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Author: Bill Sparks
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 178337540X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 175
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Book Description
One of only two survivors of the famous Cockleshell Hero raid, Bill Sparks' war and postwar career has never before been told in full. In this gripping book, he describes not only his part in Operation FRANKTON, the daring Gironde raid, and his escape back to Britain, but how he fought with the Greek Sacred Squadron thereafter. Operating in small groups they raided and liberated islands in the Aegean Sea. After the war, bored with life as a bus driver, he joined the Malayan Police and saw action aplenty during the Emergency. Always something of a military maverick, Bill's memoir is truly action-packed. The book benefits from the inclusion of the official German investigation report into the Cockleshell Raid.
Author: Bill Sparks
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 178337540X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 175
Get Book
Book Description
One of only two survivors of the famous Cockleshell Hero raid, Bill Sparks' war and postwar career has never before been told in full. In this gripping book, he describes not only his part in Operation FRANKTON, the daring Gironde raid, and his escape back to Britain, but how he fought with the Greek Sacred Squadron thereafter. Operating in small groups they raided and liberated islands in the Aegean Sea. After the war, bored with life as a bus driver, he joined the Malayan Police and saw action aplenty during the Emergency. Always something of a military maverick, Bill's memoir is truly action-packed. The book benefits from the inclusion of the official German investigation report into the Cockleshell Raid.
Author: Bill Sparks
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1844682269
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235
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Book Description
One of only two survivors of the famous Cockleshell Hero raid, Bill Sparks' war and postwar career has never before been told in full. In this gripping book, he describes not only his part in Operation FRANKTON, the daring Gironde raid, and his escape back to Britain, but how he fought with the Greek Sacred Squadron thereafter. Operating in small groups they raided and liberated islands in the Aegean Sea. After the war, bored with life as a bus driver, he joined the Malayan Police and saw action aplenty during the Emergency. Always something of a military maverick, Bill's memoir is truly action-packed. The book benefits from the inclusion of the official German investigation report into the Cockleshell Raid.
Author: William Sparks
Publisher: Pen and Sword Maritime
ISBN: 9780850529296
Category : Escapes
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
One of only two survivors of the famous Cockleshell Hero raid, Bill Sparks' war and postwar career has never before been told in full. In this gripping book, he describes not only his part in Operation FRANKTON, the daring Gironde raid, and his escape back to Britain, but how he fought with the Greek Sacred Squadron thereafter. Operating in small groups they raided and liberated islands in the Aegean Sea. After the war, bored with life as a bus driver, he joined the Malayan Police and saw action aplenty during the Emergency. Always something of a military maverick, Bill's memoir is truly action-packed. The book benefits from the inclusion of the official German investigation report into the Cockleshell Raid.
Author: Bill Sparks
Publisher: Isis Large Print Books
ISBN: 9780753193075
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
One of only two survivors of the famous Cockleshell Hero raid, Bill Sparks' war and post-war career has never before been told in full. In this gripping book, he describes not only his part in Operation Frankton, the daring Gironde raid, and his escape back to Britain, but how he fought with the Greek Sacred Squadron thereafter.
Author: Paul Oldfield
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783036125
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 509
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Book Description
Operation Frankton is a story of how a handful of determined and resourceful men, using flimsy canoes, achieved what thousands could not by conventional means. The volunteers had enlisted for Hostilities Only and, except for their leader, none had been in a canoe before. However, with a few months training they carried out what one German officer described as, the outstanding commando raid of the war. They became known as the Cockleshell Heroes, having been immortalized in a film and a book of that name in the 1950s. This book covers the whole of the Frankton story including the development of the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment, the planning and preparation for the raid, its aftermath and an account of the horrific war crimes inflicted on those who were captured. It also includes the epic escape by Haslar and Corporal Bill Sparks across occupied France into Spain.
Author: Ken Ford
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 178096269X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 153
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Book Description
On the night of December 7, 1942, five canoes were launched off the mouth of the Gironde river, each containing a pair of British commandoes tasked with slipping into the port of Bordeaux and destroying as many of the merchant ships as possible. Only two of the canoes made it to the target, but it was enough. Five enemy ships were badly damaged in the attack. It then became a game of cat and mouse for the surviving commandoes in their attempt to get back to Britain. Some of the men made it to Gibraltar; others were caught and executed. Author Ken Ford gives a blow-by-blow account of one of the most daring raids of World War II, which badly upset the flow of material into Germany, and which gave the British public a much needed victory.
