Why We Fought: Inspiring Stories of Resisting Hitler and Defending Freedom

by Jerry Borrowman

Overview

The struggle to combat the Nazis during World War II encompassed front lines far beyond conventional battlefields. In a panoramic and compelling account, author Jerry Borrowman shares seven largely untold stories of people who undertook extraordinary efforts to defeat the Third Reich at enormous personal risk.

Some were soldiers like the Ghost Army, an eclectic group of former artists, actors, and engineers who engaged in top-secret tactical deceptions by staging ingenious decoy armies. Using inflatable tanks, radio transmissions, and sound effects, they were able to trick the Germans throughout the course of the war, often working close to the front lines of the fiercest fighting.

Some were ordinary citizens like William Sebold, a German immigrant and US citizen, who could have been a deadly foe, but instead chose the Allied cause. When he was coerced by the Gestapo into becoming a spy in America, he instead approached the FBI and offered to become a double agent. His efforts successfully helped bring down a dangerous German spy network that was dedicated to stealing industrial and wartime secrets and sabotaging America on home soil.

These dramatic and inspiring personal stories shed light on some of the darkest days of World War II and one of the most perilous times in human history. As the Nazis swept through Europe, citizens around the world faced an individual and national complex moral question: How do you respond to the tyranny and bloodthirsty madness of the Nazis? These are stories of ordinary men and women who would not surrender or compromise. They resisted and fought with total commitment for freedom and democracy despite the personal cost.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629729343
Publisher:	Shadow Mountain Publishing
Publication date:	10/05/2021
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jerry Borrowman is an award-winning author of historical fiction and nonfiction titles, including Compassionate Soldier and Invisible Heroes of World War II. He has written about the World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Vietnam War. He is the recipient of the George Washington National Medal from the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge. He and his wife, Marcella, raised four children and live in the Rocky Mountains.
 

Table of Contents

• Virginia Hall is the only woman to have her own permanent exhibit in the United States Central Intelligence Agency Museum. She earned that distinction as one of America's most successful spies while also directing more than 10,000 French Resistance Fighters to support the D-Day landings.
• William Sebold was a German immigrant to the United States after World War I and was willing to risk his life on behalf of his adopted country. Coerced by the Gestapo into becoming their spy in America, Sebold secretly approached the FBI to become a double agent. With his help, the FBI brought down the German spy network in the United States, which saved tens of thousands of Allied lives.
• Marlene Dietrich was born in Berlin but became one of Hollywood's most acclaimed actresses in the 1920s and 1930s. She was also a secret agent for the United States government in World War II, using her considerable prestige and fame to thwart the Nazi propaganda machine. She also entertained U.S. troops as a USO entertainer, often within eyesight of Nazi brigades who were under orders to arrest and execute her if possible.
• Juan Pujol Garcia was a Spanish citizen who had no obligation to serve in World War II (Spain remained neutral). He joined with the British intelligence service to create a fictional spy network in Britain that became a massive disinformation machine to deceive the Nazi's about the D-Day landings and other important battles.
• Swiss Attaché Carl Lutz was a humble civil servant who placed his life in constant danger to save as many of the Jews of Budapest as possible from deportation to the Nazi death camps. His bravery was breathtaking, his accomplishments unparalleled, saving approximately 72,000 Jewish Lives.
• The Ghost Army was an eclectic group of artists, actors, and engineers who created a phony army of inflatable tanks, high-powered loudspeakers, and a massive disinformation network to deceive the Nazi's about American troop strength and deployments as the Allies advanced into Germany after the D-Day landings in Normandy.
• The Battle for Castle Itter. Two days after Adolf Hitler committed suicide and the day after hostilities were to cease in Europe, a fanatical band of Nazi SS Troops attempted to storm a Nazi prison at Castel Itter in Austria, which held high profile French prisoners, including two former Prime Ministers. But an unlikely coalition of Americans, Germans SS soldiers, and Austrian Freedom Fighters united to protect the prisoners, even though it could lead to their own deaths AFTER the war had ended.

Editorial Reviews

These stories of citizens using their unique skills to save the world are not widely known, and Borrowman brings the details and significance of each to life in dramatic fashion. Why We Fought shows that guns and bombs are not the only tools with which to counter aggression.”

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