THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP discussion

February 2015 Theme Read - This thread is open for members who wish to read and discuss any book or books covering WW2 POW's, Escape & Evasion accounts or stories of Resistance/Partisan groups during the war.

I am about to start The Cruel Victory as part of the February theme read. I'm a few days early but I finished my other book a tad earlier than expected.

by Paddy Ashdown

I'll be joining the theme read once I've finished my current book and it'll be this:

The Wildest Province: SOE in the Land of the Eagle by Roderick Bailey

Looks like a good book Happy, see you here when you start :)

The author of my book is setting the scene/history for what happened in Vercors in 1944 and mentioned this battle in 1940 where French forces put up an excellent defence against the Germans:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopi...

How does the theme read work? Does it involve any books related to POW/Escape & Evasion/Resistance ?

Hi Bev, yes the theme is on any book or books you wish to read that covers any aspect of POW's, Escape & Evasion or Resistance groups during WW2.

Ok. Thanks! I've been reading quite a few of them lately!

Join in with any comments or observations you have made on your recent books if you like :)

The author of my current book is still providing some back ground information on France and the events of 1944 in Vercors. Here is a funny story regards the French General Henri Giraud who was picked by the Americans to led the French forces in North Africa in late 1942 rather than De Gaulle:

"When he left Gibraltar for Algiers on 9 November 1942, Giraud remarked, 'You may have seen something of the large De Gaullist demonstration that was held here last Sunday. Some o the demonstrators sang the Marseillaise. I entirely approve of that! Others sang the Chant du Depart [a military ballad]. Quite satisfactory! Others again shouted Vive de Gaulle! No objection. But some of them cried Death to Giraud! I don't approve of that at all!' "

I will jump in when I can but I am having cataract surgery tomorrow and may not be able to read for awhile.The eye not being operated on has retinal damage that makes it tough.

The book I am currently reading which I plan to finish before surgery tomorrow is called One man's war by FRANK STROOBANT. It is his story of his experiences on the Isle of Guernsey during the war and also his experiences as a prisoner of war once all the British Isle born citizens were deported to Germany in 1942. They apparently deported anyone actually born in England regardless of age or gender. It's quite an interesting account. Before they were eventually repatriated to the Channel Islands some of the deportees apparently acted as nurses (without formal training) to liberated individuals from a local concentration camp.

Bev

I hope all goes well and you get well soon and are back to reading quickly

Geevee wrote: "I'll be joining the theme read once I've finished my current book and it'll be this:

[book:The Wildest Province: SOE in the L..."

Ordered a copy of this one. Coming from the UK. Will read Escape from Colditz in the meantime.

Bev wrote: "I will jump in when I can but I am having cataract surgery tomorrow and may not be able to read for awhile.The eye not being operated on has retinal damage that makes it tough.

The book I am curre..."

Best wishes Bev.

Mike wrote: "Geevee wrote: "I'll be joining the theme read once I've finished my current book and it'll be this:

[book:The Wildest Provinc..."

I'm hoping it is good Mike. It had good reviews when first published.

Surgery is done but I'm not reading well yet. I finished One man's war by FRANK STROOBANT

Of particular interest to me was his description f a trip with a variety of P.O.W.'s from other camps to the gravesite if the Katyn Massacre where some 4,000 Polish officers were massacred. The Germans wanted witnesses who could speak on their behalf as they claimed it was all the work of the Russians. None of the POW's agreed to speak publicly as they were afraid of potential future consequences.After researching a little more, I found out that the massacre was admitted by the Russians in 1990 -long after this book came out. For my review you can look here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Bev wrote: "Surgery is done..."

Eh, you've twisted my arm, Bev, I just ordered a copy...

I also have this one on my TBR:
Living With The Enemy: An Outline Of The German Occupation Of The Channel Islands With First Hand Accounts By People Who Remember The Years 1940 To 1945
plus a memoir by this woman, which doesn't seem to be on GR yet (just mentioning since she seems to have a few on the subject.)
Molly Bihet

All the best with your recovery! :)

The other one which I read recently was Jersey Under the Jackboot R.C.F. Maugham which was another excellent non fiction read about conditions on Jersey during the war.

You can read the review here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Here is an account about one of the SOE agents complaining about the standards of some of the night-time RAF drops. His radio report back to the UK went:

"Delivery parachutes failed to open as usual. Containers fell on a home and crushed the back of the mother of one of reception committee. This bloody carelessness is absolutely inexcusable. You might as well drop bombs. Relatives didn't complain, but my God I do."

Here is a funny account of some of the USAAF efforts:

"The plane when it was British left quietly on its last pass after a little blinking of its lights. It was quickly done. If it was an American plane it was a little different. No feints on the approach, no detours over a neighbouring village to divert attention, no arrival at the site with the motors stilled and flying at low altitude in order to obtain a better grouping of the dropped items. No, as soon as the site was spotted, the plane went higher in order, one would say, to better survey the result; a dispersion area of four to five kilometres because the release was made at high speed, with the necessary results... Then when everything was spoiled, quite satisfied with himself the pilot descended at speed ... doubtless to prove that he saw us and that if he had launched everything into nature, it wasn't his fault.'

I have a few books on order from the library hopefully arriving in time for the themed read. I'm so excited to join. Awesome subject! ;-)

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Here is a funny account of some of the USAAF efforts:

"The plane when it was British left quietly on its last pass after a little blinking of its lights. It was quickly done. If it was an American..."

That is a devastating recounting of poor tactics.

I'm sure they got better with practice, well I hope so anyhow.

Some interesting information from my current book:

"The average lifespan of a radio operator in France has been calculated as no more than six months. Francis Cammaerts' radio operator, Augustin Deschamps, was the exception. He operated continuously from October 1942 to the end of the war, sending 416 messages in all and becoming the longest-serving, surviving SOE operator."

FYI I knew and interviewed Pierre Deshayes, look him up.

The author of my book has just mentioned the German atrocity at the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in France during 2nd Waffen-SS Panzer Division Das Reich's march to the Normandy beach-head.

Below is a link to a detailed page on this incident with numerous photographs that may interest some members:

http://www.oradour.info/

An interesting newspaper article from 2013:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013...

Colin wrote: "FYI I knew and interviewed Pierre Deshayes, look him up."

I found this internet site (in French) on Pierre Deshayes:

http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_...

Pierre was a great guy.

Reading about and enjoying the enormously inventive and high-spirited group of POWs imprisoned at Colditz castle. They could steal anything left unattended:

Then there was the time when the Gestapo decided to search the camp and show the German Wehrmacht how this should be conducted. They employed electric torches to search remote crevices and borrowed the keys of the camp to make the rounds. Before they had finished, both the keys and the torches had disappeared, and they left with their tails between their legs. The German garrison were as pleased as Punch. We returned the keys, after making suitable impressions, to their rightful guardians.

Clearly everyone needed a sense of humor to survive. Posted by a French captive:

For Sunshine Holidays
Visit Sunny Colditz
Holiday Hotel
500 beds one bath
Cuisine by French chef
Large staff
Always attentive and vigilant
Once visited, never left

Escape from Colditz;: The two classic escape stories: The Colditz story, and Men of Colditz

Funny story Mike!

FYI regarding my book, SHOT DOWN. The hardcover contains well over 200 time period photographs of the people who were involved and the places where the events took place. The eBook has only 24.

Steve wrote: "FYI regarding my book, SHOT DOWN. The hardcover contains well over 200 time period photographs of the people who were involved and the places where the events took place. The eBook has only 24."

Hello Steve! Thanks for that. I really need to get a copy of your book. It sounds great! 200 photos? Cool....

Thanks Ethan!

On Amazon.com at http://bit.ly/ShotDownBook
It's getting great 5 Star Reviews

Barnes & Noble will be carrying it sometime this month.

So far, these Museums are carrying it in the stores.

The Mighty Eighth Museum, Pooler, GA
The National WW II Museum, New Orleans, LA
The Collings Foundation, Stow, MA
Arizona Commemorative Air Museum, Mesa, AZ
Planes of Fame Air Museum, Chino, CA
Palm Springs Air Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Lyon Air Museum, Santa Ana, CA

Steve wrote: "FYI regarding my book, SHOT DOWN. The hardcover contains well over 200 time period photographs of the people who were involved and the places where the events took place. The eBook has only 24."

Why so few in the e-book? Is it harder to do them that way?

Unfortunately, it was too costly to add that many pictures to the eBook.

Steve wrote: "Thanks Ethan!

On Amazon.com at http://bit.ly/ShotDownBook
It's getting great 5 Star Reviews

Barnes & Noble will be carrying it sometime this month.

