Rifleman A Front-Line Life

by Stroud, Rick; Gregg, Victor

• ISBN13: 9781408822081
• ISBN10: 1408822083
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-01-03
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Victor Gregg was born in London in 1919 and joined the army in 1937, serving first in the Rifle Brigade in Palestine and the Battle of Alamein, and then in the Parachute Regiment at the Battle of Arnhem. He was repatriated in 1946 and now lives in Winchester. Rick Stroud is a film, television director and author. He lives on a houseboat in London.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Maps	p. xii
The Early Years	p. 3
The Concrete Playground	p. 6
Out of the Rough	p. 11
Growing up in Bloomsbury	p. 17
The King's Shilling	p. 23
Goodbye England	p. 27
India	p. 30
Palestine	p. 35
Eggwhite	p. 41
Under Pressure	p. 47
Beda Fomm: A Different Form of Killing	p. 51
We Meet the Herrenvolk	p. 56
The First Failure	p. 59
South Africa	p. 63
Crusader	p. 67
The Cloak and Dagger Stuff	p. 72
The Libyan Arab Force Commando	p. 76
The Long Range Desert Group	p. 81
Back in the Fold	p. 84
Operation Breakthrough	p. 87
El Alamein: The Butcher's Shop Opens for Business	p. 90
Snipe: 2nd RB Open the Gate	p. 94
I Become a Birdman	p. 102
Sicily and Italy	p. 109
Learning the Hard Way	p. 112
Home at Last	p. 118
Market Garden	p. 125
The Witches' Cauldron: Der Hexenkessel	p. 133
In the Cage	p. 136
The Work Camp	p. 142
Introducing an Honest Man	p. 147
The Trial Run	p. 151
The Second Day	p. 154
Life in Dresden	p. 158
Thunderclap	p. 164
The Uppercut	p. 171
The Hammer Blow	p. 174
It's All Over Now	p. 178
Demobilised	p. 181
Coming to Grips with Life	p. 187
I Become a Red, but not Under the Bed	p. 194
The Moscow Narodny Bank	p. 200
An Enemy of the State	p. 210
A Minor Role in the Great Game	p. 212
The Final Cut	p. 225
I Get My Comeuppance	p. 229
The Handover	p. 236
The Magyar Experience	p. 246
1988: Free at Last	p. 251
Time Expired	p. 258
Afterword	p. 260
Acknowledgements	p. 262
Index	p. 265
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.