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Author: Giles Whittell Publisher: National Geographic Books ISBN: 0241992257 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
'I loved this book, as I love any good adventure story sublimely told . . . a gloriously exciting high, followed by a crushing realisation of war's enormous waste' Gerard deGroot, The Times 'Absorbing . . . The extraordinary bravery of the participants shines out from the narrative' Patrick Bishop, Sunday Telegraph _________________________________ FROM THE AUTHOR OF BRIDGE OF SPIES: A dramatic and colourful new account of the most daring British commando raid of World War Two In the darkest months of the Second World War, Churchill approved what seemed to many like a suicide mission. Under orders to attack the St Nazaire U-boat base on the Atlantic seaboard, British commandos undertook "the greatest raid of all", turning an old destroyer into a live bomb and using it to ram the gates of a Nazi stronghold. Five Victoria Crosses were awarded -- more than in any similar operation. Drawing on official documents, interviews, unknown accounts and the astonished reactions of French civilians and German forces, The Greatest Raid recreates in cinematic detail the hours in which the "Charioteers" fought and died, from Lt Gerard Brett, the curator at the V & A, to "Bertie" Burtinshaw, who went into battle humming There'll Always be an England, and from Lt Stuart Chant, who set the fuses with 90 seconds to escape, to the epic solo reconnaissance of the legendary Times journalist Capt Micky Burn. Unearthing the untold human stories of Operation Chariot, Bridge of Spies author Giles Whittell reveals it to be a fundamentally misconceived raid whose impact and legacy was secured by astonishing bravery. _________________________________ 'Enthralling . . . the heroism on display that night was unsurpassed, and Whittell is right to call his book The Greatest Raid' Simon Griffith, Mail on Sunday 'A compelling page-turner, the work of a master storyteller. The drama of the March 1942 operation is cinematic in its sweep and detail -- and Whittell's detective work on the real reasons for the raid is extraordinary. Beautifully written' Matthew d'Ancona
Author: Giles Whittell Publisher: National Geographic Books ISBN: 0241992257 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
'I loved this book, as I love any good adventure story sublimely told . . . a gloriously exciting high, followed by a crushing realisation of war's enormous waste' Gerard deGroot, The Times 'Absorbing . . . The extraordinary bravery of the participants shines out from the narrative' Patrick Bishop, Sunday Telegraph _________________________________ FROM THE AUTHOR OF BRIDGE OF SPIES: A dramatic and colourful new account of the most daring British commando raid of World War Two In the darkest months of the Second World War, Churchill approved what seemed to many like a suicide mission. Under orders to attack the St Nazaire U-boat base on the Atlantic seaboard, British commandos undertook "the greatest raid of all", turning an old destroyer into a live bomb and using it to ram the gates of a Nazi stronghold. Five Victoria Crosses were awarded -- more than in any similar operation. Drawing on official documents, interviews, unknown accounts and the astonished reactions of French civilians and German forces, The Greatest Raid recreates in cinematic detail the hours in which the "Charioteers" fought and died, from Lt Gerard Brett, the curator at the V & A, to "Bertie" Burtinshaw, who went into battle humming There'll Always be an England, and from Lt Stuart Chant, who set the fuses with 90 seconds to escape, to the epic solo reconnaissance of the legendary Times journalist Capt Micky Burn. Unearthing the untold human stories of Operation Chariot, Bridge of Spies author Giles Whittell reveals it to be a fundamentally misconceived raid whose impact and legacy was secured by astonishing bravery. _________________________________ 'Enthralling . . . the heroism on display that night was unsurpassed, and Whittell is right to call his book The Greatest Raid' Simon Griffith, Mail on Sunday 'A compelling page-turner, the work of a master storyteller. The drama of the March 1942 operation is cinematic in its sweep and detail -- and Whittell's detective work on the real reasons for the raid is extraordinary. Beautifully written' Matthew d'Ancona
Author: Cecil Ernest Lucas Phillips Publisher: Pan Publishing ISBN: 9780330480703 Category : Saint Nazaire Raid, 1942 Languages : en Pages : 283
Book Description
