Spartacus Review

Volume 49: 27th October, 2010

Second World War

Title: Wavell - Soldier and Statesman

Author: Victoria Schofield

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Publisher: Pen & Sword

Price: £20.00

Bookshop: Amazon

Spartacus Website: Archibald Wavell

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Archibald Wavell's life and career makes a marvellous subject. Not only did he reach the highest rank (Field Marshal) and become an Earl and Viceroy of India but his character was complex. He joined the Black Watch in 1901. He stood out during the Great War, quickly earning the Military Cross but losing an eye. He was at Versailles in 1918 but between the Wars his career advanced with Brigade and General commands notably in Palestine where he spotted Orde Wingate. By the outbreak of war he was GOC-in-C Middle East.Early successes against the Italians turned into costly failures in Greece and Crete and Wavell lost the confidence of Churchill; their temperaments differed completely. Wavell was sent to India as C-in-C. After Pearl Harbour Wavell was made Supreme Allied Commander for the SW Pacific and bore responsibility for the humiliating loss of Singapore (he quickly recognized that it could not be held). Problems in Burma tested Churchill s patience and he was removed from command to be Viceroy and Governor General of India. As civil unrest and demands for independence grew, in 1947 Prime Minister Attlee replaced Wavell with Mountbatten who oversaw Partition.Wavell died in 1950, after a life of huge achievement tempered with many reverses, most of which were not of his making.

Title: The Battle of Britain

Author: Kate Moore

Editor:

Publisher: Osprey

Price: £20.00

Bookshop: Amazon

Spartacus Website: Battle of Britain

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Britain was an island under siege. The march of the Nazi war machine had been unrelenting. France and Belgium had quickly fallen and now she stood alone to counter this gravest ever threat to her sovereignty in almost a thousand years of history. However, her fate would not be decided by armies of millions but by a unique band of fighter pilots. It was on their shoulders that Britain's only chances of survival rested. Today it seems almost unimaginable. Yet in the summer of 1940 it was all too real. Above the villages and cities, playing fields and market towns, the skies of southern England were the scene of countless dogfights as the fledgling Fighter Command duelled daily against the might of the Luftwaffe. It was an unforgiving test of combat, that measured men and machine ruthlessly. Lavishly illustrated with photographs, contemporary art and posters, and accompanied by numerous first-hand accounts, this is a volume that captures the reality and the romance of a defining chapter in British history.

Title: Shadow Knights: The Secret War Against Hitler

Author: Gary Kamiya

Editor:

Publisher: Pulp History

Price: £20.00

Bookshop: Amazon

Spartacus Website: Special Operations Executive

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Pulp History brings to life extraordinary feats of bravery, violence, and redemption that history has forgotten. These stories are so dramatic and thrilling they have to be true. In Shadow Knights, everyday men and women risk their lives on top-secret missions to sabotage Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Hell-bent on conquering Europe, Hitler had just set his sights on England when Winston Churchill reached into his bag of tricks and invented a secret spy network of ordinary citizens. These schoolteachers, housewives, prostitutes, and farmers abandoned their former lives, trained in covert black ops, and set Europe ablaze. Parachuting into Nazi territory under the cover of night, they destroyed factories, armed resistance networks, and turned Hitler's juggernaut on its head.