Rifleman - New edition: A Frontline Life from the Battles of Alamein and Arnhem to the Bombing of Dresden

Description

'Victor Gregg is the most remarkable spokesman for the war generation' Dan Snow 'A classic' Mail on Sunday 'Astonishing' James Holland Born in 1919, Victor Gregg enlisted in the Rifle Brigade aged just eighteen and began a life of adventure. A soldier throughout the Second World War, he saw action across North Africa, was a driver for the Long Range Desert group and fought at the battle of Alamein. Taken into captivity at the Battle of Arnhem in 1944, he was sentenced to death for sabotaging a Dresden factory; he escaped only when the Allies' infamous air raid blew apart his prison and very soon encountered the advancing Red Army. Revised and expanded with exclusive new material in time for Gregg's 100th birthday, Rifleman is the extraordinary story of an independent-minded and quick-witted survivor.

VICTOR GREGG was born in London in 1919 and joined the army in 1937, serving first in the Rifle Brigade in Palestine and North Africa, notably at the Battle of Alamein, and then with the Parachute Regiment, at the Battle of Arnhem. As a prisoner of war he survived the bombing of Dresden to be repatriated in 1946. The story of his adult years, Rifleman, was published by Bloomsbury in 2011, and the prequel, King's Cross Kid, in 2013. Both were co-written with Rick Stroud. Victor Gregg died in 2021, aged 102. RICK STROUD is a film, television director and author. He lives on a houseboat in London.

Searingly honest in his appraisal of what that conflict did to the world, on society and, above all, on himself -- DAN SNOW Quite simply, it is one of the best first-hand accounts that I have read ... This gripping book immediately joins a select band of the best soldiers' stories told from the sharp end * MAIL ON SUNDAY * Hugely entertaining and often moving ... As action-packed as any fiction, and yet this is no novel - Gregg's adventures were real. His is truly an astonishing story -- JAMES HOLLAND One of the most shocking accounts of warfare you will ever read ... An account of heartache, violence and cunning by a man whose will to survive and unbreakable optimism are a true inspiration * INDEPENDENT * A thrilling story of a young man in extraordinary circumstances ... Rifleman is an outstanding book that deserves to become a classic -- LLOYD CLARK Fascinating ... a gut-wrenching read * SUN * Evocative, detailed and unsentimental - gets us wonderfully close-up -- DAVID KYNASTON His coldly factual account of the torments of its burned-to-death victims exceeds in power even Kurt Vonnegut's famous fictional account, Slaughterhouse Five ... Warrior Gregg has seen and experienced the stuff of nightmares, but remains a chirpy optimist in his 90s * DAILY MIRROR * Intensely moving * MAIL ON SUNDAY * It reads like the best fiction * SAGA * Vic's honesty and warmth shine through this engaging story * CHOICE * Completely fascinating. This feels like one of the last voices of a vital generation. For the first-hand account of the Dresden fire-bombing alone, this is gripping reading. It has an immediate power throughout that makes war fiction a pale shadow of the real thing -- CONN IGGULDEN