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Book
Review:- 40 men – 8 horses
Book by Douglas Arthur
Reviewed by our Arts Correspondent E G Lyon-Taylor
I WAS a little reluctant to read this book at first, and did so with little enthusiasm. War stories are not my sort of thing, and I’ve never been inclined to read autobiographies either, but within the first few pages I was hooked. The narrative was well written and kept you both entertained and well informed about the conditions and events that shaped this mans life during those tumultuous years.
The narrative starts with his time in Greece, which comes after the desert campaign where he originally served; this is covered in a previous book Desert Watch. This period rapidly comes to an end though as the British and Allied forces are forced to retreat from Greece after the German offensive starts, the subsequent evacuation of the area and capture by the Germans.
Then the main part of the book really starts with the tortuous journey across the Alps into Austria and then the incarceration in a Prisoner of War camp. The various work camps that Douglas was sent to and the conditions and people he met whilst there. The friendships and help that he received from those people he was technically at war with, showing that the German civilians weren’t all monsters, in fact this illustrated that the German civilians were just like us, trying to get on with their lives.
The incident that I found most compelling was the friendly fire incident near the end of the book and coincidentally the war, where an American fighter/bomber squadron drops bombs on the prisoner of war camp where Douglas is staying, and destroys the quite obviously marked hospital, killing a large number of ‘friendly’ forces, including British, and Russians and not even hitting any Germans. This to me brings to mind the American friendly fire incidents in both Gulf Wars and wherever the Americans fight in fact.
This book is highly recommended to those interested in the World War two period and its chronological events.
- *****
- 4 out of 5
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Switch
On...
Photographs by
Patrick Trollope
117 - 118 Rufford
Road had the annual Christmas Light Switch On Sunday 30
November. The houses are rising money for charity and are competing
in this years Carnival of Light. Ray Lewis told us
"It took us over 4 days to construct the display this
year. We do it to raise cash for charity and to bring a bit of
Christmas fun to Crossens."
Despite the rain, with
fireworks exploding above the house and Christmas carols being
played, out side the lights went on with a massive amount of
onlookers. Jim from the Temperance Society, organizer of
the Carnival of Light said "This event just gets bigger
and bigger, the two houses do a fantastic job each year.
These are just a few of the many homes and businesses that have been
decorated around Southport as part of the Carnival. "
After the lights went on
guests from all over the UK dropped in to the warm houses to have
mince pies and other Christmas treats.
If you know a fantastically
decorated property on Merseyside, let us know.
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