklistFrom the Hardcover edition.
Last Outpost on the Zulu Frontier: Fort Napier and the British Imperial Garrison
by Graham DominySmall and isolated in the Colony of Natal, Fort Napier was long treated like a temporary outpost of the expanding British Empire. Yet British troops manned this South African garrison for over seventy years. Tasked with protecting colonists, the fort became even more significant as an influence on, and reference point for, settler society. Graham Dominy's Last Outpost on the Zulu Frontier reveals the unexamined but pivotal role of Fort Napier in the peacetime public dramas of the colony. Its triumphalist colonial-themed pageantry belied colonists's worries about their own vulnerability. As Dominy shows, the cultural, political, and economic methods used by the garrison compensated for this perceived weakness. Settler elites married their daughters to soldiers to create and preserve an English-speaking oligarchy. At the same time, garrison troops formed the backbone of a consumer market that allowed colonists to form banking and property interests that consolidated their control.
Last Post over the River Kwai: The 2nd East Surreys in the Far East, 1938–1945
by Cecil LowryLast Post Over the River Kwai is the carefully researched account of the experiences of the officers and men of 2nd Battalion The East Surreys during the Second World War.Stationed in Shanghai in the early 1940s, the Battalion was deployed to Malaya and fought gallantly to slow the Japanese advance. After heavy losses the survivors found themselves POWs in Singapore in February 1942 after the humiliating surrender which Churchill described as Britains worst ever military disaster.The next three and a half years saw members of the Battalion suffering appalling hardship at the hands of their brutal Japanese captors, whether in Singapore, on the Death Railway, Malaya or Japan itself, as wells as on hellships. Many died but remarkably the majority survived to tell their story. Their prolonged captivity with unbelievable hardship, deprivation and cruelty makes for distressing but inspiring reading.
Last Post: The Final Word From Our First World War Soldiers
by Max ArthurThe 'Forgotten Voices' of the First World War speak for the final time.LAST POST is very consciously the last word from the handful of First World War survivors who were left alive in 2004. Now they have passed away, our final human connection with the First World War has been broken.Max Arthur, a skilled interviewer, took the very last chance we had to ask questions of those who were there. Now updated to include a new introduction by the author for the centenary of the First World War.
Last Post: The Final Word From Our First World War Soldiers
by Max ArthurLAST POST is very consciously the last word from the handful of First World War survivors who were left alive in 2004. Now they have passed away, our final human connection with the First World War has been broken.Max Arthur, a skilled interviewer, took the very last chance we had to ask questions of those who were there. Read by Max Arthur, Paul McGann and Clive Mantle(p) 2007 Orion Publishing Group
Last Post: The Final World From Our First World War Soldiers
by Max ArthurLAST POST is very consciously the last word from the handful of First World War survivors who were left alive in 2004. Now they have passed away, our final human connection with the First World War has been broken.Max Arthur, a skilled interviewer, took the very last chance we had to ask questions of those who were there.Now updated to include a new introduction by the author for the centenary of the First World War.
Last Ships from Hamburg The: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I
by Steven Ujifusa“A captivating group portrait of three ‘titans’ of industry who facilitated the steamship routes by which around 2 million Jewish refugees, fleeing pogroms and discrimination, immigrated from Europe to America between 1890 and 1921. . . . Ujifusa ties this intricate business history into a broader economic and diplomatic context and relates the experiences of regular people who made the crossings, including the families who perished aboard the Titanic. This innovative account provides a complex new perspective on the turn of the 20th century.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Absorbing . . . a David-and-Goliath tale of the industrial age.”—Wall Street JournalA propulsive human drama that chronicles the mass exodus of Jews from Eastern Europe to America in the early years of the twentieth century, and the men who made it possible.Over thirty years, from 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the United States. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg.This mass exodus was facilitated by three businessmen whose involvement in the Jewish-American narrative has been largely forgotten: Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Company, who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships to carry them across continents and an ocean; and J. P. Morgan, mastermind of the International Mercantile Marine (I.M.M.) trust, who tried to monopolize the lucrative steamship business. Though their goals were often contradictory, together they made possible a migration that spared millions from persecution. Descendants of these immigrants included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Estée Lauder, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice, Lauren Bacall, the Marx Brothers, David Sarnoff, Al Jolson, Sam Goldwyn, Ben Shahn, Hank Greenberg, Moses Annenberg, and many more—including Ujifusa’s great grandparents. That is their legacy.Moving from the shtetls of Russia and the ports of Hamburg to the mansions of New York’s Upper East Side and the picket lines outside of the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, The Last Ships from Hamburg is a history that unfolds on both an intimate and epic scale. Meticulously researched, masterfully told, Ujifusa’s story offers original insight into the American experience, connecting banking, shipping, politics, immigration, nativism, and war—and delivers crucial insight into the burgeoning refugee crisis of our own time.
