Tunisian Tales - The 1st Parachute Brigade in North Africa 1942-43

Whilst many books have been written on the history of the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces in the Second World War, none of them have concentrated solely on the story of the 1st Parachute Brigade in North Africa between 1942 and 1943.

'Tunisian Tales' covers the raising of the Brigade in 1941 and training in the UK before their transfer to the Mediterranean theatre of operations. It also covers the three airborne operations carried out by the Brigade there - Bone, Souk-el-Arba and Depienne/Oudna - in great detail.

The book is complemented by over 100 photos many never published before, maps (including newly-commissioned colour maps, and one used by Lieutenant Colonel Pearson when in command of the 1st Parachute Battalion) and coverage of the Airborne Medical Services in the area, besides extensive appendices.

This is Niall Cherry's third book following on from his highly successful previous titles - 'Most Unfavourable Ground' and 'Striking Back'. As in his previous works, detailed research has been carried out using official reports, war diaries and veterans' accounts. The book has the full approval of 'Airborne Assault', the Museum of the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces at Duxford, and we are delighted that its curator, Jon Baker, has contributed the Foreword. 'Tunisian Tales' represents a notable contribution to new research into the history of Britain's airborne forces.

It is being published in a strictly limited edition hardback run of 1,000 copies, each signed by the author and individually numbered.

Available from:
Helion & Co Ltd
Casemate Publishing

Aus Meiner Sicht (From My View) - The Memoirs of Werner Mork - A Private's Life in the Wehrmacht during World War II

This is a very interesting memoir which I came across by chance. It covers Werner Mork's service during WWII in the German Wehrmacht and is available to download free of charge.

Mork served as a driver in North Africa in 1942, in the Tobruk area. Hospitalised for a period in Germany, he was then posted to Corsica and was involved in the battles in Italy - Ortona, Anzio and Monte Cassino. Transferred to the Eastern Front, he later experienced the Russian invasion of Silesia, and was ultimately captured in Czechoslovakia.

I haven't had chance to read the book in detail, but a quick glance through indicates it is worthy of attention. The chapters available are:

• Driving Supply Trucks in Africa - 1942
• Driving Supply Trucks in Africa - 1942- Part II
• Driving Supply Trucks in Africa - 1942- Part III
• Recuperation in Halberstadt - 1943
• Mork on Corsica - 1943
• The Battle of Ortona - 1943
• The American Landing at Anzio / Nettuno - 1944
• The Battle of Monte Cassino - 1944 - Part I
• The Battle of Monte Cassino - 1944 - Part II
• The War on the Eastern Front - 1945
• The War on the Eastern Front - 1945 - Part II
• The War on the Eastern Front - 1945 - Part III
• Aftermath: P.O.W.

Available from:
The book can be downloaded free of charge on Daniel Setzer's page (he translated the text).
Other selections from memoirs in the original German text can be found on the website of the German Historical Museum.

The Best Day Of My Life:: Memoirs of an Italian-American who spent World War II as a prisoner of the English

The Best Day of My Life is the memoir of Frank Andreani, an Italian-American who was a victim of circumstance during the Second World War.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1919, Frank returned to his parent's home country when he was a youth. There, the family lost their money, and he ended up having to strike out on his own. Frank experienced harsh employers and a non-benevolent priest, but ultimately found a good job in Rome and settled into a comfortable life with his fiance.

This abruptly ended with his conscription into the Italian Army. Sent to North Africa, Frank fought and was captured at Tobruk, which lead to years in British POW camps in Eygpt, India and Australia.

Available from:
Booksurge Publishing

A Desert Rats Scrapbook: Cairo to Berlin 1940-1945

In 1940 Ted Fogg and Ernest Webster joined The Desert Rats, one of the most famous divisions to fight in the Second World War. They were posted to the Western Desert and fought with the 7th Armoured Division against Mussolini's soldiers and Rommel's Afrika Korps. They were at Beda Fomm, Alamein and Tripoli, finally driving the Axis from Africa at Tunis. Next came Salerno and the Italian Campaign before withdrawal to Britain in readiness for D-Day. Moving through France, Belgium, Holland and on into Germany itself, they were both present at Luneburg Heath when Montgomery took the final surrender of the German Forces in north-west Europe. Eventually they took part in the great Victory Parade in Berlin in 1945.

