A Great Deal Could Be Written, and It Was.
Book jacket for ECLIPSE by Alan Moorehead, first published in 1945.
Art work by Barnett Freedman. Credit - Imperial War Museum
[The following post is one of my latest entries at "1,000 Men, 1,000 Stories", a site dedicated to the very small percentage of Canadian members of the RCNVR who volunteered to join the Combined Operations organization during WWII. They learned how to operate landing crafts in southern UK and northern Scotland, their first action was the Dieppe Raid, my father was a member from 1941 - 1945 and he and his mates had a first-hand view of Allied landings at Dieppe, N. Africa, Sicily, Italy and Normandy (depicted in the art work above). 1,000 Men will provide many rare, eye-witness details. Happy hunting, I say.]
Introduction:
There were many war correspondents from Allied countries who contributed greatly to our present-day understanding of World War II. They wrote news articles that were sent by cable to waiting audiences all over the world. Some later wrote books about their experiences, some were even published before the war had ended. Several were killed in action.
I will share only a few lines about several war correspondents in order to get their names on record. I will post a newspaper article attributed to them or list the title of any book(s) that may cross my path. These will be short posts and will contain links to articles or books so that readers can get a clearer picture of the value or quality of the writer's work and efforts.
In this way readers are made more aware of another significant avenue that may lead to information they are seeking. And - better armed - with the help of Mr. Google and libraries, archives, etc., readers may successfully search for material connected to a close family member or relative involved in World War II activities.
Happy hunting, I say. And if readers wish to share names of war correspondents and provide links to their materials, please submit comments to this site or email me at gordh7700@gmail.com
WAR CORRESPONDENT: ALAN MOOREHEAD
Mr. Moorehead was connected to the Combined British Press and I have read a few of his news articles. He wrote ECLIPSE (a copy of which I found at a used book store) about Allied landings in Sicily, Italy, and Normandy, and followed the progress of troops in Italy and France.
Some of his observations relate to work done by those sailors who manned and operated landing crafts, e.g., the Canadians in Combined Operations, i.e., those men who are at the heart of this blog/site.
LINKS
"invasion barges - the same mosquito fleet that made the landing
on Sicily..." More news at the above link.
A fine drawing related to the invasion of Italy, as found in ECLIPSE
LAST THOT
From ECLIPSE by Alan Moorehead:
As a correspondent following the armies
round the world through ten campaigns one has seen
an immense change take hold of the soldier,
the ordinary man and woman in the war.
The clerk from Manchester
and the shopkeeper from Balham
seemed to me to gain tremendously in stature.
You could almost watch him grow
from month to month in the early days.
He was suddenly projected
out of a shallow and materialistic world
into an atmosphere where there really were
possibilities of touching the heights, and
here and there a man found greatness in himself.
The anti-aircraft gunner in a raid
and the boy in the landing-barge
really did feel at moments that the thing they were doing
was a clear and definite good, the best they could do.
And at those moments there was a surpassing satisfaction,
a sense of exactly and entirely fulfilling one's life,
a sense even of purity,
the confused adolescent dream
of greatness come true.
Page 296
To read more by another important war correspondent, please visit Articles: Canadian Flotilla of Landing Craft in Italy (4).
Unattributed Photos GH
