# On Sale Two 5* WW2 memoirs under one cover-482 pages-99 cents



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006382B3C/ref=cm_cd_asin_l

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/B006382B3C/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=341677031&s=digital-text[][/img]


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

From the Barley Hole Chronicles:









I don't know why but the winter rains stopped and spring came early in 1945. When Hitler committed suicide at the end of April, the flowers and trees were in full bloom and the summer birds returned to their nesting grounds. Not long after the great dictator's corpse was incinerated in a bomb crater by his few remaining acolytes, the war in Europe ended. After so much death, ruin and misery; it was remarkable to me how nature resiliently budded back to life in barns, in fields and across battlegrounds, now calm and silent. The earth said to her children; it is time to abandon your swords and harness your ploughs; the ground is ripe and this is the season to tend to the living.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006382B3C/ref=cm_cd_asin_l


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

From the Barley Hole Chronicles

New Year, 1945
Confined to camp on New Year's Eve, we sang Auld Lang Syne at the chime of midnight and toasted the year to come. During the first days and then weeks of January, we waited in disjointed apprehension to deploy to Europe. After a while, we thought our captain had played a cruel prank on us. He promised us in December a mission in Europe and a greater role in this war, and it now seemed as fanciful as Meade's desert premonitions. We waited and asked our sergeants, "You'll know when you know," was the answer.

We waited and Warsaw fell to the Russians. We waited impatiently and the death marches began for the near-lifeless prisoners of the concentration camps. We waited while the Germanic retreat of volks deutch began, from the Eastern, Hanseatic fortresses of Lithuania, Latvia, and Pomerania. Over two million Aryan refugees limped across the snow or sailed in over-laden ships across the icy Baltic. While underneath the slushy sea, Russian submarines hungrily trawled the waters in vengeful wait. The Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz and we waited. For parts of Holland still under German occupation, "The Hunger Winter" was now in its fifth month and the citizens were reduced to consuming tulip bulbs and boiling shoe leather for nutrients. We waited anxious, ignorant, and callow for Europe.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1320757831&sr=1-1


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

The Barley Hole Chronicles From Hell to Hamburg 









Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322229231&sr=8-1

_<<merged with existiing thread. One thread per book, please! Thanks! --Betsy/KB Moderator>>_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

The Barley Hole Chronicles From Hell to Hamburg Holiday Sale 99 cents
2 books under one volume for under a buck









Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.

_I've also read many books about WWII, but never one that took me realistically into the mind and body of a young soldier who thought and acted exactly the way young men do regardless of wars or poverty or other horrors. The book, though an autobiography, reads like a novel, depicts reality with the realism that only novelist generally capture, and captures the reader's heart with the point-of-view of the protagonist, a very real young boy and man._

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

<<thread merged with existing thread. --Betsy>>


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*A Page Turning True Story The Barley Hole Chronicles From Hell to Hamburg 2 books under one cover 1923 and Hamburg 1947
*
http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323524886&sr=1-1









_Frieda and I walked back towards the river below the city centre. A wind had picked up and the air smelled of burning rubbish, while soot and ash rained down onto the pavement. The eruption originated from a truck puffing, slowing up the thoroughfare in front of us. Its roof was fitted with a boiler and a steam pipe. The vehicle dragged three carriages behind it like a primitive train.

It moved like a rheumatic centipede. A young boy raced across the top of the truck, feeding the boiler with an odd assortment of fuel ranging from chair legs to telegraph poles sawn down to size. The boy, like Vulcan's apprentice, fed the boiler and shifted the burning timber with iron tongs to increase the inferno. The contraption wheezed ahead of us like a castrated dragon let loose on a desolate industrial waste land, belching smoke, ash, and cinder.

"What is the matter?" Friede asked. "Have you never seen German ingenuity before?"

"It's the strangest thing I have ever encountered."

Friede explained that when the Nazis began to run out of petrol; cars and lorries were converted to run off of coal and scrap wood. Mechanics attached primitive steam engines to Volkswagen motors. They were slow, smelled horrible, and were as dirty as mud. Friede laughed and pointed at the truck painfully meandering up the road and said, "Look, there goes Germany's secret weapon to win the war."

Suddenly, we were near the harbour which flowed out to the Elbe River. Apart from the homeless, few people ventured onto this roadway. Ahead of us was a scattering of refugees who carried the weight of their lives on their backs, or pushed it on baby prams with warped squeaking wheels. I saw a family dragging an enormous clock in their cart, its weights and pulleys clanking and screeching over the bumpy road. _


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*The Barley Hole Chronicles From Hell to Hamburg 
*









*A True Story of Life Lived on the Razor's Edge of History
*http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1324384686&sr=1-1

Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1325171794&sr=1-1

Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.

*New Year, 1945
Confined to camp on New Year's Eve, we sang Auld Lang Syne at the chime of midnight and toasted the year to come. During the first days and then weeks of January, we waited in disjointed apprehension to deploy to Europe. After a while, we thought our captain had played a cruel prank on us. He promised us in December a mission in Europe and a greater role in this war, and it now seemed as fanciful as Meade's desert premonitions. We waited and asked our sergeants, "You'll know when you know," was the answer. *

*We waited and Warsaw fell to the Russians. We waited impatiently and the death marches began for the near-lifeless prisoners of the concentration camps. We waited while the Germanic retreat of volks deutch began, from the Eastern, Hanseatic fortresses of Lithuania, Latvia, and Pomerania. Over two million Aryan refugees limped across the snow or sailed in over-laden ships across the icy Baltic. While underneath the slushy sea, Russian submarines hungrily trawled the waters in vengeful wait. The Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz and we waited. For parts of Holland still under German occupation, "The Hunger Winter" was now in its fifth month and the citizens were reduced to consuming tulip bulbs and boiling shoe leather for nutrients. We waited anxious, ignorant, and callow for Europe.
*


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*It is about a life lived on the razor's edge of history.
*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

_"I recommend The Barley Hole Chronicles to history buffs as well as readers learning about war. A first-hand account is priceless."-mrc-bookreviewer.blogspot.com
_
Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

* The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

_"I don't know much about how to write a review, but I just have to say how much I enjoyed this book. Right from the start I was drawn into this world that is foreign to someone who never lived during this time. While reading I felt I could actually see the characters, smell and feel and actually be there with them."

"I've also read many books about WWII, but never one that took me realistically into the mind and body of a young soldier who thought and acted exactly the way young men do regardless of wars or poverty or other horrors."

"Smith writes a true love story during wartime in Hamburg 1947."_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

_5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Read, December 3, 2011
By ncpulla - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Barley Hole Chronicles : From Hell to Hamburg: 23/47 (Paperback)
The Barley Hole Chronicles is actual a book containing two memoirs by Harry Smith, his first 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The book vividly portrays life in Northern England during the depression. It is at times a sad tale about a young boy who must struggle with hunger, family breakdown and extreme poverty. Smith is a very good painter of scenes and of people. He is also very good at keeping the balance between dark and light in this book. There is heartbreak but their is hope and laughter in the Barley Hole Chronicles. I found myself laughing out loud at times. The book leads into his experiences in the war and his time in Germany as part of the British occupational forces. There is love and heart break in this episode of his life but there is always a sense of humour and of optimism for the future. The Barley Hole Chronicles is also a valuable history lesson about the days before, during and after the Second World War. I highly recommend this book_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

A Page Turning True Story The Barley Hole Chronicles From Hell to Hamburg on Sale for 99 cents 2 books under one cover 1923 and Hamburg 1947

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

*Birthday Greetings from 1941
*

_I am quite sure that, this year, on my birthday there will be many good wishes, along with some cake. No doubt, there will be champagne because, after all, I am turning eight-nine.

"That is very old," a relative recently said to me.

"It is an ocean of time," I replied.

On good days, I marvel at my advanced age and on bad I lament that so many have passed before me. Being a winter baby, I have felt February's austere light ebb, fade and grow cold upon my face for close to nine decades. Time has marked my body with many scars from this marathon, I started in 1923. I hope my finish line is far off in the thicket and I have still lots more time to ramble along the river bank of existence.

When I began this sprint, in my life's journey, there was little to mark the day of my birth from any other day. There were no parties, balloons or fancy sweets, just a passing greeting from my mother, while my older sister tugged on my hair and counted my years of life. Afterwards, she would give me a pinch for good luck.

When I turned eighteen, a squeeze of good fortune from my sister would not have gone amiss considering Britain was at war. I was certainly going to need providence, on my side, because I was scheduled to begin my induction with the RAF, the following day.

My birthday in 1941 was a quiet affair. My friend Roy had already left to join the Cold Stream Guards while my other friend Dougie Butterworth was ill again and had taken to his bed with a quivering heart. I did not want to spend my last birthday, perhaps my last days on Earth with Eric. His fast talk about the money he was making in selective war service sickened me.

Instead, I decided to indulge myself with a visit to the public baths. They were located at the top of Boothtown Road. I arrived and paid an attendant 50p. It was a privilege to soak in a warm bath rather than a tin tub filled with tepid water in a kitchen. A female attendant led me along a narrow passageway until she found an unoccupied room. Inside the narrow, wood-lined space was a hanger for one's clothes, and a deep, porcelain, bathtub. The attendant placed a plug into the bath. She turned the taps on until the bath was filled with warm inviting water. When finished, she closed the door behind her. I undressed and submerged myself in calm, cleansing hot water. I was empty of thoughts or cares until the water grew cold and it was time to dry myself, dress, and depart.

