Entries

HOLLAND, James. Normandy ’44: D-Day and the Battle for France. A New History. lx, 649, [8]p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Bantam, 2019. ISBN: 9781785176234.

A fresh view of the landings. Although the emphasis is on the military, naval matters are given due care and attention.

• D-Day

HOLMES, Richard. D-Day Remembered, 6 June 1944. 75th Anniversary Edition. 224p., illus., index. London: Sevenoaks in partnership with IWM, 2017. ISBN:9781781779477.

Based on a brief 60th anniversary illustrated publication of the Imperial War Museum by the noted historian Richard Holmes, this much expanded book is heavily illustrated and covers events up to the liberation of Paris. A sumptuous production.

• D-Day

KERSHAW, Alex. The First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in the Second World War. [vii], 368p., bibliog., illus., index. New York: Dutton Caliber; London: Simon & Schuster UK, 2019. ISBN: 9781471185915.

Based on the reminiscences of those who landed first by air and sea, this offers a very personal view of the landings, with some marginal naval material.

• D-Day: Launching the Attack

VERONICO, Nicholas A. D-Day: The Air and Sea Invasion of Normandy in Photos. [5], 232, [2]p., bibliog., illus. Guilford, CT: Stackpole Books, 2019. ISBN: 9780811738095.

Some 300 well reproduced photographs offer a largely American perspective on the landings. There are good tabular lists of aircraft and shipping losses.

• Photographs
• D-Day: Launching the Attack

WINTER, Paul. D-Day Documents. xvii, 520p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. ISBN: 9781408194003.

Published in association with the National Archives, this miscellaneous collection of previously unpublished records contains the 21st Army Group intelligence reports on Omaha Beach, RAF Photographic Reconnaissance prints and the ship's log of Warspite as well as official documents covering different aspects of Operations Neptune and Overlord. It also brings together for the first time the war diary entries of all Anglo-Canadian 'spear-head' units and regiments who landed in France on 6 June 1944.

• D-Day
• Official Despatches
• Royal Navy Battle Summaries

SADLER, John. D-Day: The British Beach Landings. 256p., bibliog., illus., index. Stroud: Amberley, 2019. ISBN: 9781445644578.

Based on personal recollections, this focuses on the morning of the landings on Gold, Juno and Sword beaches.

• Autobiography
• D-Day: Launching the Attack

ROUSSEL, Mike. Palembang and Beyond. 272p., bibliog., illus. Southampton: Little Knoll Press, 2018. ISBN: 9780993507885.

An account of the final stages of the Pacific War for the Royal Navy. In large part based on the recollections of three survivors of 849 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm.

• Autobiography
• Victory over Japan
• Fleet Air Arm

KONSTAM, Angus. The British Sailor of the Second World War. 56p., bibliog., illus., index. Oxford: Shire, 2013. ISBN: 9780747812371.

A heavily illustrated account of how personnel were recruited, trained and how they dealt with life at sea in different climates and environments.

• Royal Navy: General Works

BEALE, Richard. One Man’s War: An Actor’s Life at Sea 1940-45. 272p. London: Conway, 2015. ISBN: 9781844863334.

This book recounts with good humour the story of his wartime career. Joining the Royal Navy as a rating, he rose to a commission and the command of a series of coastal patrol craft, the last of which was ML 135, sailing from the UK to Malta and latterly covering the Royal Navy's campaign in Greek and Croatian waters.

• Autobiography
• War in the Aegean and Adriatic
• Small Craft, Trawlers, and Coastal Forces

BEAN, Charles. The Life & Love of a Seafaring Man. [4], 136p., illus. Hobart, Tasmania: [author], c.2004.

         A very anecdotal autobiography and set of poems. He served on Honeysuckle in the Atlantic and Arctic and later as a frogman in the Indian Ocean and Pacific. Full of tall tales and exciting action.

• Autobiography
• The Battle of the Atlantic
• The Arctic Convoys
• Victory over Japan
• X-Craft and Frogmen

CLARKE, Bob. War and Peacey.  [224p]., illus. [n.p., author], 2018. ISBN: 9780992760113.

Aged 15, Chris Peacey joined the RN on the outbreak of war as a boy seaman. His first ship was Prince of Wales, where he served through the Bismarck hunt and on until her sinking in the Far East. He was quickly transferred to Danae and spent some time with her in the Indian Ocean before returning to the UK. He then went to the USA where he joined the newly acquired LST 163, nicknamed Rose Marie by her crew. With her he took part in allied assault landings in North Africa, Sicily, Anzio, Normandy and Malaysia. Also describes his post-war career in submarines. A fascinating and very personal tale as told to the author.

