Reviews

Churchill's Hellraisers: The Secret Mission to Storm a Forbidden Nazi Fortress by Damien Lewis

readrunrepeat42's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.5

wordsareweapons's review against another edition

5.0

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy for review.

This was such an enjoyable and informative read about a part of WW2 that is honestly, vastly overlooked when one talks or reads about the war. I was completely enthralled by the story of Lees, Farran and their motley crew of Italian partisans, and the wide variety of people that joined their fight in the Italian mountains. I didn't realize just how much guerilla warfare took place during WW2 but there was quite a bit. By the time we start this part of the war Lees and Farran had both amassed a slew of hit-and-run operations at quite young ages. That was another, slightly mind blowing fact, most of these guys had huge reputations at the ages of 20 to 25 years old.

I really enjoyed the way Lewis set out the story as well. It honestly read more like a story than just straight out facts with dry statistics. You really feel yourself pulled into what these guys were going through. I for one, am definitely intrigued and will be checking out a few of the books mentioned in the bibliography that go into more detail of each of these individuals wartime lives.

catherine_t's review

5.0

Churchill's Hellraisers focuses on two men: Major Roy Farren of the SAS (Special Air Service) and Captain Mike Lees of the SOE (Special Operations Executive). Both men had distinguished careers earlier in the war, but it's when they come together in northern Italy, on the Nazis' Gothic Line, that their combined influence really made things happen. Because Lees and Farren, along with about a hundred other men (British SAS and SOE operatives, combined with Italian partisans, a group of Russian POW escapees, and a few German defectors), came up with a plan to attack the headquarters of the Nazis' 14 Army division in Botteghe to break their morale and force a way through the Gothic Line for the Allies.

You couldn't make this stuff up. If you did, no one would believe it. But this is history. Damien Lewis spins an exciting tale of derring-do in the Appenines. I could hardly bear to put the book down, always wanting to know what mad scheme Lees would come up with next. Highly recommended!

stevenk's review against another edition

3.0

The story of the SAS and SOE operatives working behind the Gothic Line in Northern Italy in WWII. These men were a unique bunch, from their leaders Major Roy Farran and Captain Michael Lees who planned and lead operations, to David "The Mad Piper" Kilpatrick parachuting in with kilt and bagpipes to lend the operation a British flair, Russian defectors, Spanish Civil war veterans, and . They were "outside the box" thinkers that sacrificed a lot to the war and didn't take the easy out that so many of them could have. Great stories of guerilla raids and the work of the locals to help the Allies to liberate Italy from the Nazis. While these men were great field agents the politics of the war and post war world didn't treat them all fairly and this book tells their exciting stories. I received a free Kindle edition of this book through the Goodreads First Reads giveaways.