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The Raiders book cover
The Raiders
Desert Strike Force
1971
First Published
3.88
Average Rating
172
Number of Pages

Part of Series

Victory in the desert took three years, many battles, and much sacrifice; of the formations engaged, the desert raiders of the LRDG and SAS formed numerically a minute part. But it is true to say that without their efforts victory would have come later, and at a far greater cost. Their role in the history of warfare remains unique.
Avg Rating
3.88
Number of Ratings
33
5 STARS
27%
4 STARS
39%
3 STARS
27%
2 STARS
6%
1 STARS
0%
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Author

Arthur Swinson
Arthur Swinson
Author · 4 books

Arthur Horace Swinson (1915–1970) was a British Army officer, writer, playwright, and historian. A prolific playwright, he authored more 300 works. Swinson was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, to Hugh Swinson and Lilla Fisher Swinson. He attended St Albans School. He enlisted in the Rifle Brigade in 1939 and in 1940 was commissioned into the Worcestershire Regiment. In the Far East, he fought at the 1944 Battle of Kohima as a staff captain with the British 5th Brigade, which commanded the 7th Battalion of his regiment. The diaries he kept during the battle are now lodged in the Imperial War Museum. He served until 1946, with postings in Malaya, Burma, Assam and India during World War II. In 1949, he subsequently became a writer and producer at the BBC where he produced a number of programmes for Richard Attenborough. In 1966, Swinson wrote and published "Kohima," an account of the Battle of Kohima which was fought from April to June 1944 and in which he was a participant. The preface states that Field Marshal William Slim directed Swinson to ensure that Kohima and Imphal are described as twin battles fought under Slim's 14th Army. This Swinson does. Ultimately, however, the book focuses on the experience of the British 2nd Infantry Division. The book is a good adjunct to Slim's "Defeat into Victory" and Masters' "Road Past Mandalay." Swinson was the author of "Scotch on the Rocks" (1963 and 2005), which told the true story of the wartime wreck of the SS Politician, on which Compton Mackenzie's novel "Whisky Galore" (1947) – and the Ealing Comedy of the same title – were based. He died in Spain while on vacation, aged 55. He was survived by his wife, Joyce Budgen, and their three children.

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