34 War Memoirs


country houses and remote fortified farmsteads. The text clearly explains their importance and architecture, and tells their dramatic and bloody stories. 128 pages 26cm x 27cm in gorgeous colour with lists of Castles and Fortalices in Northumberland 1415, Castles, Towers, Barmkins and Fortresses along the East and Middle Marches 1541, Other Fortified Sites and Glossary. £16.99 NOW £7


70269 MILITARY HISTORY QUIZ BOOK


by Osprey Publishing With a nice multiple choice general quiz to begin, we are asked in which battle did the Irish King Brian Boru die? Clontars, Boyne, Glen Mama or Sulchoid? True or false, American Civil War multiple choice, short answers to ten general questions like what is the more common name of the ‘hand-and-a-


half’ sword? Subtitled ‘One-star General Knowledge’, this quiz includes US and worldwide coverage of all the major campaigns and answers are given. Famous, infamous and obscure facts. 232pp in illustrated paperback.


£6.99 NOW £2.50 69437 HISTORY OF CHIVALRY AND


ARMOUR: 60 Colour Plates by F. Kottenkamp First published in London in 1857 and here in a large format facsimile reprint, here is an entire overview of the feudal system, the establishment of chivalry, of medieval armour, tournaments, trials by single combat and references to the authorities and index. The plates themselves are no less than 60 full colour, full page figures beginning with crossbows and arrows, catapults, moveable towers and battering rams to gauntlets and body armour, beautiful plumage on helmets, finely wrought weaponry and depictions of knights in combat and on horseback, some most finely adorned. Revel in meticulously rendered lances, spears and spiked clubs as well as incredibly engineered mobile siege towers and muskets. Accompanied by authentic literature from poets and troubadours of the age. 11" x 8" softback, 128pp.


£18.99 NOW £4.50 70118 AMERICAN AIR


MUSEUM DUXFORD by Roger Freeman A superbly innovative building designed by Norman Foster houses the American Air Museum at Duxford, exhibiting 24 aircraft together with archive photos, documents and film. When the Americans entered the war in January 1942 the British were


notified that airfields would be required for a total of some 7,000 combat aircraft. The main part of the book is devoted to descriptions of the 24 aircraft in the collection, including the Boeing B-17G Fortress, arguably the most famous American warplane of all time, which was the backbone of the strategic bombing offensive from Britain. The Grumman TBM-3 Avenger was so named from a determination to avenge Pearl Harbor, and it played a part in sinking at least 60 naval vessels. The Fairchild Republic A10-A Thunderbolt II was more commonly known as the “Warthog”, entering service in 1976 and being deployed to great effect during Desert Storm. Each aircraft is described with full specifications and photos. 128pp. £19.95 NOW £6


69443 VOICES OF THE FOREIGN LEGION by Adrian D. Gilbert


The French Foreign Legion has built a reputation as one of the world’s most formidable and colourful military institutions. Established as a means of absorbing foreign troublemakers, the Legion spearheaded French colonialism in North Africa during the 19th century. It analyses the Legion’s brutal attitude towards discipline, questions why desertion has been a perennial problem and assesses its remarkable military achievements since its formation in 1831. It also has firsthand accounts from the men who have fought in its ranks and its scope ranges from the conquest of the colonies in Africa and the Far East through the horrors of two World Wars. With anecdotes from contemporary foreign Legionnaires. 288pp. Maps. $24.95 NOW £5


69709 BATTLES OF WORLD WAR II: Vital Guide


by Martin Marix Evans Covering Europe and North Africa, the Eastern Front and the Pacific, the first battle described is the Battle of Narvik, April to June 1940 when the Germans invaded Denmark and Norway in a move that caught the Allies entirely unprepared. The major land, sea and air battles of World War Two are described with


concise data on more than 50 confrontations. Maps and statistical information on the opposing forces and their commanders are included with suggestions for museums and related places of interest. Here is the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the Battles of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean seas, the Battle of Malta, the bomber campaign against Germany, the Siege of Tobruk, the Battle of Crete and so on right through to the bombing campaign on Japan June 1944 to August 1945 in chronological order. With select book list. 120 large well illustrated pages. £9.99 NOW £3