Afterwards, I spent some hours with my sister Mary who had come down to Halifax to bid me farewell. We did not talk much. We sipped our ale. We held each other's hands on the table. We looked into each other's faces, seeing if we could read our past upon them. She joked and bantered more than me because I was withdrawn and frightened about what tomorrow would bring for me. I was as scared as I was as a child when the nuns beat me because my future was as ominous as my past. I experienced the same form of loneliness when Albert our father left us. There was no one and nothing which could ease my sense of apartness from the civilian world. When it was time for my sister to leave, she got up and kissed me.

"Come back safe, Harry, just come back."

The following morning, I awoke with a jittery feeling like it was a school morning. I dressed warmly and went to the kitchen. My mother was sitting alone, warming herself by the oven. Bill her lover had already gone to work and my half brother's Matt and junior were at school. She made me a cup of tea and cut me a large slice of fresh bread. There was a generous lather of butter and jam on it.

"Go on, tuck in. Well, lad, this is it. Keep your head down, Harry. Don't do anything daft because life is short, my boy, life is short."

I hugged her with mixed emotions. I mumbled farewell and made my way to the train station.

The platform was deserted while I waited for my train to take me to Padgate for induction. It was cold, damp, and grey; sweet smoke from the McIntosh candy plant fell like drizzle across the station. I reached into my overcoat and found a near-empty packet of cigarettes.

I placed one in my mouth and furiously struck a match, quickly inhaling the harsh tobacco. In the distance, I heard the whistle of the train. I smelled the coal burning off its engine. I breathed in the coal that had been dug from the pits of Barnsley, Elsecar, and Barley Hole. I tasted it in my mouth, around my teeth, and on my tongue. It was the soot of my father, my grandfather, and all my ancestors who laboured beneath the ground.

As the train drew its way into the belly of the station, another passenger approached the platform. He was a man in his fifties, long past the time for war, and he was whistling the tune, 'Run rabbit, run ra_bbit, run, run, run&#8230;"


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*The Barley Hole Chronicles from Hell to Hamburg A double memoir edition with both 1923 and Hamburg 1947*









http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

_Frieda and I walked back towards the river below the city centre. A wind had picked up and the air smelled of burning rubbish, while soot and ash rained down onto the pavement. The eruption originated from a truck puffing, slowing up the thoroughfare in front of us. Its roof was fitted with a boiler and a steam pipe. The vehicle dragged three carriages behind it like a primitive train.

It moved like a rheumatic centipede. A young boy raced across the top of the truck, feeding the boiler with an odd assortment of fuel ranging from chair legs to telegraph poles sawn down to size. The boy, like Vulcan's apprentice, fed the boiler and shifted the burning timber with iron tongs to increase the inferno. The contraption wheezed ahead of us like a castrated dragon let loose on a desolate industrial waste land, belching smoke, ash, and cinder.

"What is the matter?" Friede asked. "Have you never seen German ingenuity before?" 
_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*The Barley Hole Chronicles from Hell to Hamburg $2.99 A double memoir edition with both 1923 and Hamburg 1947*









http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

_I don't know why but the winter rains stopped and spring came early in 1945. When Hitler committed suicide at the end of April, the flowers and trees were in full bloom and the summer birds returned to their nesting grounds. Not long after the great dictator's corpse was incinerated in a bomb crater by his few remaining acolytes, the war in Europe ended. After so much death, ruin and misery; it was remarkable to me how nature resiliently budded back to life in barns, in fields and across battlegrounds, now calm and silent. The earth said to her children; it is time to abandon your swords and harness your ploughs; the ground is ripe and this is the season to tend to the living.

I was twenty-two and ready for peace. I had spent four years in the R.A.F as a wireless operator. During the war, I was lucky; I never came close to death. While the world bled from London to Leningrad; I walked away without a scratch. Make no mistake, I did my part in this war; I played my role and I never shirked the paymaster's orders. For four years, I trained, I marched, and I saluted across the British Isles. During the final months of the conflict, I ended up in Belgium and Holland with B.A.F.U. My unit was responsible for maintaining abandoned Nazi air fields, for allied aircraft.

When Germany surrendered, to the allies in gutted Berlin, I was in Fuhlsbuttel, a northern suburb of Hamburg. Our squadron took up a comfortable residence in its undamaged aerodrome located not far from the main thoroughfare. At the time, I didn't think much about Fuhlsbuttel, I felt it was between nothing and nowhere. It was much like every other town our unit drove through during the dying days of the war. Nothing was out of place and it was, quiet, clean and as silent as a Sunday afternoon.

