TELEPHONE: 0207 474 2474 71735 HELLFIRE by Ed Macy


In 2006, Ed Macy was part of an élite group of pilots assigned to the controversial Apache AH Mk1 gunship programme. For his first month ‘in action’ Ed saw little more from his cockpit than the back end of a Chinook. Then, in the skies over Now Zad, under fire and out of options, he had one chance to save his own skin and those of the men on the ground. Though the Apache bristled with awesome weaponry, its fearsome Hellfire missile had never been fired in combat. In a split-second decision he pulled the trigger. Overnight the course of the Afghan war was changed and the gunship had been transformed from an expensive liability to the British Army’s greatest asset. 422 pages with colour and b/w photos, maps, Apache cutaways, and glossary of terms. £18.99 NOW £5


71635 FIGHTING TECHNIQUES OF THE


ORIENTAL WORLD AD 1200-1860 Equipment, Combat Skills and Tactics by Michael Haskew et al


This excellent and wide-ranging introduction describes in detail the fighting techniques and equipment of the armies of East Asia, from the age of Mongol expansion in the 13th to the Anglo-Chinese Opium wars of the mid-19th centuries. Looks at the use and merits of swordsmen, spearmen and archers, and the revolutionary impact of gunpowder weapons. Chapter two examines the creation of cavalry by the Mongols, and the crucial development of the horse-archer as a key battlefield element. The third chapter looks at command structures and the development of technologies which enabled small, well-drilled armies to defeat much more numerous foes. Colour maps and b/w artworks, colour photos. 256pp, 8" x 10", 2008. $35 NOW £4


72521 EMPEROR’S CODES by Michael Smith


Subtitled ‘Bletchley Park’s Role in Breaking Japan’s Secret Ciphers’, here is a tale of the consequences for the Second World War. It tells the stories of John Tiltman, the eccentric British soldier turned code breaker who made many of the early breaks into Japanese diplomatic and military codes, Eric Knave, the Australian sailor recruited


to work for the British who pioneered breakthroughs in Japanese naval codes, and Hiroshi Oshima, the hard- drinking Japanese Ambassador to Berlin. It was his candid reports to Tokyo of his conversations with Hitler and other high-ranking Nazis that were a major source of intelligence in the war against Germany. Many of these revelations have been made possible only thanks to recently declassified British files and Australian secret official histories. 343pp, paperback, illus. £9.99 NOW £4


71860 HMS HOOD: PRIDE OF THE ROYAL NAVY by Andrew Norman


With a top speed of 31 knots and a circumference of one- third of a mile, HMS Hood was in her time Britain’s heaviest, fastest and largest battleship. Launched in 1918, her main armaments were eight 15-inch Mark I guns and six 21-inch torpedo tubes. Originally she was designed to carry a Fairey seaplane but this facility was discontinued between the wars. HMS Hood was also a floating village, with four months’ supply of provisions, a sick bay, operating theatre, bookshop and chapel. In May 1941 she was sunk in just eight minutes by the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, leaving only three survivors. The Bismarck was sunk three days later. Includes recollections of six crew members. 157pp, softback, photos.


£12.99 NOW £5


71945 AN END OF WAR: Fatal Final Days to VE Day, 1945 by Ken Tout


As conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan remind us today, war does not necessarily end when a ceasefire is declared. Using his own experiences on the front line as well as interviews with many veterans, the author recounts how the last gasps of the German Army in 1944-1945 saw some of the fiercest and most fanatical fighting of the whole war. Major offensives included Hitler’s last desperate attempt to reverse the tide in the Battle of the Bulge, and the Western Allies’ epic struggle to cross the Rhine. Also explored are battles for the Hochwald and the Reichwald. 249 moving pages, archive photos, maps. £18.99 NOW £3.50


71975 BOMBERS: From the


First World War to Kosovo by David Wragg


Begins with a brief overview of the origins of aerial bombardment which, astonishingly, go back several thousand years. Vividly brought to life are Germany’s use of the Blitzkrieg in the opening years, the RAF/USAAF combined bomber offensives, the use of dive- and


torpedo-bombers in the Pacific by the US and Japan, the USAAF’s fire raids on Tokyo, and the dropping of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He also discusses how, during the Gulf War in 1991, credit went to the cruise missiles, despite the deployment of bombers. 280 paperback pages 19.5cm x 26cm, colour and b/w.


