Second World War Books
Grub Street Publishing Sabotage!: An In-Depth Investigation of the 1943
Book SynopsisOn the night of 4 July 1943, transport aircraft Liberator AL523 took off from Gibraltar’s North Front tarmac and within moments crashed into the sea with only one survivor, the pilot. The commander-in-chief of the Polish army and prime minister of the Polish government in exile, General Władysław Sikorski, was dead. Rumours as to the cause of the crash abounded. Was it pilot error? Was it, as officially classified, merely an accident, or was it, as the authors conclude in this riveting and meticulous study, an act of sabotage? In this extensive piece of research, Chris Wroblewski and Garth Barnard examine numerous primary sources, including the complete court of inquiry transcripts, produce detailed analysis of aircraft components and systems and unearth many little-known eyewitness accounts to give this investigation a compelling conclusion. Within the book the authors also dispel several conspiracy theories that have emerged since this catastrophe; particularly that this event was a disastrous assassination attempt with blame on the British, Soviets and Nazis. This is an exhaustive piece of investigative journalism that puts the record straight once and for all.
£21.25
Grub Street Publishing Finding the Few: Some outstanding mysteries of
Book Synopsis1940 in the skies over Britain was a time of courage, heroism and extreme danger. Many men gave their lives to keep our island free and some disappeared into the summer sky with no trace of them ever being found. This remarkable book records the life of a dozen of these pilots shot down and killed but who remained missing for decades until diligent research and searches primarily by the author brought identification to them and closure to their families. Each case represents a fascinating human story of humour, drama, love and tragedy; and each one represents a startling tale of detective work and remarkable coincidences, oft-times revealing controversy. Finding the Few ends with a mystery still unsolved, has photographs throughout, and will stand as a fitting testament to those men lost but not forgotten.
£17.00
Helion & Company Days of Battle: Armoured Operations North of the
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£22.50
Imperial War Museum The Blitz: IWM Photography Collection
Book SynopsisThe Blitz showcases 50 images from this unique collection. On 7 September 1940, the German air force unleashed a devastating bombing campaign. Seeking to force Britain into surrender, the Blitz saw towns and cities across the United Kingdom blasted with high explosives and set ablaze by firebombs. Yet even as the bombs rained down, a civilian army of air raid wardens, firemen, first aiders and rescue parties mobilised for battle. These striking photographs tell the stories of those who experienced the Blitz and highlight the bravery and determination of civilians in wartime Britain.
£11.69
Imperial War Museum Visions of War: Art of the Imperial War Museums
Book SynopsisIWM holds one of the most significant collections of British art anywhere in the world - a collection whose artists and artworks have uniquely shaped our understanding of war. Visions of War charts the manifold engagement between artists, art movements and a century-plus of conflict since 1914. Its richly illustrated pages uncover the intricate and changing history of IWM's art collection, from its inception during the First World War to its consideration of the causes, course and consequences of conflict today. It illuminates some of the museums's most powerful stories, from the provocative, heartfelt statement of William Orpen's To the Unknown British Soldier in France to the frontline challenges for contemporary war artists, including Steve McQueen. This book brings together iconic and previously unseen works to tell the authoritative story of modern war art. Artists featured include Paul Nash, C R W Nevinson, David Bomberg, Anna Airy, John Singer Sargent, Walter Sickert, Wyndham Lewis, Eric Ravilious, Laura Knight, Henry Moore, Evelyn Dunbar, Linda Kitson, Peter Kennard, Gilbert & George, Colin Self, William Crozier and Rosalind Nashashibi.
£24.00
Imperial War Museum Most Secret: M.I.9 Escape and Evasion Devices
Book SynopsisWhen Allied troops fell into enemy hands, one secret and ingenious branch of military intelligence was tasked with their rescue. M.I.9 created and supported a network of escape and evasion lines across war-torn Europe to ensure the safe return of Allied fighters. These escape lines were essential in the Total War against Nazi Germany. Every individual was vital to the fight, and failure wasn't an option. Published for the first time since its creation in 1942, this 'most secret' facsimile reveals the many marvellous escape aids created by M.I.9 to help Allied personnel both evade capture and escape from prisoner of war camps. From silk maps designed for concealment in garments to tiny radio receivers hidden in cigar boxes, these gadgets and inventions were the brainchild of Christopher Clayton Hutton – the eccentric M.I.9 inventor who inspired many of Q's creations in James Bond. Most Secret offers a rare look at the most highly classified and clandestine tools of British intelligence. An accompanying introduction uncovers the history of this secret volume and traces the origin and use of escape aids from their emergence in the First World War to their development and wider use in the Second World War.
£17.09
Helion & Company Chaos in the Sand: A History of XIII Corps at
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£18.95
Helion & Company Doomed Before the Start: The Allied Intervention
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£22.50
Helion & Company Barbarossa Derailed: The Battle for Smolensk 10
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£30.00
The University Press of Kentucky Kentuckians and Pearl Harbor: Stories from the
Book SynopsisWhen the air raid alarm sounded around 7:55 a.m. on December 7, 1941, Gunner's Mate Second Class James Allard Vessels of Paducah was preparing to participate in morning colors aboard the USS Arizona. In the scramble for battle stations, Vessels quickly climbed to a machine gun platform high atop the mainmast as others descended below decks to help pass ammunition up to gunners. At 8:06, a bomb exploded and the Arizona sank. Vessels's lofty perch saved his life, but most of his shipmates were not so lucky.In Kentuckians and Pearl Harbor, Berry Craig employs an impressive array of newspapers, unpublished memoirs, oral histories, and official military records to offer a ground-up look at the day that Franklin D. Roosevelt said would "live in infamy," and its aftermath in the Bluegrass State. In a series of vignettes, Craig uncovers the untold, forgotten, or little-known stories of ordinary people - military and civilian - on the most extraordinary day of their lives. Craig concludes by exploring the home front reaction to this pivotal event in American history.Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor swept away any illusions Kentuckians had about being able to stay out of World War II. From Paducah to Pikeville, people sprang to action. Their voices emerge and come back to life in this engaging and timely history.
