35 WAR MEMOIRS


Military history & archive film on DVD 72858 WAR FILE: RAF


Bomber Command DVD Bomber Command was responsible for carrying the war to Hitler’s Germany when Britain stood alone during the early years of the war. By 1942 losses had grown so heavy that the RAF adopted a policy of night bombing only. The staggeringly high casualties were


borne with unwavering resolve by the men who knew they had a job to do. This is the story of the air war over Germany from the British viewpoint featuring archive material from both British and German sources, new footage of surviving RAF bombers, illustrated maps and graphics and military analysis by Dr Robin Clifton of Warwick University. 50 minute DVD. £9.99 NOW £5


72859 WAR FILE: Atlantic Convoys DVD by Cromwell Productions


After June 1940, German U-Boats began to operate in the Atlantic and appalling losses were inflicted on Allied merchant shipping. Arctic convoys were twice suspended in 1942 as German aircraft and submarines wrought havoc on the waves. The trip to the Russian port of Murmansk soon became known as the ‘death trip’ because so few ships returned. Featuring powerful filmed memories of veterans from both sides, here is an account of WW2’s most pitiless theatres of operations. The DVD features 3D graphics and animation to show the realities of submarine attack and the mechanics of a ship’s defences, together with an in-depth analysis from Dr Tim Bean of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Features radar technology. 50 mins DVD. £9.99 NOW £5


72860 WAR FILE: The Messerschmitt BF109 DVD by Pegasus Entertainment


By the outbreak of WW2, the German Luftwaffe possessed more than 3500 frontline aircraft. Over one third of these were single engine fighters and for the next six years one of those fighters would become the flagship of the German fighter force - the Messerschmitt BF109. This legendary aircraft remained in operational service throughout the war, fighting on all fronts and in doing so was responsible for shooting down twice as many enemy aircraft as any other fighter plane in the annals of military history. Features the Daimler Benz BS109E, Hermann Goering changing tactics, night fighting, BF109 pilots and the Luftwaffe fuel crisis. 55 minute DVD. £9.99 NOW £5


72862 WAR FILE: The


Normandy Battles DVD by Pegasus Entertainment Narrated by Michael Leighton, the DVD also features an interview with the Rt. Hon. Viscount Montgomery of Alamein CBE. After the D-day landings in June 1944, the Allied troops found themselves up against stiff German defensive positions. As a result of the desperate fighting


which followed, the German army was pushed back towards Paris, and the tide of the war was finally flowing in favour of the Allies. Featuring the Allied air campaign and the Carpiquet airfield, this programme tells the story of the mighty battle for the town of Caen, and the shambles of ‘Operation Goodwood’, one of the great British disasters of WW2. Rare archive footage in black and white, informative maps and graphics in colour. 55 minute DVD. £9.99 NOW £5


72856 THE PANZER DVD by The War File The story of Adolf Hitler’s infamous Panzer Divisions. Battle tanks decided many battles during WWII and some 25,000 were produced in Germany and some 250,000 by the Allies during the conflicts. The German Panzer Divisions became legendary and the crews still vividly remember their mechanical mounts, the sounds they produced, the smell of fuel and oil, the effects they had on the enemy and also the fact that the Panzer could become a steel coffin in one blazing moment. The six scene selections include The Tiger and the Panther, The Tiger Kings and the Panzers in Action. 58 minute DVD. £9.99 NOW £5


72857 U-BOAT 534 DVD by The War File, Seapower ‘Underwater, underhanded and damned un-English’ they might have been, but submarine development and deployment has long been an integral part of naval warfare. It has proved the ultimate method of improving the odds against a superior surface fleet. The attempts to create the perfect sub was a long


and often tragic affair and this DVD tracks the evolution of underwater crafts from the early Turtle to the privileged look inside the salvaged U-boat 534 and beyond. We examine the living conditions and true bravery shown by all her crew and the special scene selections include the Self-Propelled Torpedo, The Holland Submarine and German U-boats. 50 minutes in colour and b/w. £9.99 NOW £4.50


72861 U-BOAT WAR DVD by The War File German Navy’s U-boat fleet - the dreaded Wolf Pack stalked the Atlantic depths, bringing instant death to merchant men and warships alike. A decade of secret rebuilding had brought forth capital ships like the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen. Commanded by Admiral Karl Doenitz, the submarines laid waste to shipping, cutting supply lines and striking from within convoys where Allied escorts dare not use guns. On the 4th May 1945, Doenitz issued orders to cease hostilities. Six scene selections on 55 minute DVD. £9.99 NOW £5


We are not retreating, merely advancing in another direction.


