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Booked for the Day

Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre

On Monday, July 2nd, the Booked for the Day Book Group met to discuss, Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre.  Here are a few things we discussed during the meeting:

  • This book caused mixed emotions for the group. War is not a favorite topic for most but we did admire what these men accomplished and the sacrifices they made for their country.
  • You hear many World War II stories that take place in Europe but you don’t often hear about the North African campaign so this was of interest to some. We thought the story would be a great PBS mini-series and a story that should be told. We could not see it as a novel because so many of these heroes who played a major role in one campaign died in the next one.
  • The book had so many characters identified by so many stories it was often hard to keep track of who was who. The short stories of the different campaigns were very heartbreaking but kept us captivated, we were often worrying if these men were going to make it. So many did not.
  • The pictures of the soldiers and the maps helped to give these stories a human touch which added to the sadness.
  • We appreciated the fact that the author not only wrote about the successes of the soldiers but their bad behavior and the brutality of war.
  • We talked about what it would take to be in this type of battalion. For these men to survive they had to be risk-takers who could improvise, think independently and find solutions on their own.
  • We appreciated hearing about the afterlife of some of the men who survived and wondered how difficult it must have been to go back to a normal life. Some, like Paddy Mayne, were never able to adjust to civilian life and from the stories we read, we could understand why.

These are just a few things mentioned during the discussion. Please feel free to add any of your thoughts in the comment section.

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