{"product_id":"soldier-of-misfortune-memoirs-of-an-army-commando-1940-1945-9781804519592","title":"Soldier of Misfortune: Memoirs of an Army Commando, 1940-1945","description":"\u003cb\u003eReluctant recruit-turned front-line officer recounts the demanding, often brutal trials of Commando warfare across Gibraltar, Italy, and Albania, detailing training hardships, combat fear, and a soldier's struggle to reconcile duty and survival.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSoldier of Misfortune\u003c\/i\u003e is the previously unpublished wartime memoir of Martin Ferrey, who served as a front-line officer with No. 9 Commando during the Second World War. Beginning as a reluctant recruit in the Scots Guards in 1940, Ferrey passed through Sandhurst before volunteering for the Army Commandos, with whom he would serve in Gibraltar, Italy and Albania during some of the hardest fighting of the Mediterranean campaign.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFerrey trained at Achnacarry and Lochailort during the formative years of the Commandos before taking part in operations including the raid on the Tremiti Islands, the Anzio landings and the savage fighting around Mount Ornito north of the Garigliano River, where he was badly wounded. He also served during operations in Albania as Allied forces sought to disrupt German withdrawals from the Balkans.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten with remarkable honesty, humour and self-awareness, Ferrey's memoir captures both the absurdity and brutality of wartime soldiering. He writes vividly about the hardships of training, the realities of Commando operations, the fear and confusion of combat, and the physical and psychological consequences of battle. Along the way he encounters a fascinating cast of wartime figures, including Randolph Churchill, Evelyn Waugh, Lord Mountbatten and many of Britain's most famous special forces soldiers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSupplemented by family letters, photographs and editorial notes, \u003ci\u003eSoldier of Misfortune\u003c\/i\u003e is both a compelling Commando memoir and an unusually thoughtful account of one officer's struggle to reconcile courage, fear, duty and survival in wartime.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Helion \u0026amp; Company\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/31\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781804519592\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 184\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.14lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.40h x 6.10w x 0.50d","brand":"Martin Ferrey","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53273299648693,"sku":"9781804519592","price":38.25,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/9781804519592.jpg?v=1789485054","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/soldier-of-misfortune-memoirs-of-an-army-commando-1940-1945-9781804519592","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}