Modern warfare Books

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Book SynopsisIn the new year of 1944 the French Resistance in northern France was on its knees. Relentless attacks on its diverse and disorganised networks by the Gestapo and the Abwehr had put many of its best operatives in prison, or worse. But in the lead up to Operation Overlord, 'D Day', the Resistance had never been more important to the Allied war effort, and many groups were in the pay of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. One such was organised by a patriot called Dominic Ponchardier. For months he had watched helplessly as his friends and colleagues had been swept up by the Nazi drag net, and cast into the old prison on the eastern outskirts of Amiens. In desperation he asked his MI6 handlers for help, and once London agreed it led to one of the most daring missions of the war. On the morning of 18 February 1944, nineteen Mosquito bombers flew at low level across the channel, skimming just above the ground to drop their bombs on sections of the walls of Amiens Prison. Hundreds escaped, scores of whom evaded recapture to continue the fight against Nazi repression. It was an epic of precision bombing, in which one of the most notable RAF heroes of the war, Group Captain Charles Pickard, lost his life. Robert Lyman's book reveals, from previously unseen sources, the full truth of MI6's involvement in the French Resistance, and narrates in vivid detail a stirring tale of courage and skill.Trade ReviewUnbearably tense . . . will make you feel proud to be British - Daily ExpressHeroism, adventure, tragedy, a superman hero and the loathsome Boche. This comprehensive retelling of the story has not lost any of its firepower - Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisWhat was it like to be a pilot in Hitlers Luftwaffe during World War II? In this book, the veterans themselves provide the answer. Christer Bergström enjoys a reputation as one of the greatest experts on Luftwaffe during World War II. During over 40 years of research, he has visited and made interviews with hundreds of Luftwaffe pilot veterans. Here he recounts what the veterans themselves told him often things that dont usually appear in ordinary books about the war. The book is richly illustrated with, among other things, never before published photos from the veterans private photo albums.

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Book SynopsisSS Colonel Jochen Peiper was one of the most controversial figures of World War II. Himmler''s personal adjutant and Hitler''s favourite tank commander, Peiper spearheaded the Ardennes Offensive and became the central subject in the famous Malmédy massacre trial. In Hitler''s Warrior , Danny S. Parker crafts both a definitive biography of Hitler''s most enigmatic warrior and a unique study of the morally inverted world of the Third Reich.Trade ReviewPraise for Hitler's Warrior "A brilliant study of a controversial but exceptional warrior in Hitler's Germany. To truly understand what the United States confronted in the Second World War, you must read this utterly absorbing story."--Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of The Bedford Boys and The Liberator "Hitler's Warrior is a spellbinding account of the brutal life and mysterious postwar death of SS Colonel Jochen Peiper. With the masterful control of twenty years of research, and a brilliant eye for detail, Danny Parker delivers a story about Himmler's personal adjutant that both horrifies and enthralls."--Annie Jacobsen, New York Times bestselling author of Area 51 and Operation Paperclip "Jochen Peiper's life and career illuminate the inner thoughts of Heinrich Himmler, the relationship between the SS and Waffen-SS, and the balance between ideology and opportunism in Nazi Germany. In this detailed and well-written biography of Peiper, Danny S. Parker probes deeply into important questions of history and memory."--Richard Breitman, American University and coauthor of FDR and the Jews "A full and thoughtful account of an important figure in the Nazi political and military system.--Gerhard L. Weinberg, William Rand Kenan, Jr., Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill "The most thorough and balanced account of the life of Jochen Peiper to have yet appeared--monumental research."--James J. Weingartner, author of Americans, Germans, and War Crimes Justice "Meticulously researched...reads like a novel. Clearly adds great depth to the study of the personal character of Jochen Peiper."--Military Review "[A] gripping book...and a chilling story of hunter turned quarry."-The Independent (UK)

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Book SynopsisOne of the most popular and enduring campaigns of World War II is that of the Western Desert, where Allied armies beat back the hard-pressed German and Italian forces under the grueling African sun. Covering crucial operations such as Crusader, Lightfoot, and Supercharge, and the great battles of Tobruk, El Alamein, and Gazala, this book brings the unforgiving battlefields of North Africa to the tabletop. In-depth information on the forces involved, linked scenarios, and new Theater Selectors make this an ideal resource for any Bolt Action player with an interest in the Desert War.

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Book SynopsisThe full visual history of the special forces combat diver from World War II to the present day.Combat divers are an elite within an elite. Every special forces combat diver is required to pass selection twice first into the elite military unit and then a combat diving qualification. The combat dive units themselves are tiny and the operations highly classified. The role of a military diver is inevitably a lonely and a dangerous one, whether clearing mines or striking from the sea against enemy-held targets. Fully illustrated with rare and unusual images, Combat Divers reveals their little-known yet fascinating operations, from Dutch Special Forces combat divers covertly operating against Somali pirates to the actions of Soviet Spetsnaz divers in Swedish territorial waters during the Cold War. It also examines how the most famous units, such as the US Navy SEALs and the Royal Navy''s SBS, are currently operating and adapting to threats in a multitude of theatres. CombTrade ReviewA wide ranging and well-presented look into the murky world of military divers. * The Armourer *Altogether a superb effort putting the spotlight on some of the world's toughest undersea operators. * Warships IFR *Well-crafted and stimulating read, this is a fitting tribute to some extraordinary people - highly recommended. * Navy Books *This is a positive addition to the library of combat diving, and should be of great interest to civilians who are intrigued by this clandestine genre of warfare, as well as useful to non-specialist officers and senior ratings who interface with the organisations who employ such personnel. * The Naval Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Acronyms and Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1. Frogmen: The Beginning Chapter 2. Experimental Diving Chapter 3. Combined Operations Pilotage Parties Chapter 4. Far East Operations Chapter 5. Scandinavia Targeted Chapter 6. Special Forces Diver Units Chapter 7. Female Military Divers Chapter 8. Special Forces Diver Selection and Training Chapter 9. Combat Diver Infiltration Options Chapter 10. Anti-Terrorism and Piracy Chapter 11. Mine and Bomb Disposal Chapter 12. Swimmer Delivery Vehicles and Dry Deck Shelters Chapter 13. Mini-Submarines Chapter 14. Combat Divers’ Equipment Chapter 15. Weapons Underwater Chapter 16. Marine Mammals at War Chapter 17. Remote and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Chapter 18. Undersea Spying and Sabotage Chapter 19. The Future Further Reading and Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisBehind the celebrated code-breaking at Bletchley Park lies another secret…The men and women of the ‘ Y’ (for Wireless’ ) Service were sent out across the world to run listening stations from Gibraltar to Cairo, intercepting the German military’s encrypted messages for decoding back at the now-famous Bletchley Park mansion. Such wartime postings were life-changing adventures – travel out by flying boat or Indian railways, snakes in filing cabinets and heat so intense the perspiration ran into your shoes - but many of the secret listeners found lifelong romance in their far-flung corner of the world. Now, drawing on dozens of interviews with surviving veterans, Sinclair McKay tells their remarkable story at last.Trade Review'As McKay argues in this well-told story, the Y Service has been "sadly and curiously" uncelebrated. Yet were it not for all those encoded messages relayed with such care, the codebreakers at Bletchley would have had little to go on. It was their efforts that made the revolutionary leaps of Bletchley possible. They should be commemorated properly as having played their parts in one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century, he says. And he has done them proud.''The Secret Listeners draws our attention to the important contribution made by modest, patriotic men and women engaged in war work where individual decorations were rarely awarded and secrecy demanded that even their closest relatives were denied an insight into their contribution to the Allied victory.’‘Sinclair McKay has gathered together memories, from published works and from interviews with surviving veterans. This book is full of delightful episodes.’'A fascinating read' ‘ McKay’ s focus is rather on the personal experiences of the individual Y Service operators — it brings home not only the reality of what these people were doing but also the daily privations endured with remarkable resilience by so many in that war. As with those at Bletchley, the silence of that generation, their disciplined restraint for decades afterwards, is as impressive as their achievements. They felt the powerful pull of common cause and (mostly) had the privilege of knowing that their contribution was significant. Awful as it was for much of the time, for many nothing that followed ever quite lived up to it. We should be grateful that the survivors are talking now.’ 'As McKay argues in this well-told story, the Y Service has been "sadly and curiously" uncelebrated. Yet were it not for all those encoded messages relayed with such care, the codebreakers at Bletchley would have had little to go on. It was their efforts that made the revolutionary leaps of Bletchley possible. They should be commemorated properly as having played their parts in one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century, he says. And he has done them proud.' ‘ Sinclair McKay has gathered together memories, from published works and from interviews with surviving veterans. This book is full of delightful episodes.’ ‘ Sinclair McKay’ s account of this secret war of the airwaves is as painstakingly researched and fascinating as his bestselling The Secret Life Of Bletchley Park, and an essential companion to it.’ ‘ Their contribution enabled the code-breakers to achieve their break-through, something that, in turn, shortened the war and saved countless lives.’ 'The veterans who monitored radio traffic and transcrived Morse code are given full, overdue credit in this intriguing book' 'Author Sinclair McKay has once again unearthed a fascinating compendium of memories from surviving veterans whose vital contribution to the war effort had been shrouded in secrecy.' 'The Secret Listeners draws our attention to the important contribution made by modest, patriotic men and women engaged in war work where individual decorations were rarely awarded and secrecy demanded that even their closest relatives were denied an insight into their contribution to the Allied victory.’ 'McKay’ s story of the wireless interceptors is one of willing amateurs and gifted eccentrics, of patience, accuracy, and endurance. A fine book with a genuinely new angle on a familiar topic, full of vivid and fascinating characters.’