£30.40
Source Point Press Nook
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£17.09
Zeughausverlag GmbH German Paratroopers Uniforms and Equipment 1936 -
Book SynopsisThe books will be indispensable to collectors, uniform enthusiasts and military historians alike. This three-volume work is the most comprehensive and detailed study of the World War II German paratrooper to date, providing in-depth examinations of nearly every uniform item - including all models of jump smocks - and equipment used from the airborne forces’ establishment in the mid-1930s to May 1945. It also extensively covers specific insignia and various unique ephemera. Finally, the work provides in-depth summaries of the operations the “Green Devils” fought in, from the air assaults on Norway, Belgium’s Fort Eben Emael, Holland and Crete, over ground combat in North Africa, Russia, Italy and Normandy through the Battle of the Bulge and on to the last days of the Third Reich.Table of ContentsChapter I: The Blue-Grey Uniforms Chapter II: Jump Smocks Chapter III: Paratrooper Trousers Chapter IV: Footwear Chapter V: Tropical and Winter Clothing Chapter VI: Special Clothing Chapter VII: Non-standard Clothing
£62.96
Zeughausverlag GmbH German Paratroopers Uniforms and Equipment 1936 -
Book SynopsisThe books will be indispensable to collectors, uniform enthusiasts and military historians alike. This three-volume work is the most comprehensive and detailed study of the World War II German paratrooper to date, providing in-depth examinations of nearly every uniform item - including all models of jump smocks - and equipment used from the airborne forces' establishment in the mid-1930s to May 1945. It also extensively covers specific insignia and various unique ephemera. Finally, the work provides in-depth summaries of the operations the "Green Devils" fought in, from the air assaults on Norway, Belgium's Fort Eben Emael, Holland and Crete, over ground combat in North Africa, Russia, Italy and Normandy through the Battle of the Bulge and on to the last days of the Third Reich.Table of ContentsChapter I: Paratrooper Helmets Chapter II: Special Equipment Chapter III: Standard Personal Equipment Chapter IV: Weapons Chapter V: Parachutes Chapter VI: Drop Containers
£62.96
PeKo Publishing Kft. Illustrated History of the
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£27.99
Kagero Oficyna Wydawnicza The PanzerjäGer Tiger(P) (Sd.Kfz. 184) Ferdinand
Book SynopsisThe German heavy tank destroyer Panzerjäger Tiger (P) (Sd.Kfz. 184) Ferdinand was based on the chassis of the Tiger (P) tank designed by Ferdinand Porsche. The vehicle was not accepted by army, but because 90 chassis have already been produced at the Nibelungenwerke plant, it was decided that they could be usefully developed. This is how the tank destroyer based on the Tiger (P) chassis was born.Trade Review... the book gives you the armament, thickness of the armor and the division of the interior of the vehicle, as well as when the vehicle entered service with the German Army. * IPMS/USA 16/11/2022 *
£15.26
MMP Republic P-47c-5-Ra
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£8.55
MMP Fighters Over France 1940
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£16.20
Canfora Grafisk Form Red Machines 1: T-60 Small Tank & Variants
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£23.99
PeKo Publishing Kft. Panzerwaffe on the Battlefield: World War Two
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£22.09
Crooked Lane Books The Guest Children
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£15.29
Headline Publishing Group Hiroshima
Book Synopsis''a master class in eyewitness storytelling . . . this gripping narrative chronicles one of history''s darkest nightmare moments'' - Annie Jacobsen, author of Nuclear War: A ScenarioOn the 80th anniversary of the devastating bombing of Hiroshima, the stories of the hibakusha are more important than ever.The stories of hibakusha - Japanese for atomic bomb survivors - lie at the heart of this compelling minute-by-minute account of 6 August 1945 - the day the world changed forever as the Enola Gay dropped its payload over Hiroshima, ushering in the nuclear age. These survivors and witnesses, now with an average age of over 90, are the last people alive who can still provide us with reliable and detailed testimony about life in Hiroshima before the bombings. In this heart-stopping account they relay what they experienced on the day the city was obliterated, and what it has been like to live with those memories and scars over the rest of their lives.M. G. Sheftall has spent years personally interviewing survivors who were just adolescents at the time but have lived well into their nineties, allowing him to construct portraits of what Hiroshima was like before the bomb, and how catastrophically its citizens'' lives changed in the seconds, minutes, days, weeks, months and years afterwards. Fluent in spoken and written Japanese, his deep immersion in Japanese society has given him unprecedented access to the hibakusha in their waning years. Their trust in him is evident in the personal and traumatic depths they open up for him as he records their stories.The result is a deeply human history of an unfathomable tragedy, which continues to haunt the world today.
£22.50
Chicago Review Press The Uranium Club: Unearthing Lost Relics of the
Book SynopsisTim Koeth peered into the crumpled brown paper lunch bag; inside was a surprisingly heavy black metal cube. He recognized the mysterious object instantly—he had one just like it sitting on his desk at home. It was uranium metal, taken from the nuclear reactor that Nazi scientists had tried—and failed—to build at the end of World War II. This unexpected gift, wrapped in a piece of paper inscribed with a few cryptic but crucial lines, would launch Koeth, a nuclear physicist and professor, and his colleague Miriam Hiebert, a cultural heritage scientist, on an odyssey to trace the tale of these cubes—two of the original 664 on which the Third Reich had pinned their nuclear ambitions. Part treasure hunt, part historical narrative, The Uranium Club winds its way through the back doors of World War II and Manhattan Project histories to recount the contributions of the men and women at the forefront of the race for nuclear power. From Werner Heisenberg and Germany’s nuclear program to the Curies, the first family of nuclear physics, to the Allied Alsos Mission’s infiltration of Germany to capture Nazi science to the renegade geologists of Murray Hill scouring the globe for uranium, the cubes are lodestars that illuminate a little-known—and hugely consequential—chapter of history.The cubes are physical testimony to the stories of the German failure, and the successful American program that launched the world into the modern nuclear age, and the lessons for modern science that the contrast in these two programs has to offer. Table of Contents1. A Cube Appears 2. Introducing Element 92 3. A Brief History of Fission Part I: Taken from Germany 4. The Lawyer: John Lansdale Jr. 5. The Solider: Boris Pash 6. Alsos in Italy 7. The Scientist: Dr. Samuel Goudsmit 8. Alsos in England 9. The Hunt for FrÉdÉric Joliot-Curie 10. Paris 11. Belgium 12. Unoccupied France 13. Strasbourg 14. Heidelberg 15. Diebner’s Lab 16. Operation Big Part II: The Reactor Hitler Tried to Build 17. Modern Physics 18. Jewish Physics 19. The Uranium Club 20. How to Build a Nuclear Reactor 21. Early German Experiments 22. Copenhagen 23. 1942 24. War in the Service of Science 25. Building B-VIII 26. Farm Hall 27. The 400 28. Paperweights Part III: Gift of Ninninger 29. Finding Ninninger 30. The Race 31. Belgian Uranium 32. The CDT 33. Murray Hill 34. Making Metal 35. The Last Stop 36. The New Uranium Club Epilogue Index
£22.91
Academic Studies Press The Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto
Book SynopsisBased on years of archival research, 'The Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto' is the most detailed study ever undertaken into the fate of more than 800 Jewish doctors who devoted themselves, in many cases until the day they died, to the care of the sick and the dying in the Ghetto. The functioning of the Ghetto hospitals, clinics and laboratories is explained in fascinating detail. Readers will learn about the ground-breaking research undertaken in the Ghetto as well as about the underground medical university that prepared hundreds of students for a career in medicine; a career that, in most cases, was to be cut brutally short within weeks of them completing their first year of studies.Trade Review“[The Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto] sheds light on the influence of doctors, nurses and other health workers on daily coping while attempting to survive and save lives. The book broadens the perspective regarding participants in the Uprising. Ciesielska describes dozens of doctors and nurses who, rather than fleeing for their lives following Aktions in the ghetto, stayed behind to treat their patients in the bunkers, where nearly all of them died; a type of ‘white-coat rebellion’ alongside the armed struggle. These medical services also reflect the doctors’ and nurses’ ethical decisions made under extreme tragic circumstances during the ghetto’s final stages. … This book is a must read for researchers of the Holocaust, the history of medicine, in general, and particularly Jewish medicine. Its appendixes pose an interesting research challenge for further study.”— Miriam Offer, Social History of Medicine“It goes without saying that the Nazis had no interest whatsoever in the well-being and health of the captive Jewish inhabitants of the Warsaw ghetto. But because they feared that diseases and epidemics might spread beyond it and endanger German personnel and afflict the general Polish population, they provided a bare modicum of assistance to Jewish hospitals, health services, doctors, nurses and pharmacists.Innumerable books have been written about the Holocaust in Poland, but precious few have dealt with this important but overlooked issue. Maria Ciesielska’s The Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto… examines it in voluminous detail from the moment the ghetto was established in November 1940 until it was destroyed during the uprising in April 1943.”— Sheldon Kirshner, The Times of Israel (blog)“Dr. Maria Ciesielska’s account of the Jewish doctors in the Warsaw Ghetto adds an important dimension to the existing material, but this is not just another historical account. Dr Ciesielska’s meticulous, detailed, and comprehensive use of many personal memoirs and testimonies to document their lives, and their deaths, provides a special lens through we which we can learn and understand more about the personal stories of those doctors, nurses, and pharmacists who worked and lived under those dire and extreme circumstances in the Ghetto. Through her unique way of storytelling, Dr. Ciesielska provides us with a humanistic glimpse into the complexities of the daily lives of these Jewish victims, and the ethical and moral complexities that they faced as healthcare professionals. This is a work of devotion to the memory of these individuals.”— Dr. Tessa Chelouche, M.D.“This remarkable book depicts the heroic efforts which the Warsaw Ghetto doctors deployed to protect the inhabitants from epidemics and treat them if they were sick. Weakened by starvation, overcrowding, catastrophic hygienic conditions and diseases, most Ghetto residents did not survive. Many also perished in death camps. The Ghetto medical community was also almost completely wiped out. The author studied accounts by surviving physicians and provides a chronological history of the Ghetto medical organization, interspersed with portraits of Ghetto doctors. The book offers many examples of doctors’ altruism and self-sacrifice. Their exact number is unknown, but Dr. Ciesielska lists the names of over 700 of them. Their tragic and often heroic stories will now be available to English readers, both in the medical community and in the general population interested in the history of the Warsaw Ghetto.”— Claude Romney, Professor Emerita, University of Calgary“The Warsaw Ghetto is one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century, ending with the Great Deportation to Treblinka’s gas chambers; at the same time, the Ghetto offers an empowering story of a new and resourceful system of medical care which was a form of sustained resistance to the Nazi occupation. Maria Ciesielska tells this story vividly: she offers many new insights into the Jewish physicians and nurses confined to the Ghetto. It is a narrative of hope in efforts to create a new system of healthcare, and of dark violence from the Nazi authorities in their determination to destroy the Ghetto. The culmination is the heroic resistance of the Ghetto Uprising. We are offered a vivid and authoritative narrative with many new and often touching insights in the efforts to overcome epidemics and starvation. Dr. Ciesielska has created a lucidly written and inspiring book.”— Paul Weindling, Research Professor in the History of Medicine, Oxford Brookes University“Ciesielska, however, a specialist in family medicine and an expert in the history of medicine, has delved into the various archives in Poland, producing highly impressive findings. She presents a new, preliminary database, which will serve as a foundation for additional studies and is a significant contribution to commemorating Jewish doctors, both men and women. …Ciesielska’s findings are impressive and an invaluable achievement. Her methodically written book follows a chronological development placed in broad historical contexts and enriched by diverse sources. …Maria Ciesielska’s book sheds light on the ‘other side of the coin’ in its description of Jewish doctors. They left behind a written legacy that is also still relevant today. Their stories provide food for thought on the potential of maintaining ethical and professional strength, even in the most difficult circumstances, and of the ability to resist the forces of evil while continuing to provide patients with devoted medical care in impossible and unexpected conditions. The book also draws attention to the dozens of non-Jewish doctors, who assisted their Jewish colleagues while risking their own lives. Although their numbers were few, their inspirational actions were extraordinary.”— Miriam Offer, Western Galilee College, Israel, Holocaust and Genocide Studies“This meticulous account of the Warsaw Ghetto’s medical community, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, is a long overdue tribute to an era’s unsung heroes. Drawing extensively on archives, with appendices and a photo gallery listing over seven hundred individuals, backgrounds, specialties, hospital affiliations, the author sheds light on a subculture that emerged in 1940, following the ghetto’s establishment, and their dedication under the most hellish of environments to saving or helping Jewish lives. …This poignant but well-researched book is essential for Holocaust collections.”— Hallie Cantor, Yeshiva University, AJL News & Reviews“…Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto is a signal contribution to the growing scholarship on Jews in the medical fraternity during the Holocaust, and it has several virtues to commend it: its comprehensive, multifocal treatment of the subject; its attention to every dimension of medicine and healthcare in the Warsaw Ghetto; its recourse to hitherto unused source material; its profiles of specific doctors; and its inventories (in the appendices) of the names of the ghetto’s doctors. But besides being a work of meticulous research, The Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto is a poignant tribute to the Warsaw Ghetto’s unsung medical ‘fighters.’ It was in this memorial spirit that Ciesielska, discussing her book in an article by the Jewish Book Council, remarked, ‘I don’t know if you can say Kaddish over a book. If it is possible, please do.’”