Zweiter Weltkrieg

Finalist, 2023 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Awards" ...provides critical texture to a historical figure often left pilloried without full context. The balanced treatment of a complex, flawed leader is valuable to understanding MacArthur's command and an instructive lesson for today's intelligence professionals and those who rely on intelligence to guide their decisions." -- Aether: A Journal of Strategic Airpower & SpacepowerMajor General Charles A. Willoughby served as Douglas MacArthur's stalwart chief intelligence officer (G-2} for over a decade, throughout World War II and the Korean War. This first full biography examines Willoughby's shadowy origins in his native Germany, his curious arrival in the United States, and his military service in World War I, as well as his work during the interwar years as a junior diplomat, budding historian, and neophyte intelligence officer. His chance encounter with MacArthur in the mid-1930s would prove to be the genesis of a near-symbiotic relationship between the two, with significant consequences for both.Throughout his life, Willoughby identified with strong, authoritarian leaders, notably Franco, and--especially--MacArthur. The author also assesses Willoughby's performance as a professional intelligence officer both in World War II and Korea, where he is often vilified for his inaccurate assessments of enemy strength and most likely courses of action, as well as his sycophantic relationship with his commander. Willoughby is most often criticized for his failing to foresee the entry of Chinese forces into the Korean War and its impact upon the US Army and the prosecution of the war. Following MacArthur's removal by President Truman in 1951, Willoughby retired and spent the rest of his days engaged in right-wing political activity and in staunchly defending his much-maligned boss.The legacy he left is one filled with lingering and important questions about loyalty to superiors, in civilian as well as military environments, how far that loyalty should extend, and walking the tightrope involved in telling truth to power.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERWinner of the Florida Book Awards Gold MedalNew York Times bestselling author and master of nonfiction spy thrillers Larry Loftis writes the first major biography of Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch watchmaker who saved the lives of hundreds of Jews during WWII—at the cost of losing her family and being sent to a concentration camp, only to survive, forgive her captors, and live the rest of her life as a Christian missionary.The Watchmaker’s Daughter is one of the greatest stories of World War II that readers haven’t heard: the remarkable and inspiring life story of Corrie ten Boom—a groundbreaking, female Dutch watchmaker, whose family unselfishly transformed their house into a hiding place straight out of a spy novel to shelter Jews and refugees from the Nazis during Gestapo raids. Even though the Nazis knew what the ten Booms were up to, they were never able to find those sheltered within the house when they raided it.Corrie stopped at nothing to face down the evils of her time and overcame unbelievable obstacles and odds. She persevered despite the loss of most of her family and relied on her faith to survive the horrors of a notorious concentration camp. But even more remarkable than her heroism and survival was Corrie’s attitude when she was released. Miraculously, she was able to eschew bitterness and embrace forgiveness as she ministered to people in need around the globe. Corrie’s ability to forgive is just one of the myriad lessons that her life story holds for readers today.Reminiscent of Schindler’s List and featuring a journey of faith and forgiveness not unlike Unbroken, The Watchmaker’s Daughter is destined to become a classic work of World War II nonfiction.

At 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing just 110 pounds, Bob Harper was below the minimum size requirements for US military service. As the demand for manpower increased, rules were bent, Harper's deferment was retracted, and he was drafted into the Army. Harper was deployed to the European front and survived 35 combat missions as a B-17 ball turret gunner. Based at airfields in England, Bob and the 381st Bomb Group flew brutal missions over heavily defended industrial centers in Germany. Harper was shot down twice and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Bob recounts amazing stories, from bailing out of a battle damaged bomber, to the bomber near perfectly landing itself in a nearby field, to a battle fatigued crewmember departing a taxying (for takeoff on another mission) aircraft on the runway, and attempting to flee the scene. Through his letters home, combat reports, and extensive interviews with author Bill Cullen, Harper describes his harrowing experiences on board the Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Air Force. Cullen's interviews with Harper, who is still alive as of the completion of the manuscript, took place over a period of years, and it is the anecdotes from the interviews that drive the majority of the narrative. The ball turret was located underneath the aircraft and was a confined, intense, and unique environment from which to experience combat during the Second World War. Readers will find Harper, who went on to a successful business career after the war, to be an insightful, witty, and engaging storyteller.

