Summary of Simon Parkin's A Game of Birds and Wolves

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 In early September, Colin’s parents had asked him how he felt about going to America. He had said he would love to, and they had sent him away. The decision to send their son away had been difficult at first, but they had believed the Germans were poised to invade Britain.

#2 The British government began a controversial and, for the parents, heartbreaking scheme to evacuate children from London, Liverpool, and other vulnerable targets of the Luftwaffe. The response was immense: close to a quarter of a million children applied for just 20,000 places.

#3 The City of Benares was a luxury cruise liner that would take Colin to Montreal. It was painted a light tan color to reflect the sun’s heat in the Indian Ocean, where it routinely carried passengers between Liverpool and Bombay.

#4 The ship was delayed because of a bombing raid the previous night, and the weather worsened. On the morning of 17th September, three and a half days after the City of Benares and the other ships in the convoy departed from Liverpool, the three Royal Navy escorts peeled away and began their return journey to British waters, taking their guns with them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669380207

IRB Media

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Insights on Simon Parkin's A Game of Birds and Wolves

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

In early September, Colin’s parents had asked him how he felt about going to America. He had said he would love to, and they had sent him away. The decision to send their son away had been difficult at first, but they had believed the Germans were poised to invade Britain.

#2

The British government began a controversial and, for the parents, heartbreaking scheme to evacuate children from London, Liverpool, and other vulnerable targets of the Luftwaffe. The response was immense: close to a quarter of a million children applied for just 20,000 places.

#3

The City of Benares was a luxury cruise liner that would take Colin to Montreal. It was painted a light tan color to reflect the sun’s heat in the Indian Ocean, where it routinely carried passengers between Liverpool and Bombay.

#4

The ship was delayed because of a bombing raid the previous night, and the weather worsened. On the morning of 17th September, three and a half days after the City of Benares and the other ships in the convoy departed from Liverpool, the three Royal Navy escorts peeled away and began their return journey to British waters, taking their guns with them.

#5

The atmosphere inside the U-boat was damp and foul-smelling. U-boats were slow and vulnerable underwater, and they needed to switch to electric motors that could only propel them for a short amount of time before they needed to surface and recharge their batteries.

#6

The kill-or-be-killed mentality hardened in the U-boat crews. The Allied code word for U-boat was hearse, because the odds against surviving the twelve patrols required of every U-boatman before he could apply to be reassigned to non-combat duties were poor.

#7

The City of Benares was one of the ships that was attacked by U-48. Bleichrodt and his crew were hunting for British shipping lanes, looking for prey. They were close enough to one of the vessels that they seemed close enough to reach out