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Synopsis
Published in 2005, 2nd edition with sequel. Russell Margerison writes of the dangerous but strangely unreal world of the air gunner, sitting high in the turret of a bomber over Europe, wrapped in several layers of clothes and awed by the destructive beauty of the scene below. His role was to keep a look out for enemy fighters and to take a shot at them if they gave him the chance. After many raids, Margerison’s plane was shot down. Weeks on the run with the Belgian underground were followed by many months of captivity in German. He describes the events of January 1945 when for eighteen days nearly 1500 prisoners were marched through blizzards to another camp, surviving on an inch of soup a day. A few months later, the prisoners’ new camp was liberated by the Russians, but the author’s adventures were not yet over. When Russell Margerison came home to Lancashire, he was still six months short of his twenty-first birthday. This second edition includes a sequel telling of his return, 59 years after he was shot down, to visit the Belgians who risked everything to help him. ”A minor classic of the Other Ranks' war.” — Daily Mail ”He describes himself as an ordinary working-class lad from Lancashire, but there was nothing ordinary about the courage he and his comrades displayed night after night over occupied Europe . . This is a fascinating wartime memoir that deserves a wide readership.” — Mail on Sunday ”Amid the plain prose, he produces arresting images. A stricken bomber “reared up till it was standing on its tail, as if having received an uppercut from Popeye”; another “shuddered violently, like a dog which had just emerged from water”. Margerison's account of his own behaviour - which, when he was starving and desperate, was not always selfless - is similarly unaffected. His candour increases one's admiration for him.” — Guardian Visit author's website: www.boysatwar.co.uk/book.html Listen again to Russell Margerison's interview on Talk Radio Europe: http://www.talkradioeurope.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=211&Itemid=92
One of those books that really is impossible to put down. Russell by his own admission, did not have the greatest education as a boy and yet the story is incredibly well written by an articulate, imaginative and sensative man, caught up in possibly the most turbulent period in human history. It tells you everything about the Second World War through the eyes of young man that lived and breathed it.Well done, Russell and thank you.
ANDREW MACDONALD
Wonderful book filled with suspense, detail and humour. Russ really takes you into his world and paints a true picture of what it was like flying missions in WWII, as well as the conditions in prison camp.
Donna Niewinski
Great story and completely true. Originally written out in longhand and deciphered by his wife who then typed it. I wonder if boys of 18 could cope with the pressure they these lads were put through
babs Hart
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