Book Club of War

  To be an independent writer and self-publish a book is a very special thing to do and I will always support authors that do this. In Frank Speaking – from Suvla to Schweidnitz the author Carole Hope has done an exceptional job is transcribing the memoirs of Frank Laird. Frank Morrow Laird wrote the memoir of his experiences during the First World War but due to his death in 1925 it remained unfinished.   The memoir has humour, sadness, and thoughts and memories of those he served with. The memoir runs from July 1914 and follows Franks journey from the call to arms through his experiences in the trenches where he was wounded three times to being captured and made a prisoner of war to his last entry in November 1918. Franks Journey takes him from Dublin, Ireland, and officer training to serving across England and then to Gallipoli where his description of the fighting brings home the emotions and reality of battle.   Wounded, he is returned to England, marries, an...

  The brilliant thing with this book is how easy it is to read.    A really beautiful flow of words with a plot that is easy to follow. Out of the Desert: Danger Close… is book one in the wings of victory series.   It starts in 1940 in Egypt and follows the story of a young ambitious Royal Air Force pilot Peter Denhay who is posted to an operational bomber squadron at the start of a major Italian offensive into Egypt. This is a story of relationships, of suspicion that there is a double agent operating in their midst, of intelligence and of the XXI squadron and their battles though Egypt, Create and mainland Greece. The intensity of the last air battle leaves you breathless, you live the fight through these brilliant characters. The author Tom Walker has written a brilliant part one to the series.   His writing is detailed but with a real pace in the story.   He has captured a real part of history that is well researched and woven a fantastic fictiona...

  The fantastic thing I find about reading books on war is the surprising stories.   The ones that capture you.   The human side of war but intertwined with daring operations that might not be that well known. Foursquare: The Last Parachutist does not disappoint.   This is a story of the authors family, a story of a grandfather and grandson.    This is a story about bravery, about resourcefulness, about loss, about patriotism and about resistance in Czechoslovakia. This is a story of a Czech family, cousins that came to England to fight the war.   To contribute, to make a difference in freeing their country and Europe from the Nazis. In 1938 Jaroslav and Josef Bublik came to England and became part of the Czech intelligence service.    Both tied through family and both to play a significant contribution to the war.   Jaroslav trained parachutist to go back into their country whilst Josef was one of the first to be dropped.   T...

  When a book grabs you within the first 20 pages and you cannot put it down you know your onto a winner. In SAS Ghost Patrol the author Damien Lewis guides the reader through a breath taking, daring do, true story adventure of bravery, ingenuity, courage, and tragedy. This is the story of Captain Herbert Cecil Brook M.C and his ultra-secret deception force.   They are to attempt one of the most audacious top-secret raids of 2 World War.   The force was to drive 100s miles without support to bluff their way into Nazi stronghold.   This raid was a desperate attempt to change the tide of axis victories in the desert. This is a story of mavericks, of brave men on a suicidal mission, of deceit and the stuff that legends are made off. In Damien Lewis writing you do not get time to breath.    The fast-paced action and the constant urge to know what happens next keeps the pages turning. The research is masterful drawing you into each soldier’s story. ...

  Books of World War 2 fiction sometimes get frowned upon.   I have read quotes such as “Why write fiction when the facts are so fascinating” “World War 2 books of fiction do not have the intrigue and suspense of the non-fiction books”. ‘When Darkness Comes’ dispels all those myths and so much more. This is a story of three lives intertwined within the World War 2, based in Paris in 1942.   This story is about hope, about courage, about conviction, about love and about the humanity of helping other people. Together these three people hide Jewish refugees, giving them new identities and leading them to safety.    They appear almost invincible in their efforts, overcoming obstacles, defying danger until an innocent old man, walking his dog, notices something out of the ordinary, a coincidental action that has far reaching consequences. The author John Anthony Miller has created a power force of a book in ‘When Darkness Comes’.   The writing is well rese...

  Who does not like to read stories of spying, intrigue, deception and of intelligence operations so subtle that those being spied upon didn’t even know it was happening? In The Walls Have Ears, the author, Dr Helen Fry uncovers the fascinating world of MI6 operations during 2 World War and how “bugging operations” and “interrogation techniques” glean information from prisoners that it could be argued shortened the war. This book concentrates on the leadership of one man, Thomas Kendrick, whose story itself is fascinating and the impact on the work he did setting up the listening and bugging M-Rooms.    It is full of detailed analysis of the operations, the individuals involved and the conversations that were heard. The British war time intelligence operations were remarkable in many ways and there is still much that is not known about what, when why and how and the impact it had.   Dr Helen Fry has undertaken meticulous research into released files and infor...

  Though people have heard of the Holocaust and atrocities against the Jewish people in the 2 World War, and they have heard of Auschwitz, Dachau, Treblinka etc not many people will know or understand what happened and the consequences prior to the holocaust happening and the suffering of the Jewish people in Germany and Austria. In Kristallnacht, the author Martin Gilbert draws on personal correspondence with over 50 eyewitnesses and on vivid newspaper and diplomatic reports to produce a meticulously researched and utterly compelling account of a night that set the tone of the atrocities suffered by Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis. For those that do not know, Kristallnacht – the night of broken glass – saw the destruction in a single night of more than a thousand synagogues, the ransacking of tens of 1000s of Jewish shops and homes, and more than 30,000 Jewish men rounded up and taken to concentration camps.   It started the systematic eradication of a people who ...