Author: Tom Keene
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752483757
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273
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Book Description
The Special Operations Executive (SOE), also known as 'Churchill's Secret Army' or the 'Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare', was born from Churchill's vision 'to set Europe ablaze'. It was formed to conduct espionage and sabotage in enemy-occupied territory as well as aid local resistance groups in their own irregular warfare. After D-Day, it played a crucial role in the liberation of Europe. However, Tom Keene's book reveals for the first time how close it came to never existing at all. Many saw SOE as a threat to the existence of MI5 and other intelligence agencies, and some in the armed forces refused to work with the new agency, fearing its broad remit and lack of experienced operatives... SOE, in turn, became ever more secretive, hiding detail's of their operations from anyone outside the agency. This backstabbing climate of rivalry, confusion and secrecy within the higher echelons of government not only nearly destroyed SOE, but also had tragic repercussions for the daring Commandos who took part in the legendary 'Cockleshell Raid'. Cloak of Enemies exposes the secret war in the shadows and backrooms of Whitehall during the Second World War and its far-reaching consequences.
Author: C. E. Lucas Phillips
Publisher: Sapere Books
ISBN: 9781800552531
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
An astounding account of one of the most audacious commando raids of the Second World War. Perfect for fans of books by Paddy Ashdown, James Holland and Ben Mcintyre. In December 1942, five two-man canoes were launched from a submarine off the coast of German-occupied France. The aim of these ten commandos was to paddle over ninety miles from the Bay of Biscay up the Gironde estuary to Bordeaux in order to plant limpet mines on merchant ships supplying the Nazi forces. Although this operation, which had taken months to prepare for, was a strategic success it came at a huge cost: only two commandos survived the raid, six were executed after they were captured and two died from hypothermia. C. E. Lucas Phillips' book, which was written in close collaboration with one of the surviving Cockleshell heroes, Herbert 'Blondie' Hasler, provides fascinating insight into this daring assault, from planning right through to the thrilling escape of Hasler and his number two, Bill Sparks, with the help of the French Resistance. 'A legendary wartime exploit... the outstanding commando raid of the war. You can't stop reading' Observer 'As a story of human courage, the story of the Cockleshell Heroes will live for generations' Manchester Evening News 'The account of this operation brings out the spirit of adventure always present in peace and war among Royal Marines. It emphasizes the tremendous importance of morale - pride in oneself and one's unit - and what a big part physical fitness plays in creating this morale. It also stresses the need for careful detailed planning of operations.' Lord Mountbatten
Author: Cecil Ernest Lucas Phillips
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780330480697
Category : Bordeaux Raid, 1942
Languages : en
Pages : 236
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Book Description
In December 1942, 10 Royal Marines lauched a daring canoe attack on German ships lying in Bordeaux harbour - a harzardous and successful offensive, in which only two survived. This book tells the story of those cockleshell heroes.
Author: Paddy Ashdown
Publisher: Aurum
ISBN: 1781310831
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416
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Book Description
The complete story of the remarkable canoe raid on German ships in Bordeaux Harbour – by the man who himself served in the Special Boat Squadron. In 1942, before El Alamein turned the tide of war, the German merchant fleet was re-supplying its war machine with impunity. So Operation Frankton, a daring and secret raid, was launched by Mountbatten’s Combined Operations and led by the enigmatic ‘Blondie’ Hasler – to paddle ‘Cockleshell’ canoes right into Bordeaux harbour and sink the ships at anchor. It was a desperately hazardous mission from the start – dropped by submarine to canoe some hundred miles up the Gironde into the heart of Vichy France, surviving terrifying tidal races, only to face the biggest challenge of all: escaping across the Pyrenees. Fewer than half the men made it to Bordeaux; only four laid their mines; just two got back alive. But the most damage was done to the Germans’ sense of impregnability. Paddy Ashdown, himself a member of the Royal Marines’ elite Special Boat Squadron formed as a consequence of Frankton, has always been fascinated by this classic story of bravery and ingenuity - as a young man even meeting his hero Hasler once. Now, after researching previously unseen archives and tracing surviving witnesses, he has written the definitive account of the raid. The real truth, he discovers – a deplorable tale of Whitehall rivalry and breakdowns in communication – serves only to make the achievements of the ‘Cockleshell’ heroes all the more heroic.