'A deed of glory intimately involved in high strategy' - Winston Churchill St Nazaire, 1.34am March 28th, 1942 - the destroyer HMS Campbeltown , with her Oerlikons blazing at the enemy guns only a few yards away, crashed with terrific force into one of the enormous lock gates of the Normandie Dock. Operation Chariot had reached its climax. Its object was to destroy the essential gear of the largest dock in the world, so that it could not be used by German battleships, and it was brilliantly successful in its main purpose. The story of the assault, under a storm of enemy fire at point-blank range which set the sea itself on fire, and of the heroism of the men in the 'little ships' raid, carried out by Royal Navy forces - no fewer than five VC's were awarded - is one of the most thrilling and vivid to come out of any war. 'Exciting and moving account of a great epic' Observer
Author: Jean-Charles Stasi Publisher: Casemate ISBN: 1612007309 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 130
Book Description
An illustrated history of the World War II British amphibious attack on a dry dock in the German-occupied French town. At the beginning of 1942, the prospect of Germany’s Tirpitz, the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy, patrolling the Atlantic posed a huge threat to the convoys that were the lifeline for Britain. Bombing raids to destroy the ship failed. A more radical plan was conceived to destroy the dry-dock facility at St Nazaire on the French Atlantic coast. Without the use of the only suitable base for the ship, the threat would be neutralized. The plan was to ram the entrance gates with a ship packed with explosives on a delayed fuse. A motorboat armed with torpedoes would fire at the inner gate causing further damage to submarine pens. The troops and crew would then destroy as many dockyard targets as they could and withdraw in fast motor launches that had followed them in. All this was to be achieved under cover of an air raid. HMS Campbeltown, a U.S. lend-lease destroyer, was chosen for the task. On the night of March 27, the raid commenced. The Campbeltown succeeded in lodging its bows in the outer gates. The fuses detonated the explosives in its hold the following day. The dock gates were destroyed. The cost to the Allies was high, but the Tirpitz was never able to leave Norwegian waters. This volume in the Casemate Illustrated series gives a clear overview of the planning and execution of the raid and its aftermath, accompanied by 125 photographs and images, including color profiles and maps.
Author: Jon Cooksey Publisher: Casemate Publishers ISBN: 1783409444 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 291
Book Description
By March 1942, mainland France had been under German occupation for almost two years. Every month that passed saw Germany bolster her defenses against an expected allied invasion. Every month that passed saw Germany tighten her grip on Britain's transatlantic lifeline; menacing allied shipping from the French west coast ports. At St Nazaire on the Loire estuary, the vast Normandie dry dock was the only one capable of holding the mighty battleship Tirpitz, still at large and free to hunt allied ships. Something had to be done. Operation Chariot was conceived; an audacious plan to mount a large-scale commando raid on the Normandie dock using a loaned US destroyer packed with high explosive as a battering ram. For the Germans at St Nazaire the invasion came earlier than expected. In the dead of night British commandos were landed and swarmed over the quaysides to destroy key installations. Grit, determination and training carried them forward to accomplish their mission at a heavy price in dead, wounded and captured. The award of more than eighty decorations for the raid - including five VCs - bore witness to the ferocity of the struggle to strike at the Germans in France.
Author: Robert Lyman Publisher: Quercus Publishing ISBN: 178206446X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 352
Book Description
On the night of 28 March 1942 the Royal Navy and British commandos assaulted the German-held French Atlantic port of Saint-Nazaire in one of the most audacious raids of the Second World War. Their plan was simple: to drive an old destroyer packed with three tons of explosive at full speed into the outer gate of the Normandie dock. Destroying this would deny the formidable Tirpitz battleship, currently lurking menacingly in the Norwegian fjords, a base from which it could inflict devastation upon the convoys supplying Britain from the United States. 'Operation Chariot' was dramatically successful, but at a great cost. Fewer than half the men who went on the mission returned. In recognition of their extraordinary bravery, eighty-nine decorations were awarded, including five Victoria Crosses. Into the Jaws of Death is a gripping story of high daring that demonstrates how the decisive courage of a small group of men changed the course of the war.
