Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes, at Home and at War

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Author : Linda Hervieux
Genre : History

Summary : The tale of an all-black battalion whose crucial contributions at D-Day have gone unrecognised to this day

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Author : David Howarth
Genre : History

Summary : This is a masterful work. I am so grateful for Howarth's dedication to capturing the experiences of those who were there that fateful, historic, world-changing day.' - Good Reads “That morning, the fleet had sailed. He could not possibly count the ships or even guess the numbers Wallace stood on the head of the cliff, entranced and exalted by a pageant of splendour which nobody had ever seen before, and nobody, it is certain, will ever see again.” In Dawn of D-Day, David Howarth weaves together the testimony of hundreds of eyewitnesses and has produced a breath-taking and atmospheric account of the greatest amphibious landing ever attempted. Based on interviews with survivors and accounts by participants, including American paratroopers, British engineers, French civilians and German soldiers, this enthralling story brings all the drama of 6th June 1944 to life. David Howarth looks not only at the famous incidents but at the full range of D-Day experiences, relating the running battles between parachutists and Germans in the Norman countryside, the torment of being under fire for the first time, the agony on the invasion beaches, the shock of the German defenders and all the confusion, elation and horror of battle. Dawn of D-Day is superb history from the mouths and pens of the men who fought on that first day of the battle for Normandy.

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Author : Rana Mitter
Genre : History

Summary : A history of the Chinese experience in WWII, named a Book of the Year by both the Economist and the Financial Times: “Superb” (The New York Times Book Review). In 1937, two years before Hitler invaded Poland, Chinese troops clashed with Japanese occupiers in the first battle of World War II. Joining with the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain, China became the fourth great ally in a devastating struggle for its very survival. In this book, prize-winning historian Rana Mitter unfurls China’s drama of invasion, resistance, slaughter, and political intrigue as never before. Based on groundbreaking research, this gripping narrative focuses on a handful of unforgettable characters, including Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong, and Chiang’s American chief of staff, “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell—and also recounts the sacrifice and resilience of everyday Chinese people through the horrors of bombings, famines, and the infamous Rape of Nanking. More than any other twentieth-century event, World War II was crucial in shaping China’s worldview, making Forgotten Ally both a definitive work of history and an indispensable guide to today’s China and its relationship with the West.

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Author : Michael Noble
Genre : World War, 1939-1945

Summary : Relive the events of June 6, 1944, through eye witness accounts that describe 20 real-life stories from the D-Day landings. This book--which presents collated photographs, personal accounts, and testimonies from all sides with full-page illustrations dramatizing individual roles--brings a key moment in history to life for young readers hearing about the event for the first time, as we commemorate its 75th anniversary. Meet: Company Sergeant Major Stanley Hollis, the only person to receive the Victoria Cross for their actions that day Lt. Richard Winter, among the first to be parachuted into action (as depicted in Band of Brothers) American journalist Martha Gellhorn, the only woman known to have been present, after disguising herself as a stretcher bearer As well as a host of other inspiring individuals who each played an important part in the turning point of World War II From those involved in reconnaissance, planning and logistics, espionage, and development of new technology, through to the military units involved in the invasion and landings, and the subsequent phases of the invasion, this authentic retelling provides a view from every angle of the action.

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Author : Giles Milton
Genre : History

Summary : 'Vivid, graphic and moving' Mail on Sunday Book of the Year 'It has a wonderful immediacy and vitality - living history in every sense' Anthony Horowitz 'Fantastic' Dan Snow 'Compellingly authentic, revelatory and beautifully written. A gripping tour de force' Damien Lewis 'Stirring and unsettling in equal measure, this is history writing at its most powerful' Evening Standard Seventy-five years have passed since D-Day, the day of the greatest seaborne invasion in history. The outcome of the Second World War hung in the balance on that chill June morning. If Allied forces succeeded in gaining a foothold in northern France, the road to victory would be open. But if the Allies could be driven back into the sea, the invasion would be stalled for years, perhaps forever. An epic battle that involved 156,000 men, 7,000 ships and 20,000 armoured vehicles, the desperate struggle that unfolded on 6 June 1944 was, above all, a story of individual heroics - of men who were driven to keep fighting until the German defences were smashed and the precarious beachheads secured. Their authentic human story - Allied, German, French - has never fully been told. Giles Milton's bold new history narrates the day's events through the tales of survivors from all sides: the teenage Allied conscript, the crack German defender, the French resistance fighter. From the military architects at Supreme Headquarters to the young schoolboy in the Wehrmacht's bunkers, D-Day: The Soldiers' Story lays bare the absolute terror of those trapped in the frontline of Operation Overlord. It also gives voice to those hitherto unheard - the French butcher's daughter, the Panzer Commander's wife, the chauffeur to the General Staff. This vast canvas of human bravado reveals 'the longest day' as never before - less as a masterpiece of strategic planning than a day on which thousands of scared young men found themselves staring death in the face. It is drawn in its entirety from the raw, unvarnished experiences of those who were there.

