<div>After the terrible losses of The Great War, twenty years later the Second World War resulted in the death of some of the finest sporting icons. This book honors the ninety International Rugby players who lost their lives. Fifteen were Scottish, fourteen English, eleven Welsh and eight Irish. Australia and New Zealand suffered with ten and two Internationals killed respectively and France eight. Germany topped the list with nineteen. In the same way that the Authors best-selling Into Touch remembered the 130 Internationals lost in the First World War, Final Scrum gives an individual biography of each of the ninety with their international and club playing record as well as their backgrounds, details of their military careers and circumstances of their death. We learn where they are buried or commemorated together with at least one photograph of each player.Rugby enthusiasts will find this book a fascinating and moving record of the sacrifice of the finest young men of their generation who fought in the second worldwide conflict of the 20th Century.</div>

Final Scrum

<div>In August 2016 the world will be spellbound by the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro as 10,500 athletes from 206 countries compete in 306 events.  Tracing their origins back to the Greeks in 776 BC, the history of the Olympics is a glorious one but it has had its darker moments.During the First World War no fewer than 135 Olympians perished.  Many had won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals.  They came not just from the UK, Germany, France, USA but from all over the globe.Wyndham Halswelle, killed in action on 31 March 1915, won a Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in both field and track events.  The Frenchman Leon Flameng, the fastest cyclist ever, died on 2 January 1917, having won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in the 1896 Olympics.  The German Fritz Bartholomae, killed in action 12 September 1915, won a Bronze in the rowing eights during the 1912 Olympics.  The list of these heroes goes on and on.  Each Olympian, who made the supreme sacrifice, is honoured in this magnificent book by a summary of their life, sporting achievement and manner of their death.</div>

The Extinguished Flame

<div>'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few'  Seventy-five years on the unforgettable words of Winston Churchill ring as powerfully as they did in August 1940 when the young men of the RAF stood as the last line of defence against Hitler's far more powerful Luftwaffe.This emotional yet factual book describes the three and a half months (10 July  31 October 1940) battle day-by-day and covers the essential details of every one of the 540 young pilots who died in this critical campaign that saved Britain from invasion by the Nazis.Thanks to the authors painstaking research we are given a short biography of each pilots and learn of their actions and the manner of their deaths, their squadrons and planes.The result is a unique record and fitting memorial of the courage and sacrifice of this select band of heroes. The text is enhanced by photographs of the individuals themselves.</div>

The Fallen Few of the Battle of Britain

<div>While cricket remains a national game today, at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, it was THE national game. Cricketers were the sporting icons of their age, as footballers are today.When the call to arms was made in 1914 and the years of war that followed, it was answered in droves by young men including Test and First Class cricketers. The machine guns and gas of the Western Front and other theatres did not discriminate and many hundreds of these star performers perished alongside their lesser known comrades. The author has researched the lives and deaths of over 200 top class cricketers who made the ultimate sacrifice. He includes not just British players but those from the Empire. The enormity of the horror and wholesale loss of life during The Great War is well demonstrated by these moving biographies.</div>

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Final Wicket

<div>Many thousands of men died during the Great War. They came from every place and class. The very cream of the Nation joined up thinking it a great adventure but, all too often, never returned. This book is dedicated to the memory of an elite few of such men  the Rugby Internationals who fell in The Great War. Among the hundreds of thousands who served and died for their country were one hundred and thirty Rugby Internationals.To place the loss of these men in perspective, it is important to appreciate that Rugby Union was, arguably, bigger in its day than soccer is today. It attracted men from every walk of life. Many became national icons just as David Beckham and Wayne Rooney are now. These were men whose names were common currency in almost every household in Britain; men who were widely admired and emulated.Yet their physical strength, fitness, prowess and courage made these heroes no less vulnerable to enemy bullets, shells and mines than their less celebrated comrades-in-arms. One hundred years on, the Author decided that any player who perished, whether he had won a single cap for his country or a hundred, would be included within this book.Into Touch encapsulated the magnitude of a generation's sacrifice. Thanks to the Author's research into these players' service for their country, both on the playing field and battlefield, it will fascinate all with an interest in The Great War and, most particularly, those with a love for The Glorious Game and its history.As featured in the Cardiff Times and Derby Telegraph.</div>

Into Touch

<div>The outbreak of the Second World War came towards the closing stages of the 1939 cricket season. Hitler permitted us almost to complete an exceptionally interesting season, Sir Home Gordon, wrote in the Cricketer magazine, When shall we see the stumps pitched again?As the West Indies touring team canceled their last five matches and sailed home before the U-boat threat developed, the treasures at Lords, including the Ashes, were sent to a secret location for safekeeping. The Marylebone Cricket Club cancelled its tour to India - England played under the MCC banner then.During the ensuing conflict twelve test cricketers (five English, two South Africans, one Australian and one New Zealander) perished together with 130 first class players. In this superbly researched sequel to Final Wicket, covering cricketing fatalities during The Great War, this book reveals each mans career details, including cricketing statistics, and the circumstances of death. There is also a brief history of the game during the War.  Arguably the period between the two world wars was the golden age of cricket, and this book honors those who made it so only to die serving their countries in a different way.</div>

The Coming Storm

<div>Over 60,000,000 people died worldwide during the course of the Second World War and, in contrast to those slaughtered in The Great War, it was civilian populations that bore the brunt. They perished in the Holocaust, in internment camps, in bombed towns and cities and as ‘collateral damage’, in war zones, such as the Eastern Front and in Asia.  Among this carnage were hundred of individuals of all nations who had competed in Olympic Games. Imagine the loss of so many of the world’s greatest sportsmen and women of the present era.  The author has painstakingly researched the lives, achievements and circumstances of death of almost five hundred athletes of the period. While many were household names at the time, this exceptional work honors these fallen Olympians and reminds us of the futility and wastefulness of war.</div>

Nigel McCrery
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Books By Nigel McCrery (7 Books)

Final Scrum

The Extinguished Flame

The Fallen Few of the Battle of Britain

Final Wicket

Into Touch

The Coming Storm

The Undying Flame

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Nigel McCreryFollow this author

Books By Nigel McCrery (7 Books)

Final Scrum

The Extinguished Flame

The Fallen Few of the Battle of Britain

Final Wicket

Into Touch

The Coming Storm

The Undying Flame

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© 2024 OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA

Nigel McCrery
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