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SRM
Stephen R. Matthews Author & Lecturer
Book Title: The Day the Nazis Came Book Title: De Dag De Nazis Kwamen English Version Dutch Version
At first glance this may seem to be just another book about the war, but it is far more than that being rather a book about life and the indomitable spirit of man to survive, and besides, it also honours the memory of three courageous Germans who risked everything including their own lives for the welfare and safety of the prisoners in their charge. Another first perhaps!
I was only two years old when the Germans invaded my native Island of Guernsey. The Channel Islands were the only part of Great Britain to fall to the Blitzkrieg, the devasting tactic that brought Hitler's enemies to their knees. A personal edict issued by Hitler, led to the Matthews family, together with many thousands of British born Islanders being deported first to a hell-hole of a concentration camp at Dorsten in Germany's industrial Ruhr and then on to Biberach a former prisoner of war camp in Southern Germany.
By then I was four years old, ill shod, poorly clothed and constantly hungry. I was occasionally ill because of the privations we all underwent and sometimes I was simply terrified out of my wits.
By the time I was six years old, I had been bombed and had seen men die in front of me and walked with Jews straight off the train from Bergen-Belsen. I had nearly drowned in a weir and narrowly avoided being savaged by two Alsatian guard dogs. I was beaten up by a pathological member of the elite SS and had my hand broken by a German Guard for feeding Russian prisoners with pigswill. Then if that was not enough, a German fighter aircraft nearly crashed on top of me and some of my friends. I had sat with my parents in the middle of a tank battle, with armour-piecing shells exploding all around the prison camp, then later I literally stumbled on a shattered human body in a minefield and had to be rescued by my father.
Associations:
Steve is a member of the following organisations:
* The Guernsey Deportees Association
* The Channel Island Occupation Society.
* The Northern Rhodesia Police Association
Where to buy the Books:
The books are available from Amazon and all good bookshops, or you can get your local bookshop to order it for you too. Now in its second edition and a best seller in several categories.
Later discovery of the POW escape tunnel from my father's room 7, barrack 6, in Biberach camp.
Some of the bomb damage caused to Biberach town in 1945, with a severe loss of life.
MURDER, WITCHCRAFT AND THE KILLING OF WILDLIFE
Will be Published in October/November 2019 in the United Kingdom
This was the time of the Belgian Congo debacle, where ethnic cleansing coincided with my first police posting at the age of 21, near the dangerous Northern Rhodesia border with the Congo. During these upheavals, I was knifed, ambushed, stoned, wounded by bow and arrow and shotgun and had my hand broken several times.
I describe a potential assassination attempt on the life of President Kaunda and of acting as a bodyguard to President Tsombe from the breakaway state of Katanga. I also tracked down a dangerous British Army deserter and communist spy working in the Congo and Northern Rhodesia then a British Protectorate, and throughout I acknowledge the immense courage, humour, loyalty and total dedication of my African police colleagues.
The book portrays many unique and true stories, in dealing with bloodcurdling witchcraft murders and cannibalism in all its repugnant forms. It tells of black magic, kidnapping, arson, gunrunning and people trafficking; and in personally thwarting an ambush on a group of famous Congo mercenaries known as the Wild Geese, and of being given an award for combatting the abhorrent slaughter of wildlife. My life was saved several times by my courageous Doberman dog called Alex, who was regarded as a witch doctor by local tribes. All in all, these are true, action-packed, unadulterated stories of those frantic and dangerous years.
Stephen is indebted to Lee Durell M.B.E. PhD. Honorary Director of the Durrell Wildlife Trust in Jersey, for her ‘Message of Hope.’ Lee is an American, world famous naturalist, author and TV presenter; and also to Peter Le Vasseur, International wild-life artist, naturalist, ecologist and fellow Guernseyman, for his kind permission to reproduce several of his iconic paintings in the book.
Book Title: Murder, Witchcraft and the Killing of Wildlife
On police duty and showing my hand, broken by rioting political insurgents.
Alleged Gun Runners identified by the Wild Geese Mercenaries, whom we saved from a hostile Congolese ambush.
My dog Alex, the heroic Doberman, who saved my life several times. He is the subject of my next book 'My Boy Alex – Witchdoctor and Crime Fighter'.
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