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Forgotten Voices of the Second World War: A New History of the Second World War in the Words of the Men and Women Who Were There
The Imperial War Museum holds a vast archive of interviews with soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians of most nationalities who saw action during WW2. As in the highly acclaimed "Forgotten Voices of the Great War", Max Arthur and his team of researchers will spend hundreds of hours digging deep into this unique archive, uncovering tapes, many of which have not been listened to since they were created in the early 1970s. The result will be the first complete aural history of the war. We hear at first from British, German and Commonwealth soldiers and civilians. Accounts of the impact of the U. S. involvement after Pearl Harbour and the major effects that had on the war in Europe and the Far East is chronicled in startling detail, including compelling interviews from U. S. and British troops who fought against the Japanese. Continuing through from D-Day, to the Rhine Crossing and the dropping of the Atom Bomb in August 1945, this book is a unique testimony to one of the world's most dreadful conflicts. One of the hallmarks of Max Arthur's work is the way he involves those left behind on the home front as well as those working in factories or essential services. Their voices will not be neglected.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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426 people want to read
About the author
Max Arthur
85 books41 followersMax Arthur is an author who specialises in first-hand recollections of historical events. He has worked closely with the Imperial War Museum to bring together two books in the Forgotten Voices series, Forgotten Voices of the Great War and Forgotten Voices of the Second World War. Prior to becoming a writer, he served with the Royal Air Force and for some years was an actor.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
October 19, 2017
Present day keyboard warriors should read this collection and take note. There is a price to pay for going to war and these men and women paid it.
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January 25, 2010I enjoyed this in parts--the section on the Normandy landings was fab. But overall I found that despite over 300-some "contributors," there is only ONE "voice" that emerges, which is that of Max Arthur, who put the book together. Every speaker sounds the same. Many of their stories are moving, but they do not come across as individuals (despite the insertion of the word "wee" instead of "little" here and there to indicate Scottishness).
Also, because the overwhelming majority of the contributors are British soldiers and airmen, the stories told are mostly of combat. There are scarcely any tales of civilian life, resistance, hiding, the concentration camps, the Eastern Front... The atomic bombings of Aug. 1945 are represented solely through the eyes of one British radio operator who happened to be in Nagasaki at the time. An interesting viewpoint, but it seems like this really deserves a bit MORE. A nurse, a teacher, a Japanese pilot, maybe? Don't their voices count? Throughout the book, I can't recall any Russians or Burmese represented, despite the detailed descriptions of the Far Eastern theater of war. Elsewhere we find a sprinkling of Americans and Poles and maybe one or two French/Italians--maybe one Japanese. The occasional token appearance of 1) a civilian girl or 2) a German pilot is jarring and tantalizing and frustrating all at once. WHERE ARE THE OTHERS??? Isn't this supposed to be a catalogue of "forgotten" voices? What are Edward Ardizzone and Lord Louis Mountbatten doing here? Um, hello, I know who they are.
Now, we all know that I am prejudiced Flygirl-wise, but I think a case in point is the single contibution recorded here (on p. 473, after the war is over), of Margaret Gore of the AIR TRANSPORT AUXILIARY--ie, a woman who was one of some not-quite-200 female ferry pilots in Britain and the ONLY women pilots flying with the Western Allies. Here's the sum total of her "forgotten voice" as quoted in this volume:
"I think that in Britain, the black market had undermined people's honesty, and I think as a society, we were much less honest afterwards. I think it all started because we did scrounge petrol and nylons, and extra butter and so on. I think it all started in the war."
Now, CALL ME BIASED, but I think that a female ATA Ferry Pilot might actually have a More Interesting Contribution to make to a book titled "Forgotten Voices of the Second World War" than 50 words grumbling about her perceived postwar dishonesty in British society.
(Ironically, Lettice Curtis's book about the women of the ATA is called The Forgotten Pilots.)
Also, because the overwhelming majority of the contributors are British soldiers and airmen, the stories told are mostly of combat. There are scarcely any tales of civilian life, resistance, hiding, the concentration camps, the Eastern Front... The atomic bombings of Aug. 1945 are represented solely through the eyes of one British radio operator who happened to be in Nagasaki at the time. An interesting viewpoint, but it seems like this really deserves a bit MORE. A nurse, a teacher, a Japanese pilot, maybe? Don't their voices count? Throughout the book, I can't recall any Russians or Burmese represented, despite the detailed descriptions of the Far Eastern theater of war. Elsewhere we find a sprinkling of Americans and Poles and maybe one or two French/Italians--maybe one Japanese. The occasional token appearance of 1) a civilian girl or 2) a German pilot is jarring and tantalizing and frustrating all at once. WHERE ARE THE OTHERS??? Isn't this supposed to be a catalogue of "forgotten" voices? What are Edward Ardizzone and Lord Louis Mountbatten doing here? Um, hello, I know who they are.
