In 1939, the world watched events move towards what seemed an inevitable conflict between democracy and dictatorship. Canada stood with Great Britain, France, and the U.S. against the rising threat posed by fascist Germany. Since taking power in 1933, Hitler and the Nazis had lead Germany in rearming, absorbing Austria, and taking back the Sudetenland. On the brink of war, the world watched as German troops stormed into Poland in August, 1939. When German forces failed to be withdrawn, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Canada followed within the week.
It was not until early May 1940, that war on the western front began in earnest. Within weeks, German forces had routed their opponents. Germany was on the brink of defeating the combined armies of France and Great Britain, while occupying Poland and Norway.
With the capitulation of France, Great Britain and the Commonwealth stood alone against Germany. With an invasion of Britain imminent, the call was put forth in Canada for help.
In Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, Russ Colombo chose to enlist for overseas service with that small Ontario town's home regiment, the Grey and Simcoe Foresters. In Europe, in a small town in the Sudetenland, another young man was also about to join the army. Unlike Canada, where the army that was to fight overseas was to be made entirely of volunteers, Germany required all those 18 years and older to join the military. Frank Sikora opted to join the Luftwaffe, hoping to be a fighter pilot. Instead, he ended up in the infantry arm of the Luftwaffe, becoming a Fallschirmjäger.
From entirely different perspectives, Russ and Frank joined their countries' armed forces. A Letter from Frank describes their experiences, from pre-war Canada and Czechoslovakia, through basic training and finally into combat. Frank, wounded in northern Finland by Russian troops, later took part in the battles for eastern Holland and northern Germany. Russ arrived in Normandy in July, 1944. The beachhead created on D-Day had expanded little more than 10 miles from the ocean when Russ arrived on the front lines south of Caen. He would take part in what remains the largest set-piece battle ever conducted by the Canadian army, leading to the decisive battle of the Falaise Gap.
Russ and Frank would not meet until near the end of the war on May 5, 1945. This meeting of enemies would take place on an abandoned airfield in northern Germany, the site of a vicious battle fought between Frank's unit and Canadian forces just the day before. In the week that followed this Canadian and German became the unlikeliest of friends.
A Letter from Frank goes beyond 1945, to explore how the war affected both men. Frank, his family expelled from Czechoslovakia, joined the German diplomatic where he had to come to terms with foreign postings in countries Germany had invaded and who would not accept Germans of his generation for what had been done during the war. Russ faced the challenge of forgiving himself for a tragic event in Normandy for which he felt responsible. Both men went on to successful careers, while dealing in different ways with the aftermath of the war in their lives.
In the end this book also became the author's personal story, as he describes coming to terms with a father who carried the mental scars of the war decades after the last shot had been fired, and his search to discover the mysterious author of the letter who began his journey of self-discovery.
It was not until early May 1940, that war on the western front began in earnest. Within weeks, German forces had routed their opponents. Germany was on the brink of defeating the combined armies of France and Great Britain, while occupying Poland and Norway.
With the capitulation of France, Great Britain and the Commonwealth stood alone against Germany. With an invasion of Britain imminent, the call was put forth in Canada for help.
In Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, Russ Colombo chose to enlist for overseas service with that small Ontario town's home regiment, the Grey and Simcoe Foresters. In Europe, in a small town in the Sudetenland, another young man was also about to join the army. Unlike Canada, where the army that was to fight overseas was to be made entirely of volunteers, Germany required all those 18 years and older to join the military. Frank Sikora opted to join the Luftwaffe, hoping to be a fighter pilot. Instead, he ended up in the infantry arm of the Luftwaffe, becoming a Fallschirmjäger.
From entirely different perspectives, Russ and Frank joined their countries' armed forces. A Letter from Frank describes their experiences, from pre-war Canada and Czechoslovakia, through basic training and finally into combat. Frank, wounded in northern Finland by Russian troops, later took part in the battles for eastern Holland and northern Germany. Russ arrived in Normandy in July, 1944. The beachhead created on D-Day had expanded little more than 10 miles from the ocean when Russ arrived on the front lines south of Caen. He would take part in what remains the largest set-piece battle ever conducted by the Canadian army, leading to the decisive battle of the Falaise Gap.
Russ and Frank would not meet until near the end of the war on May 5, 1945. This meeting of enemies would take place on an abandoned airfield in northern Germany, the site of a vicious battle fought between Frank's unit and Canadian forces just the day before. In the week that followed this Canadian and German became the unlikeliest of friends.
A Letter from Frank goes beyond 1945, to explore how the war affected both men. Frank, his family expelled from Czechoslovakia, joined the German diplomatic where he had to come to terms with foreign postings in countries Germany had invaded and who would not accept Germans of his generation for what had been done during the war. Russ faced the challenge of forgiving himself for a tragic event in Normandy for which he felt responsible. Both men went on to successful careers, while dealing in different ways with the aftermath of the war in their lives.
In the end this book also became the author's personal story, as he describes coming to terms with a father who carried the mental scars of the war decades after the last shot had been fired, and his search to discover the mysterious author of the letter who began his journey of self-discovery.
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