Behind Enemy Lines

Sep 22, 2024 3:19 PM

Author:Tommy Macpherson,Richard Bath

Behind Enemy Lines

With three Military Crosses, three Croix de guerre, a Légion d'honneur and a papal knighthood for his heroics during the Second World War, Sir Tommy Macpherson is the most decorated living soldier of the British Army.

Yet for 65 years the Highlander's story has remained untold. Few know how, aged 21, he persuaded 23,000 SS soldiers of the feared Das Reich tank column to surrender, or how Tommy almost single-handedly stopped Tito's Yugoslavia annexing the whole of north-east Italy. Twice captured, he escaped both times, marching through hundreds of miles of German-held territory to get home.

Still a schoolboy when war broke out, Tommy quickly matured into a legendary commando, and his remarkable story features a dizzyingly diverse cast of characters, including Winston Churchill, Field Marshal Montgomery and Charles de Gaulle.

Reviews

My book of the year, without question . . . reads like a combination of a Biggles adventure and Dick Barton

—— Jeffrey Archer in Books of the Year 2010 , Daily Telegraph

One of Scotland's most courageous sons

—— Sunday Herald

Recreates the adventure

—— The Times Literary Supplement

[An] engaging and sprightly book... Each chapter is telegenic, tele-visual even. We get vivid re-creations of places, personalities and events

—— CJ Tyerman , Times Literary Supplement

He [Phillips] has a real gift for highlighting the picturesque and for bringing the past alive." "With its crisp management, accessible style and deft characterisation, this book stakes a strong claim to be the most appealing narrative account of the Crusades for a general audience.

—— BBC History Magazine

With a dramatist's panache, Jonathan Phillips brings the leading characters and most suspenseful episodes of the Crusades to riveting life, even rendering figures such as Richard the Lionheart and Saladin fresh again...the violence, insanity, courage and belief here make for irresistible reading

—— Benjamin Evans , Sunday Telegraph

Concise, character-driven and draws modern parallels

—— Telegraph

Manifestly a genius, a comic surrealist genius and had no equal

—— Terry Wogan

A totally original comedy writer

—— Michael Palin

Osborne has written a fluent and fascinating book.... Read and enjoy this remarkable book

—— THES

A rich and fascinating portrait of a genius whose life was tragically ended before its time

—— Gay Times

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