Now, we all know that I am prejudiced Flygirl-wise, but I think a case in point is the single contibution recorded here (on p. 473, after the war is over), of Margaret Gore of the AIR TRANSPORT AUXILIARY--ie, a woman who was one of some not-quite-200 female ferry pilots in Britain and the ONLY women pilots flying with the Western Allies. Here's the sum total of her "forgotten voice" as quoted in this volume:
"I think that in Britain, the black market had undermined people's honesty, and I think as a society, we were much less honest afterwards. I think it all started because we did scrounge petrol and nylons, and extra butter and so on. I think it all started in the war."
Now, CALL ME BIASED, but I think that a female ATA Ferry Pilot might actually have a More Interesting Contribution to make to a book titled "Forgotten Voices of the Second World War" than 50 words grumbling about her perceived postwar dishonesty in British society.
(Ironically, Lettice Curtis's book about the women of the ATA is called The Forgotten Pilots.)
October 25, 2016
This isn't as thorough as Forgotten Voices of the First World War (also compiled by Max Arthur.) The reason being that there were such numerous and varied campaigns during the WW2 that there's just too much information for only one book. It often felt that some aspects were not given enough pages. There was so much more that should have been included in more depth and because of this I think it would have been much better for this book to have been split into two books, one for the western campaign and one for the eastern campaign. I've certainly been left wanting to know more about quite a few aspects and would have liked to have heard from a few more voices. The Atomic bombing for example seemed to be very sparsely covered. It felt like a bit of an abrupt rush at the end.
The other slight issue with this book (compared to the WW1 book) is that warfare had changed so much between the two World Wars and as such equipment, weapons and terminology was much more complicated. Often I had no idea what all the terminology meant in this second book, which did affect the flow of my reading and overall understanding; whereas the first book was much more simple to understand and as such I was able to read it without needing a break. Both books were extremely moving but this second book was more so due to the cruelty detailed.
Despite these flaws I would still recommend this second book - although - if you're going to read only one of these Forgotten Voices books then without a doubt the WW1 book is the far better choice; not only because it is more thorough; with less jargon but also because it's a much smaller book, so it's easier to carry around.
The other slight issue with this book (compared to the WW1 book) is that warfare had changed so much between the two World Wars and as such equipment, weapons and terminology was much more complicated. Often I had no idea what all the terminology meant in this second book, which did affect the flow of my reading and overall understanding; whereas the first book was much more simple to understand and as such I was able to read it without needing a break. Both books were extremely moving but this second book was more so due to the cruelty detailed.
Despite these flaws I would still recommend this second book - although - if you're going to read only one of these Forgotten Voices books then without a doubt the WW1 book is the far better choice; not only because it is more thorough; with less jargon but also because it's a much smaller book, so it's easier to carry around.
November 15, 2014
Part of a series of 'Forgotten Voices' books, this one covers the Second World War. All of the books are selections of transcripts of voice archives held at the Imperial War Museum in London. I have seen another review that criticised the book for giving little coverage to certain events, or for recording mostly the voices of Commonwealth soldiers and I do feel the need to defend this book against that criticism. This is, after all, compiled from the archives at a museum focussed on the Commonwealth forces, not American, German or Japanese forces.
I do feel however that this book felt less satisfactory than others in the series. The voices themselves are are fascinating and lively as ever. They describe the events they endured in such vivid detail that the reader is left in no doubt how horrific their experiences were. It is a sobering read.
I think the reason I found the book less satisfying was the subject matter itself - British and Commonwealth forces fought in so many campaigns - Europe, North Africa, Burma against different enemies, in wildly different conditions and using such different tactics that the subject feels too big for one book. And I haven't even mentioned the naval battles, the battle of Britain or the mass bombings of German cities, the Blitz, the Holocaust, codebreaking or the Burma railway. I could go on. Very few events get lengthy treatment and so I was often left wanting more.
I do feel however that this book felt less satisfactory than others in the series. The voices themselves are are fascinating and lively as ever. They describe the events they endured in such vivid detail that the reader is left in no doubt how horrific their experiences were. It is a sobering read.
I think the reason I found the book less satisfying was the subject matter itself - British and Commonwealth forces fought in so many campaigns - Europe, North Africa, Burma against different enemies, in wildly different conditions and using such different tactics that the subject feels too big for one book. And I haven't even mentioned the naval battles, the battle of Britain or the mass bombings of German cities, the Blitz, the Holocaust, codebreaking or the Burma railway. I could go on. Very few events get lengthy treatment and so I was often left wanting more.
