Once a Hussar: a memoir of battle, capture and escape in World War II

Description

"Once a Hussar is a vivid account of the wartime experiences of Ray Ellis, a gunner who in later life recorded this well-written, candid, and perceptive memoir of the conflict he knew as a young man seventy years ago. As an impressionable teenager, filled with national pride, he was eager to join the army and fight for his country. He enlisted in the South Notts Hussars at the beginning of the Second World War and started a journey that would take him through fierce fighting in the Western Desert, the deprivation suffered in an Italian prisoner-of-war camp and a daring escape to join the partisan forces in the Apennines. His story is an honest and moving memoir that relays graphic eyewitness accounts of the horrors of warfare, but it also reveals the surprising triumphs of the human spirit in times of great hardship. Ellis's self-deprecating humor skillfully counters the harsh realities related in a personal recollection of a war that claimed so many young lives. Featuring twenty-six rare photographs from Ellis's life and experiences, Once a Hussar is a compelling and deftly told account of one soldier's life in the Second World War"--Provided by publisher.;In the beginning -- In sunny Palestine -- Mersa Matruh : a first taste of war -- In action near Sidi Barani -- Gennia -- Suez -- Tobruk : the first battle -- Life during the Siege of Tobruk -- The break-out from Tobruk -- In the Nile Delta -- The Battle of Knightsbridge -- First days as a prisoner of war -- A nightmare journey -- The winter at camp -- A bid for freedom -- Running free -- Massa Fermana -- A journey to the mountains -- One of the family -- Repatriation. In the beginning -- In sunny Palestine -- Mersa Matruh : a first taste of war -- In action near Sidi Barani -- Gennia -- Suez -- Tobruk : the first battle -- Life during the Siege of Tobruk -- The break-out from Tobruk -- In the Nile Delta -- The Battle of Knightsbridge -- First days as a prisoner of war -- A nightmare journey -- The winter at camp -- A bid for freedom -- Running free -- Massa Fermana -- A journey to the mountains -- One of the family -- Repatriation.