[b]Rating[/b]: 5 out of 5 stars
A truly inspirational book on overcoming and surviving as a POW in Japan and Malaysia during WW2. The hardships faced by the men were heartbreaking. A great read.
NetGalley, Ron Baumer
[b]Rating[/b]: 5 out of 5 stars
A truly inspirational book on overcoming and surviving as a POW in Japan and Malaysia during WW2. The hardships faced by the men were heartbreaking. A great read.
NetGalley, Ron Baumer
Collated by his eldest daughter, this is the transcribed diaries of Jack Ennis who was a doctor working for the Indian Medical Service (IMS) - a military medical service in British India - who was stationed in Singapore when the Japanese invaded in 1942. Jack had married Elizabeth Petrie just four days before both became prisoners of war - Elizabeth was at the notorious Changi gaol, whist Jack was at a number of bases nearby. Jack Ennis kept a diary during his period of incarceration, written in tiny spidery writing initially in notebooks then on whatever paper he could find, writing in at least 3 directions to conserve the very scarce commodity! As a medic, Jack was quite lucky in that he was able to move fairly freely within the camp. He was very diligent about monitoring his own health, recording his weight/blood pressure etc at regular intervals, and doing various test on patients, but as a pathologist he was also performing autopsies to determine why people died. His notes formed.. Read more
NetGalley, Lucy Faulds
Collated by his eldest daughter, this is the transcribed diaries of Jack Ennis who was a doctor working for the Indian Medical Service (IMS) - a military medical service in British India - who was stationed in Singapore when the Japanese invaded in 1942. Jack had married Elizabeth Petrie just four days before both became prisoners of war - Elizabeth was at the notorious Changi gaol, whist Jack was at a number of bases nearby. Jack Ennis kept a diary during his period of incarceration, written in tiny spidery writing initially in notebooks then on whatever paper he could find, writing in at least 3 directions to conserve the very scarce commodity! As a medic, Jack was quite lucky in that he was able to move fairly freely within the camp. He was very diligent about monitoring his own health, recording his weight/blood pressure etc at regular intervals, and doing various test on patients, but as a pathologist he was also performing autopsies to determine why people died. His notes formed.. Read more
NetGalley, Lucy Faulds
Stalag 383 Bavaria is a fascinating and interesting book indeed. A subject, prisoner of war camp, I find quite fascinating and intriguing that gets overlooked by historians and the public in general. Which is surprising when you think about how the Great Escape is on every Christmas. This book is full of great information about a camp that was seen as a bit of a holiday camp including having its own pool. We learn a lot about all the clubs and activities that went on and the usual attempts to cause problems for the guards and various escape attempts. Especially the couple of prisoners that tried to escape to Austria as a married couple but were discovered in an Austrian cafe. A couple of things stand out from the book for me, these are how the camps are different by who the prisoners are, and the huge amount of excellent photographs of the camp supplied in this book. The book is certainly very informative and one I would happily recommend to others. Read the full review [link=http://ukhistorianbendavidson.co.uk/stalag-383-bavaria/]here[/link]
UK Historian
Stalag 383 Bavaria is a fascinating and interesting book indeed. A subject, prisoner of war camp, I find quite fascinating and intriguing that gets overlooked by historians and the public in general. Which is surprising when you think about how the Great Escape is on every Christmas. This book is full of great information about a camp that was seen as a bit of a holiday camp including having its own pool. We learn a lot about all the clubs and activities that went on and the usual attempts to cause problems for the guards and various escape attempts. Especially the couple of prisoners that tried to escape to Austria as a married couple but were discovered in an Austrian cafe. A couple of things stand out from the book for me, these are how the camps are different by who the prisoners are, and the huge amount of excellent photographs of the camp supplied in this book. The book is certainly very informative and one I would happily recommend to others. Read the full review [link=http://ukhistorianbendavidson.co.uk/stalag-383-bavaria/]here[/link]
UK Historian
"A great read about an amazing man."
RUSI Defence Systems Journal
"A great read about an amazing man."
RUSI Defence Systems Journal
The book covers a lot of ground and is a further piece of the enormous jigsaw of those who experienced the Second World War, a precious piece of history, a tribute to those who fought. It may be that the SAS mantra includes daring and willing to take risks, but it is clear, the men of the 9th also dared and won!
Robert Bartlett
The book covers a lot of ground and is a further piece of the enormous jigsaw of those who experienced the Second World War, a precious piece of history, a tribute to those who fought. It may be that the SAS mantra includes daring and willing to take risks, but it is clear, the men of the 9th also dared and won!
Robert Bartlett
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Tracing Your Prisoner of War Ancestors: The First World War
The experience of civilian internees and British prisoners of war in German and Turkish hands during the First World War is one of the least well-known – and least researched – aspects of the history of the conflict. The same applies to prisoners of war and internees held in the UK. Yet, as Sarah Paterson shows in this authoritative handbook, a… Read more...
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Behind the Wire
Philip Kaplan presents us here with a riveting account of the Allied experience behind enemy lines, detailing the trials and tribulations experienced by the British and American airmen who were shot down in European skies during World War Two, to be incarcerated 'behind the wire' in enemy camps. With eloquence and a clear enthusiasm for the subject… Read more...
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A Talent for Adventure
Books on prison camps, daring escapes and life with the Resistance abound. Pat Spooner's story is different and more compelling in one important respect. It recounts the gripping and dramatic rescue of two senior British generals (one a VC) and an air vice marshal from occupied Italy by the author and his companion who had themselves both escaped from… Read more...
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Prisoner of the Gestapo
Tom Firth begins his extraordinary memoir by describing his unusual childhood in Japan and the devastating Yokohama earthquake in 1923. In 1930 the family settled in his mother’s native Poland only to split up when Poland was overrun by the Nazis and the Russians in 1939. Whilst his father and older brother were in England, Tom found himself trapped… Read more...
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Gunther Pluschow
Gunther Plüschow of the German Imperial Navy holds a unique place in history - during the First World War he was the only German prisoner of war ever to escape from the British mainland and make it all the way back to the Fatherland. Yet, although his daring break for freedom in 1915 is astonishing in its own right, Plüschow was much more than simply… Read more...
Very few British soldiers could lay claim to such a full war as Leslie Young. Having survived the retreat to and evacuation from Dunkirk, he volunteered for the newly formed Commandos and took part in their first major operation, the raid on the Lofoten Islands. He fought and was captured in Tunisia. He escaped in Italy before his PoW camp at Fontanellato… Read more...
Once a Hussar is a vivid account of the wartime experiences of Ray Ellis, a gunner who in later life recorded in this well-written, candid and perceptive memoir the conflict he knew as a young man seventy years ago. As an impressionable teenager, fired with national pride, he was eager to join the army and fight for his country. He enlisted in the… Read more...
Drawing on the memories of the last surviving prisoners of the 1914-1918 war, this book tells the dramatic story of life as a POW in Germany. Stories include the shock of capture on the Western Front, to the grind of daily life in imprisonment in Germany. Veterans recall work in salt mines, punishments, and escape attempts, as well as the torture of… Read more...
