Daily Telegraph Book of Military Obituaries Book Three


Book Description

David Twiston Davies's latest and highly entertaining collection of 100 Daily Telegraph military obituaries from the last fifteen years, include those celebrated for their great heroism and involvement in major operations. Others have extraordinary stories barely remembered by their families. Personalities who feature include the Canadian Sgt Smoky Smith who was locked up after winning the VC in Italy to ensure he would be sober at Buckingham Palace; Obergefreiter Henry Metellman, a Panzer driver brutally frank about his Eastern Front experiences, who later became a groundsman at Charterhouse School; Private Harry Patch, the last man to go 'over the top' in the First World War; Sgt Tiny Brice who rescued two wounded men under fire, pulling them to safety on a farm gate; Penny Phillips, an ambulance driver caught up in the retreat from France in 1940; Armedeo Guillet, an Italian officer who led the last cavalry charge against the British in 1941; Australian General Sir Frank Hassett who commanded a textbook operation in Korea; and Lt--Col David Garforth Bles who was pig sticking in India when a friend disappeared only to be found at the bottom of an enormous well accompanied by his horse with a pig trying to bite both of them.




The Daily Telegraph Book of Military Obituaries


Book Description

Following on from the great success of the first volume, the paperback of which is still in print, the Daily Telegraph's chief obituary writer has assembled another one hundred pithy insights into a plethora of fascinating lives, all published in the newspaper since 2000. This second collection bears eloquent testimony to the gallant qualities shown by our soldiers. It includes such Victoria Cross holders as the Gurkha Ganju Lama and the tank commander Pip Gardener; Major-General "Bala" Bredin, who refused to wear a helmet yet won three DSOs and two MCs; and the Brigadier David Block, the deadly accurate gunner at Monte Cassino. But although most of the actions described occurred in the Second World War, Warrant Officer "Muscles" Strong proved a tower of strength to the 1917 cavalry charge at Huj in the Sinai Desert; and the doctor Major Vanessa Lloyd-Davies dismissed the danger of being under fire in Bosnia in 1993 by saying she had faced worse when riding hard with the Quorn Hunt in Leicestershire. As Andrew Roberts wrote of the first collection: 'They evoke swirling, profound, even guilty emotions ... To those Britons who have known only peace, these are thought provoking and humbling essays in valor.'




The Daily Telegraph Book of Military Obituaries


Book Description

In the seventeen years since The Daily Telegraph started to take its obituaries seriously by allotting them a special section in the paper, it has published around 1,000 obituaries of soldiers, as well as almost equal numbers of sailors and airmen. The 100 to be found here, which have never before been collected in book form, were chosen to show the widest range of military experience. They include those who performed astonishing acts of bravery, such as the New Zealander Charles Upham, who won the Victoria Cross twice in Crete and North Africa, the commando leader "Mad Jack" Churchill and Drum Major Buss, the bugler who rallied the Glosters at the Imjin River in Korea. Among the senior figures are General Mazek, who commanded the Poles in Normandy, the rigorous Field Marshal Lord Carver and General Sir Walter Walker, who won three DSOs.




Military Obituaries


Book Description

This “classic compilation” (The Field) of newspaper death notices “includes the great, the brave, the adventurous, and the eccentric” (Soldier Magazine). Part of the unique series compiled by Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, this volume collects one hundred recent obituaries of military figures. Some have been celebrated for their great heroism and involvement in major operations, while others have extraordinary stories barely remembered even by their families. Those featured include Pte. Harry Patch, the last survivor of those who went “over the top” on the Western Front in 1917; Lt. Col. Colonel Eric Wilson of the Somaliland Camel Corps, who learned he had been awarded a “posthumous” Victoria Cross in a prison camp; and Col. Clive Fairweather, who organized the SAS attack on the terrorists who seized the Iranian embassy in London in 1980. These tributes and miniature biographies make fascinating reading for those interested in history and the military. As Andrew Roberts wrote of the first collection: “They evoke swirling, profound, even guilty emotions. . . . To those Britons who have known only peace, these are thought provoking and humbling essays in valor.”




