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This book offers an analysis of naval constabulary operations, in particular Australian fisheries patrols, and challenges the widely accepted Anglo-American…
school of maritime thought.In the Indo-Pacific, fisheries and the activities of fishing boats are of increasing strategic importance in Australia’s region – Australia’s Four Oceans. Issues of overfishing, population growth and climate change are placing growing pressure on fish as a resource, and in doing so are making fisheries more significant, and significant on a strategic as opposed to simply an economic or environmental level. When, combined with the growing use of fishing vessels as para-naval forces, it is clear that the activities of fishing vessels, whether fishing or not fishing, are matters of considerable strategic relevance. This book illuminates contemporary seapower challenges, explains and defines maritime security and examines and refines existing theory to advance a set of new or refined concepts to help frame the on-water activities of constabulary operations -- reducing the possibility of on-water miscalculation between states.This book will be of much interest to students and scholars of naval studies and sea power, maritime strategy, maritime security and International Relations.Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World
By Eric Jay Dolin. 2024
The true story of five castaways abandoned on the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812—a tale of treachery, shipwreck,…
isolation, and the desperate struggle for survival. In Left for Dead, Eric Jay Dolin—“one of today’s finest writers about ships and the sea” (American Heritage)—tells the true story of a wild and fateful encounter between an American sealing vessel, a shipwrecked British brig, and a British warship in the Falkland archipelago during the War of 1812. Fraught with misunderstandings and mistrust, the incident left three British sailors and two Americans, including the captain of the sealer, Charles H. Barnard, abandoned in the barren, windswept, and inhospitable Falklands for a year and a half. With deft narrative skill and unequaled knowledge of the very pith of the seafaring life, Dolin describes in vivid and harrowing detail the increasingly desperate existence of the castaways during their eighteen-month ordeal—an all-too-common fate in the Great Age of Sail. A tale of intriguing complexity, with surprising twists and turns throughout—involving greed, lying, bullying, a hostile takeover, stellar leadership, ingenuity, severe privation, endurance, banishment, the great value of a dog, the birth of a baby, a perilous thousand-mile open-ocean journey in a seventeen-foot boat, an improbable rescue mission, and legal battles over a dubious and disgraceful wartime prize—Left for Dead shows individuals in wartime under great duress acting both nobly and atrociously, and offers a unique perspective on a pivotal era in American maritime history.The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation
By Victor Davis Hanson. 2024
In this &“gripping account of catastrophic defeat&” (Barry Strauss), a New York Times–bestselling historian charts how and why some societies…
chose to utterly destroy their foes, and warns that similar wars of obliteration are possible in our time &“In The End of Everything, Hanson tells compelling and harrowing stories of how civilizations perished. He helps us consider contemporary affairs in light of that history, think about the unthinkable, and recognize the urgency of trying to prevent our own demise.&” — H. R. McMaster, author of Battlegrounds War can settle disputes, topple tyrants, and bend the trajectory of civilization—sometimes to the breaking point. From Troy to Hiroshima, moments when war has ended in utter annihilation have reverberated through the centuries, signaling the end of political systems, cultures, and epochs. Though much has changed over the millennia, human nature remains the same. Modern societies are not immune from the horror of a war of extinction. In The End of Everything, military historian Victor Davis Hanson narrates a series of sieges and sackings that span the age of antiquity to the conquest of the New World to show how societies descend into barbarism and obliteration. In the stories of Thebes, Carthage, Constantinople, and Tenochtitlan, he depicts war&’s drama, violence, and folly. Highlighting the naivete that plagued the vanquished and the wrath that justified mass slaughter, Hanson delivers a sobering call to contemporary readers to heed the lessons of obliteration lest we blunder into catastrophe once again.The War In-Between: Indexing a Visual Culture of Survival
By Wendy Kozol. 2024
Explores the ambiguities and contradictions that disrupt the assumed boundaries of battle zonesAgainst the fabric of suffering that unfolds around…
more spectacular injuries and deaths, The War In-Between studies visual depictions of banal, routine, or inscrutable aspects of militarized violence. Spaces of the in-between are both broader and much less visible than battlefields, even though struggles for survival arise out of the same conditions of structural violence. Visual artifacts including photographs, video, data visualizations, fabric art, and craft projects provide different vantage points on the quotidian impacts of militarism, whether it is the banality of everyday violence for non-combatants or the daily struggles of soldiers living with physical and emotional trauma.Three interrelated concepts frame the book’s attempt to “stay” in the moment of looking at visual cultures of survival. First, the concept of the war in-between captures those interstitial spaces of war where violence and survival persist side-by-side. Second, this book expands the concept of indexicality to consider how images of the in-between rely on a range of indexical traces to produce alternative visualities about survival and endurance. Third, the book introduces an asymptotic analysis to explore the value in getting close to the diverse experiences that comprise the war in-between, even if the horizon line of experience is always just out of reach.Exploring the capaciousness of survival reveals that there is more to feel and engage in war images than just mangled bodies, collapsing buildings, and industrialized death. The War In-Between, Kozol argues, offers not a better truth about war but an accounting of visualities that arise at the otherwise unthinkable junction of conflict and survival.Weaning: What to Feed, When to Feed, and How to Feed Your Baby
By Annabel Karmel. 2024
From the world's leading expert and bestselling author on baby and children's food and nutrition Annabel Karmel, comes the ultimate…
guide to starting children on solids.With basic but crucial details, such as types of spoons, portion size, and best feeding time, to larger issues, such as when to begin and allergy advice, Weaning provides all the fundamentals parents need and includes thirty new healthy, delicious recipes with twenty simple puree recipes to get started.Albert Ball VC: The Fighter Pilot Hero of World War I
By Colin Pengelly. 2010
An action-packed military biography of a British fighter pilot and his rise through ranks during World War I. World War…
I pilot Albert Ball&’s invincible courage and determination made him a legend not only in Britain but also amongst his enemies, to whom the sight of his lone Nieuport Scout brought fear. Ball enlisted in the British army in 1914 with the 2/7th Battalion (Robin Hoods) of the Sherwood Foresters, Notts, and Derby Regiment. By October, 1914, he had reached the rank of Sergeant and then became Second-Lieutenant to his own battalion in the same month. In June, 1915, he trained as a pilot in Hendon. Then in October, he obtained Royal Aero Club Certificate and was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He further trained at Norwich and Upavon, being awarded the pilot&’s brevet in January, 1916. In May, he opened his score, shooting down an Albatros C-type over Beaumont. Days later he shot down two LVG C-types, while flying his Nieuport 5173. Captain Albert Ball made his final flight on May 7, 1917, when he flew as part of an eleven-strong hunting patrol into action against Jagdstaffel 11, led by Lothar Von Richthofen. Albert was pursuing the Albatros Scout of Lothar, who crash-landed, wounded. Then many witnessed Albert dive out of a cloud and crash. He died minutes later in the arms of a French girl, Madame Cecille Deloffre. Ball rose from obscurity to the top rank of contemporary fighter pilots in only 15 months. In that period, he had been awarded the MC, DSO, and two Bars, and was credited with at least 44 victories.Air Force Lives: A Guide for Family Historians
By Phil Tomaselli. 2013
Discover what life was like for members of the British Royal Air Force from WWI to the 1970s, plus how…
to find out about an ancestor&’s service career. What was it like to serve as an airman in the Second World War, as a pilot, a bomb aimer, or aerial gunner, or as a trainee pilot in 1913, a Zeppelin chaser during the First World War, or serve as a Wren fitter in the Fleet Air Arm or as a member of the ground crew who are so often overlooked in the history of Britain&’s air arm? And how can you find out about an individual, an ancestor whose service career is a gap in your family&’s history? Phil Tomaselli, in this readable and instructive book, shows you how this can be done. He describes in fascinating detail the careers of a group air force personnel from all branches and levels of the service. Using evidence gleaned from a range of sources – archives, memoirs, official records, books, libraries, oral history and the internet – he reconstructs the records of a revealing and representative group of ordinary men and women: among them an RFC fitter who won the Military Medal on the Somme, an RAF pilot who flew in Russia in 1919, an air gunner from the Second Word War, a Pathfinder crew who flew seventy-seven missions, a Battle of Britain pilot and a typical WAAF. In each case he shows how the research was conducted and explains how the lives of such individuals can be explored.Praise for Air Force Lives &“The majority of the book consists of a series of nine extensive case studies. Collectively they provide a good range of different lives, and reveal a similar variety of sources used to learn about them. Read it for a rich and detailed picture of the different lives of air force ancestors.&” —Your Family TreeGunboat Command: The Biography of Lieutenant Commander Robert Hichens DSO* DSC** RNVR
By Antony Hichens. 2014
This biography draws heavily on the personal diaries of the subject, Robert Hichens (or Hitch as he was universally known).After…
a brief description of his early life, time at Oxford, his motor racing achievements (including trophies at Le Mans in his Aston Martin) and RN training, the book focuses on his exceptional wartime experiences. Hitch was the most highly decorated RNVR officer of the war with two DSOs, three DSCs and three Mentions in Despatches. He was recommended for a posthumous VC. We read of his early days in vulnerable minesweepers and the Dunkirk Dynamo operation, (his first DSC).In late 1940 he joined Coastal Forces serving in the very fast MGBs, soon earning his own command and shortly after command of his Flotilla. He was the first to capture an E-Boat. His successful leadership led to many more successes and his reputation as a fearless and dynamic leader remains a legend today.The book contains detailed and graphic accounts of running battles against the more heavily armed E-boats. Tragically he was killed in action in April 1943, having refused promotion and a job ashore.Junkers Ju87 Stuka (FlightCraft)
By Martin Derry, Neil Robinson. 2017
The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka (a contraction of the German word Sturzkampfflugzeug, ie dive bomber) was arguably the Luftwaffes most…
recognizable airplane, with its inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage.Designed by Hermann Pohlmann as a dedicated dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft, the prototype first flew in 1935, and made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War. After several design changes in the light of operational experiences, the Stuka went on to serve the Luftwaffe and Axis forces, from the invasion of Poland in 1939, through the Battles of France and Britain in 1940, over the North African desert and the across Mediterranean, the invasion of Russia and the subsequent bitter fighting in that vast area, and following several more design changes and upgrades, continued to serve through to the end of World War Two.This latest addition to the growing Flight Craft range, follows the previous well established format, in that it is split in to three main sections. The first section, after offering a concise design and development history, continues with coverage of the various subtypes, from Anton to Gustav and their operational use from the Spanish Civil War to the end of World War Two.This is followed by a 16-page full color illustration section featuring detailed profiles and 2-views of the color schemes and markings carried by the type in Luftwaffe and Axis service. The final section lists as many of the injection-moulded plastic model kits produced of the Junkers Ju 87 in all the major scales that the authors could find details of, including the brand new Airfix 1/72 and 1/48 scale kits which were released while this book was being written, with photos of many finished models made by some of the worlds best modelers.As with all the other books in the Flight Craft range, whilst published primarily with the scale aircraft modeler in mind, it is hoped that those readers who might perhaps describe themselves as 'occasional' modelers, or even simply aviation enthusiasts, may also find that this colourful and informative work offers something to provoke their interests too.A History of Pantomime
By Maureen Hughes. 2013
Each Christmas entire families in the UK troop off to see, what one could almost say is 'the obligatory'. annual…
