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This book is aimed at family historians who want to learn about their ancestors' experiences in the army during the Second World War. Each chapter is thus split into two sections, the first giving an outline of the relevant campaign and the second looking at the uniforms, weapons and other equipment used by the soldiers in that time and place. Each chapter also includes a brief biography ('One man's war), looking at the stories of six survivors of the war.
The book is lavishly illustrated, with just over ninety photographs, most in full colour and covering a very wide range of topics – in addition to the usual photographs of the soldiers and their equipment there are some fascinating pictures of posters, book covers and newspapers and a series of pictures of the colourful patches and badges that made up part of the uniform.
This book succeeds by being very well focused – there are no sections on tactics or strategy, detailed battle accounts or orders of battles tracing the ever changing shape of the British division or brigade. Important though these topics would be in a study of the army itself, here the focus is on the individual soldiers and their experiences.
Chapters
'Unprepared', 1939-41
Home Defence, 1940-4
From the Desert to Italy, 1940-5
The Far East, 1940-5
'Deserve Victory', 1944-5
Suggested Reading
Author: Peter Doyle
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 64
Publisher: Shire Library
Year: 2009