May 25, 2021
In contrast to Max Arthur's similar book on the Great War, Forgotten Voices of the Second World War chafes somewhat against the limitations of the oral history format. Whereas the Great War experience was relatively linear – trench warfare with some occasional forays into air combat or Jutland or Gallipoli – and therefore allowed for greater intensity in the recollected experiences, Arthur's Second World War book must necessarily be more sprawling. There's more to cover – on land, sea and air, and in Europe, the Atlantic, the Pacific and Russia.
Consequently, this Forgotten Voices book strains under the effort of trying to contain all of the second war's multitudes. To do so, it relies on a conventional understanding of the war, which threatens to make the book stale, and discusses with excessive brevity many important events of the war, giving crib histories and, in some cases, only one eyewitness to an event. In Arthur's Great War book, you could soak into the mud of the relentless trench warfare and get to grips with its horror; here, much of the intensity of events is diluted.
Where the book does make its mark is later on, in the 1944-45 accounts. It may just be me, but it feels that, Arnhem aside, the second half of the war tends to feature much less in the British historical memory (and Arthur's book is definitely focused on the British and Commonwealth experience), so Forgotten Voices' emphasis on this period felt much fresher. The advance into Germany and the doodlebugs over London both get interesting coverage, as do (aptly enough, for a book titled Forgotten Voices) the efforts of the 'Forgotten Army' who fought the bloody Burma campaign in places like Kohima. (That said, the book in general seems to treat the war against Japan almost as an addendum to the Germany war.)
The book becomes much more engrossing in its final acts, with the oral history angle coming more into its own when the events covered are those less well-known. I was particularly struck at how British servicemen liberated in 1945 from German PoW camps – where they had been since 1940 – didn't recognise the approaching British uniforms and didn't know if they were friend or foe (pg. 415), and that some in a Japanese camp thought Eisenhower was "a bloody German" (pg. 450). Devoting time, at the end of the book, to the plight of the PoWs under Japanese barbarism was an honourable decision on the author's part, and the dissonant note struck in the final pages works very well. The accounts of those people who struggled to adjust to the outbreak of peace, and in some cases began to miss the purpose and togetherness war had brought, emphasise just how much harder it has been, in our culture, to process the Second World War compared to the First – something the book also wrestles with throughout and, in the end, surmounts.
Consequently, this Forgotten Voices book strains under the effort of trying to contain all of the second war's multitudes. To do so, it relies on a conventional understanding of the war, which threatens to make the book stale, and discusses with excessive brevity many important events of the war, giving crib histories and, in some cases, only one eyewitness to an event. In Arthur's Great War book, you could soak into the mud of the relentless trench warfare and get to grips with its horror; here, much of the intensity of events is diluted.
Where the book does make its mark is later on, in the 1944-45 accounts. It may just be me, but it feels that, Arnhem aside, the second half of the war tends to feature much less in the British historical memory (and Arthur's book is definitely focused on the British and Commonwealth experience), so Forgotten Voices' emphasis on this period felt much fresher. The advance into Germany and the doodlebugs over London both get interesting coverage, as do (aptly enough, for a book titled Forgotten Voices) the efforts of the 'Forgotten Army' who fought the bloody Burma campaign in places like Kohima. (That said, the book in general seems to treat the war against Japan almost as an addendum to the Germany war.)
The book becomes much more engrossing in its final acts, with the oral history angle coming more into its own when the events covered are those less well-known. I was particularly struck at how British servicemen liberated in 1945 from German PoW camps – where they had been since 1940 – didn't recognise the approaching British uniforms and didn't know if they were friend or foe (pg. 415), and that some in a Japanese camp thought Eisenhower was "a bloody German" (pg. 450). Devoting time, at the end of the book, to the plight of the PoWs under Japanese barbarism was an honourable decision on the author's part, and the dissonant note struck in the final pages works very well. The accounts of those people who struggled to adjust to the outbreak of peace, and in some cases began to miss the purpose and togetherness war had brought, emphasise just how much harder it has been, in our culture, to process the Second World War compared to the First – something the book also wrestles with throughout and, in the end, surmounts.
