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Belisarius: The Last Roman General
By Ian Hughes. 2014
A military history of the campaigns of Belisarius, the greatest general of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justinian. He twice…
defeated the Persians and reconquered North Africa from the Vandals in a single year at the age of 29, before going on to regain Spain and Italy, including Rome (briefly), from the barbarians. It discusses the evolution from classical Roman to Byzantine armies and systems of warfare, as well as those of their chief enemies, the Persians, Goths and Vandals. It reassesses Belisarius' generalship and compares him with the likes of Caesar, Alexander and Hannibal. It is illustrated with line drawings and battle plans as well as photographs.The Great War Handbook: A Guide for Family Historians & Students of the Conflict
By Geoff Bridger. 2013
Geoff Bridgers The Great War Handbook answers many of the basic questions newcomers ask when confronted by this enormous and…
challenging subject not only what happened and why, but what was the Great War like for ordinary soldiers who were caught up in it. He describes the conditions the soldiers endured, the deadly risks they ran, their daily routines and the small roles they played in the complex military machine they were part of. His comprehensive survey of every aspect of the soldiers life, from recruitment and training, through the experience of battle and its appalling aftermath, is an essential guide for students, family historians, teachers and anyone who is eager to gain an all-round understanding of the nature of the conflict. His authoritative handbook gives a fascinating insight into the world of the Great War - it is a basic book that no student of the subject can afford to be without.The Field Campaigns of Alexander the Great
By Stephen English. 2010
Alexander the Great is one of the most famous men in history, and many believe he was the greatest military…
genius of all time (Julius Caesar wept at the feet of his statue in envy of his achievements). Most of his thirteen year reign as king of Macedon was spent in hard campaigning which conquered half the then-known world, during which he never lost a battle. Besides the famous set-piece battles (Granicus, Issus, Gaugamela, Hydaspes), Alexander's army marched thousands of miles through hostile territory, fighting countless smaller actions and calling for a titanic logistical effort.There is a copious literature on Alexander the Great, but most are biographies of the man himself, with relatively few recent works analyzing his campaigns from a purely military angle. This book will combine a narrative of the course of each of Alexander's campaigns, with clear analysis of strategy, tactics, logistics etc. This will combine with Stephen English's The Army of Alexander the Great and The Sieges of Alexander the Great, to form a very strong three-volume examination of one of the most successful armies and greatest conquerors ever known.Navy SEALs: The Combat History of the Deadliest Warriors on the Planet
By Don Mann, Lance Burton. 2013
In a world where acts of terror have become all too commonplace, America has turned to the elite warriors of…
special operations to lead the fight and hunt down those whose very ideology is one of hate for everything our nation stands for. Among those units one stands apart from the rest, carrying out the most dangerous missions with precision and now legendary lethality: the US Navy SEALs. What led these warriors to become one of the most feared and respected units in history? From their birth in World War II as combat swimmers clearing the beaches of Normandy to their evolution into fighting men who could operate anywhere in the world by sea, air, or land, the intrepid story of the US Navy SEALs is one of courage, sacrifice, and world-renowned toughness that echoes of other great military units of history—the Spartans, the Roman legions, or the samurai. Take a look inside to find out what makes the SEALs America’s deadliest warriors. Mann and Burton take the reader through the inception of the Naval Combat Demolition Teams (NCDU) and Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) during World War II, their testing and development in Korea and into the Vietnam War, where the SEALs truly laid the groundwork for their legendary status, and on into the present day. The authors highlight the major steps and operations along the way, discuss the training and what it takes, and explore some of the most important moments in SEAL history.Sailor: Battle of Britain Legend: Adolph Malan (Images Of War Bks.)
