Flight of Remembrance: A World War II Memoir of Love and Survival

Against the backdrop of World War II tragedy and devastation in Latvia, Poland and Germany and three decades of European history, this true narrative provides a window into the of wartime upheaval through the lives of Rolf Dutzmann and Lilo Wassull—two people fatefully positioned “on the other side.” Written by Marina Dutzmann Kirsch, the daughter of the protagonists, the book includes a foreword by veteran author and Professor Emeritus of International Relations at Boston University, Dr. Angelo Codevilla, who personally experienced the postwar years in Italy.

In December of 1939, swept along on a tide of dire necessity and circumstance due to the imminent Soviet takeover of his homeland, Rolf, a young Latvian aeronautical engineering student, flees with his family to Germany, a country fully under Hitler’s thrall and already engaged in a brutal war. While the account chronicles Rolf’s pursuit of his technical dream against daunting wartime odds, it is first and foremost a poignant and enduring love story that plays out against a panorama of worldwide chaos and destruction.

It is also a story of the seen and unseen forces that coalesce to keep Rolf and Lilo alive after they meet in 1940 Berlin, leading them through a chain of cataclysmic events including Rolf’s draft into the Luftwaffe and his father’s assignment as chief inspector of V-2 rocket production; the bombing of Berlin; the destruction of their homes; their numerous desperate, cross-country escapes from the bombing, the advancing Soviet troops from the east, and other Allied forces from the west; the POW camp hardships; and the deprivation of the postwar years.

For more information on the book, including photos and excerpts, visit the author's homepage.

Available from:
Kirchstone Books

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

Neither Sharks Nor Wolves - The Men of Nazi Germany's U-boat Arm 1939-1945

Although countless books have been written about the U-boat war in the Atlantic, precious few facts have come to light about the men who served in the submarines that wrought such havoc on Allied ships. Eager to get beyond the stereotypes perpetuated in movies and novels and find out who these elusive sailors really were, archivist Timothy Mulligan started searching official records.

Eventually he went straight to the source, conducting a survey of more than a thousand U-boat officers and enlisted men and interviewing a number of them personally. The result is this character study of the German submarine force that challenges traditional and revisionist views of the service.

Mulligan found striking similarities in the men's geographic and social origins, education, and previous occupations, particularly within the specialised engineering and radio branches of the submarine force. The information he gathered establishes quantifiable patterns in age, length of service and experience, as well as the organisation's overall recruitment policies and training standards. The numbers and losses of U-boat personnel are also fully examined.

Beyond these objective characteristics, this study lists such subjective factors as morale, treatment of enemy ship survivors and the relationship of the submariners to the Nazi regime, confirming a serious crisis in morale in late 1943. Mulligan concludes that the U-boat arm quickly evolved from a handpicked elite to a more representative sample of the German navy at large but continued to be treated as an elite force.

Available from:
Casemate (UK)
Naval Institute Press

The Casualties Were Small - Wartime Poetry and Diaries of a Lincolnshire Seaside Villager May Hill

May Hill began to keep a Diary not long after the outbreak of the Second World War. The strategically important East Coast area of Lincolnshire around Skegness had been transformed from a bustling holiday centre to an armed encampment. Butlins became ‘HMS Royal Arthur’ a huge Royal Navy training centre, RAF air bases sprang up throughout ‘Bomber County’ and soldiers were billeted in the villages including May’s Chapel St Leonards.

May’s son Ron volunteered for the RAF and May started to express her thoughts and prayers in verse. The poem “The Casualties Were Small” reveals her worst fears as his exposure to danger increased even before being posted abroad.

As the War continued, May maintained her eloquent record of family and village life as well as the events of the War itself – including the sad loss of three nephews and an early hint of victory with the ‘D-Day’ landings.

The selection of Diary entries in this compilation was chosen to include those which reveal the specific experiences and events which inspired over twenty poems. May’s own writing is supported by additional explanatory notes and illustrated by over thirty photographs from the collections of the family and others from her village

Detailed information and diary entries can be read on the May Hill's Diary blog.

Available from:
Ambridge Books

Terror in the Arctic - A True Story from Foreign Occupied Norway in World War II

Terror in the Arctic is an autobiography set in World War II in Kirkenes, a small mining town in the north east of Norway, strategically important because of its proximity to the border with Russia. The story follows Bjarnhild Tulloch, who was 5 when the war started, as she tried to make sense of the change to her family life. As the war escalated, conflicts in her family deepened. Her oldest sister fell in love with a German officer and bore his children.

