World War II: The Autobiography

200 First-Hand Accounts from WWII

Author: Jon E. Lewis Series: Brief Histories

A remarkable series of eye-witness accounts covering the entire course of the war, from Hitler ordering war on 31 August 1939 to an account of the dropping of the atom bomb on Nagasaki on 9 August 1945 by Tatsuichiru Akizuki.

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These include Spitfire pilot Richard Hillary's account of bailing out of his plane in the Battle of Britain; a German sailor's view of HMS Royal Oak being torpedoed at Scapa Flow; insights into Rommel's ailing health from a lieutenant in the Afrika Korps; famous war correspondent Ernie Pyle's account of GI meals during Operation Torch; Anne Frank's recollection of the rounding up of Jews in Amsterdam; the last letters home from anonymous German soldiers in Stalingrad; the view from a Japanese cockpit over Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941; a German officer's memories of the airborne assault on Crete in May 1941; the firestorm following the bombing of Dresden in July 1943 in the words of a German woman; a lieutenant in the 1st Airborne Divsion's eyewitness account of the fighting in Arnhem; Martha Gellhorn on the aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge; a British tank officer crossing the German border on 28 February 1945; on the Kokoda Trail in New Guinea; an Allied intelligence officer being executed by the Japanese; the tunnels of Iwo Jima; and a kamikaze pilot's final letter.

Critic Reviews

“Praise for the author's England: The Autobiography A triumph”

Praise for the author's England: The Autobiography
A triumph

-- Saul David, author of Victoria’s Army

Praise for the author's The British Soldier: The Autobiography

[T]his thoughtful compilation . . . almost unbearably moving

Guardian

Praise for the author's The British Soldier: The Autobiography

Compelling Tommy's-eye view of war.

Daily Telegraph

Praise for the author's The British Soldier: The Autobiography

What a book. Five stars.

Daily Express

About the Author

JON E. LEWIS is an historian and author of numerous bestselling books on history and military history, including Voices from D-Day, Voices from the Holocaust, The Mammoth Book of the Vietnam War and A Brief History of the First World War. He holds graduate and postgraduate degrees in history and his work has appeared in New Statesman, the Independent, Time Out and the Guardian. He lives in Herefordshire.

More on this Book

A remarkable series of over 200 eye-witness accounts taken from diaries, letters, speeches, interviews and memoirs of those who were there: pilots, sailors, generals, infantrymen, war correspondents and leaders. These include Spitfire pilot Richard Hillary's account of bailing out of his plane in the Battle of Britain; a German sailor's view of HMS Royal Oak being torpedoed at Scapa Flow; insights into Rommel's ailing health from a lieutenant in the Afrika Korps; famous war correspondent Ernie Pyle's account of GI meals during Operation Torch; Anne Frank's recollection of the rounding up of Jews in Amsterdam; the last letters home from anonymous German soldiers in Stalingrad; the view from a Japanese cockpit over Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941; a German officer's memories of the airborne assault on Crete in May 1941; the firestorm following the bombing of Dresden in July 1943 in the words of a German woman; a lieutenant in the 1st Airborne Divsion's eyewitness account of the fighting in Arnhem; Martha Gellhorn on the aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge; a British tank officer crossing the German border on 28 February 1945; on the Kokoda Trail in New Guinea; an Allied intelligence officer being executed by the Japanese; the tunnels of Iwo Jima; and a kamikaze pilot's final letter.