And the Dawn Came Up Like Thunder is the experience of an ordinary soldier captured by the Japanese at Singapore in February 1942. Leo Rawlings' story is told in his own pictures and his own words; a world that is uncompromising, vivid and raw. He pulls no punches. For the first time the cruelty inflicted on the prisoners of war by their own officers is depicted as well as shocking images of POW life. This is truly a view of the River Kwai experience for a 21st Century audience.The new edition includes pictures never before published as well as an extensive new commentary by Dr Nigel Stanley, an expert on Rawlings and the medical problems faced on the Burma Railway. More than just a commentary on the history and terrible facts behind Rawlings' work, it stands on its own as a guide to the hidden lives of the prisoners.Most of the pictures are printed for the first time in colour as the artist intended, bringing new detail and insight to conditions faced by the POWs as they built the infamous death railway, and faced starvation, disease and cruelty.Pictures such as those showing the construction of Tamarkan Bridge, now famed as the prototype for the fictional Bridge on the River Kwai, and those showing the horrendous suffering of the POWs such as King of the Damned have an iconic status. Rawlings' art brings a different perspective to the depiction of the world of the Far East prisoners. For the first time the pictures and original texts are printed in a large format edition, so that their full power can be experienced.The new edition includes an account of how Rawlings' book was published in Japan by Takashi Nagase (well known from Eric Lomax's book The Railway Man) in the early 1980s. Rawlings visited Nagase in 1980 and at last reconciled himself to his experiences as a POW.

6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, but this is only half the story. Doris Bergen reveals how the Holocaust extended beyond the Jews to engulf millions of other victims in related programmes of mas-murder. The Nazi killing machine began with the disabled, and went on to target Afro-Germans, Gypsies, non-Jewish Poles, French African soldiers, Soviet prisoners of war, homosexual men and Jehovah's Witnesses. As Nazi Germany conquered more territories and peoples, Hitler's war turned soldiers, police officers and doctors into trained killers, creating a veneer of legitimacy around vicious acts of ethnic cleansing and genocide. Using the testimonies of both survivors and eyewitnesses, as well as a wealth of rarely seen photographs, Doris Bergen shows the true extent of the catastrophe that overwhelmed Europe during the Second World War, in a gripping story of the lives and deaths of real people.

This book offers a complete narrative of the development of Nordicism, from its roots in the National Romantic movement of the late eighteenth century, through to its most notorious manifestation in Nazi Germany, and finally to the fragmented forms that still remain in contemporary society. It is distinctive in treating Nordicism as a phenomenon with its own narrative, rather than as discreet episodes in works studying aspects of Eugenics, Nationalism, Nazism and the reception history of Old Norse culture. It is also distinctive in applying to this narrative a framework of analysis derived from the parallel theories of Roger Griffin and Zygmunt Bauman, to examine Nordicism as a process of myth creation protecting both the individual and society from the challenges and terror of an ever-changing and accelerating state of modernity.

In this rich and riveting narrative, a writer's search for the truth behind his family's tragic past in World War II becomes a remarkably original epic--part memoir, part reportage, part mystery, and part scholarly detective work--that brilliantly explores the nature of time and memory, family and history.

