CHF 2024: Day 5

Cassino ’44, James Holland

The searing sun gave way to cooler cloudier weather on Friday, the day of the military big beasts, James Holland, Max Hastings, Saul David and Anthony Beevor. James Holland’s account of the battle of Monte Cassino follows in the footsteps of other great such as Peter Caddick Adams who was in the audience. Holland’s Cassino ’44 will be published in the autumn but this talk will be available on the Festival’s YouTube channel.  And for diehard fans there’s a battlefield tour planned.,

The Seeds of Gaza: Palestine 1944, Michael Neiberg

Neiberg’s talk on Israel Palestine drew a big crowd on the IPGL stage. It’s a topic riddled with assumptions, prejudice and misunderstanding, so a thorough look at the history and background was helpful. Neiberg sees the seeds of the conflict sown during the latter stages of the British Mandate in Palestine.

Sky Warriors: British Airborne Forces in the Second World War, Saul David

British airborne forces – ‘The Paras’ – are a formidable bunch of warriors to this day. In Sky Warriors Saul David describes their creation by Churchill in 1940 and the battles they subsequently fought in.  His talk to a packed tent focused on the battle for Pegasus Bridge, securing the flank for the Normandy Landings in ’44, arriving by glider and holding off German counter attacks.

Justin Doherty is Editor at Large at Aspects of History. Head to the CHF site here where tickets are available.