The story of a Soviet Company Town: Cheliabinsk, 1900s-1950s.
The once-closed town in the Urals was nicknamed 'Tankograd' during
World War Two when dozens of machine-building, metal and tractor
factories established in the 1930s were swiftly converted to arms
production. Cheliabinsk became a major production site of Soviet
tanks. This book describes everyday life in a typical Soviet
company town during the Stalin era. The socialist visions of the
founders of the new cityscape in the early 1930s, is contrasted
with the dire conditions in the shanty townships on the outskirts
of the city. The repression during the Great Terror, 1937-8, is
analyzed, as well as the transformation of the historical memory
after 1991.
New in illustrated boards - 351pp, numerous b/w photos
The author was the navigator in an ace night fighter crew in
WWII. Initially in a defensive role in a Douglas Havoc with the
little-known Turbinlite searchlight system, he later moved to 141
Squadron flying Beaufighters, the RAF's first purpose-designed
nightfighter, pioneering the science of radar-directed
interception. The codename for the operation was Serrate and this
is the most detailed account of it.
PARADIES RUINEN:
DAS KDF-SEEBAD DER ZWANZIGTAUSEND AUF RUGEN
by Jurgan Rostock & Franz Zadnicek
Robert Ley was organizational director of the NSDAP, and later
chief of the Arbeitsfront, including its organization for the
leisure time, "Strength through Joy" ("Kraft durch Freude"). On May
2nd 1936, amidst a crowd of workers and men in uniform, Ley laid a
foundation stone at Prora Bay on the Island of Rugen. It was the
start of construction of "the most colossal seaside resort of the
world." Millions of Germans were to recuperate here at the Baltic
Sea and so to demonstrate the superiority of the National Socialist
ideal. The "resort of the 20,000" never went into operation,
actually serving as military hospital and then as NVA (East German
Army) barracks. This extensively illustrated volume examines the
planning and construction of the complex, and looks at its post war
use (or lack of it).
German text.
New in illustrated boards
- 149pp,
c160 b/w photos & ills
Another volume in the popular Service Publications series on
weapons of the Canadian Armed Forces, this compact
book provides details of the Churchill's use by the army in WWII. Includes illustrations of individual named
vehicles.
New in card cover - 24pp, 20 b/w photos,
4-view drawing
OSPREY AIRCRAFT OF THE ACES 23: FINNISH ACES OF
WORLD WAR 2
by Kari Stenman & Kalevi Keskinen
Always outnumbered by their Soviet opponents, the small band of
Finnish fighter pilots defended their Scandinavian homeland in
three separate wars between 1939 and 1945, amassing scores only
bettered by the Luftwaffe's Jagdflieger. Initially equipped with a
motley collection of biplane and monoplane fighters, the Finnish
Air Force was thrust into combat through the invasion of its
eastern border in November 1939. The Finnish fighter pilots
confounded the sceptics and decimated the attacking Russian
formations.
New in card cover - A4 format, 96pp, 12 colour plates, 2 pages scale drawings,
110 b/w illustrations