Author: David O'Keefe Publisher: Icon Books ISBN: 1785786318 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 409
Book Description
'A lively and readable account' Spectator 'A fine book ... well-written and well-researched' Washington Times In less than six hours in August 1942, nearly 1,000 British, Canadian and American commandos died in the French port of Dieppe in an operation that for decades seemed to have no real purpose. Was it a dry-run for D-Day, or perhaps a gesture by the Allies to placate Stalin's impatience for a second front in the west? Historian David O'Keefe uses hitherto classified intelligence archives to prove that this catastrophic and apparently futile raid was in fact a mission, set up by Ian Fleming of British Naval Intelligence as part of a 'pinch' policy designed to capture material relating to the four-rotor Enigma Machine that would permit codebreakers like Alan Turing at Bletchley Park to turn the tide of the Second World War. 'A fast-paced and convincing book ... that clears up decades of misinformation about the ignoble raid' Toronto Star
Author: Jerry Roberts Publisher: Wesleyan University Press ISBN: 0819574775 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 235
Book Description
This is the dynamic account of one of the most destructive maritime actions to take place in Connecticut history: the 1814 British attack on the privateers of Pettipaug, known today as the British Raid on Essex. During the height of the War of 1812, 136 Royal marines and sailors made their way up the Connecticut River from warships anchored in Long Island Sound. Guided by a well-paid American traitor the British navigated the Saybrook shoals and advanced up the river under cover of darkness. By the time it was over, the British had burned twenty-seven American vessels, including six newly built privateers. It was the largest single maritime loss of the war. Yet this story has been virtually left out of the history books—the forgotten battle of the forgotten war. This new account from author and historian Jerry Roberts is the definitive overview of this event and includes a wealth of new information drawn from recent research and archaeological finds. Lavish illustrations and detailed maps bring the battle to life.
Author: Sean McLachlan Publisher: Osprey Publishing ISBN: 9781849084291 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
In July of 1863, Federal forces, emboldened by the victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg, moved across the Missouri state line south into Confederate-held Arkansas, advancing from the northwest and northeast in a pincer movement that took all of the northern half of the state, including the prosperous Arkansas river valley and the state capital at Little Rock, by September 11. Secure in their position, the Federals began to transfer men to the campaigns east of the Mississippi. This new title's detailed and exciting account will highlight all aspects of the raid into Missouri planned by Colonel Jo Shelby, whose famed "Iron Brigade" was the boldest and most accomplished cavalry outfit in the Trans-Mississippi Theatre. An indispensible source for anyone interested in Civil War history.
Author: Martin Middlebrook Publisher: Pen & Sword Aviation ISBN: 9781526774903 Category : History Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
This book describes one twenty-four-hour period in the Allied Strategic Bomber Offensive in the greatest possible detail. The author sets the scene by outlining the course of the bombing war from 1939 to the night of the Nuremberg raid, the characters and aims of the British bombing leaders and the composition of the opposing Bomber Command and German night fighter forces.The aim of the Nuremberg raid was not unlike many hundreds of other RAF missions but, due to the difficulties and dangers of the enemy defences and weather plus bad luck, it went horribly wrong. The result was so notorious that it became a turning point in the campaign. The target, the symbolic Nazi rally city of Nuremberg, was only lightly damaged and 96 out of 779 bombers went missing.Middlebrook recreates the events of the fateful night in astonishing detail. The result is a meticulous dramatic and often controversial account. It is also a moving tribute to the bravery of the RAF bomber crews and their adversaries.
Author: Giles Whittell
Author: Giles Whittell
Author: Cecil Ernest Lucas Phillips
Author: Jean-Charles Stasi
Author: Jon Cooksey
Author: Robert Lyman
Author: David O'Keefe
Author: Jerry Roberts
Author: Sean McLachlan
Author: Philip M. Stern
Author: Martin Middlebrook