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Book SynopsisTwenty-five US Marine Corps squadrons flew versions of the Phantom II and 11 of them used the aircraft in South-East Asia from May 1965 through to early 1973. Rather than the air-to-air missiles that were the main component in the original F-4 armament, these aircraft carried an ever-expanding range of weaponry. Some toted 24,500-lb bombs and others strafed with up to three 20 mm gun pods, while most flew daily sorties delivering napalm, Snakeye bombs and big Zuni rockets. Many US Marines holding small outpost positions in Laos and South Vietnam against heavy Viet Cong attack owed their lives to the Phantom II pilots who repeatedly drove off the enemy. The book will examine these missions in the context of US Marine Corps close-support doctrine, using the direct experience of a selection of the aircrew who flew and organised those missions.Trade ReviewHighly recommended. - IPMS/USATable of ContentsIn the beginning /To battle /CAS, McCutcheon and Control, The toughest years /Golden hawk eyes /Appendices

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Book SynopsisCamp 21 Comrie, also known as Cultybraggan Camp, is the UK's best preserved prisoner of war camp. Lying in the heart of rural Perthshire in Scotland, the camp's history is a fascinating one. Built two miles south of the village of Comrie as a camp for detainees, its first prisoner was a British soldier but in the following years it housed thousands of prisoners of war captured in North Africa and Europe. Conditions at the camp were primitive but there was a re-education program which is explored in depth. Lectures were followed by occasional hot debates and the book takes a fresh look at the infamous murder of Feldwebel Wolfgang Rosterg, who may not have been the only man subjected to a fanatical show trial within the bounds of the camp. In addition, life stories of some of the prisoners are included, from submariners to ordinary soldiers as well as reminiscences from the British. The history of Camp 21 would be incomplete without mentioning Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's deputy. He was allegedly held at the camp but was he really there or was this just a myth? And do the ghosts of the past still haunt the site as reported by some who've witnessed strange goings on?The book also features the camp's history during the Cold War, its ROC post and Cold War bunker and as late as the 1960s and '70s it was used by the Combined Cadet Forces for training purposes, as well as regiments that served in areas of conflict overseas. Following its closure it is now owned by the Comrie Development Trust. Camp 21 Comrie sets the camp's place not only in history but also as part of an expanding community project, inspiring people and being utilized for good.Trade Review`...the definitive story of a fascinating place. Valerie Campbell's excellent book leads us through the whole story... ...the beautifully researched and detailed story of Rolf Weitzel... ...book that will have a lasting value as a work reference, yet is also engaging to read'. Undiscovered Scotland -------------------- `…will appeal to anyone who enjoyed the author’s earlier work on the subject’. Caithness Courier

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Book SynopsisEl Alamein was the World War II land battle Britain had to win. By the summer of 1942 Rommel's German forces were threatening to sweep through the Western Desert and drive on to the Suez Canal, and Britain was in urgent need of military victory. Then, in October, after 12 days of attritional tank battle and artillery bombardment, Montgomery's Eighth Army, with Australians and New Zealanders playing crucial roles in a genuinely international Allied fighting force, broke through the German and Italian lines at El Alamein. It was a turning-point in the war after which, in Churchill's words, "we never had a defeat". Stephen Bungay's book is as much at home analysing the crucial logistics of keeping desert armies supplied with petrol and tank parts as it is reappraising the combat strategies of Montgomery and Rommel, and ranges widely from the domestic political pressures on Churchill to the aerial siege of Malta, key to the control of the Mediterranean. And in a chapter on "The Soldier's War", Bungay graphically evokes the phantasmagoric blur of thunderous cannonade and tormenting heat that was the lot of the individual men who actually fought and died in the desert.Trade Review'Terse and brilliantly written by a thorough master of his subject' - John Lukacs, Los Angeles Times; 'A brilliant balance between lucid analysis and piquant detail... masterly chapters' - Lawrence James, Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisComprising 448 pages, this illustrated book is the first comprehensive reference work covering winter uniforms used by the German Army, Air Force and Waffen-SS during the period from 1942 to 1945. The book is intended for collectors, historians, model makers and those with an interest in military history. Following the attack on the Soviet Union and the first experiences with the Russian winter in 1941-42, it quickly became clear to the powers that be standard German Army uniform was completely unsuitable for waging war in the east, where temperatures often dropped far below zero. This made it necessary to create a new uniform capable of dealing with the climactic conditions on the Eastern Front. This book describes the creation of the Winteranzug 42 winter uniform, the first of its kind, and the following versions for the army, air force and Waffen-SS later in the war. First the complete winter uniform - balaclava, parka, trousers and mittens - is illustrated schematically in all its details.

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Book SynopsisTells the story of the roles played by American and Vietnamese citizens in their postwar quest for peace. Hang Thi Thu Le-Tormala deepens our understanding of the Vietnam War and its aftermath by taking examining postwar Vietnam and offering a fresh analysis of the effects of the war and what postwar reconstruction meant for ordinary citizens.Trade ReviewPostwar Journeys fills a significant gap in the literature regarding post-Vietnam War efforts at creating peace and normal relations between the United States and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam by examining nonstate groups and people and demonstrating how they influenced their governments' policies. Employing a framework of transnationalism, Le-Tormala skillfully weaves together powerful stories with international politics to demonstrate how 'hidden historical actors' were able to make two hostile governments in Washington, DC, and Hanoi engage with each other to solve problems that were being ignored. There is no comparable study that has the breadth and depth in examining the efforts of veterans, peace groups, and individuals that ultimately helped forge peace between the United States and Vietnam." - David F. Schmitz, Robert Allen Skotheim Chair of History, Whitman College, and author of Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War: The End of the American Century "Much has been written about the normalization of US-Vietnamese relations in the 1990s. Far less attention has been given to the decades of grassroots peace efforts that led to and followed that normalization. Hang Thi Thu Le-Tormala has now beautifully excavated this history. Through poignant stories and incisive analysis, Postwar Journeys provides a much-needed examination of the ongoing importance of people-to-people diplomacy." - Scott Laderman, author of Tours of Vietnam: War, Travel Guides, and Memory and The 'Silent Majority' Speech: Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War, and the Origins of the New Right"Postwar Journeys is an impressive study that details the transnational interactions between ordinary Vietnamese and American citizens who helped reshape the struggle for peace and reconciliation after the end of what the Vietnamese call the 'American War.' Addressing the efforts of Vietnamese refugees, Amerasian children of American GIs, American and Vietnamese veterans and their families, relatives of fallen soldiers on both sides, and other citizens who experienced the war in one way or the other, the author examines the journeys of individuals from varied political, cultural, and social backgrounds. In doing so, this book bridges a gap in the scholarship that often overlooks the role of individual citizens on both sides in the postwar effort that led to reconciliation between the former foes. Far-ranging in scope and impressively researched, this book is a valuable addition to the ever-growing historiography of the war." - James H. Willbanks, professor emeritus of military history, US Command and General Staff College, and author of Abandoning Vietnam: How America Left and South Vietnam Lost Its War

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Book SynopsisThis is a masterly description and analysis of this victorious campaign.

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Book SynopsisInsurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere-the majority linked to al Qaeda-are in the news on an almost daily basis. But very little surfaces about a festering insurgency that has been on the go for six years in West Africa under the acronym of AQIM, or al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. This low-level series of guerrilla conflicts is widespread and sporadic, covering an area as vast as Europe. Nigeria has been drawn into the equation because its Boko Haram insurgent faction maintains close ties with AQIM and Islamic State. For now though, the focus is on Mali where several jihadist groups-despite formal peace agreements-remain active. Involved is the French army and air force as well as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the European Union Training Mission in Mali (EUTM) as well as the European Union Capacity Building Mission (EUCAP). The insurrection that fostered all this broke out early 2012 when President Fran�ois Hollande announced the beginning of Operation Serval. Five hours later the first squadrons of French Gazelle helicopter gunships began attacking Islamist columns. A day later French fighter jets based in Chad, almost 2,000 kilometres away, were making sorties against rebel ground targets in northern Mali.