While I slept in my new bed, in this drowsy neighbourhood; the twentieth century's greatest and bloodiest conflict came to an end at midnight on May seventh. On the morning of the eighth, our R.A.F commander hastily arranged a victory party, for that afternoon. The festivities were held in a school gymnasium close to the airport.

No one considered or asked on that day of victory "what happens next." That was tomorrow's problem. I certainly didn't question my destiny on that spring afternoon. Instead like the Romans, I followed the edict carpe diem: I ate too much, I smoked too much and I drank too much. And, why not I reasoned, the war was over and I had survived whereas many others had been extinguished as quickly as it takes to blow out a flame on a candle._


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg*









http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

_Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.

From the Back Cover
I don't know why but the winter rains stopped and spring came early in 1945. When Hitler committed suicide at the end of April, the flowers and trees were in full bloom and the summer birds returned to their nesting grounds. Not long after the great dictator's corpse was incinerated in a bomb crater by his few remaining acolytes, the war in Europe ended. After so much death, ruin and misery; it was remarkable to me how nature resiliently budded back to life in barns, in fields and across battlegrounds, now calm and silent. The earth said to her children; it is time to abandon your swords and harness your ploughs; the ground is ripe and this is the season to tend to the living.

I was twenty-two and ready for peace. I had spent four years in the R.A.F as a wireless operator. During the war, I was lucky; I never came close to death. While the world bled from London to Leningrad; I walked away without a scratch. Make no mistake, I did my part in this war; I played my role and I never shirked the paymaster's orders. For four years, I trained, I marched, and I saluted across the British Isles. During the final months of the conflict, I ended up in Belgium and Holland with B.A.F.U. My unit was responsible for maintaining abandoned Nazi air fields, for allied aircraft.

When Germany surrendered, to the allies in gutted Berlin, I was in Fuhlsbuttel, a northern suburb of Hamburg. Our squadron took up a comfortable residence in its undamaged aerodrome located not far from the main thoroughfare. At the time, I didn't think much about Fuhlsbuttel, I felt it was between nothing and nowhere. It was much like every other town our unit drove through during the dying days of the war. Nothing was out of place and it was, quiet, clean and as silent as a Sunday afternoon.

While I slept in my new bed, in this drowsy neighbourhood; the twentieth century's greatest and bloodiest conflict came to an end at midnight on May seventh. On the morning of the eighth, our R.A.F commander hastily arranged a victory party, for that afternoon. The festivities were held in a school gymnasium close to the airport.

No one considered or asked on that day of victory "what happens next." That was tomorrow's problem. I certainly didn't question my destiny on that spring afternoon. Instead like the Romans, I followed the edict carpe diem: I ate too much, I smoked too much and I drank too much. And, why not I reasoned, the war was over and I had survived whereas many others had been extinguished as quickly as it takes to blow out a flame on a candle._


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*
A True Store About Live Lived on the Razor's Edge of History*

_"This is one of the most poignant memoirs I've ever read. Harry Smith's life is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit to survive, endure, and thrive against all manner of tragedies and obstacles."
Highly recommended. --Midwest Book Review_










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

_Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time._


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*
A True Story About A Life Lived On The Razor's edge of History*

http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1334338116&sr=1-1

_I don't know why but the winter rains stopped and spring came early in 1945. When Hitler committed suicide at the end of April, the flowers and trees were in full bloom and the summer birds returned to their nesting grounds. Not long after the great dictator's corpse was incinerated in a bomb crater by his few remaining acolytes, the war in Europe ended. After so much death, ruin and misery; it was remarkable to me how nature resiliently budded back to life in barns, in fields and across battlegrounds, now calm and silent. The earth said to her children; it is time to abandon your swords and harness your ploughs; the ground is ripe and this is the season to tend to the living.

I was twenty-two and ready for peace. I had spent four years in the R.A.F as a wireless operator. During the war, I was lucky; I never came close to death. While the world bled from London to Leningrad; I walked away without a scratch. Make no mistake, I did my part in this war; I played my role and I never shirked the paymaster's orders. For four years, I trained, I marched, and I saluted across the British Isles. During the final months of the conflict, I ended up in Belgium and Holland with B.A.F.U. My unit was responsible for maintaining abandoned Nazi air fields, for allied aircraft.

When Germany surrendered, to the allies in gutted Berlin, I was in Fuhlsbuttel, a northern suburb of Hamburg. Our squadron took up a comfortable residence in its undamaged aerodrome located not far from the main thoroughfare. At the time, I didn't think much about Fuhlsbuttel, I felt it was between nothing and nowhere. It was much like every other town our unit drove through during the dying days of the war. Nothing was out of place and it was, quiet, clean and as silent as a Sunday afternoon.

