WW2 - True Story of Wing Commander Tommy Yeo-Thomas - Published in 1997

There are actually 2 books written on the heroics of this awesome man. During the Second World War, Nazi Germany was on the warpath. By 1940, it had already run over the Low countries of Holland and Belgium, and also taken control of France, making it an occupied land. Bereft of supporters, Britain was alone in the fight against the Nazis. Russia was still in a no-war pact with Germany, the US was determined to stay out of this European war, and it seemed that Germany was preparing to attack Britain so as to ensure that the whole of Europe was under the grip of the Nazis.
At that time, it was pretty clear to Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, controlling a Government under siege, that there needed to be some sort of offensive against the Germans. Obviously, after the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) was walloped and had to be rescued from Dunkirk (having left all their heavy weaponry behind), there was no way that Britain could attack directly (in fact, there was little chance of even getting a beach head on continental Europe). But there were resistance movements starting to happen in the occupied countries, with the traditional enmity between France and Germans leading to the start of a vigorous resistance movement (however, the Gestapo was powerful and very determined to crush any means of resistance) - the call by Charles De Gaulle was a powerful one to oppose the Nazis.

Winston Churchill had also given the command to setup an organization that would work behind the scenes to keep the Nazis busy with sabotage, resistance and damage. The objective of the setting up of the Special Operations Executive was to 'set Europe ablaze'. The objective of the Wing Commander was to obstruct Nazi operations in France, and he soon realized that the French resistance was just not receiving enough support and sought a meeting with Churchill where he explained the need for more support for the resistance (they were the ones who could really play a role against the Nazis in occupied France). He made multiple trips to France but was captured finally by the Gestapo after being betrayed, and in turn, was tortured so that he could betray others. He refused and was tortured again and again, and still tried to escape multiple times, wherever he was kept in confinement and was finally able to make his freedom just before the end of the war in Europe. He was given multiple medals for bravery and valor; and the role he and fellow SOE agents played in Europe had a key role in finally ending the war and defeat for the Nazis.

World War 2 Book - The Day of Battle (Authored by Rick Atkinson)

For most people, their knowledge of the Second World War in terms of action are some battle scenes - Pearl Harbor, the African theatre, Battle for Stalingrad, Dunkirk, and the Normandy landings. One of the largest theaters of action during the 1943-44 phase (besides the Russian offensive on the Eastern front) was the action in Sicily and Italy. If you were to ask people besides historians about what happened in Italy during the Second World War, most people can only talk about Mussolini, but not too many more details. The Italian campaign was a significant campaign, involving men from many different countries (British, British commonwealth and territories, the Poles, and the American army). For the American army, it was significant. Their introduction into the African battle theater was not very positive, since the German army out-fought them. In the European theater, called the Fortress Germany because the Nazis controlled most of the continent, attacking the Italian theater would bring in the Nazi war machine to defend Sicily and Italy.



Another massive advantage that this entire theater brought to the American army was the blooding that it did to the army. It exposed it to war where it defeated the German war machine at many fronts, forced the development of tactics. At the same time, it also exposed them to the problems of war, with fierce German resistance preventing the movement at many fronts. The landings of Anzio provides lessons to armies even now.
The advantage of this book is about the research that has gone into providing the details of the various battles and confrontations that happened during this stage. The defeat and push back of the German armies from Sicily and evacuation from the entire island was a series of skirmishes and battles, with the German armies not being a pushover, fighting hard and also being intelligent thinkers. During the entire campaign, the German army essentially took over the Italian war campaign from the Axis side, with the Italian army not being too much in the picture.
During these battles, not everything was positive. There were failures from the various army leaders and generals, some of these were removed from their command positions during the course of these battles, and the person who developed a great reputation during these battles was also forced to relinquish his command and go into exile (this being General Patton, who slapped 2 soldiers for what he believed was cowardice and had to face severe problems when these slaps became public knowledge).
The book provides a lot of details of the entire campaign, something that a student of the war effort, or one who wants to read about this entire campaign. A must read book.