Last Shots
by Marcia Amidon LustedDo you know the Confederacy had a navy during the Civil War? The CSS Shenandoah plundered Union ships in order to disrupt their commerce. Because they were out at sea, though, they never heard that the Confederates had surrendered, and they continued to fight! Learn about how these sailors were the last Confederate force to surrender.
Last Snow (Jack McClure Series #2)
by Eric Van LustbaderNew York Times bestselling sensation Eric Van Lustbader created the legendary Nicholas Linnear of The Ninja and brought Jason Bourne into the twenty-first century. Now Lustbader brings us Jack McClure, a street-smart ATF agent who saved the president's daughter from a criminal mastermind. Jack is now a special advisor to President Edward Carson, and Carson's daughter refuses to let Jack out of her sight. When an American senator, supposedly on a political trip to the Ukraine, turns up dead on the island of Capri, the president asks McClure to find out how and why. Jack sets out from Moscow across Eastern Europe, following a perilous trail of diplomats, criminals, and corrupt politicians. He takes on a personal mission along with his official one: protecting his two unlikely, unexpected, and incompatible companions--Annika, a rogue Russian FSB agent, and Alli, the president's daughter. Thrust into the midst of a global jigsaw puzzle, Jack uses his dyslexic mind to put together the pieces that others can't even see. As he struggles to keep both women safe and to unearth the answers he seeks, Jack learns just how far up the American and Russian political ladders corruption and treachery have reached. And though Jack's abilities are as good as it gets, there is much more to gain--and lose--on this journey than the truth about the senator....
Last Son of the War God
by Clay MartinFrom the author of Sword of the Caliphate: &“a thrilling adventure that . . . offers real insight into the mind of a Special Forces soldier&” (Guns America Digest). In the backcountry of Idaho, a tribe of men are hunting and killing with a dream of returning the world to an earlier time. A time when courage and prowess in the field determined a man&’s worth. A time when the strong took what they wanted, and the weak cowered in fear. Mike Bryant has come to the wilderness to die. Tired of the trappings of modern life, his will to live has run out. But when he crosses paths with a group of warriors who challenge him, he suddenly finds purpose. Mike is no ordinary man. Frozen and given up for dead, an inner core of rage ignites a fury few have seen and lived. Deep in the White Cloud Mountains, a demon is awakening. The Last Son of the War God was forged in the storm of blood and fire. And now he&’s angry. The War God has chosen his champion, one of his favorite sons. And by the time the dust settles, one thing will be clear. If you choose the War God as your deity, you had better have what it takes to measure up. Consequences are eternal. &“As page-turners go, this book is for certain one of them, but don&’t let that fool you into thinking the story is devoid of a sophisticated plot . . . action that starts early on and continues through to the very last line of the book.&”—SOFREP
Last Stand at Khe Sanh: The U.S. Marines' Finest Hour in Vietnam
by Gregg JonesFor seventy-seven days in 1968, amid fears that America faced its own disastrous Dien Bien Phu, 6,000 US Marines held off 30,000 North Vietnamese Army regulars at the remote mountain stronghold called Khe Sanh. It was the biggest battle of the Vietnam War, with sharp ground engagements, devastating artillery duels, and massive US air strikes. After several weeks of heroic defense, the besieged Americans struck back in a series of bold assaults, and the North Vietnamese withdrew with heavy losses.Last Stand at Khe Sanh is the vivid, fast-paced account of the dramatic confrontation as experienced by the men who were there: Marine riflemen and grenadiers, artillery and air observers, platoon leaders and company commanders, Navy corpsmen and helicopter pilots, and a plucky band of US Army Special Forces. Based on extensive archival research and more than 100 interviews with participants, Last Stand at Khe Sanh captures the courage and camaraderie of the defenders and delivers the fullest account yet of this epic battle.
Last Stand at Zandvoorde, 1914: Lord Hugh Grosvenor's Noble Sacrifice
by Mike McBrideBeing the son of the Duke of Westminster, whose family traces its lineage back to 1066, Lord Hugh Grosvenor was destined to become a cavalry officer in the prestigious 1st Regiment of Life Guards. Using unpublished letters home and contemporary accounts Noble Sacrifice describes Lord Hughs embarkation for France and the early mounted encounters which halted the enemy onslaught against the contemptible little army. These led to the stalemate of trench warfare and found Lord Hugh and his Squadron holding out at Zandvoorde during the First Battle of Ypres 1914 and being annihilated by superior numbers of enemy forces in some of the most desperate fighting of the First World War. Due to the advances in military hardware, the war for Lord Hugh and his comrades marked a turning point in cavalry tactics.As well as being a dramatic account of Lord Hugh Grosvenors last stand, Noble Sacrifice is a very personal story of courage and self-sacrifice. This heroic yet tragic story has a mysterious twist. The bodies of Lord Hugh and his 100 soldiers were never found - it was as if they had never existed.