- Douglas Adams


72477 SIR, THEY’RE TAKING THE KIDS INDOORS: The British Army in Northern


Ireland 1973-74 by Ken Wharton Ken Wharton served as a soldier on the streets of Belfast in the 70s and mounts a strongly-worded defence of the British army’s role in those devastating years. He is particularly concerned to revise the official roll of honour and this book covers almost all army deaths during the two-year period, quoting extensively from survivors’ accounts. In 1972 over 25,000 troops were deployed, with a small reduction in the next two years. The experience of the young men on the ground was terrifying, with both Provisionals and Loyalists mounting ruthlessly bloody campaigns. Wharton points a strong finger of blame at these who bankrolled the Provisional IRA from America and Libya. This month-by-month account vividly brings to life the daily and nightly experience of being a soldier on the streets. Platoon Commander George Clarke of the Green Howards, lying in wait in a trouble spot, speaks for many when he writes, “Can I be brave enough to shoot before he shoots me?” In the event he nearly shot his commanding officer but disaster was avoided through his cool nerve. Mike Sangster of the Royal Artillery argues that because the military were forbidden from speaking to the media, a false picture emerged in the British press. The sister of a dead man movingly describes the fear and grief of waiting for news. 358pp, photos, roll of honour. £25 NOW £7.50


72737 PEOPLE’S WAR


by Felicity Goodall Two elderly ladies cling to each other in the rubble of their almshouses, but their expressions are determined and show no signs of panic. A fashionable wedding at St George’s Hanover Square takes place amid piles of debris. Members of the Women’s Institute, most wearing hats, sit in a circle furiously


knitting socks for the boys. A group of landgirls in dungarees march down a country lane to work, and at lunch time they are seen chatting over tea in tin mugs. A young couple are rapturously reunited during a soldier’s leave. Censorship was an important feature of life in Britain and an archive photo shows the censor’s department at the Post Office, unusually staffed mainly by men, meticulously checking the contents of letters abroad. Mea Allen was the first woman to be appointed to a Fleet Street news desk, but she was hauled over the coals by the police when she revealed a particularly juicy story in a letter to a friend. This outstanding book uses archive photos and text to recreate a picture of life on the home front with amazing vividness. The progress of the war is also recounted, including bombs, shelters, air raids, industrial action, rationing, the Enigma code, the internment of “enemy aliens” on the Isle of Man, and the German occupation of the Channel Islands. 288pp, large paperback, archive photos on every page. £15 NOW £6.50


72427 AIR GUNNER: The Men


Who Manned the Turrets by Alan W. Cooper


Air gunners were originally ground crew who volunteered to operate a gun in the open rear-cockpit during World War I, but with the approach of another major conflict in the 1930s it was clear that a serious training operation was needed. Most young men preferred to become pilots, so in 1939 Bomber


Command decided to recruit people experienced in handling guns such as big game hunters, preferably mature men who would supply leadership, example and influence. The author describes in detail the experience of air gunners in World War II and beyond, drawing on eyewitness accounts of combat and using his own detailed knowledge of the technical side of the trade. An early operation was the search for the German fleet in the Heligoland Bight, where Flying Office “Cheese” Lemon of 37 Squadron opened his flaps instead of the bomb doors and had to ditch, though not before his rear gunner, Corporal Kidd, shot down an He 111. One of the most extraordinary of many hair’s breadth escapes was when Rear Gunner Nicholas Alkemade was attacked by a Ju88 which shattered his turret. With the plane on fire and unable to reach his parachute, Nick jumped 18,000 feet and survived, falling into snow as trees broke his fall. The Germans thought he was a spy and only accepted his story when the parachute harness was retrieved from the wreckage. A gripping read. 328pp, photos. £25 NOW £9


72488 WE WILL NOT GO TO


WAR by Felicity Goodall Subtitled ‘Conscientious Objections During the World Wars’ here is the story of how thousands of men and women who refused the call to arms were reviled, starved and beaten. Theirs was a battle of conscience. During the First World War, 73 conscientious objectors died as a result of their treatment and hundreds more were imprisoned. During WW2, many objectors


performed other, non-combatant duties with great heroism, including bomb disposal and joining the fire service and ambulance crews. Unable to turn a blind eye to the dark realities of war, these men and women who came from all classes and backgrounds, wrestled with their beliefs. Their motivations and stories are


brought together in this collection of moving and challenging voices from war’s outcasts. We learn that more than 6,000 were refused exemption from military service, court-martialled and sent to military prisons. In 1916 Mark Hayler was sentenced to 112 days of hard labour and sent to Wandsworth Prison. Read his words on page 33. With 16 pages of photos, 250pp in paperback.