The Desert Rats Scrapbook is the story of these two young men, told through over 180 photographs, many from the personal collection of the late Trooper Ted Fogg who was attached to TAC HQ, and the recollection of Sergeant Ernest Webster who was a tank driver and later was attached to HQ as a planner. Their friendship continued until Ted Fogg's death in 1986. Ernest Webster, at the age of 92, lives on at his home in Derbyshire. Roger Fogg, who painstakingly collated this unique record, is Ted's son.

Available from:
The History Press

In the Prison of His Days: The Memoirs of a Captured World War Two Gunner

When Gunner George Norman Davison returned to his hometown of Sheffield, England, upon the conclusion of the Second World War, he used the diary he had carried with him to write a vivid first-hand account of his experiences.

These included the former insurance clerk's initial training in the UK and posting to North Africa; his immediate separation from Irene, his newlywed wife; his subsequent capture and imprisonment in the desert camps of Libya; the seemingly endless, lonely and hungry minutes dreaming of food and home; his re-transportation to Italy; the cruelty and kindness of his captors there; and - finally - his escape with the aid of the Italian resistance across the border on Lake Como into Switzerland.

Job done, Davison then put his remarkable story to one side before typing it up in manuscript form shortly before his death in 1986, whereupon it was rediscovered in a dusty attic by his only son, John. Alongside it was a battered old suitcase which contained yet more fascinating items, including each and every letter that Norman and Irene Davison had written to one another in those dark days from 1939 to 1946.

Published by Scratching Shed Publishing.

Available from:
Amazon

Peace, War and Love

Peace, War and Love by John Smale is the story of two people who came together and married just after WW2 started.

Jack and Sophie had different childhoods in the years between the Wars. Jack grew up on a Dorset farm as the youngest of seven children. Sophie, as the eldest of seven sisters found herself increasingly having to look after her growing number of siblings.

The couple met and then moved apart. There were lots of `near misses' during the War, but they both, luckily, survived. Jack was a soldier who was stationed in London during the Blitz and was later torpedoed on his way to Algiers with the REME. The book includes an account of the last few hours of the Windsor Castle and how the troops were rescued. There are descriptions of his advance through North Africa and his posting in Italy.

Meanwhile Sophie was stationed at RAF Manstone and only escaped death because she, and a friend, had a bad feeling about going into an air-raid shelter one night. She became pregnant by Jack, now her husband, on their last night together before he was posted the ill fated Windsor Castle.

So, fate appeared to be ganging up on them but it was actually conspiring to keep them together. After the War, they remained a happily married couple until Jack died earlier this year (2009). Sophie is still alive and lives in the village where they met.

Available from:
Amazon

Two Soldiers, Two Lost Fronts - German War Diaries of the Stalingrad and North Africa Campaigns

This book is built around two recently discovered war diaries—one by a member of the 23rd Panzer Division which served under Manstein in Russia, and the other by a member of Rommel’s AfrikaKorps. Together, along with detailed timelines and brief overviews, they comprise a fascinating “ground level” look at the German side of World War II.

The assignment of keeping the first diary was given to a soldier in the 2nd Battalion, 201st Panzer Regiment by a commanding officers and the author never saw fit to include his own name. This diary covers the period from April 1942 to March 1943, the momentous year when the tide of battle turned in the East. It first details the unit’s combat in the great German victory at Charkov, then the advance to the Caucasus, and finally the brutal winter of 1942–43.

The second diary’s author was a soldier named Rolf Krengel. It starts with the beginning of the war and ends shortly after the occupation. Serving primarily in North Africa, Krengel recounts with keen insight and flashes of humour the day-to-day challenges of the AfrikaKorps. During one of the swirling battles in the desert, Krengel found himself sharing a tent with Rommel at a forward outpost. The Field Marshal read parts of the diary with interest and signed it. Evacuated due to illness, Krengel then records service in Berlin beneath the relentless Allied bomber streams and other occurrences on the German homefront.