While I slept in my new bed, in this drowsy neighbourhood; the twentieth century's greatest and bloodiest conflict came to an end at midnight on May seventh. On the morning of the eighth, our R.A.F commander hastily arranged a victory party, for that afternoon. The festivities were held in a school gymnasium close to the airport.

No one considered or asked on that day of victory "what happens next." That was tomorrow's problem. I certainly didn't question my destiny on that spring afternoon. Instead like the Romans, I followed the edict carpe diem: I ate too much, I smoked too much and I drank too much. And, why not I reasoned, the war was over and I had survived whereas many others had been extinguished as quickly as it takes to blow out a flame on a candle._


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg 477 pages 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006382B3C

_"Smith's coming of age memoir takes readers on a journey of poverty and heartbreak that is the author's childhood and young adulthood growing up between the first and second world wars. Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life. The narrative flow develops and ages, if you will, as he does throughout the book. It's incredibly powerful to see a precocious child harden under his circumstances and age into an adult set on escaping the ever looming workhouse and empty stomach that seemed to define his childhood. "_


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

_There is love and heart break in this episode of his life but there is always a sense of humour and of optimism for the future. "
ncpulla | 2 reviewers made a similar statement
"
For me, perhaps, the most astonishing thing was to read about a post-war that I had never been taught about and never even imagined. "
Vickie Adair | 2 reviewers made a similar statement
"
I couldn't stop reading and immediately purchased the next book in the series Hamburg 1947 when finished. "_










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

Only $1.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

"Smith's coming of age memoir takes readers on a journey of poverty and heartbreak that is the author's childhood and young adulthood growing up between the first and second world wars. Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life. The narrative flow develops and ages, if you will, as he does throughout the book. It's incredibly powerful to see a precocious child harden under his circumstances and age into an adult set on escaping the ever looming workhouse and empty stomach that seemed to define his childhood. "

"I recommend The Barley Hole Chronicles to history buffs as well as readers learning about war. A first-hand account is priceless."-mrc-bookreviewer.blogspot.com

Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg $1.99*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C
_
"Smith's coming of age memoir takes readers on a journey of poverty and heartbreak that is the author's childhood and young adulthood growing up between the first and second world wars. Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life. The narrative flow develops and ages, if you will, as he does throughout the book. It's incredibly powerful to see a precocious child harden under his circumstances and age into an adult set on escaping the ever looming workhouse and empty stomach that seemed to define his childhood. "_
_
"I recommend The Barley Hole Chronicles to history buffs as well as readers learning about war. A first-hand account is priceless."-mrc-bookreviewer.blogspot.com_

*Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.*


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*A True Story About A Life Live on the Razor's Edge of History.
Includes 1923 and Hamburg 1947 for $1.99*

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

*To say that Harry Smith was born under an unlucky star would be an understatement. Born in England in 1923, Smith chronicles the tragic story of his early life in this first volume of his memoirs. He presents his family's early history-their misfortunes and their experiences of enduring betrayal, inhumane poverty, infidelity, and abandonment. 
*
*
One of the most worthwhile features is its portrayal of life as a member of an occupying force in a conquered city... his descriptions of the devastated city have an unforgettable lyric beauty.-Indie E-Book Review *


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

A True Story About A Life Live on the Razor's Edge of History.
Includes 1923 and Hamburg 1947 for $1.99








_

One of the most worthwhile features is its portrayal of life as a member of an occupying force in a conquered city... his descriptions of the devastated city have an unforgettable lyric beauty.-Indie E-Book Review_


[URL=http://www.amazon]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C[/url]

*Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.*


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*A True Story About A Life Live on the Razor's Edge of History.
Includes 1923 and Hamburg 1947 for $1.99*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*
The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg $1.99*

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

*Print Length: 441 pages*

*
This is one of the most poignant memoirs I've ever read. Harry Smith's life is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit to survive, endure, and thrive against all manner of tragedies and obstacles. Goodreads review*


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg $1.99*









http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

_These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's descent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the Great Depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in postwar Germany._

_Mr. Smith shows how devastating the depression impacted the working class of England. We thought it was bad in the US and Germany. We have no idea!-_*Goodreads review*

_I want to congratulate Mr. Smith on this excellent work. I truly enjoyed the dialect all through the book. Yes, I had to look up a few words as I read this excellent work, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Brilliant, just brilliant conversational tone.-_*Goodreads review*

_I recommend The Barley Hole Chronicles to history buffs as well as readers learning about war. A first-hand account is priceless.-_*Goodreads review*


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg $1.99*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

_The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg by Harry Leslie Smith

Smith writes a true love story during wartime in Hamburg 1947. The time span is during the Great Depression and ends in Germany post war. The love story involves the author and his wife, Friede.

