Bøger om 2. verdenskrig

"Love, betrayal, and a secret war: the untold story of two elite agents, one Canadian, one British, who became one of the most decorated wartime couples of WWII. On opposite sides of the pond, Sonia Butt, an adventurous young British woman, and Guy d'Artois, a French-Canadian soldier and thunderstorm of a man, are preparing to go to war. From different worlds, they make their way to fight in Winston Churchill's secret army against the German forces and, unlike most involved in the world's deadliest conflict to date, to fight from behind enemy lines. Their lives first intersect during clandestine training to become agents with the Special Operations Executive. Sonia and Guy learn how to parachute into enemy territory, how to kill, blow up rail lines, support the French resistance, and eventually...how to love each other. But not long after their hasty marriage, their love is tested by separation, by a titanic invasion--and by indiscretion. Written in vivid, heart stopping prose, we follow their stories of uncommon courage--as Sonia plunges into Nazi-occupied France and slinks into black market restaurants to throw off German forces who knew she'd arrived, while at the same time participating in sabotage operations against them by night; and as Guy, in another corner of France, trains hundreds into a resistance army, fashioning himself a military leader, weapons instructor, and peacemaker all at once. Reconstructed from hours of unpublished interviews and hundreds of archival and personal documents, Ayed tells a story of sacrifice and youthful folly; a story about the ravaging costs of war paid for disproportionately by the young. But more than anything, The War We Won Apart is a story about love: two secret agents who were supposed to land in enemy territory together, but were fated to fight the war apart."--

"From Martin Dugard, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Bill O'Reilly's Killing series, comes a soaring account of London's desperate fight for survival during the Blitz"--

"General George Patton needed a miracle. In December 1944, the Allies found themselves stuck. Rain had plagued the troops daily since September, turning roads into rivers of muck, slowing trucks and tanks to a crawl. ... Patton seethed, desperate for some change, any change, in the weather. A devout Christian, he telephoned his head chaplain. 'Do you have a good prayer for the weather?' he asked. The resulting prayer was soon printed and distributed to the 250,000 men under Patton's command. 'Pray when driving, ' the men were told. 'Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of immoderate rains, for good weather for Battle. Pray for victory. Pray for peace." Then came the Battle of the Bulge. Amid frigid temperatures and heavy snow, 200,000 German troops overwhelmed the meager American lines in Belgium's Ardennes Forest, massacring thousands of soldiers as the attack converged on a vital crossroads town called Bastogne. There, the 101st Airborne was dug in, but the enemy were lurking, hidden in the thick blanket of fog that seemed to never dissipate. A hundred miles of frozen roads to the south, Patton needed an answer to his prayer, fast, before it was too late"--

Arthur Campbell, one of several colored guides at a hunting club in north Mississippi in the 1930s, a prescient, expert outdoorsman though barely literate, enters the employ of a prominent Memphis family until the late 1950s, profoundly impacting them even across the Pacific, becoming a second father to the narrator (in the absence of his father) through the War years and after... Duck Hunting in Quicksand is a marvelous tale of heroism and humility, from the melting pot of Delta blues on Beale Street to the Pacific theater of WWII. Ensign Charles Deane Smith was listed MIA after his ship, the USS HOUSTON, was torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese in the early hours of March 1, 1942, a surprise attack on the flotilla of Allied warships. His survival would not be known by his family for many months, but that morning and the next day Deane rescued many men, leading them to the isle of Java until they were captured by the Japanese after 3 days. Ensign Smith's three-and-a-half-year ordeal as a Japanese POW was foretold by humble hunting guide Arthur Campbell well before the War began. Soon after America declared War in December 1941, the hunting and fishing retreat where he was employed closed, and Arthur Campbell sought employment in the household of one of the club members, Charlie Walterlane of Memphis. News of the demise of the HOUSTON had been the catalyst for all adult male Walterlane and Smith family members not already engaged to enlist or regain their commissions in the armed forces. Without their father or uncles, the five Walerlane children, especially the teenage boys Billy and Carlo, found a role model in Arthur Campbell. Carlo tells the story from his teen years until he became a young man: Arthur unintentionally became the family leader, and through their many adventures during and after the War, teaching his outdoors and life skills, was beloved by all Walterlanes until he died in 1957.

"Masterfully told and compellingly reinterpreted." The Moscow TimesStalinism at War tells the epic story of the Soviet Union in World War Two. Starting with Soviet involvement in the war in Asia and ending with a bloody counter-insurgency in the borderlands of Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltics, the Soviet Union's war was both considerably longer and more all-encompassing than is sometimes appreciated. Here, acclaimed scholar Mark Edele explores the complex experiences of both ordinary and extraordinary citizens - Russians and Koreans, Ukrainians and Jews, Lithuanians and Georgians, men and women, loyal Stalinists and critics of his regime - to reveal how the Soviet Union and leadership of a ruthless dictator propelled Allied victory over Germany and Japan. In doing so, Edele weaves together material on the society and culture of the wartime years with high-level politics and unites the military, economic and political history of the Soviet Union with broader popular histories from below. The result is an engaging, intelligent and authoritative account of the Soviet Union from 1937 to 1949.

