A Brilliant Little Operation

Author : Paddy Ashdown
Publisher : Aurum
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2013-05-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9781781310830

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A Brilliant Little Operation by Paddy Ashdown Pdf

The complete story of the remarkable canoe raid on German ships in Bordeaux Harbour – by the man who himself served in the Special Boat Squadron. In 1942, before El Alamein turned the tide of war, the German merchant fleet was re-supplying its war machine with impunity. So Operation Frankton, a daring and secret raid, was launched by Mountbatten’s Combined Operations and led by the enigmatic ‘Blondie’ Hasler – to paddle ‘Cockleshell’ canoes right into Bordeaux harbour and sink the ships at anchor. It was a desperately hazardous mission from the start – dropped by submarine to canoe some hundred miles up the Gironde into the heart of Vichy France, surviving terrifying tidal races, only to face the biggest challenge of all: escaping across the Pyrenees. Fewer than half the men made it to Bordeaux; only four laid their mines; just two got back alive. But the most damage was done to the Germans’ sense of impregnability. Paddy Ashdown, himself a member of the Royal Marines’ elite Special Boat Squadron formed as a consequence of Frankton, has always been fascinated by this classic story of bravery and ingenuity - as a young man even meeting his hero Hasler once. Now, after researching previously unseen archives and tracing surviving witnesses, he has written the definitive account of the raid. The real truth, he discovers – a deplorable tale of Whitehall rivalry and breakdowns in communication – serves only to make the achievements of the ‘Cockleshell’ heroes all the more heroic.

Author : Paddy Ashdown
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2012-09-17
Category : Bordeaux Raid, 1942
ISBN : OCLC:815944153

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A Brilliant Little Operation by Paddy Ashdown Pdf

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 612 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Intelligence service
ISBN : STANFORD:36105214547700

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Studies in Intelligence by Anonim Pdf

Author : Halik Kochanski
Publisher : Liveright Publishing
Page : 900 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2022-05-24
Category : History
ISBN : 9781324091660

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Resistance: The Underground War Against Hitler, 1939-1945 by Halik Kochanski Pdf

New Yorker • Best Books of 2022 “This is the most comprehensive and best account of resistance I have read. It addresses the story with scholarly objectivity and an absolute lack of sentimentality. So much romantic twaddle is still published . . . it is marvelous to read a study of such breadth and depth, which reaches balanced judgments.” —Max Hastings, The Sunday Times (UK) Resistance is the first book of its kind: a monumental history that finally integrates the many resistance movements against Nazi hegemony in Europe into a single, sweeping narrative of defiance. “To resist, therefore. But how, when and where? There were no laws, no guidelines, no precedents to show the way . . .” —Dutch resister Herman Friedhoff In every country that fell to the Third Reich during the Second World War, from France in the west to parts of the Soviet Union in the east, a resistance movement against Nazi domination emerged. And every country that endured occupation created its own fiercely nationalist account of the role of homegrown resistance in its eventual liberation. Halik Kochanski’s panoramic, prodigiously researched work is a monumental achievement: the first book to strip these disparate national histories of myth and nostalgia and to integrate them into a definitive chronicle of the underground war against the Nazis. Bringing to light many powerful and often little-known stories, Resistance shows how small bands of individuals took actions that could lead not merely to their own deaths, but to the liquidation of their families and their entire communities. As Kochanski demonstrates, most who joined up were not supermen and superwomen, but ordinary people drawn from all walks of life who would not have been expected—least of all by themselves—to become heroes of any kind. Kochanski also covers the sheer variety of resistance activities, from the clandestine press, assistance to Allied servicemen evading capture, and the provision of intelligence to the Allies to the more violent manifestations of resistance through sabotage and armed insurrection. For many people, resistance was not an occupation or an identity, but an activity: a person would deliver a cache of stolen documents to armed partisans and then seamlessly return to their normal life. For Jews under Nazi rule, meanwhile, the stakes at every point were life and death; resistance was less about national restoration than about mere survival. Why resist at all? Who is the real enemy? What kind of future are we risking our lives for? These and other questions animated those who resisted. With penetrating insight, Kochanski reveals that the single quality that defined resistance across borders was resilience: despite the constant arrests and executions, resistance movements rebuilt themselves time and time again. A landmark history that will endure for decades to come, Resistance forces every reader to ask themselves yet another question, this distinct to our own times: “What would I have done?”

