Foot soldiers, commandos, parachutists, naval seamen, bomber and fighter pilots - their varied personal experiences of the Second World War have been widely recounted, and the parts they played in the conflict are well known. But there are specialized wartime roles that have received very little attention, notably the gallant actions of the men of the Glider Pilot Regiment. That is why Robert Ashby’s rare and vivid pilot’s memoir is so valua-ble. In it he offers a fascinating insight not only into the major operations he took part in - including D-Day, Arnhem and the Rhine crossing - but into the exacting flying skills required to carry out perilous glider landings on enemy territory while under fire. His account of his hair-raising training, together with his pen-portraits of his comrades and officers, takes the reader inside the world of a ‘citizen soldier’. The glider landings at Arnhem and the intense fighting that followed are the climax of his narrative, offering us a remarkable insight into one of the most controversial Allied disasters of the entire war. AUTHOR: Before the Second World War Robert Ashby was the Librarian and Museum Curator at Hitchin in Hertfordshire. He was a fluent German speaker and, on a library exchange to Leipzig in 1936, saw Hitler at close quarters. During the war he served first in the Royal Army Service Corps but volunteered for flying duties, training as a pilot with the Glider Pilot Regiment. Flying military gliders, he landed howitzers, jeeps and other vital equipment for the D-Day, Arnhem, and Rhine Crossing operations. After the war he returned to Hitchin and went on to a distinguished career in the library service, end-ing as County Librarian of Surrey. He wrote this memoir for his family. Editor Jonathan Walker is an established military historian and lecturer. He often contributes to BBC radio and TV documentaries and is a regular visitor to battlefields. He is an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Birmingham and a member of the British Commission for Military History. Among his publications are The Blood Tub: General Gough and the Battle of Bullecourt 1917 and Aden Insurgency:The Savage War in Yemen 1962-67.
20 b/w illustrations