So far, these Museums are carrying it in the..."

Thanks for the list! Amazon or Barnes & Noble will probably be the best places for me to pick up a copy. I'll keep my eye out for it.... ;-)

If anyone would like to read some SHOT DOWN publication reviews, here are links to them.

Foreword Reviews - https://www.forewordreviews.com/revie...
Blue Ink - http://blueinkreview.com/reviews/view...
Publishers Weekly - http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0...
War History Online - http://www.warhistoryonline.com/revie...
World War II Today - http://ww2today.com/new/2015-2/steve-...
IPMS/USA Reviews - http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/shot-...
Warbirds News - http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbird-a...

Just starting this:

The Wildest Province: SOE in the Land of the Eagle by Roderick Bailey


It has some coverage of Anthony Quayle who served as Major with SOE in Albania in it too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...

Thanks for the links to those reviews Steve, some good ones there!

Looks like your book will be an interesting read Geevee, keep us posted.

It seems that while the French resistance were fighting the Germans in the Vercors area they were also involved in a tiff within their organisation.

It seems the French military wanted to reclaim their lost glory and were taking credit for many of the actions of the maquis even to the point of not even acknowledging the deaths of the many resistance fighters who were not military men.

This female SOE operator has just popped up in my book:

http://nigelperrin.com/christinegranv...

From my book; "Beguilingly beautiful, extraordinarily courageous and enthusiastically promiscuous (Vera Atkins, the terrifying 'Mother Superior' of all SOE, once commented that nothing in trousers was safe in her presence), she was, some claim, one of Ian Fleming's lovers after the war and the inspiration for Vesper Lynd in his first book, Casino Royale."

Mike wrote: "Reading about and enjoying the enormously inventive and high-spirited group of POWs imprisoned at Colditz castle. They could steal anything left unattended:

Then there was the time when the Gestap..."

Here is another funny episode from by Airey Neave

This is from page 56 and was a description of part of Neave's debriefing when he made it back to London.

" He asked me for stories of life in Prisoner of War Camps.
I told him eagerly that in one camp, so it was said, the prisoners tunnelled and emerged by mistake in the Kommandant's wine cellar, which was full of rare and expensive wines. The Kommandant was a connoisseur and often asked the local nobility to dinner.
The prisoners managed to extricate over a hundred bottles, drink them,, put back the corks and labels after refilling them - I paused - with an unmentionable liquid."

Bev wrote: "Mike wrote: "Reading about and enjoying the enormously inventive and high-spirited group of POWs imprisoned at Colditz castle. They could steal anything left unattended:

Then there was the time wh..."

I enjoyed Airey Neave's book:

The Flames of Calais: A Soldier's Battle, 1940

about the Anglo-French stand in Calais in 1940 at which he was captured.

I have that one in my to read pile too. I am going through boxes of my Dad's old collection and there are so many good and familiar titles that would likely be difficult to find nowadays.

Bev wrote: "I have that one in my to read pile too. I am going through boxes of my Dad's old collection and there are so many good and familiar titles that would likely be difficult to find nowadays."

Looks like your Dad had good taste.

Speaking of that book The Flames of Calais: A Soldier's Battle, 1940, it was an inspiration for a singer/songwriter friend of mine, James Keelaghan. He wrote a beautiful song called The Fires of Calais. I can't find it on youtube, but if you go to his website
http://keelaghan.com/
you can listen to it from his album, The First 25 Years.

Bev wrote: "Speaking of that book The Flames of Calais: A Soldier's Battle, 1940, it was an inspiration for a singer/songwriter friend of mine, James Keelaghan. He wrote a beautiful song calle..."

An excellent song! Thanks.

Manray9 wrote: "Bev wrote: "I have that one in my to read pile too. I am going through boxes of my Dad's old collection and there are so many good and familiar titles that would likely be difficult to find nowaday..."

He did and good reason for personal interest. He was a physician with the 6th Canadian Field Dressing Station and his brother was a POW captured in Italy and forced to do a march to Germany and Oflag 79.

Bev wrote: "Manray9 wrote: "Bev wrote: "I have that one in my to read pile too. I am going through boxes of my Dad's old collection and there are so many good and familiar titles that would likely be difficult..."

War stories among family and friends need to be remembered. We have ours back to the U.S. Civil War.