Reviews of Allan Andrade's book, S.S. Leopoldville December 24, 1944 published in 1997 Thanks to the publication of this book and the publicity that it has received on regional and national television programs, Americans can now understand what had been a hidden tragedy. The book, in conjunction with the monument and memorials at Ft. Benning, helps ensure that the gallantry and sacrifices of the men of the 66th Infantry Division will no longer be unrecognized as they had been in the past. Dr. Steve Grove, USMA Historian, West Point, New York Allan Andrade's book is an excellent story of human courage in the face of a horrible tragedy. His book gives the reader an idea of what it must have been like to be aboard a sinking ship in the English Channel on Christmas Eve 1944. His extensive interviews with survivors tell how human error played a role in the death of so many U.S. soldiers and how lucky some survivors were to be in the right place at the right time. It was heartbreaking to read how the government lied to so many families who only wanted to know the truth about the fate of their loved one. It truly was a hard book to put down. Joseph P. Napsha, Reporter, Tribune - Review, Greensburg, Pennsylvania Through careful piecing together of survivors' accounts, of photos and wartime letters of both survivors and victims, Andrade weaves a heartbreaking narrative from the beginning of the calamity to its bitter conclusion. In this book, strangers otherwise lost to history are redeemed from the shadows. Ghosts speak in tender love letters of dreams and hopes, of their undying affection for dear ones. They stare gallantly from faded photos, their soldiers' hats jauntily cocked, their eyesanxious. They pose stiffly in family portraits, young kids clinging to their knees. Lovely wives with soft, 1940s hairdos, hug their babies. In the book, we learn firsthand of heroic rescues, desperate acts, brutal deaths, incomprehensible suffering and grief. The History Channel video of the event focuses on the military cover up.. Yet, it does not come close to conveying the gripping horror, pathos and heroism found in Andrade's book. Lynn Ascrizzi, Reporter, Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Field Marshal William Slim stands alongside Montgomery as the outstanding British field commander of World War II. "Defeat Into Victory" is his classic account of the Burma campaign: a story of retreat, attrition and final hard-fought victory over the Japanese. Told by a commander always at the centre of events, this is a narrative which captures both the high drama and the harsh reality of war.

These pieces of cloth and metal symbolize the daring, bravery, suffering and loss of men who flew in deadly aerial battles for democratic freedom. Eagles Recalled, Pilot and Aircrew Wings of Canada, Great Britain and The British Commonwealth 1913-1945 has already been hailed as the definitive work written on the subject. Designed in a comprehensive form, complete with issue dates, this publication of original and authentic insignia will appeal to curators, cataloguers, historians, collectors, as well as veterans. It contains more than 800 color, and black and white photographs and is supplemented with uniform illustrations. Much of the material contained in this publication has never been seen before by the general public. The author has also made new historical discoveries presented here for the very first time - he has accessed private collections, photographed rare museum acquisitions, and received support from historians in seven countries over a period of some ten years. This work brings to readers a detailed and comprehensive study of the brevets issued to aviators who fought with Great Britain in World Wars I and II. Warren Carroll has been a collector/ researcher for over thirty-five years and is a member of the Organization of Military Museums of Canada. He is considered one of the leading authorities on Canadian and British Commonwealth Air Force insignia.

Prisoners of the Sumatra Railway is the first book to detail the experiences of British former prisoners of war (POWs) who were forced to construct a railway across Sumatra during the Japanese occupation. It is also the first study to be undertaken of the life-writing of POWs held captive by the Japanese during the Second World War, and the transgenerational responses in Britain to this period of captivity. This book brings to light previously unpublished materials, including: * Exceptionally rare and detailed diaries, notebooks and letters from the railway * Memoirs from Sumatra, including detailed recollections and post-war statements written by key personnel on the railway, such as Medical Officers and interpreters * Remarkable original artwork created by POWs on Sumatra * Contemporaneous photographs taken inside the camps Employing theories of life-writing, memory and war representation, including transgenerational transmission, Lizzie Oliver focuses particularly on what these documents can tell us about how former POWs tried to share, preserve and make sense of their experiences. It is a wholly original study that is of great value to Second World War scholars and anyone interested in 20th-century Southeast Asian history or war and memory.

This book is the first comprehensive study of the British Commonwealth in the Second World War. Britain and its Dominions, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, formed the most durable, cooperative and interchangeable alliance of the war. Iain E. Johnston-White looks in depth at how the Commonwealth war effort was financed, the training of airmen for the air war, the problems of seaborne supply and the battles fought in North Africa. Fully one third of the 'British' effort originated in the Dominions, a contribution that was only possible through the symbiotic relationship that Britain maintained with its former settler-colonies. This cooperation was based upon a mutual self-interest that was largely maintained throughout the war. In this book, Johnston-White offers a fundamental reorientation in our understanding of British grand strategy in the Second World War.

