Announcing All Soldiers Run Away: Alano’s War, The Story of a British Deserter

Lammi Publishing, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has acquired the rights to the biography All Soldiers Run Away: Alano’s War, The Story of a British Deserter by Andy Owen.

All Soldiers Run Away: Alano’s War, The Story of a British Deserter is the story of Alan Juniper’s wartime experiences in the North African and Italian Campaigns in the Second World War, as well as a wider look at the taboo subject of desertion both then and today. Alan served with the Eighth Army in North Africa, arriving in Egypt in 1941. His battalion, the Tower Hamlets Rifles found itself in the first battle in which German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps engaged with Allied forces in Africa. Alan and his battalion fought and took heavy losses in a series of intense and confusing battles. They fought against an enemy they began to believe was superior, as they lost confidence in their own leadership, and moved mostly back, but occasionally forth, across the unforgiving sands. After having served for over 500 days, when the Eighth Army was at its nadir having been forced back to Alamein, at the same time that a no confidence motion being tabled against the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and plans were being made to evacuate Cairo, Alan deserted. Soon captured, he was thrown in to military prison, surviving the tough regime until given the chance to be released to fight in the Italian Campaign as the war began to turn in the Allies favour. He again became involved in some intense, but little known, battles this time in the hills of central Italy. After witnessing the carnage of the night fighting in the hills surrounding Perugia, he deserted a second time. A broken man in a broken landscape he arrived in a small Umbrian village and was taken in by a people that had only months before been the enemy. He became part of the community in this village, helping the community survive the vicissitudes of post-occupation life, forming relationships that would last the rest of his life, until he was eventually arrested again at the end of the war.

Sixty years later the reasons for Alan’s desertion started to surface. After a series of sessions with a psychologist from the charity Combat Stress Alan was finally diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. One incident in particular seemed to be a key cause of his PTSD – an incident occurring at some point in his time in the desert when, during one of the many heavy bombardments he was exposed to, he became trapped in a bunker with a live unexploded shell blocking the bunker entrance as the ground continued to shake from the continued shelling. It was only when the onset of Alzheimer’s made his condition more acute, after a lifetime of having been affected by the condition undiagnosed, that his family became aware of some of Alan’s experiences and his original desertion. As the Alzheimer’s progressed he became convinced that any new people who came to see him were Royal Military Police officers come to take him away again. As the family discovered new revelations concerning his wartime experiences and treatment, they decided it was time to tell his story. All Soldiers Run Away is the search for Alan’s story in lost battles, missing war diaries and faded memories. Through his story and contrasting desertions from the same war and more recent conflicts the book looks at some of the reasons soldiers desert. It examines why the military and society attaches shame to those who desert, and goes on to explore what duties soldiers have towards each other and the communities from which they come from.

Andy Owen served in the Intelligence Corps of the British Army reaching the rank of Captain. He completed operational tours in Northern Ireland (2003), Iraq (2004 and 2005) and in Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2007. All Soldiers Run Away is his third book following the novels; East of Coker (2016) and Invective (2014).

Publication date to be announced.

Table of Contents for Canadians and War Volume 2: Vimy Ridge

 Now available Canadians and War Volume 2: Vimy Ridge


Lammi Publishing, Inc. is pleased to release the table of contents for our book of essays on the Battle of  Vimy Ridge  to be released shortly.

 

“A Dominion Comes of Age: The Battle of Vimy Ridge” by Karen Hann

Karen Hann
Karen Hann is a freelance writer and editor living in Lethbridge, Alberta. She received her Bachelor of Arts (English) degree at the University of Lethbridge and her Master of Arts (English; Creative Writing) degree at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton.

 

“How did the Canadian Corps Achieve the Magnificent Victory at Vimy Ridge when Other Allied Armies Failed?” by W.A. Leavey

Lieutenant Colonel W.A. (Bill) Leavey, MA, CD (Retired)
Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) W.A. (Bill) Leavey served in the Canadian Army Infantry from 1967 to 2008. The field units he served in include the Black Watch, Royal Highland Regiment of Canada (RHC), the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR), the Canadian Airborne Regiment (CAR), and the Princess of Wales Own Regiment (PWOR). From 1994 to 1998 he was seconded with Veterans Affairs Canada as military liaison officer for the Canada Remembers Program, a commemoration group celebrating battle and campaign anniversaries for all of Canada’s major wartime events. LCol Leavey holds a Master’s degree in English from the Royal Military College. He has written two books of anecdotes for the RHC and RCR, entitled War Stories, Anecdotes and Lies. LCol Leavey has also published numerous stories, articles, and essays on military humour and humour in general in local and national magazines and newspapers. He lives in Kingston, Ontario with his wife Maureen, a 35-year veteran herself, and their Labradoodle Finnegan

 

“Vimy Ridge: Sons and Brothers” by Keith Elliott

Keith Elliott
Keith Elliott is a stonecutter and artist living in Wallace, Nova Scotia. His blog can be found at www.ramblingriverside.com

 

 

 

Table of Contents for Canadians and War, Vol. 1

The book is now available directly through the publisher or through all major ebook retailers.


Lammi Publishing, Inc. is pleased to release the table of contents for our first semi-annual essay collection on Canadian military history.

Lunenburg’s “Quiet Riot” and Maritime Resistance to the 1917 Military Service Act
by Maryanne Lewell

Maryanne Lewell is a PhD candidate at the University of New Brunswick, where she is studying the Acadians of the Maritime Provinces in the Great War. She is also a high school history teacher at Saint John High School, where she has taught since 2002.

Canada’s Eagles over HUSKY: Canadian Airmen in the Battle of Sicily
by Alexander Fitzgerald-Black

Alex has been published in a number of popular and academic periodicals. Most recently, he wrote an article for Airforce Magazine entitled “Two Canadian Aces of ‘The Greatest Air Battle of the Mediterranean War.’” In late 2013, “Canadian Airmen over Italy” appeared in Legion Magazine. Earlier that year, he co-authored “Husky’s Price: A Window on 21 Lives Lost in Sicily” in Canadian Military History, having previously published in that leading academic journal in 2012. He maintains a blog focusing mainly on his historical research at www.alexfitzblack.wordpress.com and is a contributor to balloonstodrones.wordpress.com. He also posts regularly on twitter as @alexfitzblack.  He has an MA in History from the University of New Brunswick and is presently working to turn his thesis into a manuscript.

Who Were Their Liberators?
by Matthew Douglass

Matthew Douglass is a Fredericton native. He obtained his Masters in History at the University of New Brunswick in 2013, where he examined the combat effectiveness of the New Brunswick Rangers, an Independent Heavy Machine Gun company during the Second World War. He was a participant of the 2012 Canadian Battlefields Foundation Tour to France and Belgium, and the following summer he took part in the Canadian-American Staff Ride Tour of Sicily that coincided with the 70th Anniversary commemoration tour. He is currently expanding his MA thesis into a manuscript for the New Brunswick Military Heritage Project series while also pursuing an MBA. Matt can be found on Twitter using the handle @matty_d_89

Canadian Army Humour: Second World War
By Lieutenant Colonel W.A. (Bill) Leavey, MA, CD (Retired)

Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) W.A. (Bill) Leavey served in the Canadian Army Infantry from 1967 to 2008. The field units he served in include the Black Watch, Royal Highland Regiment of Canada (RHC), the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR), the Canadian Airborne Regiment (CAR), and the Princess of Wales Own Regiment (PWOR). From 1994 to 1998 he was seconded with Veterans Affairs Canada as military liaison officer for the Canada Remembers Program, a commemoration group celebrating battle and campaign anniversaries for all of Canada’s major wartime events. LCol Leavey holds a Master’s degree in English from the Royal Military College. He has written two books of anecdotes for the RHC and RCR, entitled War Stories, Anecdotes and Lies. LCol Leavey has also published numerous stories, articles, and essays on military humour and humour in general in local and national magazines and newspapers. He lives in Kingston, Ontario with his wife Maureen, a 35-year veteran herself, and their granddaughter Maggee, 11, and her pet rabbit Humphrey.

 

 Purchase  Canadians and War, Vol. 1 now!

Dr. Charles H. Read Jr’s Memoirs of HMS Nabob Acquired

Lammi Publishing inc. is pleased to announce that it has acquired the worldwide electronic English language rights to the wartime memoirs of Dr. Charles H. Read, Jr.

Dr. Read served as a flight surgeon aboard HMS Nabob, the first aircraft carrier crewed mainly by Canadians as part of the Royal Navy. We believe that this is the first memoir published that will focus on the experience of the crew. Most of the material written about the vessel has been based around the ship’s specifications, rather than those who served. The book describes Dr. Read’s determination to be a member of the crew as well as his perceptions on the crewmen and wartime England. The memoir concludes with the ship’s participation in the attack on the Tirpitz, where it was torpedoed by U-354.

Those fascinated in the naval history of the Second World War and Canadian naval history will be particularly interested by his account of the ship’s torpedoing and recovery operations. His criticisms of the ship’s Captain Nelson Lay are likely to cause a re-evaluation of the captain’s actions.

Sadly Dr. Read passed away last week at the age of 97. We send our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

The book is now in the editing phase. Title and publication date will be announced. It will be released through all major distribution channels and in appropriate formats. For updates please join our mailing list or follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.

Losing History

Centurions

I was reading a competitors book over the weekend on Roman Centurions where it was pointed out that we don’t know the rules governing promotions and the like.  [1]  Presumably the historians that wrote things down either believed that their audiences didn’t care about such things or for that matter already would’ve known them. Which causes a problem trying to reconstruct things from the limited evidence we have.

