This book could not have been written without the help of a great many people, most notably the veterans mentioned in the text and their families, who without exception co-operated freely and beyond what could be reasonably expected: Ken Anderson; Jenny Altschuler; Dick Bowery; Henry Bowles; Tom Bowles; Tim Bowles; Hazel Boylan; Sam Bradshaw; Ralph Burbridge; Willie Chapman; David Christopherson; Charles Coles; Squadron Leader Bryan Colston, DFC; Wing Commander Hank Costain, MBE; Bob Cullen; James D’Arcy Clark; Alf Davies; L. Gordon Delp; Petrus Dhlamini; Group Captain Billy Drake, DSO, DFC*, DFC (US); Colonel ‘Duke’ Ellington; Ray Ellis; Elaine Paulsen Evans; Frances Evans; Warren Evans; David Fairbairn; Joe Furayter; Jennifer Kernaghan and Mrs Stanley Kernaghan; Christopher Lee; Bob Hall; Ted Hardy; Harold Harper; Sir Stephen Hastings, MC; Robert Hornback; Earl Jellicoe, MC; Robert Kolowski; Xavier Krebs; Joe Madeley; Mangal Singh; Albert Martin; Sir Carol Mather, MC; Bill McInnes; Pete McInnes; Len Meerholz; George Monroe; Sophie Moss; Nainabahadur Pun; Ken Neill, DFC; Adam Nicolson; Nigel Nicolson; Maiki Parkinson; Frank Read; Captain Jim Reed; Ida Paulsen; Randolph Paulsen; Marcy Roberts; Raymond Saidel; Vernon Scannell; Dennis Scott; Gerald Schwartz; Marnie Terhune; Tommy Thompson, DFC; George Vaughan; Frank Vidor; Bucky Walters; Ronnie Ward, DSC; Sarah Weinronk; and George Williams.
I would also like to thank the various staffs of the archives around the world who helped put me in the right direction and offered guidance and advice. In particular, I would like to thank the following: Dr Peter Liddle, Cathy Pugh, Lesley Burke and the staff at the Second World War Experience Centre; Dr Christopher Dowling, Roderick Suddaby and his team, Richard Hughes and Laurie Milner, at the Imperial War Museum in London; Jeffrey Suchanek at the University of Kentucky Oral History Program; Steve De Agrela at CMI Documentation Centre in Pretoria; Erika Dowell at the Lilly Library, Indiana University; Gavin Edgerley at the Gurkha Museum in Winchester; Eric Marenga, Hamish Paterson, and Rowena Wilkinson at the South African National Museum of History in Johannesburg. I would also like to particularly thank Dr Monty Soutar of the History Group at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage in New Zealand, and Arthur Blake in South Africa for their enormous help.
Particular thanks also go to Major-General Julian Thompson and Robert Boyle for their military expertise; and to Trevor Chaytor-Norris and James Petrie for accompanying me on trips to Egypt and Tunisia respectively. Major Peter Ridlington travelled on foot through the hills of Nepal to interview Nainabahadur Pun, while Jane Martens conducted interviews in France and researched Pierre Messmer – special thanks go to them. I am also enormously grateful to Professor Jeremy Black and to my father, Martin Holland, for reading through the manuscript and for their suggestions. I am also indebted to Lalla Hitchings, who transcribed nearly all of the interviews I conducted with the veterans – thank you.
I would also like to thank the following: John Agius; Major Jon Bartholomew; David Berry; Giles Bourne; Artemis Cooper; Mr Dhatt; Lt-Col. David Eadie; Lt-Col. Patrick Emerson, OBE; John Evans, Secretary of the Hampshire Regiment Comrades Association, Southampton Branch; Frederick Galea; Emma Gardner; Herb Harper, 98th BG Association; Mo Harper; James Hitchings, Mark Hitchings, Tom Hitchings; Tim Holt; Kitty Jenkins; Lt-Col. Hugh Keating, Curator of the Hampshire Regiment Museum; Mr R. A. Morris; Edward Neubold, 79th FG Association; Major Tim O’Leary; Mr Seitz, 98th BG Association; Captain Trevor Rowbotham, RN; Erika Rubel; Christopher Shores; Barry Soutar; Captain John Taylor, Rajputana Rifles Association; Guy Walters and Rowland White.
Enormous thanks are also due to Emma Parry at Fletcher & Parry; Jonathan Burnham and all who have helped at Miramax Books; to Jane Bennett, Terence Caven, Barry Clark, Jane Harris, Melanie Haselden, Arjen Jansen, Rachel Nicholson, Bartley Shaw, Rachel Smyth, and everyone else at HarperCollins; Peter Wilkinson for producing the maps; Michael Cox for his brilliant editing; and Ed Jespers, Jo Cooke, Clare Conville, and the team at Conville and Walsh. However, especial thanks go to three people: Patrick Walsh, Trevor Dolby, and my wife, Rachel.