'The thing that haunts me most to this day is that blokes were dying and I could do bugger all about it - do you look after the bloke who you know is going to die or the bloke who's got a chance?' - Australian ex-POW doctor, 1999 During World War II, 22 000 Australian military personnel became prisoners of war under the Japanese military. Over three and a half years, 8000 died in captivity, in desperate conditions of forced labour, disease and starvation. Many of those who returned home after the war attributed their survival to the 106 Australian medical officers imprisoned alongside them. These doctors varied in age, background and experience, but they were united in their unfailing dedication to keeping as many of the men alive as possible. This is the story of those 106 doctors - their compassion, bravery and ingenuity - and their efforts in bringing back the 14 000 survivors. 'You are unfortunate in being prisoners of a country whose living standards are much lower than yours. You will often consider yourselves mistreated, while we think of you as being treated well.' - Japanese officer to Australian POWs, 1943

Why has the 'people's war' been such a durable and attractive myth? Creating the people's war examines how civil defence personnel engaged with this narrative during the war and in the following decades to answer this question. Civil defence was the most significant voluntary organisation of the Second World War, involving millions of men and women of every class, generation and locality in Britain. This book shows how local communities of civil defence personnel co-developed narratives about the value of their work which challenged hierarchies of war service. In their social groups volunteers wrote themselves into the 'people's war' and invested it with meaning, creating national identity from the bottom up. Community was both central to these representations and vital for their production. -- .

Through a series of critical essays this book concerns itself with the relationships and possibilities in and between "prose" and "disability". The critical and/or personal essays in this book all try to explore this potent inbetween space - a place full of possibilities. These prose pieces reflect on prose themselves as they stretch in an uneven yet interesting line from Hay's 'modern' essay on deformity through nineteenth century literary and cultural sensibilities about working bodies, wars and "normalcy" and also through contemporary considerations over the role of metaphor as it marks the disabled body in critical-creative "personal" essays that pose even as they prose the considerable possibilities for disability as represented in and through prose. This book was first published a special issue of Prose Studies.

Which events created the mindset and prepared the policy of the later-to-be Pope Pius XII? This study takes into account the recently declassified documents in the Vatican Archives dealing with the Catholic Church's policy regarding Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, strongly defined by Nuncio in Germany and, then, Cardinal State Secretary Eugenio Pacelli (later to become Pope Pius XII). It broadens its view to cover also the Vatican's stance towards other European dictatorships of that time, such as Fascist Italy, Franquist Spain, Salazar's Portugal, and the Dollfuss regime in Austria.

List of Maps and Illustrations - List of Abbreviations - Preface - Introduction - The Outbreak of War - The September Campaign in Poland - The Partition of Poland - The Underground under German and Soviet Occupation - Polish Government and Army in France - The Church - The Collapse of France: The Polish Government in London - The Rebuilding of the Polish Army in Great Britain: The Polish Air Force - The German Attack on USSR and the Uneasy Polish Alliance with Russia - The Polish Underground State - Further War Developments and Polish Participation - The Polish Army in Russia and its Evacuation - The Plight of the Polish Jews - The Polish Army in the Middle East and Crisis in London - Polish Communists in USSR - Underground Fight in Poland, Arrest of General Rowecki: Death of General Sikorski - Difficulties with Communists: 'Tempest', Teheran - Second Polish Corps in Italy, Other Polish Formations - New Developments in Poland, Monte Cassino, Falaise: 'Tempest' - 'Tempest', Communists' Manifesto, attempt on Hitler's Life, Italy, 'Bridges' - The Warsaw Uprising - Polish Units in further Combat; Conference in Moscow - The Last Soviet Offensive: Dissolution of the Home Army, Yalta - Conference in San Francisco, Provisional Government of National Unity, The Testament of Fighting Poland, End of the War - Notes - Bibliography - Index

This edition is the first of its kind to offer a basic collection of facsimile, English language, historical articles on all aspects of the extermination of the European Jews. A total of 300 articles from 84 journals and collections allows the reader to gain an overview of this field. The edition both provides access to the immense, rich array of scholarly articles published after 1960 on the history of the Holocaust and encourages critical assessment of conflicting interpretations of these horrifying events. The series traces Nazi persecution of Jews before the implementation of the -Final Solution-, demonstrates how the Germans coordinated anti-Jewish activities in conquered territories, and sheds light on the victims in concentration camps, ending with the liberation of the concentration camp victims and articles on the trials of war criminals. The publications covered originate from the years 1950 to 1987. Included are authors such as Jakob Katz, Saul Friedlander, Eberhard Jackel, Bruno Bettelheim and Herbert A. Strauss.

