A British Army officer chronicles his years of service during WWII, including time in a POW camp and the beginning of the Special Air Service. Guardsman and Commando is Cyril Feebery’s memoir of his service with the British Army between 1937 and 1945. Feebery served with the Grenadier Guards in the British Expeditionary Force, was evacuated wounded from Dunkirk, completed Commando training in Scotland an joined the Middle East Commando (Layforce). On the disbandment of Layforce, he joined the Folboat Section, later the Special Boat Section, and trained as a canoeist under Captain Roger Keyes VC to conduct commando operations from submarines. When the SBS was later absorbed into the Special Air Service (SAS), Feebery took part in raids on Benghazi and Tripoli. With the creation of the Special Boat Squadron (SBS), Feebery served as Squadron Sergeant Major under Major the Earl Jellicoe. He has captured by Italian forces after a raid on airfields in Sardinia, and later escaped from Prisoner of War camp in Italy to regain the Allied side. After recovering from malaria, Feebery became Squadron Sergeant Major, Headquarters Squadron, 1st SAS Regiment in 1944. He participated in SAS operations in the Dijon area of France, then in Northern France and Belgium. The manuscript concludes with SAS operations to obtain the surrender of German occupation forces in Norway. Praise for Guardsman & Commando “[A] fine addition to the library of books that chart the early days of the Special Air Service (SAS) in the words of its enthusiastic soldiers . . . remarkable memoirs, which, accompanies by some fine photographs, convey the spirit of a remarkable Guardsman at war.” —Guards Magazine

Guardsman and Commando is Cyril Feebery's memoir of his service with the British Army between 1937 and 1945.Feebery served with the Grenadier Guards in the British Expeditionary Force, was evacuated wounded from Dunkirk, completed Commando training in Scotland an joined the Middle East Commando (Layforce). On the disbandment of Layforce, he joined the Folboat Section, later the Special Boat Section, and trained as a canoeist under Captain Roger Keyes VC to conduct commando operations from submarines. When the SBS was later absorbed into the Special Air Service (SAS), Feebery took part in raids on Benghazi and Tripoli.With the creation of the Special Boat Squadron (SBS), Feebery served as Squadron Sergeant Major under Major the Earl Jellicoe. He has captured by Italian forces after a raid on airfields in Sardinia, and later escaped from Prisoner of War camp in Italy to regain the Allied side. After recovering from malaria, Feebery became Squadron Sergeant Major, Headquarters Squadron, 1st SAS Regiment in 1944. He participated in SAS operations in the Dijon area of France, then in Northern France and Belgium. The manuscript concludes with SAS operations to obtain the surrender of German occupation forces in Norway.

'What was it really like to serve in the British Army during the Second World War?Discover a soldier's view of life in the British Army from recruitment and training to the brutal realities of combat. Using first-hand sources, James Goulty reconstructs the experiences of the men and women who made up the 'citizen's army'. Find out about the weapons and equipment they used; the uniforms they wore; how they adjusted to army discipline and faced the challenges of active service overseas.What happened when things went wrong? What were your chances of survival if you were injured in combat or taken prisoner? While they didn't go into combat, thousands of women also served in the British Army with the ATS or as nurses. What were their wartime lives like? And, when the war had finally ended, how did newly demobilised soldiers and servicewomen cope with returning home?The British Army that emerged victorious in 1945 was vastly different from the poorly funded force of 865,000 men who heard Neville Chamberlain declare war in 1939. With an influx of civilian volunteers and conscripts, the army became a citizens force and its character and size were transformed. By D-Day Britain had a well-equipped, disciplined army of over three million men and women and during the war they served in a diverse range of places across the world. This book uncovers some of their stories and gives a fascinating insight into the realities of army life in wartime.

Raised in the dark, post-Dunkirk days of 1940 to carry the war to the enemy, in five short and violent years the British Army Commandos established a reputation that has made the name ‘Commando’ the mark of the fighting man. The Commandos began as small-scale raiders but their operations grew in size and destruction as the war progressed until, in the end, there were four full Commando Brigades; superb units which fought in every theatre of war, from Norway to Burma, from the coast of France to the islands of Yugoslavia. The Commandos were disbanded in 1945-46 but reformed in the 1970s, and in 1982, about 1000 army Commandos set sail to fight in the Falklands War. The long and proud history of the army contains accounts of many fine and distinguished units but few can equal – and none exceed – the story of the British Army Commandos.

A gripping history of Britain's Special Boat Squadron in World War II, drawing on veteran interviews and including rare photographs from the SAS Regimental Association. The Special Boat Squadron was Britain's most exclusive Special Forces unit during World War II, and yet its exploits have been largely forgotten. This book tells its story. Highly trained, totally secretive and utterly ruthless, the SBS was established as an entity in its own right in early 1943. Unlike its sister unit, which numbered more than 1,000 men, the SBS never comprised more than 100. Led by men such as the famed Victoria Cross recipient Anders Lassen, the SBS went from island to island in the Mediterranean, landing in the dead of night in small fishing boats and launching savage hit and run raids on the Germans. Through unrivalled access to the archives of the SAS Regimental Association and interviews with the surviving members of the unit, Gavin Mortimer has pieced together the dramatic feats of this elite fighting force. In this new and updated paperback edition, featuring additional content including new text and photographs, the unit and its members are finally granted the recognition that they so richly deserve.

Many, if not most, of the recent improvements in trauma care in civilian practice have developed from military experience. The British Defence Medical Services have been recognised as providers of exemplary health care. Although there will is an emphasis on trauma, this book also captures lessons from internal medicine and infectious disease, ethics (for example dealing with detainees – a particularly controversial subject), human factors, mental health issues and rehabilitation.Military Medicine provides the evidence and context for these innovations, and its unique and important account will be of interest to both military and civilian practitioners alike.

Fighting With The Commandos tells what the Second World War was like for a fighting soldier. After enlisting underage, he was 'found out', joined the Home Guard and then a Young Soldiers Unit (for those too young to serve overseas). He managed to get out to Iraq but was again sent home.He then joined 3 Commando led by Brigadier Peter Young and landed on SWORD Beach on D-Day. He graphically describes the action thereafter which included being among the first to reach Pegasus Bridge and relieve the glider borne troops under Major John Howard. Plenty of excitement and danger were to follow and readers will revel in a no-holds-barred memoir which points an illuminating picture of life for the rank-and-file in the build-up to the climax of the war.