Captured Memories 1930 - 1945: Across the Threshold of War: The Thirties and the War - Hardcover

Peter Liddle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1848842333 ISBN 13: 9781848842335

Publisher: Pen & Sword Military, 2011

Synopsis

In this sequel to his successful first volume Peter Liddle brings his years of Oral History experience to the Thirties and the Second World War. He was the founder/Director of a new archive in 1999 specifically dedicated to the rescue of evidence of the Second World War which now documents the lives of more than nine thousand people in that war. Many of the most vivid recollections he has recorded covering this period appear in this book.For the Thirties poverty is movingly exemplified in recall of orphanage upbringing, labour in an East Lancashire mill and Glasgow childhood. Privileged public schools and university education is here too, with political convictions expressed by Barbara Castle and quite exceptionally by Oswald Mosley.For the War, there is a section on the sea which includes graphic detail of battle, lifeboat command, the St Nazaire Raid, and of Pearl Harbor. A George Medallist and an Admiral of the Fleet add special distinction here.For the air, a Battle of Britain Spitfire Pilot, Britain's most successful night-fighter pilot, a Lancaster Bomber Pilot VC, an American pilot shot down over Belgium, surviving to fight with the Resistance, and a German Pilot retaining his national Socialist convictions present outstanding material. For the land, Dunkirk, North Africa, Italy, Singapore, D-Day, Arnhem, the Rhine Crossing, are all there but so Commando raids, SOE operations, capture, escapes, severe wounding, and a VC earned in Somaliland. A German describes the hand to hand fighting at Cassino, a Field Marshal, his service in North Africa, and Joachim Ronneberg his part in the Telemark Raid in Norway.In the Home Front section, women feature prominently was WAAF, Wrens, ATS, Bletchley Park, the Land Army, war work in factories, danceband singing, Blitz experience in several towns, war widowhood, and overseas evacuation, all feature. There is an account of bomb disposal, of the stance of a Conscientious Objector, and then four people quite exceptional for the significance of their matierial. Two are from Poland, a jewess who survived against all odds, and a woman who became involved in the Warsaw Uprising; the others are Sir Basil Blackwell working on the development of weaponry for the Admiralty and finally Sir Bernard Lovell on radar.This book does much to dissolve the intervening years. The essence of what is was to be young and to be there lies within these pages.

About this title

About the Author

Dr Peter Liddle is a leading historian of the First World War and has concentrated on the personal experience of the men and women who took part. He founded the Liddle Collection, a repository of documents and memorabilia connected to the conflict, which is housed in the Brotherton Library, the University of Leeds. His many books include Captured Memories 1900-1918, Captured Memories 1930-1945, The Soldiers War 1914-1918, The Gallipoli Experience Reconsidered, The 1916 Battle of the Somme Reconsidered and, as editor, Facing Armageddon, Britain Goes to War and Britain and the Widening War. Contributors: Holger Afflerbach, Phylomena Badsey, Niall Barr, Chris Bellamy, Nick Bosanquet, Peter Burness, George Cassar, Tim Cook, Irene Guerrini, Clive Harris, Kate Kennedy, Ross Kennedy, William Philpott, Marco Pluviano, Chris Pugsley, Duncan Redford, Matthew Richardson, Alan Sharp, Yigal Sheffy, Jack Sheldon, Edward Spiers, David Welch, Ian Whitehead

Edition details

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1848842333
• ISBN 13: 9781848842335
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336