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Book SynopsisOn his second tour to Vietnam, Nick Brokhausen served in Recon Team Habu, CCN. This unit was part of MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group), or Studies and Observations Group as it was innocuously called. The small recon companies that were the center of its activities conducted some of the most dangerous missions of the war, infiltrating areas controlled by the North Vietnamese in Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The companies never exceeded more than 30 Americans, yet they were the best source for the enemy's disposition and were key to the US military being able to take the war to the enemy. This was accomplished by utilizing both new and innovative technology, and tactics dating back to the French and Indian Wars.This small unit racked up one of the most impressive records of awards for valor of any unit in the history of the United States Army. It came at a terrible price, however; the number of wounded and killed in action was incredibly high. Those missions today seem suicidal. In 1970 they seemed equally so, yet these men went out day after day with their indigenous allies - Montagnard tribesmen, Vietnamese, and Chinese Nungs - and faced the challenges with courage and resolve.This riveting memoir details the actions and experiences of a small group of Americans and their allies who were the backbone of ground reconnaissance in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It became a cult classic among the Special Forces community when first published over a decade ago.

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Book SynopsisOn 22 June 1941 Hitler unleashed his forces on the Soviet Union. Spearheaded by four powerful Panzer groups and protected by an impenetrable curtain of air support, the seemingly invincible Wehrmacht advanced from the Soviet Union's western borders to the immediate outskirts of Leningrad, Moscow and Rostov in the shockingly brief period of less than six months. The sudden, deep, relentless German advance virtually destroyed the entire peacetime Red Army and captured almost 40 percent of European Russia before expiring inexplicably at the gates of Moscow and Leningrad. An invasion designed to achieve victory in three to six weeks failed and, four years later, resulted in unprecedented and total German defeat. David Glantz challenges the time-honoured explanation that poor weather, bad terrain and Hitler's faulty strategic judgement produced German defeat, and reveals how the Red Army thwarted the German Army's dramatic and apparently inexorable invasion before it achieved its ambitious goals.

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Book SynopsisA companion volume to his bestselling Armageddon', Max Hastings' account of the battle for Japan is a masterful military history.Featuring the most remarkable cast of commanders the world has ever seen, the dramatic battle for Japan of 194445 was acted out across the vast stage of Asia: Imphal and Kohima, Leyte Gulf and Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Soviet assault on Manchuria.In this gripping narrative, Max Hastings weaves together the complex strands of an epic war, exploring the military tactics behind some of the most triumphant and most horrific scenes of the twentieth century. The result is a masterpiece that balances the story of command decisions, rivalries and follies with the experiences of soldiers, sailors and airmen of all sides as only Max Hastings can.Trade Review‘A monumental achievement…compassionate but unsparing in its judgements.’ Sunday Times ‘An outstandingly gripping and authoritative account of the battle for Japan, and a monument to human bravery and savagery.’ Daily Telegraph ‘Absolutely excellent.’ John Simpson, Observer ‘Magisterial…it is truly cathartic to reach the end of the Second World War in Hastings’s company.’ The Times ‘Brilliantly though Hastings lays out the strategic context, his real talent lies in his account of the “terrible human experience” that it involved…This is a book for anyone who wants to understand what happened in half the world during one of the bloodiest periods of the blood-soaked 20th century.’ Spectator ‘Spectacular…Hastings makes important points about the war in the East that have been all too rarely heard…excellent…compelling…searingly powerful.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘As Hastings brilliantly describes, conditions for fighting men on both sides were appalling…the fire-bombing of Tokyo and the decision to drop the atomic bombs were influenced by the urge to 'get this business over with', but the argument, as Hastings explains so well with his usual exemplary judgement, is far more complex.’ Financial Times

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Book SynopsisBuilding on the earlier volume dealing with British armor of the First World War, this is the second of a multi-volume history of British tanks by renowned British armor expert David Fletcher MBE. This volume traces the story of the British use of the tank through the early years of World War II, when Britain relied on its own tanks built in the late 1930s, and those designed and built with limited resources in the opening years of the war. Plagued by unreliable vehicles and poorly thought-out doctrine, these were years of struggle against an opponent well versed in the arts of armored warfare. It covers the development and use of the Matilda, Crusader, and Valentine tanks that pushed back the Axis in North Africa, the much-improved Churchill that fought with distinction from North Africa to Normandy, and the excellent Cromwell tank of 194445. It also looks at Britain''s super-heavy tank projects, the TOG1 and TOG2, and the Tortoise heavy assault tank, designed to battle thr

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Book SynopsisWidely hailed as a masterpiece, this is the first history of WWII to provide a truly global account of the war that encompassed six continents. Starting with the changes that restructured Europe and her colonies following the WWI, Gerhard Weinberg sheds new light on every aspect of World War II.Trade ReviewFrom reviews of first edition: 'Few historians could have taken on the daunting challenge of attempting a global history of the Second World War; but Gerhard Weinberg succeeds brilliantly. It is a masterly study which is unlikely to be surpassed.' Ian Kershaw, University of Sheffield'Weinberg's book is a clearly-written account of events, with enormous … reliable encyclopaedic summaries of anything about which you need to know.' Norman Stone, The Times'… a remarkable achievement … It certainly deserves to be placed alongside the war histories of John Keegan, Martin Gilbert and A. J. P. Taylor. As a sheer work of reference it outclasses even them.' Andrew Roberts, The Sunday Telegraph'This is a tour de force; classical diplomatic history at its best. Weinberg's global view of the war pays dividends again and again … '. David Reynolds, New York Times'This is an extraordinary book … an invaluable source for anyone needing in one place as many ideas as possible about the Second World War … Moral and humane feelings underpin his copious scholarship at every point, giving admirable depth and dimension to this monumental intellectual performance.' The Washington Post'… fully lives up to its subsidiary title and to the claims made by its publishers. This is a first class strategic history of the war.' The British Army Review'… a coherent - in fact, hypnotic - narrative offered up in a single, handsome volume … surely the finest one-volume history we have of the most important event of the century.' American Heritage'… a blockbuster of a survey, grounded, to a remarkable extent for so large a work, in primary sources and also in an evident mastery of the secondary literature. It is a joy to read: lively, vigorous, and...altogether a stylistic gem … [it] offers refreshingly forthright judgments on every major aspect of World War II strategy and policy.' Naval War College ReviewTable of Contents1. From one war to another; 2. From the German and Soviet invasions of Poland to the German attack in the West, September 1, 1939 to May 10, 1940; 3. The world turned upside down; 4. The expanding conflict, 1940–1941; 5. The Eastern Front and a changing war, June to December, 1941; 6. Halting the Japanese advance, halting the German advance; keeping them apart and shifting the balance: December 1941 to November 1942; 7. The war at sea, 1942–1944, and the blockade; 8. The war in Europe and North Africa 1942–1943: to and from Stalingrad; to and from Tunis; 9. The home front; 10. Means of warfare: old and new; 11. From the spring of 1943 to summer 1944; 12. The assault on Germany from all sides; 13. Tensions in both alliances; 14. The halt on the European fronts; 15. The final assault on Germany; 16. The war in the Pacific: from Leyte to the Missouri; Conclusions: the cost and impact of the war.

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Gerald Brenan's The Spanish Labyrinth has become the classic account of the background to the Spanish Civil War. Written during and immediately after the Civil War, this book has all the vividness of the author's experience. It represents a struggle to see the issues in Spanish politics objectively, whilst bearing witness to the deep involvement which is the only possible source of much of this richly detailed account. As a literary figure on the fringe of the Bloomsbury group, Gerald Brenan lends to this narrative an engaging personal style that has become familiar to many thousands of readers over the decades since it was first published.

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Book SynopsisA three-volume study of the Holocaust. First published in 1961, Raul Hilberg's account of how Germany annihilated the Jewish community of Europe spurred discussion and shaped the field of Holocaust studies. This expanded edition includes new material, particularly from archives in Eastern Europe.

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Book SynopsisEmerging from modern history as a remarkable and much-loved family, the Mitfords have remained largely unrepentant concerning theirs and particularly Unity’s enthusiastic support of Hitler, the Nazis, Oswald Mosley and British fascism.