Neither of the diarists was famous, nor of especially high rank. However, these are the brutally honest accounts written at the time by men of the Wehrmacht who participated in two of history’s most crucial campaigns.

Available from:
Casemate

Soldiers of Misfortune - lvoirien Tirailleurs of World War II

This is a study of the African veterans of a European war. It is a story of men from the Cote d'Ivoire, many of whom had seldom traveled more than a few miles from their villages, who served France as tirailleurs (riflemen) during World War II.

Thousands of them took part in the doomed attempt to hold back the armies of the Third Relch in 1940; many were to spend the rest of the war as prisoners in Germany or Occupied France.

Others more fortunate came under the authority of Vichy France, and were deployed in the Defense of the “Motherland” and its overseas possessions against the threat posed by the Allies. By 1943, the tirailleur regiments had passed into the service of de Gaulle's free French and under Allied command, played a significant role in the liberation of Europe.

In describing these complex events, Dr. Lawler draws upon archives in both France and the Cote d'Ivoire. She also carried out an extensive series of interviews with Ivoirien veterans principally, but not exclusively, from the Korhogo region. The vividness of their testimony gives this study a special character. They talk freely not only of their wartime exploits, but also of their experiences after repatriation.

Lawler allows them to speak for themselves. They express their hatred of forced labor and military conscription, which were features of the colonial system, yet at the same time reveal a pride in having come to the defense of France. They describe their role in the nationalist struggle, as foot soldiers of Felix Houphouet-Boigny, but also convey their sense of having become a lost generation. They recognize that their experiences as French soldiers had become sadly irrelevant in a new nation in quest of its history.

Available from:
Ohio University Press

Len's War: Ambulance Convoy Despatch Rider in WW2

Len's War is the story of Len Smith, a British Army despatch rider serving with an Ambulance Convoy in North Africa and Italy. The book has been produced by his son-in-law, Dave Hambridge, in an e-book format. It contains personal anecdotes and photographs from the period, and a general account of the combat for the non-specialist reader.

Sadly Len passed away in May 2009, just a month short of his 87th birthday.

The book is available free to read here.

After the Battle issue 144

The latest issue of the excellent After the Battle magazine has just come out. Issue 144 contains articles on the Battle of El Guettar in Tunisia in 1943 between the US 1st Armored, 1st Infantry and 9th Infantry Divisions and seasoned Axis troops; the story of POW Camp No. 13 at Murchison in Australia - home to 2,100 Italian, 1,300 German and 185 Japanese prisoners from April 1941 to January 1947; Putting a Name to a Face - the story of how American researcher Norman S. Lichtenfeld identified an unknown GI featured in photographs of captured POWs in Jean Paul Pallud's book Battle of the Bulge Then and Now, traced him to New Jersey and put a name to his face: George E. Shomo; and lastly the always interesting From the Editor section - Readers' letters and follow-up stories on previous issues. Highly recommended.

Available in some newsagents in the UK and directly from the publishers After the Battle.

Always Tomorrow - Sempre Domani

Alfred Nisbett's book, Always Tomorrow - Sempre Domani, is his memoir of his wartime experiences in North Africa and Italy. It is not however a tale of combat, as shortly after joining the Royal Engineers in North Africa, Alfred found himself captured by a German panzer unit during the retreat from Benghazi in 1941. Shipped off to Italy, he soon busied himself with attempts to escape. First held at Sulmona (Campo 78), then moved to a smaller camp near L'Aquila (Campo 102). When the Italian Army surrendered in 1943, Alfred took advantage of the chaotic situation to take his leave and slipped away into the surrounding countryside. Unlike Charles Mayhead (see 'Rumours: A Memoir of a British POW'), Alfred was successful in his escape, and by the time the Germans had stepped in to manage the camps, he was hiding out in the mountains, befriended and looked after by Italian villagers. Moving frequently, he managed to avoid recapture due to the care and selflessness of the local people, who were under the constant threat of reprisals from German troops should Alfred, or any of the numerous ex-POWs in the area, be discovered. In July 1944, he encountered an advance party of British soldiers, and his adventure 'on the run' was over.

