Entries

GREHAN, John & MACE, Martin. The BEF in France 1939-1940: Manning the Front Through to the Dunkirk Evacuation. xxiv, 194p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2014. ISBN: 1783462116.

With an introduction and commentary this gives the official account of the experiences of the BEF in 1939-40 as reported in official despatches printed in the London Gazette, namely: 35305 (Lord Gort’s two despatches on the land forces in 1939-40); 38017 (Admiral Ramsey’s report of Operation Dynamo); 37573 (Alan Brooke’s Despatch on the BEF left in France after Dunkirk).

• Reference Works
• The Fall of France
• Official Despatches

PATERSON, Lawrence. Hitler’s Forgotten Flotillas: Kriegsmarine Security Forces. xv, 352p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2017. ISBN: 9781473882393.

This book describes the work of the wide array of German small vessels including patrol boats, minesweepers, submarine hunters, barrage breakers, landing craft, minelayers, and even the riverine flotilla that patrolled the Danube. 120 flotillas served from the Arctic to the Mediterranean and this tells their story.

• German Armed Forces

KAPLAN, Philip. Battleships WWII: Evolution of the Big Guns. Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives (Images of War). 144p., illus. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime, 2015. ISBN: 9781783463077.

A well-illustrated account and history of some of the major ships of the major combatants. Limited to a small number of ships.

• Photographs
• Ship types: Class lists

RANKIN, Nicholas. Defending the Rock: How Gibraltar Defeated Hitler. xii, 660p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Faber & Faber, 2017. ISBN: 9780571307708.

The author has researched a remarkable amount of detail about every aspect of the port’s role, and the history is presented in a highly readable style. During the war the Rock hosted an array of remarkable characters, and their stories add richness to the story.

• Ports and Bases - Europe

WISE, James E. & BARON, Scott. Soldiers Lost at Sea: A Chronicle of Troopship Disasters. xii, 282p., bibliog., illus., index. Annapolis: N.I.P., 2004. ISBN: 1591149665.

Since the famous loss of the Birkenhead in 1852, many designated troopships have been lost. This is a first attempt at a comprehensive record for all nations and with some account of each sinking.

• Shipwrecks & Sinkings
• Troopships

VERRIER, Anthony. Assassination in Algiers: Churchill, Roosevelt, De Gaulle, and the Murder of Admiral Darlan. 302p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Macmillan; New York: Norton, 1991. ISBN: 033341439X.

A revelatory account of strategy creation in the wake of the TORCH landings and of the murky world of politics and special operations.

• The TORCH Landings
• French Forces

WINN, Godfrey. Scrapbook of Victory: Further Extracts from a War-time Scrapbook. 124p., illus. London: Hutchinson, 1945.

Much of this comes from his weekly scrapbook in Woman’s Illustrated. A sort of diary with entries ranging from two sentences to two pages.

• War Correspondents

JEFFORD, C. G. Observers and Navigators: and Other Non-pilot Aircrew in the RFC, RNAS and RAF. xiii, 274p., bibliog., illus., index. Shrewsbury: Airlife, 2001. ISBN: 1840372753.

Traces the rise of the first generation of non-pilot aircrew between 1914 and 1919, examines the way in which in peacetime the RAF rapidly dispensed with its observer officers and their reinstatement in 1934, and looks at the rest of the century including the "1946 Aircrew Scheme". Has full coverage of FAA and Coastal Command. A revised and much expanded second edition was published by Grub Street in 2014, ISBN: 1909808024.

• Reference Works
• Fleet Air Arm
• Coastal Command

STANLEY, Jo. Women and the Royal Navy (A History of the Royal Navy). xxiv, 264p., bibliog., illus., index. London: I. B. Taurus in association with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, 2017. ISBN: 9781780767567.

Another excellent volume in this series. It covers everything from the first naval nurses, through the history of the WRNS, to the integration of women in ships’ crews from 1990. WW2 is fully covered.

• WRNS

HARRISON, Frank. Tobruk: The Great Siege Reassessed. 352p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Arms & Armour, 1996. ISBN: 1854093614.

Tobruk was the longest siege in British military history and this offers an analytical reassessment by a veteran of the campaign. The volume has three parts: the siege, in which the Australian 9th Division held out against Rommel's Afrika Korps: the breakout, where the British 70th Division created a corridor towards the Eighth Army; and an appraisal of "the Desert Fox," Erwin Rommel. The naval contribution is made clear.A new edition was published by Brockhampton Press in 1999, ISBN: 1860199860.

• The Battle for the Mediterranean
• Battle of the Mediterranean: German Involvement

WATTS, Martin. The Royal Marines and the War at Sea 1939-45. 256p., bibliog., illus., index. Stroud: Amberley, 2018. ISBN: 9781445663180.

This book by a professional historian is centred on the career of his uncle, Colour Sergeant Albert Elliott who saw service with the Marines on board ship in almost every theatre of the war. Unusually, the book focuses on the role of the Marines at Sea, rather than on land.

• Royal Marines

MACE, Martin. The Dunkirk Evacuation in 100 Objects. 242p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley, Frontline, 2018. ISBN: 9781526709905.

