Bayonets and Blue Flames (e-book) (used book) | bookbook.eu

Description

Tom Barker's life began in a small town in Lincolnshire, England in 1921. He went from chasing rabbits and digging ditches to taking part in some of the British Army's most iconic battles of the Second World War.

This was because Tom had decided the only way up was to join the British Navy. Walking into the nearest recruitment office, Tom was soon enlisted in the 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (the army). Little did he know that he would soon be swapping the Scottish mud, snow and freezing cold, for Palestine and North African sand, flies and burning heat. He would also end up taking part in two of the British Army's most notable battles of the Second World War (Operation Compass in Egypt and The Battle of Crete - the Germans named it Operation Mercury), and in the former battle, would take part in one of the British Army's longest bayonet charges of World War Two.

In May 1941, acting as a sniper on Crete Tom was wounded and taken prisoner. For the next four years he was placed in various prisoner of war (POW) camps in Germany, attempting to escape on a number of occasions. Tom provides great detail of the daily life of a POW, sharing the humour, the absurd and at times the macabre.

Told in his own voice Tom takes the reader on a real-life journey mixed with humour, action, turmoil and lots of sand. His son James has edited Tom's original memoirs, and written chapters including background information on Palestine, the Italian invasion of Egypt and the Argylls' involvement in the Battle of Crete.