BOOK REVIEW | In Action with Destroyers 1939-1945 – The Wartime Memoirs of Commander JAJ Dennis DSC RN
Edited by Anthony Cumming
The author was a very busy and very fortunate fellow. His was a war of almost non-stop action. Many of his contemporaries died around him but he survived. His only and very unsurprising complaint was that he was, from time-to-time, very tired.
At 22 he was the Royal Navy’s youngest destroyer first lieutenant and, at 26, one of its youngest destroyer captains. He sailed and fought in Asia, the Indian, Pacific, North Atlantic and South Atlantic oceans, the Red, Mediterranean and North seas and the Arctic. He travelled far and fast.
He also saw a lot and recorded it very well. His book is a very easy and exciting read. He describes the intense stress of almost constant warfare quite brilliantly. A brilliant personal account of the Second World War at sea.
Available from Pen and Sword Maritime, Barnsley, UK.
Web: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk