Title: It is bliss here : letters home, 1939-1945 /
Authors: Hildyard, Myles.
Publisher: Bloomsbury,
Year: 2005
Subjects: Hildyard, Myles Correspondence.; Great Britain. Officers Correspondence.; World War, 1939-1945 Personal narratives, British.
Abstract: "Myles Hildyard served as an officer during World War II. He saw action in Palestine, Crete, North Africa, Italy, the D-Day landings and finally Berlin in 1945. He fought and was captured at the battle of Crete, and then embarked on a dramatic escape from a German POW camp on the island, across the Mediterranean to Turkey." "During this time Myles wrote extensively of his experiences, mainly in letters home. Myles was present at many of the great British battles of the war - but his letters are not just military history. His words convey what it was like to be in the heat of battle, in occupied castles, in tanks crossing the desert, in the path of stampeding cavalry horses, in wartime London society, in a brothel in Brussels, in a sailboat crossing the Adriatic, in military intelligence, and in the ruins of Berlin." "For Myles, the war was both the best of times and the worst of times: he had the opportunity to see some of the great archaeological and historical sights of Europe and North Africa; he was fit, tanned and young; and he made friendships which were to last a lifetime. Like many of the British officers, Myles had a manservant (for a while it was Whitaker, the man made famous by the Countess of Ranfurly's book To War with Whitaker)." "These letters also show a young man coming to terms with his sexuality in an extraordinarily clear-sighted, brave and intelligent way. Long before homosexuality was decriminalised in the Army, he brought his male partner to regimental dances." "The letters are profound, witty, unique and utterly captivating. No other history of the war has mentioned that the tanks crossed valleys of wild flowers before the battle of Alamein, or so vividly described falling in love with a fellow officer. There is no better insight into the longing for home, longing for news, longing to find God, longing to find out what the war was all for."--BOOK JACKET.