By Philip Kaplan. 2012
I do not think that Malan could join a squadron without improving it, however good it was. Not by sword…
waving, but by a strength of mind and integrity that are at once recognizable and effective...he was the best pilot of the War' – Air Commodore Al Deere, C.B.E., D.S.O., D.F.C.Malan was thirty years of age during the Battle of Britain, old for a fighter pilot, but his maturity gave his leadership a firm authority. The Battle of Britain produced many airmen of great skill and accomplishment; high achievers who made their mark in one of history's most memorable and demanding campaigns. But only a few of these men distinguished themselves in such a way as to become legends in their own lifetimes. Among the greatest of these was Sailor Malan. Here is the story of this talented man, eloquently told by Philip Kaplan who manages to strike a balance between objectivity and reverence in order to commit Malan's story to paper. Featured too are a series of evocative black and white illustrations which supplement the descriptive text and work to create a real sense of the character of the man, flourishing as he did in this dramatic wartime context. As Malan continues to inspire young Aviators, this record looks set to preserve his legacy for a new generation of pilots as well as hardy Aviation enthusiasts.The British Army in France After Dunkirk
By Patrick Takle. 2009
Although over 330,000 British and French soldiers were evacuated from the Dunkirk beaches between 26 May and 4 June, many…
thousands remained in France, most under French command. Churchill, now the Prime Minister, and desperate to keep the French in the War, decided to form a Second BEF made up of 51 Highland, 1st Armoured and the Beauman Divisions, reinforced from the UK by a second Corps. He also ordered vital and scarce RAF fighter squadrons to France. Had these been lost the Battle of Britain might have had a very different result. General Alan Brooke was to command the second Corps comprising the only viable formations in the UK. Realizing the hopelessness of his mission he delayed for as long as possible. Meanwhile the situation in France went from bad to worse and five units were squandered. At St Valery 800 of the 51st Highland Division surrendered after heavy fighting and being outflanked by Rommel. This is the fascinating story of a disaster that could have been so much worse had Churchill had his way.The Last Great Cavalryman: The Life of General Sir Richard McCreery GCB KBE DSO MC
By Richard Mead. 2012
Dick McCreery was commissioned into the 12th Royal Lancers in 1915 and served on The Western Front, winning the MC…
and surviving wounds.In 1938 he joined the staff of 1st Division under Alexander before being given command of 2 Armored Brigade. He won the DSO for his leadership during the retreat to Dunkirk Man/June 1940.In North Africa McCreery was sacked by Auchinleck, with whom he had major differences, but, while waiting for a plane home, he was spotted by Alexander who made him his Chief of Staff. He is credited by many (but not Montgomery the two did not get on) for the solution to the El Alamein victory.He was promoted to command X Corps at Salerno which he commanded during the advance to the Gothic Line. He relieved Leese as Commander 8th Army in September 1944 and it was his brilliant plan that seized the Argenta Gap and drove the Germans back across the River Po into Austria.He became British High Commissioner in Austria, C in C British Army of the Rhine and British Military Representative at the UN, retiring in 1949.Although not a public figure, McCreery was key figure in the development of armored warfare, a brilliant tactician and among the most important British fighting generals of the Second World War. This is an overdue acknowledgment of his contribution to victory.Railway of Hell: A Japanese POW's Account of War, Capture and Forced Labour
By Reginald Burton. 2002
A young captain in the Royal Norfolk Regiment, Reggie Burton was wounded in the closing stages of the disastrous defense…
of Malaya and Singapore. He vividly, yet calmly and with great dignity, describes the horror of captivity at the hands of the Japanese. After initial confusion, the true nature of their captors emerged as, increasingly debilitated, the POWs were forced into backbreaking work. This was only a taste of what was to come. Following a horrific journey in overcrowded cattle trucks, Burton and his dwindling band of colleagues were put to work building the notorious Burma Railway. Somehow he survived to tell this moving and shocking story.On the Roads of War: A Soviet Cavalryman on the Eastern Front
By Ivan Yakushin. 2005
Ivan Yakushin survived the Siege of Leningrad, fought at the Battle of Kursk and pursued the retreating German army through…
Russia, Belorussia, Poland and into Germany itself. This is the story of his war. He tells the tale in his own words, with remarkable clarity of recall, and gives an authentic insight into what combat on the Eastern Front was like for the ordinary soldier. He also provides a detailed, firsthand record of cavalry operations during a highly mechanized war, and this gives his book its special value. The war for him began in Leningrad where he endured the terrifying first winter of the German siege. He describes the perils and privations that beset the city during a period in which over half a million civilians who lost their lives. Yet it is his vivid recollections of his experiences as an artillery man, then a cavalry officer on the Eastern Front that are at the heart of this rare memoir. In the Kursk salient Yakushin was severely wounded in the legs, during the Nevel