69763 TIMELINE OF MEDIEVAL WARFARE: The Ultimate Guide to Battle in the Middle Ages by Phyllis Jestice


Here is a unique approach to the Middle Ages in that it covers the period chronologically but with a timeline at the bottom of each page. It furnishes the complete history of medieval warfare at a glance, while describing the dramatic development of techniques, weaponry, armies and inventions along the way. From the Viking raids of the 8th century to the fall of Constantinople in the 15th, here are the patterns of warfare throughout eight centuries. Never before have readers been able to examine the mass mounted cavalries of Mongols and Hungarians at Leibnitz in 1241 or follow the evolution of the longbow at Crécy in 1346. A stirring 224 pages 22cm x 30cm, 300 archival photos in dazzling colour and b/w, with free double-sided eight-page poster. $21.95 NOW £6.50


69771 SECRET WAR The Inside Story of the Code Makers and Code Breakers of World War II by Michael Paterson


Thirty years after the cessation of hostilities, the history of World War II had to be completely revised when the existence of the codebreakers of Bletchley Park became known for the first time. The Axis powers took a complacent view of cryptography and Hitler regarded intelligence-gathering as a waste of effort. The basic Enigma machine had been replicated by Poland long before the war and although German military versions were more complicated, with security resting not with the machine but the key to the code, the Bletchley boffins cracked it. Explains the code systems clearly and gives a vivid insight into the work of codebreakers such as Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers supported by clerks like Ann Harding and Felicity Ashbee. 287pp, paperback, photos. £8.99 NOW £3


70253 BATTLEFIELD


WALKS: Devon by Rupert Matthews Devon has seen clashes between Dumnonian and Welsh kings in the 7th century, Viking raids in the 10th and 11th centuries and baronial uprisings in the 15th century. In 1549 the so-called Prayer Book Rebellion led to violent skirmishes at Sampford Courtney, Fenny Bridges and Clyst St Mary. It was the Civil War in the mid-17th century that


brought the greatest bloodshed to the county. Rupert Matthews, (the History Man), presents 18 guided walks around the battlefields of Devon with an account of events as they unfolded on the ground and context. Colour photos. 206 page small paperback. £8.99 NOW £3.50


70131 FIGHTER COMMAND 1939-45 by Ian Carter


Here are the Supermarine Spitfire, perhaps the most famous fighter of World War Two, the Hawker Typhoon, much feared in its ground-attack role, and the de Havilland Mosquito, without peer as a night fighter. Full weight is also given to the vital and frequently overlooked work of the ground crews - the men and women who kept the aircraft flying. In the summer of 1940, the courage and determination of ‘The Few’ of RAF Fighter Command - given their name because they were so hugely outnumbered by the German planes - prevented the Luftwaffe from achieving air superiority and forced the Germans to cancel the proposed invasion of Britain. But this was only part of the story. In the years that followed, the fighter squadrons went on to the offensive, taking the war to the enemy in the air and on the ground. Here is the full compelling story. 160 pages 21cm x 26cm packed with archive photos from the Imperial War Museum. £19.99 NOW £8


70404 CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS: A Concise


History by Don Munton and David Welch Beginning with a list of acronyms and dramatis personae and positions in October 1962, we are given a background to the crisis, the US-Cuban relations and historical perspective, the Bay of Pigs and Operation Mongoose, and the Soviet decision to deploy. Then follows the full details of the deployment, the intelligence game of cat and mouse, warnings too late, the narrowing of options, the calm before the storm and then the storm itself - the speech, carrots and sticks, Khrushchev and Kennedy Wavering, the Dobrynin meeting, climax and resolution and the aftermath including removing the missiles from Cuba and the bomber crisis. The authors examine the whole arena from the US, Soviet and Cuban angles. 119 page well illustrated large softback. £12.99 NOW £5.50


