Product Description

There are instances of heroic deeds that had no immediate witness, such as the Scholls’s attempt in 1943 to raise their nation’s conscience, suppressed by Hitler’s propaganda machine. The Canadian physicist Dr. Slotin acted in 1946; but since 'the bomb' was supposed to be fail-safe, his feat was not released to the public. A KGB commissar gagged Captain Marinesco in 1945, just as Moscow’s rulers silently did away with Colonel Maleter in 1956 as a hindrance for their political ambition. In the case of Parteigenosse Duckwitz in 1943, nobody discovered that he was behind the betrayal of the Nazi plan, and he wouldn’t publicise his disloyalty to his Führer. It took faith and courage for a Palermo priest to go up against the Sicilian Mafia in 1993. And there is the sergeant who in 1916 blundered into an ‘impregnable fortress’ and then took it single-handedly.

These are a few brave man and women who dared to stand up and be counted. Some had to pay a bitter price for remaining loyal to their principles, but all of them changed the course of history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #891737 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Lancashire Evening Post
'An entertaining and fascinating read'

Review
'well-told and researched in depth' (Daily Echo )

About the Author
Erik Durschmied was born in Vienna in 1930. After the Second World War he emigrated to Canada. A television war correspondent for the BBC and CBS, Durschmied covered every major crisis, from Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Belfast, Beirut, Chile, to Cuba and Afghanistan. Winner of numerous awards, Newsweek wrote 'Durschmied is a supremely gifted reporter who has transformed the media he works in.' And in Le Monde: 'He's survived more battles than any living general.' Erik has just been appointed Professor of Military History at The Military Academy of Austria. He lives in Paris and Provence with his family.

Customer Reviews

Good book if somewhat overstated at times
I was surprised to see that no-one has so far reviewed this book - surely I am not the first to read it? Durschmieds book is a good read, and brings to light heroes of his own selection, some of which are truly unsung, at least by the general public. The selection of heroes is drawn from WWI, WWII, the Korean War and the Hungarian uprising in '56. Possibly the most well-known of the heroes is Sophie Scholl, recently portrayed in a film about her last days. Possibly the strangest hero is Capt. Marinesko, the Soviet U-boat commander who sank the Wilhelm Gustloff in 1945, causing the deaths of about 10.000 German civilian refugees from East Prussia. His inclusion is a bit surprising, but serves the cause of highlighting the Soviet ways of writing people out of the history books. Marinesko fell into disgrace, and his honour, if that best describes his action, was only restored 20 years after the war.
Durschmied's research is very good, it would seem; not being an expert on everything, I can only bring up two points. Contrary to Durschmied's belief, I am of the opinion that the loss of three British battlecruisers in rapid succession at the battle of Jutland in 1916 was a direct consequence of their design, in particular light armour. Furthermore, the description of how Dr Louis Slotin carried out final assembly of the first US nuclear bombs simply cannot be accurate. Certainly he carried out a risky action to establish the critical mass of the bomb, but this was not the final action before the lid was screwed tight, as the text implies.
The prose is on the heavy side at times and I find the musings on what makes a hero a bit too much, but essentially I think he's right to say that's it's about duty first and last that makes people act heroically. Certainly worth reading for glimpses of history forgotten and a harrowing insight into the final moments of many a soldier, and as such, no publicity campaign for the armies of the world.