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Book SynopsisNOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES, featuring interviews with Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and Guillermo del ToroBefore the Second World War the Hollywood box office was booming, but the business was accused of being too foreign, too Jewish, too 'un-American'. Then the war changed everything. With Pearl Harbor came the opportunity for Hollywood to prove its critics wrong.America's most legendary directors played a huge role in the war effort: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. Between them they shaped the public perception of almost every major moment of the war. With characteristic insight and expert knowledge Harris tells the untold story of how Hollywood changed World War II, and how World War II changed Hollywood.Trade ReviewThe bombs fall on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Hollywood rolls up its sleeves and swaps the diplomatic velvet glove for the patriotic steel fist . . . A story well worth telling * * Observer * *A captivating history . . . makes you want to revisit many of the films * * Daily Telegraph * *Mark Harris conducts a fastidious investigation into the five top filmmakers who put their careers on hold to help the war effort . . . Fascinating * * Total Film * *Harris deftly threads the story of each man into the wider canvases of Hollywood and the war * * Scotland on Sunday * *Gripping . . . reveals how an elite squad of Hollywood's greatest directors recorded the bravest - and bloodiest - actions of World War II * * Mail on Sunday * *Tough-minded, information-packed and irresistibly readable * * New York Times * *Can't-put-it-down history of the World War II propaganda film * * San Francisco Chronicle * *Harris has a huge story to tell, and he does so brilliantly . . . an inspirational, if cautionary, tale of the triumph of the individual over the collective, of personal vision over groupthink, and ultimately of art over propaganda * * Wall Street Journal * *Harris is a lively commentator, and a master weaver of multifarious threads * * Empire * *Impeccably researched and irresistibly entertaining * * Belfast Telegraph * *Full of colourful anecdotes about the golden age of Hollywood as well as unflinching descriptions of what the directors faced on the frontline, the 500-plus pages just fly by. This would make a great movie... * * Aberdeen Evening Express * *This is as epic an undertaking as those historical Hollywood sagas of the '30s and '40s, including anecdotes from this golden age of film * * Good Book Guide * *I enjoyed the honesty of this book. It opened my eyes * * The Truth About Lies * *A startling account of how five exemplary film-makers (John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler, Frank Capra) enlisted in every branch of the US forces, only to return, deeply moved and changed, to approach cinema in new ways * * Financial Times * *

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Book SynopsisFrom Richard Pike, author of Grub Street's bestselling Lightning Boys series, comes Hunter Boys, a fascinating insight into the experiences of those who flew the iconic Hawker Hunter - an aircraft known affectionately to many as `Queen of the Skies'. In fifteen separate chapters, pilots' stories of the dramas and demands of this incredible aircraft, which changed the future of fighter development, are related in distinctive style, including experiences of the legendary test pilot Neville Duke. One chapter details the remarkable tale of a pilot who flew an unauthorised sortie under London's Tower Bridge at the time of the 50th anniversary of the Royal Air Force. In another, the realities of war are recounted in a poignant personal account taken from diaries penned at the time of the 1971 Indo/Pakistan conflict. Further chapters describe individual experiences of flying in places as diverse as Aden, Gibraltar, Jordan and Kenya. The exceptional performance of this aircraft is evident throughout as is its well-renowned lengthy service life with the RAF and internationally. The scope, flair and pace of the writing in this book will appeal to the general reader as well as to the enthusiast.Trade Review`The contributors have written entertaining and informative tales of success, heroics, fear, relief and exhilaration in and around the Hunter cockpit.' Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal; `An intriguing insight into the experiences of the Hawker Hunter pilots.' Military History Monthly; `The book is an entertaining window into what must have been one of the most glorious periods to be in Fighter Command.' The Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators

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Book SynopsisFor those who loved Stephen E. Ambrose's Band of Brothers and E.B. Sledge's With the Old Breed. Drawing on toughness and skills forged in hardscrabble Depression-era North Carolina, Bronze Star recipient and expert B.A.R. rifleman Harold Frank invades Normandy, fights Germans, and endures a grueling stint in a German POW camp where he witnesses the fire-bombing of Dresden.From D-Day to Dresden with a Crack Shot B.A.R. Rifleman D-Day 1944: twenty-year-old PFC Harold Frank had moved as one with his battalion onto the shores of Utah Beach, pushing into France to cut off and blockade the pivotal Nazi-occupied deep-water port of Cherbourg. As a recognized crack shot with WW II's iconic American automatic rifle, Frank fought bravely across the bloody hedgerows of the Cotentin Peninsula. During the most intense fighting, Frank was ambushed and wounded in a deadly, nine-hour firefight with Germans. Taken prisoner and with a bullet lodged under one arm, Frank found himself dumped first in a brutal Nazi POW concentration camp, then shipped to a grueling work camp on the outskirts of Dresden, Germany, where the young PFC was exposed to the vengeance of a crumbling Nazi regime, the menace of a rapidly advancing Russian military—and the danger of thousands of Allied bombers screaming overhead during the firebombing of Dresden. Historian Mark Hager builds on hundreds of hours of interviews with Harold Frank, sharing the intimate and heart-pounding account of Frank’s journey as a child of the Great Depression to the bloody shores of the D-Day invasion, into the bowels of Nazi Germany, and back to the U.S. where as a young man Harold would spend years resolutely dealing with the lingering effects of starvation rations while determinedly building a new life—a life always mindful of the legacy of his POW experience and his faithful service in America’s hard-fought war against Nazi aggression.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE TEMPLER MEDAL BOOK PRIZE 2020A SPECTATOR, FINANCIAL TIMES AND DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020''A stunning achievement'' Max Hastings, Sunday TimesPart Two of Daniel Todman''s epic history of the Second World War opens with one of the greatest disasters in British military history - the fall of Singapore in February 1942. Unlike the aftermath of Dunkirk, there was no redeeming narrative available here - Britain had been defeated by a far smaller Japanese force in her grandly proclaimed, invincible Asian ''fortress''.The unique skill of Daniel Todman''s history lies in its never losing sight of the inter-connectedness of the British experience. The agony of Singapore, for example, is seen through the eyes of its inhabitants, of its defenders, of Churchill''s Cabinet and of ordinary people at home. Each stage of the war, from the nadir of early 1942 to the great serTrade ReviewA stunning achievement, offering a new generation of readers and students an authoritative and original version of the greatest event in human history. -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times *The best one-stop shop for those wanting to understand our country during its last existential crisis ... epic, compendious, written with confidence and verve. -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *Magisterial. Virtually no aspect of British life is left untouched ... I cannot recommend this history highly enough. -- Keith Lowe * Literary Review *The book is a superb work of research and synthesis, and with its predecessor it completes an account of the British war that will prove hard to surpass... Todman takes us to the threshold of the world in which we live in. One of the prime ordinances of history is that it should help those who read it understand why we are where we are, who we are and how we are. Todman achieves that goal magnificently. -- Simon Heffer * Daily Telegraph *This second volume is as skilful as the first ... Todman brings youth, energy, industry and, above all, rare historical talent to his formidable task. -- Peter Clarke * The Guardian *Deserves to become a classic ... Todman is superb at human detail; but he is equally at home discussing grand strategy, war economics, campaigning, socio-cultural aspects and the political-military interface... a magnificent book. -- Allan Mallinson * The Spectator *Exceptional ... Todman's angle of vision does not follow the conventional Anglo-American narrative of the last three years of war. He rightly sees the imperial dimension as a critical factor in the formation of British strategy. -- Richard Overy * Times Literary Supplement *A staggering look at this country and the second world war... Todman is as good on the social aspects of the war as he is on the political and military. Both volumes come highly recommended. -- Paul Donnelley * Daily Express *Meticulously researched and densely detailed, shrewdly observed... excellent. -- Alan Allport * Wall Street Journal *Dan Todman has written a truly global history of Britain's Second World War. His second volume opens in December 1941. Even then, Britons knew that victory would come; not when, not at what cost, but they knew victory would be theirs one day. How they got there is at the core of this book. His account is particularly striking on the tides of war in the Middle East and in Asia; on the Labour party electoral victory of 1945, and on the origins of the Cold War. Fast-paced, accessible, comprehensive; in short, a triumph. -- Jay Winter, Charles J. Stille Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University

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Book SynopsisOperation Market Garden, September 1944, the Netherlands. Three parachute drops and one armoured charge. The prize was the last bridge at Arnhem over the Neder Rijn. Taken intact it would provide the Allies with a back door into Germany - the famous Bridge Too Far'. This was one of the most audacious and imaginative operations of the war, and it failed, and Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a vivid introduction to it. In a sequence of almost 200 archive photographs accompanied by a detailed narrative he describes the landing of British and American parachutists and glider troops. At the same time British tanks spearheaded a sixty-mile dash along Hell's Highway' to link up with the lightly armed and heavily outnumbered airborne forces. Most books about the resulting battle concentrate on the struggle at Arnhem and the heroism of the British 1st Airborne Division. This book puts that episode in its wider context. In particular it focuses on the efforts of the US 101st and 82nd airborne divisions to hold off counterattacks by German battlegroups during the tanks' advance. The photographs give a dramatic insight into all sides of a remarkable but ill-fated operation which has fascinated historians and been the subject of controversy ever since. They also portray, as only photographs can, the men who were involved and the places and conditions in which the fighting took place.

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Book SynopsisWorld War II saw the appearance of numerous revolutionary armaments on both sides of the conflict that would radically change the nature of warfare, from jet aircraft to the ballistic missile and the atomic bomb. The greatest conflagration in history also saw the conception of the first surface-to-air guided missile systems: technology pioneered by German scientists and engineers through an extensive development programme which ran from 1942 to 1945. Although the programme did not achieve its main objective – to introduce a functional weapon system into the Luftwaffe air defence network – German research and development in most aspects of the technology was ahead of comparable research in the United Kingdom and the United States.The history of the transfer of German SAM technology to the Allies after 1945 has previously been overshadowed by the well-published transfers of the V-1 and V-2 guided missiles. This book presents the first complete history of Germany’s wartime development of surface-to-air missile (SAM) technology, how the Allies acquired this secret research towards the end of World War II in Europe and in the early postwar period, and how they then exploited this knowledge.

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Book SynopsisThe daughter of a D-Day paratrooper and her husband, a PTSD therapist, discover a family legacy of love, trauma, and resilience when they set out to explore a vast trove of WWII correspondence, official military documents, personal effects, and unique militaria found in closets and basements after her father’s death.Young Sue Gurwell had always known that her father had been a paratrooper. An old camo parachute from Holland served as her backyard tent, and high on a shelf she mustn’t touch, eight red devils in parachutes grinned from the front of mysterious drinking glasses Dad had sent Mom during the war. And then there was the special poem in his roll-top desk she sometimes snuck a peek at, written by a member of Dad’s regiment. This poem was a premonition of the sergeant’s death. “Yes,” her dad told her, “He was right—he died on D-Day.” But it’s not until 2016, after her parents had both passed away, that Susan Gurwell Talley and her husband Jack L. Talley begin to understand the true extent and significance of the wartime artifacts that had been staples of Sue’s childhood. The Talley’s discovered that Sue’s father, Lt. George L. Gurwell, Executive Officer, HqHq, 508th PIR, had silently squirreled away thousands of wartime documents in the family home. Like most combat veterans, George was never one to talk about the war; but the historic collection of official records, correspondence, photographs, maps, memorabilia, cultural artifacts, and unique ephemera constitute quite possibly the most extensive, various, and complete documentation of the 508th held privately today. This precious resource could not have passed into better hands than those of Jack and Sue Talley. Jack, a PhD psychologist specializing in PTSD, was the first to understand that George had PTSD symptoms that still lingered from the war years when he and George were introduced on June 6, 2001. That evening, the 57th anniversary of D-Day, George first opened up about the war, and preceded to talk late into the night. In that conversation lies the genesis of this book.

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Book SynopsisOn December 7, 1941, an imperial Japanese carrier strike force attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, taking advantage of what was one of the most profound intelligence failures in US history. Galvanised into action, the branches of the U.S. military subsequently developed one of the greatest, albeit imperfect, intelligence-gathering and analysis networks of the combatant nations, opening an invaluable window onto the intentions of their enemies. The picture of U.S. military intelligence during World War II is a complex one. It was divided between the fields of signal intelligence (SIGINT) and human intelligence (HUMINT), combat intelligence and War Department intelligence, and between numerous different organisations, including the Military Intelligence Division (MID), Military Intelligence Service (MIS), the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the many intelligence units organic to Army, Navy, Army Air Forces, and Marine Corps.The documents collected in this book reveal the theoretical and practical principles behind wartime intelligence gathering and analysis, from the frontline intelligence officer to the Washington-based code-breaker. They explain fundamentals such as how to observe and record enemy activity and intercept enemy radio traffic, through to specialist activities such as cryptanalysis, photo-reconnaissance, prisoner interrogation, and undercover agent operations.The painstaking work of an intelligence operator required a sharp, attentive mind, whether working behind a desk or under fire on the frontlines. The outputs from these men and women could ultimately make the difference between victory and defeat in battle.

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Book SynopsisAdolf Hitler - a ranting, evil demagogue whose insane ambitions and beliefs took the world to the brink of extinction and caused the deaths of millions. And yet there was another side to the Fuhrer, one that was rarely seen and even now remains unknown by most people. It was a softer side, a gentler side that, in the main, came out only in his dealings with the women in his life. With his secretaries and other female staff he was caring and considerate - almost without exception they have recorded that he was an employer of compassion and understanding, someone who was really interested in their lives. Eva Braun is a well-known figure but she was not alone in her role as the Fuhrer's lover. Dozens of women preceded her, people like Mitzi Reiter, Henny Hoffmann and his own niece Geli Raubal. To them and the many more who spent time alone with him, Hitler was the ultimate romantic, someone to love and in return be loved back. Hitler was adored by the women of Germany. They flocked in their thousands to see him, to hear him speak. In their eyes he could do no wrong. They might never meet him but they could look, they could listen - and they could fantasise about a future that would never happen. Without the support of women, their help and guidance, Hitler might never have risen to power. In the wild post-war days the Society women of Munich gave him shelter and encouragement. They gave him space and time to climb the slippery political ladder to the top. At the pinnacle of the German state, he used and abused their adulation and support to maintain his position. Women had taught him how to behave, how to be accepted by polite society. Women had funded his Nazi Party and helped give him an ideology to underpin his movement. He accepted that as his right but ultimately he repaid them by leading the country to the edge of destruction. This book, _Hitler and His Women_, looks at all of the women in Hitler's life, his lovers and his passing flings. From his mother and sisters to a teenage infatuation with a girl he never actually met, from actresses like Zara Leander to English aristocrat Unity Mitford, it examines the relationships and how they affected the course of history. The findings may well astound you.

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Book SynopsisHero–or Nazi? Silvia Foti was raised on reverent stories about her hero grandfather, a martyr for Lithuanian independence and an unblemished patriot. Jonas Noreika, remembered as “General Storm,” had resisted his country’s German and Soviet occupiers in World War II, surviving two years in a Nazi concentration camp only to be executed in 1947 by the KGB. His granddaughter, growing up in Chicago, was treated like royalty in her tightly knit Lithuanian community. But in 2000, when Silvia traveled to Lithuania for a ceremony honoring her grandfather, she heard a very different story—a “rumor” that her grandfather had been a “Jew-killer.” The Nazi’s Granddaughter is Silvia’s account of her wrenching twenty-year quest for the truth, from a beautiful house confiscated from its Jewish owners, to familial confessions and the Holocaust tour guide who believed that her grandfather had murdered members of his family. A heartbreaking and dramatic story based on exhaustive documentary research and soul-baring interviews, The Nazi’s Granddaughter is an unforgettable journey into World War II history, intensely personal but filled with universal lessons about courage, faith, memory, and justice.

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Book SynopsisAllied victory in the Second World War owed much to air power. The success of military and naval operations invariably hinged on control of the skies, and the rise to dominance of the Allied air forces meant that the Nazi war machine was effectively doomed. Following the success of The Second World War in Colour, this book presents a further selection of original colour photographs from the IWM collection, focusing on Allied aircraft and airmen. Alongside these striking images, War in the Air examines how crucial aviation was to winning the war, from the defence of Britain’s skies and maritime trade, to battlefield support in North Africa and Europe and the strategic bombing offensive over Germany. Shot from the ground and from the air, these powerful images bring a vital aspect of the Second World War to life.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on a superb collection of rare and unpublished photographs the The 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen 1941 - 1945 is the 7th book in the Waffen-SS Images of War Series written by Ian Baxter. The book tells the story of the 7th SS Mountain Division was formed in 1941 from the Volksdeutsche (ethnic German) volunteers and conscripts from the Banat, Independent State of Croatia, Hungary and Romania. It fought a brutal counter insurgency campaign against communist-led Yugoslav Partisan resistance forces in the occupied Serbia and Montenegro. It was given the title Prinz Eugen after Prince Eugene of Savoy, an outstanding military leader of the Habsburg Empire who liberated the Banat and Belgrade from the Ottoman Empire in the Austro Turkish War. It was initially named the SS-Freiwilligen-Division Prinz Eugen (SS-Volunteer Division Prinz Eugen).