70132 GERMAN NAVAL CODE BREAKERS by Jak P. Mallmann Showell


The role of the German naval code breakers of WWII is less well known than that of their British counterparts at Bletchley Park, but it was undoubtedly significant in the course of the conflict. The author’s father was a senior mechanic on U377 which was destroyed three months before he was born, and today is regarded as Britain’s foremost expert on the U-boat campaign. Here he has delved into the archives to produce an account of the wartime German naval code breakers. He looks in detail at how German code-breaking developed after the traumas of defeat in 1918, the variety of codes employed by the British and Allied navies, and how the code-breaking department was organised. In particular he pays close attention to such major events as D-Day and the Battle of the Atlantic. Over 100 b/w photos, plus tables and maps, 160pp. £24.99 NOW £8


70139 RED SABBATH: The Battle of Little Bighorn by Robert J. Kershaw


The Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 is known as “Custer’s last stand” and numerous legends have grown up around the story of how the 7th Cavalry was slaughtered by Native Americans with not a single survivor to tell the tale. This investigation into why Custer’s force was massacred against all expectation goes back to eyewitness accounts from Native Americans and makes full use of recent archaeological discoveries about the disposition of the troops and the kinds of weapons and artillery used. Archaeological evidence suggests that a barrage of heavy calibre bullets tore through the dispersed ranks of U.S. cavalrymen, who would have been better placed to withstand the onslaught if they had been ranged in a single unit. Had he known of Crook’s defeat on the Rosebud River a week earlier, Custer might have deployed his force differently. 223pp, photos. £19.99 NOW £7


70430 TOMMY GUN by Bill Yenne Subtitled How General Thompson’s Submachine Gun Wrote History, this is the story of a gun which has been called The Trench Broom, The Annihilator, The Persuader, The Chopper, The Chicago Typewriter and The Tommy Gun. The Thompson Machine Gun has for nearly a century been indelibly marked on the popular consciousness. In this broad-reaching cultural and military history, renowned military weapons expert Bill Yenne charts the Tommy Gun’s unpredictable and one- of-a-kind career from its infamy in the hands of Al Capone and the Chicago mobsters, to its shady days with the IRA and indelible place in the arsenal of World War Two to its truly immortal and ongoing role in Hollywood. Well illus 340 page US first edition. $26.99 NOW £6


Bibliophile Books Unit 5 Datapoint, 6 South Crescent, London E16 4TL TEL: 020 74 74 24 74 WAR MEMOIRS


My army medical consisted of two questions (i) Have you got piles? (ii) Any insanity in the family? I answered yes to both and was accepted A1.


- Spike Milligan 70866 WAR STORIES OF


THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE by Michael Green and James D. Brown


The Battle of the Bulge in 1944 was Hitler’s last desperate and devastating push. Hitler thought that if he won, the Allies would agree on an armistice so that European forces could combine to resist the might of Stalinised Russia, and it was well known that this


outcome was favoured by General Patton. American troops flooded the area but an intelligence failure resulted in the Ardennes being inadequately defended, with the result that the town of Bastogne became increasingly important in the German offensive. Bastogne never fell to Germany and finally Patton’s forces linked up with those of Montgomery, but the price paid in American lives was massive and Churchill paid tribute to the Bulge as “the greatest American battle of the war”. Military policeman Jerry C. Hrbek recalls the desperate scenes during an attack when he managed to get all the wounded, including Germans POWs, to military hospital. Engineer John Brush of the 30th Infantry Division recounts a narrow shave while mine-detecting in the Ardennes. Several articles by medic George Nicklin of K Company describe the personal cost of losing friends and comrades. Gripping and moving. 314pp, photos. £20 NOW £6.50