This book concerns building an idealized image of the society in which the Holocaust occurred. It inspects the category of the bystander (in Polish culture closely related to the witness), since the war recognized as the axis of self-presentation and majority politics of memory. The category is of performative character since it defines the roles of event participants, assumes passivity of the non-Jewish environment, and alienates the exterminated, thus making it impossible to speak about the bystanders' violence at the border between the ghetto and the 'Aryan' side. Bystanders were neither passive nor distanced; rather, they participated and played important roles in Nazi plans. Starting with the war, the authors analyze the functions of this category in the Polish discourse of memory through following its changing forms and showing links with social practices organizing the collective memory. Despite being often critiqued, this point of dispute about Polish memory rarely belongs to mainstream culture. It also blocks the memory of Polish violence against Jews. The book is intended for students and researchers interested in memory studies, the history of the Holocaust, the memory of genocide, and the war and postwar cultures of Poland and Eastern Europe.

Between September 1939 and June 1940, the British Expeditionary Force confronted the German threat to France and Flanders with a confused mind-set, an uncertain skills-set and an uncompetitive capability. This book explores the formation's origins, the scale of defeat in France and the campaign's considerable legacy.

The Nazi looting machine was notoriously efficient during the Second World War. In the Netherlands, 8.5 million citizens suffered losses estimated at 3.6 billion guilders. Approximately one-third of these losses were borne by Jews, who comprised only 1.6% of the total population. In todays terms, the German occupiers stripped the Jewish population of assets worth $7 billion.Nazi Looting offers a comprehensive history of the Dutch experience and demonstrates how reputable indigenous institutions acted as willing collaborators. Beginning with a survey of international law and various definitions of 'looting', the author shows how the Germans systematically robbed Dutch Jewry through a variety of means that gave the outward appearance of honest trading. Forced to sell under duress and at unreasonably low prices, few dared refuse the German on the doorstep when threatened with prison or incarceration in a camp.The plundering was total and systematic. In May 1940, a team of highly trained art historians, linguists, musicologists and literary experts arrived immediately behind the victorious German troops to catalogue the vast collections for Hitler. From 1941, Jews were compelled to deposit all their money into a bank called Lippmann, Rosenthal Co. The name of the bank itself was a cynical ploy since it was taken from a respected, Jewish-owned Amsterdam bank and presented as a new branch. This bank, however, simply channelled money into the Third Reich with the help of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, insurance brokers and other well-established Dutch banks. Once the Jews were deported, their houses were emptied and the contents used to re-furnish bombed out areas of the Reich. In common with many other formerly Nazi-occupied countries in Europe, the Netherlands has been unable to retrieve many of its pre-war assets. More than fifty years after the wars end, 20% of its most important pre-war museum exhibits and approximately 80% of the less important works remain untraced

This edition is the first of its kind to offer a basic collection of facsimile, English language, historical articles on all aspects of the extermination of the European Jews. A total of 300 articles from 84 journals and collections allows the reader to gain an overview of this field. The edition both provides access to the immense, rich array of scholarly articles published after 1960 on the history of the Holocaust and encourages critical assessment of conflicting interpretations of these horrifying events. The series traces Nazi persecution of Jews before the implementation of the "Final Solution", demonstrates how the Germans coordinated anti-Jewish activities in conquered territories, and sheds light on the victims in concentration camps, ending with the liberation of the concentration camp victims and articles on the trials of war criminals. The publications covered originate from the years 1950 to 1987. Included are authors such as Jakob Katz, Saul Friedlander, Eberhard Jackel, Bruno Bettelheim and Herbert A. Strauss.

This book tells in non-technical language how the British Navy contributed to the development of naval radar in World War 2. Addressed to the general reader, it tells not only the technical story in simple terms, but also of the operational use of shipborne radar at sea - for warning, for fire control, for fighter direction, for navigation, in all theatres of war - and particularly about the people who designed and fitted the equipment, and those who used it at sea.