I think there’s a perception that especially today information is infinite. Where politicians and even sometimes private citizens will have their innermost thoughts and often feelings dumped out over social media for all the world to point and laugh at. But we forget just how vital it is to have primary sources. Think of all those Canadians who served in the second world war for instance. How many of them wrote memoirs? How many firefights, Atlantic convoys or bombing runs over Germany have only been written about once or twice? Yes perhaps by absolutely no one. A line in the war diary or notation on a casualty sheet is all

This is not to slight secondary sources far from it. But without those sources so much of history would simply be markers moving back-and-forth on a map. Without any context. Showing what bravery duty and sacrifice was required. It would be something that we as historians would be impoverished without.

What you can do

Maybe you served and have taken the time to write something about your experiences. We would love to hear from you. Then again you may have a family member, friend or colleague who you know served please let them know that we are here and we are interested. Take a look at our submission guidelines page. It would be terrible to lose anymore history.


1.Raffaele D’Amato, Roman Centurions 753-31 BC : the kingdom and the Age of Consuls (Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 2011), Kindle edition. chap. Career and Status

 

Link Roundup for May 4th 2015 

Here are this weeks interesting links.

Centennial  commemorations of the  Battle of Gorlice.  The Eastern front of WWI is one of those areas that I’m weaker on. So it’s always good to come across stuff like this.

John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields was written on May 3RD 1915. Generations of Canadian schoolchildren can probably recite bits and pieces of it.  Technology was used to connect Canadian and Belgian schoolchildren. A statue was also unveiled. Notice the mistake in the article. Gas was first used in the East.

Link Roundup for April 27th 2015 

This past week there were two major stories. The commemoration of the Gallipoli landing and the centennial of the start of the Armenian genocide.. Here’s what jumped out.

Unfortunately most of the coverage of the genocide has been preoccupied with the current debate. Fortunately there have been a few articles that delve deeper into the history of the events. For example this piece from the BBC.

Over on the Gallipoli peninsula,  Thousands gather at dawn ceremony to mark Gallipoli centenary  This article about Australia’s role in the Pacific during WWI was something that I hadn’t Heard about. One of the hopes with our publishing program is to bring to light these lesser-known campaigns.

The iron harvest we often hear about in relation to northwest Europe. However it’s amazing to think just where unexploded ordinance can be found like  on a New Jersey college campus.

First World War Centennial Links April 20th 2015

So many events, commemorations and  stories are coming out since it’s the centennial of the First World War. It can be hard to keep track of everything. Here are  a few links that caught our attention in the last week or so. 

Queen honors Calgary Highlanders, Royal Hamilton Light Infantry and the Canadian Scottish Regiments. This is part of ceremonies for the Second Battle of Ypres. 

New Zealand exhibition opens. Looks fascinating particularly Peter Jackson’s involvement how technology is integrated with the artifacts.  

Every year around this time  poll results are released by the Vimy Foundation  discussin Canadians engagement with our military history. Here are this years numbers. Renaming the $20? 

And finally in more museum news, Lethbridge Military Museum opens  When doing research for trips it’s often smaller museums like this that have some of the most unusual artifacts. Hopefully they’ll have an online presence shortly.

From WWi

The Christmas Truce and Historical Coverage

First of all a Merry Christmas and happy new year to all. The centenary of the Christmas Truce of 1914 is naturally in the news right now. While Canadian units were not involved it has brought up an interesting question. Why is their cultural memory about certain events and not about others?

Christmas Truce

For the Christmas Truce, it probably has something to do with the traditional view of WWI as an annihilation of a generation to little purpose. There is an often quoted line about lions led by donkeys; laying aside whether or not this is accurate and has sparked debate amongst historians in the last couple of decades. The events also make for a good story. Humanity even between combatants.

As for the wider question as a publisher, one of the things we consider as we look at areas to publish is the balance between what is popular and what is militarily relevant. Sometimes these are the same. It’s hard to underestimate the impact of say Waterloo on 19 century European and therefore world history. What about an example that’s less clear cut?

Gettysburg

Compare the Battle of Gettysburg and fall of Vicksburg from the American Civil War. Many more books have been written about Gettysburg. Some of this naturally has to do with the wealth of primary material to go on. Which one was more militarily significance? If the second invasion of the north hadn’t been launched at all would the North still would’ve triumphed after seizing the Mississippi? In all likelihood yes it would have simply made Grant’s movement South even bloodier. The only way Gettysburg becomes more significant is in an alternate history scenario. The Army of the Potomac is defeated, leading to the capture of Washington or enough of a disruption to the northern government and economy to demand piece negotiations.

So where does this leave us as a publisher? Simply put, we’re happy to consider both possibilities. However, if a work is going to go over well tilled soil, we are looking for something different. This can be on a level of analysis or use of unexploited sources.