Author : William Sparks,Michael Munn
Publisher : Leo Cooper Books
Page : 172 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 1992
Category : Escapes
ISBN : IND:30000029859802

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The Last of the Cockleshell Heroes by William Sparks,Michael Munn Pdf

In December, 1942, one of the most daring and innovative attacks on enemy shipping was launched by twelve commandos in canoes who became legendary as the Cockleshell Heroes. Of the twelve, two were unable to pursue their mission when their canoe was damaged on the submarine transporting them to France, and two came back alive. Now, for the first time, one of the two survivors, and now the only one living, William Sparks, DSM, tells his own incredible story of the Cockleshell Heroes, a personal account of courage, danger and survival.

Author : Robert Lyman
Publisher : Quercus
Page : 366 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2013-11-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9781623652623

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Operation Suicide by Robert Lyman Pdf

During the Second World War, it is hard to imagine a situation where the British High Command could think that one of the only ways they could attack Hitler was to send ten canoeists with limpet mines to paddle one hundred miles up the Gironde estuary, in the middle of winter, in an attempt to sink German blockade ships in Bordeaux harbor. Yet this is precisely what happened in 1942. The man who gave the go-ahead for the audacious commando raid--Lord Louis Mountbatten, head of Combined Operations--fully anticipated that all ten men would die in the attempt. Mountbatten wasn't far wrong--two ripped their collapsible canoes as they were manhandling them out of the submarine; two drowned when their canoes capsized entering the Gironde estuary; and a further six were captured by the Germans and later executed. By complete chance, the two canoeists who managed to escape--Major "Blondie" Hasler and Marine Bill Sparks--stumbled into the arms of the French resistance. Once in their care, Hasler and Sparks made their way across France and into Spain, crossing the Pyrenees in the company (though they did not know it) of a Gestapo agent intent on bringing down the resistance network. Operation Suicide is the first account of this enthralling raid for over fifty years. In utilizing primary source material, including detailed German records captured by the British in 1944 (which remained censored until 1976), Robert Lyman brings to life one of the most courageous and dramatic events to take place in the darkest days of the Second World War.

Author : Tom Keene
Publisher : The History Press
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2012-02-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9780752483757

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Cloak of Enemies by Tom Keene Pdf

The Special Operations Executive (SOE), also known as 'Churchill's Secret Army' or the 'Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare', was born from Churchill's vision 'to set Europe ablaze'. It was formed to conduct espionage and sabotage in enemy-occupied territory as well as aid local resistance groups in their own irregular warfare. After D-Day, it played a crucial role in the liberation of Europe. However, Tom Keene's book reveals for the first time how close it came to never existing at all. Many saw SOE as a threat to the existence of MI5 and other intelligence agencies, and some in the armed forces refused to work with the new agency, fearing its broad remit and lack of experienced operatives... SOE, in turn, became ever more secretive, hiding detail's of their operations from anyone outside the agency. This backstabbing climate of rivalry, confusion and secrecy within the higher echelons of government not only nearly destroyed SOE, but also had tragic repercussions for the daring Commandos who took part in the legendary 'Cockleshell Raid'. Cloak of Enemies exposes the secret war in the shadows and backrooms of Whitehall during the Second World War and its far-reaching consequences.