"In the summer of 1939, Munich, 'The Home of the Monks', was a lovely city." Feared SS General Sepp Dietrich drives through the almost bucolic tree lined streets. His SS driver stops the black Mercedes at the door of noted banker and art collector, Solomon Roth, who has traded his superb collection of Impressionist paintings to Reichsmarshall Herman Goering in exchange for the safe passage of his wife and children out of Nazi Germany. One painting remains, a magnificent self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh.In the spring of 1945 Munich is a very different city, much of it transformed into a wasteland by Allied bombing. American army sergeant Henry, 'Hank', Dryden enters the former Roth home searching for weapons and takes the portrait.For half a century, the painting lies undiscovered in Dryden's closet in Del Mar, California until feeling his mortality, Hank, enlists the help of hisgrandson John, a public interest lawyer in Southgate, to determine if it is genuine and if so to sell it. John unwittingly enters the fascinating world of fine art auctions where the richest and most powerful men and women on earth play for stakes that dwarf any in Monte Carlo, Macao, or Las Vegas and millions depend on the wave of a hand or a finger to the nose.Based on true accounts and experiences accumulated during more than 40 years attending, bidding, and selling at auctions in the United States and Europe, Park Avenue is enriched by specific factual detail as well as a classic examination of the workings of the human heart as the Drydens are affected by the ageless lure of undreamt of wealth.Michael R. Zomber was born in Washington D.C. and educated at Oberlin College, Villanova University, the University of Illinois, and UCLA. He received his M.A. in English Literature from UCLA. The son of two Holocaust survivors who escaped Nazi Germany in 1939, he knew nothing of his Jewish heritage until the age of ten. Following this revelation he became aware of world history and developed a keen interest in the arms and armor of Europe, the Middle East, and Japan.His grandfather, Robert Eisner, collected paintings by the Impressionist masters and these images by Renoir, Degas, and Gaugain fired his youthful artistic sensibility. In 1961 Parke Bernet Galleries sold Rembrandt's Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer to the Metropolitan Museum for a world record price and from then on Michael Zomber followed the sale results of works of art at auction as closely as he followed major league baseball statistics.

BY BESTSELLING AUTHOR C. C. HUMPHREYS, AND INSPIRED BY HIS PARENTS' TRUE STORY, A DAZZLING NOVEL ABOUT A SPY AND A PILOT WHO FALL IN LOVE BUT ARE WRENCHED APART DURING WORLD WAR 11, AND MUST FIND THEIR WAY BACK TO EACH OTHER'.When Billy Coke steps onto the streets of London one December evening in 1940, he has no idea he is stepping to his fate. As Hitler's bombers come close to burning the city down, Billy meets the woman who will change the course of his life: Ilse Magnusson, a musician from Norway, but also something more - a spy in training.Escaping the Blitz for three days, she and Billy drive, quarrel, conceal, reveal... and fall finally, fully, in love.Now they must part, each to fight the war their own way. Billy, a Canadian-British Spitfire pilot, to duel with the Luftwaffe over North Africa and the Med. Ilse to return to her conquered country, ingratiate herself with the Nazi elite - which includes her beloved father ­- and send vital intelligence back to Britain.They know that the odds of both of them surviving are poor. All they can hope is that the other does survive - and that someday they find each other again.From decadent pre-war Berlin to the atrocity at Guernica, from dogfights over Sicily to an Oslo ground under the German jackboot, through small victories and bitter losses, this is the story of a man and a woman at war. A tale of causes and compromises, heroism, and betrayal. Of choices made, with consequences unforeseen. And finally how sometimes . . . love can give you a second chance.