Last Stand at le Paradis: The Events Leading to the SS Massacre of the Norfolks 1940
by Richard LaneIn early September 1939, the 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment were one of the first complete infantry units of the BEF to land in France.The first months of World War Two were relatively quiet but after deploying to the Maginot Line sector during January 1940 they came into contact with those Germans manning the West Wall or Siegfried Line. A patrol led by Captain Peter Barclay entered German territory and was attacked. As a result, the first decorations of the war were awarded. Barclay received the Military Cross and Lance-Corporal Davis the Military Medal while the remaining members of the patrol were mentioned in despatches.Two days later, the battalion suffered a tragic first when Lieutenant Patrick Everitt was mortally wounded while leading a daylight patrol. Everitt was the first British officer to be killed in action in the Second World War.When the Germans launched their offensive on 10 May, the BEF advanced to the River Dyle in Belgium. Within days the Allied Armies had been forced onto the back foot by the speed and ferocity of the German breakthrough. The Norfolks withdrew to the River Escaut where the BEF was to make a stand. On 21 May, the Company Sergeant Major George Gristock courageously destroyed some German machine-gun posts and won a posthumous Victoria Cross.As the Allies withdrew towards the Channel, the Norfolks were ordered to defend a section of the Canal Line between Bthune and Le Cornet Malo. Already down to around half strength, the Norfolks held their sector from 24 to 27 May. By the time the order was issued for them to withdraw, it was too late, Battalion HQ at Duries Farm, Le Paradis was surrounded and they had no alternative but to surrender, although C Company held out until the following morning.After the surrender, ninety-nine men of the Battalion were marched to a paddock where they were machine-gunned in cold blood by their SS captors. Miraculously, two men survived and were instrumental in bringing the SS officer responsible, Fritz Knoechlien, to justice after the war.When the remnants of the battalion reassembled in England, its strength was just five officers and 134 other ranks. The remainder had either been killed or captured as POWs.
Last Stand: Famous Battles Against The Odds (Cassell Military Classics Ser.)
by Bryan PerrettWhat do soldiers do when all is lost?They keep fighting! In this best-selling anthology, Bryan Perrett provides gripping accounts of close-quarter battles and hard fought victory against all the odds. His journey from Napoleonic Europe through to the Korean War highlights thirteen episodes of incredible bravery and sacrifice in unbelievable actions. The book begins with the gallant fight of Napoleon's Old Guard at Waterloo. It examines the famous actions at the Alamo; against the Zulus at Rorke's Drift; and 'the Bridge Too Far' at Arnhem. The adventure concludes with the desperate last stand of the Gloucesters at Imjin during the Korean War. Last Stand! is the breathtaking story of ultimate sacrifice and glorious victory.
Last Stand: Famous Battles Against The Odds (W&N Military)
by Bryan PerrettWhat do soldiers do when all is lost?They keep fighting! In this best-selling anthology, Bryan Perrett provides gripping accounts of close-quarter battles and hard fought victory against all the odds. His journey from Napoleonic Europe through to the Korean War highlights thirteen episodes of incredible bravery and sacrifice in unbelievable actions. The book begins with the gallant fight of Napoleon's Old Guard at Waterloo. It examines the famous actions at the Alamo; against the Zulus at Rorke's Drift; and 'the Bridge Too Far' at Arnhem. The adventure concludes with the desperate last stand of the Gloucesters at Imjin during the Korean War. Last Stand! is the breathtaking story of ultimate sacrifice and glorious victory.
Last Stands from the Alamo to Benghazi: How Hollywood Turns Military Defeats into Moral Victories
by Frank Wetta Martin NovelliLast Stands from the Alamo to Benghazi examines how filmmakers teach Americans about the country’s military past. Examining twenty-three representative war films and locating them in their cultural and military landscape, the authors argue that Hollywood’s view of American military history has evolved in two phases. The first phase, extending from the very beginnings of filmmaking to the Korean War, projected an essential patriotic triumphalism. The second phase, from the Korean and Vietnam Wars to the present, reflects a retreat from consensus and reflexive patriotism. In describing these phases, the authors address recurring themes such as the experience of war and combat, the image of the American war hero, race, gender, national myths, and more. With helpful film commentaries that extend the discussion through popular movie narratives, this book is essential for anyone interested in American military and film history.