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…particular discomfort and never got tired. I left that to afterwards.” An exhausted John Bridge photographed after his work clearing the Messina harbour. “I was the only one diving,” Bridge said later. “I had an assistant and several men working above water. My longest spell was one of 20 hours….
…Comet Line (which inspired The Secret Army) sister Michou GM and Andrée (Dedée) de Jongh. Captured & in Ravensbrück and Mauthausen (video) Mme. Andrée Antoine DUMON (‘NADINE’), King’s Medal ‘Awarded the King’s Medal for Service in the cause of Freedom, was the second ‘Dedée’ to the Vicomtesse Andrée (Dedée) de…
…Tower Bridge, realized it made a deliciously attractive target to fly through, the act of which became legendary.’ Alan Pollock recalls ‘the Tower Bridge Incident’ for the BBC’s World Service Tower Bridge by David Bomberg (c. 1946) Born in 1936, Alan Pollock grew up inspired by the pilots and planes…
Alan Pollock’s Rough Notes: A work in progress – the fuller biographies will emerge in due course: please sign up to the Newsletter (bottom of the page) and we’ll let you know when we’ve done more justice in writing up our extraordinary signatories. Petty Officer Len A BRIDGE represents all…
…of Arnhem and then spent six months on the run in enemy-occupied Holland. Cover of ‘A Bridge Too Far’ by Cornelius Ryan, which recounted the story of Operation Market Garden. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, Ryan documented his account of the 1944 battle with pictures and maps. He…
…territory as if shot down and captured he may reveal details, so he was posted to 165 Squadron in Scotland as its commanding officer flying air defence missions. He was rapidly promoted to Flight Lieutenant and commanded both 222 and 232 Squadrons before the end of the year, when he…
…we’ve done more justice in writing up our extraordinary signatories. Leader of the glider-borne Normandy Landings assault Operation Deadstick. OX & BUCKS Light Infantry, 5 months Cpl to RSM, then commissioned; D-DAY 6 JUN 1944 with Company in towed glider to 40 yds from & took PEGASUS BRIDGE at 00:16hrs….
…contribution of LANDING CRAFT and for those lead ships for the NORMANDY INVASION, here onto GOLD BEACH, and later for the important capture of WALCHEREN. Born in 1921 Battersea, Tom, after working for Bird’s Eye, had volunteered for the RAF with the ambition to fly Sunderland flying boats, passing all…
…(had voted no helmets) through OUISTREHAM; later passing across PEGASUS BRIDGE, where they lost stretcher bearer ARTHUR CHARITY, shot through the head where they crossed ahead of PIPER BILL MILNE, behind them with Lord Lovat; six weeks on, his rifle was hit by heavy fire and disintegrated, wounding him in…
…prepared to treat as an equal. That their ranks at the time were major and brigadier made no difference at all; the two of them got on splendidly. Calvert (left) giving orders during the capture of Mogaung in June 1944 Before he could rejoin Wingate, Calvert had a couple of…
…own men had found it in a captured German tank which had apparently procured it from the Italians in a “swap.” Fred Rosier hardly let it out of his sight for the rest of his life. In one sense, he was lucky to be alive for the desert campaign. The…
…regarded. However, the two never flew together. Capture and escape After the siege ended, MacLennan returned home for a period of rest. During D-Day, on 7 June 1944, his Spitfire crash-landed in enemy territory whilst supporting the allied landings. Captured, he was sent to Stalag Luft III, where he subsequently…
…the south side of the River Dyle, east of Brussels, with battalion headquarters established in the ominously named village of La Tombe. The German assault began shortly after dawn. Annand’s platoon, in position astride a blown bridge, had beaten off a strong attack the previous night and was now facing…
…that one was able to escape.” (CIA speech honouring Amniarix and R.V. Jones, Signatory 63) Aged 23, as ‘Amniarix’ in the Druides network, showed great courage evading Gestapo to capture crucial German rockets programme information, vital intelligence leading to Bombing of Peenemünde (German V-1 Doodlebug and V-2 Rockets). Captured twice…
…He became lifelong friends with German fighter ace Adolf Gallard, who had thrown the party for him after his capture in 1942, and became godfather to Gallard’s son. He died in 1987.” (David Wade) Plaque in St Clements Church Sandwich, Kent, commemorating Wing Commander Robert Stanford Tuck. An Aerial Battle…
…long and perilous journey home. This tenacity and devotion to duty were beyond praise.” William Reid was born at Baillieston, Glasgow, on December 12 1921, the son of a blacksmith. He was educated at Coatbridge Secondary School and studied metallurgy for a time, but then applied to join the RAF….
…of Long Range Desert Group in desert and decision that unit would continue war in Europe. Aspects of operations commanding B Sqdn, Long Range Desert Group in Middle East and Greece, 1943: training in Lebanon, summer 1943; capture of Leros, Greece by Germans, late 1943; his escape from Leros by…
…was stationed at Tangmere during the Battle of Britain. No 11 Fighter Group’s Operations Room, Uxbridge by Charles Ernest Cundall (1943) © IWM Art.IWM ART LD 4140 Corporal Claire Legge: Behind the controller’s dais in the ops room there were four cabins which were monitoring the four radio channels. They…
…matter-of-fact, and do not capture the essence of their subjects. Others in the same squadron remembered Crew as a small, compact man who gave the impression of being larger than he was. He was seen as a patrician who hunted down his victims with a ferocity which was in marked…
…battle honours and decorations awarded. The 4th, 8th and 10th Indian Divisions will always be associated with fighting at Cassino, the capture of Rome, the Arno Valley, the liberation of Florence, and the breaking of the Gothic Line. In the Serchio River Valley, on the Fifth Army front, German counterattack…
…had been battling the Japanese in the area for the past few years. The small force was under the command of an American who had escaped from Japanese capture after the surrender of U.S. troops in 1942. The navy flyer spent the next five weeks with the guerrillas, receiving the…
…HUSSARS captured FORT CAPUZZO on 14Jun40 and a couple of hundred POWs, but the Infantry could not hold it; re-taken by the ITALIANS 15-28Jun40, he took part in three further day and one night attacks, unsuccessful because of mines and artillery fire; he was in, to name just a few,…
…one of the most important single actions in WW2. “Operation Primrose”, the rapid brainchild of Commander A Joe Baker-Cresswell RN (who knew his naval history and the importance of the capture of Magdeburg in WW1) and captain of HMS Bulldog and the 3rd ESCORT GROUP from Iceland, had incalculable and…
…the course of the battle” – which resulted in the capture of 50,000 German prisoners and 10,000 enemy killed. He was promoted from lieutenant to major on the field. After recovering in hospital from a leg wound he went home on leave, taking a bus from Cardiff to his home…