£9.99 NOW £3.50 72973 DAY WE WENT TO


WAR by Terry Charman ‘Gas-proof dog kennels, fines for striking matches, intimate liaisons in the black out - the Home Front vividly recalled by ordinary Britons.’ - Daily Mail. As the people of Britain gathered around their radios, the Prime Minister confirmed on 3rd September 1939 at 11.15am what many had feared for months - Britain was at war with Germany.


Drawing on the Imperial War Museum’s extensive archives, this book features the personal stories of men and women who lived through startling events from the first shots fired to the first wartime Christmas. It is a book that chronicles ‘that odd, dead period before the Churchillian renaissance.’ 446pp in paperback, photos. £6.99 NOW £3.50


73164 THE HARDEST DAY: Battle of Britain 18th August


1940 by Alfred Price On Sunday 18th August 1940 the Luftwaffe launched three major air assaults against targets in southern England. 100 German and 136 British aircraft were destroyed or damaged. On no other day would either suffer a greater number of aircraft put out of action. This vivid, emotionally charged book


describes the events of that 24-hour period, seen through the eyes of: pilots from both sides, schoolboys, schoolgirls, housewives, ground crew, the police, railway men, motor mechanics, nurses, members of the public and many, many more. Every point of view is covered, especially those of Guenther Unger, Do 17 pilot and Sergeant Harry Newton, Hurricane pilot, whose terrible experiences on that day, and subsequent friendship, served as the inspiration for this book. The author’s examination of hitherto inaccessible official and personal records adds to the sheer authenticity of his compelling narrative, with its rich thread of human interest running throughout. Detailed appendices of carefully researched statistical data, RAF and Luftwaffe orders of battle, combat losses and the intelligence appreciations of the day combine to offer a new level of insight into this seminal event in 20th century British history. 288 pages with b/w archive photos, maps, author’s note, list of witnesses. £29.99 NOW £6.50


73190 NO TIME FOR


ROMANCE by Lucilla Andrews A vivid, real-life account of the romantic novelist’s wartime nursing experiences. Lucilla Andrews was only 18 years old when, as a volunteer nurse at the beginning of WW2, she experienced a grim reality. Young and coming from a comfortable and sheltered background, she soon found herself dealing with survivors from Dunkirk and victims of the Blitz. Seeing


these horrors first-hand made her determined to train as a nurse at St. Thomas’s Hospital. Told with matchless insight into the conditions and impact of war. 304pp with useful glossary plus eight pages of b/w photos. £7.99 NOW £3.50


71159 LUTYENS AND THE GREAT WAR by Tim Skelton and Gerald Gliddon World-famous for his work in New Delhi and Hampstead Garden Suburb, the architect Edwin Lutyens also worked for the Imperial War Graves Commission after World War I. This beautiful book covers over 50 memorials designed by Lutyens, from the Cenotaph in Whitehall to the beautiful arches over water in the town of Spalding, Passions ran high in York, where two cenotaphs were proposed, both designed by Lutyens, one publicly funded and the other paid for by the railway company. Other cities with grand memorials included Leicester, Rochdale and Northampton. Appendices list 200 memorials with small photos. Colour photos, notes. £30 NOW £8


71355 DEAR JOAN: Love Letters from the Second World War


by Tony Ross and Joan Charles Tony describes the challenges of life in the desert, his increasing responsibilities in the RAF as he is promoted to the rank of Wing Commander - eventually being awarded the DFC - and his breathtaking experiences in the numerous countries he visits throughout the Middle East. Joan’s letters reveal the problems of daily life in wartime Britain and give an insight into her voluntary work for the Fire Guard, the Land Army and the Red Cross, as well as the bureaucracy she hated in her job with the Civil Service. 304 pages, photos. £17.99 NOW £4.50


72060 PEDRO: The Life and Death of Fighter


Ace Osgood Villiers Hanbury by Robin Rhoderick-Jones


A fine tribute to a naturally gifted fighter pilot who destroyed 12 enemy aircraft and damaged 5 (plus two probables). Known as Pedro to his comrades and Tiggy to his family, Osgood Villiers Hanbury was a charismatic Eton schoolboy who, before his untimely death aged 25, became acting squadron leader of 260 Squadron in the Middle East and won medals for his bravery. He was an accomplished letter writer, and his lust for life and thirst for action are evident in his missives to family and friends, although these are counterbalanced by his frustration at long periods of inactivity. 168 pages, photos, maps. £18 NOW £4


In Loving Memory


Deric Longden, born November 29th 1936, died June 23rd 2013 pictured with our family cat, Tigger.