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Book SynopsisAfghanistan, 2008. After their eighteen-month epic tour of Helmand Province, the troops of 3 Para are back. This time, the weight of experience weighs heavily on their shoulders.Trade Review‘Are we winning or losing the war in Afghanistan? …Bishop offers no easy answers. The portrait he paints is one of selfless young men and women performing magnificently under near-intolerable conditions … “Ground Truth” is one of the best accounts you will ever read about contemporary warfare: shrewdly observed, action-packed and written with great sensitivity.’ James Delingpole, Mail on Sunday ‘A beguiling and often bewildering account of how this strange war seems to the fighting man and woman…Bishop gets to the core of their thoughts and fears. As a view from the ground, often with the author present at key points, Bishop’s books are invaluable’ Evening Standard ‘Well paced and well told. It is also very well informed…It is his sense of personal involvement in the testing physical and moral hardships of contemporary soldiering that gives the narrative such a sharp and poignant edge…inspiring’ Country Life

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Book SynopsisOperation Fortitude was the ingenious web of deception spun by the Allies to mislead the Nazis as to how and where the D-Day landings were to be mounted.''One of the most creative intelligence operations of all time'' Kim PhilbyThe story of how this web was woven is one of intrigue, personal drama, ground-breaking techniques, internal resistance, and good fortune. It is a tale of double agents, black radio broadcasts, phantom armies, ''Ultra'' decrypts, and dummy parachute drops. These diverse tactics were intended to come together to create a single narrative so compelling that it would convince Adolf Hitler of its authenticity.Operation Fortitude was intended to create the false impression that the Normandy landings were merely a feint to disguise a massive forthcoming invasion by this American force in the Pas de Calais. In other words, the success of D-Day the beginning of the end of the Second World War was made possible by the efforts of men and women who were not present on tTrade ReviewReviews for previous titles… ‘A vivid, moving story of the men who fought the Great War in the Air. Quite superb.’Max Arthur ‘Those magnificent men in their flying machines recount in their own words just how mad and magnificent it was to be an air-ace in World War One. Joshua Levine's compilation is enthralling and breathtaking’.Chris Powling, Classic FM Guestlist ‘This is a superior example of the genre from a writer at the top of his game.’ Air Marshal Stuart Peach

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Book SynopsisOf all the accounts written about the Second World War, none are more compelling than the personal diaries of those who lived through it. We Are At War is the story of five everyday folk, who, living on the brink of chaos, recorded privately on paper their most intimate hopes and fears.Pam Ashford, a woman who keeps her head when all around are losing theirs, writes with comic genius about life in her Glasgow shipping office. Christopher Tomlin, a writing-paper salesman for whom business is booming, longs to be called up like his brother. Eileen Potter organises evacuations for flea-ridden children, while mother-of-three Tilly Rice is frustrated to be sent to Cornwall. And Maggie Joy Blunt tries day-by-day to keep a semblance of her ordinary life.Entering their world as they lived it, each diary entry is poignantly engrossing. Amid the tumultuous start to the war, these ordinary British people are by turns apprehensive and despairing, spirited and cheerful - aTrade ReviewWonderful stuff * Sunday Times *Fascinating, delightful, illuminating. The diarists soon become like old friends ... and make our wartime past seem no more distant than yesterday * Mail on Sunday *It's always easy to imagine people in this period becalmed in a sepia-toned limbo. This book tells the messy, but far more interesting, truth * Time Out *Few books have so successfully stepped inside the minds of the British people during wartime * Metro *A fascinating account of everyday life in Britain * Good Housekeeping *

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Book SynopsisThe terrifying first use of nuclear weapons over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 was the most controversial act of warfare in history, dramatically ending the Second World War but ushering in the age of mass destruction. Yet it was also the climax of a story that extends beyond Japan and Washington: the culmination of decades of scientific achievement and centuries of colonial exploitation. Snake Dance is the account of a journey that turned into a quest to discover how humanity reaches this point. Patrick Marnham travels from the opulent nineteenth-century palaces of King Leopold II of Belgium, built with riches plundered from the Congo, to the lethally derelict nuclear reactor of modern-day Kinshasa. He follows the shipment of Congolese uranium to the deserts of New Mexico for the Manhattan Project's secret test detonation. Here he uncovers the legacies of Robert Oppenheimer and Aby Warburg, two mad geniuses' who confronted the devastating power of twentieth-Trade ReviewA beautifully written book – informative and entertaining -- Piers Paul Read * Spectator *Fascinating… Snake Dance is nothing less than the biography of nuclear power, the most awesome force humanity has yet unleashed upon the planet -- Peter Whittakar * New Internationalist *[Patrick Marnham’s] mastery of a vast trove of material makes him an erudite travel companion…perennially eager to poke about in radiation zones armed only with a wonky Geiger counter and a paper mask -- Matthew Green * Literary Review *The travel writing is first class… [A] thrillingly ominous account * Spectator *A superb book on the genesis and use of the atomic bomb * Scotsman *This is a humane and intelligent book, and one in which Marnham has clearly been deeply engaged -- Melanie McGrath * Sunday Telegraph *The great strength of Snake Dance is to create an atmosphere in which the advent of atomic energy is not just outrageous but tragic * Observer *Snake Dance is a hybrid of a film tie-in, travelogue, biography and history. It’s a blend that gels through Marnham’s unwavering verve as he follows the trail of a lethal cargo -- Christian House * Independent *Impeccably researched and written -- Giles Milton * Mail on Sunday *From colonial slavery to the blind potential of scientific exploration to enslave us in turn, he makes a circular journey: the nuclear snake eats its own tail * The Times *A twisting global journey in his devastating critique of nuclear policy…an honourable refusal to rationalise what boils down to an act of repeated mass murder * Metro *A penetrating historical x-ray of the first generation of people to live under the nuclear shadow * Prospect *A fascinating travelogue taking the reader from Joseph Conrad’s Congo to the Fukushima Nuclear Plant disaster of 2011, via New Mexico… a learned and compelling history of man trying to control the elements. It’s also a clarion call to arms to save ourselves and the planet * Bookseller *

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Book SynopsisRoger Moorhouse is an historian and author specialising in modern German history. He is the co-author, with Norman Davies, of Microcosm: Portrait of a Central European City, and the author of Killing Hitler and Berlin at War.Trade ReviewThe Devils' Alliance is a marvellous achievement. No event was more crucial to the outbreak of the Second World War than the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939, and no one is better qualified to explore its grim implications than Roger Moorhouse -- Norman DaviesSuperbly researched and academically impeccable, yet written with all the pace of a thriller, The Devils' Alliance shines a powerful beam into one of the undeservedly least known aspects of the Second World War -- Andrew RobertsMeticulous and vividly readable… Moorhouse’s grim and compelling book could not be more topical * Sunday Telegraph *A highly enjoyable history written with verve and attention to detail * Financial Times *Superb -- Brendan Simms * Wall Street Journal *

