History abounds with unresolved puzzles and unanswered questions, none more so than that of the loss of the British Army's military chest during the retreat to Corunna in 1809.Sir John Moore's small force had dared to attack Marshal Soult's II Corps…
For almost two decades, Napoleon Bonaparte was the most feared, and revered, man in Europe. At the height of his power, the land under his control stretched from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, and encompassed most of Western Europe.The story of ho…
In the summer and autumn of 1918, the British Expeditionary Force, under Field Marshal Haig, fought a series of victorious battles on the Western Front that contributed mightily to the German Army's final defeat. They did so as part of an Allied coa…
Possibly the most famous fighting formations of the Burma campaign during the Second World War were the Long Range Penetration Groups, more commonly known as the Chindits. Colonel Orde Wingate was given permission to attempt long-range operations de…
This celebration of the Georgian sailor's diet reveals how the navy's administrators fed a fleet of more than 150,000 men, in ships that were often at sea for months on end and that had no recourse to either refrigeration or canning. Contrary to the…
The fighting in Europe during the Seven Years War hung in the balance. After initial successes the Austro-French forces had been driven back across the Rhine. With the opposing sides reinforcing their armies, the campaign of 1759 was going to prove…
Drawing on an extremely rare collection of photographs taken by the camera guns of Bristol Beaufighters deployed on ground-attack and anti-shipping operations, this book will form a rare indeed unique view of what it was like to fly dangerous strike…
It was the events of the Crimean War that changed everything. Until that time, those serving in Britain's army or navy had been expected to do their duty without thought of recognition or reward, particularly the men in the lower ranks.Fuelled by re…
Winston Churchill described Wingate as a 'man of genius who might well have become a man of destiny'. Tragically, he died in an jungle aircraft crash in 1944. Like his famous kinsman Lawrence of Arabia, Wingate was renowned for being an unorthodox s…
They knew it was the end. Weakened by four years of war, the reality had finally dawned on the Germans that their armies could never stop the combined might of the Allied forces, now bolstered by the fresh, enthusiastic Americans, who were now deter…
What did SOE really achieve during the Second World War? Why were so many agents parachuted into enemy hands? Who chose to back Communist guerrillas in Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Greece and Malaya in preference to other anti-Axis movemen…
Trapped in the depths of Japanese-held territory, it was rare for Allied prisoners of war to attempt escape. There was little chance of making contact with anti-guerrilla or underground organisations and no possibility of Europeans blending in with…
Otto Skorzeny, Germany's top commando in the Second World War, is one of the most famous men in the history of special forces. His extraordinary wartime career was one of high risk and adventure and here he tells the full story. Skorzeny quickly pro…
Renowned German aviation specialist Manfred Griehl has collected a unique and valuable selection of photographs of Luftwaffe projects that never made it into battle. They remained on the drawing board or at prototype stage either because they were d…
In this superb illustrated guide, renowned German aviation specialist Manfred Griehl has collected a unique and valuable selection of photographs of Luftwaffe projects that never made it into battle. They remained on the drawing board or at prototyp…
Second Captain Webber of the Royal Artillery joined Captain Maxwell's 9-pounder Brigade at Zafra in August 1812. His journal covers the period up to 16 June 1813, just before the Battle of Vitoria. In his journal Captain Webber records the events as…
With this third volume John Gill brings to a close his magisterial study of the war between Napoleonic France and Habsburg Austria. The account begins with both armies recuperating on the banks of the Danube. As they rest, important action was takin…
The most comprehensive and enlightening version of these seminal events yet. **Sir Ranulph Fiennes** Britain s elite Special Air Service Regiment, the SAS, is one of the most revered and feared special-ops units in the world. Its high-profile operat…
"We waited in silence, each man occupied with his own secret thoughts and no doubt wrestling with his own secret fears. I think that half-hour was probably the worst I have ever spent. Slowly and inexorably the minutes passed, second by second, and…
Ernest Van Maurik, known to all simply as 'Van', joined the illustrious Artists Rifles regiment in the Territorial Army in 1936, but when war broke out he was commissioned into the Wiltshire Regiment. In the summer of 1940 the regiment was posted at…
'For enthusiasts of WWI aviation, this book is a true gem.' Flying Scale Models The history of aviation during the First World War is a rich and varied story marked by the evolution of aircraft from slow-moving, fragile, and unreliable powered kites…
Following the declaration of war by the United States, more than 200 American men, unwilling to wait until US squadrons could be raised, volunteered to join the Royal Flying Corps in the summer of 1917. Amongst these men was John MacGavock Grider an…
Every war has its cause and every conflict its context, none more so than the centuries-old ideological battle between Christian and Muslim theology. The concept of holy war is almost as old as the religions themselves, with Christian crusades and M…
The history of the Guinea Pig Club, the band of airmen who were seriously burned in aeroplane fires, is a truly inspiring, spine-tingling tale. Plastic surgery was in its infancy before the Second World War. The most rudimentary techniques were only…
The last of the nine Frontier Wars, themselves a series of conflicts between the Xhosa Kingdom and European settlers fought between 1799-1877 in what is now the Eastern Cape in South Africa, was in many ways a 'prequel' to the more famous Zulu War o…
'The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril,' wrote Winston Churchill in his history of the Second World War. 'I was even more anxious about this battle than I had been about the glorious air fight called the B…