71454 FAMILY AT WAR: The Foljambe Family


and the Great War by Jolyon Jackson Francis Foljambe, whose personal correspondence forms the main thread of this story, was with the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium during the early days of the war. His artillery battery had the unique distinction of firing the first 18-pounder rounds of the First World War. They endured the horrors of Mons - where Francis’ battery commander was shot through the throat and died - Le Cateau, the Aisne and Ypres. Francis was commanding a battery as an acting major, had been mentioned in dispatches and won a Military Cross when he was posted home to work in the Ministry of Munitions. This unique selection of papers is unparalleled as a record of a family at war. 264 pages 21.5cm by 28 cm, archive photos and reproductions of original documents.


£25 NOW £5.50 72225 VE DAY IN


PHOTOGRAPHS by Sean McKnight


A lorry passes through Parliament Square, five high with people in almost a pyramid, girls with their skirts billowing in the wind, uniformed soldiers and smart civilians arm in arm, hand in hand, waving and gleeful. The future Queen Elizabeth I is pictured in uniform, symbolising a common,


national purpose. Land girls are in cheerful mood in Trafalgar Square, the Palace of Westminster is blazing with lights now that the blackout is over, street parties, children, bunting, the news reaches the USA and the liberated Western Europe, even German soldiers are smiling. 64 very large pages, photos with captions in this pictorial celebration. £8.99 NOW £3


71889 THE WOMAN WHO CENSORED CHURCHILL by Ruth Ive


By the 1940s, all telephone cables except one between Britain and North America had been disconnected, in order to prevent the Germans intercepting information. The one between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt was reserved for conversations of the utmost importance between key political figures, heads of state and the royal family, and it had to be closely monitored to ensure that nothing was said that might compromise security. A young stenographer working in the Ministry of Information had the job of censoring the line and she spent three and half years ready to cut it if anything was said that might pose a security risk. It was not until 1995, when Churchill’s private files were finally declassified, that she was able to prove the extraordinary nature of her wartime work. 159 pages, photos. £18.99 NOW £4


72601 DENAZIFICATION: Britain’s Enemy Aliens, Nazi War Criminals and the


Reconstruction of Post-war Europe by Helen Fry


How were Germany and Austria rebuilt after the end of Nazi tyranny? And who was going to undertake the gigantic task of re-educating the German and Austrian people into the values of democracy and a free society - of which they had been deprived from the 1930s until 1945? More than 10,000 Germans, who fled Nazi persecution, served with British forces during the Second World War. At the end of the conflict, many returned to the land of their birth with the Intelligence Corps and Military Government, to begin the rebuilding process. The huge task they faced, which involved the removal of all adherents of Nazi ideology from every facet of public life, was termed ‘denazification’. Some of these ex-refugees were involved with the hunt for Nazi war criminals, others interrogated prisoners of war or gathered evidence from the concentration camps and interviewed the survivors. 190 pages, archive photos. £18.99 NOW £6


72876 KITCHENER’S LAST VOLUNTEER: The Life of Henry Allingham


the Oldest Surviving Veteran of the Great War by Henry Allingham with Dennis Goodwin This man is unique in that he saw action on land, sea and in the air with the Royal Naval Air Service - which would later be amalgamated into what we know today as the Royal Air Force. He was present at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 with the British Grand Fleet, and went on to serve on the Western Front, where he encountered the many horrors of air warfare. In the 21st century, widowed, and living alone, he was befriended by Dennis Goodwin, who enabled him to tell his story to a wider audience through a BBC documentary. Driven to teach today’s generation about the tragedy of war, Henry Allingham has become a hero to many people, meeting royalty and receiving numerous honours, such as the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest military accolade. 240 pages with maps, photos in colour and b/ w, and timeline. £17.99 NOW £5


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