Best of
World-War-Ii

1988

The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank


Willy Lindwer - 1988
    The "unwritten" final chapter of "Anne Frank: Diary Of A Young Girl" tells the story of the time between Anne Frank's arrest and her death through the testimony of six Jewish women who survived the hell from which Anne Frank never returned.

Alicia


Alicia Appleman-Jurman - 1988
    Not since The Diary of Anne Frank has a young voice so vividly expressed the capacity for humanity and heroism in the face of Nazi brutality.

The Man Called Brown Condor: The Forgotten History of an African American Fighter Pilot


Thomas E. Simmons - 1988
    Simmons brings to life Robinson's outstanding success in becoming a pilot, his expertise in building and assembling his own working aircraft, his influence on the establishment of a school of aviation at Tuskegee Institute (there would have been no Tuskegee Airmen without him), and his courageouswartime service in Ethiopia during the Italian invasion in 1935, for which he won international fame. It was during Robinson's service to Ethiopia that he took to the air to combat the first Fascist invasion of what would become World War II. This remarkable hero may have been the first American to oppose Fascism in combat. When Ethiopia was freed by British troops during World War II, Haile Selassie asked Robinson to return to Ethiopia to help reestablish the Ethiopian Air Force. For Robinson and the five men he picked to go with him, just getting to Ethiopia in wartime 1944 was an adventure in itself.Over the last twenty-three years, the author has performed original research on John C. Robinson when very little information on this remarkable American hero was available. 'The Man Called Brown Condor' encompasses a vast amount of information based on obscure, forgotten, and heretofore undiscovered facts.This work is more than the definitive biography of an African American pilot who became a US hero, only to be unfairly forgotten. It provides insight on racial conditions in the first half of the twentieth century and illustrates the political intrigue within a League of Nations afraid to face the rise of Fascism. The Man Called Brown Condor is a new, exciting, heroic adventure in history, and provides the reader with an unforgettable story of an incredible American hero.

A Mother's Secret


Carolyn Haddad - 1988
    Fleeing the Nazis, a Jewis resistance fighter, Eliza Wolf, entrusts her newborn baby to the care of a local peasant woman.

Bitter Victory: The Battle For Sicily, July August 1943


Carlo D'Este - 1988
    In recounting the second-largest amphibious operation in military history, Carlo D'Este for the first time reveals the conflicts in planning and the behind-the-scenes quarrels between top Allied commanders. The book explodes the myth of the Patton-Montgomery rivalry and exposes how Alexander's inept generalship nearly wrecked the campaign. D'Este documents in chilling detail the series of savage battles fought against an overmatched but brilliant foe and how the Germans--against overwhelming odds--carried out one of the greatest strategic withdrawals in history. His controversial narrative depicts for the first time how the Allies bungled their attempt to cut off the Axis retreat from Sicily, turning what ought to have been a great triumph into a bitter victory that later came to haunt the Allies in Italy. Using a wealth of original sources, D'Este paints an unforgettable portrait of men at war. From the front lines to the councils of the Axis and Allied high commands, "Bitter Victory" offers penetrating reassessments of the men who masterminded the campaign. Thrilling and authoritative, this is military history on an epic scale.

Bastogne: The First Eight Days


S.L.A. Marshall - 1988
    General Mcaulliffe decided that despite the odds and the lack of supplies and ammunition his troops would continue to hold the important communication hub of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. This dramatic, yet authoritative account brings all of the action to the fore as the Battered Bastards of Bastogne wrote their names into legend."THIS STORY OF BASTOGNE was written from interviews with nearly all the commanders and staff officers and many of the men who participated in the defense of Bastogne during the first phase of that now celebrated operation—the days during which the American forces were surrounded by forces of the enemy…Thus it is essentially the account of how a single strong defensive force was built from separate commands of armor, airborne infantry and tank destroyers—a force convinced that it could not be beaten."-Introduction.

The Doolittle Raid


Carroll V. Glines - 1988
    Co. Jimmy Doolittle\s legendary bombing raid on Tokyo gave America the morale boost it needed in the wake of Pearl Harbor. This is the full story as told by the Doolittle Raiders\ official historian. Carroll Glines is also the author of Attack on Yamamoto.

Clash by Night


Doreen Owens Malek - 1988
    But for three proud, passionate women, the same fierce conflict that rages throughout France burns in their own hearts...and will forever change their lives.From the sun-drenched beauty of the French countryside to the bloody beaches of Normandy, from the dark and terrible days of the Occupation to the glory of liberation, this is the magnificent story of the men and women, lovers and enemies, whose passionate dreams and undying patriotism shape the destiny of their land and their lives.

Guadalcanal Decision at Sea: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal


Eric Hammel - 1988
    . . a kaleidoscopic but invariably intelligible account of key actions.-Kirkus Reviews Hammel does not write dry history. His battle sequences are masterfully portrayed.-Library Journal Vivid and memorable . . .-Publishers Weekly GUADALCANAL: DECISION AT SEA is a vivid examination of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, November 13-15, 1942, and its crucial impact on America's offensive against Japan in World War II. This three-day air and naval action incorporated America's most decisive surface battle of the war and it was the only naval battle of the 20th century where American battleships fought Japanese battleships. This American victory decided the future course of the naval war in the Pacific. Hammel has brilliantly blended the detailed historical records with personal accounts of many of the officers and enlisted men involved, creating an engrossing narrative of the strategy and struggle as seen by both sides.