70832 CARELESS TALK


COSTS LIVES by James Taylor


Fougasse was one of the most popular cartoonists and illustrators of the early 20th century. He is arguably the best known and loved creator of British propaganda poster art. The images and captions to his series of eight World War Two posters ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’ are remembered fondly by the


millions who experienced life on the Home Front, perhaps more so than Keep it Dark, Is Your Journey Necessary, Make Do and Mend and Dig For Victory. Fougasse was in fact an Englishman called Cyril Kenneth Bird who adopted the psuedonism because Punch already had a regular contributor who used the pen name Bird. His first cartoon appeared in Punch in 1916. These famous posters were displayed in public houses and tea shops, factories and post offices and today surviving examples of these iconic designs are eagerly sought after by collectors. This charming book is beautifully illustrated with classic examples of his work, some of the best of which are the London Underground posters. Colour reproductions throughout, 96pp. £9.99 NOW £5


70892 THE FRANK FAMILY


THAT SURVIVED by Gordon F. Sander Both a history and a memoir, this painstakingly documented book uses the Frank family as a prism through which to view and understand 80 years of European history, including the tragedy within a tragedy that was the Dutch Holocaust. Recounted by the grandson of the head of the family, this is the


inspiring and heart-breaking odyssey of another German- Jewish family. They, unlike Anne Frank, whose diary was posthumously published, and the 102,000 Dutch Jews who were betrayed or discovered, miraculously outlived the Nazi purge. This moving book documents their thousand-day long ordeal, including a raid when they were nearly found, and the joy and pain of liberation when they realized how few of their friends and family had survived. 298 pages with historic b/w photos. Paperback. ONLY £5


70808 THE JOKER: 20 Years


Inside the SAS by Pete Scholey


‘The Radfam Mountains and jungles of Borneo are a world away from where I grew up, and if you’d told me back then I was going to be a career soldier for nearly 30 years, and that most of those years were going to be spent slogging around some of the wildest parts of the world, with a Bergen on my back and a rifle in my hand, I’d have said


you were mad.’ Born in 1936, Pete Scholey served in the SAS for over 20 years fighting often covertly in many of the world’s troubled spots. Here he gives his vivid firsthand accounts of the many actions he was involved in like desert fighting in Aden and Oman to his part in the setting up of the counter-terrorist team that was successfully used in the siege of the Iranian Embassy. He outlines the operational skills that took his teams deep into enemy territory in his exciting account of some of the most sensitive and dangerous operations. 245pp in paperback with 16 pages of b/w photos. £7.99 NOW £3.50


70823 WEHRMACHT LAST WITNESSES


by Bob Carruthers In the course of making the TV series ‘Servants of Evil’, Bob Carruthers uncovered fascinating firsthand accounts of the ranks of the armed forces, German men who went to war believing in the Reich and in victory. They often became chastened and cynical in the face of what they had been led to believe


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were impossibilities - the fighting ability and determination of the Russians, the strength of the RAF, the defeat of the U-boats by improved radar technology, the might and remarkable manufacturing capabilities of the USA and finally the fall of Berlin. The book covers all areas and stages of the war from the German perspective - the Blitzkrieg era 1939-41, the Germans in Russia, the U-boat War Days of Success 1939-42, the Luftwaffe, the U-boat War Days of Failure 1943-45, the Defeat of the Luftwaffe 1943-45, and the Battles of Stalingrad to Berlin 1943-45, ending with Prisoners. Many of those who fought for Germany were young. Many saw their comrades dying around them. ‘Some men, young men mostly, took it all quite lightly, but others took it very badly. Some of our comrades, when it began in Poland, actually messed their pants...’ The book throws new light on the tactics of both sides and the causes for which ordinary Germans believed they were fighting. 269pp in paperback with 32 pages of b/w photos.


£7.99 NOW £4 70854 FIGHTING WITH THE


SCREAMING EAGLES: With the 101st Airborne from Normandy to Bastogne by Robert Bowen


In the engaging inside story of the 401st Glider Infantry in World War Two the author uses his own experiences of the cold days and nights of Winter 1944 to pay tribute to all his comrades, those who survived and those who did not.