— Scott Abramson, Northwestern University, Contemporary JewryTable of ContentsACKNOWLEDGEMENTSFOREWORD BY PROFESSOR MICHAEL BERENBAUMFOREWORD BY LUC ALBINSKI PREFACECHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN POLANDCHAPTER II: THE MEDICAL SYSTEM IN PRE-WAR POLANDDoctors in pre-war PolandThe education of doctors in PolandCareer prospects of doctors in PolandJewish doctors in Poland CHAPTER III: JEWISH DOCTORS AND ANTI-SEMITISM BETWEEN THE WARSAnti-Semitism in AcademiaAnti-Semitism in the Association of Doctors of the Polish StateActivities of the Association of Doctors of the Polish RepublicJews in the Warsaw Medical Society CHAPTER IV: HEALTHCARE DURING AND IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 1939 SIEGE OF WARSAWThe Czyste (Old Order) Hospital for Orthodox JewsThe Bersohn and Bauman Children’s HospitalThe Ujazdowski HospitalThe activities of the Jewish community organizations CHAPTER V: HEALTHCARE PRIOR TO THE CREATION OF THE GHETTOThe Polish medical system under occupationCreation of the JudenratThe functioning of the medical chambersThe activities of TOZThe Czyste Jewish HospitalThe Bersohn and Bauman Children’s HospitalPharmaciesEmergency servicesThe threat of labor campsTreatment of Jewish converts CHAPTER VI: HEALTHCARE AFTER THE SEALING OF THE WARSAW GHETTOThe doctors in the GhettoActivities of the Judenrat’s Health DepartmentThe fight against epidemicsTOZ activities after the sealing of the Warsaw GhettoEmergency servicesThe Czyste Jewish HospitalThe Bersohn and Bauman Children’s HospitalThe hospital at 109 Leszno StreetPharmaciesThe Chemical and Bacteriological InstituteMedical care for the Jewish PoliceThe prisonsChristian Convert DoctorsMental health in the GhettoThe threat of labor camps CHAPTER VII: THE GREAT DEPORTATION (GROSSAKTION)Events leading to the Great DeportationThe murder of Dr. Franciszek RaszejaHostage takingThe Great DeportationCzyste Jewish HospitalThe General Hospital on Stawki StreetDoctors during the Great DeportationPharmacists during the Great DeportationDoctors in the Jewish Police during the Deportation CHAPTER VIII: HEALTHCARE AFTER THE GREAT DEPORTATIONThe Hospital on 6–8 Gęsia StreetDoctors after the Great DeportationNurses after the Great DeportationPharmacists after the Great DeportationEmergency Services after the DeportationThe Fate of the Gęsia Street Hospital CHAPTER IX: THE GHETTO UPRISING AND ITS AFTERMATHThe last hospital in the GhettoThe fate of Jewish doctors after the Deportation CHAPTER X: RESISTANCE BY THE MEDICAL FRATERNITYThe underground medical schoolThe Blum-Bielicka School of NursingStudies in Hunger DiseaseStudies in Typhus CHAPTER XI: CONCLUSIONANNEXURE I: LIST OF JEWISH DOCTORS WHO WERE ARRESTED AND HELD HOSTAGE IN 1940 FOLLOWING ANDRZEJ KOTT’S ESCAPE FROM THE GESTAPOANNEXURE II: LIST OF NON-ARYAN DOCTORS IN WARSAW FROM THE ARCHIVES OF THE JEWISH HISTORICAL INSTITUTEANNEXURE III: LIST OF JEWISH DOCTORS WORKING AND LIVING IN WARSAW IN 1940–1942ANNEXURE IV: THE DOCTORS MOVED FROM THE WARSAW GHETTO TO THE ŁÓDŹ GHETTO IN 1941/42ANNEXURE V: SCHEDULE OF PHARMACIES OVERSEEN BY THE PHARMACY DEPARTMENT OF THE JUDENRATANNEXURE VI: A LIST OF PHARMACIES OVERSEEN BY THE PHARMACY DEPARTMENT OF THE JUDENRAT IN THE GHETTO IN SEPTEMBER 1942. ANNEXURE VII: DOCTORS SAVING JEWS IN WARSAW IN 1939–1945ANNEXURE VIII: PHOTOGRAPHS OF SELECTED DOCTORS AND NURSESINDEX
£84.14
Vaktel Forlag Black Cross Red Star Air War Over the Eastern
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£51.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Sound of the Hours
Book SynopsisMoving, complex, romantic, and beautifully written, Karen Campbell's saga is a triumph' Allan Massie, ScotsmanDivided by loyalties, brought together by warSeptember, 1943. Tuscany, Italy. In the hilltop town of Barga, everyone holds their breath. Even the bells fall silent. Everything Vittoria Guidi knows and loves is at risk. German troops occupy the mountains around her home, as America's Buffalo Soldiers prepare to invade. As Vittoria's country is torn in two, so is her conscience. Should she side with her Scots-Italian father or her Fascist mother? Should she do what she is told or what she believes in?Frank Chapel, a young, black American soldier fighting with the Buffalo soldiers for a country that refuses him the vote, is unlike anyone Vittoria has ever met. In the chaos, they find each other but can their growing love overcome prejudice and war?Trade ReviewA rich and thoroughly enjoyable novel: a love story, a war story, a story of divided loyalties ...It is a work of considerable complexity with a powerful narrative drive … She has the ability, rarer in fiction today than it used to be, to make you care about her characters … This is an ambitious novel, and one of rare scope and understanding ... It is the kind of novel which is likely to have you thinking it ought to be filmed, and then realising that a film would be unlikely to do justice to its amplitude and complexity. But it will surely win prizes -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *A beautifully written and moving love story * Woman *The Sound of the Hours is a beautiful and important book. Karen Campbell's gorgeous prose and epic, page-turning story swept me away to a beautiful place during its worst moment in history. Brava! -- HELEN FITZGERALD, author of The CryGenerous-spirited, big-hearted -- Praise for 'This is Where I Am' * Daily Mail *A story of tragedy told with such eloquence and elegance as to renew our faith in the resilience of the human spirit -- Praise for 'This is Where I Am', Kerry Young
£8.99
Harvard University Press Chinas Good War
Book SynopsisOnce sidelined from public memory, World War II is now a historical touchstone in China. Rana Mitter links reassessment of the war to China’s rising nationalism. At home, Chinese use the war to shape conflicted identities; abroad the war with Japan is now treated as a Chinese victory, a founding myth for a people destined to shape the global order.Trade ReviewOne of Britain’s foremost historians of modern China…A detailed and fascinating account of how the Chinese leadership’s strategy has evolved across eras—and how its recent overtures to regional and international audiences have corresponded to shifts in domestic education and internal propaganda about World War II…China’s Good War is at its most interesting when probing Beijing’s motives for undertaking such an ambitious retooling of its past in the first place. -- Howard W. French * Wall Street Journal *Excellent…[By] one of the world’s leading Sinologists…Allow[s] the reader—and the next US administration—to prepare for what China may do next. -- James Kynge * Financial Times *A timely insight into how memories and ideas about the second world war play a hugely important role in conceptualizations about the past and the present in contemporary China. -- Peter Frankopan * The Spectator *The range of evidence that Mitter marshals is impressive. The argument he makes about war, memory, and the international order is…original. * The Economist *Fascinating…An excellent guide to Chinese historiography…Mitter has written an important book that should serve to counter some of the cruder ways in which China is being misrepresented in the United States. -- Michael Burleigh * Literary Review *Illuminates the fraught and complex manner in which historical memory functions in modern China. -- Jonathan Chatwin * Los Angeles Review of Books *Insightful…Mitter opens a window into the legacy of China’s experience of World War II, showing how historical memory lives on in the present and contributes to the constant evolution of Chinese nationalism. In this deft, textured work of intellectual history, he introduces readers to the scholars, filmmakers, and propagandists who have sought to redefine China’s experience of the war…Yet Mitter does not shy away from exposing some of the political fictions that the CCP imposes on China’s past—to the detriment of its attempt to craft a persuasive narrative about China’s