Christmas Under Fire, 1944

How was Christmas celebrated and experienced during 1944, the last year of World War II?

Bastogne in Belgium, Christmas 1944. Plagued by biting cold and the nerve-wracking sound of exploding mortar bombs, American soldiers sang Christmas carols. They ate their meagre rations, yearning for well-laid Christmas dinner tables and roasted turkey. On the Eastern front, German military assembled to listen to Christmas music on the radio, if they had a little respite from the bloody battle against the advancing Red Army. After reading the latest mail from Germany, they wiped away their tears, thinking of their families back home. 

In liberated Paris as well as in other European cities, Christmas was celebrated no matter how limited the circumstances may have been. In the major cities in the western part of the Netherlands, occupied by the Germans, civilians scraped the very last bits of food together for a Christmas dinner that could not appease their hunger. POWs in camps all over the world looked forward to Christmas parcels from home. Even in Nazi concentration camps, inmates found hope in Christmas, although their suffering continued inexorably.       

        

Christmas Under Fire, 1944 describes the circumstances in which the last Christmas of World War II was celebrated by military, civilians and camp inmates alike. Even in the midst of war’s violence, Christmas remained a hopeful beacon of western civilization.

 
Christmas Under Fire, 1944 has been written by Kevin Prenger, owner of the highly recommended website  Tracesofwar.com. 

You can read the first chapter here. 

Available from:

Amazon

(Paperback and Kindle)

Killing Hitler's Reich: The Battle for Austria 1945

In the dying days of World War Two, when the fate of nations was being decided by the triumvirate of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Josef Stalin, Hitler’s Austrian homeland provided a scenic backdrop for the last stand of Army Group South. Killing Hitler’s Reich, The Battle For Austria 1945, is the history of the bloody Battle for Austria in 1945. Austria’s fate held major ramifications for postwar Europe and the entire free world, yet there is no complete account of the campaign written in English.

Given the scale of the fighting and the scope of the consequences, this book fills a major gap in the literature of World War Two. On VE Day Army Group South listed 450,000 men still under arms in four armies. It was this massive force that made General Dwight Eisenhower change the entire focus of American ground operations to cut off Germans from retreating into the National Redoubt.

Moreover, it was Austria not Berlin, that proved to be the graveyard of the Waffen SS. No less than 15 of Himmler’s divisions ended the war there. And as the German war effort disintegrated into chaos, high ranking Nazis fled the dying Reich through Austria and into Italy. Some made it, many didn’t. Killing Hitler’s Reich follows the chase and capture of some of the most notorious, such as Himmler’s Second in Command, Ernst Kaltenbrunner. Long overlooked by historians, Killing Hitler’s Reich finally places this critical campaign in its proper historical place.

Available from:
Casemate Publishing

Voices from the Arctic Convoys

With the invasion of Russia by Germany in 1941, Britain gained a new ally and a responsibility to provide material for the new front. More than four million tonnes of supplies such as tanks, fighters, bombers, ammunition, raw materials and food were transported to Russia during a four-year period. The cost was high and by May 1945, the campaign had seen the loss of 104 merchant ships and sixteen military vessels, and the thousands of seamen they carried.

The Arctic route was the most arduous of all convoy routes. The ever-present threat of attack from German U-boats and Luftwaffe bombers such as the dreaded Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor were not all the Arctic convoys had to contend with. They had to deal with severe cold, storms, fog, ice floes and waves so huge they tore at the ships’ armour plating.

It is to the memory of these brave men that this book is dedicated and the stories of the immeasurable contribution they made to the Allied efforts during the Second World War have been collected for this book by their veteran comrades.

Voices from the Arctic Convoys contains the personal stories of 28 veterans, who served on ships including: 

• HMS Ledbury
• HMS Nabob
• HMS Sheffield
• HMS Swift
• HMS Javelin
• HMS Bulldog
• HMS Shera
• HMS Belfast
• HMS Bluebell
• HMS Nigeria
• HMS Keppel
• HMS Malcolm
• HMS Milne
• HMS Wren
• HMS Apollo
• HMS Magpie
• HMS Berwick
• HMS Zephyr
• HMS Achates 
• HMS Bermuda
• SS Induna
• SS Empire Baffin
• SS Empire Elgar
• SS Soborg
• SS Charlbury
• Northern Wave

Available from:
Fonthill Media

The Persecution of the Jews in Photographs - The Netherlands 1940-1945

The Persecution of the Jews in Photographs, the Netherlands 1940-1945 is the first book of
photographs about the persecution and deportation of the Jews in the Netherlands. A remarkable number of photographs have survived of the process from the initial isolation to the final extermination of the Jews. Both the professional photographers commissioned by the occupying forces, and amateurs, took moving photographs. Ordinary Dutch citizens recorded razzias, in some cases secretly. They also photographed the introduction of the Star of David, the Jews who went into hiding, and the role of perpetrators and bystanders.

