Parachute Doctor - The Memoirs of Captain David Tibbs

Parachute Doctor is the story of Captain David Tibbs RAMC MC who as a member of 225 (Parachute) Field Ambulance and the 13th Parachute Battalion served with the 5th Parachute Brigade of the famous 6th Airborne Division.

His fascinating recollections feature jumping into Normandy on D-Day and the subsequent intense battle to defend the Airborne perimeter; assisting the Americans in repulsing the Ardennes offensive, the massive Airborne drop across the Rhine and the rapid advance to the Baltic to prevent the Russians moving into Denmark.

Following the end of the European war, the Brigade was shipped to the Far East for a proposed invasion of Singapore. However, the Japanese surrendered beforehand, and the Paras ended up being involved in a little known episode, fighting alongside the Japanese in defence of Dutch civilians against violent rebels on the island of Java.

Obituary: Captain David Tibbs, doctor awarded military cross after parachuting into occupied France on D-Day (The Scotsman)


Available from:
Sabrestorm Publishing
Casemate Publishing

Operation Overlord - Cornwall & Preparation for the D-Day Landings

The story of Cornwall's involvement in the D-Day landings is both detailed and yet remains relatively unknown. In telling this story the role Cornwall played is explored, from the time Winston Churchill addressed the House of Commons with his now famous 'We will fight them on the beaches...' promise, up until the launch of Operations Neptune and Overlord via the Normandy beaches, which ultimately led to the liberation of Europe.

Roderick de Normann has captured both the spirit and detail of the planning for these two operations. His careful research has led him to uncover a wealth of hitherto undiscovered information and little known photographs. Fully illustrated, the book includes images taken throughout Cornwall often using Hollywood grade film, providing the reader with a real sense of what it was like to be in the county during the preparations for D-Day.

Table of contents:

• Introduction - In God's Good Time
• Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
• Planning and Preparation for the Second Front
• The US Navy Arrives in Cornwall
• One Last Straw
• The Western Task Force and American Landing Forces
• Exercise, Exercise, Exercise
• 'Let's Go...'
• A Brotherhood in Arms
• Postscript
• Archive Sources
• Image Sources
• Bibliography

Available from:
Amazon

D-Day - The British Beach Landings

D-Day, the Allied invasion of Europe, began on the night of 5-6 June 1944. At 07.00 hours on the 6th, Britain's First Corps and XXX Corps came ashore on Sword and Gold beaches, to withering fire from the entrenched German forces. Within the initial and critical couple of hours some 30,000 soldiers, 300 guns and 700 armoured vehicles were landed, a magnificent achievement and, though the sands were soon choked with the mother of all logjams, exacerbated by a swelling tide, the British were firmly lodged; a bridgehead had been secured, albeit a rather flimsy one at this juncture.

This is the story of the British soldiers’ experience of the beach landings on that fateful morning - the spearhead of Operation Overlord.

Table of contents:

• Introduction
• Overture
• H-Hour, The Airborne Drop
• Sword Beach, Morning
• Juno Beach, Morning
• Gold Beach, Morning
• Getting A Grip, the Afternoon and After
• The Battle for Normandy
• And Now

Available from:
Amberley Publishing

Seven Months to D-Day - An American Regiment in Dorset

In November 1943 the 3000 men of the American 16th Infantry Regiment arrived in West Dorset.
This book is the story of the seven months that followed, months that finally ended amidst the hell of Omaha Beach at dawn on D-Day.

Towns like Beaminster, Bridport and Lyme Regis filled with soldiers, who crowded into the pubs and dance halls, striking up friendships - many of which have endured. Romance flourished. Jeeps and trucks clogged country lanes as D-Day drew closer.

By tracking down GI veterans, and talking to townspeople and villagers of West Dorset, Robin Pearce has vividly recaptured the character and atmosphere of an extraordinary period.

Available from:
Amazon

It Won't Be Long Now - The Diary of a Hong Kong Prisoner of War

Japan marched into Hong Kong at the outbreak of the Pacific War on December 8, 1941. On the same day, Graham Heywood was captured by the invading Japanese near the border while carrying out duties for the Royal Observatory. He was held at various places in the New Territories before being transported to the military Prisoner-of-War camp in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. The Japanese refused to allow Heywood and his colleague Leonard Starbuck to join the civilians at the Stanley internment camp.

Heywood’s illustrated diary records his three-and-a-half years of internment, telling a story of hardship, adversity, and survival of malnutrition and disease; as well as repeated hopes of liberation and disappointment. As he awaits the end of the war, his reflections upon freedom and imprisonment bring realisations about life and how to live it.

“Accounts of life in the internment camp differed widely. One friend, an enthusiastic biologist, was full of his doings; he had grown champion vegetables, had seen all sort of rare birds (including vultures, after the corpses) and had run a successful yeast brewery. Altogether, he said, it had been a great experience … a bit too long, perhaps, but not bad fun at all. Another ended up her account by saying ‘Oh, Mr. Heywood, it was hell on earth’. It all depended on their point of view.”

Available from:

Blacksmith Books (free sample chapter available at the Publishers website)

Lake Ilmen 1942 - The Wehrmacht Front to the Red Army

In January 1942, south of Lake Ilmen, the 16th German Army clashed with the Morozov's 11th Soviet Army for possession of the strategic Russian city of Stelaia. In this battle, which has gone almost unnoticed in studies of the Eastern Front, the Blue Division (Spanish volunteers) intervened with the 250th Skier Company. The Spaniards, along with their German and Latvian comrades, endured hard fighting in extreme winter conditions. In addition to providing a strategic framework of the battle itself, including the Soviet perspective, this book also looks at the human aspect of the battle, by analysing a selection of the volunteers who fought in it.

This is an interesting book, although the subject area is not that clear from the title chosen, but the authors have created an insightful and comprehensive narrative about one specific action that the Spanish Blue Division participated in. One key point of the book are the biographies of men who were involved in this battle, and these sit well with extracts from personal accounts. The biographies include officers, and also ordinary soldiers. While the singular focus of the book is very precise, there are few English language accounts of the Blue Division's participation on the Eastern Front, so this book is worth obtaining if you want to read more about this aspect of World War Two.

Available from:
Pen & Sword

Rations and Rubble - Remembering Woolworths, The New Cross V2 Disaster Saturday 25th November 1944

For many people it seemed as though the war was all but over. Christmas was coming and there were saucepans for sale in Woolworths again. The New Cross lads had been swimming and were having their usual hot drink in the tea-bar. An ordinary Saturday lunch time turned in a split second into a living hell. A V2 rocket, forged in the German mountains with slave labour and fired under orders of vengeance, slashed through the sky faster than the speed of sound. A direct hit at the back of Woolworths killed 168 people, injuring hundreds more and spreading the rumour of death throughout South East London.

This booklet carries the stories of survivors, relatives of the victims and the defence workers who toiled for three days and nights to pull the community back from its disaster, saving lives where they could, preserving the little details which would aid identification and clearing the blood-soaked rubble.

Published in 1994 by the Deptford Local History group, this excellent book is made up of almost entirely first person accounts. Sadly, with the passing of time, many of the interviewees will have now passed on, but thankfully their recollections of the horrific loss of life on that November day in 1944 have been recorded for posterity in this book.

Available from:
I purchased my copy from a stall at Greenwich Vintage Market in London. It is out of print, but you may be able to obtain a copy from Amazon.