The
The author served throughout the Falklands War with 846
Naval Air Squadron flying Sea King helicopters. The
sensitive nature of his experiences provides the reader with
some fascinating insights into the conduct of covert
operations. His role was to insert Special Forces units onto
enemy occupied territory, to gather intelligence and conduct
offensive operations, such as the SAS's sensationally
successful Pebble Island raid. Without doubt the most
dramatic task he undertook was the ambitious but ill-fated
SAS raid into mainland Argentina, Operation MIKADO. As
Captain of the Sea King involved, the author gives a
firsthand account of what went wrong both in the air and on
the ground.
Generalship in the Hundred Years War. A perceptive study of
the careers of Edward, the Black Prince who led the English
army to victory at the Battle of Poitiers and the opponent
he defeated, the French King Jean II. Their contrasting
characters and backgrounds are considered as is the military
tradition of their time, but the primary focus of the book
is a close comparison of their strengths and weaknesses as
soldiers as they were revealed on campaign and on the
battlefield. The Black Prince was one of the most admired
generals of his generation, a charismatic leader, a shrewd
tactician and strategist and a decisive commander. In
contrast King Jean was impulsive, driven more by pride, his
sense of honour and personal objectives than strategic
priorities. When he was put to the ultimate test at Poitiers
he lost control of his army,
The
Evolution of the Ships that Fought the Second World War.
Cruisers probably vary more in their characteristics than
any other warship type and have certainly been subject to
the most convoluted development. There was always a basic
tension between quantity and quality, between numbers and
unit size, but at a more detailed level every one of the
naval powers made different demands of their cruiser
designers. This makes the story of cruiser evolution in the
world’s major navies fascinating but complex. How the
cruisers of the treaty era performed in the Second world War
forms the focus of the book, which concludes with a look at
the fate of the cruiser-type since 1945.
The author, an Officer during the
German invasion of Poland, relates his experiences as a
member of the Polish Forces in exile and the Polish
underground resistance. After Poland's defeat in 1939, he
joined the Resistance, fighting on two fronts - against the
German occupiers and the Russians. He was a witness to the
German extermination of the Jews. At the end of the war he
escaped to the West pursued by the Russians.
The breaking of the Japanese
Purple ciphers. Taken from thousands of declassified
Ultra/Magic signals, these are transcripts of signals
between Berlin and Tokyo that, with a chronological overlay
by the author, demonstrate how the decoding allowed the High
Command to understand the strategy and plans of Germany and
Japan and influenced the strategic prosecution of the war.
Also looks at the duplicity of Laval, the Latin American
countries willing to support the Axis and the ceding of
Berlin to the Soviets.
