A Field Officer's Notebook by Dan Davin

$29.95 NZD

Category: Second World War | Reading Level: New

Dan Davin, best known for his prose fiction, memoirs, and work in academic publishing, also wrote poetry. Not that he wrote poetry throughout his life; rather, it was almost exclusively written in three discrete periods: during the mid-to-late thirties while at university in New Zealand and England; dur ing the Second World War while on service in Greece, North Africa, and Italy; and after his retirement from the Clarendon Press in Oxford and in nearby Dorchester in the mid-eighties. A FIELD OFFICER'S NOTEBOOK makes this body of work available to general readers for the first time. Although all Davin's poems deserve to be read, those he wrote during his time as an intelligence officer with the Second New Zealand Division are revelatory and ought to be given their due as much by students of literature as by those of modern warfare. Quite unlike anything in New Zealand literature--exacting yet generous, angry but tender, almost sui generis--they speak strangely of even stranger things that defined a generation. Davin's poems speak unguardedly and disarmingly about one man's life . . . in a voice that haunts long after it has been heard.' --from the introduction by Robert McLean. ...Show more

A Volunteer for the Duration - The Story of a Volunteer Infantryman in the Second World War by Allan A. Jones; Carol Ellis (Editor)

$20.00 NZD

Category: Second World War

Dog in the Snow: The Story of the Middle East Ski School by Paul Koorey

$65.00 NZD

Category: Second World War

He was an Alsatian called Rex, who lived among the snows of the mountains of Lebanon and Syria. When the author first met him, in November 1941, Rex belonged to a Bishop of the Maronite Church. Rec disliked strangers, but James Riddell proved an exception. The dog became his devoted companion at the new ly-formed ski instruction school which the author was appointed to command. Rex was a great favourite with the troops who came to the school from all regiments and nations - Australians, New Zealanders, Greeks, Gurkhas, and British. This is Rex's story and theirs. Dog in the Snow is an informative book about an almost unknown war-time activity, written with great charm and humour. All who love animals, and particularly those who can understand the fascination of skiing, will delight in the book. ...Show more

Politics of Forgetting: New Zealand, Greece and Britan at War by Martyn Brown

$55.00 NZD

Category: Second World War

Greece was a poor country in turmoil and pain during the 1940s. A military dictatorship was followed by invasion and terrifying occupation by Germany and its allies, starvation, civil war, political unrest and mutiny in its free military armed forces. New Zealand entered this arena and found a bond with a people that it still celebrates to this day. Absent is the complex, divisive and sometimes violent and surreal relationship between the two countries and the inescapable influence of Britain. Their story stretches from the mountains and open country of Greece and Crete to Middle East deserts, autumn-swept plains of Italy, and the blood-splattered streets of post-liberated Athens. Ironically New Zealand has forgotten the unpalatable but also sacrificed something that would have enhanced its own national storytelling about the war. ...Show more

From Cairo to Cassino: A Memoir of Paddy Costello by Dan Davin

$25.00 NZD

Category: Second World War | Reading Level: near fine

In From Cairo to Cassino Dan Davin writes of the wartime days of his friendship with the extraordinary Paddy Costello. Paddy Costello, along with John Mulgan, Geoffrey Cox, Ian Milner, James Bertram, and Dan Davin, was one of a cast of young scholars who made seemingly peripheral yet lasting contributio ns to the New Zealand post-war cultural landscape. But Costello, despite his great many gifts, never quite found his place in the world and he remains an elusive and contradictory figure, someone whose reputation rests on what he could have done rather than on what he did. Yet he continues to fascinate by his very elusiveness. vPaddy Costello was also the best friend of Dan Davin: expatriate publisher, editor, novelist, short-story writer, poet, raconteur, and not least of all an indefatigably generous host and friend to many New Zealand writers. From Cairo to Cassino recounts the beginnings and the deepening of their friendship as they talked, tippled and fought their way through North Africa and Italy. Spanning Davins embarkation with 2 New Zealand Division at Alexandria, as it headed towards its mauling in Greece and on Crete, through to the day of the bombing of Monte Cassino, this book is many things: gentle and impassioned, candid and ironical, recondite and visceral. It is also often very funny. One of Davins last significant works and perhaps the one in which he made his deepest personal investment, From Cairo to Cassino confirms that he was one of our finest memoirists, as he lovingly brings Costello back to life in all his sound and fury. A significant addition to New Zealands literature of the Second World War, this is a special book that deserves to be read and reread. While it has been quoted from in biographies of Davin and Costello, this is the first publication of the full text. ...Show more

The Thirty-Niners

$29.99 NZD

Category: Second World War

The Luftwaffe and the War at Sea: As Seen by Officers of the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe by David Isby

$60.00 NZD

Category: Second World War

The Luftwaffe and the War at Sea is a collection of fascinating accounts written by Germany military officers - both Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe - about the naval war in the air in the North Atlantic and around Great Britain. Most of the documents were written immediately postwar as part of the Allied de briefing programme though some are wartime German originals produced for internal use by military staffs, but all have the value of immediacy; they were written when memories were fresh and, in many case, by those who were directly caught up in the actions. These men were personal involved in all aspects of the German attempts to control the seas through maritime power, from the use of Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers during the invasion of Norway to the missions of FW 200 Kondors in cooperation with the U-boat campaign against Britain's Atlantic lifelines. The writers include such well-known names as Grossadmiral Karl Doenitz, Kontreadmiral Gerhard Wagner, General der Flieger Ulrich O E Kessler and Vizeadmiral Eberhard Weichold. The history recounted in these reports is unique and first-hand, allowing the reader a fresh perspective on those famous campaigns. Furthermore, much of that wartime experience was harnessed during the formation of the Bundersmarine's Marineflieger in the 1950s that then served throughout the Cold War and today is participating in the global war on terror with its Atlantic marine patrols. ...Show more

The Guinea Pig Club by E. R. Mayhew

$39.99 NZD

Category: Second World War

• Authoritative account of New Zealand plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe and his pioneering work in the Second World War • Celebrates the legendary Guinea Pig Club he formed • Inspiring, moving story with new foreword by Prince Harry  “Mayhew is to be commended on an outstandi ng addition to expanding our knowledge …” Airforce Magazine Plastic surgery was in its infancy before the Second World War. The Allies were tremendously fortunate in having the New Zealand surgeon Archibald McIndoe operating at a small hospital in East Grinstead in the south of England. McIndoe set up a revolutionary treatment regime for survivors of plane crashes. He secured his group of patients — dubbed the Guinea Pig Club — an honoured place in society as heroes of the air war. For the first time official records have been used to explore this remarkable relationship between the Guinea Pig Club, the RAF and the Home Front. This New Zealand/UK/Canada co-edition includes new material on McIndoe’s origins and a foreword by HRH Prince Harry, and links to a major new film Dr Emily Mayhew is a military medical historian specialising in the study of severe casualty. She is the historian in residence in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London and a research fellow in the Division of Surgery. She is the author of several other books. ...Show more