Projects of this scale and ambition can never be achieved without a considerable amount of help, and I owe huge thanks to a number of people. First of all, I am very grateful to all the veterans who, over the past dozen years or so, have taken the trouble to talk to me at such length. I am also very grateful to all the staffs of the various museums and archives, although especial thanks go to Richard Hughes at the Imperial War Museum in London, to Doug McCabe at the University of Ohio, all the staff at the Deutsches Tagebucharchiv in Emmendingen and the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv in Freiburg, the staff at the United States Army Heritage Center at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, and Cathy Pugh of the Second World War Experience Centre in Yorkshire.
I have been fortunate enough to be able to pick the brains of a number of friends and colleagues, including Professor John Buckley and Professor David Zabecki. However, there are five people to whom I am particularly grateful and who have all become great friends, and who have freely given plenty of wise counsel and sage advice whenever they have been asked. The first is my good friend Sebastian Cox, Head of the Air Historical Branch at RAF Northolt. The second is another good friend Stephen Prince, Head of the Naval Historical Branch at Portsmouth. Professor Jeremy Black has also been a much-valued friend and academic mentor. Professor Rick Hillum is my technical guru and the best advisor I could hope for on any scientific matters. My greatest thanks, however, go to Dr Peter Caddick-Adams, whose perspectives, vast knowledge and friendship have been invaluable. Thank you.
A number of other people have helped with translations and research. In France, Elizabeth Gausseron and Alienor Youchtchenko; in Italy, James Owen. My thanks, also, to David Walsh, a great friend who accompanied me to the various Italian archives. In Germany, Michelle Miles and Ingo Maerker have carried out an impressive amount of work and have become good friends as well as colleagues. Frances Bryon also helped with some key research, for which I am very grateful. Huge thanks are also due to Lalla Hitchings for transcribing so many of my interviews, but also to Tom and Mark Hitchings for their help with this too. My thanks to you all.
A number of other friends and colleagues have helped along the way: Oliver Barnham, David Christopherson, Peter Day, Rebecca Dobbs, Freya Eden-Ellis, Tobin Jones, Rob Owen, James Petrie, Richard Pocock, James Shopland, Guy Walters, Rowland White and Aaron Young. All have contributed in one way or another. And my thanks, also, to Colonel Simon Browne and Tim Lupprian for reading and checking the proofs.
I would also like to thank all those at Bantam Press and Grove Atlantic. To Larry Finlay, Mads Toy, Steve Mulcahey, Darcy Nicholson, Phil Lord, Vivien Thompson, Mark Handsley and all at Bantam – thank you so much. Particular thanks, however, go to Jamison Stoltz in New York, who has been a superb editor, and to Bill Scott-Kerr in London, who could not have been a better friend and supporter. To you both, huge thanks.
Thank you, also, to everyone at Conville and Walsh, but especially Patrick Walsh – a great agent and even better friend.
Finally, I would like to thank my family. Writing this book has been rather all-consuming at times, and they have had to put up with much. I am, I promise, eternally grateful. Rachel, Ned and Daisy – thank you.