Search results for ""author stewart mitchell""

During the German May 1940 offensive, the 51st (Highland) Division, including the 1st and 5th Battalions Gordon Highlanders, became separated from the British Expeditionary Force. After a heroic stand at St Valery-en-Caux the Division surrendered when fog thwarted efforts to evacuate them. Within days, scores of Gordons had escaped and were on the run through Nazi-occupied France. Many reached Britain after feats of great courage and tenacity, including recapture and imprisonment often in atrocious conditions in France, Spain or North Africa. Those imprisoned in Eastern Europe were forced to work in coal and salt mines, quarries, factories and farms. Some died through unsafe conditions or the brutality of their captors. Others escaped, on occasion fighting with distinction alongside Resistance forces. Many had to endure the brutal 1945 winter march away from the advancing Allies before their eventual liberation. This superbly researched book contains many inspiring stories that deserve and merit reading.

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This is the inspiring story of two Gordon Highlanders Territorial Army battalions which saw action in some of the Second World War’s fiercest battles. After evacuation from Dunkirk, 6th Gordons fought in Tunisia in 1943, leading to the German surrender in North Africa. Following a spell in Iraq, the 1st London Scottish fought in Sicily and then the Battle of Monte Cassino where Private George Mitchell won his posthumous Victoria Cross, the most prestigious of the numerous gallantry awards to the men of both battalions. In January 1944, the 6th Gordons were the first British battalion ashore at Anzio. While the landing was unopposed, the Germans mounted devastating counter-attacks but, despite almost 400 killed, wounded and captured, the Battalion heroically held on. The 1st London Scottish arrived to fight alongside their Regimental ‘brethren’ suffering equally heavy devastating casualties. After the break-out, the Gordons pipe band led the liberation parade in Rome. Both battalions went on to fight up through Italy to smash the Gothic Line and eventual victory.

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