When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain by Giles Milton Read Free Book Online

ghetto alive today.”’
    Sendler kept a list of all those she had rescued and she secretly buried their names in jars. It was hoped that they would be reunited with their parents when the war was over.
    In 1943, Sendler was arrested by the Gestapo. They’d grown suspicious of her activities and realized she was working on behalf of Warsaw’s Jews. She was beaten, severely tortured by her guards (they broke her legs and arms) and then sentenced to death for refusing to give them any information.
    News of her impending execution reached Å»egota, the secret Council to Aid Jews, which managed to save her by bribing a German guard as she was being led away to be killed. She was listed on the bulletin boards as among those who’d been executed; this enabled her to live in hiding for the rest of the war.
    At the war’s end, Irena dug up jars containing the 2,500 children’s identities in the hope of reuniting the youngsters with their parents. But almost all of the adults had been executed in Treblinka.
    Irena found herself persecuted by Poland’s post-war Communist authorities because of her relations with the Polish government-in-exile. Not until 1965 did she receive recognition for her extraordinary bravery. She was honoured as a ‘righteous gentile’ by the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Centre, Yad Vashem.
    With the fall of Communism came recognition in her own land: many of Poland’s highest honours were bestowed on her. In 2007, she was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. But she did not win: the prize went to former Vice President Al Gore for his work on climate change.
    Irena remained modest to her dying day. When asked about her work, she said simply: ‘Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory.’

 
    13
    The Real War Horse
    He stood fearless and proud in readiness for the battle ahead. He had already braved four years of warfare, including the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He had also survived the muddy hell of Passchendaele. Now, on 30 March 1918, Warrior was to face his toughest assignment. The ten-year-old chestnut-brown gelding was to lead one of the last great cavalry charges in history.
    His mission was to stop the German Spring Offensive of 1918 and his adventures were to prove every bit as extraordinary as those of Michael Morpurgo’s fictional warhorse.
    Warrior was one of the million horses sent to France between 1914 and 1918. Only 62,000 of them ever returned home. They are forgotten victims of a conflict that pitted defenceless animals against tanks and machine guns.
    Warrior belonged to General John Seely, one of Churchill’s closest friends, and both he and his horse were born survivors. Warrior had proved his mettle on numerous occasions since arriving in France in the summer of 1914. That autumn, he narrowly escaped capture by the advancing German army. In the following year, the horse next to him was killed when a shell exploded and ripped it in two. Warrior was extremely fortunate to escape unscathed.
    A few days later, his stable was destroyed within seconds of him leaving it. On another occasion, he had to be dug out of mud that was several feet deep.
    In February 1915, General Seely (and Warrior) were put in command of the Canadian Cavalry, a ragbag force of ranchers, Mounties, Native Americans and a thousand horses. After three years proving their worth on the battlefield, they were given a mission of vital strategic importance. The German war machine had broken through the Allied front line and taken more than 100,000 prisoners, many of them members of the British Fifth Army. Buoyed by this victory, the Germans were intent on pushing even further west.
    It was vital that their advance should be checked as soon as possible. Allied forces were to take the offensive at Moreuil Wood on the banks of the Avre River. Victory here would not only secure the river but it would