Tony Allwright's profile

The original James Bond, and he's real and he's German, 18 Mar 2008

A fascinating account of an honourable man who introduced the concept of Special Forces to the German military during World War 2.

In that role, as Hitler's trusted operative, he recounts much derring-do, such as rescuing Mussolini from mountain top captivity, bluffing the then Hungarian strongman into surrendering, wreaking covert havoc on the Allied invasion of France.

Particularly moving is his account, from the German viewpoint, of the invasion of the Soviet Union and the stoic, stolid, suicidal resistance of the Russians.

This page-turner of a book concludes with a forecast of the role of special Forces in future conflicts, which has turned out… Read more

A brave, dogged Irish doctor survives Japanese brutality, shipwreck and imprisonment, 10 Jul 2007

A stirring, compelling wartime memoir of an RAF volunteer doctor from Cork (in Ireland), who sees action in France, Dunkirk, Malaysia and Japan.

As a prisoner of war for several years, he bravely and doggedly faces a Japanese diet of scorn, deprivation and brutality, whilst seeking opportunities to practice his profession for the benefit of his fellow-captives.

He is torpedoed, his ship sunk, is rescued by the Japanese, leaps overboard again to escape a beating, is rescued again and is very nearly thrown back into the sea for a third time.

He ends up in Nagasaki where he survives the atomic bomb and lives to welcome and be rescued by the Americans… Read more

The Prize, 19 May 2003

Marvellous book; reads like a novel; instructs painlessly; unputdownable. And there's a great photo of George W Bush as a child!