This book examines the reasons for the German's decision to fall back to a strong defence line while their Navy starved Britain into submission, and the 'burnt earth' policy of devastation in the area evacuated.
The book not only covers the most vital years in the development of the RAF in which Sir Ronald played a significant part but it is also packed with drama at high level. Not many Englishmen, let alone future Air Marshals, were ever under sentence of death at the orders of Sir Winston Churchill himself.
Long before he marched on Russia, Napoleon's attempt to place his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain proved to be one conquest too many. In a long series of campaigns from 1808 to 1814, Napoleon's subordinate marshals and generals proved incapable of defeating the British army under Wellington that had come to the aid of Spain and Portugal, while French encampments and supply columns were bedeviled by Spanish irregulars who added the word "...
One of the lasting legacies of Wold War 2 was the proliferation of what today are known as Special Forces. At the time many soldiers, often of high rank regarded these units as nothing short of ill-disciplined cowboys or worse! However desperate times called for desperate measures and there were those in high places who were prepared to take risks. As specaially recruited units such as the LRDG, SAS and SBS earned their spurs and scored signif...
Cooksey describes the audacious plan to mount a large-scale commando raid on the Normandie dry dock which held the mighty battleship Tirpitz. The award of more than 80 decorations for the raid bore witness to the ferocity of the struggle to strike at the Germans in France.
The two authors, both formerly senior professional soldiers, have compiled an easy-to-follow itinerary to the British landings on 6 June 1944 on Gold Beach and the ensuing bitter fighting. Covered in detail are the actions which earned CSM Hollis of the Green Howards his VC and other inspiring battle stories.
In April, 1917 the village of Gavrelle sat astride the road between British-held Arras and German-occupied Douai, in the northern sector of the Western Front. The battle for this strategic village became one of the most tragic episodes in the larger battle of Arras. The attack of April 10 by the 51st Highland Division was highly successful, and British cavalry was brought forward on one of the few occasions of the war. A late-season snow squal...
Where other sectors of the Western Front were mashed flat by repeated fighting, the Hindenburg Line area, with its hills, forests, farmhouses and villages, called for a unique approach to fighting. The area saw a particularly large number of ingenious fortifications and observation posts, often built into the sides of houses or hills, and with elaborate communication trenches and tunnels, many of which survive today.
These are stories that are packed with both tragedy and humour, but above all the impression created is of the quite extraordinary tenacity, bravery and endurance of the men of the Air Sea Rescue service.
The destruction of the French village of Oradour and the massacre of its population in June 1944 by the SS Das Reich Division ranks as one of the most notorious atrocities of the Second World War. The scars that were left will never fully heal and there are those that would argue that they should remain as a lesson to future.
The author commanded the Royal Artillery's distinguished "O" Battery (The descendant of the Royal Horse Artillery Rocket Troop of the Napoleonic Wars) during the Persian Gulf War. The principal British weapon was the U.S. M109 Self-Propelled Howitzer, which makes for interesting comparisons with American experience with the vehicle.As the British commitment to Desert Shield escalated from brigade to division size, an enormous logistic and pers...
On 4 July 1918, American and Australian troops captured the village of Hamel and the ridge overlooking it. It was not a big battle: the equivalent of one Australian division and one battalion of newly arrived Americans were the only infantry involved. Although Hamel is not a famous named battle it is noteworthy for an increased level of sophistication . At Hamel machines went a long way towards relieving the infantry of the obligation to fight...
David Rattray is known to many thousands of enthusiasts for his emotional and evocative lectures, he also owns a top battlefield-touring lodge Fugitive Drift, close to Iswandlwana and Rorke's Drift. This is David Rattray's first publication (his cassettes and videos have sold thousands) . No one is better qualified to explain the causes of this strange colonial war when British Imperial might was initially humiliated in a ghastly slaughter. Pr...
Operation EPSOM was General Montgomery's third attempt to take the City of Caen, which had been a key British D-Day objective. Delayed by a storm, the attack, designed to envelop Caen from the west, eventually began at the end of June 1944. The Territorial Army battalions of 15th Scottish Division spearheaded the attacks through the well developed positions of 12th Hitlerjugend SS Panzer Division. It was slow going and when tanks of the 11th A...
