The five best books about the Second World War, according to Damien Lewis

Damien Lewis has dedicated his career to writing about war. He spent decades producing award-winning reports on conflicts across Africa, South America and the Middle and Far East for major broadcasters.

He is now a bestselling author, known for his books about the daring missions of the SAS, the elite unit of the British Army formed during the Second World War. These include SAS Nazi Hunters, which told of the unit’s effort to bring SS commanders to justice, and his latest, SAS The Great Train Raid, about the seizure of a train to travel far behind enemy lines to liberate a concentration camp.

But what are the books that have furnished his own knowledge about the Second World War? Here, Lewis shares the five books that have most shaped his own writing.

Born Of The Desert by Malcolm James

“The wartime classic, published in 1945, is about the founding of the SAS, written by the unit’s first ever medic, a man who while being an integral part of the regiment stood somewhat apart due to his non-combatant status. Pleydell – Malcolm Pleydell went by the pen name of Malcolm James – joined the SAS daunted by the high valour medals that so many had already earned and worried if he would ever match up.

“Typically, he was taken into the heart of the organisation, becoming a sage and trenchant observer of all that makes the early years of the SAS so special. A brilliant story of a brotherhood that Pleydell knew was unique and irreplaceable.”

Ill Met By Moonlight by W Stanley Moss

“This true story of Moss’s war years is a cracking boy’s own tale, perhaps the most iconic of all from the Second World War. No wonder it was turned into a 1957 Dirk Bogarde movie. It tells of a mission in Crete that saw Moss and his fellow Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent disguising themselves as German troops, to hijack the car of German General Hans Kriepe, so as to kidnap him and spirit him into Allied captivity.

“The pure absolute audaciousness of it takes the very breath away. The fact they pull it off, with the courageous help of the local resistance, just adds to the drama of this gripping real-life thriller.”

The 21 Escapes of Lt Alastair Cram by David M Guss

“American author David M Guss’s 2018 account of the wartime exploits of Alastair Cram doesn’t disappoint. Cram is taken captive in North Africa in 1941, and so begins his series of death-defying escapes – as the title suggests, 21 in all. Cram is a cell mate of SAS founder David Stirling while in captivity, and his dogged, implacable determination is an inspiration to all, even the toughest special forces veterans.

“Finally, in April 1945, he is successful, escaping from a camp in Germany, and having somehow survived all the punishments meted out to him for all his previous escape attempts. An extraordinary and humbling account.”

Rogue Male by Roger Field

“The adventures – and misadventures – of SOE agent Geoffrey Gordon-Creed are the stuff of legend. If they weren’t all true they would seem too incredible, most notably the impossible-seeming sabotage that Gordon-Creed and a few men executed against a supposedly impregnable viaduct, carrying a key railway line over a wild and “unscalable” gorge, one that was a key supply line to German forces.

“Ruthless, opportunistic, bold and resourceful, Creed is shown to be the kind of hero who thrives in combat, and especially when serving in an organisation like the SOE, as he did, which waged war no-holds-barred.”

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

“Doerr’s 2015 novel takes us inside both Nazi-occupied France and the Third Reich, and is told through the eyes of a blind French girl, Marie-Laure, and Werner, a German orphan. Their two perspectives are woven together seamlessly, each building to a compelling climax, as Werner’s gift at wireless technology propels him into the heart of the German war machine, and unwittingly into Marie-Laure’s world. A magical evocation.

‘SAS The Great Train Raid’ by Damien Lewis (Quercus, £25) is out now. Damien Lewis is doing a UK book tour until 21 November