Second World War Books

Book SynopsisThe Story of RAF Hixon tells the story of a Second World War Training Airbase. It was built in 1941 close to the small Staffordshire village of Hixon and operated from 1942-1945. During this period thousands of men, many from Commonwealth countries, came together to form crews and be trained to undertake night bombing raids on Germany and occupied countries. The book provides an insight into the experiences of these brave young airman, many of whom would later be killed in action. It also considers the short and long-term impact of the airbase development on the lives of villagers at the time, and the permanent changes that have resulted to the village of Hixon and the local district. Much of the story is based on personal interviews with those involved with the airbase in wartime, either as trainee aircrew, instructors, or ground staff and with others who lived in the village at the time. These first-hand accounts provide a unique understanding of the experiences of those most closely involved. The book also brings the story up to date, recalling previous commemorative celebrations of RAF Hixon and current moves to install a stained-glass memorial window in the local church as a permanent memorial. Two appendices are provided, the first being a chronology of wartime airbase development and activity, the second giving details of numerous accidents and incidents, all as recorded in the original Station Log Book, held at the Public Record Office in Kew.Table of ContentsForeword; Chapter 1 Hixon and the Second World War; Chapter 2 RAF Hixon - No. 30 Operational Training Unit; Chapter 3 Living Alongside the RAF in Hixon - Villagers' Experiences; Chapter 4 RAF Hixon - Daily Life 'on the Ground' at the Airbase; Chapter 5 Accidents and Incidents at 30 OTU, RAF Hixon 1942-1945; Chapter 6 The End of the War and Closure of RAF Hixon - What Remains Today?; Chapter 7 Personal Stories of Two Brave Airmen; Sergeant Deryck Rowse, Air Gunner; Pilot Officer W.A. (Bill) Gourlay DFC; Chapter 8 Hixon Commemorates the Wartime Years - 1992 - 1995 - 2022; Appendix 1 Chronology of No. 30 OTU RAF Hixon - 1941 to 1962; Appendix 2 Details of Accidents and Incidents as Recorded in the Original Station Log Book; Acknowledgements ; References ; About the Author

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Book SynopsisIn 1943, following the Armistice in Italy, many Prisoners of War were released by their guards but found themselves fugitives in a country over-run by the Germans. One such prisoner was known in Italy as Luigi. Realising that the Allies were not yet in his part of the country, he decided to walk from Padua in the north to reach the front-line in the south. During the course of his arduous journey through the backwaters of Italy he was hidden and given sanctuary by two Italian farming families. In 1949 he took his fiancée to meet them. Sadly, having survived the war he died in 1959 leaving his Italian friends unaware of his tragic death.

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive record of the gallantry of a force that numbered some 10,000 at its peak and fought in virtually every theatre of war in actions ranging from small engagements to pitched battles. Here, with appropriate historical background and sketch maps, are the details of 10 VCs, 32 DSOs, 135 MCs, 46 DCMs and 289 MMs, with full citations where published in the London Gazette. WORLD WAR II

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Book SynopsisThe United States Navy operated long range fleet submarines in the Pacific during World War II in what has often been referred to as a ''forgotten'' campaign. In fact the operations of these submarines in the Pacific contributed greatly to the war against Japan, depriving her of much needed supplies as well as curtailing troop movements and reinforcements during the ''island war.''This book details the histories of all US submarine losses during the Second World War together with a report of all operational cruises carried out by each vessel. Each submarine is described from the first to the last war patrol, and actions and sinkings are included. There is also a list of all Medal of Honour recipients, and a crew list of men lost.This is an important book to anyone studying naval warfare in the Pacific during World War II, and serves as the basis for further study of the submarine campaign carried out by the US Navy in particular. Illustrated with a number of photographs of personnel and vessels, it will serve as a first class introduction to the subject.

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Book SynopsisSurviving Hitler and Mussolini examines how far everyday life was possible in a situation of total war and brutal occupation. Its theme is the social experience of occupation in German- and Italian-occupied Europe, and in particular the strategies ordinary people developed in order to survive. Survival included meeting the challenges of shortage and hunger, of having to work for the enemy, of women entering into intimate relations with soldiers, of the preservation of culture in a fascist universe, of whether and how to resist, and the reaction of local communities to measures of reprisal taken in response to resistance. What emerges is that ordinary people were less heroes, villains or victims than inventive and resourceful individuals able to maintain courage and dignity despite the conditions they faced.The book adopts a comparative approach from Denmark and the Netherlands to Poland and Greece, and offers a fresh perspective on the Second World War.Trade Review'These six chpters written by European scholars uncover revealing social details of everyday survival under primarily German but also Italian occupation.'Choice Magazine (Vol 44, No 11, August 2007)Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Surviving Hunger by Polymeris Voglis (University of Thessaly, Greece) 2. To Work or not to work by Robert Gildea (University of Oxford), Dirk Luyten (Centre d'Etudes et Documentation Guerre et Societes Contemporaines, Brussels) and Juliane Furst (University of Oxford) 3. Intimate and sexual relations by Anette Warring (University of Roskilde, Denmark) 4. The School as cultural interface by Pavla Vosahlikova (Institute of History of Academy of Science, Prague) Benedicte Rochet (Centre d'Etudes et Documentation Guerre et Societes Contemporaines, Brussels) and Fabrice Weiss (University of Metz) 5. Resistance from everyday life to counter-state by Olivier Wieviorka (Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, Paris) and Jacek Tebinka (University of Gdansk, Poland) 6. Resistance and reprisals by Geraldien von Frijtag Drabbe Kunzel (University of Utrecht) Conclusion