Smith was in Hamburg when Germany surrendered. He was a lonely teenager who had volunteered to join the RAF (Royal Air Force) in December of 1940 -1947. He extended his term(s) with the RAF without a second thought. There was nothing for Smith back in England, being he was uneducated and had no vocation. It made sense to stay put.

Smith fell in love with Friede, A German girl. This was taboo, a Brit was not supposed to have true feelings for a German. Smith describes the challenges of their courtship. Friede had deep rooted family problems; she was illegitimate and was ashamed and confused.

During their relationship, Smith kept Friede and her family alive stealing food from his base. Rations were never enough to survive. Being post war, there was nothing but poverty and hunger.

Smith writes in detail about post-war survival with Friede and her family. However, it does end with wedding bells; a precedent for post-war marriages between Brits and Germans.

The Barley Hole Chronicles summarizes both of Smith's memoirs; 1923 and Hamburg 1947. (1923 is a separate review.)

I recommend The Barley Hole Chronicles to history buffs as well as readers learning about war. A first-hand account is priceless.

Book Review by Mary Crocco
Mrcrocco.wordpress.com_


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*This weekend only The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg is only 99 cents Two books under one Cover!*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

_Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time._


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

*"In Harry Leslie Smith's memoir, we learn a first account about what it was like growing up in Yorkshire, England in the 1920's and 1930's. Born into poverty and the depression after the First World War in 1923, Harry does not get the best start in life. Harry and his father become distant and Harry takes his first job at only eight years old to help support the family. Not only is the family so deep in poverty but Harry is also starved of love and affection from his mother and neglected. Abandoned by his father Harry only companion is his older sister Mary, they dream of escaping their terrible lifestyle and for a better life.

The second part of the memoir Harry tells us about life in the RAF and about World War II Joining the RAF takes Harry away from Yorkshire and he shares his experiences about life at war and his life in the RAF.

From Barnsley, Bradford and Halifax to Hamburg this is a fascinating memoir. It is an honest account of what life was like for Harry. If like me you are interested in social history then this book is an interesting read. The book covers from Harry's birth to him becoming a young man serving with the RAF. The book ends with you wanting to know what happens next and I can't wait to read the next volume to find out what does happen next, and that hopefully things improve from the tragic life Harry has had so far."* _GoodReads Review_


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*By Jeff (Dallas, TX)
★★★★★ March 01, 2012
Where do I start? This is a modern day look at jolly old England and how jolly it wasn't. The main character Harry Smith is born into what appears to be a life of prosperity and good living until his father falls ill and verbally informs his fathers brother that he will become the temporary heir... ...

By Mary (Las Vegas, NV)
★★★★★ November 17, 2011
The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg by Harry Leslie Smith

Smith writes a true love story during wartime in Hamburg 1947. The time span is during the Great Depression and ends in Germany post war. The love story involves the author and his wife, Friede.

Smith was in Hamburg when Germany... ..

By KOMET (Washington, DC)
★★★★☆ March 21, 2012
This is one of the most poignant memoirs I've ever read. Harry Smith's life is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit to survive, endure, and thrive against all manner of tragedies and obstacles.

Born in 1923 into a disintegrating family in Yorkshire, Harry endured a life of hard, pain... *










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

By Jeff (Dallas, TX)
★★★★★ March 01, 2012
Where do I start? This is a modern day look at jolly old England and how jolly it wasn't. The main character Harry Smith is born into what appears to be a life of prosperity and good living until his father falls ill and verbally informs his fathers brother that he will become the temporary heir... ...

By Mary (Las Vegas, NV)
★★★★★ November 17, 2011
The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg by Harry Leslie Smith

Smith writes a true love story during wartime in Hamburg 1947. The time span is during the Great Depression and ends in Germany post war. The love story involves the author and his wife, Friede.
..

By KOMET (Washington, DC)
★★★★☆ March 21, 2012
This is one of the most poignant memoirs I've ever read. Harry Smith's life is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit to survive, endure, and thrive against all manner of tragedies and obstacles.


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.

By Jeff (Dallas, TX)
★★★★★ March 01, 2012
Where do I start? This is a modern day look at jolly old England and how jolly it wasn't. The main character Harry Smith is born into what appears to be a life of prosperity and good living until his father falls ill and verbally informs his fathers brother that he will become the temporary heir... ...

By Mary (Las Vegas, NV)
★★★★★ November 17, 2011
The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg by Harry Leslie Smith

Smith writes a true love story during wartime in Hamburg 1947. The time span is during the Great Depression and ends in Germany post war. The love story involves the author and his wife, Friede.