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Book SynopsisIn World War Two, 19 million people died in the conflicts across the globe. Yet in those same years, more than 20 million died from starvation and malnutrition. In The Taste of War Lizzie Collingham shows how food - and its lack - was central to the war''s causes and continuation. She explores how starvation was often a deliberate governmental policy, and reveals how the necessity of feeding whole countries lead to Pearl Harbour, Germany''s invasion of Russia, and the Holocaust itself.Trade ReviewRemarkable, powerful * The Times *Amazing... she makes it impossible to think of the war in the old terms * Daily Mail *Fascinating, shocking ... For anyone who thought that the subject of food in the Second World War could be dispatched with a few clichés about digging for victory * Mail on Sunday *Ambitious, compelling, fascinating... uncomfortable reading if you began by believing in the possibility of a just war * Guardian *This fascinating calorie-centric history of the greatest conflict in world history is wholly convincing -- Andrew RobertsA powerful and important book... One of the beauties of this book is its savage unpicking of cherished myths * Independent *Lizzie Collingham's book possesses the notable virtue of originality...[She] has gathered many strands to pursue an important theme across a global canvas. She reminds us of the timeless truth that all human and political behaviour is relative -- Max HastingsThe great merits of [this] book...lie in its extraordinary range...and in the entirely new perspective it throws on the Second World War -- Bernard Potter * London Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisWith many colourful anecdotes and vivid descriptions, this is the first authentic account of daily life at Government Communications Headquarters, Bletchley Park, the most successful intelligence agency in history. Described by Churchill as the ''secret weapon'' that ''won the war'', the men and women of Bletchley Park here combine to write their story in full.This book gives fascinating insights into recruitment and training, together with a full and accurate account of codes and ciphers and how they are broken.Trade Reviewit is an exciting story they have to tell. * Tom Greenwell, Yorkshire Post *... because of its intense secrecy, the work of the men and women at Bletchley received no public recognition for many years after the war, and many of those who made important contributions are no longer alive.This volume of personal recollections by some 30 of the survivors is ... especially welcome. Conditions of life and work at Bletchley, and its principal achievements, are faithfully sampled in Codebreakers, which is worth reading both for its historical interest and for the sidelights it throws on the problems encountered in the rapid assembly and organization of one of the greatest collections of talent that has ever occurred in Western civilization. * Nature *This unique volume will be of great interest to cryptologists in particular, and intelligence buffs in general. * Surveillant *While some of the chapters are so technical that Stella Rimmington would struggle to unscramble them, one still gets a strong sense of the excitement and frustrations of a war fought on the airwaves. * Daily Telegraph *the anecdotal material is fascinating in the insight it gives into everyday life at the institution. * Sunday Times *Hinsley and Stripp have assembled 30 reminiscers - most geniuses, a few slaves, all highly informative. * Robin Blake, Independent on Sunday *it is a remarkable tribute to the men and women who worked to crack the Germans' Enigma code. * David Hall,Oxford Times *The most interesting thing about this collection of essays is the light it throws on the personalities concerned. * Times Higher Education Supplement *These essays on the diverse activities at Bletchley Park (which remained secret until the 1970s) are enthralling. * The Observer *What makes Codebreakers so absorbing is that it has been written by the men and women who worked at Bletchley Park, all of whom were forbidden to talk about their work at the time. Codebreakers gives a fascinating insight into their daily lives. * Madeleine Burton, Hitchin Gazette *... one gets a strong sense of the excitement and frustrations of a war fought on the airwaves. * Daily Telegraph *Interesting stuff. * The Marine Society *This book has been put together from the personal memories of people none of whom would now be under 65. That they are so readable attests to the skill of the editors, who were themselves part of the Bletchley operation. Above all, it highlights the painstaking effort that intelligence work demands; but, as this volume shows, intelligence is useless there is force and a willingness to take advantage of it. * John Farquharson, Canberra Times *This new book is the first full account of Bletchley written by those who worked there. The book is superbly edited by F.H. Hinsley and Alan Stripp, Expositions are lucid and understandable to the layman - a considerable achievement. There are good photographs including those of Enigma cipher machines. Altogether, this is a splendid book for military historians, operational planners and especially intelligence officers. * Howard, Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Air Power History *This is a fascinating saga. * M. G. Bond, Army Quarterly and Defence Journal *editors and contributors have made Codebreakers an essential work ... It must be read by anyone and everyone concerned with intelligence during the Second World war .... It will be fundamental to anyone concerned with the techniques used during the Second World War to attack ciphers, super-enciphered codebooks or machine ciphers. * John Ferris, University of Calgary, Intelligence and National Secuirty *... a very intimate, anecdotal history. Despite the grim and far-reaching nature of their work, the reader goets a sense of a world bounded by four walls and shared with a few close associates whose common work made for very close relationships. The work of the codebreakers ... is fascinating, if sometimes barely comprehensible. ... a dramatic insight into just how remarkable the codebreakers' accomplishments were. * British Heritage *It comes with impeccable references in the shape of its editors' background and reputation, and does not disappoint. * The British Army Review *fascinating insiders' account of wartime code-cracking... and absorbing read. * Niall Fergusson *a highly revealing, even exciting book... that lays fascinating former secrets bare... It is a delight to have so crucial a subject so clearly and entertainingly described, by some thirty people who really understand what they are discussing and can set the record quite straight. * M. R. D. Foot, The Times *Anyone interested in the Second World War will sit up all night, and chess players and puzzle-solvers will be captivated by the later chapters. * Noel Annan, Independent on Sunday *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION. THE INFLUENCE OF ULTRA IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR; PART ONE. THE PRODUCTION OF ULTRA INTELLIGENCE; PART TWO. ENIGMA; PART THREE. FISH; PART FOUR. FIELD CIPHERS AND TACTICAL CODES; PART FIVE. JAPANESE CODES; APPENDIX. HOW THE BLETCHLY PARK BUILDINGS TOOK SHAPE