offensive and Operation Bagration he took part in daring cavalry raids behind the German lines and, as the Soviet army penetrated into East Prussia and Germany itself, he was confronted by increasingly desperate German units struggling to defend their homeland. His descriptions of the merciless fighting during these last months of the war, in particular against the fanatical German Volkssturm, make fascinating reading. The author, Ivan Yakushin survived the Siege of Leningrad as a teenager, completed an artillery lieutenant's course in 1943 and joined the heavy mortar regiment during the Battle of Kursk. After recovering from a wound he was transferred to the elite 5th After the war Captain Yakushin came back to Leningrad and worked as an engineer at Admiralty Shipyards, taking part in construction of over 100 ships, until his retirement in 1992. He lives in St Petersburg, has one son and a grandson.Black Thursday Blood and Oil: Black Thursday Blood And Oil (The US Eighth Air Force in Europe #2)
By Martin W. Bowman. 2012
This book describes the period when the American daylight offensive faltered and nearly failed and recalls the terrible losses suffered…
by Liberators on the low-level attack on the Ploesti oilfields in Rumania and by the B–17s on the notorious Schweinfurt and Regensburg raids which entered 8th Air Force folklore as Black Thursday. Fascinating anecdotes, eye-witness accounts and the hard-won experiences of the battle-scarred American fly-boys reveal the grim realities of air combat at four miles high above enemy occupied Europe, Berlin and the Ruhr. Grown up in the war they paint a revealing picture as only they can. The Mighty Eighth was an air force of hard-fighting, hard-playing fliers who suffered more casualties than the entire US Marine Corps in the Pacific Campaign. Here, in their own words are stories of survival and soul-numbing loss, of fly-boys who came together to fight an air war of the ferocity that had never been fought on such a vast scale before. While RAF Bomber Command was waging war at night, the 8th Air Force B–17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators bombed by day in a 24-hour round the clock campaign. This is also a partly a strategic history with a behind-the-scenes look at deployment of the bomber groups and the fighter escorts that would eventually become their salvation on the interminable deep penetration raids into the Greater Reich.The Lords of War: Supreme Leadership from Lincoln to Churchill
By Correlli Barnett. 2012
In this compelling study of leadership, Correlli Barnett examines the strengths and weaknesses of twenty leaders in the nineteenth and…
early twentieth centuries. He examines how the difficulties they faced and the political and strategic backgrounds of their days and analyses how they performed and what they achieved. Were they successful, or were they beaten down by the burden of their roles? His book considers men from very different backgrounds and from three continents in a range of modern conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to the Second World War. They range from statesmen like Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, to generals like Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas Haig, Erwin Rommel, Georgi Zhukov, Dwight Eisenhower and William Slim, to admirals lie Isoruku Yamamoto and Bertram Ramsey. These leaders present fascinating contrasts of personal character, styles of leadership and sheer aptitude for command as well as contrasts in the daunting professional problems that challenged each of them. In Lords of War Correlli Barnett yet again demolishes hallowed reputations and rehabilitates the unjustly scapegoated. His latest book confirms his reputation as a master in the field of strategic history.Napoleon Bonaparte Abraham LincolnUlysses S. GrantRobert E. LeeHelmuth, Graf von MoltkeNapoleon IIIJoseph JoffreHelmuth von Moltke the YoungerDouglas HaigDavid Lloyd GeorgePhilippe PtainErich LudendorffErwin Rommel Isoruku Yamamoto Arthur HarrisWilliam Slim Bertram RamsayDwight D. Eisenhower Georgi Zhukov Adolf Hitler Winston ChurchillSalute of Guns
By Donald Boyd. 2012
Artillery was the decisive weapon of the Great War but its story is almost forgotten. The developments in artillery tactics,…
equipment and shells played a major role in the final Allied victory. British artillery was in the forefront of all those changes. This book gives the reader a dramatic insight into the story of artillery in the First World War. Donald Boyd joined his local Territorial Force artillery unit in September 1914. Commissioned in 1915, he learnt his trade in France from unsympathetic pre-war Indian Army regulars who did not understand how war was changing. From 1916 to 1918, he took part in the Western Fronts major battles, including the Somme, Third Ypres, Cambrai and the 1918 offensives. The stress of an artillery subalterns existence, observing in the front line, keeping the guns in action at a battery position or leading ammunition columns up tracks exposed to shellfire brought him to nervous collapse twice. The author is frank about his problems and convincingly conveys the relationships within his sub-unit, which helped or hindered his struggle to stay in the front line.A new Foreword by Michael Orr sets Boyds memoir in context and documents its reliability from the archives.If I had to name the best record of Western Front fighting I should, on the whole, choose Donald Boyds Salute of Guns as the one that has dealt most faithfully with the most difficult to recall of all its aspects contemporary morale. (Robert Graves)Rommel and Caporetto (Images Of War Ser.)
By Eileen Wilks, John Wilks. 2013
Rommel was to become the most respected of all generals in World War Two but no-one outside of a small…
clique in the German Army had heard of him in 1917. His role at the Battle of Caporetto in 1917 where the Italian Army was humiliated at a catastrophic defeat has received little attention yet it was the springboard for his future success. This makes for a fascinating and important story. The book, by the authors of The British Army in Italy 1917–1918, is based largely on official histories and documents, and on Rommels own account, which gives some insight into the qualities that he was later to exhibit in France and in North Africa.Road to St. Julien: The Letters of a Stretcher-Bearer of the Great War
By John St. Clair. 2004
William St Clair is perhaps the only soldier to have left a continuous account of his experiences day by day…
from the moment of joining up in 1914, through the years of horror in the trenches, to the march into Germany in 1919 and the long aftermath of trying to make sense of what had happened. A private in the medical corps, St Clair wrote daily letters, sometimes more, to his future wife Jane. Often scribbled under fire, and sent in the green envelopes that were exempt from censorship, they tell of the famous battles of Loos, the Somme, and Passchendaele, as they happened, with excruciating vividness. They speak too of aspirations, of conversations, of literature, and of love.Published for the first time, these raw, truthful, and deeply moving. letters give us what we have not properly had before, the voice of an ordinary soldier who is also a wonderful writer. The book takes its title from the village of St Julien in Flanders, where, in a captured German pill box, the mind of young soldier was transformed, an event that he later turned into an award-winning play.Secret Letters from the Railway: The Remarkable Record of a Japanese POW
By Brian Bond. 2004
Charles Steel took part in two military disasters - the Fall of France and the Dunkirk evacuation, and the Fall…
of Singapore. Shortly before the latter, he married Louise. Within days of being captured by the Japanese, he began writing a weekly letter to his new bride as means of keeping in touch with her in his mind, for the Japanese forbade all writing of letters and diaries. By the time he was liberated 3 1/2 years later, he had written and hidden some 180 letters, to which were added a further 20 post-liberation letters. Part love-letter, part diary these unique letters intended for Louise's eyes only describe the horror of working as a slave on the Burma - Siam Railway and, in particular, the construction of the famous Bridge over the River Kwai. It is also an uplifting account of how man can rise above adversity and even secretly get back at his captors by means of 'creative accounting'!. Now, for the first time, we can share the appalling and inspiring experiences of this remarkable man.XD Operations: Secret British Missions Denying Oil to the Nazis
By C. C. Brazier. 2004
X D Operations is the first account of the thrilling operations by the Kent Fortress Royal Engineers, a small Territorial…
Army Unit given the largest demolition program ever undertaken by the Royal Engineers. These took place in May 1940 with the object of destroying all the oil reserves stored in refineries in the ports along the Continental coastline from Holland to the Bay of Biscay, thus denying the Nazis vital stocks.The operations were mounted at very short notice and in extreme secrecy. Such was the importance attached to them that no plans existed for the unit's evacuation.The destruction of some two million tons of oil was a serious blow to the German war machine. Churchill was delighted with their success especially at a time of military setbacks. Although for security reasons there was no publicity at the time, they earned a generous allocation of decorations.The book describes the trip over in destroyers, frequently under air attack, the chaotic conditions ahead of the advancing Germans, the difficulties faced in carrying out the tasks and the drama of getting back to England.The unit went on to undertake further unusual expeditions from Spitzbergen to the Middle East over the next two and a half years of the Second World War.Sacrifice, Captivity and Escape: The Remarkable Memoirs of a Japanese POW
By Peter Jackson. 2012
Sacrifice, Captivity and Escape is an exceptional story. Peter Jackson was young and recently married when he was drafted into…