• Biography
• The Battle of the Atlantic
• The Loss of Force Z
• The Eastern Fleet Holds the Line
• The Mediterranean Invasions
• D-Day
• Victory over Japan
• Battleships
• Cruisers
• Landing Craft

O’FLAHERTY, Chris. Crash Start: The Life and Legacy of Lieutenant Richard Guy Ormonde Hudson DSC Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. xii, 125p., bibliog., illus. Gloucester: Choir Press, 2019.

 Hudson joined the RNVR in 1940 and after service in Home Waters, including the Bismarck action, he joined Coastal Forces and served in the Mediterranean and the Channel with distinction.

• Biography
• Coastal Forces

PARKER, Charles Joseph. Red Duster to White Ensign: My Life at Sea in Peace and War. xiv, 112p., illus. Spiderwize: Peterborough, 2018. ISBN: 9781912694747.

Written in the 1970’s and as edited by his son in the 1990’s, this is his autobiography. He joined the Merchant Navy in 1921, aged fifteen. In 1940 he transferred to the RN where he served as a Steward. He was first on the minelayer Port Napier until her grounding and sinking that November. In March 1941 he joined the AMC Laconia, but when she was returned to the Merchant Navy as a troopship in September 1941, he joined the A/A ship Alynbank until the end of 1943, first on Arctic convoys and then in the Mediterranean. In May 1944 he joined the carrier Speaker briefly for six months then finally joined the LSI Keren where he served until discharged in 1946.

• The Arctic Convoys
• Royal Navy Autobiographies & Biographies
• Mine Warfare
• Aircraft Carriers
• Armed Merchant Cruisers
• Landing Craft

HOBBS, D. A. The Dawn of Carrier Strike and the World of Lieutenant W. P. Lucy DSO RN. 400p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2020. ISBN: 9781473879928.

Focused on the development of the FAA in the inter-war years despite a lack of resources. This excellent account is enlivened with descriptions of the growing career of Lucy at this time, including detailed accounts of his wartime missions, mainly in Norway, where he was killed in action.

• Biography
• Preparations for War
• The Norwegian Campaign
• Fleet Air Arm

JAHANS, Vera. My World War II: A Wren’s Story. 50p. [kindle e-book]. Woking: Peatmore Press, 2017. ISBN: 9780993467714.

She joined the WRNS in 1944 and served in London and Wales. A brief but interesting autobiography.

• Autobiography
• WRNS

BOYD, Andrew. British Naval Intelligence Through the Twentieth Century. xxiv, 776p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2020. ISBN: 9781526736598.

 A magisterial but very readable fresh perspective on naval intelligence. Exhaustive and well researched.

• Intelligence

BRUHN, David D. & HOOLE, Rob. Enemy Waters: Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Norwegian Navy, U.S. Navy, and Other Allied Mine Forces Battling the Germans and Italians in World War II. 434p., illus. Berwyn Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 2019. ISBN:  9780788458729.

Some 150 illustrations are used to give a comprehensive account of the first conversions of merchant ships to minelayers in 1939, through to the role of minesweepers in assault landings. Follows an earlier volume covering WW1.

• Mine Warfare
• Royal Canadian Navy
• Norwegian Armed Forces
• United States Forces

HORE, Peter. Henry Harwood: Hero of the River Plate. xi, 244p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2018. ISBN: 9781526725295.

Harwood is best known for his defeat of the Graf Spee at the Battle of the River Plate. His later career, particularly as C-in-C of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1942-43 has been much denigrated as a failure. This biography sets the record straight with a much more balanced and nuanced account of his career.

• Biography
• The Hunt for the <em>Graf Spee</em>
• The Battle for the Mediterranean
• Royal Navy Autobiographies &amp; Biographies

LAMBERT, Andrew. Admirals: The Naval Commanders Who Made Britain Great. xx, 492p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Faber, 2008. ISBN: 9780571231560.

A glorious celebration of the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. There are biographies of eleven admirals, including a masterly forty page summary of A. B. Cunningham’s career.

• Biography
• Royal Navy Autobiographies &amp; Biographies

SCHOFIELD, B.B. With the Royal Navy in War and Peace: O’er the Deep Blue Sea. xviii, 270p. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime, 2018. ISBN: 9781526736475.

An excellent memoir, edited by his daughter. After serving as a midshipman in the First World War, Schofield qualified as a navigator and interpreter in French and Italian. At the outbreak of WW2 he was Naval Attache in The Hague and Brussels before becoming Director of Trade Division (Convoys) during 1941-1943. While commanding King George V he witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay in August 1945. After the war he wrote several notable works on WW2 RN actions.

• Autobiography
• Victory over Japan
• The Royal Navy
• The Admiralty
• Royal Navy Autobiographies &amp; Biographies