Pen sword books jun 2021 (36 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Using 250 photographs, this addition to the Images of War series examines Hitler's elite armored infantry: the Panzergrenadiers.The term Panzergrenadier was introduced in 1942 and applied equally to the infantry component of Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and later Waffen-SS Panzergrenadiere divisions.As this classic new Images of War book describes, these elite divisions fought as mechanized infantry and escort for and in close cooperation with panzers and other armoured fighting vehicles. Trained to fight both mounted and on foot, their priority was to maintain the fast momentum of armoured troops on the battlefield.Using a wealth of rare, often unpublished, photographs with detailed captions and text, the author charts the fighting record of the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe Panzergrenadiertruppe units.This includes their initial successes on the Eastern Front. But as defeat approached, they were forced on the defensive on all fronts including the bitter fighting in Italy and the Western Front. As well as describing their many actions, the book details the vehicles and weapons used and main personalities.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - During the 1930s in the Soviet Union a remarkable range of auxiliary armoured vehicles were produced for the Red Army which have rarely had the attention they deserve, and Alexey Tarasov's photographic history is the ideal guide to them. These innovative designs demonstrate the diversity and innovation of the Soviet arms industry. Among them were armoured flails, ambulances, bridge-layers, flame-throwers and amphibious cars which prefigure similar designs made by western engineers during the Second World War. As this selection of rare photographs shows, Soviet designers were in many ways ahead of their time and it was short-sighted internal policy and the shortcomings of Soviet industry which led to the cancellation or postponement of many of these promising projects. As a result, when faced with Operation Barbarossa in 1941 the Red Army lacked the auxiliary armour that would have helped to stem the German advance. Alexey Tarasov's in-depth research and the rare photographs he has assembled give a fascinating insight into a little-known aspect of the history of Soviet armoured vehicles.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Graphically describes the appalling hardships faced by German troops on the Eastern Front 1941-1945.Hitler's shock decision to launch the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 was arguably the turning point of the Second World War. Spectacular early victories saw the Nazis close in on Moscow but the Soviet 1941/42 winter counter offensive changed the odds entirely.Without doubt Russian winter conditions were a major factor compounded by the Germans' woeful lack of preparedness.As this fascinating book reveals, Wehrmacht and SS units only began to be issued with winter clothing in late 1941 and many had to improvise well into 1942.In an attempt to restore morale adversely affected by the harsh conditions and military reversals 'The Winter Warfare Handbook' (Winter Buch) was produced in 1942 and extracts are quoted in this work.Commanders had to adapt to the snow, freezing conditions and, almost worse, the impassable roads during the melt. With customary thoroughness and drastic measures the Germans largely mastered the climatic challenges but nothing could mask the reality of the ruthless and numerically superior enemy that they faced.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Launched in 1955 yet looking like a sci-fi design proposal for a future then undreamed of, Flaminio Bertoni's ellipsoid sculpture with wheels that was the Citroën DS stunned the world.There was a near riot at the 1955 Paris Motor Show launch of the car, orders flooded in for this, the new 'big Citroën' (a Voiture a Grande Diffusion or VGD) as the car that replaced the legendary Traction Avant range.The term 'DS' stems from two Citroën parts of nomenclature - the type of engine used as the 11D, (D) and the special hemispherical design of the cylinder head as 'Culasse Special' (S): DS out of 'Deesse' or Goddess, was a more popular myth of ' DS' origination, but an erroneous one.But it was not just the car's aerodynamically advanced body shape (Cd. 0.37) that framed the genius of the DS: hydro pneumatic self-levelling suspension, advanced plastics and synthetics for the construction of the roof and dashboard/fascia, and amazing road holding and cabin comfort were some of this car's highlights.Only the lack of an advanced new engine was deemed a missed opportunity. In fact Citroën had created a new engine for the car but lacked the resources to produce it in time for 1955.DS was a major moment in the history of car design, one so advanced that it would take other auto manufacturers years to embrace. Yet DS in its 'aero' design was the precursor to today's low drag cars of curved form.Manufactured worldwide, used by presidents, leaders, diplomats, farmers and many types of people, the DS redefined Citroën, its engineering and design language, and its brand, for decades to come.Prone to rust, not the safest car in the world, and always lacking a smoother powerplant, the DS still became an icon of car design.Reshaped with a new nose and faired-in headlamps in 1967, DS remained in production until 1975.Across its life DS spawned an estate car variant as the 'Safari', a range of limousines, two-door convertibles, and even coach-built coupes and rally specials.This car was a product design that became an article of social science - it was that famous and it defined a European design movement upon a global stage then packed with 'me too' copyist designs.The DS or 'Goddess' as it was tagged, was a tear-drop shaped act of French confidence in a world of the regurgitation of the known. Some argue that DS and its effect has never been surpassed.This new value-for-money book provides innovative access to the design, history, and modeling of the revolutionary DS - one of the true 'greats' of motoring history and, a contemporary classic car of huge popularity.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In this, the fourth edition of the Transport Philately series the author looks at the treatment of transport using roads rather than rail or air. There have been some particularly attractive and colorful issues of stamps over the years ranging from a trio of beautifully presented illustrations of Israel's early buses to the well-known issue of double-deck buses produced by the Royal Mail in 2001, and who incidentally have seen the commercial opportunity by accompanying many issues with other paraphernalia, including a gentleman's tie featuring many of the bus illustrations. A well-known colleague in the Public Transport world still wears his!Buses certainly are not as popular in the world of stamps as possibly aviation or wild-life, and trolleybuses even less so but the author has succeeded in finding a few, some of which are illustrated. Tramways, on the other hand, are a blessing to any collector with selections many and varied, some featuring trams from the beginning of the 20th century for their heritage interest to others providing an outlet of national or local pride at the inauguration of today's systems in developed and developing countries across the world.Never a year goes by without a new issue appearing somewhere in the world and the author likes to keep an eye on several sources of information including regular publications from the renowned Stanley Gibbons organisation, the fount of all knowledge concerning philately, as well as other equally valuable contemporary publishers. Then there are regular stamp fairs held throughout the UK and the world where dealers compete for your business, and at some of the bigger occasions - the postal authorities themselves. On your computer are the various internet sites and auction platforms where there can often be some real surprises and bargains to be found.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This book offers a journey through the history of the ancient craft of felting from the earliest times, when people first discovered that animal fiber, moisture and friction created a durable, warm fabric. Felt has been used for everything from apparel to housing; it has been used for practical, decorative and even religious applications. This book looks at the rise and fall of felting through history and into the industrial era, including its importance to the hat-making industry.The second part of the book brings us to the modern - and some might say, golden era of artisanal felting with interviews from felters and textile artists generously sharing their creative process.Finally, if you are inspired to try this fascinating craft, there are step by step instructions for both wet and needle felting, and a useful list of resources to get you started on your own felt-making journey.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The Truth About the Mutiny on HMAV Bounty and the Fate of Fletcher Christian brings this famed South Pacific saga into the twenty-first century. By combining unprecedented research into Fletcher Christian and his fate with deep knowledge of Bounty's Polynesian women, Glynn Christian presents a fresh and comprehensive telling of a powerful maritime adventure that still captivates after 230 years. Of over 3,000 books and major articles on the mutiny, or the five feature films starring such as Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson, none has told the true story as until 1982, no author knew the real Fletcher Christian, or could understand his relationship with William Bligh, his mentor-turned-nemesis. Glynn Christian's extraordinary research into Bligh, Christian and Bounty included every deposit of documents worldwide and a sailing expedition to Pitcairn Island. …

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - When Count Henry of Anjou and his formidable wife Eleanor of Aquitaine became king and queen of England, they amassed an empire stretching 1,000 miles from the Pyrenees to the Scottish border, including half of France. Henry's grandmother Empress Mathilda of Germany had taught him that ruling is like falconry: show the hawk the reward, but take it away at the last moment, to keep the bird eager to please. To sons and vassals alike, Henry promised everything but gave nothing, keeping the three adult princes hating him and the other siblings all their lives.Plantagenet Princes traces the lives and infamous webs of mistrust and intrigue among them. What sons they were! Henry (b. 1155), 'the Young king' was entitled to succeed his father, yet was a rich playboy who died crippled by debt before his thirtieth birthday, after living the life of a robber baron. Richard (b. 1157), 'the Lionheart' was lord of his mother's duchy of Aquitaine and became, thanks to her, England's most popular king despite bankrupting the Empire twice in his disastrous 10-year reign. Geoffrey (b. 1158), count of Brittany, was the cleverest, but was trampled to death by horses aged 32 in a pointless mêlée at Paris, leaving his wife Constance to act as regent for their son Arthur in a long power struggle between Philip Augustus, king of France, and the Plantagenets. The runt of the litter, John (b. 1166) was nicknamed Lackland, since no inheritance was initially promised him. He proved the longest-lived by far, dying at the age of fifty after signing Magna Carta, losing the key duchy of Normandy and most of the other continental possessions - also murdering his nephew Arthur, imprisoning Arthur's sister for life and waging war against his barons, continued by Henry III.The Plantagenet line continued with Richard of Cornwall, Edward I conquering Wales, gay Edward II, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince and Richard II, who died in prison while his usurper sat on the throne.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Traces society's changing preoccupations as reflected in horror films, including biographies of all your favorite, classic horror stars.Horror films divide opinion. It wasn't until 1973 that a horror film (The Exorcist) was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture and many respected critics still regard them with amused condescension. The public's view is also sharply divided. Some cinema goers revel in the thought of being made very, very afraid, while some just don't like horror films because they don't want to be frightened.This guide, which is for both the fan and the more faint-hearted, steers an illuminating path through a genre that has, since the early days of cinema, split off into many sub-divisions - folk horror, slasher movies, Hammer, sci-fi horror, psychological thrillers, zombie movies, among others.Times change but movie-makers can always find a way to tap into what we fear and dread, whether it's blood-sucking vampires or radioactive mutations, evil children or the living dead.This book also gives concise biographies of the many actors and directors who saw their careers - for better or worse - defined by their association with horror movies, and who created a genre that is instantly recognizable in all its forms and continues to find new and ingenious ways of scaring us in the dark.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Much has been written about the conduct of the land battles and the commanders who faced each other yet, as the main protagonists realised at the time, success or failure rested on the effectiveness of their seaborne supply chain. Control of the Mediterranean was therefore absolutely crucial. In the final analysis it was the Allies' ability to dominate the Mediterranean that bought them victory but there is no denying that it was a 'damned close run thing'. In this authoritative study, Bernard Ireland brings clarity to the complexities and factors at play during this critical period.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Detailed accounts of battles and campaigns concluding with the epic final siege and capture of Syracuse by the Romans.This is the story of one of the most important classical cities, Syracuse, and its struggles (both internal and external) for freedom and survival. Situated at the heart of the Mediterranean, Syracuse was caught in the middle as Carthage, Pyrrhus of Epirus, Athens and then Rome battled to gain control of Sicily. The threat of expansionist enemies on all sides made for a tumultuous situation within the city, resulting in repeated coups that threw up a series of remarkable tyrants, such as Gelon, Timoleon and Dionysius. In this second volume, Jeff Champion follows the course of the city' s wars from the death of Dionysius II down to the final epic siege of the city in 213-211 BC. This ended with the final capture of the city by the Romans, despite the heroic and resourceful resistance of the Syracusans and the ingenious inventions of Archimedes. It is a story full of dramatic battles and epic sieges, heroism and skullduggery.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The first account by a trained sniper in Afghanistan.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Nothing focuses the mind more starkly than impending death. Its inevitable spectre greets us all; from princes to paupers and nobility to the needy. Prepare to mount the scaffold and share in the final utterings of the condemned; join the stricken in their death beds and witness unburdened tongues wag their closing, and often remarkable confessions as deeply entrenched secrets are finally unshackled in the wake of imminent death.'Fates and Final Words' collects a fascinating selection of destinies culminating in their often flamboyant yet always captivating, final utterances before shuffling off this mortal coil.Revealed inside are tales of sangfroid bravery, astonishing ironies and overdue confessions often betraying grave miscarriages of justice, throughout British history.Revealed inside are tales of sangfroid bravery, astonishing ironies and overdue confessions often betraying grave miscarriages of justice throughout British history.Writer and poet Sir Walter Raleigh had some typically forthright and urging words for his executioner as the hesitant axeman displayed fear and reluctance to perform his stately duties. Having felt the sharp edge of the tool that would presently be rained down upon him, rather than fearing his impending doom, Raleigh would offer goading encouragement to his maker.Were the final words of convicted murderer Ernest Brown a candid confession to another killing he had committed deep in the Northumberland Moors some two years previously which had lay unsolved And what of Britain's first actor to have had a knighthood bestowed upon him Learn of the staggering irony that saw his final words on stage prophetically turn out to be his last in life.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Special Operations Executive was one of the most secretive organizations of the Second World War, its activities cloaked in mystery and intrigue. The fate, therefore, of many of its agents was not revealed to the general public other than the bare details carved with pride upon the headstones and memorials of those courageous individuals.Then in 2003, the first batch of SOE personal files was released by The National Archives. Over the course of the following years more and more files were made available. Now, at last, it is possible to tell the stories of all those agents that died in action.These are stories of bravery and betrayal, incompetence and misfortune, of brutal torture and ultimately death. Some died when their parachutes failed to open, others swallowed their cyanide capsules rather than fall into the hands of the Gestapo, many died in combat with the enemy, most though were executed, by hanging, by shooting and even by lethal injection.The bodies of many of the lost agents were never found, destroyed in the crematoria of such places as Buckenwald, Mauthausen and Natzweiler, others were buried where they fell. All of them should be remembered as having undertaken missions behind enemy lines in the knowledge that they might never return.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Louis Nicolas d'Avout forged a formidable reputation as the Iron Marshal through decisive campaigns, fierce discipline, and Napoleonic leadership.Born into a distinguished Burgundian family in 1770, Louis Nicolas d'Avout began his military career with the French Royal Army but fully embraced the principles of the French Revolution, joining the Republican army as the commander of a battalion of volunteers. He quickly rose to the rank of general of brigade, but was removed from the active list of officers because of his noble birth. Nevertheless, he continued to serve in the Revolutionary army and took part in Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign. His abilities were recognised by Napoleon and Davout was promoted to general of division and was made a Marshal of the Empire in 1804.He fought at many of the great battles of the Napoleonic Wars, including Austerlitz, Eylau, Wagram and Borodino. However, he is most famously remembered for the Battle of Auerstedt in 1806 where his single corps encountered and defeated the main Prussian army which was more than twice as numerous. As a consequence, he was granted the title of Duke of Auerstaedt. He was more commonly known as 'The Iron Marshal' because of his reputation as a stern disciplinarian.Regarded as Napoleon's ablest marshal, he was placed in command of the Hamburg in 1813, which was besieged by the Allies, and only surrendered by Davout after Napoleon had abdicated in 1814. During the Waterloo campaign, Napoleon made Davout his Minister of War.This unique study also touches upon the personal life of a man who, despite commanding unlimited respect, had few social skills. We learn of his successful marriage to the beautiful and well-connected Aimeé and the couple's struggle with the demands of Parisian social life.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Simply Sustainable Beauty is a collection of easy to follow recipes for you to create your fresh, head to toe zero waste beauty routine.Learn how to make everything from exfoliating scrubs to body butter, face wash bars to dry shampoo, Emilie?s amazing natural deodorant recipe and everything in between.This book is full of simple recipes using sustainable, environmentally friendly ingredients to give you naturally beautiful skin.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Despite Rome's conquest of the Mediterranean, by the turn of the first century BC, Rome's influence barely stretched into the East. In the century since Rome's defeat of the Seleucid Empire in the 180s BC, the East was dominated by the rise of new empires: Parthia, Armenia and Pontus, each vying to recreate the glories of the Persian Empire. By the 80s BC, the Pontic Empire of Mithridates had grown so bold that it invaded and annexed the whole of Rome's eastern empire and occupied Greece itself. As Rome emerged from the devastating effects of the First Civil War, a new breed of general emerged, eager to re-assert Roman military dominance and carve out a fresh empire in the east, treading in the footsteps of Alexander. This work analyses the military campaigns and battles between a revitalized Rome and the various powers of the eastern Mediterranean hinterland, which ultimately heralded a new phase in Roman imperial expansion and reshaped the ancient East. …

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The first full-length popular history of the Soviet Union's decisive offensive against the Japanese in Manchuria and Korea at the end of the Second World War.Did Japan surrender in 1945 because of the death and devastation caused by the atomic bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki or because of the crushing defeat inflicted on their armies by the Soviet Union in Manchukuo, the puppet state they set up in north-east China Indeed, the Red Army's rapid and total victory in Manchukuo has been relatively neglected by historians.Charles Stephenson, in this scholarly and highly readable new study, describes the political, diplomatic and military build-up to the Soviet offensive and its decisive outcome. He also considers to what extent Japan's capitulation is attributable to the atomic bomb or the stunningly successful entry of the Soviet Union into the conflict.The military side of the story is explored in fascinating detail - the invasion of Manchukuo itself where the Soviet 'Deep Battle' concept was employed with shattering results, and secondary actions in Korea, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.But equally absorbing is the account of the decision-making that gave rise to the offensive and the political and diplomatic background to it, and in particular the Yalta conference. There, Stalin allowed the Americans to persuade him to join the war in the east; a conflict he was determined on entering anyway.Charles Stephenson's engrossing narrative throws new light on the last act of the Second World War.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The first campaign medal awarded to British soldiers is reckoned to be that given to those men who fought at Waterloo in 1815, but a decade and a half earlier a group of regiments were awarded a unique badge - a figure of a Sphinx - to mark their service in Egypt in 1801.It was a fitting distinction, for the successful campaign was a remarkable one, fought far from home by a British army which had so far not distinguished itself in battle against Revolutionary France, and one moreover which had the most profound consequences in the Napoleonic wars to come.In 1798 a quixotic French expedition led by a certain General Bonaparte not only to seize Egypt and consolidate French influence in the Mediterranean, but also to open up a direct route to Indian and provide an opportunity to destroy the East India Company and fatally weaken Great Britain.In the event, General Bonaparte returned to France to mount a coup which would eventually see him installed as Emperor of the French, but behind him he abandoned his army, which remained in control of Egypt, still posing a possible threat to the East India Company, until in 1801 a large but rather heterogeneous British Army led by Sir Ralph Abercrombie landed and in a series of hard-fought battles utterly defeated the French.Not only did this campaign establish the hitherto rather doubtful reputation of the British Army, and help secure India, but its capture en route of the islands of Malta gained Britain a base which would enable it to dominate the Mediterranean for the next century and a half.This little understood, but profoundly important campaign at last receives the treatment it deserves in the hands of renowned historian Stuart Reid.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The Potsdam Conference (officially known as the 'Berlin Conference'), was held from 17 July to 2 August 1945 at Cecilienhof Palace, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm, in Brandenburg, and saw the leaders of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States, gathered together to decide how to demilitarize, denazify, decentralize, and administer Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender on 8 May (VE Day).They determined that the remaining German populations in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary - both the ethnic (Sudeten) and the more recent arrivals (as part of the long-term plan for the domination of Eastern Europe) - should to be transferred to Germany, but despite an undertaking that these would be effected in an orderly and humane manner, the expulsions were carried out in a ruthless and often brutal manner.Land was seized with farms and houses expropriated; the occupants placed into camps prior to mass expulsion from the country. Many of these were labor camps already occupied by Jews who had survived the concentration camps, where they were equally unwelcome.Further cleansing was carried out in Romania and Yugoslavia, and by 1950, an estimated 11.5 million German people had been removed from Eastern Europe with up to three million dead. The number of ethnic Germans killed during the 'cleansing' period is suggested at 500,000, but in 1958, Statistisches Bundesamt (the Federal Statistical Office of Germany) published a report which gave the figure of 1.6 million relating to expulsion-related population losses in Poland alone. Further investigation may in due course provide a more accurate figure to avoid the accusation of sensationalism. …

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Operation Chastise, the audacious RAF bombing raid that struck at the heart of industrial Germany on the 17th May 1943, brought catastrophic damage to the three dams that served the Ruhr Valley. Water and electricity supplies were disrupted in a key area of the manufacture of Germany's war munitions, and the consequences were disastrous. The German war effort was set back substantially, the Allies celebrated, and Dr. Barnes Wallis became a national hero as the designer of the famed 'bouncing bomb' that inflicted such damage.Considered from an Allied perspective, the Dambuster Raid was a triumphant success, not only of British engineering but also of pilot endeavor. View it from the German perspective however, and an entirely new story emerges. That is precisely what we have here. In this image-heavy publication, Helmuth Euler explores all facets of the operation in fascinating detail, offering a host of illuminating insights into this much-studied event of twentieth century history.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Leading Seaman Charlie Erswell saw much more than his fair share of action during the Second World War. He was present at the 1942 landing in North Africa (Operation TORCH), D-Day and the liberation of Norway. But his main area of operations was that of the Arctic Convoys, escorting merchant ships taking essential war supplies to the Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel.In addition to contending with relentless U-boat and Luftwaffe attacks, crews endured the extreme sea conditions and appalling weather. This involved clearing ice and snow in temperatures as low as minus thirty degrees Celsius. No wonder Winston Churchill described it as 'the worst journey in the world'.Fortunately, Charlie, who served on two destroyers, HMS Milne and Savage, kept a record of his experiences and is alive today to describe them. His story, published to coincide with the 80th Anniversary of the first convoy, is more than one man's account. It is an inspiring tribute to his colleagues, many of whom were killed in action. No-one reading Surviving The Arctic Convoys could fail to be moved by the bravery and endurance of these outstanding men.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Describes the Imperial Guard from its origins in the Consular Guard.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Early espionage organizations like Walsingham's Elizabethan spy network were private enterprises, tasked with keeping the Tudor Queen and her government safe. Formal use of spies and counter spies only really began in the years after 1909, when the official British secret service was founded. Britain became the first major proponent of secret information gathering and other nations quickly followed.The outbreak of war in 1914 saw a sudden and dramatic increase in the use of spies as the military quickly began to realise the value of covert intelligence. Spying 'came of age' during the war on the Western Front and that value only increased in the run up to the Second World War, when the threat of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany began to make themselves felt.The Cold War years, with the use of moles, defectors and double agents on both sides of the Iron Curtain saw the art of spying assume record proportions. The passing on of atom secrets, the truth about Russian missiles on Cuba, it was the age of the double agent, the activities of whom managed to keep away the looming threat of nuclear war.A Hundred Years of Spying takes the reader through the murky world of espionage as it develops over the course of the twentieth century, where the lines of truth and reality blur, and where many real-life spies have always been accompanied, maybe even proceeded, by a plethora of spy literature.This book will look at the use of and development of spying as an accepted military practice. It will focus on individuals from Belgians like Gabrielle Petite to the infamous Mata Hari, from people like Reilly Ace of Spies to the British traitors such as Philby, Burgess and McClean. The activities of American atom spies like the Rosenbergs will also be covered as will Russian double agent Oleg Penkovsky and many others.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - All of a sudden there was the rush of an immense shadow coming towards him at terrific speed. It was the ground reaching up to gather him. The date was 26 June, 1943 and Cy Grant was the rarest of things - a black West Indian RAF crew member, blown out of his exploding Lancaster bomber.The heroic exploits of the Caribbean men and women who volunteered their services to the Allied effort during the Second World War have, until now, passed by with little fanfare or attention. Indeed, whilst many people are aware of the contribution that the various Bomber Command units paid in securing ultimate victory, little is said or understood of the achievements and sacrifices of the heroic Caribbean volunteers who contributed to some of their greatest victories.Mark Johnson presents us here with an engrossing and humane account of the exploits of such individuals. Including a great number of insights and fascinating details taken from conversations with his great-uncle, John Blair, the book illuminates the day-to-day reality of life as a Caribbean volunteer during the Second World War and the kind of culture-clash experiences that characterised their wartime careers. John Blair is a particularly important member within the context of this history and within the wider context of Bomber Command history. He served a full and distinguished tour with Bomber Command in the skies over Germany and was present during some of the most pivotal moments, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross in the process. The author has based the book on in-depth interviews he conducted with his great-uncle and other survivors, as well as other press interviews and personal accounts by a host of other Caribbean volunteers to create a dramatic and well written account of the proceedings. An important book, offering a platform upon which to appreciate the true extent of the Caribbean contribution to the Allied war effort, the work offers a new slant on the popular Bomber Command theme; one that looks set to intrigue a number of readers yet to be acquainted with this facet of the units history.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Many military accounts of the British side of the Falklands War have been published as well as memoirs written by servicemen who took part, so this aspect of the story of the Argentine occupation and the British liberation of this remote territory in the South Atlantic is well known. But little attention has been paid to the Falkland islanders who had direct personal experience of this extraordinary crisis in their history. That is why the previously unpublished diaries of Neville Bennett and his wife Valerie, a fireman and a nurse who lived with their two daughters in Port Stanley throughout the war, is such vivid and revealing reading.As chief fireman Neville was frequently called out to deal with fires and other incidents during the occupation, and each day he recorded what happened and what he thought about it in his sharp and forthright way. Valerie saw a different side of the occupation through her work at the Stanley hospital where she had to handle the Argentines as well as daily accidents and emergencies.Their joint record of the exceptional circumstances in the Falklands in April, May and June 1982 gives us a fascinating inside view of family life during the occupation and of their relations with the Argentine soldiers and commanders. It is engrossing reading.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - British World War II tanks performed so badly that it is difficult to recall any other British weapon of the period that provokes such a strong sense of failure. Unfortunately, many of the accusations appear to be true--British tanks were in many ways a disgrace. But why was Britain, the country that invented them, consistently unable to field tanks of the required quality or quantity throughout the conflict This perceived failure has taken on the status of a myth, but, like all myths, it should not be accepted at face value--it should be questioned and analyzed. And that is what Dick Taylor does in this closely researched and absorbing study. He looks at the flaws in British financial policy, tank doctrine, design, production, and development before and throughout the war years which often had fatal consequences for the crews who were sent to fight and to be 'murdered' in 'mechanical abortions.' Their direct experience of the shortcomings of these machines is an important element of the story. He also considers how British tanks compared to those of the opposition and contrasts tank production for the army with the production of aircraft for the RAF during the same period. His clear-sighted account goes on to explain how, later in the conflict, British tank design improved to the point where their tanks were in many ways superior to those of the Americans and Germans and how they then produced the Centurion which was one of the best main battle tanks of the post-war era.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - George Jellicoe, son of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, commander of the British Grand Fleet at Jutland, was never compromised by his privileged upbringing. In this insightful biography, his son describes a life of action, drama, public service and controversy.George's exploits with the newly formed SAS, as David Stirling's second-in-command, and later commanding the SBS, make for fascinating reading. Over four years it embraced the North African and Mediterranean campaigns and culminated in the saving of a newly-liberated Athens from the communist guerrillas of ELAS.The brutality of Stalinist communism led him to join the post-war Foreign Office. In Washington he worked with Kim Philby and Donald Maclean in the cloak and dagger world of espionage. Resigning in 1958 so he could marry the woman he loved, he turned to politics. Although his ministerial career ended in 1973 after unwittingly become entangled with the Lambton scandal, he continued to sit in the House of Lords becoming 'Father of the House'. He held numerous public appointments including President of the Royal Geographical Society, Chairman of the Medical Research Council, President of the SAS Regimental Association and the UK Crete Veterans Association.Thanks to the author's research and access, this is more than a biography of a significant public figure. It provides fascinating detail of Special Forces operations and the characters of the countless figures with whom he mixed.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - T. E. Lawrence's dispatches during the Arab Revolt have been published before, but only in an edited and incomplete form, as they were printed for a strictly limited wartime readership in the Arab Bulletin. Now, in this scholarly edition, they are published in full for the first time. They give us a direct inside view of his dealings with the Arab leaders and show us how he presented them to his superiors in Cairo. These wartime writings reveal vividly his impressions of the periods he spent in the desert and the conditions he found there, and they record how the Arab uprising developed and how he became increasingly involved in it. They make fascinating reading for, in his sometimes outspoken way, he reported on the military potential of the Arab fighters and recommended how they should be supported in their struggle against the Ottoman empire.This new collection of his dispatches is a valuable addition to the literature on Lawrence for it allows readers to trace the course of the revolt as he wrote about it at the time. They are printed in chronological order with full explanatory notes. The editor Fabrizio Bagatti provides a perceptive introduction which sets them in their wartime context, fills in the military and political background to the strategic situation in the Middle East and describes Lawrence's important role as an intermediary between the Arabs and the British.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The First World War was perhaps the most traumatic event of the Twentieth Century. Millions of men, women and children were affected by it. And it still has a resonance today more than a hundred years after the Armistice.This guide offers a simple, yet comprehensive, guide to researching the men and women from Britain - and its dominions and colonies - who took part in the First World War either at the front or at homeIt is an accessible, up-to-date and expert introduction to get you on your way and to answer those questions you might come across during your researches.In a straightforward, easy-to-follow style the book introduces readers to the multitude of sources they can use to explore the history of the First World War for themselves.In a series of short, instructive chapters the book takes the reader through the process of researching ancestors who served during the First World War providing short cuts and background information as required.The book covers the key sources, including the National Archives and the many online sites that researchers can turn to. It also covers records of casualties, munitions workers, conscientious objectors and service personnel from the British Dominions.…