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Author : Gregory A. Freeman
Genre : History

Summary : The astonishing, never before told story of the greatest rescue mission of World War II—when the OSS set out to recover more than 500 airmen trapped behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia... During a bombing campaign over Romanian oil fields, hundreds of American airmen were shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Local Serbian farmers and peasants risked their own lives to give refuge to the soldiers while they waited for rescue, and in 1944, Operation Halyard was born. The risks were incredible. The starving Americans in Yugoslavia had to construct a landing strip large enough for C-47 cargo planes—without tools, without alerting the Germans, and without endangering the villagers. And the cargo planes had to make it through enemy airspace and back—without getting shot down themselves. Classified for over half a century for political reasons, the full account of this unforgettable story of loyalty, self-sacrifice, and bravery is now being told for the first time ever. The Forgotten 500 is the gripping, behind-the-scenes look at the greatest escape of World War II. “Amazing [and] riveting.”—James Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers

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Author : Sarah Rose
Genre : History

Summary : The dramatic, untold story of the extraordinary women recruited by Britain's elite spy agency to help pave the way for Allied victory, for fans of A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE by Sonia Purnell 'Gripping: Spies, romance, Gestapo thugs, blown-up trains, courage, and treachery (lots of treachery) - and all of it true, all precisely documented' ERIK LARSON, author of THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY 'The mission is this: Read D-Day Girls today. Not just for the spy flair but also because this history feels more relevant than ever, as an army of women and girls again find themselves in a fight for the common good' LILY KOPPEL, author of THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB 'Thoroughly researched and written as smoothly as a good thriller, this is a mesmerising story of creativity, perseverance, and astonishing heroism' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, Starred review * * * In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was fighting. Believing that Britain was locked in an existential battle, Winston Churchill had already created a secret agency, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharpshooting. Their job, he declared, was to 'set Europe ablaze'. But with most men on the front lines, the SOE was forced to do something unprecedented: recruit women. Thirty-nine answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France. In D-Day Girls, Sarah Rose draws on recently declassified files, diaries, and oral histories to tell the thrilling story of three of these remarkable women. There's Andrée Borrel, a scrappy and streetwise Parisian who blew up power lines with the Gestapo hot on her heels; Odette Sansom, an unhappily married suburban mother who saw the SOE as her ticket out of domestic life and into a meaningful adventure; and Lise de Baissac, a fiercely independent member of French colonial high society and the SOE's unflappable 'queen'. Together, they destroyed train lines, ambushed Nazis, plotted prison breaks, and gathered crucial intelligence-laying the groundwork for the D-Day invasion that proved to be the turning point in the war. Rigorously researched and written with razor-sharp wit, D-Day Girls is an inspiring story for our own moment of resistance: a reminder of what courage-and the energy of politically animated women-can accomplish when the stakes seem incalculably high.

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Author : Adam Makos
Genre : History

Summary : From the New York Times bestselling author of Spearhead and A Higher Call comes an unflinching, brutal, and relentless firsthand chronicle of United States Marine Corps’ actions in the Pacific during World War II. Following fifteen Marines from the Pearl Harbor attack, through battles with the Japanese, to their return home after V-J Day, Adam Makos and Marcus Brotherton have compiled an oral history of the Pacific War in the words of the men who fought on the front lines. With unflinching honesty, these Marines reveal harrowing accounts of combat with an implacable enemy, the friendships and camaraderie they found—and lost—and the aftermath of the war’s impact on their lives. With unprecedented access to the veterans, rare photographs, and unpublished memoirs, Voices of the Pacific presents true stories of heroism as told by such World War II veterans as Sid Phillips, R. V. Burgin, and Chuck Tatum—whose exploits were featured in the HBO® miniseries, The Pacific—and their Marine buddies from the legendary 1st Marine Division. Includes rare photos!

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Author : George Wilson
Genre : History

Summary : "If you survive your first day, I'll promote you." So promised George Wilson's World War II commanding officer in the hedgerows of Normandy -- and it was to be a promise dramatically fulfilled. From July, 1944, to the closing days of the war, from the first penetration of the Siegfried Line to the Nazis' last desperate charge in the Battle of the Bulge, Wilson fought in the thickest of the action, helping take the small towns of northern France and Belgium building by building. Of all the men and officers who started out in Company F of the 4th Infantry Division with him, Wilson was the only one who finished. In the end, he felt not like a conqueror or a victor, but an exhausted survivor, left with nothing but his life -- and his emotions. If You Survive One of the great first-person accounts of the making of a combat veteran, in the last, most violent months of World War II.

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Author : Judy Batalion
Genre : Biography & Autobiography

Summary : One of the most important untold stories of World War II, The Light of Days is a soaring landmark history that brings to light the extraordinary accomplishments of brave Jewish women who inspired Poland's Jewish youth groups to resist the Nazis. Witnesses to the brutal murder of their families and the violent destruction of their communities, a cadre of Jewish women in Poland - some still in their teens - became the heart of a wide-ranging resistance network that fought the Nazis. With courage, guile and nerves of steel, these 'ghetto girls' smuggled guns in loaves of bread and coded intelligence messages in their plaited hair. They helped build life-saving systems of underground bunkers and sustained thousands of Jews in safe hiding places. They bribed Gestapo guards with liquor, assassinated Nazis and sabotaged German supply lines. The Light of Days at last reveals the real history of these incredible women whose courageous yet little-known feats have been eclipsed by time. [A] powerful book . . . The actions of these young women, carefully brought back to life by Batalion, turn much of what we believe we know about the Holocaust on its head. -- Jenni Frazer ? Jewish Chronicle Remarkable and inspiring . . . thanks to Judy's meticulous research, these near century old stories of resistance in the face of overwhelming odds are about to be read once again ? Daily Express