Page 93 - History of War - Issue 05-14

WAR REPORT: BBC DISPATCHES FROM

THE FRONTLINE 1944-1945 REVIEWS

John Simpson (foreword) BBC Books RRP £25
★★★★★
rior to writing reviews for the everyday life, hopes, fears, who would go on to define the
History Of War, I had a fairly experiences and tragedies of the template of the “embedded”
lengthy spell working for average soldier, many of whom reporter for the next 70 years
a very successful men’s were barely out of their teens and counting. These men would
lifestyle magazine. Now, and experiencing a life away from remain at the very tip of the Allied
P you may be wondering home for the first time. To put that thrust towards Berlin and, over
how such an occupation qualifies another way, what those letters go the course of the next year or
me to write authoritatively on to show is that the most honest so, their daily dispatches would
matters military, but during truth about the war experience become War Report, effectively
the lifespan of that particular comes from those sitting in the the most accurate and up-to-date
publication, several of our team furthest-flung outposts; those information source for the millions
– including this particular reviewer who feel the furthest from the nest. back home, praying for this most
– were given the opportunity to In 1944, as the Second World devastating of conflicts to end and
travel to Iraq and Afghanistan War began to tilt inexorably in the for their loves ones to be returned.
during those respective conflicts,
and experience first-hand what The exhilaration of young reporters fully aware that they
war is like (not very nice, as it
turns out) and also the nature are being tasked to document the unfolding of a globally
of the men and women who fight shared narrative is palpable throughout the book
it (generally rather nicer).
Over the course of a decade
or so, the magazine received favour of the Allied forces, the This weighty collection of those as is their aghast as they tell of
hundreds upon hundreds of BBC did something unprecedented. dispatches makes for, as one the inevitable horrors they are
“military blues” – handwritten After it became apparent that might expect, utterly fascinating forced to recount.
letters from soldiers on the the D-Day landings in Normandy reading on a micro and macro Journalism as a whole owes
frontline on made-for-purpose on 6 June had chalked up level. The exhilaration of young these men a huge debt of gratitude,
pastel-blue military-issue sealable a monumental victory, the reporters fully aware that they as they effectively changed the
envelopes. The resultant broadcaster parachuted in a team are being tasked to document way that war is reported on. And
archive makes for fascinating of young reporters – including the unfolding of a globally shared you owe it to yourself to buy this
reading, documenting as it does a youthful Richard Dimbleby – narrative is palpable throughout, slab of history. Pete Cashmore

WE REMEMBER D-DAY THE DEVILS’ ALLIANCE

Frank & Joan Shaw Ebury Press RRP £8.99 Roger Moorhouse The Bodley Head RRP £25
★★★★★ ★★★★★

With the centenary of the beginning It’s almost impossible to imagine
of the Great War receiving so much – and, indeed, all but forgotten –
media attention, some may have that when Hitler invaded Poland
forgotten that 2014 also marks the from the west in September
70th anniversary of D-Day. The re- 1939, Stalin also invaded the
publication of We Remember D-Day country from the east. The two
by Frank and Joan Shaw ensures bitter ideological rivals had
that this momentous and strategic made a bizarre pact in Moscow
turning point of WWII remains in that summer, which superficially
the public consciousness. committed the two regimes to
On 6 June 1944, thousands of remain at peace with one another,
warships, landing craft and combat but secretly carved up chunks
aircraft formed part of the biggest of Eastern Europe, the Baltic
invasion force ever seen. More than States and parts of Scandinavia
150,000 men landed that day and, before a shot had even been fired.
thanks to the meticulousness of descriptions of helplessness as The agreement, known as tells the complete story of
the authors, many of their stories one’s comrades were cut down; the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, this iniquitous agreement, the
survive to serve as testament to and harrowing accounts of German was named after the two nations’ Machiavellian motives behind it
the indomitable Allied spirit. atrocities against civilians. respective foreign ministers who and the reasons for its collapse.
Twenty years ago, Frank and Joan There are, however, lighter drew it up, and was held for two Crucially, the author also shines a
wrote to 700 local newspapers stories. One prisoner of war recalls dramatic years. It was eventually light on the forgotten fate of around
across Britain, asking for people’s hearing about the invasion with broken by Hitler in June 1941 75 million Eastern Europeans
memories of the war, and the his inmates on a hidden radio; when he launched Operation whose lives were changed forever
more than 130 recollections of within minutes, the whole camp Barbarossa and sent a 3.5-million- by the insane ambitions of both
D-Day that make up this book was dancing the conga, much to man army swarming over the Hitler and Stalin.
are a mere fraction of the replies the bewilderment of the guards. border into the Soviet Union in The Devils’ Alliance is not just a
they received. There are tales For anyone interested in the what remains the largest military good book, it’s an important one,
of anticipation turning to horror realities of warfare, delving into operation in human history. making a significant contribution to
as landing crafts neared French this book puts them amongst the Roger Moorhouse’s definitive our understanding of the two worst
beaches and came under enemy action with all the sights, sounds book on the subject, which blends dictators of the 20th Century, and
fire; stories from pilots who saw and smells described by people eyewitness accounts with an the calamitous conflict they both
the devastation of war from above; who were actually there. Simon Green authoritative master narrative, had a hand in causing. Nick Soldinger
HISTORY WAR 93
of