This never-before-told true story of a young woman's escape from Auschwitz with her sister is a remarkable tale of unimaginable courage, family, faith and enduring love."...readers will admire Hinda's devotion to her family and her determination to resist her Nazi captors as they attempt to dehumanize her. There's also a remarkable love story at the heart of this novel-a relationship that will surprise and delight readers for its ability to withstand the most terrible of circumstances... A moving work..."─Kirkus ReviewsHinda was eighteen years old when an axe crashed through the front door of her home in Poland. Nazi soldiers swarmed inside and herded the family into an army truck and hauled them away for one lone reason: They were Jews. World War II and the Hitler-induced Holocaust was in full swing."With its added value of emotional and atmospheric richness, Tatae's Promise is a 'must have' acquisition for any library looking at high-quality fiction and nonfiction accounts of Polish Jewish history, concentration camp experience, and the power of survival. These explorations will also attract book clubs interested in selecting and contrasting a few quality titles on all these subjects, powered by an oral history that comes to life through solid literary excellence and collaborative determination.─Midwest Book Review"Hinda Mondlak's story is nothing short of extraordinary... Inspired by her father's promise and last words to her just before his execution-'You will live; you will tell'-this riveting adaptation urgently demands only one thing from us: we must listen!"─Eli Rubenstein, religious leader, Congregation Habonim Toronto; National director, March of the Living Canada; director, International March of the Living; Appointed to the "Order of Canada" by the Governor General of Canada"This moving and suspenseful book tells the story of Hinda Mondlak, who escaped from Auschwitz with her sister. Based on hours of her taped testimony, it describes in rich detail every phase of the persecutions she endured-Nazi occupation, the village ghetto, the death journey to Auschwitz, beatings, illness, starvation, escape, and then a harrowing flight from Russian troops. Saved occasionally through the unexpected kindness of others and always by her own courage, Hinda is vividly alive in this reweaving of her memories. A memorable story of resilience and enduring love."─Betty Sue Flowers, PhD, Professor Emeritus UT-Austin; former director, Johnson Presidential Library, Editor, Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth"As a student of the Holocaust and one who interviewed Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah History Foundation, I thought I had heard it all. Now, I know I was wrong. This is not your ordinary Holocaust story. Do yourself a favor. Find out for yourself."─Mike O'Krent, Founder and CEO, LifeStories Alive; Holocaust survivors interviewer for Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah History FoundationIf you were captivated by the New York Times #1 bestseller The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, or, the Pulitzer Prize Winner All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, you will love Tatae's Promise.

With Lance Olsen's signature flair, Absolute Away is an innovative narrative triptych, a story of one life reimagined. The first movement tells the story of Edie Metzger, a little Jewish girl who bit Hermann Göring's lip so hard it bled at a Nazi book-burning rally in 1933. In the second, in 1956, grown Edie is the passenger clinging to the backseat of the Oldsmobile 88 convertible driven by Jackson Pollock, moments before it plunges off the road. In the third, the narrative embarks into an ever-unspooling universe of Edies that might have lived-Edie's gender, past, and consciousness flying forever farther apart. Absolute Away is a novel about travel in its largest sense-about the self, the past, the future, aging, ideas, relationships, our own mortal being(s) as transitive verbs, and how what and who we are connects to everything else.

It's early 1939. The nineteen-year-old son of a local schoolmaster graduates Dundee Wireless College and sets off on a gruelling six-month Antarctic Whaling Expedition. It barely prepares him for what comes next. On the North Atlantic Convoys, he faces

England, 1924. Nell Potter pens successful romantic mysteries as the enigmatic Margot Evangeline, but off the page, things aren't quite so wonderful.

Ena Dudley's new office is a welcome change from her past life investigating wartime spies. Now a private investigator at Dudley Green Associates, she delves into the secrets lurking within London's underbelly.

Freya Jorgensen is not her real name. Charlotte de Tournet had to hide her true identity when the Nazis rolled into Paris. The SS took over her Avenue Foch mansion, Le Palais, for use by high-ranking Nazis as a place to relax away from the war. She is young and beautiful and is held virtually captive in her Paris mansion. Her only trusted friend is Theodora, a Turkish prostitute and courtesan at Le Palais. Freya unwisely falls in love with a handsome SS officer, Jost Krupp. As Freya discovers her lover is a mass and indiscriminate killer, she and Theodora escape Le Palais before her identity is discovered and the mansion is blown up. With the help of Baron Ferdi Saumures, they flee Paris and travel to southwest France and meet British SOE agent, Bertrand. Freya's adventures are just beginning.

Martyred and Blessed Together provides a detailed account of the virtuous lives and martyrdom of the Ulma family. This is the first time the Catholic Church has beatified an entire family together.

"In the midst of World War II, an English musician, Norah Chambers, places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe from the Japanese army as they move down through the Pacific. Norah remains to care for her husband and elderly parents, knowing she may never see her child again. Sister Nesta James, a Welsh Australian nurse, has enlisted to tend to Allied troops. But as Singapore falls to the Japanese she joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the Vyner Brooke merchant ship. Only two days later, they are bombarded from the air off the coast of Indonesia, and in a matter of hours, the Vyner Brooke lies broken on the seabed. After surviving a brutal 24 hours in the sea, Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of a remote island, only to be captured by the Japanese and held in one of their notorious POW camps. The camps are places of starvation and brutality, where disease runs rampant. Sisters in arms, Norah and Nesta fight side by side every day, helping whoever they can, and discovering in themselves and each other extraordinary reserves of courage, resourcefulness and determination."--Provided by publisher.