Search results for ""Fonthill Media Ltd""
Fonthill Media Ltd Grandad's Army: Volunteers Defending the British Isles in the First World War
In August 1914, on the outbreak of the First World War, there was enormous pressure on men to enlist in Kitchener's New Armies, supplementing the tiny regular army and Territorial Force. This pressure was intense, and posters, the entreaties of local worthies, and an apparently indiscriminate scattering of white feathers, all exacerbated masculine sensitivity. We are all familiar, if only through BBC TV's 'Dad's Army', with the Home Guard of the Second World War. Far less is known of their First World War equivalent: the Volunteer Training Corps (VTC). Like their counter-parts in WW2, the VTC comprised those who were too old, too young, too unfit or too indispensable to serve in the regular forces. They fought for the right to be armed, uniformed and trained; to be employed on meaningful duties; and at first, to exist at all. This book explores the origins, development and structure of the VTC, along with those who belonged to the many supporting medical, transport, police and youth organisations who kept the home fires burning or, in some cases, tried to put them out. The VTC arose from the need of those men who were forced to stay at home to be seen to be doing their bit. They saw the removal of the bulk of both the regular army and the Territorial Force to the Western Front as their opportunity to prepare to resist the expected German invasion of Britain, and as a way of countering accusations of shirking, or even cowardice.
£27.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Sailing to the Sun: Cruising History and Evolution
The worldwide cruise industry is booming-alone, there are some 56 new cruise ships being built or planned (2018). Cruise ships visit ports around the world. And the ships themselves are amenity-filled, moving resorts. But when did it all begin? This book looks at the evolution of cruising, from the mid-nineteenth century. It chronicles the growth of long, luxury cruising in the Twenties and then, in the Depression-era Thirties, cruising reaches the general public as a form of escape. By the late Sixties, purposeful cruise ships were being built and these spawned today's fleet, including the largest passenger ships ever built.
£19.80
Fonthill Media Ltd Hawker Hunter: A Classic British Jet Fighter
The Hawker Hunter was Britain's first swept-wing jet fighter capable of exceeding the speed of sound. It was a simple, rugged design that was easy to maintain in service. Once the limited initial range was improved, it became a versatile combat aircraft as a day fighter, ground-attack fighter, and fighter reconnaissance platform. In addition to worldwide service with the RAF, the Hunter was an export success, becoming a standard fighter with NATO and air forces, in the Middle East, India, Asia, Africa, and South America. Its modular construction made it easy to build, and it was ideal for refurbishing and updating earlier models for sale to overseas customers. Hunters are still active for contract work as low-cost platforms for aggressor training and systems development. This volume documents the jet fighter's extensive and fascinating history.
£31.50
Fonthill Media Ltd Arnhem Umbrella: Major Digby Tatham Warter DSO
Operation Market Garden was Major Digby Tatham Warter’s first action. As the OC of ‘A’ Company, 2 Para, he led the advance to the Arnhem road bridge, brushing aside German resistance to reach the objective. Over the course of the next four days, Digby - a well-known eccentric - enhanced his reputation further by displaying solid leadership and a fearlessness that left everyone who witnesses it in awe. Picking up an umbrella and bowler hat from one of the houses, Tatham Warter strolled around the perimeter oblivious to shot and shell, instilling confidence in his men and inspiring them to battle on in the face of overwhelming odds. Wounded and captured at the battle’s end, Digby escaped and linked up with the Dutch Resistance. For weeks he strutted around the area disguised as a deaf and dumb Dutchman to fool the Germans. He collected over hundred paratroopers (‘evaders’) and forged a plan to lead them through enemy lines to safety. His post-war years are just as exciting. This is his story.
£27.00
Fonthill Media Ltd King George V-Class Battleships
Following the First World War the major naval powers entered into an agreement restricting the construction of capital ships and limiting the numbers that signatories were allowed to maintain, so numerous ships were scrapped or disposed of and the majority of planned vessel were either cancelled whilst being built or never laid down. By the late 1920s the Royal Navy’s battle force comprised of the two Nelson-class ships, the battlecruisers ‘Hood’, ‘Renown’ and ‘Repulse’, and ‘Revenge’ and Queen Elizabeth-class ships, all designed before the First World War. In 1928 the Royal Navy began planning a new class of battleships which was put on hold with the signing of the Treaty of London. In 1935, realising its battle fleet was becoming dated as other nations laid down new classes of battleships, the Royal Navy recommenced planning capital ships within treaty limitations. The result was the King George V-class battleships. Regarded by some as the worst new-generation battleships in the Second World War the King George V-class were Britain’s most modern battleships during the conflict and saw action in some of the most famous engagements from the sinking of the ‘Bismarck’ in 1941 to the surrender of Japan in 1945. This book charts the story of the King George V-class from its conception and design through to the operational history of the ships in the class.
£36.00
Fonthill Media Ltd The Liverpool Rifles: A Biography of the 1/6th Battalion King's Liverpool Regiment in the First World War
Using a wealth of contemporary sources, this book narrates the story of the Liverpool Rifles in the Great War from their mobilisation in August 1914 to their return to Liverpool in 1919, each day of their active service in France and Belgium detailed. The role played by 3,000 individuals, including every single casualty---wounded or killed---is covered in the narrative and in many cases, the exact position where this happened. The battalion served a tough apprenticeship in the Second Battle of Ypres, losing over 40 per cent casualties in their first five months overseas. By the time the battalion left the Somme in September 1916, their casualties figures exceeded the number who sailed to France in 1915. The ferocious struggle in the Third Battle of Ypres and their epic defensive actions at Little Priel Farm and Givenchy are described down to individual platoon level; twenty-one detailed sketch maps allowing the reader to follow the action. Uniquely, the battalion roll in the appendices includes every officer and man who served with the battalion overseas, many of whom do not feature in the Medal Rolls.
£31.50
Fonthill Media Ltd Brainwashed and Anointed
In `Brainwashed and Anointed’, Christopher Yeoman tells his heart-wrenching struggles within Mormonism with no holds barred honesty and irresistible wit. Raised as a Mormon boy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Christopher went through a heavily indoctrinated youth system, and at the age of 19 he served as a missionary for the Church. So sure of his religion and of the existence of God, he thought nothing would ever break his faith, but after battling with shame and guilt for his so-called `sins’, an ordeal with panic attacks and loss, his belief system began to unravel. This story offers a fascinating insight into the conflict between years of conditioned thinking vs. a need to re-programme one’s mind after escaping the clutches of organised religion. Packed with humorous anecdotes and heart-breaking confessions, Brainwashed and Anointed makes for a fascinating read for anyone who is has been affected by religion or not.
£16.99
Fonthill Media Ltd Thud Pilot: A Pilot’s Account of Early F-105 Combat in Vietnam
Thud Pilot is the personal account of a combat fighter pilot who flew the Air Force’s premier fighter-bomber in the most dangerous skies over North Vietnam. In the first five years of the Vietnam War, the F-105 Thunderchief conducted 75 percent of the Air Force bombing missions over North Vietnam. Thud Pilot tells the story of the courageous men who flew the F-105 from its earliest combat deployment in 1964, and on through 1966, the year of its heaviest losses. The author’s more significant missions, including his ejection and rescue over North Vietnam are described in detail and are accompanied by map drawings depicting the mission routes from take-off to refueling orbits, the target, and return. The book is full of several `firsts’ in the expanding air war over North Vietnam, including `Operation Spring High,’ the first counter Surface-to-Air-Missile (SAM) strike in the history of aerial warfare. The personal perspective from years of combat experience reveals just how the political mismanagement and inane Rules of Engagement made them as much the hunted as they were the hunters. Thud Pilot goes beyond the battle air space and shares the emotional impact on the families left behind.
£16.99
Fonthill Media Ltd SS Elite: The Senior Leaders of Hitler's Praetorian Guard Vol:1 A-J
In the turbulent times of the post-World War One era, new political parties emerged frequently in Germany, many with opposing extremist policies. The Communist movement grew out of the Socialist working classes using the Russian Bolshevik Party as a template. In direct opposition, the new National Socialist German Workers Party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, occupied the extreme right-wing position. Head on conflict was inevitable and both parties organised violent demonstrations against the other. Hitler recognised that he was physically vulnerable and ordered the formation of his own protection squad, made up of loyal men who would not shirk from a fight. From the rudimentary ranks of Hitler's select few grew the infant SS, a modern praetorian guard, which developed over the years into a massive and efficient military style force with tentacles spreading into all elements of everyday life in Nazi Germany. To administer this organisation, Hitler appointed leaders upon whom he could rely. Many names remain obscure, but this book highlights who they all were and how they appeared.
£40.50
Fonthill Media Ltd Rare Birds: Forgotten Aircraft of the Second World War
The Second World War saw the apex of piston-engine aircraft design, and ushered the world into the jet age. Anybody who studies aviation will know the names: Spitfire, Mustang, Zero, Messerschmitt, Shturmovik. But there were many more aircraft to take to the skies before and during the war, and frequently their stories remain unknown. This book seeks to tell those stories, to bring to the fore the forgotten warbirds. From the valiant Poles fighting the might of the Luftwaffe in their obsolescent craft, to the varied and excellent craft of the French Armee De l'Air, to the graceful craft of Italy's Regia Aeronautica. With stops around the globe, this book seeks to tell the tales of the forgotten or the doomed or the never-quites. The stories of these aircraft, drawn from Allies and Axis nations alike, bring forth a fuller picture of aviation during the greatest airborne conflict in world history. Telling these stories will give readers an interesting, and informative, look into the past-with personal reflections and a call to arms for the study of history itself.
£22.50
Fonthill Media Ltd Reich Rails: Royal Prussia, Imperial Germany and the First World War 1825-1918
With the Great War (1914-18) Centennial beginning in 2014, this is a comprehensive study of Prussian/German railways in peace and strife, 1825-1918 -men, rails, lines, engines, cars, and stations. They all played a crucial part in Germany's Wars of Unification during 1864-71, the interwar years, and the final catastrophe that toppled many crowns, thrones, and states, all told from a railroad perspective, a unique way of exploring the history of the 19th-20th Centuries. Here the reader will also find the sagas of the other railways aligned both for and against the Second Reich: Berlin-Baghdad, Trans-Siberian, Hejaz, African, Italian, American, and more. Presented also are notable individual historic trains, such as those of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tsar Nicholas II, hospital conveyances, differing gauges, railroad guns, armored trains, Lenin's infamous "sealed train" through Germany to Russia, and much more. Here, too, are the famous men who made "training" a successful wartime tool: banker Bleichroder, soldiers von Moltke, raider Lawrence of Arabia, Bulow and Hindenburg, and how French Marshal Foch's railroad dining car became the focal point of the Great War's final ending.From the very first German passenger service to the Russian Civil War, this is epic railroading as a military force.
£17.09
Fonthill Media Ltd Crosscountry Trains: Providing the Rail Services Connecting Britain's Towns and Cities
CrossCountry Trains Ltd won the right to operate the CrossCountry franchise from 11 November 2007 when the Strategic Rail Authority determined that its bid for the franchise was the best value for money and the most sustainable. CrossCountry operates the most extensive passenger rail network in the UK covering 16 million route miles per year; it also operates the longest rail service in the UK - the 08:20 a.m. Aberdeen to Penzance (774 miles). Based in the centre of England in Birmingham, the company serves seven of the country's largest cities and provides 295 services every weekday, which equates to around 30 million passenger journeys per year. It also employs around 1,626 employees. The company does not operate any stations itself, but CrossCountry's trains do call at more than 119 stations stretching from Aberdeen in the north, Stansted Airport in the east, Cardiff in the west and Penzance in the south west. With Birmingham New Street at the hub, its services crisscross the country in a similar pattern to that of the UK motorway system.
£14.99
Fonthill Media Ltd Soldiers with Spanners: The Ground Crews' View During the Second World War
Soldiers with Spanners is unique in that it tells the story of the men in the USAAF's 2nd Air Division during WWII, and better still, it shows it in pictures. To ass poignancy and accuracy, the majority of pictures were taken by the young men themselves. A few are taken by the Station Photographic Sections, but even then, they represent the part of the war seen through the eyes of a young man in a war zone, in a foreign country, away from their families for the first time. These historic pictures capture what went on behind the fence s of the many plots of 'Little America' that sprang up over East Anglia during the early 1940s. To the English who lived in the vicinity, they were almost foreign lands, but now we are able to pass those security gates to seethe pictures of the men, and a few of the girls at work, rest and play. There were good days and bad days, long days and short days - all captured in theis book as a lasting memento of what those G.Is went through.
£16.99
Fonthill Media Ltd Howard's Whirlybirds: Howard Hughes's Amazing Pioneering Helicopter Exploits
Howard Hughes, the movie mogul, aviation pioneer and political hound dog, has always fascinated the public with his mixture of secrecy, dashing lifestyle and reclusiveness. Companies responsible for major technological leaps often become household names. An exception is Howard Hughes's pioneering helicopter company, Hughes Helicopters, a name that has fallen into oblivion. Yet most schoolboys in the world have heard of the company's prize-winning product: the Apache helicopter. Hughes popularised the light helicopter trainer, mass-produced the first turbine-powered light observation helicopter, led the way in hot cycle rotorcraft propulsion research and, finally, developed the world's most advanced attack helicopter that was purchased and saw service with the UK. Here's how some of the world's most innovative helicopters were developed. Covering the period from the Second World War until the mid-1980s, you will learn why Hughes military aircraft contracts came under close scrutiny by the US government. The story is rich with tales of technological breakthrough and test-flying bravado made possible by a small crew of engineers and daring pilots. Written by a technical expert and insider to the industry, Howard's Whirlybirds: Howard Hughes' Amazing Pioneering Helicopter Exploits is a fascinating and alternative view on the phenomenal pioneer with unpublished photographs and material that will fascinate the aviation and military historian as well as the casual reader and cinema buff.
£18.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Handley Page - The First 40 Years
Handley Page began manufacturing aeroplanes in a small factory in Barking, Essex in 1909. Handley Page Limited was founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) as the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. Sir Frederick declined to allow his company to be merged into the two large 'forced marriages' of aircraft manufacturing companies in the 1960s. It failed to survive alone, and went into voluntary liquidation and ceased to exist in 1970. During the First World War Handley Page produced a series of heavy bombers for the Royal Navy to bomb the German Zeppelin yards, with the ultimate intent of bombing Berlin in revenge for the Zeppelin attacks on London. Handley Page had been asked by the Admiralty to produce a "bloody paralyser of an aeroplane". These aircraft included the O/100 of 1915, the O/400 of 1918 and the four-engined V/1500 with the range to reach Berlin. The V/1500 only just reached operational service as the war ended in 1918. The real success of the Company came during the Second World War with the magnificent and robust Halifax bomber. In all, more than 6,000 of them were produced, or more than 40 per cent of Britain's total heavy-bomber power. In the bombing operations alone, approximately 76,000 sorties were flown and nearly a quarter of a million tons of bombs were dropped on to enemy targets. Bomber Command had no less than seventy-six Halifax squadrons in action at the time of its peak strength.
£12.99
Fonthill Media Ltd 806 Naval Air Squadron
£22.50
Fonthill Media Ltd Schneider Trophy Seaplanes and Flying Boats: Victors, Vanquished and Visions
The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider (commonly called the Schneider Trophy, or prize or cup) was a prize competition for seaplanes. Announced by Jacques Schneider, a financier, balloonist and aircraft enthusiast, in 1911, it offered a prize of roughly GBP1,000. The race was held eleven times between 1913 and 1931. It was meant to encourage technical advances in civil aviation but became a contest for pure speed with laps over a triangular course (initially 280 km, later 350 km). The races were very popular and some attracted crowds of over 200,000 spectators. Since 1977 the trophy has been on display at the Science Museum in London. The race was very significant in advancing aeroplane design, particularly in the fields of aerodynamics and engine design, and would show its results in the best fighters of WW2. The streamlined shape and the low drag, liquid-cooled engine pioneered by Schneider Trophy designs are obvious in the British Supermarine Spitfire, the American P-51 Mustang, and the Italian Macchi C.202 Folgore. This book is a history of the 100+ different aircraft types designed to contest for the Schneider Trophy from its inception in 1912 through to the final post-script in 1934. The narrative covers the political dynamics of the contests, the rivalries and the partnerships that led to the development of these aircraft. Each aircraft and engine is described along with the story of their construction and testing. The core of the book is a set of detailed 1:72 scale 3-view drawings and photographs from the author's personal collection, most of which have not been published previously. The text and drawings draw upon the author's comprehensive library of drawings, photographs, blueprints, reports, books and magazines on the subject and contain much new information. The majority of these aircraft, including some of the better known types, have been served poorly in the past in terms of availability of drawings. The book will appeal both to readers with a casual interest in the Schneider Trophy and to those seeking a comprehensive source of information on the subject. It will be of particular use to aircraft modellers. At present there are no books in print on the subject of the Schneider Trophy, the most recent in English was published in 2000. The majority of the more recent books date from 1981, the 50th anniversary of the final contest.
£40.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Serving on the Big Ships
This collection of stories shows passenger liners, large and small as well as famous and obscure, through the eyes of officers & crew, with tales of the great Cunarders, P&O, Holland America & Union Castle liners, providing added insight, understanding, and even color to these liners of another age. It is a voyage along maritime memory lane.
£31.50
Fonthill Media Ltd Scharnhorst and Gneisenau
In February 1942, six Swordfish armed with torpedoes encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire in the English Channel and were shot down but not before two torpedoes were launched at a German battleship sailing at high speed. This attack was part of a wider British effort to stop the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau from making their way back to Germany. The Scharnhorst is one of the most famous capital ships to have served with the Kriegsmarine. Yet she and her sister ship Gneisenau have been largely overshadowed by the Bismarck and Tirpitz, despite the fact that they played a more proactive role in the Second World War and were Germany's most successful battleships. This book provides an authoritative and informative look at the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the first capital ships of the Kriegsmarine, from their conception through the first successful years of the Second World War to their respective losses. This is a detailed account of naval warfare against the Royal Navy off the coast of Norway and the war against Allied commerce from the German perspective.
£36.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Macchi C.202 Folgore: Italy's Best Fighter of the Second World War
The Macchi C.202 was probably the most successful Italian fighter during the Second World War. It is generally agreed that the performance of the Macchi was superior to both the Hawker Hurricane and the Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk and on a par with the Supermarine Spitfire Mk. V. It is not by chance that virtually all the Italian top scoring aces flew this plane either with the Regia Aeronautica or the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana. At the same time, the Mc.202 is the symbol of the dysfunctions in the Italian military-industrial complex: the lack of sound industrial planning resulting in orders from the Regia Aeronautica for an exaggerated number of different aircraft; the lack of the development of adequate engines limiting aircraft performance and reducing capacity to house weapons with a proper punch; the corruption of politics and the culpable connivance of the high military spheres. The Mc.202 was therefore produced in limited numbers, while there is consensus that air war, especially in the African theatre, would have been different had the aircraft been adopted before.
£27.00
Fonthill Media Ltd The Southern Since 1953
A photographic journey of the ever changing railway scene of southern England stretching from Cornwall to the Kent Coast, served from 1953 to the present day by the Southern Region and its successors. When our story begins steam west of the Portsmouth man line still reigns supreme whilst much of the rest of the network is served by Southern Electric. Many of the trains at work in 1953 were of pre-1939 origin, some even dating back to the first decade of the 20th century, although the influence of Oliver Bullied's revolutionary semi-streamline pacifics and high capacity suburban electric multiple units pointed to the future. By 1967 diesel would replace steam, and electrification would spread, whilst many less well used lines in Hampshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall would close. Electrification had begun in the London area in the early 1900s, expanding to the Kent, Sussex and east Hampshire coasts, in the process creating the greatest main line electrified system in the world: this would continue down to today.
£18.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Bomber Squadron: Men Who Flew with XV Squadron
During the Second World War, thousands of young men volunteered for service with the Royal Air Force. Some of these became fighter pilots, but a great many more were destined to be trained as members of bomber aircrew; pilots, navigators, wireless operators, bomb aimers, air gunners and flight engineers. On completion of their training a number of these men were posted to XV Squadron, a highly regarded frontline bomb squadron which had been formed during the First World War. Bomber Squadron -Men Who Flew with XV relates the personal stories of a small number of these men, giving an insight to their anxious moments when flying on operational sorties, staring death in the face in the form of enemy night-fighters and ground fire, and relaxing with them during their off-duty hours. The book also reveals the motivations, emotions and personal attitudes of these men, who flew into combat on an almost nightly basis. Their stories encompass the whole six years of the war, over which period XV Squadron flew a range of different bomber aircraft including Fairey Battles, Bristol Blenheims, Vickers Wellingtons, Short Stirlings and Avro Lancasters.
£22.50
Fonthill Media Ltd The Earls of Essex: A Tale of Noble Misfortune
This is the dramatic, often erratic, and at times unbelievable story of the fortunes and misfortunes over 900 years to the present day of one of England’s premier aristocratic families, who in 1661 were given the Earldom of Essex by Charles II. This fascinating, previously untold story begins just after the Norman Conquest with a Hugh Capel in AD 1100 and ends at the present day, with Frederick Paul de Vere Capell, 11th Earl of Essex and the future heir presumptive, William Jennings Capell, a former shelf stacker, who lives in Yuba City, California. Over a period of 400 years the Capell family built a fortune, and over the next 500 years lost it due to an incredible number of mistakes bad judgment calls, and misfortunes. Lord Arthur Capel, one of England’s richest men, changed sides from Parliament to support Charles I, and after a further series of poor decisions, was executed at Palace Yard, Westminster at the age of 41 in 1649 by the same executioner, using the same axe as had executed King Charles I barely three months earlier. His son, also Arthur Capel, created 1st Earl of Essex by Charles II became involved in a plot against the king, and was mysteriously found with his throat cut whilst awaiting trial in the Tower of London. Did he commit suicide to avoid the consequences of treason and to save the estates and titles for his son? Conspiracy theories abounded. The king commented sadly that he owed the Earl’s father had died for his father, and he owed him a life and would have spared him. Arthur’s young son became the 3rd Earl and went down in history as `the most debauched young man in London.’ The long-lived 5th Earl had numerous mistresses and, as a close friend of the debauched Prince Regent, shared a well-known courtesan, Mrs Robinson with the Prince. Unhappily married, with no legitimate male heir, living at the family seat, Cassiobury in Watford, at the age of 81 he married secondly a 44-year-old actress and died shortly afterwards, accompanied to the grave by some very irreverent press comments. The three-times-married 6th Earl, whose father was a bankrupt debauched gambler, had an illegitimate son, George Ingerfield Capel, who had an illegitimate daughter who was the mistress of the `Sundance Kid.’ The 7th Earl, in 1892 struggling to keep Cassiobury and the family fortunes together married a title-hunting American heiress, Adele Beach Grant, who was not really an heiress, and who became a member of the Edwardian `fast set’. Her alcoholic husband, known as `sulky’ stepped in front of a cab outside his London club in 1916 and was killed. Adele was found mysteriously dead in the bath in 1922. Her step-son the 8th Earl had eloped with and married young, and by the 1920s the extensive family estates had to be sold. The much-married 9th Earl died heirless in Bermuda in 1966. A contest broke out over whom should now inherit the titles. Robert Edward de Vere Capel, the next Earl, born in 1920 was the son of a railway parcel porter and was a Royal Air Force flight sergeant during the Second World War. He fought a dramatic battle to prove his right to the Earldom. His son, Frederick Paul de Vere Capell, the 11th Earl of Essex, who lives modestly not far from Lancaster, is a retired assistant schoolmaster and a classical music devotee. He has no children and unless the inheritance laws change, the title will one day go to his American cousins in Yuba City, California.
£18.00
Fonthill Media Ltd In and Around Cambridge in the 1960s
A unique book showing Cambridge in the late 1960s from different angles. Striking, previously unpublished photographs show famous buildings as well as the river and backstreets and some of the small towns, villages and countryside nearby. Students and distinguished members of staff are here, with builders, shoppers in the market, and men from the gasworks. This was a time of 'demos', protests and disruption to established, maybe complacent, academic traditions. The author draws on archive sources to illustrate 'official' concerns at that time with, for example, major worries about overreactions triggering widespread unrest. However, he also draws on personal recollections as a Cambridge student, together with anecdotes from others and further archive material to suggest that most students were far more interested in the quality of meals they were served, and the state of the showers. Cambridge students from any generation, and anyone else who knows the city, will find themselves entertained and challenged. But the book's appeal goes further: there are amusing reflections on moving from the north of England to Cambridge almost half a half century ago, and on student life in post-war Britain; the eye-catching photographs will have widespread appeal.
£17.09
Fonthill Media Ltd Evelina: A Victorian Heroine in Venice
Evelina van Millingen Pisani was a modern woman in the age of Queen Victoria. She was born in Constantinople in 1831 to an eccentric French mother and an English father, who was a doctor accused of having murdered Lord Byron. Educated in Papal Rome until the age of eighteen, she was whisked back to Constantinople by her father, now working for the sultan. While visiting Venice, this striking beauty of twenty-two met and married the wealthy Count Pisani. Evelina became an exotic star in the firmament of wealthy American and English socialites, artists, and writers, for whom the artistic decadence of Venice was an antidote to the factories, materialism, and homophobic laws they saw at home. In her circle of friends were Isabella Stewart Gardner and an admiring Henry James. When her husband died after twenty-seven years of marriage, the grieving countess unexpectedly found herself saddled with his mortgage debts. Inheriting the vast but rundown Pisani estate in the misty flatlands near Padua, Evelina took full charge. Becoming a hands-on farmer, she restored swampland, built an English garden, and created a model farm for hundreds of tenant farmers. Through it all, she remained a pillar in the admiring Venetian set.
£16.99
Fonthill Media Ltd Warfare in New Kingdom Egypt
The New Kingdom of Egypt marks the apogee of military organisation and preparedness. Beginning the era under foreign occupation, the Egyptians built up an army to challenge the invaders and liberate their land. Using the newest battlefield technologies (bows, chariots and hand weapons) the new pharaohs pushed the frontiers of the New Kingdom into Syria and Ethiopia. This is the era of Set I, Ramses II and Thuthmoses III, the greatest military pharaohs in Egyptian history. This book narrates this incredible rise to power and then describes in detail the way in which the Egyptian war machine was structured, how it was supplied, and how it fought. It considers all aspects, some often neglected, such as campaign tents, logistics and rations, as well as the design of hand weapons and bows. Many pieces of kit have been reconstructed for the book, giving the reader a very immediate sense of what an Egyptian warrior's equipment looked like. --
£18.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Fairey Battle: A Reassessment of its RAF Career
The Fairey Battle is best known for being one of the worst aircraft ever to serve in the Royal Air Force. On operations, it suffered the highest loss rate of any plane in the RAF's history, and the missions flown by its brave crews became a byword for hopelessness and futility. Born out of muddled thinking, condemned before it even reached the squadrons, and abandoned after the briefest of operational careers, the plane seems to thoroughly deserve its reputation. But was the Battle so useless? Why did it suffer such terrible losses? Was there nothing that could have been done to prevent the disasters of 1940? A fresh look at the documents of the time suggest there was. They reveal a very different story of ignored recommendations and missed opportunities. It was the way the plane was used rather than fundamental flaws in the design that ensured its operational career was such a dismal failure. It might even be argued that, in the desperate days of the summer of 1940, the Fairey Battle was exactly what Britain needed.
£18.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Hans Sturm: A Soldier's Odyssey on the Eastern Front
There are many biographies of former soldiers of the German Wehrmacht, many of whom had fascinating stories to tell, and several of whom were highly decorated. Few, however, can match Hans Sturm in his astonishing rise from a mere private in an infantry regiment, thrown into the bloody maelstrom of the Eastern Front, to becoming a glorified war hero whose role brought him into direct regular contact with Prominenten of the Third Reich. This young man's fearless heroism in combat earned him some of Germany's highest military awards, and yet he was pugnaciously outspoken about bullying and injustice. From striking a member of the feared Sicherheitsdienst in defence of a Jewish woman to refusing to wear a decoration he felt was tainted by its encouragement of inhumane treatment of enemy partisans, Sturm repeatedly stuck to his moral values no matter what the risk. But even when the war was finally over, his travails did not end: he was held in a number of Soviet labour camps, before finally being released in 1953. Hans Sturm: A Soldier's Odyssey on the Eastern Front is an engaging reconstruction of events based on exchanges of correspondence and reminiscences between the author and Hans Sturm himself. It vividly portrays not only a German soldier's experience on the Eastern Front, but the intriguing trajectories that success in the battlefield yielded for him at home under the Nazi regime.
£22.50
Fonthill Media Ltd Jasper: The Tudor Kingmaker
Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, Duke of Bedford, brother and uncle of kings, was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, and the Lancastrian claimant during the reign of Edward IV. The second son of Owen Tudor and the widowed queen Katherine of Valois, he was the half-brother of Henry VI, who gave him a prominent role at court. As one of England's major nobles and a potential successor to Henry, he was seen as a threat by Yorkists. He took part in the major battles of the war, leading the Lancastrian forces at Mortimer's Cross and Tewkesbury. The tempestuous politics in England meant that he had to spend time in exile in Brittany, taking his nephew, Henry, with him. Under Jasper's influence, Henry prospered and returned to England to defeat Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, leading to the establishment of the Tudor dynasty. Despite his important place in history, Jasper has become the forgotten kingmaker, neglected by historians. This book is the first full academic study of him, drawing upon contemporary sources from England, Wales and France, and the wider historiography to present a detailed and superbly-researched biography.
£18.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Ultimate Piston Fighters of the Luftwaffe
The development of aviation engines in Germany was revolutionary during closing stages of the Second World War. In 1945, the Daimler Benz, Jumo and BMW engines in service, equipped with power boosting systems, generated 2,000 hp. There were prototypes that could generate 3,000 hp and BMW/Argus projects could reach 4,000 hp. To benefit from their extreme performances, Blohm und Voss, Daimler Benz, Dornier, Focke Wulf, Heinkel, Henschel, Messerschmitt and Skoda designed an impressive series of fighters that never left the drawing board. The reason was the decision taken by the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe to mass manufacture the iconic and revolutionary Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. This lost generation of projects were quickly forgotten and after years of research have been recovered and presented in The Ultimate Piston Fighters of the Luftwaffe. Profusely illustrated with technical drawings and fascinating data and information on the Luftwaffe's most radical fighter projects, The Ultimate Piston Fighters of the Luftwaffe chronicles these revolutionary designs that might have changed the course of the war. A fascinating book for the military historian, modellers and those interested in aviation, this shows how advanced German scientists were towards the end of the Second World War and how the beloved Spitfire and Mustang would have been instantly superseded by radical Nazi fighters.
£20.25
Fonthill Media Ltd Kustenflieger: The Operational History of the German Naval Air Service 1935-1944
From its very inception, the little-known Kustenfliegergruppen, the German coastal air service, was hindered by restrictions imposed at the Treaty of Versailles and the rising dominance of Hermann Goring's Luftwaffe. Its size, capability and mandate were suppressed, and in 1944, the last Kustenfliegerstaffeln was disbanded in favour of the Luftwaffe's own naval air units. From early designs and development in the interwar period, includings involvement in the Spanish Civil War, to the heroic deeds of various Sonderkommandos during the Second World War, Kustenflieger: The Operational History of the German Coastal Air Service 1935-1944 charts the fascinating history of this obscure but dynamic German fighting unit. Based on original material from German archives and illustrated with 120 photographs, many previously unpublished, this is the first major work on the subject and essential reading for historians, modellers, and naval aviation and Second World War enthusiasts.
£16.99
Fonthill Media Ltd The Lion and the Dragon: Britain's Opium Wars with China 1839-1860
During the middle of the 19th-Century, Britain and China would twice go to war over trade, and in particular the trade in opium. The Chinese people had progressively become addicted to the narcotic, a habit that British merchants were more than happy to feed from their opium-poppy fields in India. When the Qing dynasty rulers of China attempted to supress this trade--due to the serious social and economic problems it caused--the British Government responded with gunboat diplomacy, and conflict soon ensued. The first conflict, known as the First Anglo-Chinese War or Opium War (1839-42), ended in British victory and the Treaty of Nanking. However, this treaty was heavily biased in favour of the British, and it would not be long before there was a renewal of hostilities, taking the form of what became known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or Arrow War (1857-60). Again, the second conflict would end with an 'unequal treaty' that was heavily biased towards the victor. 'The Lion and the Dragon: Britain's Opium Wars with China, 1839-1860' examines the causes and ensuing military history of these tragic conflicts, as well as their bitter legacies.
£25.20
Fonthill Media Ltd Midget Car Racing
It was by chance that the author stumbled across a long lost programme for the opening meeting of Hanley Car Speedway for 21 July 1938. The programme had been hidden away in family papers for almost sixty years and it sparked an enduring interest in Midget Car Speedway. Motor sport had been the preserve of the rich and glamorous, but now the ordinary man could build a car and race it on a shoestring budget. It was the start of motor racing as we know it today and without the development of midget car racing, we perhaps would not have seen the Formula Three, Formula Ford and other series that we take for granted today. Although a short-lived craze that hit the UK during the 1930s, midget car racing was an incredible motor phenomenon with some races and events attracting over 60,000 people from all over the country. Derek Bridgett's Midget Car Racing chronicles this bizarre but immersive little-known motorsport. Focusing specifically on the Belle Vue Speedway, this incredible book is profusely illustrated with photographs from the period.
£14.99
Fonthill Media Ltd Fuel Fire And Fear: RAF Flight Engineers at War
During the Second World War the need for an on-board technical expert to join the Bomber Crews evolved. The various systems on the latest 4-engined 'Heavy Bombers', namely the Handley Page Halifax, Shorts Stirling and Avro Lancaster witnessed the development of Flight Engineers. This book provides the reader with an explanation of the origin of Flight Engineers, the training of these men and the complexity of keeping large bombers in the air is an enthralling story. Many gallantry medals were won by Flight Engineers, including the Victoria Cross. Accounts of dangerous operational flying is revealed by Flight Engineers in numerous aircraft including those of Coastal Command. Direct entries into the RAF by civilians were undertaken to satisfy the demand for Flight Engineers. Entrants underwent courses of varying lengths but flying training time was very sparse and remarkably it was not unknown for these men to qualify for their flying badges without ever having flown in an aircraft. This book examines true accounts that took place; many based upon personal flying logbooks and other unique material originating from the pilots and aircrew themselves.
£22.50
Fonthill Media Ltd Shakespeare's Missing Years
The 'missing years' of William Shakespeare is one of the major puzzles in the field of English Literature. He is by universal agreement the most important writer of the English language. Hundreds, if not thousands, of books of his works have been published, including biography and literary theory. And yet, a large chunk of his biography is missing. Biographers have found this to be an embarrassing problem. They do not know where he was or what he was doing in the period between leaving school in Stratford-upon-Avon and when he emerged as a dramatist-poet in the early 1590s. John Idris Jones has worked on this for over twenty years. In this book, he brings together thousands of details which add to the sum of knowledge of Shakespeare's life and work. Here, 'The Lancashire Theory' is augmented.
£16.99
Fonthill Media Ltd Confessions of a Flying Instructor: Teaching the RAF's Fighter Pilots
After surviving three years flying the mighty Phantom, the RAF's greatest and most terrifying fighter (for those in the cockpit), Tug Wilson was sent to RAF Brawdy in Pembrokeshire and then to RAF Valley on the Isle of Anglesey to teach the flying skills he probably should have known when posted on the Cold War front line. At Valley, Wilson quickly discovered that being an instructor was much more than just teaching: it was falling out of the sky after a stall at just 300 feet, inches from pulling the ejection-seat handle; it was zooming into cloud at low level knowing there's a hill somewhere straight ahead; it was suffering the horror of nearly killing your student by chasing him too hard in air combat; it was being a mentor, a father figure, a best friend and a worst enemy if needs be; and it was the joy of guiding the struggling but hard-working ones away from the brink of being 'chopped' and towards their dream of becoming confident aviators, ready to join an operational squadron. Confessions of a Flying Instructor is a gritty, unvarnished, highly entertaining account of what it was like to be a tactics and flying instructor on an RAF squadron in the early 1990s-the banter, the egos, the insecurities, the cock-ups, the tragedies, the friendships, the triumphs, and the pure, unadulterated exhilaration of raging around the sky in a Hawk T1A day after day. Have you ever wondered what a fast-jet pilot needs to go through to learn how to win in air combat? Or how to cheat in dogfighting, for that matter? This book is an intimate, revelatory memoir of an often overlooked but intrinsic aspect of the RAF.
£25.20
Fonthill Media Ltd Frontkampfer: Wehrmacht Photo Albums from the Front
Frontkampfer I: Blitzkrieg 1939-1942 is a collection of rare photographs, many of which have never been published before, highlighting the German war machine in the early years of the Second World War. Beginning in September 1939 with the invasion of Poland, the reader will follow the German military as it conquers France, the Balkans, and North Africa, before sweeping deep into the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. Frontkampfer I: Blitzkrieg 1939-1942 reaches its crescendo as the German military occupies the Caucasus Mountains region and advances to the frontier of Asia, before being repelled by the Red Army at the horrific Battle of Stalingrad on the banks of the Volga River in the winter of 1942. Frontkampfer I: Blitzkrieg 1939-1942 offers the reader a glimpse into the conditions of the opening years of the war in photographs directly from the albums of the men who were there. From heavy tanks to small arms to uniforms and equipment, Frontkampfer I: Blitzkrieg 1939-1942 is a collection of rarely seen German photographs of World War Two, with pertinent historical background, and a study of the photographs themselves.
£27.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Radio War: The Secret Espionage War of the Radio Security Service 1938-1946
During the Second World War German intelligence had deployed wireless teams throughout occupied Europe. Agents had even been deployed to mainland Britain to spy on British military activity. Monitoring and reporting of their wireless transmissions fell to a small, secretive and largely unknown unit manned almost exclusively by volunteers. The Voluntary Interceptors (VI) as they became known would spend hours every day at home monitoring the short wavelengths for often faint and difficult to copy signals transmitted by these German secret intelligence services. This unit was to become known as the Radio Security Service (RSS) and was at the core of the signals intelligence production effort at Bletchley and the insights into German military tactical and strategic planning. Without interceptors like the RSS, Bletchley would not have existed. Their story has never truly been written and RADIO WAR focuses on the secret world of wireless espionage and includes first-hand accounts from the surviving veterans of the unit. Its existence was only made public 35 years after WWII ended, shortly after Bletchley Park’s secrets were exposed. Patrick Reilly, the Assistant to Head of MI6 Stewart Menzies, was to say of the RSS.… `a team of brilliance unparalleled anywhere in the intelligence machine.’
£22.50
Fonthill Media Ltd The Berlin 1945 Battlefield Guide: Part 2: The Battle of Berlin
This highly detailed, absorbing battlefield guide is the ideal companion for anyone considering visiting the site of Hitler's `Gotterdammerung' in April-May 1945. Using his in depth knowledge as a historian and battlefield guide, David McCormack vividly describes the apocalyptic struggle played out amongst the ruins of a once great city. The author's intimate knowledge of the ground ensures that the Wagnerian climax of the Third Reich is presented in a series of dramatic tableaux which capture the regime's final convulsive death throes. Prepare for a fascinating journey across the Berlin battlefield as it is today. The Berlin 1945 Battlefield Guide: Part Two-The Battle of Berlin-is the essential guide to understanding both Hitler's downfall in Berlin and Stalin's greatest triumph.
£18.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Last Years of Steam Across Somerset And Dorset
`The Last Years of Steam Across Somerset and Dorset' gives an excellent photographic study of yesteryear and the iconic steam locomotive at work. The renowned Somerset & Dorset Railway is covered in detail as are other railway locations across the two counties such as Bath, Bournemouth, Bridgwater, Bristol, Burnham, Chard, Clevedon, Dorchester, Dulverton, Evercreech Junction, Frome, Radstock, Shepton Mallet, Swanage, Taunton, Templecombe, Wells, Weymouth, Yatton and Yeovil. A captivating time capsule from the author's private collection from the mid-1950s to the end of steam in the 1960s. The Last Years of Steam Across Somerset and Dorset contains many previously unpublished photographs by an internationally renowned authoritarian figure on steam locomotives and their history.
£18.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Vital Remains: Winston Wicomb, the Heart Transplant Pioneer Apartheid Could Not Stop
In the dark years of apartheid, a boy grew up in a household with a terrible secret: although they were all of mixed origins, they had managed to `pass as white’. Young Winston Wicomb, however, was far too dark to fit in, and had to be hidden whenever someone knocked on their door. After struggling through school and even managing to obtain an university degree, he still remained unemployed due to his skin colour. To make ends meet, he serviced cars in their backyard, but never stopped dreaming about escaping the restraints of Apartheid. Then fate intervened. While distributing pamphlets advertising his mechanical skills, he found Professor Chris Barnard stranded next to the road. He offered to help even though he had no experience with the new Mercedes the professor drove. Barnard, surprised at the success of Winston’s efforts and impulsive as ever, offered Winston a job in his research lab. It is here that Winston applied his knowledge and experience of matters mechanical to eventually produce the world’s first apparatus to transport a living heart over long distances. `Vital Remains’ tells to story of an unlikely hero, a huge risk, achievement … and love.
£18.00
Fonthill Media Ltd Ramsgate Municipal Airport: A Pictorial History
The RFC used the Ramsgate site for emergency landings during December 1914, but it was not developed until the 1930s when Ramsgate councillors proposed an airport be established, and flying commenced in June 1935. Popularity was increased by Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day which was held on 1 August 1935, and a Flying Flea Rally took place in 1936. Crilly and Hillman Airways moved in, but suspended services very soon afterwards. The airfield was extended in 1936, and Flying Holidays took place. On 3 July 1937, Ramsgate Airport Ltd reopened the airport, and the following year the Royal Auxiliary Air Force held summer camps there. Thanet Aero Club joined the Civil Air Guard scheme, and Southern Airways operated a service across the Thames Estuary during the summer, but this all came to a close when war was declared on 3 September 1939. The airfield reopened in 1940 for military use and during the Battle of Britain, Ramsgate, along with nearby RAF Manston, was bombed on 24 August 1940. Following this, and with invasion fears at their height, the airport was obstructed, not reopening until 27 June 1953. Air Kruise Ltd operated on a lease from Ramsgate Cooperation, flying to Europe, and Skyphotos and Skyflights 1950s took over until the summer of 1958. Chrisair started joyriding in 1960, and following their departure in 1963 little happened until East Kent Air Services formed in 1967, but they were not commercially successful and Ramsgate Airport finally closed during 1968. Developers took over and the Art Deco Terminal/Clubhouse was demolished. This book is witness to Ramsgate Airport, now sadly gone.
£16.99
Fonthill Media Ltd Agnetha Faltskog the Girl with the Golden Hair
Her iconic blonde looks, stunning voice and songs of loneliness and melancholy have endeared her to millions, yet Agnetha Faltskog remains an enigmatic and distant figure. From her success as a teenage singer and songwriter in Sweden in the late 1960 s to her years of global superstardom with pop giants ABBA and beyond, Agnetha has fascinated generations of fans. Her beaming smile graced record sleeves, television screens and magazine covers around the world yet never quite managed to conceal her natural shyness and vulnerability. Agnetha Faltskog The Girl With The Golden Hair is the first full-length biography dedicated to the life and career of the one of the most beloved and successful performers in music history. Charting Agnetha s journey from her early days fronting a local dance band in the small industrial city of Jonkoping, through her decade as one of the most famous and popular singers in the world, and the years of self-imposed exile that followed until her surprising and successful comeback in 2013, Agnetha Faltskog The Girl With The Golden Hair will delight her many legions of fans and any readers with an interest in the history of popular music."
£21.30
Fonthill Media Ltd Jeff Lynne: Electric Light Orchestra - Before and After
Passionate about music from childhood and much-respected as a teenage guitarist in his native Birmingham, Jeff Lynne rose through the ranks of various semi-professional local groups to become the frontman of the critically acclaimed Idle Race in the late '60s. From there he joined the ever-popular Move, then helped form the groundbreaking Electric Light Orchestra. After co-founder Roy Wood left in 1972, Lynne turned what had been a struggling rock and classical fusion into one of Britain's most consistently successful and popular acts. Following a run of hit singles, albums, and sell-out concerts throughout the world, he laid the group to rest in 1986 and combined a solo career as an artist and producer with membership of the ultimate supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys. His production credits include Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Del Shannon, George Harrison, and even the Beatles on their two final singles in the mid-'90s. Jeff Lynne: The Electric Light Orchestra, Before and After is the first-ever biography of one of the most prolific and highly regarded performers of the last fifty years.Rich in backstage anecdotes of overheated orchestras, frontmen rivalries, tour mishaps, cross-group partnerships, unlikely collaborations, and self-imposed exile from the stage in the quest for inspiration, this book will leave fans and general readers delighted and inspired by a career at the epicentre of twentieth-century rock.
£16.99
Fonthill Media Ltd Thor Irbm: The United States and the United Kingdom in Partnership
In the mid-1950s faced with worrying advances in Soviet missile technology, the United States sought to develop an IRBM to act as a stop-gap until the Atlas ICBM became operational. Intense inter-service rivalry followed before the US Air Force gained the upper hand in deploying the missile. The UK, keen to improve the 'special relationship' with the US which had suffered following the Suez Crisis agreed to accept 60 Thor missiles to be operated by RAF crews. Complex negotiations followed and once the twenty sites had been identified a considerable number of American personnel, both civilian and servicemen, crossed the Atlantic to build and commission the bases. The agreement allowed for training the RAF crews leading to some 1,300 personnel traveling to America to learn the complexities of the Thor system leading to a series of twenty-one launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Covering activities on both sides of the Atlantic, the book features a number of previously unpublished photographs and includes plans and diagrams of the missile sites and equipment.
£22.50
Fonthill Media Ltd No Echo in the Sky
No Echo in the Sky is a delightfully written book where Harald Penrose draws on personal experiences from his long and distinguished career. Harald Penrose was chief test pilot at Westland Aircraft Ltd from 1931 to 1953 and his flying experience spanned man carrying kites before the First World War, to early jet fighters and helicopters. With lyrical prose matching that of Laurie Lee he provides pen sketches of almost unsurpassed beauty. In describing his early flying in the few days after his first solo flight he writes: Flight succeeded flight, and assurance grew, and my climbs reached higher. Rising in great circles, the sun would throw the shadow of my head alternately on each lower wing, and cast on the drum-tight fabric of their surface the silhouette of struts and wires. As the world of green sank into remoteness, a universe of space, brilliant with light, became my long-dreamed heritage. This sense of breathless discovery was like opening a book of wisdom written in a strange, entrancing language of sunlit, cloud-patterned hills, and valleys that seemed to be imbued with the mystery of life as though some languorous spirit dwelt in their folds. Perhaps the most dramatic chapter in the book is Winged Pegasus where he describes the altitude test in a two-seater Houston-Westland. The aim of the test was to ascertain if it could reach the height to fly over Mount Everest. The test took place over the south coast of England on a sunny December day in 1932. His aircraft reached the amazing height of 37,000 more than seven miles high where to his horror he ran out of fuel and the engine came to a stop ...But whilst I thought and hoped and wondered, the engine note insidiously changed and the pulse of life that vibrated throughout the machine became uncertain. It was happening. The engine was stopping. Five seconds later the power faded and vanished. Only the slipstream strove to spin the broad wooden propeller against the compression of the lifeless engine. Presently that, too, gave up the struggle and the propeller stopped altogether. From his first flight to the experience of flying a jet the Gloster Meteor Penrose s well-chosen passages will be a delight to any aviation enthusiast."
£14.99
Fonthill Media Ltd David Livingstone, Africa's Greatest Explorer: The Man, the Missionary and the Myth
In 1841, a twenty-eight-year-old Scottish missionary, David Livingstone, began the first of his exploratory treks into the African veldt. During the course of his lifetime, he covered over 29,000 miles uncovering what lay beyond rivers and mountain ranges where no other white man had ever been. Livingstone was the first European to make a trans-African passage from modern day Angola to Mozambique and he discovered and named numerable lakes, rivers and mountains. His explorations are still considered one of the toughest series of expeditions ever undertaken. He faced an endless series of life-threatening situations, often at the hands of avaricious African chiefs, cheated by slavers traders and attacked by wild animals. He was mauled by a lion, suffered thirst and starvation and was constantly affected by dysentery, bleeding from hemorrhoids, malaria and pneumonia.This biography covers his life but also examines his relationship with his wife and children who were the main casualties of his endless explorations in Africa. It also looks Livingstone's legacy through to the modern day. Livingstone was an immensely curious person and he made a habit of making meticulous observations of the flora and fauna of the African countryside that he passed through. His legacy includes numerable maps and geographical and botanical observations and samples. He was also a most powerful and effective proponent for the abolition of slavery and his message of yesterday is still valid today in a continent stricken with drought, desertification and debt for he argued that the African culture should be appreciated for its richness and diversity. But like all great men, he had great faults. Livingstone was unforgiving of those that he perceived had wronged him; he was intolerant of those who could not match his amazing physical powers; and finally and he had no compunction about distorting the truth, particularly about other people, in order to magnify his already significant achievements.
£17.09
Fonthill Media Ltd Kettenhund!: The German Military Police in the Second World War
In almost every army in the World, the Military Police rank amongst those who are least liked by other soldiers despite the essential duties that they carry out, often being amongst the first in and last out in any theatre of war. In the German armed forces, however, opinions of the military police were often those of fear as much as dislike, so great were the powers held by these troops. Germany created a plethora of different branches of what were termed 'Ordnungstruppe' - Troops for Maintaining Order. Many wore a distinctive metal gorget plate on a chain around the neck, leading to their pejorative nickname 'Kettenhund' or Chain Dogs. Despite certainly being involved in often brutal treatment of partisans and other unfortunates who fell into their grasp, their skills were sufficiently appreciated by the allies that on Germany's surrender, a number of military police units of the Wehrmacht were allowed to remain in post under allied control to assist in controlling the vast number of now disarmed German troops. Kettenhund!The German Military Police in the Second World War, using primarily previously unpublished photographic material from private sources, provides a detailed study of the organisation of these units and the distinctive uniforms and insignia they wore.
£27.00