entertainment, known as Pantomime. It is a traditional, seasonal way of life for the British envied the world over, and one which only the British seem to understand! Pantomime serves both to entertain and to introduce each new generation to the joys of theatre in the most unique of ways, for this is not a type of theatre one merely watches, but one in which the audience participate often in the most seemingly boisterous and bizarre of ways. The whole experience is steeped in tradition, traditions which only the British seem to understand, which is probably why we are proud to call it a 'British Experience.'In A History of Pantomime Maureen Hughes takes a brief look at the history of Pantomime as well as taking a humorous look at some of the above mentioned traditions; she also gives a synopsis of each of the well-known Pantomimes whilst exploring the eccentric world of the characters who appear in them. There is also a short piece on just some of the most well-known and loved of the actors who each Christmas take on the part of Pantomime Dames across the UK, as well as a look at others who have contributed to this magical world of fun and eccentricity. It is thought by some to be frivolous and pointless piece of theatre, but a browse through this informative book and you will soon find that Pantomime is an art form all of its own, requiring the most dedicated and talented of actors/actresses who are prepared to honour and perpetuate this wonderful tradition as it is passed down from one generation to the next.As seen in The Telegraph and the Sunday Post (Glasgow).Air Raid Shelters of the Second World War: Family Stories of Survival in the Blitz
By Stephen Wade. 2011
This book features the design, creation and use of air raid shelters, including interviews with people who used them during…
the Second World War. The different types of bunkers/air raid shelters (both public and in peoples gardens) are covered and the strength and weakness of their designs discussed, using original designs and primary material. The nostalgia/social history of the book covers peoples experiences of staying in the air raid shelters. These are divided into topics, including getting to the shelters (how they reacted to the sirens or whether they just moved into the shelters, especially those in gardens, long-term), facilities, health issues, morale and safety, both real and perceived. In recent years, air raid shelters have been converted into different uses, including homes, and the book will finish with a brief chapter concerning the future and preservation of these once vital buildings.Sparta: Rise Of A Warrior Nation
By Philip Matyszak. 2017
The author of Sparta: Rise of a Warrior Nation continues his revealing history of the Ancient Greek city-state in this…
chronicle of its decline and defeat. Universally admired in 479 BC, the Spartans became masters of the Greek world by 402 BC, only for their state to collapse in the next generation. What went wrong? Was the fall of Sparta inevitable? In Sparta: Fall of a Warrior Nation, Philip Matyszak examines the political blunders and failures of leadership which combined with unresolved social issues to bring down the nation—even as its warriors remained invincible on the battlefield. The Spartans believed their society was above the changes sweeping their world. And by resisting change, they were doomed to be overwhelmed by it. But the Spartans refused to accept total defeat, and for many years their city exercised influence far beyond its size and population. This is a chronicle of political failure—one rich in heroes, villains, epic battles and political skullduggery. But it is also a lesson in how to go down fighting. Even with the Roman legions set to overwhelm their city, the Spartans never gave upThe WWI biography of a Victory Cross recipient who fought bravely at Gallipoli, only to be shunned after the war…
for speaking out against it. The son of a former Premier of Western Australia, Hugo Throssell volunteered to join the Imperial Australian Force during the Great War. He was shipped to Gallipoli in 1915 with the 10th Australian Light Horse Regiment, which fought in a dismounted role. He was involved in the famous charge of the 10th Light Horse at the Battle of the Nek and the Battle of Hill 60. Throssell was severely wounded during the Battle of Hill 60, but refused to leave his post until the fighting was over. As soon as his wounds were dressed, he went back into the firing line until he was ordered to stand down by the Medical Officer. His determination saved his battalion at a critical moment. After the war, Throssell became an outspoken opponent of war, for which he was widely condemned. It also made employment difficult and he fell into debt. When he tried to pawn his Victoria Cross, he was offered only ten shillings. He committed suicide at forty-nine. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this is a moving tale of heroism and tragedy.How Churchill Waged War: The Most Challenging Decisions of the Second World War
