Ewen Southby-Tailyour – författare

Andre Hue was a daredevil. By the age of twenty the Anglo-Frenchman had survived shipwreck and years undercover in France, sabotaging German supply lines. Returning to Britain, he was recruited by SOE to parachute behind enemy lines on 5 June 1944, to unite resistance forces in Brittany and paralyse local German troops during the Allied invasion. Though Hue's mission was fraught with difficulty - he missed his landing site, his secret base camp became the site of a pitch battle and a band of Cossacks tried to hunt him down - he knew that thousands of lives depended on his success or failure . . .

Amphibious Warfare Post WWII is a collection of essays and articles written for various military publications during the author’s 32 years’ service. Following retirement he was able to express his opinions and views in a rather more forthright manner as the Editor of Jane’s Amphibious and Special Forces. As a renowned practitioner of amphibious operations much of what he has to say remains relevant and seminal to this day. The author also describes his time as a European Community Monitor in the Former Yugoslavia (from which he resigned after being ordered to falsify his daily reports to Brussels) and his experiences as a company commander during the Dhofar War.

Ewen Southby-Tailyour's lifetime involvement with small boats, both civilian and military, began with his unusual christening and lasted until he sold his final vessel on his 80th Birthday. In between these two landmarks he sailed extensively but not through 'warm water' cruising grounds rather than in colder, seldom-visited climates; most notably the Falkland Islands and among the un-surveyed fjords of north-west Iceland and northern Norway in winter. His love of the sea was instilled in him when, just four, he was taken trawling under sail. Soon, he was crewing in the classic pilot-cutter Olga in which, over 30 years of family ownership, he sailed every Easter and summer holidays, all the while learning navigation, seamanship and ships' husbandry. At the Nautical College Pangbourne he passed 'O' Level in celestial navigation, seamanship and signals then, despite being captain of sailing, he turned down an Olympic trial in preference for deep water cruising and exploring. He navigated, inter alia, six Fastnet Races and skippered six two-handed Round Britain races as well as a single-handed round Majorca and a two-handed Iceland race.. During deployments abroad he took every opportunity to sail in and to understand local vessels such as Arabian dhows, Chinese junks, Kenyan out-riggers and square-riggers. In the Falkland Islands he found that the charts had not altered since the 19th Century so he surveyed the coasts and beaches in his own time, a work that became the basis for the amphibious planning in 1982. Clearly his sailing life has not been without drama: he fell overboard twice, once when alone. Bad weather is a function of seafaring and, in his case included being caught off an Icelandic lee shore in a Force 11: an episode of survival that merited a chapter in the seminal text book Heavy Weather Sailing. AUTHOR: Ewen Southby-Tailyour is a retired Royal Marines officer who played a leading role in the Falklands campaign. From an early age he was involved in offshore sailing and inshore exploring. His involvement with small boats and the sea continued in the service when he specialised as a Landing Craft Officer often operating with other NATO amphibious forces. In the early 1960s he was attached to France's maritime Special Forces before being seconded to the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces during the Dhofar War. In 1978 he commanded the Royal Marines' 'garrison' in the Falkland Islands when he was instructed to re-write the Standard Operating Procedures in case of an invasion. This study included the charting of much of the archipelago's coasts and beaches. Following his retirement in 1992 he was employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. On his return he established an Amphibious Consultancy to help industry design the latest generation of the Royal Navy's amphibious fleet. Later he was elected Yachtsman of the Year, established the Jester Challenge, single-handed ocean races to the USA, the Azores and the Republic of Ireland for yacht under 30 feet in length and sworn as a Younger Brother of Trinity House. Among his previously published works are Amphibious Warfare Post World War II, A Life Under Sail, Reasons in Writing, Amphibious Assault Falklands, Exocet Falklands, Blondie, the Life of Lieutenant-Colonel HG Hasler of Cockleshell Heroes fame and HMS Fearless (all with Pen and Sword). 23 colour, 33 b/w illustrations