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Book SynopsisTerezín, as it was known in Czech, or Theresienstadt as it was known in German, was operated by the Nazis between November 1941 and May 1945 as a transit ghetto for Central and Western European Jews before their deportation for murder in the East. Terezín was the last ghetto to be liberated, one day after the end of World War II.The Last Ghetto is the first in-depth analytical history of a prison society during the Holocaust. Rather than depict the prison society which existed within the ghetto as an exceptional one, unique in kind and not understandable by normal analytical methods, Anna Hájková argues that such prison societies that developed during the Holocaust are best understood as simply other instances of the societies human beings create under normal circumstances. Challenging conventional claims of Holocaust exceptionalism, Hájková insists instead that we ought to view the Holocaust with the same analytical tools as other historical events. The prison society of Terezín produced its own social hierarchies under which seemingly small differences among prisoners (of age, ethnicity, or previous occupation) could determine whether one ultimately lived or died. During the three and a half years of the camp''s existence, prisoners created their own culture and habits, bonded, fell in love, and forged new families. Based on extensive archival research in nine languages and on empathetic reading of victim testimonies, The Last Ghetto is a transnational, cultural, social, gender, and organizational history of Terezín, revealing how human society works in extremis and highlighting the key issues of responsibility, agency and its boundaries, and belonging.Trade ReviewIn this overwhelming book, Anna Hájková has assembled - in extraordinary gutwrenching detail - these stories of Terez ... It is the loss of life in all its mucky beauty, and the loss of living-breathing-evolving community on such a mass scale, after all, that contributes to the breathtaking horror of genocide. * JORDANA SILVERSTEIN, University of Melbourne, Gender & History *This is a powerful contribution to our understanding of the ghetto and of how societies are constructed in general, revealing in complex detail the lived experiences of those who inhabited Theresienstadt. * Barnabas Balint, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, Journal of the Social History Society *Hájková has not simply written a book depicting the "transnational, cultural, social, gender, and organizational history" of the "well known, poorly understood ghetto", but she shows with great sensitivity, concisely and immense knowledge the everyday history of this limbo, the "last ghetto. * Thomas Krzenck , Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft *Anna Hájková's The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt is an essential addition to the literature about the camp, rivaled in scholarly insight only by H.G Adler... And since it is unlikely that many American readers will have the stamina to persevere through the more than 800 pages that examine the features of Adler's "coerced community," readers should feel no hesitation in turning to Hájková's thoughtful and thorough analysis. * Lawrence Langer, University of Wisconsin-Madison, George L. Mosse Program in History *Hájková's book The Last Ghetto is a well-researched, captivatingly written, and engaging scholarly work about the life of prisoners in Theresienstadt. Hájková's book is crucial reading and paradigm-shifting work for anyone who wants to understand a prisoners' society in extremis * Denisa Nešťáková, Herder Institute in Marburg, Marburg, GermanyComenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia, East Central Europe *This excellent study provides a critical investigation of the social, political, and even sexual relationships in the ghetto, their complex nature in a coerced setting and the developing power structures dominated by the young Czech elite. * Wolf Gruner, University of Southern California, AJS Review *Hájková brings solid research and a much-appreciated enrichment to readers' understanding of the Theresienstadt ghetto. The author worked for a decade with public and private archives in nine languages and offers readers a deeper understanding of what she calls "a forced community. * J. Kleiman, CHOICE *Hajkova's history of Terezin is a tour de force. Thanks to Hajkova's astonishing research and courageous reappraisal of victim society, aspects of this history that have been overlooked or marginalized are now before our eyes. A major contribution to the history of the Holocaust, The Last Ghetto also opens up new perspectives on class, nationalism, ethnicity, gender and sexuality in twentieth-century Europe. A deeply, wrenchingly human story that everyone ought to read. * Alexandra Garbarini, author of Numbered Days: Diaries and the Holocaust *This splendid and devastating, gorgeously written, paradigm-shifting book offers one transformative revelation after another. Exemplifying radical empathy without sentimentality, it represents the very best the new Holocaust history has to offer. * Dagmar Herzog, Graduate Center, City University of New York, author of Unlearning Eugenics: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Disability in Post-Nazi Europe *Theresienstadt has been shrouded in myths since Nazis first presented it as a 'model ghetto' to trick the world that Jewish prisoners were being treated humanely. Hájková's The Last Ghetto reveals the interior life of the ghetto and persuasively demonstrates that like the society that produced it, this society in extremis was riven by ethnic, gender, political, linguistic, and economic divisions that prevented a common sense of Jewishness from forming among the prisoners. * Barry Trachtenberg, Michael H. and Deborah K. Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History,Wake Forest University *The Last Ghetto is the most important book on Theresienstadt to appear in many years. With unparalleled knowledge of the sources and deep sensitivity, Anna Hájková has made a major contribution to the history of the Holocaust. With her focus on the everyday life of the ghetto's inhabitants, she also provides us with a model of social, cultural, and gender history. * Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History, Royal Holloway, University of London *[I]n my opinion, Hájková is the most revolutionary and groundbreaking of all—she asks the fundamental questions that historians usually ask about human societies and which tend to be avoided in writing on the Jews in the Holocaust. * Amos Goldberg, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel, American Historical Review *An excellently written book that will help shape future historiography on the ghettos under Nazi rule for years to come. * Marc Buggeln, University of Flensburg, Modern European History *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Well-Known, Poorly Understood Ghetto 1. "The Overorganized Ghetto" Administering Terezín 2. A Society Based on Inequality 3. The Age of Pearl Barley: Food and Hunger 4. Medicine and Illness 5. Cultural Life: Leisure Time Activities 6. Transports to the East Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe war between Nazi Germany and Stalin''s Soviet Union that raged between 1941 and 1945 was the ultimate confrontation between the two great totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century. Unprecedented in the scale of the destruction that it wrought and the deep historical scars that it left behind, it was a gargantuan conflict in every sense of the term: in the vast territories over which it ranged, its intensity and duration, the huge numbers of people involved -- and last but by no means least, the millions of victims that it claimed. The invasion of the Soviet Union was the conflict that Hitler had always ultimately planned for: a pitiless war of conquest and destruction in which the Fuehrer dreamed of creating his ''Thousand Year Reich'', destroying his ideological opponents, and enslaving or ''eliminating'' whole peoples in the process. It was right from the start a struggle for survival, conducted with great bitterness and savagery by opponents who knew that defeat meant the destruction of everything they stood for. The outcome of this bitter struggle was quite as momentous as the struggle which had preceded it. By 1945 a huge swathe of Europe between Berlin and Moscow had been reduced to a devastated wasteland in which whole societies had been erased from the face of the earth. Over 26 million Soviets and between four and five million Germans lay dead. The victory of the Red Army transformed the Soviet Union into one of the world''s two superpowers. It also saw the complete destruction of Hitler''s megalomaniac vision for the East, the division of the German Reich, and the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe for a generation. In Operation Barbarossa, German military historian Christian Hartmann draws upon the latest research, enriched by a wealth of eye-witness testimony from both the Soviet and the German sides, to paint a masterly overview of these momentous four years and their human consequences - one that is both gripping, and at times deeply moving.Trade Review"There are a lot of little gems...If you want a swift overview of the war in this theatre and its wider impacts this book is definitely worth a look." * James Hunwicke, Battlefield *a superbly written survey of a seminal conflict * Booklist *A masterly feat of compression * Richard J. Evans, author of the Third Reich trilogy *Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Politics 1940-1941 3: The Eve of War 4: War 1941-1942 5: The German Occupation 6: German War Crimes and Atrocities 7: Politics 1941-1945 8: War 1943-1945 9: Aftermath Chronology of Events Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisDrawing on material from eighty archives in six different countries worldwide, as well as eyewitness testimonies from over 100 former pupils, Helen Roche presents the first comprehensive history of the Third Reich''s most prominent elite schools, the National Political Education Institutes (Napolas / NPEA). The Napolas provided an all-encompassing National Socialist ''total education'', featuring ideological indoctrination, premilitary training, and a packed programme of extracurricular activities, including school trips and exchanges throughout Europe and beyond.Combining all the most seductive elements of reform-pedagogy, youth-movement traditions, and the militaristic ethos of the Prussian cadet schools, the schools took pupils from the age of ten, aiming to train them for leadership roles in all walks of life. Those who successfully passed the gruelling entrance examination, which tested applicants'' physical prowess, courage, and alleged ''racial purity'' along with their academicTrade ReviewThe Third Reich's Elite Schools can lay claim to the status of a standard work [...] The book's great merit lies in its abundance of meticulously researched case studies [...] At no point in her account does Roche indulge in moralisation or judgment, and that makes her investigation all the more nightmarish and impressive. * Rüdiger Gröner, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *Roche has managed what very few historians of institutional or organizational studies are able to do: she has successfully embedded the historical trajectory of an understudied system of Nazi elite schools in the wider currents of German and European history, employing a balanced and empathetic analytic approach, crystal-clear prose, and easy-to-follow expositional structure. Her work is therefore guaranteed to appeal to a wide and varied readership and hopefully attract other historians to this vital scholarly arena [...] [and is] written with a keen eye for the modern reader. * Tim Mueller, H-German *[E]xtensive, detailed and thorough... an essential reference point for future investigations into this field. This applies not only to historians of education but more broadly to people interested in the Nazi period and Nazi rule in particular... [Roche's] critical handling and deconstruction of autobiographical narratives [...] is exemplary [...] Overall, in combining a detail-oriented narration with anecdotal evidence, the book [...] explains the multifaceted functioning of the Napolas and of Nazi rule in an informative and captivating manner. * Lisbeth Matzer, History of Education *The first comprehensive study of these National Socialist educational institutions [...], founded on an impressive source base [...] Roche very effectively carves out the schools' ambivalent relationship between tradition and innovation [...] Overall, with her source-rich and interestingly-written total history of the NPEA, which includes countless individual case studies, Roche has not only achieved a weighty contribution to the history of education, but also offers beyond that vital insights into countless subjects of contemporary historical research * Jana Wolf, Sehepunkte *...an incredibly detailed, richly described, and meticulously researched book contribution to the education history of Nazi Germany... A word like "comprehensive" does not...capture just how detailed and expansive this study is. The source material Roche drew upon is mind-bogglingly varied and extensive. ...the conclusions to each chapter fulfill Roche's intention of embedding this educational history within the wider contexts of Third Reich history. The Napolas do indeed reveal the basic mechanics of the Hitler dictatorship writ small. The Third Reich's Elite Schools thus reminds us how enlightening and important the history of education can be. * Kristin Semmens, Historical Studies in Education/Revue d'histoire de l'éducation *...a comprehensive, timely account... Helen Roche's synthesis of long years' research on the "avant-garde of the Volksgemeinschaft" offers a highly welcome contribution to the history of the perversion of educational practice under National Socialism. * Klaus-Peter Friedrich, Neue Politische Literatur *This is a monograph that will be of interest to scholars and students of education and of the Third Reich alike. Roche has written a comprehensive and meticulous survey of a very specific area of German history, using an extensive source base... Throughout[,] Roche balances the detailed and divergent experiences of individual schools and students whilst highlighting the wider connections to the history of the Third Reich these experiences demonstrate. Her introduction argues for treating educational history not as a subgenre but as a valuable prism for exploring wider historical trends and how the ideals of a regime are inculcated in the next generation. This well-researched and scrupulously referenced monograph ably demonstrates how this can be achieved. * Robin Smith, German History *...a new foundational work on the topic... Roche's analysis is thorough and sound [with] a writing style that is both informative and easy to follow... Overall, Roche's book is a fine work of scholarship that deals with a subject that needs serious revision. She successfully distills her vast amounts of research into an easily consumable volume that is an asset to any historian studying the Third Reich. * James Lautens, H-War *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Napolas in Historical Context PART I: GENESIS 1: Foundation and Administration: The Napolas' Position within the Polycratic Nazi State 2: 'Selection', Teaching, and Everyday Life 3: 'Missions' and Extracurricular Activities PART II: VARIETY WITHIN UNITY 4: The Prussian Paradigm? Resurrecting Cadet-School Traditions at the Former Staatliche Bildungsanstalten 5: Centralism versus Particularism: Harnessing Regional Ambitions and Negotiating Federal Tensions at the NPEA in Saxony, Anhalt, and Württemberg 6: The Annihilation of Tradition? The 'Napolisation' of Humanistic and Religious Foundations 7: Ostmark: The Annexation of the Viennese Bundeserziehungsanstalten and Heißmeyer's 'Dissolution of the Monasteries' 8: The Reichsschulen and the Napolas' Germanizing Mission in Eastern and Western Europe 9: For Girls Only: The NPEA für Mädchen PART III: NEMESIS 10: The Demands of Total War 11: The Endkrieg and the Last of the Napolas 12: Epilogue: Post-war Conclusion

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