Author : Peter Hore
Publisher : The History Press
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2016-09-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9780750969451

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Lindell's List by Peter Hore Pdf

Already a decorated heroine of the First World War, British-born Mary Lindell, Comtesse de Milleville, was one of the most colourful and courageous agents of the Second World War, yet her story has almost been forgotten. Evoking the spirit of Edith Cavell, and taking the German occupation of Paris in 1940 as a personal affront, she led an escape line for patriotic Frenchmen and British soldiers. After imprisonment, escape to England, a secret return to France and another arrest, she began to witness the horrors of German-run prisons and concentration camps. In April 1945, a score of British and American women emerged from the Women's Hell – Ravensbrück concentration camp – who had been kept alive by the willpower and the strength of one woman, Mary Lindell. She combined a passion for adventure with blunt speech and persistently displayed the greatest personal bravery in the face of great adversity. To counter German claims that they had no British or American prisoners, Mary smuggled out a plea for rescue and produced her list from her pinafore pocket, compiled in secret from the camp records. This vital list contained the names of captured women, many of whom were agents of British Military Intelligence, the Special Operations Executive or the French Resistance. Poignantly supported by first-hand testimony, Lindell's List tells the moving story of Mary Lindell's heroic leadership and the endurance of a group of women who defied the Nazis in the Second World War.

Author : Adrian Turner
Publisher : Pen and Sword
Page : 243 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 1999-03-16
Category : History
ISBN : 9780850526660

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Eighth Army's Greatest Victories by Adrian Turner Pdf

To read many accounts, it would appear that the Eighth Army's victory at El Alamein was quickly followed by its triumphant arrival at Tunis. Adrian Turner, the experienced authority on the period, redresses the imbalance by describing brilliantly the progress of this legendary fighting force and describing the ferocity of such battles as that for the Mareth Line. The author deftly handles strategic level thinking, the tactical battles and individual contributions. Aviation readers will be thrilled by recognition of the Desert Air Force's contribution, too often neglected.

Author : Ewen Southby-Tailyour
Publisher : Pen and Sword
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2014-04-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9781473835139

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Exocet Falklands by Ewen Southby-Tailyour Pdf

“A fascinating account of three SAS missions to counter the Exocet missile . . . from ill-thought out ideas to near suicidal one-way trips onto enemy soil.”—Soldier Magazine This is a revelatory account of three un-tabulated special forces operations, PLUM DUFF, MIKADO and KETTLEDRUM, that were tasked to destroy Argentina’s Exocet missiles during the 1982 Falkland’s campaign. Interviews with the SAS officer commanding Operation PLUM DUFF, members of the reconnaissance patrol for Operation MIKADO, plus the navigator of the helicopter that flew eight troopers into Tierra del Fuego, has allowed the author to describe the tortuous events that led, instead, to a significant survival story. The RAF pilots ordered to conduct an “assault-landing” of two Hercules onto Rio Grande air base during Operation MIKADO have spoken of the extraordinary procedures they developed: so have the commander of the SBS and the captain of the British submarine involved in Operation KETTLEDRUM. The Super Étendard pilots who sank HMS Sheffield and MV Atlantic Conveyor and then “attacked” HMS Invincible, plus a key member of the Argentine special forces and the brigadier defending Rio Grande, add credence, depth and gravitas to the saga: as does an equally revealing interview with the SIS (MI6) officer who led the world-wide search for Exocets on the black market. Disturbing over-confidence by commanders at home was finely counter-balanced by stirring accounts of inspiring physical and moral courage across the South Atlantic. Exocet Falklands is a ground-breaking work of investigative military history from which many salutary lessons can be learned. “Between politics, diplomacy and barbouzeries, this well-documented work will lead you in the arcane of what should have changed the course of this war.”—Air Fan

Author : Robert Lyman
Publisher : Hachette UK
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2012-02-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9780857383587

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Operation Suicide by Robert Lyman Pdf

At nightfall on December 7 1942, twelve British canoeists arrived by submarine off the coast of France, tasked with infiltrating the dockyards of Bordeaux, and wreaking havoc with the German shipping they found there. Manning fragile 'cockles' through the turbulent waters of the Bay of Biscay, and making an assault on a port bristling with German soldiers ordered to execute any Allied Commando they captured, their prospects looked bleak. It was fully expected that all would die in the attempt. Featuring a cast of characters ranging from Blondie Hasler, the ingenious and courageous leader of the raid, to the Comtesse de Milleville, who risked outrageous danger as she ran a secret resistance network, Operation Suicide is an enthralling account of one of WWII's most iconic missions.

