Torpedo Leader

Wrens Park. Very Good/Very Good. 2002. Hard Cover. 8vo 0905778723 Dust jacket complete, unclipped. Original cloth with bright gilt titling on spine. No ownership inscription. 206pp, photographs. Clean and tight. THE MANUSCRIPT for Torpedo Leader was written in 1943 when the events and actions it portrays were still fresh in the mind of its author. Intended as a successor to Not Peace But a Sword, it has lain untouched since then. Written during the war without the benefit of hindsight, official documentation or reference work, it is therefore a highly remarkable and valuable account, which is here published in full for the first time with only very minor modifications. A first-hand and very personal story, its lucid, exciting and readable narrative describes firstly the author's frustrations as a Staff Officer in Cairo, then more significantly his triumphs and disasters as a Beaufort Flight Commander on anti-shipping operations from Malta in that crucial summer of 1942. Fighting uphill battles against 'the powers that be', Gibbs remained utterly dedicated to the airborne torpedo as a weapon of war against shipping, and succeeded in changing not only tactical but also strategic policy - very rare indeed for a junior officer. But his book also gives new insight into the often haphazard way war was waged in the Mediterranean, the daily dangers, the inevitable losses. Gibbs' contribution was immense. As Laddie Lucas has written, "there were few operational efforts in World War II to compare with it. There is not the least doubt that the success of his strike operation had a material effect upon the fortunes of our 8th Army in the Desert and the outcome of Alamein". .