No not THAT Damien Lewis, who rather confusingly was in Band of Brothers, but the other one!
Band of Brothers – the blurb
We share the triumphs and tragedies of a group of elite soldier trailblazers as they commit daring raids behind enemy lines in 1944, manage an against the odds escape to victory, and then seek post-war retribution for the terrible murder of their captured comrades.
SAS BAND OF BROTHERS The Last Stand of The SAS And Their Hunt For The Nazi Killers is replete with action, peppered with great characters, and features two of the most daring escapes of WWII. It ends with the hunted becoming the hunters – a group of men intent on seeking out the Nazis responsible for their brethren’s deaths, on an ultra-deniable SAS mission to avenge a war crime.
Secret parachuting Nazi hunters
Band of Brothers just happens to be my most favorite TV series ever. So when I saw a non fiction book by Damien Lewis about a parachute squad referred to as Band of Brothers I had to buy the book. Turns out this Damien Lewis is not the actor who starred in the series but a military historian, one who specialises in world war two to boot. The soldiers Lewis writes about are also English not American and are captured, tortured and, in some cases, murdered.
The first half of the book involving the training, first mission and subsequent failed mission was a enthralling read. Tensions were high as the men dropped into the trap and were captured. It was all very visual and I had a Band of Brothers style series in my mind as I was reading. The latter half (and I say half loosely as it was probably closer to the last 100 pages) didn’t quite match up to the first. It felt rushed, less researched and more of an afterthought despite the books subtitle. Whilst I can imagine the frustration the men must have felt trying to hunt down the murderers of their friends and that Lewis himself must have felt when trying to research a subject so closed off still paperwork wise, it felt like more was needed to match the painstaking detail of the first half. That said I enjoyed the book and had not been aware of their exploits until now despite reading many a book on this subject.