Rifleman Victor Gregg, Arnhem & Dresden

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by Nicola_G, Feb 14, 2011.

  1. Nicola_G

    Nicola_G Senior Member

    This will be on BB2 at 12 noon and they will be asking if it was a war crime, but also interviewing a 92 year old POW in Dresden at that time
     
  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Moved thread to Books, Films, TV & RADIO section of the forum.

    Maybe we should just have one huge section called General cos that's where everyone seems to post stuff that could go somewhere else.
     
  3. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Or get rid of the general section ;)
     
  4. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

    There was an interesting movie called Dresden shown a couple of months back, also the American writer Kurt Vonnegut based his book Slaughterhouse 5 on the bombing which he experienced as a POW
     
  5. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    I happened to hear quite a bit of this chap talking - missed the begining so didn't understand exactly what building he was in when Dresden was bombed, but the roof melted - it was some king of plastic dome he was saying. In this building he was amongst many Allied POW's some of whom knew what was to come when 'streamers' came down from the aircraft overhead. As the bombs came down the building caught alight and men were just ignighting. You couldn't help them. His best friend died at that point. They had been captured at Arnhem and held in Dresden for some reason. What he saw in Dresden was far worse than his Arnhem experiences he said.

    Outside you could get no further than 100 yards in any direction such was the curtain of flame. He saw people actully lifted off their feet and taken up into the air with the power of the inferno. Also being an old Medieval town, parts of it had tar block paving which again melted, people were stuck to it and ignighted on the spot. No one could help them.

    Frankly I was surprised that Radio 2 allowed such a graphic account to be heard on the air as it was ghastly. However it is a subject that needs to be spoken about I guess.


    I probably spend too much time on 'YouTube' but 'Bombers Moon' by Mike Harding says it all from both sides for me:

    YouTube - Mike Harding - Bomber's Moon

    ATB

    Stan
     
  6. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Listen again for the next 6 days, interview starts at 1 hour 9 minutes, move slider forward to that time.

    BBC iPlayer - Jeremy Vine: 14/02/2011

    this is the chaps book.
    Rifleman, Victor Gregg, Rick Stroud : Bloomsbury Publishing

    [​IMG]



    The astonishing life of a young working-class man who fought throughout the Second World War from Alamein to the invasion of Sicily, was captured at Arnhem and as a POW survived the Allied bombing raid on Dresden.
    Born into a working-class family in London in 1919, Victor Gregg enlisted in the Rifle Brigade at nineteen, was sent to the Middle East and saw action in Palestine. Following service in the western desert and at the battle of Alamein, he joined the Parachute Regiment and in September 1944 found himself at the battle of Arnhem. When the paratroopers were forced to withdraw, Gregg was captured. He attempted to escape, but was caught and became a prisoner of war; sentenced to death in Dresden for attempting to escape and burning down a factory, only the allies’ infamous raid on the city the night before his execution saved his life.
    Gregg’s fascinating story, told in a voice that is good-natured and completely original, continues after the end of the war. In the fifties he became chauffeur to the Chairman of the Moscow Norodny bank in London, involved in shady dealings and strange meetings with MI5, MI6 and the KGB. His adventures, though, were not over – in 1989, on one of his many motorbike expeditions into Eastern Europe, he found himself at a rally of 700 people in a field in Sopron at a fence that formed part of the barrier between the Soviet Union and the West. Vic cut the wire, and a few weeks later the Berlin Wall itself was destroyed – a truly unexpected coda to an incredible life lived to the full.
    This is the story of a true survivor.

    [YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]
     
  7. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

  8. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

  9. kingarthur

    kingarthur Well-Known Member

    Arnhem veteran Victor Gregg was on BBC Radio 4 'Saturday Live' this morning. The interview was meant to be about being a POW in Dresden but he spoke a lot about Arnhem.

    Details here and you can listen again.

    BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - Saturday Live, 26/02/2011

    Thanks for that Paul, enjoyed my morning coffee listening to Victors interview.
     
  10. kingarthur

    kingarthur Well-Known Member

  11. horsapassenger

    horsapassenger Senior Member

    From what I saw in a quick look at the National Archives bookshop he doesn't give any more detailed information about his time at Arnhem in the book. I think I'll save my money

    John
     
  12. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    3 threads on Victor merged & retitled.
     
  13. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    From what I saw in a quick look at the National Archives bookshop he doesn't give any more detailed information about his time at Arnhem in the book. I think I'll save my money

    John
    I had a look at a copy yesterday and I would agree with what you say,less than 10 pages on Arnhem and no new pics, although as an all round book and his earlier involvement with PPA and the LRDG it may well peek others intrest.
     
  14. Paul Pariso

    Paul Pariso Very Senior Member

    I had a look at a copy yesterday and I would agree with what you say,less than 10 pages on Arnhem and no new pics, although as an all round book and his earlier involvement with PPA and the LRDG it may well peek others intrest.

    If the fella fought at Arnhem that's good enough for me! Copy already ordered!! :lol:
     
  15. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    If the fella fought at Arnhem that's good enough for me! Copy already ordered!! :lol:
    You got this yet mate, saw it for £13.99, in WH-Smiths, last week so might well pick it up as it does have other areas of intrest for me.
     
  16. Paul Pariso

    Paul Pariso Very Senior Member

    Yes mate, it arrived last week and I put it on the "book" thread.

    All the best........ :)
     
  17. airborne medic

    airborne medic Very Senior Member

    Bought a copy off amazon for £10.....had a quick at the maps and photos......for the purist you may like to see a new LZ for the Poles..called LZ H............
     
  18. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    He's going to be on again on Saturday.
    BBC - BBC Radio 2 Programmes - Victor

    John Hurt narrates the story of Second World War soldier Victor Gregg, now 92, who poignantly remembers his war.
    Tricked into joining the army on the false promise of a cuppa and a bun, Victor experienced some of that war's greatest battles, from the horror of El Alamein to parachuting into Arnhem for the doomed Operation Market Garden. He recalls the moment he first killed a man in hand-to-hand combat and the extraordinary moment an allied soldier was killed and a German soldier returned his possessions to the British lines.
    Victor escaped from a prison camp, but was recaptured and imprisoned in Dresden on the night of the firestorm bombings which killed tens of thousands of civilians. Once the fires subsided, he helped clear the dead. Victor's story ends with a moving account of his return to England.
    Featuring original music by British singer/songwriter Thea Gilmore, and DJ/music producer Kissy Sell Out
     
  19. Paul Pariso

    Paul Pariso Very Senior Member

    Thanks for the tip Owen :).......
     
  20. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

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