WHAT is your favorite soldier's MEMOIR/AUTOBIOGRAPHY?

**harryamb2** · 10-10-2013, 09:13 PM

love them all,but not so much the high rankers.

**Chopperman** · 10-16-2013, 02:51 AM

Another one I found really interesting was "Darby's Rangers,
We led the way" By William O. Darby and William H. Baumer.

and

"Hell's Angels" by Ralph "Sonny" Barger

**canti44** · 10-16-2013, 11:30 PM

I've read quite a few over the years but have re-read these three on many occasions which is always a good sign!

winged dagger.jpg goodbyetoallthat.jpg aforgotten.gif

I also look forward to reading some of the learned recommendations already made here. Cheers all.

**A.J. Zawadzki** · 10-17-2013, 06:48 AM

Posting this as my copy of this edge-of-your-seat pageturner was returned by a friend yesterday. Forget about the cheesy cover art, this is a spellbinding first hand account of an escaped British POW who joins the Polish Underground. It really conveys the tense atmosphere of working under constant pursuit by the Gestapo. Highly recommended.

Here’s the Wikipedia bio on the author:

Ron Jeffery (6 September 1917 – September 2002), also Józef Kawala, Stanisław Jasiński, Sporn and Botkin, was an English soldier and an agent of British and Polish intelligence during World War II. Jeffery was described by the Gestapo as "one of the foxiest devils in Europe".[1]

Ron Jeffery was born on 6 September 1917 in Kent, to an English mother and a New Zealand West Coast miner who settled in England after World War I. Jeffery served as a Lance Corporal in the 6th West Kent Battalion[2] and was captured during the Battle of France by the Wehrmacht in 1940 near Doullens. He was transported to the German prisoner of war camp at Szubin in occupied Poland. Later, Jeffery was moved to Ostrzeszów, renamed by Germans to Schildberg, and from there, travelled with other prisoners of war to the camp in Łódź, named Litzmannstadt under occupation. He escaped twice from two camps and finally joined up with Polish underground members in Warsaw.[1]
Jeffery spoke three languages; German, French and English. Soon after his capture, he began to develop a basic understanding of the Polish language, which made him very useful to Polish underground fighters. Under forged documents issued under false Polish and German names, Jeffery began to serve as a courier in the Polish underground as a part of several missions to occupied cities such as Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Berlin and Hamburg.[2] He was also a member of selective Kedyw groups (patrole), which carried out executions of Nazi collaborators and traitors sentenced by special underground courts.

In beginning of 1944, Jeffery eluded the Abwehr and travelled to London with a report from Poland to the British government. His efforts were at first highly regarded but subsequently ignored by the British, which a disillusioned Jeffery attributed to the treachery of Kim Philby and other high-ranking communist agents entrenched in the British system.[2]

Cheers,
Tony

**Spitace41** · 10-17-2013, 07:08 AM

How could I forget one of my favourites?! The Falcons of France, about the Lafayette Escadrille, more of an autobiographical novel, but I believe much of it is true. Quite hard to come by i've found as I am looking to replace my battered copy.

**Gunny Hartmann** · 10-17-2013, 07:17 AM

by Spitace41

How could I forget one of my favourites?! The Falcons of France, about the Lafayette Escadrille, more of an autobiographical novel, but I believe much of it is true. Quite hard to come by i've found as I am looking to replace my battered copy.

One here mate!.....

Falcons of France(ID:84572) | eBay