The story of the escaped Allied POWs in Italy is not particularly well known compared to that of POWs in German and Japanese hands (although I am rapidly discovering a number of books on the subject!). Alfred Nisbett introduces a number of fascinating characters in his story - the Marchetti and Morelli families who hid and fed him and fellow POWs; a Scottish-Italian caught visiting relatives in Italy at the outbreak of the war who ended up being a camp translator; a German deserter who was on the run alongside British POWs; a South African who was carrying out propaganda broadcasts for the Fascists in Rome; and it is the human aspect of his story that is the strongest. Alfred witnessed many acts of kindness and compassion from the people who he'd believed were the enemy - often at great danger to themselves - and through this friendships were made that have lasted over 60 years. While the book would benefit from the addition of some maps to trace Alfred's route and clarification of dates, it is a very well written story which I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone who'd like to learn about this unusual aspect of the war in Italy.

Available from:
Athena Press

Similar title(s):
Rumours: A Memoir of a British POW

Rumours: A Memoir of a British POW in WWII

Charles "Chas" Mayhead served during the Second World War with the Royal Army Service Corps. Sent to the Middle East, in 1942 he was separated from his company in the desert and was captured by the Germans.

He was held captive in North Africa, then shipped across the Mediterranean to Italy. Held for a short while in a camp near Naples, he was then transported to Northern Italy to keep him away from the invading Allies. One of the camps Chas was held at was Campo Concentramento P.G.53 at Sforzacosta. Later, in 1943, he escaped from another camp and managed to hide out for two months near Novara. As the Germans entered the area, he made for Switzerland, across the Alps, but was recaptured just outside the Swiss border.

Transported to Innsbruck in cattle trucks, then by passenger train (after being placed in chains) to Germany, he ended up after one week of travel at Stalag XIB at Fallingbostel near Hannover. In 1945 he escaped yet again when the prisoners from Fallingbostel were marched further into Germany to escape the invading Allies (again!) near the end of the war.

Available from:
Pleasure Boat Studio
Amazon UK (the site contains extracts from the book - it is cheaper to buy it direct from the publisher than via Amazon)

Further reading:
Fallingbostel Military Museum - Stalag XIB

Mollie & Other War Pieces

A. J. Liebling (1904-1963) was an American war correspondent for the New Yorker. He sailed to Algeria in November 1942 to cover the fighting on the Tunisia front, later participated in the Normandy landings on D Day, and was with the Allied forces when they entered Paris.

'Mollie & Other War Pieces' is a collection of short stories written by Liebling during the war, focusing attention on individual soldiers, sailors and airmen who he met during his time overseas. In the original newspaper stories, these individuals remained anonymous. In the book Liebling has provided their names, in most (but not all) cases.

The stories include 'Confusion is normal in combat' - Liebling's search for the truth behind a 'legendary' soldier in the US 9th Division in Tunisia. Mollie (real name Karl Warner) was reknowned for outlandish dress, attitude to Army discipline, and bravery. Posthumously awarded the Silver Star, Mollie was killed in 1943. The story is supported by excellent descriptions of his daily experiences in Tunisia with the US Army.

'For Boots Norgaard' considers Liebling's time with a P-38 Squadron in Tunisia; 'Direction: Paris' describes the advance across France and the liberation of the French capital; 'And So To Victory', Liebling's famous account of D Day was written while onboard LCIL-88 at Omaha Beach; and 'The Massacre' - a chilling account of the murder of civilians in the village of Comblanchien in Southern France by German forces in August 1944 - an event which seems to be little known 65 years later.

Having picked up this book in a remainder shop, I wasn't sure what to expect. It turned out to be one of the best written personal recollections I've read in a long time. Granted, it was written by a professional journalist, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anyone with an interest in personal recollections of WWII.

Available from:
Bison Books (University of Nebraska Press)

Further reading:
Comblanchien - photo gallery (website in French)