On 10 May 1940, the day of the German invasion, there were 140,000 Jewish inhabitants living in the Netherlands. In addition, there were more than 20,000 German-Jewish refugees in the country. The German occupying forces gradually introduced anti-Jewish measures, step by step. The first train left for the Westerbork transit camp on 14 July 1942, followed up by the deportations to the Auschwitz extermination camp. 107,000 Jews were deported from the Netherlands, The full extent of their terrible fate only became known after the war: at least 102,000 were murdered, died of mistreatment or were worked to death in the Nazi camps. This tragedy has had a profound effect on Dutch society.

Photographic archives and private collections were consulted in the Netherlands and abroad. Extensive background data was researched, which means that the moving pictures have an even greater force of expression. The result is an overwhelming collection of almost 400 photographs, accompanied by detailed captions. This book reflects the memory of the persecution of the Jews in photographs.

The book supports an exhibition at the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam. Find out more about the exhibition. 

Available from:
W Books

Arras Counter-Attack 1940

On 21 May 1940 during the ill-fated Dunkirk Campaign the British launched an operation spearheaded by two tank regiments to help secure the city of Arras. This was the only significant armoured operation mounted by the British during the campaign.

Poorly coordinated and starting badly, the Matilda tanks ran into the flanks of Rommel’s over extended 7th Panzer Division. With the German anti-tank guns unable to penetrate the armour of the British tanks, Rommel’s infantry fell into chaos as the Matildas plunged deep into their flank. The Germans were machine gunned and started to surrender in large numbers but with the British infantry lagging well behind, fighting their own battles in the villages, there was no one to round them up.

Into this scene of chaos entered Rommel whose personal leadership and example started to steady his troops and organise an effective response. This was classic Rommel but in the aftermath, he claimed to have been attacked by five divisions.

The Arras counter-attack contributed to Hitler issuing the famous ‘halt order’ to his panzers that arguably did much to allow the British Army to withdraw to Dunkirk and escape total destruction.

Available from:
Pen & Sword

Steel Wall At Arnhem: The Destruction of 4 Parachute Brigade 19 September 1944

The deployment of the British 1st Airborne Division somewhere in Europe prior to the end of the War was indeed a case of coins burning holes in the pockets of SHAEF . The Allied High Command was anxious to commit to battle a Division that, while it contained some elite units, was not fully trained, had carried out only one divisional exercise and was contained several officers who were either unfit or unsuitable for Airborne command.

On Monday 18 September 1944, the aircraft and gliders carrying the men and equipment of 4 Parachute Brigade took off from airfields in the south of England. For the first time from its creation in North Africa the Brigade was going into battle as a unified formation albeit not fully trained and far from experienced.

Within 24 hours the Brigade would cease to exist, having achieved nothing more than the deaths of good men for no good reason. Despite the fine words of Winston Churchill that the operation had not been in vain and Montgomery was 90% successful, there is more logic to be found in the words of the Great War poet Wilfred Owen when he wrote in his poem Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. There were those commanders who were indeed ardent for some desperate glory .

This is a full account of the Brigade and its actions at Arnhem. Contains 221 photos & 3 maps.

Available from:
Helion
Casemate Publishers

Arnhem 1944 - The Human Tragedy of the Bridge Too Far

The airborne battle for the bridges across the Rhine at Arnhem ranks amongst the Second World War’s most famous actions – inspiring innumerable books and the star-studded 1977 movie. This book, however, is unique: deeply moved, the author provides a fresh narrative and approach – concentrating on the tragic stories of individual casualties.

These men were killed at different junctures in the fighting, often requiring forensic analysis to ascertain their fates. Wider events contextualise the author’s primary focus – effectively ‘resurrecting’ casualties through describing their backgrounds, previous experience, and tragic effect on their families. In particular, the emotive and unresolved issue of the many still ‘missing’ is explored.

