Storm from the Sea

Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. New Edition, with new material. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. 224 pages. Includes Footnotes. Introduction, Epilogue, and After the War by Henry Brown. Also includes Part 1: North-West Europe; Part II: The Mediterranean; Part III: Normandy; and Part IV: Burma. Also includes 12 black and white photographs between pages 65 and 65, as well as 6 black and white maps. Brigadier Peter Young, DSO, MC & Two Bars (28 July 1915 - 13 September 1988) was a British Army officer who, during the Second World War, served with distinction with the British Commandos. Subsequently, he went on to command a regiment of the Arab Legion before leaving the Army to become a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In later life he founded The Sealed Knot, and became a well-known military historian and author. Young volunteered to join the Commandos and on being accepted joined 3 Commando in time to take part in the second commando operation of the war-Operation Ambassador-in July 1940.[2] Promoted to lieutenant in August 1940,[5] Young was to serve in the commandos for the rest of the war. Following Operation Ambassador and the subsequent operations, Operation Claymore and Operation Archery, Young was awarded the Military Cross (MC). Young became Head of Military History at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst between 1959 and 1969 before he retired to concentrate on a writing career. His first two books, both autobiographies, Bedouin Command and Storm from the Sea had been published while he was still in the army. In this classic of World War 2 adventure, Brigadier Peter Young describes his experiences as one of the Commandos' outstanding young officers. He took part in the early Commando raids on Lofoten, Vaagso, and Dieppe, and in the later landings which would help turn the tide of the war. His rise to Brigadier was meteoric, propelled by his outstanding gifts of leadership and command. In 1943, at the head of 3 Commando, he took part in the Sicily landings. In June, 1944, 3 Commando was in the van of the Normandy landings, securing the bridgehead at Le Plein despite heavy counter-attacks and then going on to lead the advance on Angoville, after which the defeat of the Germans in France became inevitable. Young's last military exploit was at Kangwa in Burma against the Japanese. This classic account is a dynamic and vivid record of what it was like to fight with Britain's Commandos across wartime. Peter Young, who joined 3 Commando in June 1940 and went into action with them in July of that year, sets down a spirited tale of adventure, heroism and ever-present danger in this valuable narrative of an elite force at war. Storm from the Sea is the commandos' story of war and describes a number of key Commando raids against targets in occupied Europe. The first amphibious operation of note was against the Lofoten islands and a second raid against Vaagso quickly followed. Despite a setback at Dieppe, the commandos continued to annoy the Germans with hit and run attacks and Peter Young's men participated in the invasion of Sicily and in operations in Italy until being recalled for D-Day. Hard fighting in Normandy followed and the author recalls the daily skirmishes and ambushes which, for the commandos, so typified the liberation of France. After a brief period attached to 3rd Commando Brigade in Burma, Peter Young ended his war preparing for operations in Malaya. The conflict had been a punishing adventure but, as he testifies in Storm from the Sea, his Army Commandos came through with a tremendous reputation for daring and stealth.