No one in history has provoked more controversy than Napoleon Bonaparte. Was he an enlightened ruler or brutal tyrant? Was he an insatiable warmonger or a defender of France against the aggression of the other great powers. Was he kind or cruel, far…
The typewritten script of a First World War pilot's diary with a large number of photographs was submitted to the publishers William Heinemann and published by them in 1933. Heinemann stated on the book's jacket that the diary contained no names, da…
Tadeusz Komorowski was born in 1895 in Galicia, a region then ruled by the Austrians, and he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army in the First World War. Poland regained its independence in 1918, and Komorowski fought against the Russians in the Poli…
Until seriously wounded in August 1944 when his tank was hit and caught fire during fighting in Southern Poland, Armin Bottger experienced the horrors of the Second World War on the Eastern Front from the perspective of a tank radio operator in the…
Frederick the Great is one of history's most controversial leaders. Famed for his military successes and domestic reforms, his campaigns were a watershed in the history of Europe, securing Prussia's place as a continental power and inaugurating a ne…
During the two-and-a-half years' fighting in the Western Desert of North Africa, which began with the Italian declaration of war in June 1940 and ended in 1943, the Long Range Desert Group became the acknowledged master of the vast desert. This smal…
'As a sniper, I've killed more than a few Nazis. I have a passion for observing enemy behaviour. You watch a Nazi officer come out of a bunker, acting all high and mighty, ordering his soldiers every which way, and putting on an air of authority. Th…
The Frontline Napoleonic Library is an unparalleled collection of classic works on the Napoleonic Wars. Presenting some of the finest memoirs and studies of the period the collection brings together renowned contemporary accounts with more recent an…
As the Battle of Waterloo reached its momentous climax, Napoleon's Imperial Guard marched towards the Duke of Wellington's thinning red line. The Imperial Guard had never tasted defeat and nothing, it seemed, could stop it smashing through the Briti…
From their first introduction at the Battle of the Somme in the First World War, tanks proved to be one of the most important military developments in the history of warfare. Such was their influence on the battlefield, both as infantry support and…
Rudolph Hess flight to Britain in May 1941 stands out as one of the most intriguing and bizarre episodes of the Second World War.In The Truth About Rudolph Hess, Lord James Douglas-Hamilton explores many of the myths which still surround the affair.…
Jac Weller studies every move and counter-move of the battle, recreating not only the actions and tactics of the two great leaders but the epic engagements and clashes between the troops themselves that were pivotal for the victory or defeat. The au…
Wednesday 22 January 1879 was one of the most dramatic days in the long and distinguished history of the British Army. At noon a massive Zulu host attacked the 24th Regiment in its encampment at the foot of the mountain of Isandlwana, a distinctive…
The Franco-Austrian War of 1809 was Napoleon's last victorious war. He would win many battles in his future campaigns, but never again would one of Europe's great powers lie broken at his feet. In this respect 1809 represents a high point of the Fir…
Designed as a fast bomber that could out-run the fighters of the era, the twin-engine Junkers Ju 88 became one of the most versatile aircraft of the Second World War. Such was the success of the design that its production lines operated constantly f…
For almost four desperate years, from 1939 to mid-1943, the British and American navies fought a savage, losing battle against German submarine wolfpacks. The Allies might never have turned the tide without an intelligence coup. The race to break th…
From its origins as the Consular Guard of the French Republic, and as Napoleon's personal bodyguard, the Imperial Guard developed into a force of all arms numbering almost 100,000 men. Used by Napoleon as his principle tactical reserve, the Guard wa…
Henry VIII is one of history's most memorable monarchs. Popularly known for his six wives, and the unfortunate fate which befell Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, Henry initiated many reforms and changes which still affect our lives today.The annulm…
After his first meeting with General Alexander in August 1942, Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Horrocks wrote that: By repute he was Winston Churchills fire brigade chief par excellence: the man who was always dispatched to retrieve the most desperate…
On the night of 13/14 October 1939, the Type VIIB U-boat U-47, on its second War Patrol, penetrated the main Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow and sank the British battleship HMS Royal Oak. This legendary attack is remembered as one of the most audaciou…
Jagdgeschwader 26, the German elite fighter unit, was more feared by the Allies than any other Luftwaffe group. Based on extensive archival research in Europe, personal combat diaries and interviews with more than 50 surviving pilots, Caldwell has a…
Mafeking was the longest and the most controversial of the three sieges that began the South African War in 1899\. Lasting 217 days, the Siege of Mafeking brought a highly charismatic leader to public attention and involved some controversial practi…
Considered to be the best known German bomber of the Second Wold War, the Heinkel He 111 served in every military front in the European theatre, having first being deployed in the Spanish Civil War in 1936. It then saw extensive service in the invas…
This is the personal account of a Luftwaffe aide always at Hitler s side from 1937 until the last days in Berlin, now published for the first time in English.Nicolaus von Below was a 29-year-old pilot when Goering selected him for the position of Hi…
The most iconic German aircraft of the Second World War, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the Luftwaffe's principal fighter from 1939 until 1942 when the superior Focke-Wulf Fw 190 came into greater prominence. The Bf 109 served in every theatre of the…
