Description
Book Synopsis''Victor Gregg is the most remarkable spokesman for the war generation'' Dan Snow
In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut fictionalised his time as a prisoner of war in Dresden in 1945. Vonnegut was imprisoned in a cellar while the firestorm raged through the city, wiping out generations of innocent lives. Victor Gregg remained above ground throughout the firebombing. This is his true eyewitness account of that week in February 1945.
Already a seasoned soldier with the Rifle Brigade, Gregg joined the 10th Parachute Regiment in 1944. He was captured at Arnhem where he volunteered to be sent to a work camp rather than become another faceless number in the huge POW camps. With two failed escape attempts under his belt, Gregg was eventually caught sabotaging a factory and sent to Dresden for execution.
Before Gregg could be executed, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive b
Trade Review
Victor Gregg is the most remarkable spokesman for the war generation. Searingly honest in his appraisal of what that conflict did to the world, on society and, above all, on himself. -- Dan Snow * History Hit *
This is a small but extremely thought-provoking book about the Allied bombing of Dresden in eastern Germany, written by a soldier who was a prisoner of war and who was there and whose life, upon witnessing such horror, was re-evaluated. Whether you think the bombing was justified (after Coventry had suffered similar) or not, this is such a moving record written from a soldier's perspective about his enemies and the suffering that such bombing created. Read, think and read again. -- Bruce Kemble-Johnson * Let's Talk *
It is an engaging tale and the author writes with a witty sarcasm that keeps the narrative flowing. -- Patrick Shrier * Military-History.us *
Table of Contents
1. Note of Remembrance 2. Grim Truth 3. Overture to Hell 4. Slaughter of the Innocents 5. Aftermath 6. The General 7. Day Four 8. Day Five 9. Day Six Afterword: Was this the greatest war crime of all? A Note on the Authors Also Available by the Author
