Master of None - The Life Enriched Reminiscences of a 20th Century Survivor

An autobiography of a retired Army officer, Master of None follows the complete life story of Major Douglas Goddard, from his early memoirs of childhood days in south east London and Suffolk farms, then focusing on his service as a regular army officer who fought with the 43rd Wessex Division during World War 2 from the Normandy landings through to Bremen. After the war, he was involved in the repatriation of some 30,000 Russian & Polish displaced people from the area around the Belsen/Bergen Nazi concentration camps (including attending the trial of the camp guards) and saw post-war service in the Middle East during the Suez Canal crisis.

In 1938 he enlisted with the Territorial Army as part of the front line anti-invasion force before regimental duty with the 112th (Wessex) Field Regiment Royal Artillery (RA). During the Second World War he landed on Juno Beach in June 1944 and took part in major campaigns including Hill 112/Maltot, assault crossing of the Seine, Market Garden (Arnhem), breeching the Siegfried Line, the Ardennes offensive, assault crossing of the Rhine and finally through Holland into Germany at Bremen.

In 1946 he was granted a regular commission in the RA serving as an Adjutant (Dortmund), Staff Captain (London), Battery Captain in Egypt during the Suez Canal crisis then Jordan, before returning to Larkhill in the UK as a Gunnery Instructor achieving the rank of Major.

The Author has previously published the 112th Wessex Field Regiment’s wartime history which sold some 600 copies and is a regular speaker on battlefield tours, with an annual engagement mentoring on the Joint Services Command & Staff College Advanced ‘Realities of War’ course.

For more information on Major Goddard's wartime service, see the BBC People's War site.

Available from:
Troubador Publishing

Trautmann's Journey: From Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend

Every football fan knows the legend of Bert Trautmann. Fifteen minutes from the end of the 1956 FA Cup Final, Trautmann - the goalkeeper for Manchester City - falls spectacularly mid-tackle. He continues to play on to the end of the game, ensuring Manchester City win the cup. An X-ray later reveals a broken neck.

But there is more to this legend than a plucky goalkeeper. Bert Trautmann was born Bernhardt Trautmann in Germany in 1923. Brought up in a country already in the grip of National Socialism, he joined the Hitler Youth at the age of ten and went to fight for the Fatherland when he was seventeen. Despite enduring inconceivable hardships in the name of war, Trautmann continued to believe wholeheartedly in the cause. Until one day he stumbled into enemy territory to be greeted by the words, 'Fancy a cup of tea, Fritz?'

What follows is an extraordinary story of transformation. Bernhardt - a Nazi living in a POW camp in Cheshire - becomes Bert. From an amateur footballer working on a bomb disposal unit in Liverpool, to celebrated Manchester City goalkeeper adored by thousands, Catrine Clay charts Trautmann's conversion from Hitler Youth star to all-England football hero, mirroring Europe's own journey through the horrors of war to a fragile post-war peace.

Available from:
Amazon

Two Survived: The Timeless WWII Epic of Seventy Days at Sea in an Open Boat

On August 21, 1940, the German armed merchant raider Widder torpedoed the British merchantman SS Anglo Saxon approximately 800 miles west of the Canary Islands. The survivors were machine-gunned as they tried to escape in their lifeboats.

One little boat escaped with seven men. Five of them perished, but Robert Tapscott and Wilbert Widdicombe endured for seventy full days and 2,300 miles to landfall on the other side of the Atlantic.

This is the incredible account of their ordeal, one of the most thrilling stories of the sea ever written—and one that almost never came to light. “It has seldom happened,” writes William McFee in the introduction, “that a narrative so circumstantial, so entirely stripped of all humbug and false sentiment, has come out of the depths of the sea, to inspire us with admiration for human valor.”

Read more about the SS Anglo Saxon on the Imperial War Museum website.

Available from:
Amazon

Shattered Walls - A World War II Memoir: From Cherbourg to Berlin

The author of Shattered Walls, G. Richard Morgan, served with the Third Platoon, Company G of the Second Battalion, 407th Infantry Regiment - 102nd Infantry Division.

Landing at Cherbourg, directly from the US, in mid-Sept of 1944, the 407th Infantry Regiment was rapidly sent into combat. They saw major action reaching the Roer River and pushed on to the Elbe, being part of the resistance to the Bulge. At one point, Morgan was captured by the Germans, but luckily escaped.

When they reached Berlin, they waited for the Russians and drank vodka with them on May 3.

At that point there remained only two of the original 40 men in his platoon.

View a preview of Shattered Walls on Lulu.com.

Visit the author's website.

Available from:
Lulu

Spitting on a Soldier’s Grave - Court Martialed after death, the story of the forgotten Irish and British soldiers

The story of the Irishmen who deserted from the Irish Army to join the Allies in the struggle against fascism and Nazism during the Second World War, has been kept secret for over half a century. These men fought, and sometimes died, in some of the bloodiest battles of the war. And after the war they were all Court Martialed - even the dead.

This meticulously researched book tells the story of the men who fought for freedom but were vilified after death. It tells the story of men like Joseph Mullally who died on D-Day, 6 June 1944, fighting with the British Army on the beaches of Normandy - a year before his court-martial. And Stephen McManus who'd already suffered torture and starvation whilst being worked to death in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Gerry O'Neill risked his life with the newly formed Irish Navy, rescuing wounded British soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk. And Nicholas McNamara volunteered to serve with RAF Bomber Command knowing it meant almost certain death.

The freedoms and democratic rights we enjoy today were earned by men like these, who fought, and sometimes died, on the home front and the battlefields of World War II. The stories of the deserters from the Irish Army are now told in Spitting on a Soldier's Grave.

Author's website - Robert Widders
Listen to an interview with the author on BBC Radio 4

Available from:
Matador

Memoirs of WWII – The True stories of a Canadian Fighter Pilot

An anecdotal account of one man's journey from growing up in New Brunswick to joining the Air Force and becoming a pilot to his time in World War II and accounts of the friends he met and the trouble they got themselves into along the way.

The author is a receiver of the Distinguished Flying Cross which was bestowed upon him by King George VI. Laurie flew alongside Douglas Bader in Westhampnett while he was in 610 Squadron and was later an instructor who taught WWII heroes, like George Beurling, to fly.

Visit the book's blog for extracts.

Available from:
Lulu

WWII in the Pacific - DVD collection

If your particular interest in the Second World War focuses on the battles in the Pacific, then you are particularly well catered for at the moment.

As well as the mini series The Pacific, and reprinted editions of classic books, Reader Digest have now brought out a 6 DVD collection, containing over 12 hours of footage, including period newsreels.

The 6 DVDs are:

• America Taken by Surprise - The story of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor
• Attack & Counter Attack - America's offensive in the Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal and Tarawa
• Victory in the Pacific - American forces turn the tide
• Crucial Turning Points - A look at the stories behind 15 key battles
• Headline Stories of the 20th Century - Authentic Hearst theatrical wartime newsreel footage
• Going for Broke - The largely untold story of Japanese-American soldiers in WWII.

Plenty of material to keep you busy if the US experience of the Pacific War is your thing!

Available from:
Amazon (UK) (note: this is a US import so is in Region 1 - NTSC - format)
Amazon (US)