The British Partisan


Book Description

An exciting, evocative memoir of combat in North Africa, danger behind enemy lines, and two daring escapes. In this action-packed account, a Welch Regiment officer describes his remarkable Second World War experiences. These include his baptism by fire in the Western Desert against Rommel’s armor in 1942; the spontaneous help of nomad Arabs when he was on the run for ten days behind enemy lines; and his capture and life as a POW in Italy. Michael Ross and a fellow officer made the first escape from Fontanellato POW camp only to be recaptured on the Swiss border. During his second escape, Ross fought against the occupying German forces in north Italy alongside the Italian partisans, who nearly executed him initially. He avoided recapture for over a year before finally reaching Allied lines. The reader learns of the extraordinary courage and sacrifice of local Italians helping and hiding Allied soldiers. Ross’s story has a poignant conclusion as, while on the run, he fell in love with a prominent anti-fascist’s daughter whom he married after the war. Originally published as From Liguria With Love, this superbly written and updated memoir is a powerful and inspiring tribute to all those who risked their lives to help him and his comrades.




The Daily Telegraph Airmen's Obituaries


Book Description

The acclaimed chronicler of RAF history has compiled ninety-one obituaries of outstanding aviators covering the period from 2007 to the end of 2017. With a focus on personnel from a range of air forces, including the RAF, USAF, RCAF, RNZAF and SAAF, there are a number of fascinating and distinguishable lives to read about. Those featured include MRAF Sir Michael Beetham, the longest-serving Chief of Air Staff in the RAF (apart from its founder Lord Trenchard); Brigadier General Paul Tibbets who commanded the USAAF bomber Enola Gay, which dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945; and Wing Commander “Dal” Russel, a highly decorated wartime Canadian fighter pilot, whose logbook recorded kills in the Battle of Britain and the Normandy invasion. There is also Lettice Curtis, the first woman qualified to fly a four-engine bomber and who by the end of the Second World War had flown over 400 heavy bombers, 150 Mosquitos and hundreds of Hurricanes and Spitfires as part of her role in the Air Transport Auxiliary. The book includes a foreword written by former Chief of Air Staff, Sir Richard Johns.




The Battle For Singapore


Book Description

The Fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 is a military disaster of enduring fascination. For the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the island, Peter Thompson tells the explosive story of the Malayan campaign, the siege of Singapore, the ignominious surrender to a much smaller Japanese force, and the Japanese occupation through the eyes of those who were there - the soldiers of all nationalities and members of Singapore's beleaguered population. An enthralling and perceptive account, which never loses sight of the human cost of the tragedy - Yorkshire Evening Post. An insightful and dramatic analysis - The Good Book Guide




Canada from Afar


Book Description

Canada From Afar is the fruit of the remarkable flowering of obituary writing in the London Daily Telegraph during the past ten years. These lively portraits of Canadians are informed, witty, sometimes quirky, occasionally iconoclastic.They include royal courtiers, politicians, businessmen, soldiers, sailors, airmen, scientists, explorers, novelists, artists, and even journalists. Among the prominent Canadians viewed from afar are persons such as Margaret Laurence, Joey Smallwood, K.C. Irving, Raymond Burr and A.J. Casson.




The Spectator


Book Description

A weekly review of politics, literature, theology, and art.




Novels in Three Lines


Book Description

A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOKS ORIGINAL Novels in Three Lines collects more than a thousand items that appeared anonymously in the French newspaper Le Matin in 1906—true stories of murder, mayhem, and everyday life presented with a ruthless economy that provokes laughter even as it shocks. This extraordinary trove, undiscovered until the 1940s and here translated for the first time into English, is the work of the mysterious Félix Fénéon. Dandy, anarchist, and critic of genius, the discoverer of Georges Seurat and the first French publisher of James Joyce, Fénéon carefully maintained his own anonymity, toiling for years as an obscure clerk in the French War Department. Novels in Three Lines is his secret chef-d’oeuvre, a work of strange and singular art that brings back the long-ago year of 1906 with the haunting immediacy of a photograph while looking forward to such disparate works as Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project and the Death and Disaster series of Andy Warhol.




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