The tale mixes the bleak and horrific with humour and humanity, tragedy with daring and heroism, as well as funny and sometimes hilarious episodes. It covers a part of World War II little known to international readers, perhaps most notably the forcible evacuation of civilians from northern Norway by the retreating German Army.

Through it all, children learned the basics of survival and continued to play outside while listening for air raid warnings. They smuggled food parcels to the Russian prisoners and got little toys in return.

As Kirkenes was bombed to destruction, Bjarnhild and her family fled to the countryside. On her tenth birthday, in the path of the oncoming Russian Army, they escaped across a fjord in a rowing boat with a Russian plan in pursuit. They sat out the final battle, sheltering in a dug-out in a nearby hillside, until they were liberated by the Russian Army.

A tale that will strike resonance with a lot of people today and reveal the bleak conditions imposed on many people during the Second World War, Terror in the Arctic will appeal to fans of autobiography and Second World War history.

Available from:
Troubador Publishing

Rossano - Valley in Flames - An adventure of the Italian Resistance

In July 1942, Major Gordon Lett was taken prisoner at the fall of Tobruk. After fourteen months in the notorious prison camps at Bari and Chieti, he escaped at the Armistice of September 1943 from the camp at Veano and took to the mountains above the Cisa Pass. Rather than return to England, he founded and led an entirely non-political band of highly-successful partisans, the Battaglione Internazionale.

The group fought and harassed the Brigate Nere and the Germans along the Magra valley from North of Pontremoli to La Spezia for 18 months. They were so influential to the success of the Allied advance that permanent lines of communication with the Allies were established, supplies dropped by air and, later, SAS troops sent in to assist the Brigade. 500 Allied troops escaped to safety via Rossano.

In the first few months of peace, Lett became a liaison officer of No 1 Special Force, SOE and twice crossed the lines. He was the first Allied officer to enter La Spezia in April 1945, together with the partisans. He was awarded the DSO for his services and received the Medaglia Argento al valor militaire from the Italian government. Today there is still a strong bond between many of those mentioned in the book and the Lett family. This edition of the work includes a foreword by Freya Stark.

Available from:
Pen & Sword Books

Mudville Heights: Memoirs of the US Navy Anti-submarine Squadrons at RAF Dunkeswell, Devon During WW2

The Battle for the Atlantic proved to be one of the most important strategies of WW2. U-boats were sinking allied shipping at an alarming rate and with such appalling loss of life. In order to combat those losses RAF Coastal Command began to set up and operate a number of anti-submarine squadrons, and for once the tables began to turn on the German Navy.

Strikes on U-boats out in the North Atlantic and Bay of Biscay continued for nigh on 3 years, but despite the tables being turned, tons of merchant ships still fell prey to U-boats and the RAF seemed destined to battle on alone, then in 1943 the USAAF set up a land based anti-sub unit at St.Eval, Cornwall which was operated for several months with B-24 Liberators, before switching to a new airfield at Dunkeswell in Devon on 6th August.

Despite the success of the USAAF, Dunkeswell was destined for change once again when in September squadrons of the US Navy Fleet Air Wing Seven began to arrive, and would remain here until the end of WW2 flying the Navy version of the B-24 Liberator the PB4Y-1 .

On arrival it was soon realised that conditions on the base were far from adequate, with roads and paths around the living quarters just a sea of `mud` the men had to wear knee high boots just to trek across to the wash rooms, and it was those conditions combined with harsh winter elements that prompted someone to nick-name the base "Mudville Heights" and from then on, as one crew member put it "The name just kinda stuck!".

In this new book, the author tells the fascinating story of Dunkeswell as an airfield in WW2, with first hand accounts from the men who served there. Stories of a dedicated bunch of young Naval Aviators destined to fight it out with the dreaded U-boat menace above the icy depths of the North Atlantic & Bay of Biscay, flying their PB4Y-1 Liberators laden with high octane fuel and high explosives, through appalling weather and hostile conditions, enduring patrols of anything up to 16 hours in order to bring freedom to our nation.

Available from:
Amazon.co.uk