Mosquito Intruder Pilot

Mosquito Intruder Pilot written by Jeremy Walsh and published by 
Pen & Sword Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 248

Ben Walsh lied about his age to join the RAF, determined to play his part in the Second World War. He volunteered to be an intruder pilot, flying low level operations in the dark. Initially flying ops in Douglas Boston Intruder IIs, he then converted to the legendary de Havilland Mosquito FB VI. Ben flew ops for three years, starting in the skies over with Europe with 418 (RCAF) Squadron, then ferrying one of the first Mosquito FB VIs to India before flying in the Burma campaign with 27 Squadron (under Wing Commander Nicolson VC) and finally with 45 Squadron.

The Mosquito developed problems in the severe climate it encountered in the Far East which resulted in the aircraft being temporarily grounded in November 1944. This saw Ben undertaking thirteen operational sorties in venerable Tiger Moths in the Arakan.

Although Ben survived belly landings, crashes, enemy fire and engine failures, the strain of combat operations took its toll on the still-young pilot. He and his navigator asked to be removed from operations, but their request was denied, both being threatened with court martial.

By the end of the war when still only 21 years old, Ben was suffering from a nervous condition known as ‘the twitch’. His confidence and health were restored by the young woman who had been his penfriend through the war, who became his wife and the mother of the man who has compiled this dramatic and moving story – Jeremy Walsh.

Throughout the war, Ben maintained a ‘Roll of Honour’ in his photograph album, memorializing his friends and colleagues who lost their lives. That album forms the backdrop to this important biography, which is based on Ben’s own recollections, his logbook and the notes he kept through the war. Mosquito Intruder Pilot is Ben’s story.

I have to say this book was interesting and in places very moving about a very young pilot in the RAF, Ben Walsh who joined up early because of the excitement of youth and wanting to play his part for his country. Ben was a kind of jack of all pilots, being able to fly quite prolifically a number of planes such as the De Haviland Mosquito, the Douglas Boston Intruder and even such planes as Tiger Moths. As with any young man he had eagerness and strength, but also being young, he was worked hard as a pilot and after a while developed some mental health problems which back in those days weren’t really acknowledged or even recognised properly. 

But the uplifting part of this book is that he eventually got through these with the help of a young woman who later became his wife, and what is even better as a result along came his son who would write this book and tell his father’s stories. Using diaries, chats,  information and logbooks Jeremy has written this book, and I think has done a great job of telling the story and you can tell the research and thought has gone into this book. An excellent read and I love these books where you get the actual story from someone in the know. Excellent adventures, photographs and very well told, I would recommend this book.

Captured at Singapore

Captured at Singapore written by Jill Robertson & Jan Slimming and

published by Pen & Sword Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 296

What would it be like to leave your loved ones behind knowing you may never see

them again? Then depart on a ship in the dead of night heading for an unknown

destination and find yourself in the heat of a battle which concludes in enemy

conditions so terrible that your survival in captivity is still under threat?

Cultivated from a small, faded, address book secretly written by a young soldier in the Royal Army Service Corps, Captured at Singapore, is a POW story of adventure, courage resilience and luck.

In 1940, Londoner Stanley Moore became Driver T/170638 and trained for desert warfare along with many others in the British Army’s 18th Division. Their mission, they thought, was to fight against Hitler and fascism in the Middle East. But in a change of plan and destination, he and his fellow servicemen became sacrificial lambs on a continent much further from home.

Using extensive research and personal documents, the authors’ account - via their father’s small, faded, diary and his 1990 tape recording - tells of Stan’s journey and arrival in Keppel Harbour under shellfire; the horrific 17 day battle to defend the island, the Japanese Admonition and the harrowing forced labour conditions after capitulation.

Only a small percentage of the 85,000 British troops returned after the war. Captivity and years of trauma ultimately stole years of the young soldiers’ lives, which they were later ordered to forget by the British Government. The aim of this work is to provide information for future generations to understand how ordinary men died under horrific conditions of war, and how the lucky survived.

From the basic of sources of information evidence, the authors Robertson and Slimming have discovered the small diary and an interview from their late father Stanley Moore. Stanley, a driver in the 18th Division served out in the Far East fighting the Japanese, although it should be said the 18th were rather under-prepared in many aspects. 

Robertson and Slimming present a book and a story of their father showing the worry, hardship and harsh conditions their father was forced to endure under an oppressive regime. All this from the rarest of information, their father's diary and an interview. But they have presented an excellent story which really does show the suffering of the fellow soldiers and others around them. A really well-written book and works very well to make an excellent account of having to be a Japanese prisoner of war.