By KOMET (Washington, DC)
★★★★☆ March 21, 2012
This is one of the most poignant memoirs I've ever read. Harry Smith's life is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit to survive, endure, and thrive against all manner of tragedies and obstacles.

Born in 1923 into a disintegrating family in Yorkshire, Harry endured a life of hard, pain...


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C


The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.

By Jeff (Dallas, TX)
★★★★★ March 01, 2012
Where do I start? This is a modern day look at jolly old England and how jolly it wasn't. The main character Harry Smith is born into what appears to be a life of prosperity and good living until his father falls ill and verbally informs his fathers brother that he will become the temporary heir... ...more

By Mary (Las Vegas, NV)
★★★★★ November 17, 2011
The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg by Harry Leslie Smith

Smith writes a true love story during wartime in Hamburg 1947. The time span is during the Great Depression and ends in Germany post war. The love story involves the author and his wife, Friede.

By KOMET (Washington, DC)
★★★★☆ March 21, 2012
This is one of the most poignant memoirs I've ever read. Harry Smith's life is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit to survive, endure, and thrive against all manner of tragedies and obstacles.


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

[URL=http://www.amazon]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C[/url]


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C

The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg by Harry Leslie Smith

Smith writes a true love story during wartime in Hamburg 1947. The time span is during the Great Depression and ends in Germany post war. The love story involves the author and his wife, Friede.

Smith was in Hamburg when Germany surrendered. He was a lonely teenager who had volunteered to join the RAF (Royal Air Force) in December of 1940 -1947. He extended his term(s) with the RAF without a second thought. There was nothing for Smith back in England, being he was uneducated and had no vocation. It made sense to stay put.

Smith fell in love with Friede, A German girl. This was taboo, a Brit was not supposed to have true feelings for a German. Smith describes the challenges of their courtship. Friede had deep rooted family problems; she was illegitimate and was ashamed and confused.

During their relationship, Smith kept Friede and her family alive stealing food from his base. Rations were never enough to survive. Being post war, there was nothing but poverty and hunger.

Smith writes in detail about post-war survival with Friede and her family. However, it does end with wedding bells; a precedent for post-war marriages between Brits and Germans.

The Barley Hole Chronicles summarizes both of Smith's memoirs; 1923 and Hamburg 1947. (1923 is a separate review.)

I recommend The Barley Hole Chronicles to history buffs as well as readers learning about war. A first-hand account is priceless.

Book Review by Mary Crocco
Mrcrocco.wordpress.com


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_7

By Jeff (Dallas, TX)
★★★★★ March 01, 2012
Where do I start? This is a modern day look at jolly old England and how jolly it wasn't. The main character Harry Smith is born into what appears to be a life of prosperity and good living until his father falls ill and verbally informs his fathers brother that he will become the temporary heir... ...more
By Mary (Las Vegas, NV)
★★★★★ November 17, 2011
The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg by Harry Leslie Smith

Smith writes a true love story during wartime in Hamburg 1947. The time span is during the Great Depression and ends in Germany post war. The love story involves the author and his wife, Friede.

Smith was in Hamburg when Germany... ...more
By KOMET (Washington, DC)
★★★★☆ March 21, 2012
This is one of the most poignant memoirs I've ever read. Harry Smith's life is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit to survive, endure, and thrive against all manner of tragedies and obstacles.

Born in 1923 into a disintegrating family in Yorkshire, Harry endured a life.....


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_7

_"In Harry Leslie Smith's memoir, we learn a first account about what it was like growing up in Yorkshire, England in the 1920's and 1930's. Born into poverty and the depression after the First World War in 1923, Harry does not get the best start in life. Harry and his father become distant and Harry takes his first job at only eight years old to help support the family. Not only is the family so deep in poverty but Harry is also starved of love and affection from his mother and neglected. Abandoned by his father Harry only companion is his older sister Mary, they dream of escaping their terrible lifestyle and for a better life.

The second part of the memoir Harry tells us about life in the RAF and about World War II Joining the RAF takes Harry away from Yorkshire and he shares his experiences about life at war and his life in the RAF.