By Allen Packwood. 2019
An analytical investigation into Prime Minister Winston Churchill&’s decision-making process during every stage of World War II. When Winston…
Churchill accepted the position of Prime Minister in May 1940, he insisted in also becoming Minister of Defence. This, though, meant that he alone would be responsible for the success or failure of Britain&’s war effort. It also meant that he would be faced with many monumental challenges and utterly crucial decisions upon which the fate of Britain and the free world rested. With the limited resources available to the UK, Churchill had to pinpoint where his country&’s priorities lay. He had to respond to the collapse of France, decide if Britain should adopt a defensive or offensive strategy, choose if Egypt and the war in North Africa should take precedence over Singapore and the UK&’s empire in the East, determine how much support to give the Soviet Union, and how much power to give the United States in controlling the direction of the war. In this insightful investigation into Churchill&’s conduct during the Second World War, Allen Packwood, BA, MPhil (Cantab), FRHistS, the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, enables the reader to share the agonies and uncertainties faced by Churchill at each crucial stage of the war. How Churchill responded to each challenge is analyzed in great detail and the conclusions Packwood draws are as uncompromising as those made by Britain&’s wartime leader as he negotiated his country through its darkest days.Blitzkrieg Poland: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives (Images of War)
By Jon Sutherland, Diane Canwell. 2010
"These photographs are taken from three unpublished albums featuring the German invasion of Poland in 1939. One set was taken…
by an SS officer, another by a regular officer and a third by a soldier attached to a medical unit. Included are German units on the move, tanks, artillery and aircraft.There are several shots of recently knocked out Polish vehicles, captured Polish troops and civilians. The shots reflect the rapid pace of the German advance through Poland, some of the cities, towns and villages show signs of heavy fighting, whilst others appear to be untouched. One of the sets show a German unit mounted in fast open cars, heavily armed, speeding through the Polish countryside. Another features armored vehicles and engineers, while another shows the ambulance teams moving up to the front through devastation and chaos.There are also numerous opportunities throughout the book to see uniforms in their various guises and how they were actually worn in practice. There are shots of earlier German armor, antique Polish armor, and photographs of German troops at rest and preparing to move forward again."Winged Warriors: The Cold War from the Cockpit
By Thomas McDonald. 1988
Paul McDonald is a former RAF fast-jet pilot whose flying career spanned 34 years. He is not a typical senior…
RAF officer having been brought up on a council estate in a bleak northern industrial town. He became a pilot by accident and struggled to gain his wings. He spent 14 years on operational tours overseas including 2 tours at the height of the Cold War on a Tornado tactical nuclear squadron in Germany, only 15 minutes from responding to an anticipated Soviet onslaught. Earlier he served on a low-level photo reconnaissance squadron on NATO's vulnerable southern flank. He was decorated for gallantry in 1980 and later served in Kuwait as the Senior RAF Adviser, including Operation Desert Fox, the air war against Iraq in 1998.C-130 Hercules: A History
By Martin W. Bowman. 2017
&“An engaging retrospective on the long-lived and ubiquitous C-130 Hercules tactical airlifter . . . Sweeping in its scope . . . an invaluable reference.&” —Aviation…
History Designed in response to a 1951 requirement, the C-130 Hercules is the most successful military airlifter ever built. Since it first flew in prototype form on August 23, 1954, more than 2,100 have been produced in over eighty different versions. Across its variants, the Hercules serves more than sixty air forces, as well as many civilian cargo operators, in a multiplicity of roles, including air-to-air refueller, gunship, airborne command post, flying hospital, and firefighter. This rugged and easily maintained aircraft entered service in 1956 with the USAF Tactical Air Command. Ten years later, the &“Charlie 130&” was providing essential logistical support in Vietnam. This period in Southeast Asia was the Hercules&’ finest hour. Paradrops, airlift, and evacuation operations were completed around the clock, often at low level, usually under fire and nearly always in bad weather. A generation later, this &“Mr. Dependable&” was serving with equal distinction in the Gulf War in the role of airlifter, radio-countermeasures, and &“psy-ops&” platform, gunship and, once again, &“block-buster bomber.&” The &“Herky Bird&” or &“Fat Albert,&” as the C-130 is fondly known, has proved a key component in humanitarian relief operations, as well, in all parts of the world. &“Martin&’s technical and informative look at their creation and use is absolutely fascinating. An iconic aircraft gets Martin&’s VIP treatment in this wonderful book.&” —Books Monthly &“A history of an aviation great, from the pen of a popular and well-established author of aviation history.&” —FiretrenchClan Fabius, Defenders of Rome: A History of the Republic's Most Illustrious Family
