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A Brilliant Little Operation

Author: Paddy Ashdown

Publisher: Aurum

Published: 2013-05-02

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1781310831

The complete story of the remarkable canoe raid on German ships in Bordeaux Harbour – by the man who himself served in the Special Boat Squadron. In 1942, before El Alamein turned the tide of war, the German merchant fleet was re-supplying its war machine with impunity. So Operation Frankton, a daring and secret raid, was launched by Mountbatten’s Combined Operations and led by the enigmatic ‘Blondie’ Hasler – to paddle ‘Cockleshell’ canoes right into Bordeaux harbour and sink the ships at anchor. It was a desperately hazardous mission from the start – dropped by submarine to canoe some hundred miles up the Gironde into the heart of Vichy France, surviving terrifying tidal races, only to face the biggest challenge of all: escaping across the Pyrenees. Fewer than half the men made it to Bordeaux; only four laid their mines; just two got back alive. But the most damage was done to the Germans’ sense of impregnability. Paddy Ashdown, himself a member of the Royal Marines’ elite Special Boat Squadron formed as a consequence of Frankton, has always been fascinated by this classic story of bravery and ingenuity - as a young man even meeting his hero Hasler once. Now, after researching previously unseen archives and tracing surviving witnesses, he has written the definitive account of the raid. The real truth, he discovers – a deplorable tale of Whitehall rivalry and breakdowns in communication – serves only to make the achievements of the ‘Cockleshell’ heroes all the more heroic.

A Brilliant Operation

Author: Jeffery a Birkeland

Publisher: South Prairie Publishing

Published: 2018-07-17

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 9781732379404

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A Brilliant Operation follows the National Army's 362nd Infantry Regiment during twenty intense months of active service during the First World War. The story tracks the farmers, cowboys, miners, and store clerks from several western states who answered their draft notice and who would eventually merge into a regiment of infantry, receiving their basic training at Camp Lewis, Washington, before deployment to France. There they ventured into the abyss of the Western Front with General Pershing's American First Army, becoming heavily engaged in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive with the 91st Infantry Division. Then, on a late September afternoon before the village of Gesnes-en-Romagne, their lingering attachments to the romance of war, as well as their innocence, died at the hands of the Boche. Bringing to life these western soldiers' stories is the interweaving of their diaries, letters, and official reports into an account of their day to day trials, intermixed with photos and maps to visually follow their journey. These stories propel the reader into the mud-filled trenches and onto troop trains reeking of horse manure. There are rat infested billets, and gas permeated field rations. Along the way hope and despair push the men towards the November armistice and beyond. Eventually, they returned home where, after well-intended cheers and handshakes, the men were left to their memories with an unspoken expectation that they would fit back into a society incapable of understanding who they had become. With this promise, A Brilliant Operation honors the sacrifices this "great" generation made during their World War.

Operation Paperclip

Author: Annie Jacobsen

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2014-02-11

Total Pages: 592

ISBN-13: 0316221058

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The explosive story of America's secret post-WWII science programs, from the author of the New York Times bestseller Area 51 In the chaos following World War II, the U.S. government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery. They were also directly responsible for major advances in rocketry, medical treatments, and the U.S. space program. Was Operation Paperclip a moral outrage, or did it help America win the Cold War? Drawing on exclusive interviews with dozens of Paperclip family members, colleagues, and interrogators, and with access to German archival documents (including previously unseen papers made available by direct descendants of the Third Reich's ranking members), files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and dossiers discovered in government archives and at Harvard University, Annie Jacobsen follows more than a dozen German scientists through their postwar lives and into a startling, complex, nefarious, and jealously guarded government secret of the twentieth century. In this definitive, controversial look at one of America's most strategic, and disturbing, government programs, Jacobsen shows just how dark government can get in the name of national security.

Operation Chastise

Author: Max Hastings

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2020-02-18

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 0062953621

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Best Nonfiction of 2020 -- Kirkus Reviews One of the most lauded historians of our time returns to the Second World War in this magnificent retelling of the awe-inspiring raid on German dams conducted by the Royal Army Force’s 617 Squadron. The attack on Nazi Germany’s dams on May 17, 1943, was one of the most remarkable feats in military history. The absurdly young men of the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron set forth in cold blood and darkness, without benefit of electronic aids, to fly lumbering heavy bombers straight and level towards a target at a height above the water less than the length of a bowling alley. Yet this story—and the later wartime experience of the 617 Squadron—has never been told in full. Max Hastings takes us back to the May 1943 raid to reveal how the truth of that night is considerably different from the popularized account most people know. The RAF had identified the Ruhr dams as strategic objectives as far back as 1938; in those five years Wing Commander Guy Gibson formed and trained the 617 Squadron. Hastings observes that while the dropping of Wallis’s mines provided the dramatic climax, only two of the eight aircraft lost came down over the dams—the rest were shot down on the flight to, or back from, the mission. And while the 617 Squadron’s valor is indisputable, the ultimate industrial damage caused by the dam raid was actually rather modest. In 1943, these brave men caught the imagination of the world and uplifted the weary spirits of the British people. Their achievement unnerved the Nazi high command, and caused them to expend large resources on dam defenses—making the mission a success. An example of Churchill’s “military theatre” at its best, what 617 Squadron did was an extraordinary and heroic achievement, and a triumph of British ingenuity and technology—a story to be told for generations to come. Operation Chastise includes three 8-page black-and-white photo inserts and 6 maps.

Operation Mincemeat

Author: Ben Macintyre

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2010-05-04

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0307453294

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A NETFLIX FILM STARRING COLIN FIRTH • The “brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining” (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker) true story of the most successful—and certainly the strangest—deception carried out in World War II, from the acclaimed author of The Spy and the Traitor “Pure catnip to fans of World War II thrillers and a lot of fun for everyone else.”—Joseph Kanon, The Washington Post Book World Near the end of World War II, two British naval officers came up with a brilliant and slightly mad scheme to mislead the Nazi armies about where the Allies would attack southern Europe. To carry out the plan, they would have to rely on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Ben Macintyre’s dazzling, critically acclaimed bestseller chronicles the extraordinary story of what happened after British officials planted this dead body—outfitted in a British military uniform with a briefcase containing false intelligence documents—in Nazi territory, and how this secret mission fooled Hitler into changing military positioning, paving the way for the Allies’ drive to victory. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES

Operation Shylock

Author: Philip Roth

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2022-09-21

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 0593685024

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Time Magazine Best American Novel (1993) In this fiendishly imaginative book (which may or may not be fiction), Philip Roth meets a man who may or may not be Philip Roth. Because someone with that name has been touring Israel, promoting a bizarre reverse exodus of the Jews. Roth is intent on stopping him, even if that means impersonating his own impersonator. With excruciating suspense, unfettered philosophical speculation, and a cast of characters that includes Israeli intelligence agents, Palestinian exiles, an accused war criminal, and an enticing charter member of an organization called Anti-Semites Anonymous, Operation Shylock barrels across the frontier between fact and fiction, seriousness and high comedy, history and nightmare.

Combined Operations in the Civil War

Author: Rowena Reed

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 1993-03-01

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 9780803289437

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In his introduction John D. Milligan considers Reed's provocative thesis that General George B. McClellan's concept of a grand strategy would have ended the bloodshed sooner.

Operation World

Author: Jason Mandryk

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2010-10-15

Total Pages: 1018

ISBN-13: 083089599X

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The definitive guide to global prayer has been updated and revised to cover the entire populated world. Whether you are an intercessor praying behind the scenes or a missionary abroad, Operation World gives you the information you need to play a vital role in fulfilling the Great Commission. (Copublished with Global Mapping International.)

Operation Screwtape

Author: Andrew Farley

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 2013-01-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780801014475

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KNOW THE ENEMY. ANTICIPATE HIS ATTACK. Expert linguist Dr. Andrew Farley encounters a device containing thousands of archived files revealing a worldwide spiritual conspiracy. Operation Screwtape is the largest of these files and details the intelligent scheme to steal, kill, and destroy. "Operation Screwtape channels the creativity and wit of C. S. Lewis while introducing the brilliant insights Andrew Farley is already known for in his bestselling books. This book will entertain you, but it will also challenge you to awaken to some astounding realities that, apparently, the forces of darkness do anything to hide."--David Gregory, New York Times bestselling author of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger "Andrew Farley's books have had a huge impact on my spiritual life, challenging me to live an authentic, grace-filled life. Operation Screwtape is his latest, most entertaining work yet. Once you start reading this book, you won't want to put it down!"--Bart Millard, lead singer for MercyMe

When Breath Becomes Air

Author: Paul Kalanithi

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2016-01-12

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0812988418

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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • People • NPR • The Washington Post • Slate • Harper’s Bazaar • Time Out New York • Publishers Weekly • BookPage Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Books for a Better Life Award in Inspirational Memoir At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.