His memoir covers fighting in Normandy, Holland and the Ardennes and includes vivid first-hand accounts of life as a prisoner of war. Bowen was drafted into the 101st Airborne Division as the war broke out and, soon afterwards, found himself storming ashore amid the chaos on Utah Beach through unfamiliar terrain littered with minefields and hidden snipers. He was wounded during the Normandy campaign but went on to fight in Holland and the Ardennes where he was captured and his ‘trip through hell’ truly began. The narrative is immediate, direct and compelling. His account is one of the very few by a member of a glider regiment and is a brutal insight into just what life was like in an elite unit. From the horror of D-Day to the taste of C Rations and the despair of captivity, this is a gripping 256 paperback pages with b/w archive photos, maps, afterword, and Roll of Honour. £12.99 NOW £5


69190 ABOVE ALL,


COURAGE by Max Arthur Subtitled ‘Personal Stories from the Falklands War’, here are firsthand accounts from action in the Malvinas in 1982. Major Michael J. Norman of the Royal Marines looks at the invasion of the Falklands, 2nd April. Four serving officers from the Royal Navy look at the bomb attack on HMS Ardent, 21st May. Sea, air and ground support, the sinking of


Sir Galahad 8th June, the Battle for Darwin and Goose Green 28th-29th May, the attack on Wireless Ridge 13th- 14th June, attack on Mount Longdon 11th-12th June, attack on Mount Harriet 11th-12th June, assault on Two Sisters, 11th-12th June, assault on Tumbledown Mountain 13th-14th June and finally Rear-Admiral John F. Woodward of the Royal Navy looks at Command at Sea. 463pp paperback, photos. £8.99 NOW £2.50


68892 WE WILL REMEMBER


THEM by Max Arthur In 2005 for his book The Last Post, the final words from our soldiers of the Great War, Max Arthur interviewed the last 21 veterans of the Great War. How did the shell- shocked, the blind and the amputees manage to find a place in a society that war had changed beyond all recognition? And what of those who had stayed at home - the conscientious objectors, the


army of young widows, the spinsters without hope of a husband, the mothers who had sacrificed their sons? For each short entry there is a description of who is speaking and his or her role, like Dorothy Wright, nurse with Red Cross Voluntary Aid Attachment at St. Dunston’s Home for the Blind, or Captain Bertram Stewart from the Tank Corps. Photos, including upsetting ones of amputees. 276pp.


£20 NOW £5.50 69082 PERILOUS ROAD TO ROME AND


BEYOND: The Memoirs of a Gordon Highlander by Edward Grace MC


Expanded from its original publication, it now covers the progress of the 6th Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders in World War II during the campaigns of the 1st Army in Tunisia and Italy and right up to the end of hostilities. As a young platoon commander the author and his men were in the forefront of the action. Matters came to a head during the desperate fighting on the Anzio beach- head. Severely wounded, the commander was evacuated and, once sufficiently recovered, he wrote notes of all that had happened in exact detail. He also describes in a moving and humble way his own post- conflict experiences and convalescence and pays tribute to those men who fought on without him. With a foreword by Lieutenant-General Sir Peter Graham KCB CBE. 199 pages illus and with maps. £19.99 NOW £6


69310 LOOKING BACK AT BRITAIN: War and Peace 1940s


by Jeremy Harwood


Spectacular wartime photos make this a very special volume. St Paul’s cathedral rising above bomb-damaged buildings in clouds of dust and smoke. Ration books and war posters are pictured, and the text explains what we so often now forget, that Lord Halifax was the popular favourite to lead the wartime coalition government. The blitz produced some iconic pictures such as the bombed Coventry Cathedral, sleepers in the Underground, and a postman on his round in a bombed-out street in the City. D-Day and V.E. day are celebrated, there is a royal wedding, Prince Charles is born, and the decade ends with freezing and flooding as the welfare state is introduced. 150pp, archive photos on every page. £17.99 NOW £6


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