future. -- Jessica Chen Weiss * Foreign Affairs *Mitter’s most penetrating observations relate to how ordinary people have used contested memories of China’s good war to implicitly critique the Communist Party’s attacks on Chinese people…Shows how conversations about one proud part of China’s history are in fact conversations about more recent traumas. -- Jeremy Brown * Times Literary Supplement *A fascinating read that examines China’s growing nationalism with a longer lens than most. -- Alec Ash * The Wire China *Explains how Beijing once underplayed the war, but it has now become a keystone of its claims to legitimacy and to regional hegemony. -- James Palmer * Foreign Policy *Mitter chronicles the changing tides of official wartime narrative in China…China’s Good War is clear that national narratives are rarely based on historical scholarship, but rather on external politics. -- Paul French * South China Morning Post *An understanding of China today requires a grasp of its history through its own eyes, including the unfolding national narrative on the Second World War. Mitter confirms his status as one of the world’s leading sinologists in this lucid work as he explores fresh intellectual terrain, awakening us to China’s radically different perspectives on critical wartime events. This book will unsettle much received wisdom in the West on the war whose outcome determined much of the current global order. -- Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia and President of the Asia Society Policy InstituteRana Mitter has been researching and teaching about China’s Second World War for well over two decades now…[He] writes extremely well, and the book is a pleasure to read…A good place to start for those who wish to better understand 21st-century China. -- Peter Gries * China Quarterly *A brilliant and profoundly researched work. Mitter demonstrates that alone among major combatant nations, China’s official historical narrative of World War II has undergone radical swings not just on the basic facts, but also on how memory serves (or not) to validate China’s governments. He provides timely and nuanced insights into how war memory today is deployed by both the Chinese government and the Chinese people. -- Richard B. Frank, author of Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific WarA breathtaking study of the relationship between history, nationalism, and collective memory by a China eager to assert its new moral and international standing in the world. In a sweeping yet detailed chronicle of the ways in which China is refashioning a new wartime narrative, Mitter provides extraordinary insights into the inner workings of its rise as a global power. For anyone interested in understanding how Chinese leaders are laying the groundwork for their claim as guarantor of the international order, this brilliant book is an absolute must-read. -- Sheila Miyoshi Jager, author of Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in KoreaWritten with the flair we have come to expect from esteemed China historian Rana Mitter, China’s Good War provides indispensable and timely context for the upsurge in Chinese nationalism now remaking Sino–foreign relations. -- Karl Gerth, author of Unending Capitalism: How Consumerism Negated China’s Communist RevolutionMitter shows movingly what Chinese people sing about and weep about when they turn their minds to the devastating contours of the Second World War. Equally at home in provincial museums, internet chat rooms, and China’s foreign ministry, he is a sure guide to China’s ongoing reassessment of the war and postwar. His brilliant account shows how nation has replaced class in the moral narrative China has constructed to frame its national project. -- Jay Winter, author of War beyond Words: Languages of Remembrance from the Great War to the PresentAs China grows more powerful, the meaning of the war is changing. Rana Mitter argues that China’s reassessment of the World War II years is central to its newfound confidence abroad and to mounting nationalism at home. * Hindustan Times *Shows that the history of wartime China has been largely shaped by just one of its outcomes: the ascendancy of the Chinese Communist Party and the creation of a state that depends heavily on a certain sort of history for its legitimacy. -- Antonia Finnane * Inside Story *So timely and valuable. -- John Darwin Van Fleet * Asian Review of Books *His informative analysis of China’s reinterpretations of World War II offers an insight for different audiences to acquaint with China’s domestic dynamics and international ambition…We all need to keep Mitter’s message in mind: China’s revisionist interpretation of World War II is shaping its new national identity and internationalism. -- Catherine Chang * Chinese Historical Studies *Will appeal to many in the general public, as well as to scholars of contemporary China and international relations. -- Norton Wheeler * China Information *The first full-length history of China’s changing memory of World War II and its impact on the construction of China’s domestic and international identity…Provides an important starting point for both popular interest in and future research on China’s emerging reconceptualization of World War II and its domestic and international implications. -- Edward A. McCord * Journal of Chinese Military History *A great starting point to get to know the alternative narratives taking hold in China’s revisionist efforts regarding the nation’s history. Readers will find the information Mitter provides crucial in navigating interactions with the increasingly nationalistic country. -- Jiarui Wu * Journal of Chinese Political Science *
£15.15
GMC Publications Second World War, The
Book SynopsisThis book looks at WWII from a largely British perspective, based upon approximately 350 photographs from the archives of Mirrorpix. It takes a look at the legacies of the war, including the establishment of the United Nations and the European Union. The Second World War was the deadliest conflict in human history. The Second World War broke out in Europe in 1939 and spread rapidly around the globe, involving most of the world's nations and all of the great powers. The most widespread war in history, the Second World War involved more than 100 million people who served in military units. Moreover, the major participants adopted a state of 'total war' whereby the nation's entire economic, industrial and scientific capabilities were dedicated to the war effort, removing the distinction between military and civilian resources. It was the deadliest conflict in human history. Legacies of the war include the establishment of the United Nations and the European Union to encourage international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. This book looks at the Second World War from a largely British perspective, based on approximately 350 photographs from the archives of "Mirrorpix".
£7.59
Aarhus University Press Deutsche auf der Flucht
Book SynopsisEndlich befreit. Die Erleichterung in Dänemark im Frühjahr 1945 war groß. Allerdings war dies keine große Hilfe für die über 200.000 deutschen Flüchtlinge, die in den letzten Kriegsmonaten auf der Flucht vor der Roten Armee ins Land kamen. Der Zufall wollte, dass die in Dänemark gestrandeten Flüchtlinge von der Gnade ihrer dänischen Gastgeber abhingen. Die Deutschen träumten von einem neuen Leben, doch Dänemark war soeben erst von einer verhassten Besatzungsmacht befreit worden. Deswegen waren die Flüchtlinge nicht sonderlich populär – sie trafen auf Ablehnung bei den Dänen und bei den Behörden bis die letzten deutschen Flüchtlinge im Februar 1949 ausreisen konnten. Sie dokumentierten ihre Schicksale in Briefen und Tagebüchern, die in einer globalen Welt mit großen Flüchtlingsströmen eine zeitlose, aktuelle Geschichte erzählen.Treten Sie mit John V. Jensen, Kurator beim Museumsverbund Varde, hinter den Stacheldraht und tauchen Sie ein in eine Geschichte von Unglück, Leid und einem kleinen Hoffnungsschimmer.
£11.00
Pen & Sword Books Ltd With Recce at Arnhem
Book SynopsisDetermined to do his bit Des Evans absconded from a reserved occupation and joined the newly formed Reconnaissance Corps. He saw action in North Africa and Italy before being evacuated back to England with pneumonia in early 1944. Fully recovered he volunteered as a wireless operator with 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron and after parachute training joined C Troop before the ill-fated but glorious attempt to seize the Rhine Bridge at Arnhem.Des vividly describes the intense action that followed the drop. Ambushed twice and badly wounded he was made a POW and eventually succeeded in escaping.Fresh first-hand accounts of the bitter fighting at Arnhem are rare indeed and this one is brutally honest, at times shockingly so.Des Evans was born in Liverpool in 1923. Despite being in a Reserve Occupation he finally succeeded in joining the Army. This book covers his wartime service in North Africa, Italy and at Arnhem. Post war he served in Italy, Palestine, Germany and the Suez Canal Zone
£13.49
Greenhill Books Blood and Soil: The Memoir of A Third Reich
Book Synopsis_ The author is a sympathetic narrator and he has told his story with genuine verve and style [His] South Tyrolean origins, and his role in the Brandenburg Division make the book very distinctive._' Roger Moorhouse. The Brandenburgers were Hitler's Special Forces, a band of mainly foreign German nationals who used disguise and fluency in other languages to complete daring missions into enemy territory. Overshadowed by stories of their Allied equivalents, their history has largely been ignored, making this memoir all the more extraordinary. First published in German in 1984, de Giampietro's highly-personal and eloquent memoir is a vivid account of his experiences. In astonishing detail, he delves into the reality of life in the unit from everyday concerns and politics to training and involvement in Brandenburg missions. He details the often foolhardy missions undertaken under the command of Theodor von Hippel including the June 1941 seizure of the Duna bridges in Dunaburg and the attempted capture of the bridge at Bataisk where half of his unit were killed. Translated into English for the first time, this is a unique insight into a fascinating slice of German wartime history, both as an account of the Brandenburgers and within the very particular context of the author's South Tyrolean origins. Given the very perilous nature of their missions very few of these specially-trained soldiers survived the Second World War and much knowledge of the unit has been lost forever. Widely regarded as the predecessor of today's special forces units, this fascinating account brings to life the Brandenburger Division and its part in history in vivid and compelling detail.
£21.25
Helion & Company Point of Failure
Book SynopsisAn examination of if British Army Brigadiers'' survival and advancement post-1940 defeats were influenced by their pre-war backgrounds.Point of Failure is an innovative study that examines whether or how a select group of British Army officers ? Brigadiers ? survived two immediate strategic defeats due to their pre-war social, professional and military backgrounds and continued to serve and advance ? or not ? thereafter.By the early summer of 1940, the British Army had suffered two simultaneous strategic failures in Europe - in France & Belgium from May to June and in Norway from April to May. Point of Failure considers a specific set of British Army officers, Brigadiers, who served there. In 1940, while the rank of Brigadier existed, it was more a holding rank for an officer occupying a post temporarily to fulfil a role, after which he would either revert to Colonel or be advanced to Major General. Therefore, Brigadiers were, in a sense, the Army?s ?middle management? ? heading for the top or making no further progress. Point of Failure aims to examine this set of officers and to see whether their professional survival and/or advancement after 1940 was influenced by factors prevailing before it.Factors which may have contributed to the advancement of officers, be they professional, social or operational before 1940, are addressed. Also considered are those presumed to do so, but which this book shows were either ineffectual or less influential than prior presumptions arising from the literature on the British Army in the Second World War, such as the influence of patronage by senior officers, most notably Bernard Montgomery and Alan Brooke.By its nature, Point of Failure draws considerably on secondary sources, such as campaign narratives, biographies and biographical sources. Primary sources, such as war diaries, personal papers, and autobiographies, are used but are subject to limitations. The main primary source, which would be profoundly informative on a personal level, namely officers? annual confidential reports throughout their careers, remain closed and inaccessible to researchers.To examine whether the factors discussed in this book prevailed or altered as a result of over three years of fighting, a later chapter compares those officers serving in fighting commands on D-Day and the initial stages of the Battle of Normandy in 1944 with their 1940 counterparts.
£28.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Undaunted Normandy
Book SynopsisSHUT UP & SIT DOWN RECOMMENDSBGG GOLDEN GEEK AWARD-WINNERThe critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning World War II deck-building game.June, 1944. Through the D-Day landings, the Allies have seized a foothold on the beaches of Normandy. Now you must lead your troops forward as you push deeper into France and drive the German forces back. You will face intense resistance, machine gun fire, and mortar bombardment, but a great commander can turn the situation to their advantage!Undaunted: Normandy is the best-selling World War II deck-building game, placing you and your opponent in command of American or German forces fighting through a series of missions critical to the outcome of the war. Use your cards to seize the initiative, bolster your forces, or control your troops on the battlefield. Strong leadership can turn the tide of battle in your favour, but reckless decisions could prove catastrophic, as every casualty you take re
£29.75
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Beutepanzers of World War II
Book SynopsisIllustrated with original artwork and archive photos, this is the history of Germany''s extensive use of captured tanks in World War II.In this book Steven J. Zaloga, one of the world''s leading armor authorities, uncovers the history of one of the least-known aspects of Germany''s World War II Panzers: the extensive use of captured armored vehicles, Beutepanzer. The best came from the fall of France, and the Somua S 35 and Panhard 178 proved popular in German service. Others, such as the antique Renault FT, were used for secondary tasks such as anti-partisan missions and airfield protection. Most curious of all were the Becker conversions, a private venture of a German artillery officer with family industry, who mechanized his unit's towed artillery and went on to oversee the modernization and upgunning of many French Beutepanzers. These would play a particularly important role in Normandy in 1944.Although the Wehrmacht captured large numbers of Soviet tanks,
£12.34
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC US Navy Pacific Fleet 1941
Book SynopsisThe first book to examine the battleship-led 1941 Pacific Fleet as it was intended to fight. Packed with illustrations, this study explains how the US Navy saw the approaching war unfolding. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Fleet was the most powerful in the US Navy. It was still dominated by battleships, but since the late 1930s had been developing naval aviation and integrating them with its battleship-led doctrine. This book is the first to examine the Pacific Fleet as it was intended to fight, and how it had been training and preparing in the months leading up to December 7, 1941. Naval historian Mark Lardas explains how, contrary to modern assumptions, it was not wedded to the battleship, but was hedging its bets, building up both its carrier and battleship strength. Most crucially, it had also been building and honing a massive fleet train, enabling the Pacific Fleet to operate easily thousands of miles from home. It was this foundati
£14.39
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Soviet Tanks at Kursk 1943
Book SynopsisIllustrated throughout, this book explains the composition and qualities of the Soviet tank force that fought Germany's mighty Panzers at the biggest tank battle in history. In the summer of 1943, Hitler's army had rebuilt its Panzer forces after defeat at Stalingrad and retreat from the Caucasus. New types, including the Panther, Tiger, and Elefant, at last added technical superiority to the traditional tactical edge enjoyed by the Panzer divisions. The plan was to begin offensive operations by striking from the north and south to cut off Soviet forces in the Kursk salient. In this book, Soviet military specialist William E. Hiestand explores the armor that met this Panzer force, in the biggest tank battle of World War II. The Soviets had benefited from their prodigious production capabilities but the tanks at Kursk varied widely. Still short of tanks, the Soviets also still operated weak T-60 and T-70 light tanks, along with the increasingly obsolete KV-1 he
£11.69
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Battleship Scharnhorst
Book SynopsisThe Kriegsmarines Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, described either as a battleship or battlecruiser, and the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, Gneisenau. She was launched on 3 October 1936 and completed in January 1939, armed with nine 28cm C/34 guns in three triple turrets. She operated with Gneisenau for much of the early portion of World War II, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping. They took part in Operation Weserübung (AprilJune 1940), the German invasion of Norway, during which they sank the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her escort destroyers Acasta and Ardent. Scharnhorst also sank HMS Rawalpindi in November 1939. In early 1943, Scharnhorst joined the Tirpitz in Norway to intercept Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. On a sortie from Norway to attack a convoy, the German force was intercepted by British ships and during the Battle of the
£34.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Yugoslavia and Greece 194041
Book SynopsisA new illustrated history of the German and Italian air campaigns in the invasions of Greece and Yugoslavia, the last full-scale Axis air offensives before Operation Barbarossa.The Greece campaign was launched by Italy in October 1940, the first large-scale campaign of the Italian Air Force outside North Africa, and its last major solo effort. With the German involvement in April 1941, and with the invasion of Yugoslavia, the Balkans saw the last large-scale Axis air campaign in Europe before the invasion of the USSR. It was also the campaign that saw expeditionary units of the RAF fighting alongside the Greeks most famously, the handful of Hurricanes that fought to the end from makeshift olive-grove airfields, among them the Hurricane ace and future novelist Roald Dahl.In this book, renowned historian Pier Paolo Battistelli and air power expert Basilio di Martino explain how this unique campaign was fought. They highlight elements such as the Italians
£15.29
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Kawanishi H6K Mavis and H8K Emily Units
Book SynopsisAn illustrated account of the little-known operations of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force's flying boat units during World War 2.Respectively codenamed the Mavis' and Emily' by the Allies, Japan's H6K and H8K flying boats outstripped their RAF and US Navy counterparts. The 1941 outbreak of war in the Pacific and Southeast Asia saw these remarkable aircraft carry out offensive missions across vast tracts of ocean and employ their unique capabilities to escort convoys and serve as transports between Japan's island bases. However, while the technical details of the H6K and H8K are well known in the West, this important new study marks the first English-language account of their wartime operations.Utilizing newly translated Japanese war diaries, as well as Allied intelligence and combat reports, celebrated Pacific War expert Edward M. Young reveals the full story behind the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force's flying boat units. Contemporary photos and 22 colo
£15.29
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Tanks in the Battle of the Bulge
Book SynopsisA new analysis of exactly how Allied and German tanks fought the Battle of the Bulge, one of the great tank battles of World War II. The Battle of the Bulge raises many questions which, until now, have not been adequately answered: How did the major tank types perform during the battle? What were the specific lessons learned from the combat? And did these lessons result in changes to tanks in the subsequent months?Offering detailed answers to these questions, and many more, this book provides a survey of the principal tank and tank-equivalents (such as tank destroyers and Jagdpanzers) that took part in the Ardennes Campaign of December 1944--January 1945. Beginning with a basic overview of the campaign, accompanied by an order of battle of the major armored units, it examines the opposing forces, covering the organization of the two tank forces to explain how they were deployed. Author Steven Zaloga also scrutinizes the technical balance between the opposing Trade ReviewThere is much here for the rules writer or campaign planner. * Wargames Soldiers and Strategy Magazine *Table of ContentsThe Campaign The Tanks, Doctrine and Organization Technical Factors Battle Analysis Further Reading Index
£10.79
Amberley Publishing Britains Forgotten Battle
Book SynopsisCommemorating its 80th anniversary, this book tells the full story of a crucial late campaign in the Second World War. Drawing on a variety of sources, the authors shine a light on an area that General Eisenhower said 'experienced some of the fiercest fighting of the whole war'.
£19.54
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Japans Indian Ocean Raid 1942
Book SynopsisAn detailed illustrated exploration of the Japanese raid into the Indian Ocean in April 1942 one of the largest operations conducted by the Imperial Navy during the war.In the wake of Japan's conquest of Burma in early 1942, plans were formed by the Imperial high command to capture Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) to consolidate Japan's defensive perimeter and disrupt British shipping lanes to India, Australia, and the Middle East. The Imperial Japanese Army, however, could not release sufficient troops for an invasion, and so in response the Japanese Navy developed Operation C, an aggressive raid by the Combined Fleet into the Indian Ocean. The key objective was to destroy the British Eastern Fleet in port.Expert naval historian Mark Stille documents the high point of Japanese naval air power as its carriers struck Ceylon the heart of British naval power in the East sinking several Allied ships. He describes the Allied air attempts to destroy Admiral Chuichi NaTable of ContentsORIGINS OF THE CAMPAIGN CHRONOLOGY OPPOSING COMMANDERS Japanese British OPPOSING FORCES Japanese British Orders of Battle OPPOSING PLANS Japanese British THE CAMPAIGN Opening Japanese Moves The Invasion of the Andaman Island The Striking Force Enters the Indian Ocean Somerville’s Manoeuvring The Striking Force is Detected The Attack on Colombo The Death of Cornwall and Dorsetshire Shadow Boxing Between 5 and 9 April The Attack on Trincomalee Operations of the Malaya Unit Striking Force Japanese Submarine Operations Operation C – the Final Accounting AFTERMATH FURTHER READING INDEX
£15.29
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Wilde Sau Nightfighters
Book SynopsisAn illustrated exploration of the development, technology and operations of Wilde Sau fighters in the night skies over Germany during the Defence of the Reich.In July 1943, the Nachtjagdverband's defence of Germany from the RAF's increasingly effective night bombing campaign was nearly brought to a standstill. Window' strips of paper with aluminium foil covering one side had been introduced, dropped by bombers to jam German radar. Fortunately for the Luftwaffe, the Wilde Sau concept of defending point targets using single-engined fighters was already in existence, and would become the cornerstone of the night defence of Germany during the summer and autumn of 1943. In this new study, Martin Streetly details the origins, tactics and implementation of Wilde Sau, exploring its successes and failures through the experiences of pilots who flew Bf 109s, Fw 190s and Me 262s into combat against Lancaster and Halifax heavy bombers. First-h
£15.29
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Light Panzers
