ARmy Rumour SErvice

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The author, Bill Sine, is a retired USAF Pararescueman, better known as a parajumper or ‘PJ’. I’d heard of them before (mainly through Black Hawk Down) and was impressed but knew little of them. Now, I know a bit more and I am very impressed. For those who know as little as I did, the Pararescuemen are a dedicated rescue force and, to that end, the selection and training are long, arduous and difficult. It takes about two years and has a failure rate of about 90%; It results in a highly-qualified medic who can fight, climb, SCUBA, freefall etc etc – the list of skills goes on and on. They conduct both Combat Search and Rescue on operations and provide a dedicated S&R capability to US forces worldwide.

Rather than being a history of the Pararescuemen, Bill Sine has written a book which is a collection of extended vignettes about his career in the PJs. Some are very funny and some are (given the nature of their work) sad; all demonstrate that combination of professionalism and calculated risk-taking that seems to be inherent in this trade. Some of the history is given as part of the stories but the focus is the men and the tale.

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Prisoners of the Japanese in Java 1942-45

This is the story of a young Ronald Williams who followed his father, a veteran of World War One, into the Royal Artillery. His unit the 77th. Welsh Anti-Aircraft (Territorial) based in Cardiff providing cover to Barry and the surrounding areas being a Welsh unit naturally was manned by a number of rugby internationals of the likes of Cliff Jones, Les Spence et al.

Heading for Basra with full desert kit the regiment finally disembarked in Java where eventually after the fall of Singapore they were forced to surrender to the Japanese. What followed wad three years of horrendous captivity suffering brutality and privations under their Korean and Japanese captors.

There are stories of the men being starved to death and when a camp commander heard of the Japanese surrender said “Oh, you like meat. You should have said and we would have given it to you.” Of Red Cross parcels being stockpiled and not issued by the guards. When Ronald was asked why they did not attempt to escape he said that they couldn’t for the Jungle was their fence, that and the Pro Japanese Javanese who were paid a bounty to capture escaped prisoners. If that wasn’t enough if there was an attempted escape the reprisals against the remaining prisoners included beheading.

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At last! The perfect book for ARRSE – it is all pictures! This is a brilliant visual record of the Desert Afrika Korps from their arrival in Africa through the desert campaigns to October 1942. These are not just the stilted, posed photographs for Signal magazine but personal photographs showing the German soldiers at war and at leisure (what they could get of it).

The book is broken down into chapters dealing with the arrival in North Africa then by the differing types of unit i.e. communications, armoured, supply, artillery and transport vehicles. There are also chapters on Rommel himself, the Luftwaffe & Regia Aeronautica plus 'Life in the Desert'. The full gamut of DAK in the period 1941-42.

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