During the course of his research, the author made numerous trips to Arnhem and Oosterbeek, travelled miles around the UK, and spent countless hours communicating with the relatives of casualties – achieving their enthusiastic support. This detailed work, conducted sensitively and with dignity, ensures that these moving stories are now recorded for posterity.

Included are the stories of Private Albert Willingham, who sacrificed his life to save civilians; Major Frank Tate, machine-gunned against the backdrop of blazing buildings around Arnhem Bridge; family man Sergeant George Thomas, whose anti-tank gun is displayed today outside the Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’, and Squadron Leader John Gilliard DFC, father of a baby son who perished flying his Stirling through a hail of shot and shell during an essential re-supply drop. Is Private Gilbert Anderson, who remains ‘missing’, actually buried as an ‘unknown’, the author asks? Representing the Poles is Lance-Corporal Czeslaw Gajewnik, who drowned whilst escaping the hell of Oosterbeek, and accounts by Dutch civilians emphasise the shared suffering – sharply focussed by the tragedy of Luuk Buist, killed protecting his family. The sensitivity still surrounding German casualties is also explained.

This raw, personal, side of war, the hopes and fears of ordinary men thrust into extraordinary circumstances, is both deeply moving and revealing: no longer are these just names carved on headstones or memorials in a distant land. Through this thorough investigative work, supported by those who remember them, the casualties live again, their silent voices heard through friends, relatives, comrades and unpublished letters.

Available from:.
Pen and Sword

Arnhem: The Complete Story of Operation Market Garden 17-25 September 1944

On 21 August 1944 German Army Group B was destroyed in Normandy and Allied troops began pressing east from the beachhead they had occupied since the D-Day landings. Within days British troops had liberated Brussels and reached the Dutch border. Encouraged by seeming total German collapse, the Allies gambled their overstretched resources on a high-risk strategy aimed at opening the way into Germany itself crossing the Rhine river.

On the afternoon of Sunday 17 September British tanks advanced into Holland in concert with 1,534 transport aircraft and 491 gliders. Their objective was a series of bridges across the Rhine, possession of which would allow the Allies to advance into Germany. In the event the operation was dogged by bad weather, flawed planning, tardiness and overconfidence, and ended with the Arnhem crossing still in German hands despite an epic nine-day battle that cost the British 1st Airborne Division over two thirds of its men killed, wounded or captured.

Arnhem, the Battle of the Bridges combines analysis and new research by a leading authority on Operation MARKET GARDEN with the words of the men who were there, and provides the most comprehensive account of the battle to date.

Available from:

Amberley Publishing

Condemned to Live: A Panzer Artilleryman's Five-Front War

Condemned to Live is a the memoir of Franz Frisch, who served in the German Army during World War II. Frisch was 19 years old when, in 1938, he was drafted into an artillery battalion from his hometown of Vienna, Austria. Serving nine years as a Panzer artilleryman, he fought on five fronts in the European war: Poland, France, the Soviet Union, Sicily, and Italy. In March 1945, he became an American prisoner of war and spent two years in captivity.

The remarkably candid photographs display the war’s devastation and death, but most striking are the people images: camp life, friends, enemies, and refugees. Using a popular Kodak box camera, Frisch shot pictures from 1939 in Poland, until 1943, when film became unavailable. He periodically sent the film to his mother to be developed.

Frisch writes about the human interest subjects, mainly comrades and family, his personal war. He eschews Hitler’s grand strategies, field marshals, Panzer tactics, or recounting the war’s outcomes, all beyond his control. The narrative includes extensive remembrances of a private soldier’s small and volatile world, conforming to the level of authority and responsibility, viewpoint, and informality of the man who took the images.

Available from:
White Mane Publishing Co Inc.

We Remember D-Day

'On leaving the plane I can only say I felt very lonely, except that the sky was full of bullets coming upwards. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before my feet hit the ground with a thud. Almost as soon as my feet touched the ground, I was to find that I had landed directly in front of the muzzle of a German Machine Gun and I received a burst of fire straight at me. I can remember being hit and spinning round with a sudden yell of shock and finishing up flat on my back... I lay there rather dazed for a while, expecting to be hit again at any moment.' John Hunter, Parachute Regiment, Northants.

Seventy years ago, on 6 June 1944, a great Allied Armada landed on the coast of Normandy. The invasion force launched on D-Day was a size never seen before and never likely to be seen again. 150,000 soldiers, more than 6,000 ships and 11,000 combat aircraft took part in the assault. The success of that attack led 11 months later to the final liberation of Europe from a ruthless dictatorship that had threatened to permanently enslave it. Such an undertaking on such a scale could not have been achieved without tremendous cooperation between Land, Sea and Air Forces.