Employing a much used contemporary populist style, 100 objects have been selected, from the wreck of a French destroyer to a dug-up rifle and from small items to large memorials, the author sets out to tell the story of what came to be known as The Miracle of Dunkirk. The full-colour photographs of each of the 100 items are accompanied by detailed explanations of the object and the people and events which make them relevant. The Little Ships and destroyers are well represented.

• Dunkirk

BARRETT, Paul. H.M.S. Glory: The History of a Light Fleet Aircraft Carrier 1942-1961 (Into Battle). x, 214p., bibliog., illus., index. Tunbridge Wells: Parapress, 1996. ISBN: 1898594368.

A detailed history of this hard-working light fleet carrier during her comparatively short but very active lifetime - from February 1945 until June 1956 when she finally decommissioned.

• Aircraft Carriers

JOHNSON, Brian. The Secret War. 352p., bibliog., illus. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1978. ISBN: 0563174250.

Based on a six part television series, the book covers relevant topics as varied as the development of radar, Enigma, magnetic mines and the various new technologies deployed in the Battle of the Atlantic. A corrected edition was printed in 1979 (ISBN: 0563174250), and there have been several reprints since then.

• The Atlantic Battle Joined
• The Atlantic Battle Won
• Science at War

BIRNEY, Brenda. The Women’s Royal Naval Service: A World War Two Memoir, edited by Hazel Dakers. [iv], 84p., illus. Milton Keynes, Lightning Source, 2016. ISBN: 9781365315602.

A daughter has edited her mother’s wartime memories from stories, notes and computer files. She joined up in 1941 aged 24 and served in Dover, Edinburgh, Portsmouth, Italy and Malta. An engaging tale.

• Autobiography
• WRNS

HOLLAND, James. The Battle of the Atlantic (Ladybird Expert History of the Second World War, Book 3. Series 117). 52p., bibliog., illus. London: Michael Joseph, 2018 ISBN: 9780718186319.

A nostalgic basic primer aimed at adults. The book uses the classic Ladybird design format and deliberately old-fashioned artwork with a very basic sketch of the long-running battle.

• The Battle of the Atlantic

GEEVES, Jock. The Arga Saga: The Story of Australian Water Transport Ship AK96. (8), 94p., illus. Hobart:[author], 1997. ISBN: 0646343807.

Built in 1943 at St Helens, Tasmania for the Ansons Bay Timber Company, she was requisitioned by the Army. She sailed for Papua New Guinea waters in December 1943. She served at Thursday Island, Daru, Port Moresby, Milne Bay, Madang and Lae before returning to civilian service in 1945.

• Australian Armed Forces
• Royal Australian Navy: Miscellaneous Vessels

SPETHMAN, D. W. & MILLER, R. G. The Naval Auxiliary Patrol Queensland Squadron, 1941-1944. 50p., illus. Fort Lytton: Fort Lytton Historical Association, 2001.

Research notes on Organisations, Vessels, Patrol Duties, Patrol Areas, Weapons, Bases, Maintenance and Slipways etc. The Naval Auxiliary Patrol (NAP) was a war-raised unit approved on 25 June 1941. It was charged with patrolling and safeguarding Australia's inner harbours, ports, rivers and estuaries against enemy sabotage or attack and it was part of the RANVR.

• Ports and Bases - Africa, Asia and Australasia
• Royal Australian Navy
• Royal Australian Navy: Miscellaneous Vessels

LEWIS, Tom. The Submarine Six: Australian Naval Heroes.201p., bibliog., illus., index. Kent Town, SA: Avonmore, 2011. ISBN: 9780987151919.

Australia’s Collins Class submarines are named after six naval heroes, sadly little known even in Australia. This book provides brief biographies of the six: Vice Admiral Sir John Collins, who served with Sydney in the Mediterranean, then after staff appointments in Singapore and Australia commanded the cruiser Shropshire working with TF74 of the US Seventh Fleet, until badly wounded in action. Captain Emile Dechaineux commanded Vivacious at Dunkirk then Eglington on North Sea convoys before returning to staff work in Australia, followed by command of the new destroyer Warramunga which soon joined TF74. Finally he commanded the cruiser Australia with TF74 and was killed in action when she was hit by a Japanese suicide bomber. Rear Admiral Hal Farncomb commanded Perth in the South Atlantic, then Canberra in Western Australian waters and finally Australia in the Pacific, including the battles of the Coral Sea and Savo Island. In 1944 he took command of the carrier Attacker and saw action at the landings in the South of France and Normandy before finishing the war commanding the Australian Squadron in TF74. Lt. Cdr. Robert Rankin, who the author argues should have received a Victoria Cross, served for two years in the Mediterranean before taking command of the sloop Yarra, where he died fighting to the end in a hopelessly one-sided action against Japanese cruisers. Ordinary Seaman Teddy Sheehan, who served in Armidale, refused to abandon ship as she sank and died returning fire on her aerial attackers. And finally Captain Hec Waller who commanded Stuart at the Battle of Matapan, then returned to Australia in 1941 to take command of Perth, which he commanded until he was killed in action during her sinking. Passionately told tales in a warts and all style.

• Biography
• Royal Australian Navy

BUNCH, Jim. A Shadow in the Sea: Germany’s U 85. 96p., illus. Inglis, Fla: Deep Sea Press, 2003. ISBN: 0939591006

Really a new edition of his first work on diving the wreck of U-85, covering her career.

• Kriegsmarine: U-Boats