PDF Destination Casablanca Exile Espionage and the Battle for North Africa in World War II Meredith Hindley 9781541762718 Books
Download As PDF : Destination Casablanca Exile Espionage and the Battle for North Africa in World War II Meredith Hindley 9781541762718 Books
This rollicking and panoramic history of Casablanca during the Second World War sheds light on the city as a key hub for European and American powers, and a place where spies, soldiers, and political agents exchanged secrets and vied for control.
PDF Destination Casablanca Exile Espionage and the Battle for North Africa in World War II Meredith Hindley 9781541762718 Books
"A fascinating account of Morocco & it’s most famous city that many of us only know from the movie of the same name. The story tells the tale by weaving the many fascinating characters who resided there or visited there into the city’s complex happenings."
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Destination Casablanca Exile Espionage and the Battle for North Africa in World War II Meredith Hindley 9781541762718 Books Reviews :
Destination Casablanca Exile Espionage and the Battle for North Africa in World War II Meredith Hindley 9781541762718 Books Reviews
- First-rate history writing, and a suspenseful page-turner even though we know how it all came out. (Spoiler alert the Allies win.) Hindley has full command of the history of the operation and of the people involved, and the pacing and thoroughness of her writing never lag. Depictions of the people involved -- Americans, Europeans, Moroccans -- amount to fully rounded portraits, but she never tries to speculate beyond the facts at her command, derived from diaries, letters, official memoirs and other documents. Descriptions of the physical surroundings and their importance are also helpful and very effective. I originally got the book because I thought it would be fun to have the actual historical context for the Bogart/Bergman movie, but in the process of reading I've gotten so caught up in the real story that it's taken complete precedence over the flick -- the history of the invasion and the ensuing battles and outcomes are thrilling even though (as I've said) we know the outcome. Wonderfully informative and energizing book, start to finish, and highly recommended.
- Having lived in 'Fedala' and worked in Casablanca in the mid-70's, and being a student of WWII, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It brought back so many personal memories of my days there and how I had blithely walked those streets without a clue of what had gone on just 30 years prior.
The book explains, in detail, the splitting of WWII France into Nazi / Vichy Sectors, the Vichy military and governmental struggles to keep its North Africa colonies, as well as the personalities and interplay among the American, British, Spanish, German Consulates, Attaches, and Informants who were all jockeying for information, position and the upper hand. This backdrop leads on to explain how the American & British Governments sifted all the gathered intelligence and realized its need for North African seaports and bases in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Also the need for an invasion force including Eisenhower, Patton, Mark Clark and their successes and failures. This, and so-o-o-o much more fills over 400 pages of detail--all documented and thoroughly researched by the author. If you want to know all about those aspects of WWII and its contribution to the allies' overall success, then this book is for you. - This history of the Allies’ invasion of North Africa has three parts the background, the battles, and the aftermath. You will need to exercise a bit of patience when you read the background of the story because it seems to take forever for the Allies—meaning the U.S. and Great Britain in this case—to decide on an invasion plan. I was confused by the chapters on Vichy France because there were too many characters in that story and the politics were murky. Were the leaders of Vichy Frances collaborators with the Nazis or just loyalists trying to save their country in any way possible? But when the author finally gets to the invasion and subsequent battles, this book gets really fascinating. She weaves together the military matters and the fascinating characters involved, like the superstar Josephine Baker, the Freud family in exile in Casablanca, and William Donovan, who created the OSS, progenitor of the CIA. The story of Operation Torch is particularly interesting because it was the first counterstrike against the Germans since they had blitzkrieged their way across Europe only to get mired down in Russia. Had Rommel been successful in North Africa and repelled, say, the attack on Algiers, he could have taken Egypt and the Suez Canal and the Nazis would have controlled the Mediterranean. But neither Rommel nor any other German leaders learned about the coming invasions—they were caught totally by surprise, and the Allies’ seizure of French North Africa was the key to the invasion of Italy. The aftermath of Operation Torch was not nearly as interesting as the battles until the final chapters that incorporate the mystique of Casablanca as reflected in the Humphrey Bogart movie, which was released before the actual invasions. All in all, Destination Casablanca is a well researched story that is brilliantly told.
- Now I know the background for one of the best movies of all time, Bogarts Casablanca. It’s all true, the intrigue, the characters, the danger, for some the ambivalence. But no one is ambivalent in this well documented and true account of this city and it’s exotic surroundings. I’m an avid reader of WWII history and prehistory and this is the most interesting, captivating and entertaining account of the events, complete with historical context and star entertainers, politicians, generals, diplomats, spies, political prisoners, leading to the American invasion of North Africa in 1942. Free and Vichy French leaders, German spies and Nazi policies, antisemitism, labor camps and prisons, the French Foreign Legion, deserters, resistance cells, Patton, Hewitt, Roosevelt, Churchill, all the major and countless less remembered players are involved in this lead up to America’s first major amphibious assault of WWII, Operation Torch. All of it is seen through the prism of mysterious Casablanca, nearby towns and villages, the desert and mountains of Morocco, Tunisia and the Mediterranean. Great read full of detailed history.
- I enjoyed this book even more than I thought I would. I'm not really a history buff but I really enjoyed the movie "Casablanca" which led me to buy this book. This book tells you what was going on before, during, and after the movie. We've all heard about Rommel and Patton. This is the story of what led up to the North Africa campaign.
- A fascinating account of Morocco & it’s most famous city that many of us only know from the movie of the same name. The story tells the tale by weaving the many fascinating characters who resided there or visited there into the city’s complex happenings.