This memoir is based on a true story and accurate historical details. None of the characters are fictional. I was born in 1942 near the infamous beaches of Normandy. At the time, my great aunt on my father's side, Charlotte Aline Virmoux, called Aline, was 47 years old. She and her husband Louis were active members in a French Resistance network. During my younger years I met her on several occasions and heard about her experiences in the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany, north of Berlin. But it was not until spring 1962, when I was a student in Paris, the Gay-Lussac Institute, that I started to fully appreciate her story, and who she really was. She lived in a small town, Quincy-sous-Senart, south of Paris where I often visited her: she loved talking to me, and she emptied her heart of so many infamous memories. At age 20 I had already heard many war stories from my family, cousins, and friends but the intensity of these stories never reached anywhere close to Aline's memories. I hope I can do justice to deliver this message where horror becomes daily routine for those who became nothing, brought to a status lower than animals, where dignity became an unthinkable luxury. Yet, following her escape from the concentration camp that was under Russian artillery fire, she managed to save the life of a wounded American soldier, showing amazing bravery.

“McCarten's pulse-pounding narrative transports the reader to those springtime weeks in 1940 when the fate of the world rested on the shoulders of Winston Churchill. A true story thrillingly told. Thoroughly researched and compulsively readable.”—Michael F. Bishop, Executive Director of the International Churchill SocietyFrom the acclaimed novelist and screenwriter of The Theory of Everything comes a revelatory look at the period immediately following Winston Churchill’s ascendancy to Prime Minister“He was speaking to the nation, the world, and indeed to history....”May, 1940. Britain is at war. The horrors of blitzkrieg have seen one western European democracy after another fall in rapid succession to Nazi boot and shell. Invasion seems mere hours away.Just days after becoming Prime Minister, Winston Churchill must deal with this horror—as well as a skeptical King, a party plotting against him, and an unprepared public. Pen in hand and typist-secretary at the ready, how could he change the mood and shore up the will of a nervous people?In this gripping day-by-day, often hour-by-hour account of how an often uncertain Churchill turned Britain around, the celebrated Bafta-winning writer Anthony McCarten exposes sides of the great man never seen before. He reveals how he practiced and re-wrote his key speeches, from ‘Blood, toil, tears and sweat’ to ‘We shall fight on the beaches’; his consideration of a peace treaty with Nazi Germany, and his underappreciated role in the Dunkirk evacuation; and, above all, how 25 days helped make one man an icon.Using new archive material, McCarten reveals the crucial behind-the-scenes moments that changed the course of history. It’s a scarier—and more human—story than has ever been told.

In the dark days of 1942, the battle for the Solomon Islands was very much in doubt. When carrier dive bomber Robert D. "Hoot" Gibson sighted the Japanese fleet heading for "Hell's Island," he attacked the vanguard ships, sinking the heavy cruiser Kinugasa and two loaded Japanese troop transports in a battle royal that earned him the Navy Cross. He was also credited with the sinking of an I-Class submarine and shooting down two Zeroes, after going toe-to-toe with Japan's premier ace pilot, and he alone accounted for the deaths of thousands of Japanese soldiers and sailors.Hoot was a hero when America needed heroes and when America needed to turn the tide of the war from defense to offense. He was on the Yorktown at Midway and the Enterprise at Guadalcanal. Hoot was in three of the five carrier battles of the war, the first and last amphibious invasions of WWII, and thirteen major battles. A Hoot in Hell's Island tells Hoot's dramatic story and that of the American navy in the crucial battles of the Pacific War.

The war story of one WW2 80th Infantry Division mechanic by way of his personal letters home to his wife. How did George Henderson fit into the big picture of the war? After all, he was a mechanic who never shot a bullet at the enemy and yet earned a Bronze Star for doing his job so well he impacted the outcome of the war. Nevertheless, Sergeant George Henderson, a member of the the 80th Infantry Division, was an ordinary soldier. His story is not any more "special" than the other American soldiers who bravely fought in WW2. George was a 25 year-old young man from Washington State, recently married, and expecting his first child when he headed to Europe to fight the Nazis. His journey through the war is indicative of the "regular" people from his generation who demonstrated unrelenting courage and commitment in spite of their very real fear that they might never see their families again. George Henderson was an ordinary soldier because there are thousands of others just like him. He was extraordinary, however, because like so many others, he answered the call, worked hard to prepare, was good at his job, stayed committed through adversity, and was a remarkable teammate. <BR>This book is an overview of one man's role during World War 2. George Henderson's own words show he took great pride in being a part of the 80th Infantry Division, a Division that raced through France pushing back the German Army, broke through the Maginot Line, participated in the Battle of Bulge, captured thousands of Germans, liberated concentration camps, and ultimately fired the last shot of World War 2 in Europe. The narrative will trace George's tour from boot camp to his return home. By following the boot prints of George's steps, this book will take the reader inside some of the daily experiences and emotions of this soldier through the many love letters he wrote to his wife. Through his own words, aided and augmented by research and historical context, the reader will learn of George's time in the war in a manner that is easy to follow for even the novice historian. This is the story of my grandfather, one ordinary extraordinary soldier, whose love of country brought him to war, his pride in his Division inspired him and made him proud to be in Europe under General George Patton, and his love for his wife and his not-yet-born baby which kept him motivated to get home.<BR><BR>

HC gerader Rücken kaschiert

'A gripping new collection from Max Hastings that puts you at the heart of the battle ... Compelling' Daily Mail'An unmissable read' Sunday TimesSoldiers is a very personal gathering of sparkling, gripping tales by many writers, about men and women who have borne arms, reflecting bestselling historian Max Hastings's lifetime of studying war. It rings the changes through the centuries, between the heroic, tragic and comic; the famous and the humble. The nearly 350 stories illustrate vividly what it is like to fight in wars, to live and die as a warrior, from Greek and Roman times through to recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.Here you will meet Jewish heroes of the Bible, Rome's captain of the gate, Queen Boudicca, Joan of Arc, Cromwell, Wellington, Napoleon's marshals, Ulysses S. Grant, George S. Patton and the modern SAS. There are tales of great writers who served in uniform including Cobbett and Tolstoy, Edward Gibbon and Siegfried Sassoon, Marcel Proust and Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell and George MacDonald Fraser. Here are also stories of the female 'abosi' fighters of Dahomey and heroic ambulance drivers of World War I, together with the new-age women soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The stories reflect a change of mood towards warfare through the ages: though nations and movements continue to inflict terrible violence upon each other, most of humankind has retreated from the old notion of war as a sport or pastime, to acknowledge it as the supreme tragedy.This is a book to inspire in turn fascination, excitement, horror, amazement, occasionally laughter. Max Hastings mingles respect for the courage of those who fight with compassion for those who become their victims, above all civilians, and especially in the twenty-first century, which some are already calling 'the Post-Heroic Age'.

Christian de La Mazière fu giornalista per "Le Pays libre", un quotidiano minore della Collaborazione, volontario nella Divisione SS "Charlemagne" negli ultimi combattimenti sul fronte orientale, e nel dopoguerra esperto di pubbliche relazioni del cinema internazionale e amante di Juliette Gréco e Dalida: nelle sue memorie, inedite in italiano e che alla loro uscita in Francia nel 1972 furono un vero e proprio caso letterario, il "romanzo di formazione" di un giovane idealista dalla Parigi dell'estate 1944 al viaggio attraverso una Germania straziata dalle bombe Alleate sino al campo d'addestramento di Wildflecken, e all'invio in Pomerania contro i T-34 e Stalin sovietici dilaganti verso ovest, tra colonne di profughi e combattimenti disperati. Quindi, l'odissea nelle foreste baltiche dei superstiti stremati del suo reparto, la resa, la prigionia sovietica e il rientro in Francia, il processo per collaborazionismo e il suo trasferimento da un carcere all'altro, da Fresnes alla cupa ex abbazia di Clairvaux, un folle universo carcerario popolato da criminali comuni d'ogni sorta e detenuti politici, sino al suo rilascio nel 1948, tra i resti delle sue illusioni perdute. Das Urheberrecht an bibliographischen und produktbeschreibenden Daten und an den bereitgestellten Bildern liegt bei Informazioni Editoriali, I.E. S.r.l., oder beim Herausgeber oder demjenigen, der die Genehmigung erteilt hat. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

In the dark days of 1942, the battle for the Solomon Islands was very much in doubt. When carrier dive bomber Robert D. "Hoot" Gibson sighted the Japanese fleet heading for "Hell's Island," he attacked the vanguard ships, sinking the heavy cruiser Kinugasa and two loaded Japanese troop transports in a battle royal that earned him the Navy Cross. He was also credited with the sinking of an I-Class submarine and shooting down two Zeroes, after going toe-to-toe with Japan's premier ace pilot, and he alone accounted for the deaths of thousands of Japanese soldiers and sailors.Hoot was a hero when America needed heroes and when America needed to turn the tide of the war from defense to offense. He was on the Yorktown at Midway and the Enterprise at Guadalcanal. Hoot was in three of the five carrier battles of the war, the first and last amphibious invasions of WWII, and thirteen major battles. A Hoot in Hell's Island tells Hoot's dramatic story and that of the American navy in the crucial battles of the Pacific War.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.In honor of the 75th Anniversary of one of the most critical battles of World War II, the popular primetime Fox News anchor of The Story with Martha MacCallum pays tribute to the heroic men who sacrificed everything at Iwo Jima to defeat the Armed Forces of Emperor Hirohito—among them, a member of her own family, Harry Gray.Admiral Chester Nimitz spoke of the “uncommon valor” of the men who fought on Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest and most brutal battles of World War II. In thirty-six grueling days, nearly 7,000 Marines were killed and 22,000 were wounded.Martha MacCallum takes us from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima through the lives of these men of valor, among them Harry Gray, a member of her own family.In Unknown Valor, she weaves their stories—from Boston, Massachusetts, to Gulfport, Mississippi, as told through letters and recollections—into the larger history of what American military leaders rightly saw as an eventual showdown in the Pacific with Japan. In a relentless push through the jungles of Guadalcanal, over the coral reefs of Tarawa, past the bloody ridge of Peleliu, against the banzai charges of Guam, and to the cliffs of Saipan, these men were on a path that ultimately led to the black sands of Iwo Jima, the doorstep of the Japanese Empire.Meticulously researched, heart-wrenching, and illuminating, Unknown Valor reveals the sacrifices of ordinary Marines who saved the world from tyranny and left indelible marks on those back home who loved them.

"Letters to Imogene" provides detailed behind-the-scenes accounts of some of the well known and lesser known battles of World War II, including campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy and Northern Europe. They are described through the perspectives of three U. S. Army officers, an infantry division commanding general, an infantry battalion commander and an Air Corps fighter pilot. The extensive use of letters to Imogene, from her father, husband, and brother, and her replies, inform the ups and downs of the epic global struggle in personal terms, from both sides of the Atlantic. There are detailed accounts of the battles of El Guettar, Bizerte, Troina, Normandy, Cherbourg, Brest, and the Huertgen Forest, among others. Also included is a detailed description of military flight training in a time of war. The paths of the three soldiers cross in unusual ways throughout the course of America's campaigns in the European theater, from November 1942 to May 1945.