£20 NOW £4


72443 CONCEAL, CREATE, CONFUSE by Martin Davies


In a year-by-year account, the author shows how Sir John French and Sir Douglas Haig actively encouraged Army commanders to employ trickery. The real art lay in the development of geographically dispersed deception plans which disguised the real time and place of attack and forced the enemy to defend areas threatened by fake operations. Some of these plans such as disguising mules as tanks and the creation of dummy airfields bordered on the farcical, but were often amazingly effective. The driving force behind the plan was GHQ. 256pp in large paperback with maps. £14.99 NOW £3


71447 BRITISH SOLDIER IN EUROPE 1939-1945 by Peter Doyle and Paul Evans


From his first arrival in France in 1939 through to the victory over the Nazis in 1945, and even to the Victory in Japan in 1946, this splendid info-packed volume examines the everyday objects associated


with the British soldier in wartime. From uniforms to weapons, boots to blanco - a whitener for the soldiers’ puttees - from postcards to phrasebooks, and insignia to ephemera, it provides a visual encyclopedia of the everyday life of the combatant. Contains extensive info for collectors. 208 pages 22cm x 30.5cm, photos of


contemporary documents and equipment in colour and b/w.


£25 NOW £7


72034 BATTLE OF HELIGOLAND BIGHT 1939: The Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe’s


Baptism of Fire by Robin Holmes It was in the course of his underwater research in Loch Ness that the author located and identified the World War II Wellington bomber N2980 ‘R for Robert’. Out of a total of 11,461 of this type of aircraft, Old Wimpy, as it was nicknamed, is now the only one left that fought back against Nazi tyranny and survived to rest in Brooklands Museum. Here is the moving story of the first British bombing raid of the Second World War, when Squadron Leader Paul Harris led 149 Squadron to Brunsbuettel at the entrance to the Kiel Canal. Later, he flew to Wilhelmshaven and took part in the Battle of Heligoland Bight. 190 pages, archive photos, line drawings, diagrams, maps. £20 NOW £5


72251 KILLER ÉLITE by Michael Smith Here is the 25 year inside story of America’s top secret US army Special Ops unit which is at the forefront of the war on terror. ‘The Activity’, as it became known to insiders, has hidden behind a myriad of code-names like Gray Fox and Torn Victor. It has been publically ‘disbanded’ and then secretly resurrected so often that it has near mythical status. We follow members on operations from the undercover ops in Beirut in the 1980s to the capture of Saddam Hussein and the assassination of key members of al Qa’eda. 336pp in paperback with colour photos. £8.99 NOW £2.75


72270 SUB: Real Life on Board with the Hidden Heroes of the Royal Navy’s Silent Service by Danny Danziger Even as you read this review, a classified number of the Royal Navy’s deadly nuclear submarines lurks undetected in the depths of the 300,000,000 cubic miles of the world’s oceans. Completely self-sufficient for months at a time, they lie in wait, ready to watch, listen, intercept or attack, wherever they may be needed, from the Mediterranean coast of Libya to the ice caps of the Arctic. Should the UK be devastated by a nuclear strike, they might just be the last military force standing. Each hunter-killer contains 200,000,000 pounds of hardware. 261 pages with maps. £17.99 NOW £5.50


72803 COMMANDO 50TH ANNIVERSARY: Commando for Action and Adventure by George Low


The official history of Commando comic books, published to celebrate their 50th anniversary. This blockbuster volume features: Six of the best Commando comic books ever, with commentaries, The 50 best iconic full- colour cover artworks, Profiles of the best Commando comic-strip and cover artists, Profiles of the best Commando story writers. Complete Commando comic- book title listing and the inside story of the Commando comic-book bunker and HQ at DC Thomson in Dundee. Here are tales of adventure, daring, honesty, dependability and the triumph of decency, packed with speech and thought bubbles and perfectly rendered Spitfires and Hurricanes. 176 pages 29cm x 36cm. £19.99 NOW £6


72483 TRENCH WARFARE 1850-1950 by Anthony Saunders


Pioneered in the American Civil War, trench warfare was developed fully in the war between the Russians and Japanese in the early 20th century. In World War I it led to a new strategic development known as “deep battle” where an army would operate not just at the front but aim to penetrate and disable the support troops. It was used extensively in the European theatre of World War II, by the Americans in the Pacific, and again in the Korean and the two Gulf Wars. This book examines the relation between mobility and firepower over a fascinating 100-year period, describing in detail developments in artillery, explosives and strategy. 231pp, photos. £19.99 NOW £6


72523 FRANCO’S FRIENDS: How British Intelligence Helped Bring Franco to Power in Spain by Peter Day


In 1936, a British plane flew to the Canaries. On board, Major Hugh Pollard was travelling in the company of two attractive young blondes, but this was no holiday - Pollard was a long-time MI6 agent embarking on a very secret mission, bound for Morocco and on the plane was another special passenger, General Francisco Franco. This book tells the little-known story of how MI6 helped orchestrate the coup and this revelatory account draws on previously classified files. Details the bribes, the plots and the moral dilemmas. 244pp in paperback, photos. £9.99 NOW £4