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Book SynopsisAuschwitz. Treblinka. The very names of these Nazi camps evoke unspeakable cruelty. Sobibor is less well known, and this book discloses the horrors perpetrated there.Established in German-occupied Poland, the camp at Sobibor began its dreadful killing operation in May 1942. By October 1943, approximately 167,000 people had been murdered there. Sobibor is not well documented and, were it not for an extraordinary revolt on 14 October 1943, we would know little about it. On that day, prisoners staged a remarkable uprising in which 300 men and women escaped. The author identifies only forty-seven who survived the war.Sent in June 1943 to Sobibor, where his wife and family were murdered, Jules Schelvis has written the first book-length, fully documented account of the camp. He details the creation of the killing centre, its personnel, the use of railways, selections, forced labour, gas chambers, escape attempts and the historic uprising.In documenting this part of Holocaust history, this compelling and well-researched account advances our knowledge and understanding of the Nazi attempt to annihilate the European Jews.Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.Trade ReviewThis is a remarkable book by a remarkable author. Jules Schelvis was himself a survivor of several Nazi camps, including a short stay of a few hours in Sobibor. After his retirement, he made it his mission to write the first detailed and scholarly book about this camp. His motivation was without doubt very personal and very emotional, as his young wife and her family were murdered in Sobibor. In spite of that (or maybe because of it) his research was scrupulously undertaken and his finished text is marked out by its precision and scholarly distance. This book is both an excellent historical study and also a monument to the events it examines.'Professor Hans Blom, University of Amsterdam, and Director, Netherlands Institute for War Documentation'Every historian is motivated by the urge to leave not one stone unturned. This is especially true for Jules Schelvis, who, after many years of archival research, managed to uncover the sinister facts of the extermination camp of Sobibor, duTable of Contents.* Acknowledgements * Foreword * Introduction * Prelude to the Final Solution * Construction and staffing * The trains * Arrival and selection * The Arbeitshaeftlinge * The gas chambers * Dorohucza/Lublin * Escape attempts * The revolt * After the revolt * Transports by country * The survivors * SS profiles * Explanation of abbreviations * Literature * The transport lists * Persons register * Place register Index

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Book SynopsisWhat were the consequences of the German occupation for the economy of occupied Europe? After Germany conquered major parts of the European continent, it was faced with a choice between plundering the suppressed countries and using their economies to supply its needs. The choices made not only differed from country to country, but also changed over the course of the war. Individual leaders; the economic needs of the Reich; the military situation; struggles between governors of occupied countries and Berlin officials; and finally racism, all had an impact on the outcome. In some countries the emphasis was placed on production for German warfare, which kept these economies functioning. New research, presented for the first time in this book, shows that as a consequence the economic setback in these areas was limited, and therefore post-war recovery was relatively easy. However, in other countries, plundering was more characteristic, resulting in partisan activity, a collapse of normal society and a dramatic destruction not only of the economy but in some countries of a substantial proportion of the labour force. In these countries, post-war recovery was almost impossible.Table of ContentsPreface Part 1 - IntroductionChapter 1 Occupied Economies and Total WarChapter 2 On Total WarChapter 3 Economy, Total War and Nazi GermanyChapter 4 The Economies of Occupied Europe Part 2 - ExploitationChapter 5 Exploitation: an IntroductionChapter 6 Expansion and Exploitation Chapter 7 The Periods of ExploitationChapter 8 Dissimilarities in Occupied EuropeChapter 9 The Exploitation of Occupied EuropeChapter 10 The Hunt for LabourChapter 11 Exploitation: a Conclusion Part 3 - Economic LifeChapter 12 Economic Life During Occupation: an IntroductionChapter 13 Financing Occupation and ExploitationChapter 14 TradeChapter 15 ProductionChapter 16 Conclusion Part 4 - Economic Consequences of the Occupation: Conclusions Chapter 17 Consumption Chapter 18 DamageChapter 19 Conclusions Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisEva Figes and her family fled the horror of Nazi Germany when Eva was only six, forced to leave behind them friends, relatives and their housemaid, Edith. Ten years later, Edith suddenly re-enters their lives. Having miraculously survived wartime Berlin, she had reluctantly emigrated to hostile, volatile Palestine. Recounting Edith's story, Figes boldly argues that Israel was a product of US foreign policy and continuing and widespread anti-Semitism. Part memoir, part brave polemic, Journey to Nowhere is both a moving account of post-war displacement and a fierce attack on America's role in the Middle East.Trade Review'Fusing history and memoir, Eva Figes's polemical account of the creation of Israel is bewitchingly told - [a] luminously personal chronicle' Sunday Times 'A brave book. It is Figes's status as a victim of persecution that gives her the courage and authority to condemn Israel's treatment of the Palestinians' - Observer 'An impassioned memoir and an inspired polemic' - Scotland on Sunday 'Eva Figes is essentially a novelist, one whose characteristic clarity makes her tales both engaging and piquant - unforgettable and profound' - Scotsman 'Figes is unflinching in her discussion of Israel and America - Her judgement on the occupation is spot on' - Guardian