Book SynopsisThis highly illustrated new study tells the full story of the German light Panzers in World War II.The light Panzers that equipped the first Panzer divisions were originally intended as training or stopgap machines, suitable only until the arrival of the better-armed and -armoured PzKpfw III and PzKpfw IV. However, despite their limitations, they ended up playing key roles in the victorious campaigns waged by the German Army from 1939 to 1942.This highly illustrated title describes the development and organizational history of the PzKpfw I, introduced in 1934, and the PzKpfw II, introduced in 1936. It explains how the annexation of German-speaking Sudetenland in 1938 and, subsequently, of Czechoslovakia itself delivered an unexpected bonus for the Panzerwaffe in the form of two Czech Army light tanks, introduced into German service as the PzKpfw 35(t) and PzKpfw 38(t). It goes on to cover the considerable operational service of these tanks in Poland, Fr
£29.75
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Fw 190D9
Book SynopsisThe Fw 190D-9 -- the ''long-nosed'' Dora -- represented the cutting edge and pinnacle of wartime Germany''s piston-engine aviation development. This new history by leading German aviation specialist Robert Forsyth reveals what it was like to pilot her in combat as Germany desperately battled to remain in the war.Arguably one of the finest piston-engined fighters ever built, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 raised the bar in terms of aircraft design and operational capability during World War II. Designed by Kurt Tank, the ''long-nosed'' Fw 190D9 ''Dora'' bettered most of the fighters that the Allied and Soviet air forces could field when it first appeared in the skies over the Western and Eastern Fronts in 1944. Indeed, with experienced German pilots at the controls it proved to be an immediate match for even the later-mark Griffon Spitfire and the P-51D/K. Well-armed, with two 13mm machine guns and two 20mm cannon, the D-9 began to equip Luftwaffe units frTrade ReviewA natural storyteller, the author is ably assisted by fine illustrations from Gareth Hector and numerous photographs and maps. -- Nick Stroud * The Aviation Historian *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1 In Battle An all-action account of III./JG 54 engaging Typhoons or Tempests over western Germany in April 1945 Chapter 2 Setting the Scene Design, development, production, early actions, the Ardennes and Operation Bodenplatte Chapter 3 Path to Combat Charting the careers of two Luftwaffe pilots who flew the D-9 in combat – one, a Knight’s Cross-holder and ace, the other, a lesser known ‘Dora 9’ pilot Chapter 4 Weapon of war A brief technical appraisal of the Fw 190D-9, detailing its development and the weaponry it employed Chapter 5 Art of War Tactics for Fw 190D-9 units were quite ‘loose’, as was tactical doctrine by this stage of the war – the key word was ‘survival’. This chapter will look at the ‘Split S’ manoeuvre and the evolution of the Rotte and Schwarm tactical formations Chapter 6 Combat In this chapter, Fw 190D-9 pilots explain what it was like fly the ‘Dora 9’ in an aerial engagement against some of the best Allied fighters of World War II such as the Spitfire XIV, P-51D Mustang and Tempest V Aftermath Selected Sources Index
£12.59
Pluto Press Conjuring Hitler
Book SynopsisArgues that Hitler's rise to power was financed and supported by the US and Britain to prevent Germany allying with Russia.Trade Review'The most important book on modern European history since George Lichtheim's Europe in the Twentieth Century' -- Professor David MacGregor, University of Western OntarioTable of ContentsList of Figures A Chronology of Germany’s Undoing, 1900-1945 Preface 1. Introductory: The Eurasian Embrace. Laying Siege to Germany with World War One, 1900-1918. 2. The Veblenian Prophecy: From the Councils to Versailles by Way of Russian Fratricide, 1919-1920. 3. The Meltdown & the Geopolitical Correctness of Mein Kampf: Between the Kapp and the Beerhall Putsch, 1920-1923 4. ‘Death on the Installment Plan’, Whereby Governor Norman Came to Pace the Damnation of Europe, 1924-1933 5. The Reich on the Marble Cliffs. Fire, Legerdemain and Mummery all the Way to Barbarossa, 1933-1941 6. Conclusions Notes Bibliography Index
£26.99
The History Press Ltd Spuds Spam and Eating For Victory
Book SynopsisThe battle to keep the nation fed during the Second World War was waged by an army of workers on the land and the resourcefulness of the housewives on the Kitchen Front. The rationing of food, clothing and other substances played a big part in making sure that everyone had a fair share of whatever was available.In this fascinating book, Katherine Knight looks at how experiences of rationing varied between rich and poor, town and country, and how ingenuous cooks often made a meal from poor ingredients. Charting the developments of the rationing programme throughout the war and afterwards, Spuds, Spam and Eating for Victory documents the use of substitutions for luxury ingredients not available, resulting in delicacies such as carrot jam and oatmeal sausages. The introduction of Spam in America in the forties led to this canned spiced pork and ham becoming an iconic symbol of the worse period of shortage in the twentieth century.Seventy years after the outbreak of the Second World War, this book listens to some of the people who were young during the conflict share their memories, both sad and funny, of what it was like to eat for Victory.
£11.69
Pan Macmillan Churchill
Book SynopsisFrom the admiralty to the miner's strike, from the Battle of Britain to eventual victory over Nazi Germany, Churchill oversaw some of the most important events the world has ever seen. Winning the Nobel Prize in Literature for his personal writing and cautioning against a powerful Soviet Russia in his later years in office, his larger-than-life and complex personality has continued to fascinate writers and historians.In this comprehensive biography, Roy Jenkins faithfully presents these events, while also managing to convey the contradictions and quirks in Churchill's character. Weaving together in-depth analysis and brilliant historical research, Jenkins has succeeded in crafting this magnificent one-volume account packed with insights that only a fellow politician can convey. Bringing to life the statesman, writer, speaker and leader, Churchill is packed with insights into one of the most important figures of the twentieth century.Trade ReviewThere is no doubt that he has surpassed himself. This is the biography of the year. -- Robert McCrum * Observer *This is a first class, well-sustained work of history and a masterpiece of biography. -- Andrew Roberts * Sunday Telegraph *Lord Jenkins of Hillhead is an outstanding biographer . . . it has the narrative power, sweep and sparkle of the author in his prime. -- John Grigg * Times *
£17.00
Ad Lib Publishers Ltd No More Secrets: My part in codebreaking at
Book SynopsisThe incredible true story of the only woman to have worked during the Second World War as a codebreaker at both Bletchley Park and the Pentagon Betty Webb is the only surviving codebreaker to have worked on both Nazi and Japanese codes at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. This is the tale of her extraordinary life. Betty has had a ringside seat to history. Born one hundred years ago, she spent her childhood in the Shropshire countryside during the 1920s – without heating, electricity or running water. As a schoolgirl, thanks to her mother’s desire for her to learn to speak German proficiently, she took part in an exchange programme and spent time in Nazi Germany. It was 1937 and Germany was on the cusp of war. As a small act of rebellion, she refused to give the Nazi salute alongside her classmates. Back in England, after graduating from school, Betty faced the usual limited opportunities for employment on offer to women at the time. However, with the war in full swing, fate intervened and in 1941, wanting to play her part in the war effort, Betty joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (Women’s Army). After being interviewed by an intelligence officer, she found herself at Euston station with her kit-bag, a travel warrant in her pocket and instructions to get off the train at Bletchley Park. There, having signed the Official Secrets Act with a gun laid next to her on the table highlighting the enormous importance of the work she was about to do, she joined the ranks of the other men and women ‘codebreakers’. Between 1941 and 1945 Betty Webb played a vital role in the top-secret efforts being made to decipher the secret communications of the Germans and later the Japanese. In 1945, as other members of the forces returned home from the war in Europe, she was sent to the Pentagon and was in Washington DC when the atomic bombs fell and when Eisenhower announced the end of the war. Betty was unable to reveal the true nature of her work, even to her parents, until years later. In this fascinating book, she revisits the key moments of her life and recounts the incredible stories from her time at Bletchley Park.Trade Review'Engaging autobiography.' * Daily Telegraph *
£9.49