72526 HELL ABOVE EARTH by Stephen Frater For 1000 days between 1942 and 1945 Allied bombers took off daily to devastate German cities in a programme of saturation bombing. One of the American pilots was Werner G. Goering, a patriotic and religious American and who was known as the nephew of Hitler’s right hand man. Goering commanded 49 “Flying Fortress” combat missions, choosing to sign on for a second combat tour with the 303rd Bombardment Group known as the Hell’s Angels and receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross. Hoover, the head of the FBI, ordered an exhaustive investigation into his background. If Werner defected during a sortie the consequences would be serious. So Hoover started looking for a co-pilot who would be willing to shoot Werner in the event of a German landing. A 23-year-old half-Jewish B-17 flight instructor Jack Rencher, one of the best shots in the army, was the chosen minder. This book is the story of their friendship. 302pp, photos. £20 NOW £7


72592 ANCIENT WORLD COMMANDERS: From the Trojan War to the Fall of Rome by Angus Konstam


From the mythological warrior Achilles to the Chinese general and strategist Zhou Yu, this superbly illustrated book describes more than 160 prominent war leaders. These fascinating profiles of the great military commanders such as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar are arranged alphabetically, while geographically the book covers wars and conflict that occurred in a vast region from Eastern Europe through the Middle East to India and China. Compare the effectiveness of generals of the great formal armies of the Greeks and Romans with that of the devil-may-care yet nonetheless fearsome and successful barbarian hordes of Attila the Hun. 192 gory pages, colour illus. $19.95 NOW £5


72466 PLAYING THE GAME: The British Junior Infantry Officer on the Western Front 1914-18


War and Militaria 31 72668 TWILIGHT YEARS: The Paradox of


Britain Between the Wars by Richard Overy By the end of World War I, Britain had become a laboratory for modern thought and experimentation. Intellectuals, politicians, scientists and artists, among them Arnold Toynbee, Aldous Huxley and H. G. Wells, sought a vision for a rapidly changing world. Colouring their innovative ideas and concepts, from eugenics to Freud’s concept of the unconscious, was a creeping fear that the West was staring at the end of civilisation. Britain had not suffered from economic collapse, occupation, civil war or any of the ideological conflicts of inter-war Europe. The author postulates that the coming of the second war was almost welcomed by Britain’s leading thinkers. 522 pages with b/w illus. $35 NOW £7


72474 ROYAL AIR FORCE AT HOME: The


History of RAF Air Displays from 1920 by Ian Smith Watson


The military has always endeavoured to foster good relations with those whom they defend, and since early times the armed forces have put on entertaining spectacles for the public, typified by parades, bands, mock battles, drill displays. In 1920 the first of the now legendary Hendon Air Pageants was staged, and today these are considered to be the world’s first military air shows. This account of the RAF’s major public displays since 1920 is generously illustrated with colour and b/w photos and features all the aircraft, pilots and display teams that have flown for the public’s entertainment since then. The first nine chapters, roughly a third of the book, look at the displays themselves, then chapter ten Aircraft ‘At Home’, showcases in a further 80 pages every aircraft to have taken part in displays, 150 pages of appendices cover aircraft and statistics. 345pp. £30 NOW £9


72801 BRITAIN’S SECRET WAR 1939-1945: How Espionage, Codebreaking and Covert Operations Helped Win the War by Michael Smith


by Christopher Moore-Bick The Edwardian ideal of war as a gentlemanly game was shattered in 1914. Poets such as Sassoon and Owen recorded unspeakable brutality and suffering among the rank and file, while historians have pointed to a tragic level of


incompetence at strategic level. Mail and parcels were treasured luxuries, not only for their contents but because their speedy arrival reassured men in the trenches that the war machine was working. Leadership qualities were still regarded as a public school preserve, and the author examines the effects of their education on the way young men coped with the situation at the front. Also looks at the problems of inexperienced junior infantry officers who might find themselves commanding older conscripts, some with distinguished careers in civilian life. 327pp. £25 NOW £6.50


72593 AND THE SHOW WENT ON: Cultural


Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris by Alan Riding When the Germans occupied Paris it had lost 60% of its population, but cultural life soon resumed. Hitler was a particular enthusiast for the architecture of the Paris Opera and in August it reopened with a production of Berlioz’s Faust. The Cannes film festival struggled on, but many film producers were Jewish and started to leave for the States. Andre Gide wavered between support and resistance, and finally emigrated to Tunisia. Jean Cocteau’s allegiances were shaky and at the end of the war he feared arrest. Camus and Sartre, in spite of their resistance contacts, both had plays produced during the occupation. Roughcut pages. 340pp, photos. £20 NOW £5