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Book SynopsisBorn in 1904, Brandt played a major role in the first mass killing programme of the Third Reich, the so called 'euthanasia' programme. As Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation, Karl Brandt became the highest medical authority in the Nazi regime; he initiated experiments on concentration camps inmates and was eventually put in charge of biological and chemical warfare. How was it that a rational, highly cultured, literate, young professional could come to be responsible for mass murder and criminal human experiments on a previously unimaginable scale? In this riveting biography, Ulf Schmidt explores in detail that Brandt belonged to a generation of a young 'expert elite', who in the 1930s and 1940s were willing, and empowered, to support and conceive an oppressive, militarist, and racist government policy, and ultimately turn its exterminatory potential into reality. Through a critical biography of Brandt, Schmidt re-evaluates the system of communication at the centre of Hitler's regime. The book extends our understanding of the culture of detachment between a regime that was geared towards total destruction, and a government that was almost totally removed from its people.Trade Review"Karl Brandt (1904-1948) was for a time the leading medical authority in the Nazi regime. He was responsible for the euthanasia program, in which tens of thousands of handicapped individuals were killed.... As British historian Schmidt (Justice at Nuremberg: Leo Alexander and the Nazi Doctors' Trial) shows, a belief in eugenics, combined with a dash of ambition, motivated Brandt. During the war, he saw it as "legitimate to sacrifice individual human lives in the name of science." Outside of the diaries he wrote during the Nuremberg trials, which Schmidt had partial access to, Brandt left few writings, so Schmidt is forced to make informed guesses about the degree of Brandt's involvement in certain projects, such as the gruesome medical experiments conducted on concentration camp inmates, as well as about some of his motivations. Schmidt concludes that whether Brandt backed the genocide of the Jews is almost impossible to know. There's a lot to wade through, but readers who do will learn about a man of culture and science who turned medicine into a tool of murder."- Publishers Weekly, June 18, 2007 -- Publishers Weekly"[Schmidt] has produced an extraordinary study of an individual, a government, and an era that few biographies can hope to equal." --New York Sun"He [Schmidt] skilfully demonstrates Brandt's trajectory from idealistic but ordinary medical student... to Hitler's private doctor... [a] detailed examination" -- Dan Stone, The Times Higher Education Supplement"Remarkable new research by a German historian [Schmidt] is revealing the idealogical evolution of one of Hitler's closest associates. The research - which has taken nine years to carry out - shows how an apparently decent caring man metamorphosed into a mass murderer... Professor Schmidt's research... is likely to provoke controversy" -- BBC History Magazine, David Keys"Many historians are wary of biography, but this author's study of Karl Brandt ought to challenge suspicions about this genre of history...This is a fine study." -Larry Thornton, The Historian, Vol. 71Table of ContentsAcknowledgments; List of Plates and Figures; Abbreviations; Prologue; The Ambitious Idealist; Becoming Hitler's Doctor; Hitler's Envoy; The 'Euthanasia' Doctor; The General Commissioner; Detached Leadership; Human experimentation; Medical Supremo; Nuremberg; Trial; Under Sentence of Death; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisWritten by one of the last survivors of the campaign, this book is a fascinating inside account of one of the Second World War''s most exciting yet controversial episodes :the difficult, dangerous but eventually victorious attempt by Britain to decisively influence the course of the war in the Balkans. The Yugoslav war was a savage and many-sided conflict in which Germans, Italians, Communist Partisans, Serbian Royalists; Croatian Fascists and eventually Stalin''s Russians all played their part. Britain''s intervention was fraught with political as well as military problems from first to last. Controversy continues over London''s decision to switch support from Milhailovic''s monarchist Cetnik guerillas to Tito''s more militarily effective Communist Partisans. Some famous names were among the liasion missions parachuted in to join the Partisans in their mountain lairs, including politician and travel writer Fitzroy Maclean; the Prime Minister''s son Randolph Churchill; novelist Evelyn Waugh and historian WIlliam Deakin. McConville''s book concentrates on the lesser-known post -1943 period when torpedo and gunboats operating among the islands of the Dalmatian coast replaced the risky airdrops, and British soldiers and sailors fought alongside the Partisans, both male and female. The author was stationed on the island of Vis as a young subaltern, and offers a valuable eye-witness history and a vivid memoir of a vital moment in a war whose echoes persisted into the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

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