By Jeremiah McCall. 2018
The history of the Fabii Maximii is in many ways that of the Roman Republic. In the legends and historical…
scraps that survived the Republic, the members of the Fabius clan were, more often than not, the hammers that forged the empire. Few families contributed more to the survival and success of the Republic and for so many centuries. Few could boast such great glories; perhaps none could match the record of Fabian offices and honours in the Republic. Though the bloodline sank into obscurity in the early empire, the name still carried memories of great achievements past.A historical detective work, this book explores the facts and fables of the Republics most distinguished family. Chapters investigate not only the lives and careers of the Fabii Maximi, but the critical military and political contexts of their days. As a result, readers get not only the story of the Roman Republics rise and domination of an empire, but a closer look at a family of Romans who made it possible.Flying Freestyle: An RAF Fast Jet Pilot's Story
By Jerry Pook. 2009
A British Royal Air Force pilot recounts his 25-year career in the cockpit during the Cold War in this military…
memoir. During a twenty-five-year flying career in the RAF, Jerry Pook has flown Hunter Fighter/Ground Attack aircraft in the Gulf, Harriers in West Germany, the supersonic Starfighter with the Dutch Air Force, the Harrier in Belize, Central America and the Tornado bomber at the Tri-national Tornado Training Establishment where he trained German and Italian pilots and navigators. Jerry had a long relationship with the Harrier Fighter/Ground Attack vertical take-off aircraft. This he flew in West Germany at the height of the Cold War operating from Wildenrath and off-base operations with Field Wing operations based in the fields and woods of the German countryside. Jerry saw action during the Falklands War when based on HMS Hermes and flying one of the few RAF Harriers in the Ground Attack role in support of the troops fighting ashore. He then enjoyed flying the American-built Starfighter RF 104G during a three-year exchange tour with the Dutch Air Force—he describes the Starfighter as &“beautiful to fly, smooth and sophisticated, supremely fast and powerful—if you took liberties with it you knew it would kill you in an instant.&” After three years with No 1 (Fighter) Squadron and again flying the Harrier, he moved to the then new Tornado, flying in its bomber role. This he continued to fly operationally and in the instructional role for thirteen years until grounded from military flying for medical reasons.HMS London: Warships of the Royal Navy
By Iain Ballantyne. 2003
A fascinating and lively account of the lives of British warships named London, looking at history from the perspective of…
the men who were there. There is no current warship in the Royal Navy called HMS London, but vessels carrying the name have featured in some of the most controversial episodes of British naval history. For example, the wooden wall battleship HMS London of the late 18th century could be called &“the ship that lost America&” while the heavy cruiser of WW2 was command vessel for the escort force that failed to safeguard the controversial convoy PQ17. Examining the stories of HMS Londons all the way from the English Civil War, through the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801—where Nelson famously ignored signals to break off the action displayed by HMS London—we also learn of the pre-dreadnought London&’s participation in the ill-fated Dardanelles campaign of WW1. Among the people Iain Ballantyne interviewed for this book were veterans of the Arctic convoys of WW2, the Yangtse Incident and warriors of the Cold War and 1991 Gulf War. It all adds up to a thoroughly researched and exciting narrative of naval history. Adding to the authenticity of the tale, Iain even sailed to Russia in the last HMS London, a Type 22 guided-missile frigate, in August 1991. During a WW2 convoy re-enactment the ship was almost hit by a practice torpedo launched from a Soviet submarine and had to take evasive action.