From Barnsley, Bradford and Halifax to Hamburg this is a fascinating memoir. It is an honest account of what life was like for Harry. If like me you are interested in social history then this book is an interesting read. The book covers from Harry's birth to him becoming a young man serving with the RAF. The book ends with you wanting to know what happens next and I can't wait to read the next volume to find out what does happen next, and that hopefully things improve from the tragic life Harry has had so far." GoodReads Review_


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_7

_The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time.
_


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

[url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C]


1923 said:


> [url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006382B3C





1923 said:


> _5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Read, December 3, 2011
> By ncpulla - See all my reviews
> This review is from: The Barley Hole Chronicles : From Hell to Hamburg: 23/47 (Paperback)
> The Barley Hole Chronicles is actual a book containing two memoirs by Harry Smith, his first 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The book vividly portrays life in Northern England during the depression. It is at times a sad tale about a young boy who must struggle with hunger, family breakdown and extreme poverty. Smith is a very good painter of scenes and of people. He is also very good at keeping the balance between dark and light in this book. There is heartbreak but their is hope and laughter in the Barley Hole Chronicles. I found myself laughing out loud at times. The book leads into his experiences in the war and his time in Germany as part of the British occupational forces. There is love and heart break in this episode of his life but there is always a sense of humour and of optimism for the future. The Barley Hole Chronicles is also a valuable history lesson about the days before, during and after the Second World War. I highly recommend this book_


http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_7
[/url]

The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg by Harry Leslie Smith

Smith writes a true love story during wartime in Hamburg 1947. The time span is during the Great Depression and ends in Germany post war. The love story involves the author and his wife, Friede.

Smith was in Hamburg when Germany surrendered. He was a lonely teenager who had volunteered to join the RAF (Royal Air Force) in December of 1940 -1947. He extended his term(s) with the RAF without a second thought. There was nothing for Smith back in England, being he was uneducated and had no vocation. It made sense to stay put.

Smith fell in love with Friede, A German girl. This was taboo, a Brit was not supposed to have true feelings for a German. Smith describes the challenges of their courtship. Friede had deep rooted family problems; she was illegitimate and was ashamed and confused.

During their relationship, Smith kept Friede and her family alive stealing food from his base. Rations were never enough to survive. Being post war, there was nothing but poverty and hunger.

Smith writes in detail about post-war survival with Friede and her family. However, it does end with wedding bells; a precedent for post-war marriages between Brits and Germans.

The Barley Hole Chronicles summarizes both of Smith's memoirs; 1923 and Hamburg 1947. (1923 is a separate review.)

I recommend The Barley Hole Chronicles to history buffs as well as readers learning about war. A first-hand account is priceless.

Book Review by Mary Crocco
Mrcrocco.wordpress.com


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg $1.50*










http://www.amazon.com/Barley-Hole-Chronicles-Hamburg-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=la_B004CKS8NK_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1362837863&sr=1-8

_Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time._


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> *The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg $1.50*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_7
> 
> _"In Harry Leslie Smith's memoir, we learn a first account about what it was like growing up in Yorkshire, England in the 1920's and 1930's. Born into poverty and the depression after the First World War in 1923, Harry does not get the best start in life. Harry and his father become distant and Harry takes his first job at only eight years old to help support the family. Not only is the family so deep in poverty but Harry is also starved of love and affection from his mother and neglected. Abandoned by his father Harry only companion is his older sister Mary, they dream of escaping their terrible lifestyle and for a better life.
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> *The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> http://www.amazon.com/The-Barley-Hole-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_7
> 
> _"In Harry Leslie Smith's memoir, we learn a first account about what it was like growing up in Yorkshire, England in the 1920's and 1930's. Born into poverty and the depression after the First World War in 1923, Harry does not get the best start in life. Harry and his father become distant and Harry takes his first job at only eight years old to help support the family. Not only is the family so deep in poverty but Harry is also starved of love and affection from his mother and neglected. Abandoned by his father Harry only companion is his older sister Mary, they dream of escaping their terrible lifestyle and for a better life.
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> *The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg $1.99*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*The Barley Hole Chronicles From Hell to Hamburg $2.99*









http://www.amazon.com/Barley-Hole-Chronicles-Hell-Hamburg-ebook/dp/B006382B3C/ref=la_B004CKS8NK_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385213255&sr=1-8

_Barley Hole was for my great grandfather Canaan, the land of milk and honey. For my father, it was paradise lost and for my mother, Barley Hole was a curse. It was a place that haunted her spirit and her soul throughout her life. To me, Barley Hole is a name forever etched on the map of my family's heart; it is where betrayal and injustice nearly thrust us into oblivion.
The Barley Hole Chronicles are an odyssey of the human spirit that stretch across time and geography to incorporate, diverse personalities, personal hardships, World Wars and the struggle for peace and love, in a society fallen from grace. These Chronicles document one Yorkshire family's decent into the wilderness of poverty and hunger. It is a personal record of one young man's struggle to survive the great depression, the Second World War and the hazards and wonders of life in post war Germany. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a summation of two memoirs by Harry Leslie Smith 1923 and Hamburg 1947. The Barley Hole Chronicles are a true account of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real. It is also a social history of the 20th century at its bloodiest and deadliest time._


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> *The Barley Hole Chronicles From Hell to Hamburg $2.99*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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