Kaddish for Kovno: Life and Death in a Lithuanian Ghetto 1941-1945


William W. Mishell - 1988
    It is a troy of ingenuity and heroism as well as of horror and destruction. It illuminates the indomitable human spirit as the Jews of Kovno secured food, smuggled children to safety, set up hospitals, and even organised a ghetto orchestra in the face of numbing deprivations and brutality. A gripping account of four years no human could forget.

The Berlin Raids


Martin Middlebrook - 1988
    Bomber Command s Commander-in-Chief, Sir Arthur Harris, hoped to wreak Berlin from end to end and produce a state of devastation in which German surrender is inevitable . He dispatched nineteen major raids between August 1943 and March 1944 more than 10,000 aircraft sorties dropped over 30,000 tons of bombs on Berlin. It was the RAF s supreme effort to end the war by aerial bombing. But Berlin was not destroyed and the RAF lost more than 600 aircraft and their crews. The controversy over whether the Battle of Berlin was a success or failure has continued ever since. Martin Middlebrook brings to this subject considerable experience as a military historian. In preparing his material he collected documents from both sides (many of the German ones never before used); he has also interviewed and corresponded with over 400 of the people involved in the battle and has made trips to Germany to interview the people of Berlin and Luftwaffe aircrews. He has achieved the difficult task of bringing together both sides of the Battle of Berlin the bombing force and the people on the ground to tell a coherent, single story. The author describes the battle, month by month, as the bombers waited for the dark nights, with no moon, to resume their effort to destroy Berlin and end the war. He recounts the ebb and flow of fortunes, identifying the tactical factors that helped first the bombers, then the night fighters, to gain the upper hand. Through the words of the participants, he brings to the reader the hopes, fears and bravery of the young bomber aircrews in the desperate air battles that were waged as the Luftwaffe attempted to protect their capital city. And he includes that element so often omitted from books about the bombing war the experiences of ordinary people in the target city, showing how the bombing destroyed homes, killed families, affected morale and reduced the German war effort. Martin Middlebrook s meticulous attention to detail makes The Bomber Battle of Berlin one of his most accomplished book to date. Martin Middlebrook has written many other books that deal with important turning-points in the two world wars, including The First Day on the Somme, Kaiser s Battle, The Peenemunde Raid, The Somme Battlefields (with Mary Middlebrook), The Nuremberg Raid 30-21st March 1944 and Arnhem 1944 (all republished and in print with Pen and Sword). Martin Middlebrook is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and lives near Stroud, Gloucestershire."

The Great Escape


Philippe Dupasquier - 1988
    Readers join the chase and solve puzzles along the way! Full color.

Complete Book of World War II Combat Aircraft


Enzo Angelucci - 1988
    One hundred and fifty different aircraft are covered in this text, individually and in detail from the Aichi D3A to the Yokosuka P1Y. This book also presents 500 full colour illustrations which show the aircraft's profiles, camouflage and markings, plus original photographs and technical specifications.

The Jolly Rogers: The Story of Tom Blackburn and Navy Fighting Squadron VF-17


Tom Blackburn - 1988
    Navy history. In only 76 days of combat, Blackburn's Jolly Rogers downed a record 154 enemy warplanes, and Blackburn himself emerged as one of VF-17’s leading aces with eleven aerial combat victories to his credit. A complete history of the squadron from its commissioning in January 1943 to its disbanding in April 1944—including a harrowing account of the squadron’s intense, winning campaign against the Japanese over the northern Solomon Islands and Fortress Rabaul—this book offers a fascinating look at Blackburn’s approach to organizing, training, and leading his pilots—thirteen of whom, the author included, became air aces.

Stalag Luft III: The Secret Story


Arthur A. Durand - 1988
    Housing mainly British and American flyers, it was the historical setting for the movie The Great Escape. As with most Hollywood treatments, however, the film blurred the line between fact and fiction. In this volume, the author offers a comprehensive historical examination of what camp life was actually like, from the mundane drudgery of the prisoners' daily lives to their harrowing struggle for survival against an enemy responsible for the deaths of millions. Relying on coded records kept by camp historians, as well as personal interviews, letters, logs, diaries, and declassified government documents, Durand combines scholarship with dramatic narrative.

The Fire and the Light


Herman Kahan - 1988
    His happy pre-war childhood and yeshiva studies were followed by confinement in the ghetto, and transport to Auschwitz. He and his father survived selection by Mengele, followed by slave labor in Wolfsberg and Ebensee. Sustained by his father's spiritual strength, Kahan survived and was liberated.

Saipan: The War Diary of John Ciardi


John Ciardi - 1988
    Ciardi records his days and nights as a gunner on a B-29 in the South Pacific during four of the last terrible months of World War II.