The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was widely regarded as the Luftwaffe’s finest fighter. It first saw service in France in August 1941, immediately proving itself at least the equal of the then latest Spitfire va
The often unseen and unrecognised element in aerial warfare, is that of training the pilots and crews, yet it its value is beyond calculation. In this fundamental role, a wide variety of aircraft were
Many are the tales of young men lying about their age to join the Army, yet Jack Evans sought far more at the age of just possibly just seventeen – to act behind enemy lines as an agent of the Special
The Ismaili Assassins were an underground group of political killers who were ready to kill Christians and Muslims alike with complete disregard for their own lives.
It is early September 1942 and the German commander of the Sixth Army, General Paulus, assisted by the Fourth Panzer Army, is poised to advance on the Russian city of Stalingrad. His primary mission w
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 f
The story of America’s cavalry is extraordinarily rich in colorful, and often flamboyant, personalities and exciting action. Indeed, much of the early military history of the United States is dominate
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
It was on 14 June 1944, D+8, that the tanks of the 144th Regiment Royal armored Corps began to disembark on Gold Beach during the Normandy landings. Delayed in going ashore, the regiment’s tanks had b
The Second World War had been won, but relationships between the Western allies and the Soviet Union were becoming increasingly strained, as the nuclear arms race made world peace precarious. It was v
Rudolf 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 Rudolf Hess, Lord James Douglas-Hamilton explores ma
In June 1944, the Nazis locked eighteen-year-old Dave Hersch into a railroad boxcar and shipped him from his hometown of Dej, Hungary, to Mauthausen Concentration Camp, the harshest, cruellest camp in
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 re
The memoirs of Wolfe Frank, which lay hidden in an attic for twenty-five years, are a unique and highly moving behind-the-scenes account of what happened at Nuremberg – ‘the greatest trial in history’
The Anglo-Boer War in 100 Objects brings the victories and the tragedies – and the full extent of the human drama behind this war – to life through 100 iconic artefacts.While a Mafeking siege note hel
They came to fight for freedom and their country, they came to fight Germans. Men of the Polish Air Force, who had escaped first to France and then to Britain, to fly alongside the Royal Air Force jus
The Heinkel He 111 was the main workhorse of the Luftwaffe’s bomber force throughout much of the Second World War. Consequently, when Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, three entire Ka
The fifty-odd years of Scottish history dominated by the Jacobite Risings are amongst its most evocative and whilst the last battle, Culloden in 1746, is deservedly remembered as a national tragedy, t
The Anglo-Zulu War lasted only six months in 1879, but in that relatively short time twenty-three men were awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry under most trying and dangerous circumstances. Zulu
Reichsmarschall Göring told Hitler that it would take less than a month for his much-vaunted Luftwaffe to conquer the RAF and pave the way for the German invasion of Great Britain. His prediction was
The epic of Dunkirk has been told many times, but the numerous accounts from surviving soldiers and sailors were often a blur of fear and fighting with the days mingling into each other, leaving what
George Woodberry was commissioned into the 18th Light Dragoons (Hussars) as a cornet on 16 Jan 1812, and joined Wellington’s army as a lieutenant, seeing action in the key battles of 1813 and 14 – Mor
The United States Marine Corps was one of the phenomena of the Second World War. Greatly expanded from its pre-war order of battle of scattered defence battalions, overseas garrisons and ship detachme
Wolfe Frank was Chief Interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials where he was dubbed ‘The Voice of Doom.’ A playboy turned resistance worker he had fled Germany for England in 1937 having been branded an ‘en
Over the course of many years Richard Pursehouse has painstakingly unraveled the story of a First World War prisoner of war camp which held captured German personnel in the very heart of the English c
When the US Marine Commandant, Major General Thomas Holcomb, announced the formation of what became the US Marine Corps’ Women’s Reserve, legend has it that the portrait of the fifth Commandant, Archi
Following repeated visits to the Crimea over a number of years, Dr David Jones, with the help of local guides, was able to identify and photograph every important location related to one of the ninete
There can be few weapons which have struck such fear into armed forces around the world, or made so many shocking headlines, as IEDs – Improvised Explosive Devices. In effect a bomb constructed and de
MI5 is arguably the most secret and misunderstood of all the British government departments. Its enigmatic title – much more than its proper name, the Security Service – stands in the public mind for
When Edgar Mobbs ran on a rugby field, people watched. Eyes were drawn to him. A towering, upright presence – long of stride with knees raised high; elegant and powerful.When opponents came too close,
We visualise dashing and daring young men as the epitome of the pilots of the Second World War, yet amongst that elite corps was one person who flew no less than 400 Spitfires and seventy-six differen
The Knight’s Cross was the German Army’s highest award for valor, and only 0.04 per cent of the soldiers who served in the Second World War received this prestigious medal; even fewer survived.
The story of the Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings as shown in the Bayeux Tapestry is arguably the most widely-known in the entire panoply of English history, and over the last 200 years ther
The Indian Rebellion of 1857-58 was the most ferocious explosion of violence in the history of the British Empire. It tested Britain’s colonial resources to the limit, and nearly brought about the dow
The airborne battle for the bridges across the Rhine at Arnhem ranks amongst the Second World War’s most famous actions – inspiring innumerable books and the star-studded 1977 movie. This book, howeve
In November 1942, as the Battle of Stalingrad continued to rage, the Red Army launched a devastating counter-attack from outside the city. The Soviet forces smashed the German siege and encircled Stal
A comprehensive and up-to-date study of the combat and logistics vehicles which formed part of the German contingent that fought in the Spanish Civil War alongside the rebels.The Panzer I, which so su
The war had dragged on towards its fourth year. There seemed little prospect of any immediate end to the ceaseless slaughter. Field Marshal Haig saw the war as a continual battle of attrition until th