Bombs and artillery shells were falling all around him. Bullets were whistling within inches of his head. He is in shoulder-high water as he struggles to reach the beach ahead of him. He sees his captain step on a land mine as he reaches the sandy beaches, just yards in front of him. The sight of his captain flying straight up in the air puts a fear in him he has never experienced. He thinks, God, help me. I don't want to die here!

Spitfire Pilot is the exhilarating and moving memoir of D. M. Crook, an airman in the legendary 609 Squadron - one of the most successful RAF units in the Battle of Britain.Beginning with his fond recollections of his halcyon days in training - acrobatics, night flying and languorous days spent playing sport and nights off visiting Piccadilly Circus - Crook goes on to recount in thrilling detail the dogfights, remarkable victories and tragic losses which formed the daily routine of Britain's heroic aerial defenders in that long summer of 1940.Often hopelessly outnumbered, the men of 609 Squadron in their state-of-the-art Spitfires committed acts of unimaginable bravery against the Messerschmitts and Junkers of Germany's formidable Luftwaffe. Many of Crook's fellow airmen did not make it back alive, and the absence they leave in the close-knit community of the squadron is described with great poignancy.Spitfire Pilot offers a unique and personal insight into one of the most critical moments of British history, when a handful of men stood up against the might of the German Air Force in defense of their country.This definitive edition, the first for more than sixty years, includes a new foreword by David Crook's daughter and Air Vice Marshal Sandy Hunter, Honorary Air Commodore of the 609 Squadron. The book also has an introduction by Professor Richard Overy.

Richard Hillary's book The Last Enemy was first published in the UK in 1942 just seven months before his untimely death. It is an extraordinary first-hand account of the experiences of a young man swept into the Battle of Britain as a Spitfire pilot.<BR>The book is in two parts, beginning with his time at Trinity College, Oxford, where he was a successful oarsman and carefree student. Joining the RAF Volunteer Reserve he displayed an undisciplined approach towards flying training schools whilst making new acquaintances prompted some reappraisal of his attitude to life.<BR>His descriptions of flying a Spitfire are gripping as we share both the horror and excitement of close combat in the air.Shot down over the English Channel on 3 September 1940 he is seriously burned and comes under the care of Archibald McIndoe and his pioneering reconstructive plastic surgery. He writes in graphic detail but with no self-pity of the operations and pain endured during his long stints in hospital at East Grinstead. Towards the end of the book he eloquently portrays his inner struggles and relates an epiphany that inspired him to write this book.<BR>The Last Enemy is undoubtedly one of the most important and compelling books to have been written during recent wars and will stay with you as you reflect on Hillary's short but eventful life.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis <BR>  <BR>“One of [Erik Larson’s] best books yet . . . perfectly timed for the moment.”—Time • “A bravura performance by one of America’s greatest storytellers.”—NPR <BR>  <BR>NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • Vogue • NPR • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • The Globe & Mail • Fortune • Bloomberg • New York Post • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • LibraryReads • PopMatters<BR><BR>On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end.<BR><BR> In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.<BR> <BR>The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.

'Without Precedent' recounts the life of commando and fighter pilot, Phillip Zupp. During WW2, he saw combat in New Guinea before patrolling Hiroshima post-war. Then, in Korea, Phillip flew 201 sorties amid intense ground fire. Peace brought a career that spanned the globe and the story of the Purple Heart that lay dormant. Until now.

An ordinary man. An extraordinary life.'Without Precedent' recounts the life of commando and fighter pilot, Phillip Zupp. One man who served in two very different wars.From humble rural beginnings, surrounded by drought and The Great Depression, he forged an incredible life with little more than courage and tenacity. During World War Two, he saw combat on the ground in New Guinea before patrolling the devastation of Hiroshima and Tokyo as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces. In Korea, Phillip flew 201 combat sorties amid intense ground fire and the enemy's ever-threatening MiG fighters.Peace brought a career that spanned the globe and the skies above it. All the while, the intriguing story of the search for a downed airman, a damaged jet and the first Australian Purple Heart lay dormant. Until now.