July 8, 2022
What a wonderful book! It's quite the best non-fiction book I've read for a few years. It's poignant, moving, and it brings the reader right alongside those brave, heroic soldiers, sailors and airmen, as they drag themselves up the Omaha beach on D-Day, watching their colleagues being blown to bits, or face the Japanese in the stinking foetid jungles of Burma. It's also a tribute to the civilians, battered to shreds in the Blitz, nurses, doctors, civilians of all shapes and sizes. The prosaic, matter-of-fact nature of the narratives is typically British - understated, humorous, modest yet courageous beyond our understanding. When one thinks of this greedy, meretricious society we have engendered for ourselves, reading this book ought to make one realise just how much we owe these wonderful fighting men and women and how thankful we should be that we didn't have to face these evil Nazi swine who almost conquered us. Everyone, I mean everyone, should read this book - it's a salutary, sobering yet uplifting experience.
March 20, 2017
A fascinating and insightful first-person account of the second world war, mainly told from a British perspective, although there are contributions from other nations. If you want to truly understand a period in history, there's no substitute for hearing from the people who lived through it and there is probably no more extraordinary time in the past 100 years. This diverse selection of voices was drawn from the Imperial War Museum archives and ranges from 39-45 and covers all theatres, from the home front to the far east, as well as all the major battles, from the phoney war to the final occupation of Germany. A unique and memorable record, it offers anecdotes and testimony which range from the interesting and intriguing, to the amusing, to the truly horrifying. A must-read for students and scholars of the second world war.
February 14, 2024
This is very abridged and probably meant for secondary school students. However, it does give a helpful timeline of events and campaigns during WW2 and gives quotes from people at home and in the German forces as well as quotes from members of British and American forces so has a quite balanced feel to it. I was disappointed with this book as I was researching my fathers naval records of WW2 and thought I had bought the much more detailed and comprehensive version. Their titles are almost indistinguishable from one another on Amazon.
January 24, 2022
Good read and insight from so many people directly involved or not in the Second World War. The sacrifices all of them made to the effort to defeat evil is incomparable and humbling. There are quite a few moving stories in this from start to finish. I think the whole of modern society should read this to remind them of what is really important and the sacrifices people went through for 6 years or longer compared to the relatively minor forfeits we’ve all had during COVID.
August 14, 2023
A good book to read for all those who think that wars are both wonderful and honourable; they are neither. Through the pages of this book one will find the horrors, the bravery, and above all the sacrifices of so many who would have preferred to just live their lives peacefully and go on to a ripe old age, for some neither occurred. So take a punt, read this book and see what things were really like.
January 15, 2018
Very bity as some quotes are barely 4 lines long. So a dip into (toilet?) book rather than something to get lost in. One chapter for every year of WWII but so many 'voices' (including German) that overall it's a rather incoherent patchwork. Some great tales that it's impossible not to like this book but ultimately not a keeper
November 7, 2020
This is an excellent 'bedside table' companion type of book, with diary excerpts of interviews from soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians from all sides of the war.
Some of the first hand accounts really transport you back in time, and this would be a great book for all school children to read ... if only to teach them the horrors of war.
Some of the first hand accounts really transport you back in time, and this would be a great book for all school children to read ... if only to teach them the horrors of war.
April 27, 2023
This book was so Informative, gripping and eye opening. People from every walk of life get a voice and it’s put into such a way that you want to listen to what they say and it brings the reality of the war to life
June 20, 2017
Moving, insightful, immediate.
April 2, 2022
Powerful and emotional!
April 12, 2023
Compared to the other one (Forgotten Voices of the Great War) I was disappointed with this one. There was plenty there that was precisely what I had come to expect from the book on the previous war, but overall I found the quality less. There were certain testimonies and sections that were good and everything I had loved about the first, but the range of testimony was a lot less evenly spread and some that was promised was almost completely missing. One of the book's lures for me was that it focused on civilians as well as soldiers -- barely, it turned out, and it was lacking the depth I'd hoped for. I also found the soldiers' testimony a lot more technical in this, which, while not necessarily a bad thing, was a little dry compared to the more personal testimonies, and therefore stood out.
Some of this can't be helped -- Arthur works from recorded testimony in the archives of the Imperial War Museum, and he can only use what's there. The fact that he manages to consistently create a narrative despite the impossible number of options, and the organisational skills he demonstrates in doing so, is impressive. This book is a brilliant idea and I'm glad he's done it. With subjects so huge, oral history is really the only way, in my opinion, to bring them even remotely into focus. Had this been my only critique, it would have probably still been a four-star book just because of the value of its information and the fact that despite my gripes, there's still a lot there that's utterly fascinating. Unfortunately this edition at least was let down by an abysmal amount of typos. One or two might happen, but this one was riddled with typoes, sometimes multiple on a page spread. It was irritating, and to me it seemed like no serious editing had been done. I have transcribed words into text before, and some of the typos looked like the kind that come from listening and typing at the same time -- words that are totally different, but similar, born of fingers on autopilot and usually caught during editing. Other times, words were completely missed out, and on occasion this actually changed the meaning of the whole sentence (on one occasion, in the introduction no less, quite offensively). It's difficult for me to take a book seriously when it's utterly riddled like this, because clearly there's been a lack of care shown at some point in the process. With non-fiction books, and books like this especially, it undermines the trust I have in the material as well. If laziness is so evident in one area, what other corners have been cut?
