In this sequel to his successful first volume Peter Liddle brings his
years of Oral History experience to the Thirties and the Second World War. He
was the founder/Director of a new archive in 1999 specifically
dedicated to the rescue of evidence of the Second World War which now documents
the lives of more than nine thousand people in that war. Many of the most vivid
recollections he has recorded covering this period appear in this
book.
For the Thirties poverty is movingly exemplified in recall of
orphanage upbringing, labour in an East Lancashire mill and Glasgow childhood.
Privileged public schools and university education is here too, with political
convictions expressed by Barbara Castle and quite exceptionally by Oswald
Mosley.
For the War, there is a section on the sea which includes graphic
detail of battle, lifeboat command, the St Nazaire Raid, and of Pearl Harbor. A George Medallist and an Admiral of the
Fleet add special distinction here.
For the air, a Battle of Britain Spitfire Pilot, Britain’s most successful night-fighter pilot, a
Lancaster Bomber Pilot VC, an American pilot shot down over Belgium,
surviving to fight with the Resistance, and a German Pilot retaining his
national Socialist convictions present outstanding material.
For the land, Dunkirk, North Africa, Italy, Singapore, D-Day, Arnhem,
the Rhine Crossing, are all there but so Commando raids, SOE operations,
capture, escapes, severe wounding, and a VC earned in Somaliland. A German
describes the hand to hand fighting at Cassino, a
Field Marshal, his service in North Africa, and Joachim Ronneberg his part in
the Telemark Raid in Norway.
In the Home Front section, women feature prominently was WAAF, Wrens,
ATS, Bletchley
Park, the Land Army, war
work in factories, dance band singing, Blitz experience in several towns, war
widowhood, and overseas evacuation, all feature. There is an account of bomb
disposal, of the stance of a Conscientious Objector, and then four people quite
exceptional for the significance of their material. Two are from Poland,
a Jewess who survived against all odds, and a woman who became involved in the
Warsaw Uprising; the others are Sir Basil Blackwell working on the development
of weaponry for the Admiralty and finally Sir Bernard Lovell on
radar.
This book does much to dissolve the intervening years. The essence of
what is was to be young and to be there lies within these
pages.
