The War at Sea 1939-1945; An anthology of personal experience

London: Arrow Books, 1972. Fifth impression [stated]. Mass market paperback. Fair. 512 pages. Illustrations. Index. Foreword by Admiral of the Fleet the Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Cover worn, soiled, and torn at top of spine. John Pratt, pen name John Winton (3 May 1931 in London - 27 April 2001) was an English author and obituarist, following a career in the Royal Navy in which he rose to Lieutenant-Commander. He was born in London and served in the Korean War and during the Suez Crisis. Whilst still in the Navy, he wrote the comic novel We Joined the Navy, featuring the character of "The Artful Bodger". Several other novels, and a number of non-fiction works on naval subjects, followed, including a biography of Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe. Pratt also served for 14 years as an obituarist for The Daily Telegraph. The Second World War produced hundreds of actions and incidents at sea which were packed with drama and suspense, and which evoked the greatest heroism. Here is a generous selection of personal experience written by the men and women who were there: in the British and Commonwealth Navies, the Fleet Air Arm, the Merchant Navy, or ashore. Names which have passed into history - Narvik, Dunkirk, the River Plate, the Bismarck, the Scharnhorst, Crete, Anzio, the Battle of the Atlantic, the Russian convoys - all these and many others are reflected in these gripping eyewitness testimonies. This is the first volume in the unique Freedom's Battle trilogy, which provides intensely vivid accounts of war at sea, in the air and on land. Far better than any single narrative, the extracts build up a complete picture of the War as it was experienced by the men and women who actually fought in it.