Overall a shame. I wouldn't say I regret reading it, and I never found myself so bored I was skimming. But it was not as good as the previous one, which is a bummer, and it could definitely use some editing. I wonder if this has been fixed in later editions; I hope so.
Some of this can't be helped -- Arthur works from recorded testimony in the archives of the Imperial War Museum, and he can only use what's there. The fact that he manages to consistently create a narrative despite the impossible number of options, and the organisational skills he demonstrates in doing so, is impressive. This book is a brilliant idea and I'm glad he's done it. With subjects so huge, oral history is really the only way, in my opinion, to bring them even remotely into focus. Had this been my only critique, it would have probably still been a four-star book just because of the value of its information and the fact that despite my gripes, there's still a lot there that's utterly fascinating. Unfortunately this edition at least was let down by an abysmal amount of typos. One or two might happen, but this one was riddled with typoes, sometimes multiple on a page spread. It was irritating, and to me it seemed like no serious editing had been done. I have transcribed words into text before, and some of the typos looked like the kind that come from listening and typing at the same time -- words that are totally different, but similar, born of fingers on autopilot and usually caught during editing. Other times, words were completely missed out, and on occasion this actually changed the meaning of the whole sentence (on one occasion, in the introduction no less, quite offensively). It's difficult for me to take a book seriously when it's utterly riddled like this, because clearly there's been a lack of care shown at some point in the process. With non-fiction books, and books like this especially, it undermines the trust I have in the material as well. If laziness is so evident in one area, what other corners have been cut?
Overall a shame. I wouldn't say I regret reading it, and I never found myself so bored I was skimming. But it was not as good as the previous one, which is a bummer, and it could definitely use some editing. I wonder if this has been fixed in later editions; I hope so.
November 25, 2011
An interesting alternative to traditional historical accounts focusing entirely on the accounts people who were there. A bit like an anthology of the stories your grandparents used to tell.
Human interest is central then, and there are some amazing individual stories here that read together paint a realistic picture of the war; a picture of ordinary people caught up in the grand sweep of history and so also the consequence of other peoples decisions-no grand heroic airbrushed then but stories;memories and accounts, of suffering yes, but the also incompetance, innocence, inexperience,good fortune, comradeship, endurance, survival and simplicity. What often comes across is the emotional dimension; the contradiction of men for whom involvement meant obeying orders and duty rather than personal politics or hatred.
This sis a book with an overtly English emphasis. Consequently there are far to few accounts from other nationalities who were equally involved.
A very worthwhile read
May 8, 2015
Forgotten Voices of the Second World War draws on the vast collection of interviews of many individuals giving their experiences of the Second World War, with selected transcripts arranged in annual sections covering each year of the war with a brief overview of the events at the start of each section to place the transcripts in context. Because they are sourced from the IWM, there are omissions – the Eastern Front and the Pacific theatres are not featured, whilst non-British accounts are pretty rare all round. The various accounts included are pretty amazing, covering all sorts of memories, from a young woman’s experience of the Blitz to a soldier describing the killing of Japanese prisoners – the accounts have a non-pc rawness at times which makes them so much more personal. Very enjoyable.
November 25, 2008
An amazing book of World War II made up of the personal experiences of ordinary men and women from around the World- woven together in one book, and very moving. I enjoyed the different voices form all over the world...too often what I get to read is all American!
March 12, 2010
A nice collection of "quotes" and first person accounts of WWII organized along the timeline of the war. The weakness was that there may not have been enough background information if the reader was not already well aware of the events of the war.
March 6, 2013
Although important and very personal, I prefer to read a more fluid account using examples of personal accounts rather than it all being told through personal accounts. All should be read in conjunction with one another.
February 18, 2016
Follows the same format as the other "forgotten voices" very interesting book and covers allies and axis stories along with military and civilian tales. Charts the war from beginning to end in all theatres, well worth a read.
March 5, 2020
Nederlandse titel: "Vergeten stemmen van de tweede wereldoorlog"
March 18, 2013
History is so often about the choices made by the "great men" this book reminds us that war involved entire nations.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews