From the team that brought you the bestselling Bradshaw's Handbook comes another fantastic facsimile reproduction - The Battle of Waterloo. First published in the months after the battle, this unique title gives an unprecedented glimpse into how the battle of Waterloo was viewed in its immediate aftermath. Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the battle, this is a collection of reports of the battle from all sides, records of the orders issued to both armies, the official gazette sent by Wellington, the firsthand accounts of French marshals, sobering lists of those killed in the... View More...
From 1962 to 1972 Australia joined the United States in fighting a communist inspired insurgency war in the jungles of South Vietnam against infiltrators who sought to overthrow the local government. Over 50,000 Australians served in Vietnam, 519 lost their lives, and the conflict ended ignominiously in the insurgents' victory. Over 30 years later, Australia again finds itself joined with the United States in a struggle against an insurgency, this time in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan. Although now in the past, the Vietnam War resonates with lessons for the Australian Ar... View More...
Between 20 May and 1 June 1941 the Second World War came to the Greek island of Crete. The Commonwealth defenders consisted of Australian, New Zealand and British refugees from the doomed Greek Campaign who had not recovered from defeat. Matched against them were crack German paratroopers and mountain soldiers who had only tasted victory. Over eleven days the two sides fought a desperate action that generated tales of stubborn determination and reckless bravery on both sides. It was an innovative campaign - warfare's first aerial invasion - and at times its outcome balanced on a knife edge. ... View More...
The Spanish Civil War, 1936-39, was the curtain-raiser to World War II, and the major international event of the 1930s. It was the first great clash of 20th-century ideologies, between the rebel Nationalist army led by General Franco (right-wing, and aided by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy), and the Republican army of the government (left-wing, and aided by the Communist Soviet Union and many volunteers from liberal democracies). Three years of widespread campaigns involved the most modern weapons available (submachine guns, mortars, artillery, tanks, and combat aircraft operating in direct su... View More...
Serving with the AIF in North Africa the author became a POW in Italy. The rebellious Aussies earned a bad reputation and were badly treated. He was later forced into a labour camp. View More...
The camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau were an important part of the Nazis' final solution to the Jewish question. Over one million people were murdered in its gas chambers and tens of thousands of prisoners were worked to death in the nearby sub-camps. Others were held in the quarantine area before they were deported to work in the Third Reich. This is the story of the development of Auschwitz from a Polish prison camp into a concentration camp, and a thorough account of the building of Birkenau and the gas chambers, which grew into industrial killing machines. Rawson relates what life was like for... View More...
Seven Troop is Andy McNab's account of the time he served in the company of a remarkable group of men - from the day, freshly-badged as a member of the SAS Regiment, he joined them in the Malayan jungle, to the day, ten years later, that he handed in his sand-coloured beret and started a new life. View More...
In the early 20th century Britain's largest colonies established their own small naval presence, and their ships fought alongside the Royal Navy during World War I. These fleets were expanded during the inter-war years, and in 1939 the Royal Australian Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy willingly joined the fight on behalf of the British Commonwealth. For the most part these small navies consisted of a few cruisers and destroyers, designed to protect territorial waters and local sea lanes. However, these warships and their crews soon found themselves involved in a glo... View More...
The Royal Navy's attack on Taranto in 1940 heralded a new age of warfare. It was the decisive moment in a struggle for dominance of the Mediterranean that had gone on for months, as the British and Italian navies both looked to secure maritime supply routes for their colonies. With the enormous demands of a global war beginning to tell, the British capital ships were simply too thinly spread for a large fleet action against Taranto, where the bulk of the Italian fleet lay menacingly. How was the Royal Navy to eliminate the threat of the Regia Marina? This is the story of one of World War II's ... View More...
At the outset of World War II, Scapa Flow was supposed to be the safe home base of the British Navy - nothing could penetrate the defences of this bastion. So how, in the dead of night, was Gunther Prien's U-47 able to slip through the line of protective warships to sink the mighty Royal Oak? This book provides the answer with an account of one of the most daring naval raids in history. Drawing on the latest underwater archaeological research, this study explains how Prien and his crew navigated the North Sea and Kirk Sound to land a devastating blow to the British. It reveals the level of dis... View More...
For four hundred years the Byzantine Empire's naval forces vied with the warships of the Islamic world for mastery of the Mediterranean. At the heart of this confrontation were the fighting vessels of the two powers, the Byzantine dromon and the Arabic shalandi, both oared warships. In those four centuries of warfare between two major maritime powers, both the Byzantines and the Arabs left us records of their doctrine and tactics, as well as of how their ships were built. Featuring full-colour artwork and rigorous analysis from an authority on naval warfare, this enthralling book offers a glim... View More...
Arthur William Upfield is well known as the creator of Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte (Bony) who features in 29 crime detection novels, most set in the Australian outback. He also wrote more than 220 short stories and articles, based on his experiences in the bush between 1911 and 1931. Up and Down the Real Australia is the second published collection of Upfield's short works. Kees de Hoog has selected 45 autobiographical articles, ranging from humorous outback anecdotes to personal experiences at Gallipoli and the Somme during the First World War. Kees has added The Murchison Mu... View More...
Arthur William Upfield is well known as the creator of Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte (Bony) who features in 29 crime detection novels, most set in the Australian outback. He also wrote more than 220 short stories and articles, based on his experiences in the bush between 1911 and 1931. Up and Down the Real Australia is the second published collection of Upfield's short works. Kees de Hoog has selected 45 autobiographical articles, ranging from humorous outback anecdotes to personal experiences at Gallipoli and the Somme during the First World War. Kees has added The Murchison Mu... View More...
Arthur William Upfield is well known as the creator of Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte (Bony) who features in 29 crime detection novels, most set in the Australian outback. It is not well known that he also wrote about 250 short stories and articles, drawing on his experiences in the bush between 1911 and 1931. Up and Down the Real Australia is the second published collection of Upfield's short works. Kees de Hoog has selected 45 autobiographical articles, ranging from humorous outback anecdotes to personal experiences at Gallipoli and the Somme during the First World War. Kees ha... View More...
In compiling this book of poems, I don't think I have over emphasised enough, the importance of humour in Army life. It was the one vital ingredient that was necessary in toning down the extent of hardships endured, the loneliness, & personal tragedies experienced by most servicemen & ex-servicemen. 80 pages. View More...
In December 1943 Monte La Difensa was part of the formidable German defences overlooking the Allies' planned route to Rome via Monte Cassino. In the First Special Service Force's first combat in the Mediterranean theater, the Force would employ its special training in mountain and winter warfare to scale the peak, capture it, and then hold it against the inevitable German counterattacks. Astonishing their superiors, the First Special Service Force succeeded in the face of seemingly impossible odds, but suffered a 77 percent casualty rate. Their victory, founded on their aggressive doctrine and... View More...
When Imperial Japan unleashed the Pacific War in December 1941, Australian forces went into action, as part of a larger British Empire force, to defend Malaya and Singapore. This reflected an Australian commitment to defending Australia by protecting its 'near north'. Unfortunately, Australian forces were compromised before they fired a shot by wider problems: the Allies were not ready for global war in late 1941, Australia lacked the forces to fill the gap in Southeast Asia, and all Allied forces on the ground in Southeast Asia were unprepared for the high tempo manoeuvre warfare the Japanes... View More...
On December 7, 1941, Japanese fighter planes appeared from the clouds above Pearl Harbor and fundamentally changed the course of history; with this one surprise attack the previously isolationist America was irrevocably thrown into World War II. This definitive history reveals each of the major battles that America would fight in the ensuing struggle against Imperial Japan, from the naval clashes at Midway and Coral Sea to the desperate, bloody fighting on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Each chapter reveals both the horrors of the battle and the Allies' grim yet heroic determination to wrest victory fr... View More...
Now in paperback!: The #1 NYT bestselling author of AMERICAN SNIPER and former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle explores U.S. history through the lens of the nation's most iconic guns. Drawing on his legendary firearms knowledge and combat experience, U.S. Navy SEAL and #1 bestselling author of American Sniper Chris Kyle dramatically chronicles the story of America-from the Revolution to the present-through the lens of ten iconic guns and the remarkable heroes who used them to shape history: the American long rifle, Spencer repeater, Colt .45 revolver, Winchester 1873 rifle, Springfield M1903 rifle, M191... View More...