72606 FOR THEM THE WAR WAS NOT OVER: The Royal Navy in Russia 1918-1920 by Michael Wilson


11th November 1918, as thousands of men were looking forward to their demobilisation, civil war still raged in Russia. The Allied Forces who were left in that huge country found that they faced an implacable foe. Leon Trotsky was energetically reorganising his rabble of revolutionaries into an effective fighting machine - the Red Army. The White Russian Army, who sided with the Tsar, was still fighting the Bolsheviks, especially in the north of Russia, and the Royal Navy sent a squadron of ships in support, while British troops continued to battle against the Bolsheviks on land. The Russian towns of Murmansk and Archangel became British enclaves. In the end, the Bolsheviks were victorious on all fronts. 143 paperback pages, illus. £16.99 NOW £6


72753 ALL HELL LET LOOSE: The World at War 1939-


1945 by Max Hastings Based on 35 years of research, it focuses chiefly upon human experience, which varied immensely from campaign to campaign and continent to continent. It ranges across a vast canvas, from the agony of Poland amid the Nazi invasion, to the Bengal famine, in which at least 1,000,000 people died under British rule and British


neglect. Among many vignettes there are the RAF’s legendary raid on the Ruhr dams, the horrors of Arctic convoys, desert tank combat and jungle clashes. Here are vivid descriptions of the tragedies and triumphs of a host of ordinary people, in uniform and out of it. The war’s dread impact was felt by hundreds of millions of human beings around the globe: soldiers, sailors and airmen, British housewives and Indian peasants, SS killers, Japanese suicide pilots, American carrier crews, German soldiers on the Russian front and, most shocking of all, perhaps, the citizens of Leningrad, some of whom resorted to cannibalism during the city’s two-year siege. The book explores the meaning of this horrifying conflict for both its participants and for posterity. 748 pages, many heart-breaking b/w archive photos, maps. £30 NOW £12.50


Here are removable - facsimile - documents from the archives of MI5, MI6 and SOE, bringing to life as never before the era, personalities and events of World War II. They include intelligence reports, annotated by Churchill, revealing Nazi atrocities in Eastern Europe and Russia, a diagram of the ‘Garbo’ network of invented contacts which was used by double agent Jean Pujol when convincing the Nazis he had a whole spy ring operating in Britain, the order for Operation Gunnerside, including maps and diagrams laying out the attack, and many more. Even astrologers and a stage magician were brought in to help extract allied aircrew from Nazi- occupied Europe. 63 pages 29cm x 25cm in very tough slipcase. Photos. £30 NOW £9.50


72818 1944-1945 THE VICTORY IN EUROPE EXPERIENCE: From D-Day to the Destruction


of the Third Reich by Julian Thompson The 11 months from June 1944 to May 1945 remain the most momentous in modern human history. The Allied invasion and recapture of mainland Europe began with the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 and went on to include many of the most famous battles of WWII and events such as the taking of Hitler’s HQ, the discovery of the horrors of the concentration camps, the suicide of Hitler on 29 April 1945 and the subsequent unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, and VE Day, Tuesday 8 May 1945. Published in association with the Imperial War Museum, as well as a quite magnificent retelling of events from D-Day, lavishly illustrated with over 200 colour and b/w photos and 20 full-colour battle maps, there are over 30 facsimile items of rare memorabilia integrated into the book’s pages. Some leave you speechless, such as Major Hugh Stewart’s account of what he saw as he walked into Belsen. Plus a 72 minute audio CD, “We Fought in Europe”. 64pp, 12¼”×10½”. £30 NOW £12


WAR MEMOIRS My dear, the noise! And the people!


- Ernest Thesiger, letter on life in the trenches.


73880 HEDY’S FOLLY by Richard Rhodes


Billed as the most beautiful girl in the world by Viennese impresario Max Reinhardt, Hedy Lamarr achieved notoriety when she starred in the 1933 erotic film Ecstasy. Other leading roles followed, until Hedy married the Austrian arms dealer Fritz Mandl who insisted that she should end her career. Hedy soon found her marriage oppressive and began to


make plans to escape. With Prince Ernst Starhemberg, Mandl developed a right-wing Austrian private militia, and as the hostess at her husband’s dinner parties with high-ranking Nazi officials, Hedy used her ears. Superficially an archetypal dumb brunette, in reality she was an extremely clever woman with a keen interest in scientific research, and she memorised compromising details for future use. Meanwhile the avant-garde composer George Antheil, who would become Hedy’s collaborator, left Europe to revive his career in America. In Paris Antheil lodged above the famous bohemian bookshop Shakespeare and Co., and in 1926 his composition for 16 synchronised mechanical pianos and aeroplane propeller had premiered to the accompaniment of riots. In 1937 Hedy escaped to America via London, where she met the film producer Louis B. Mayer. Her film career was now secure, but when friends introduced her to Antheil, her military knowledge, combined with his synchronisation experience, led against all the odds to the development of vital technology for variable


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