Witness to War: Diaries of the Second World War in Europe and The Middle East by Richard J. Aldrich

Description

Witness to War offers a compelling alternative history of a world in turmoil.

Using the personal diaries of schoolboys, women factory-workers, soldiers, spies as well as statesmen, the story of the Second World War is retold in a strikingly original format. Remarkable diary extracts – many never published before – are interspersed with a clear narrative of the main events of this vast conflict. The reader is guided through the war, month by month, experiencing each event at first hand.Keeping a diary in wartime involved a degree of danger and secrecy. In occupied Europe a captured diary could betray friends and relatives to the enemy. Some were downright illegal, such as those kept by soldiers on the front line. Each has a fresh story to tell.

Rare material from hitherto unknown diaries is combined with the journals of famous figures such as Joseph Goebbels, Joyce Grenfell, Anthony Eden, Jean-Paul Sartre, Evelyn Waugh and Noel Coward. We also read the private thoughts of those who were close to Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler. Day by day we glimpse of the reality of individuals living out their lives in wartime. The result is an extraordinary collective testimony that reveals the triumph of the human spirit.