the army at the start of World War II. He had no wish to be there but like most of his generation he was given no choice.Peter arrived in Singapore just as the city was being evacuated and within days he was a prisoner of the Imperial Japanese Army. Peter was one of the very few to survive the hardship, illnesses and brutality that followed. Like so many he was forced to work for the Japanese, first in Singapore and then on the infamous Thai-Burma railway. While there, remarkably, he escaped with seven other soldiers and, when recaptured, he was treated harshly.His memoir brings alive the characters of his comrades and also of the Japanese who he encountered. Some of the Japanese treated their prisoners humanely and Peter was able to form a relationship with them but others were sadistic psychopaths.But throughout his memoir there is a sense of hopefulness that, as young men, they would survive and get back to their homes; this was despite the despair many of them felt at losing four years of their lives as prisoners.Sunderland Over Far-Eastern Seas: An RAF Flying Boat Navigator's Story
By Derek K. Empson. 2010
This is the first book to give a detailed, first-hand account of post-World War II RAF Short Sunderland operations in…
the Far East. The author was a navigator with 88 Squadron and later 205 Squadron, flying operations during the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency and many other operations. He was based at Seletar in Singapore, Kaitak in Hong Kong, Iwakuni near Hiroshima and various other operational bases throughout his two and a half year tour. The Sunderland flying boat was a unique aircraft in that each crew was allotted an aircraft which became their floating and airborne home. The crew relied upon all-round cooperation to keep the airplane in top condition, plus the addition of personalized luxuries. The task of long distance navigation in the Far East during the early 1950s relied on the conventional methods of astro navigation and dead reckoning, a difficult task when crossing hundreds of miles of open ocean and encountering monsoon and tropical storm conditions.Amongst the noteworthy events included is a return flight from Singapore to Hong Kong across 1,400 miles of ocean with a VIP passenger, his first operational flight as a 21 year old Pilot Officer navigator. He then undertakes an operation involving a return trip to Scotland which took three months. On moving to Kiatak the Sunderlands provided air cover for search and rescue operations, taking off and landing amongst the port's many small and erratically steered shipping craft. He flew sixty-one missions in support of the United Nations forces fighting in and around Korea, enduring the threat of Chinese fighters over the Yellow Sea. In one operation an engine fire caused the crew to ditch in the Tsushima Strait with serious structural failure and they were rescued by the USS De Haven, a US destroyer. This is a worthy record of some of the legendary Short Sunderland's final roles in the RAF.Some Desperate Glory: The Diary of a Young Officer, 1917
By Edwin Campion Vaughan. 2010
Some Desperate Glory charts the progress of an enthusiastic and patriotic young officer who marched into battle with Palgraves Golden…
Treasury in his pack. Intensely honest and revealing, his diary evokes the day-to-day minutiae of trench warfare: its constant dangers and mind-numbing routine interspersed with lyrical and sometimes comic interludes. Vividly capturing the spirit of the officers and men at the front, the diary grows in horror and disillusionment as Vaughans company is drawn into the carnage of Passchendaele from which, of his original happy little band of 90 men, only 15 survived.Retreat and Rearguard, 1914: The BEF's Actions From Mons to the Marne
By Jerry Murland. 2011
The British action at Mons on 23 August 1914 was the catalyst for what became a full blown retreat over…
200 blood drenched miles. This book examines eighteen of the desperate rearguard actions that occurred during the twelve days of this near rout. While those at Le Cateau and Nery are well chronicled, others such as cavalry actions at Morsain and Taillefontaine, the Connaught Rangers at Le Grand Fayt and 13 Brigades fight at Crepy-en-Valois are virtually unknown even to expert historians. We learn how in the chaos and confusion that inevitably reigned units of Gunners and other supporting arms found themselves in the front line.The work of the Royal Engineers responsible for blowing bridges over rivers and canals behind the retreating troops comes in for particular attention and praise. Likewise that of the RAMC. No less than 16 VCs were won during this historic Retreat, showing that even in the darkest hours individuals and units performed with gallantry, resourcefulness and great forbearance.The book comes alive with first hand accounts, letters, diaries, official unit records, much of which has never been published before.