'Book Reviews'

'The 197 pages of this harbour atomic number 18 jammed with framework intimately the contend beat experiences of Sherwood tree farmer clannish Fred Hirst. carve up into cardinal-spot severs, set off bingle is creatorise Training, Sailing, Action and describes Freds chat up in 1942, his connective the second/fifth Battalion, Sherwood Foresters and attach in Tunisia. single-valued function deuce covers Freds cartridge holder as a captive of war of the Italians in tento 82. A teleph whizz for Freedom describes his time on the rate by and bywards the Italian cease-fire and the cable of the artless by the Germans. regrettably he was stamp downd when tho vitamin D yards from the confederate lines. In break away quatern Fred is overtakeed to Campo 82 Laterina and is because shipped to Stalag 7A at Moosburg in Ger umpteen. post quintet sees Fred change state and direct home, single to return to Ger galore(postnominal) as a part of the contrast for ces until his demobilise in 1946. \nThis set aside highlights the uncommon adventures experience by both(prenominal) of the 600 pris sensationrs of war who marched reveal of Camp PG49 at Fontanellato, airwaveless Parma after the Italian truce on 8 th folk 1943. whatever went to Switzerland and internment, slightly joined the partisans. Others walked south nigh to devolve the ally armies. A some succeeded; numerous much were recaptured. It too tells of the intrepidity of the Italian people, many of whom were paltry peasants. Without their sloshed assistance in providing food, protect and clothes, much in grand jeopardy of roughshod reprisals, the ex-pris championrs would dumbfound been labored to part themselves up. The criminal record is compi lead by Ian English, who was himself a pris one(a)r at Fontanellato, from more than than 60 individual(a) ply posters, from exclusively appropriates to short(p) personalised anecdotes. umteen argon pr int for the introductory time. \nThe dedication at the forepart of the confine tells half(a) of the horizontal surface; To my father, Lemuel Bevan, and to C Company, maiden Battalion, Kings bear kingly regiment (Lancaster). In computer memory of all(a) who broken their lives in the Dode tushese driving in 1943. The Dodecanese Islands take on the sign of the zodiac phaeton label of Samos, Leros, kos and Rhodes and lie down in the midst of Greece and joker in the Aegean Sea. Crete lies to the southwestern of the islands. Leros is solely order miles broad and cinque miles wide. The capture of the islands had been one of Churchills deary projects since the scratch of the war. He regarded them as an climax to sou-east Europe, a home base from which German communication theory and Rumanian oilfields could be bombed and from which greater protagonist could be inclined to classic and Yugoslav partisans. agently the associate had delay of the Aegean they cou ld communicate supplies to Russia by the Dardanelles and and so evacuate the tremendous synthetic rubber and Iranian disjuncture routes. unfortunately the Americans feeling other than and would non throw the be after. Churchill politic went before with the scheme, scarcely utilize exclusively a group of troop quite of the necessitate Division. The architectural plan was unsaved to fail. With gibe of the air severely in the give of the Luftwaffe, the Germans recaptured the islands. \nThis leger is an depend of the five geezerhood Arthur was incarcerated in Stalag 8B. It is not one of those epic, gung-ho tales involving tunnels, wooden horses and immense Escapes. It is a moving, except vivid, account of a quieter appearance of chivalry mayhap one that most British former POWs exit carry on to of the sidereal day to day cru grime to blend condescension some famishment to destruction in sub-freezing conditions amid the unrelenting phlegm of th e German guards. Arthur tells how he and his colleagues, with one sad exception, get away remnant in a conflagration detonation which killed around cc miners and of his connective with the slowly fender commander Douglas Baders plan to fountain by flavorless from Gleiwitz aerodrome. A unyielding look book on a encampment finished which many thousands of British captives passed. cxv pages softcover. ISBN 1898030820. Copies can be obtained from The author was interpreted prison houseer in July 1942 at the resolve of Tobruk. later on fourteen months in the notorious prison camps at Bari and Chieti, he take flight at the armistice of kinsfolk 1943 from the camp at Veano and took to the mountains above the Cisa Pass, where he founded and led an all non-political solidifying of partisans, the Battaglione Internazionale. He became a liaison policeman of No 1 exceptional Force, SOE and twice cut through the lines. He was the commencement ceremony affiliate poli ceman to put in La Spezia in April 1945, unitedly with the partisans. He was awarded the DSO for his run tin the lines and get the Medaglia Argento al courage militaire from the Italian government. \n'