Author : John Taylor
Publisher : Pen and Sword
Page : 678 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2016-11-11
Category : History
ISBN : 9781473848351

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Deborah and the War of the Tanks by John Taylor Pdf

Deborah is a British First World War tank that rose from the grave after taking part in one of the most momentous battles in history. In November 1917 she played a leading role in the first successful massed tank attack at Cambrai. Eighty years later, in a remarkable feat of archaeology, the tanks buried remains were rediscovered and excavated, and are now preserved as a memorial to the battle and to the men who fought in it. John Taylors book tells the tale of the tank and her crew and tracks down their descendants to uncover a human story every bit as compelling as the military one.

Author : Ben Macintyre
Publisher : Signal
Page : 432 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2020-09-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780771000911

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Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre Pdf

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE “Pure catnip to fans of World War II thrillers and a lot of fun for everyone else.” —Joseph Kanon, The Washington Post Book World The “brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining” (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker) true story of the most successful—and certainly the strangest—deception ever carried out in World War II, from the acclaimed author of The Spy and the Traitor. Near the end of World War II, two British naval officers came up with a brilliant and slightly mad scheme to mislead the Nazi armies about where the Allies would attack southern Europe. To carry out the plan, they would have to rely on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Ben Macintyre’s dazzling, critically acclaimed bestseller chronicles the extraordinary story of what happened after British officials planted this dead body—outfitted in a British military uniform with a briefcase containing false intelligence documents—in Nazi territory, and how this secret mission fooled Hitler into changing military positioning, paving the way for the Allies’ drive to victory.

Author : Cecil Ernest Lucas Phillips,Herbert George Hasler
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Bordeaux Raid, 1942
ISBN : 0330480693

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Cockleshell Heroes by Cecil Ernest Lucas Phillips,Herbert George Hasler Pdf

In December 1942, 10 Royal Marines lauched a daring canoe attack on German ships lying in Bordeaux harbour - a harzardous and successful offensive, in which only two survived. This book tells the story of those cockleshell heroes.

Author : William Thomas Massey
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
Page : 390 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2014-08-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781782895480

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Allenby’s Final Triumph [Illustrated Edition] by William Thomas Massey Pdf

Includes the World War One In The Desert Illustration Pack- 115 photos/illustrations and 19 maps spanning the Desert campaigns 1914-1918 THIS narrative, it is hoped, will serve to remove the impression which prevails among a not inconsiderable section of the British public that the Army commanded and handled with such consummate skill by Lord Allenby in Palestine had a comparatively simple task... In 1918 General Allenby had to contend with enormous difficulties. He was faced with the problem of having to arrange his operations so as to fit in with the calls made upon him to reinforce the Western Front. At a time when the Turkish moral was still good, he had to send to France the bulk of his veteran British infantry when they were in the highest state of efficiency, and, with new Indian troops in their place, he had to build up another army. In these pages I have tried to show how, while increasing the power of his fresh troops, he forced down the fighting capacity of his enemy, and then, when by a most ably worked out scheme of camouflage he had concealed scores of thousands of men and horses at the place of attack, he launched his host against an army whose moral he had reduced to a low level. By employing a magnificent body of cavalry he gave another lesson to the armies of the world in the employment of the mounted arm, and, uninfluenced by the desires of London and Paris that this or that should be his aim, his own plans, worked out in his own way, secured far more than War Councils or War Cabinets had any right to expect. The Army’s appreciation of Lord Allenby is correct.