POW on the Sumatra Railway

POW on the Sumatra Railway written by John Geoffrey Lee and published

by Pen & Sword Books - £20 - Hardback - Pages 224

John Geoffrey Lee (always known as Geoff) joined the RAF on his 20th birthday in

June 1941. He left Liverpool on a troop ship in December 1941, with no idea where

he was going. He eventually arrived in Java, where he was captured by the Japanese,

along with many others. During his time in captivity, he survived several camps in

Java, Ambon and Singapore and three hell ship journeys. After being washed ashore

in Sumatra, (as a ferry he was being transported on blew up), he was then recaptured

and suffered sheer hell as a slave on the Sumatra Railway. Enduring bouts of malaria,

beri beri, tropical ulcers and a starvation diet was bad enough, but this was exacerbated

by the searing heat and extreme cruelty meted out to the prisoners by the Japanese

and Korean guards. Geoff miraculously survived, weighing just 6 stone when he arrived

back in Liverpool in December 1945.

After his release he found he had difficulty in convincing people where he had been as no one had heard of the “Sumatra Railway”, only the other one, thousands of miles away in Burma. Letters to newspapers were returned as ‘Just another Burma Railway story’.

The Ministry of Defence, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and The Imperial War Museum had no records of POWs building a railway in Sumatra.

So began Geoff’s journey, his aim… to prove to the establishment what he already knew to be true. This is Geoff's story of his captivity, release, and subsequent efforts in achieving his aim.

POW on the Sumatra Railway follows the story of John Geoffrey Lee who as a young man joined the RAF, he was moved out to the Far East where unfortunately he was captured by the Japanese. Having been caught he was forced to experience a number of POW camps and the sad treatment and punishments that went on in these camps at the hands of the guards. John manages to survive his time being captured but I think he was released weighing just 7 stone. The story then follows his mission to prove he was where he was as it seems nobody seemed to know or have heard about the Sumatra Railway at the time, and then follows his journey to provide that information.

A really good read, very informative but I should say a very sad read too. The book was a quick read but I took a lot away from it and it really does give you an idea into what the men were suffering out in the Far East. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

Naval Battles of the Second World War II

Naval Battles of the Second World War written by Leo Marriott and published by

Pen & Sword Books - £20.00 - Hardback - Pages 240

The Second World War was a truly global conflict and maritime power played a major role in every theatre of operations. Land campaigns depended on supplies transported by sea, and victory or defeat depended on the outcome of naval battles. So Leo Marriott’s highly illustrated two-volume account of the struggle sets naval actions in the wider strategic context as well as giving graphic accounts of what happened in each engagement.

This second volume concentrates on the epic struggle between the Americans and the Japanese in the vast expanses of the Pacific where for almost four years a great maritime campaign ebbed and flowed and some of the most famous naval battles of the conflict took place. The first part of the book covers the period from Pearl Harbor to Midway while the second covers the long and bloody campaign in the south-west Pacific where the US Navy honed its skills and turned a bloody defeat into a hard-won victory. The final section focuses on naval operations during the American advance across the central Pacific up to the Battle of Leyte Gulf – the greatest naval battle ever fought. Included are other actions involving the Royal Navy which, after early setbacks, would go on to play a major supporting role alongside the US Navy in the Pacific

This concise but wide-ranging introduction to the naval war emphasizes the sheer scale of the conflict in every sea and shows the direct impact of each naval battle on the course of the war.

This book is the second book of two called, Naval Battles of the Second World War in the second of two books looking at the Pacific & Far East of World War II the book gives you a view of the strategic naval process and battles including the role of the American Navy and the Japanese Navy. The book highlights a number of key naval battles throughout the war including Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway and the battle in the Leyte Gulf, I personally found this a fascinating book as I am trying to improve my knowledge of naval warfare. Both in the west and the Far East I found the book very informative and detailed but then I am probably counted as a beginner in this subject so whilst I found the book very helpful and informative others might prefer to read a more detailed assessment as they are classed as more knowledgeable. With the author Leo Marriott a specialist in this subject, his highly detailed knowledge is evident in this book and makes for a very good read. I enjoyed all the facts and details along with many good photographs and I especially enjoyed the appendix at the back of the book listing all the warships involved I would recommend this book and enjoyed it slightly more than the first but only because I knew less about the Pacific war.