Lewis - World War II

Jon E. Lewis is the author of numerous books in the Autobiography series including England: The Autobiography, London: The Autobiography and The Autobiography of the British Soldier.

Praise for his previous books

England: The Autobiography:
A triumph.
Saul David, author of Victorias Army

The British Solider: The Autobiography:
This thoughtful compilation... almost unbearably moving.
Guardian

[A] compelling tommys eye view of war.
Daily Telegraph

What a book. Five Stars.
Daily Express

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Constable & Robinson Ltd
3 The Lanchesters
162 Fulham Palace Road
London W6 9ER
www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the UK as The Mammoth Book of How It Happened: World War II, by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson, 2002 This revised and updated edition published by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2009

Collection and editorial material
copyright J. Lewis-Stempel, 2002, 2009

The right of J. Lewis-Stempel to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication data is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-84901-003-0

Printed and bound in the EU

First published in the United States in 2009
by Running Press Book Publishers

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

No part of this work may be produced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

US Library of Congress Control Number: 2009920967
US ISBN: 978-0-7624-3735-1

Running Press Book Publishers
2300 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371

www.runningpress.com

We may be destroyed, but if we are, we shall drag a world with us a world inflames.

Adolf Hitler, 23 November 1939

For those in my family who fought the good fight:
E.J. Lewis, R.I.J. Stempel, G. Charles, F. Williams, H. Knowles, J. Stempel, M.P. Jessop, A. Jessop, S. Parry, H.A.G. Stempel.

Adolf Hitler

Ralph Glyn, MP

Neville Chamberlain

Mollie Panter-Downes

Private K.S Karol, Polish Army

Virginia Cowles

General Sir Adrian Carton

Sir John Anderson

Dirk van der Heide

Erwin Rommel 7th Panzer Division

Winston Churchill

Sergeant L.D. Pexton

Commander C.H. Lighloller, RNR (Retd)

Private Jack Toomey 42nd Postal Unit, British Army

William Shirer, war correspondent

P/O D.H. Wissler RAF

P/O Roger Hall, 152 Sguadron RAF

Richard Hillary 603 Sguadron RAF

Desmond Flower, Virginia Woolf Edward. R Murrow

Winston S. Churchill MP

Gunther Prien

Lieutenant-Commander R.E. Washbourn RN, HMNZS Achilles

Ronald Healiss, Royal Marines

Kapitan-Leutnant Otto Kretschmer, U-99

Captain Donald Macintyre RN, HMS Walker

Lieutenant Ludovic Kennedy RN, HMS Tartar

Frank Curry RCN, HMCS Kamsack

Able Seaman Robert Carse, Merchant Navy

Midshipman Heinz Schaefer, U-977

Commander DEG Wemyss RN, HMS Wild Goose

Cyril Joly 7th Armoured Division

Leutnant Heinz Werner Schmidt, Afrika Korps, General Erwin Rommel, Afrika Korps, Brigadier James Hargest, 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade

Cyril Joly, 7th Armoured Division

Private R. L. Crimp, 7th Armoured Division

Captain Robert Crisp, 3rd Royal Tank

Regiment, 4th Armoured Brigade

Anonymous British Gunner

General Erwin Rommel, Afrika Korps

General Bernard Montgomery, Commander Eighth Army

Anonymous SAS Soldier

Leutnant Alfred Berndt, Afrika Korps

General Bernard Montgomery, Eighth Army

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Afrika Korps

Keith Douglas, Eighth Army

General Fritz Bayerlain, Afrika Korps

Corporal John Green, Military Police

Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, Afrika Korps

Ernie Pyle, war correspondents

Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. 26th Regiment, US 1st Infantry Division

Allan Moorehead, war correspondents

Sergeant Ray salisbury, USAAF

Sergeant Karl Fuchs, 25 Panzer Regiment

General Blumentritt, Wehrmacht

Zhuravlev Alexander Grigoryevich

Hans Ulrich Rudel, Luftwaffe

Alexander Werth, war correspondent

Heinrich Haape, Wehrmacht

Private First Class Wolfgang Knoblich

Henry C. Cassidy, Journalist

Herman Graebe

Benno Zieser, Wehrmacht 229

General von Manstein, GOC 11th Army Ostheer

Anonymous Officer, 24th Panzer Division, Benno Zieser

Anonymous German soldiers

Joachim Wieder, Intelligence Officer, VIII Corps, German Sixth Army

Sixth Army to High Command, 24 JANUARY 1943

Joachim Wieder, Intelligence Officer, VIII Corps, German Sixth Army

Taisa Mitsuo Fuchida, Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service

John Garcia, 7th Infantry Division

O.D. Gallagher, war correspondent

Claire L Chennault, AVG

Dr O.E Fisher

Lieutenant-Colonel William Dyess, 21st Pursuit Squadron, USAAF

General W.J. Slim, 1st Burma Division

Colonel James Doolittle, USAAF

William Manchester, USMC

Sergeant B.J Kazazkow, US Army

Private Milton Adams, 24 Quarter Masters Battalion

Robert J Casey, war correspondent

Taisa Mitsuo Fuchida, Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service

Lieutenant M. R. Maund RN, 824 Squadron

Harold Nicolson, MP

Flying Officer Michael Scott, RAF Bomber Command

Baron von der Heydte, 1st Battalion, 3rd German Parachute Regiment

Franz Blaha

Flight Lieutenant Johnnie Johnson, 616 Squadron RAF

Anonymous member of the British Womens Auxiliary Air Force

Airey Neave

Ross Munro, Canadian war correspondent

Anon

Anne Frank

Rifeman Alex Bowlby, Rifle Brigade

Sergeant Carl Goldman, USAAF

Guy Gibson, RAF

General James M. Gavin, Parachute Regimental Combat Team, US 82nd Airborne Division

Else Wendel, Housewife

Captain John S. Young, USAAF

Captain Otto Skorzeny, Waff en SS

John Steinbeck, war correspondent

Rachel Wray, hand riveter, Consolidated Aircraft

Sergeant Nell, Green Howards