In We Remember D-Day we hear from the men and women who were involved in the assault; those who risked their lives for a better future. Their stories tell of human bravery and endeavour, pain and heartache, and, most importantly, freedom and hope.


Available from:
Ebury Press

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.

War in the Islands: Undercover Operations in the Aegean, 1942-44

War in the Islands is a revealing anthology of true stories about a little-known episode of naval operations in the Mediterranean during the Second World War. As a young officer in the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR), the author (Adrian Seligman 1909-2003) formed and commanded a flotilla of caiques on undercover operations in the Greek islands between 1942-1944.

Mixed bags of volunteers drawn from all three services crewed there motorised caiques, which were commanded by young RNR officers. Their task was to carry Allied raiding parties and their supplies in and out of enemy held territory, in total secrecy and under cover of darkness - risky undertakings that required high levels of navigational and seamanship skills from the skippers.

This clandestine war is recounted by the author, 12 skippers of caiques, one of a motor launch and an RAF officer, who were actually involved in these operations. These men all served with the Levant Schooner Flotilla, the Greek Sacred Company and the Aegean Raiding Forces (SAS / SBS).

This book was published by Sutton Publishing (1997).

Available from:
Amazon.co.uk

The Grey Wolves of Eriboll

The surrender of the German U-boat fleet at the end of World War II was perhaps the principal event in the war’s endgame which signified to the British people that peace really had arrived.
This revised, updated and expanded new edition gives career details of not only the 33 commanders who accompanied their boats to Loch Eriboll but also of a further 23 previous commanders of those U-boats, including four who might be considered ‘Aces’ because of the damage they inflicted, sinking and disabling Allied shipping.

The book also features an analysis of the Allied naval operation under which the surrendering U-boats were assembled in Scotland and Northern Ireland; asks who first contacted those U-boats after the capitulation – armed British trawlers, frigates of the Allied navies or aircraft of the Royal Air Force; and discloses how U-boats spared destruction were distributed to the navies of the USA, France, USSR and the Royal Navy. Also revealed are more unpublished recollections of British and German naval personnel present at the Loch Eriboll surrenders and how 116 surviving U-boats came to be sunk in the waters of the Western Approaches in the winter of 1945/46.

The Grey Wolves of Eriboll includes a wealth of historical insights including the German Surrender Document; detailed descriptions of the construction, service careers and circumstances of each surrendered U-boat; details of the frigates that supervised the surrenders, contemporary newspaper reports and descriptions of the naval Operations Pledge, Commonwealth, Cabal, Thankful and Deadlight, each of which involved Eriboll U-boats. The mysteries surrounding Hitler’s yacht and the alleged ‘Norwegian Royal Yacht’ (which did not exist at the time) are also explored.

Available from:
Whittles Publishing

The Luftwaffe Battle of Britain Fighter Pilot's Kitbag

Reichsmarschall Goring told Hitler that it would take less than a month for his much-vaunted Luftwaffe to conquer the RAF and pave the way for the German invasion of Great Britain. His prediction was to prove disastrously wrong, but for four long months his pilots and aircrew fought for their lives in the skies above the UK. From their bases in continental Europe, the Luftwaffe s fighter pilots escorted the great bomber fleets that sought to destroy the RAF s airfields and installations, and tackled the Spitfires and Hurricanes deployed to defend Britain s towns and cities.

Whilst much has been written on the titanic struggle for supremacy fought throughout the summer of 1940 and of the men and machines of both sides, little attention has been paid to what the pilots wore and carried with them in the air.

All the objects that a Luftwaffe fighter pilot was issued with during the Battle of Britain are explored in this book in high-definition colour photographs, showing everything from the differing uniforms, to headgear, personal weapons, gloves, goggles, parachute packs and the essential life jacket. Each item is fully described and its purpose and use explained.

Congratulations to Mark Hillier - this is a great reference book. Showcasing items from personal collections, providing detailed information on the specific items worn, carried and used by Luftwaffe personnel during the summer of 1940 - the coverage is exhaustive and this should be on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in Luftwaffe uniforms and equipment. I hope that this type of book could be considered for other periods of the Second World War, as this could be a great series in the future.

Available from:
Pen & Sword