Militaria

//Militaria
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  • Who is Captain Sir Tom Moore? You've seen him on the television walking the length of his garden. A frail elderly man, doing his bit at a time of crisis. But he wasn't always like this. From a childhood in the foothills of the Yorkshire Dales, Tom Moore grew up in a loving family, which wasn't without its share of tragedy. It was a time of plenty and of want. When the storm clouds of the Second World War threatened, he raised his hand and like many of his generation, joined up to fight. His war would take him from a country he had never left to a place which would steal his heart, India and the Far East, to which he would return many years later to view the sight he had missed first time around: the distant peak of Everest.  Captain Tom's story is our story. It is the story of our past hundred years here in Britain. It's a time which has seen so much change, yet when so much has stayed the same: the national spirit, the can-do attitude, the belief in doing your best for others. Illustrated with photographs.
  • In the space of three and a half weeks during May and June of 1940, Nazi Germany came perilously close to winning the war a scant ten months after it started. The British Expeditionary Force and the French and Belgian allies were cut off in the North and driven to the very sands of the Channel and the ruins of Dunkirk, the lone port still in the hands of the B.E.F. Britain faced catastrophe. How that catastrophe was averted through a combination of enemy blunders and British resourcefulness is told here in an account that exposes the 'miracle' of Dunkirk.  Here is the true story, chronicled through diaries, memoirs and personal reminiscences of the hundreds of men who lived through those weeks; COs, foot soldiers, generals and privates. Very in-depth.

  • No surrender...no retreat.  When the 9th Division of the AIF withdrew into the desert fortress town of Tobruk in April 1941, a  siege began that would make its mark on the course of World War II and the popular memory of  a nation. The siege was intended to last no longer than two months, but ultimately extended to eight. Under the command of Morshead, the Allied troops employed an aggressive, daring defence that put a sizeable dent ion Rommel's aura of invincibility. The defiant Aussie diggers distinguished themselves through their determination and unquenchable cheerful spirit. The success of the Rats of Tobruk inspired hope for the possibility of effective resistance in the midst of the darkest days of the war. Illustrated with archival black and white photographs.
  • World War I saw a significant and tragic change to the prosecution of war.  Allied passenger and merchant ships were blatantly attacked by the enemy, resulting in dreadful civilian losses.  The mystery ships were then created - they were disguised as peaceful merchant ships, but which were equipped with guns hidden until a few seconds before opening fire on enemy submarines. They cruised on the trade routes, hoping to encounter enemy submarines  and attract them to attack, and when the submarine came to the surface, bombard her with heavy armament. The guns had to be accurate, necessitating rigid drill and discipline - one officer or man making an error would give the show away and risk the ship and crew. This book, first published in 1928, is the first to tell the real story of life on board and the stories of attacks on and by submarines as well as describing the life on board - the discomforts, difficulties and dangers of this method of fighting back. There was also an explanation of the attraction this form of service has for men who were independent and courageous with a strict sense of moral  duty. The crew were constantly on alert: one false step could lead to the ship being torpedoed, with those left to try and save themselves or being taken prisoner; discipline and readiness for immediate action were strict from the moment of leaving harbour until safe within the harbour on return. Campbell served on the mystery ships from 2015 to 2017, beginning as a Lieutenant-Commander R.N., and ending that part of  his naval career as a Captain R.N. with a V.C. and three D.S.O.s.  A little-known and over-looked part of war history. With illustrations by Lieutenant J.E. Broome, R.N.
  • To many people the most glamorous of aeroplanes is the fighter, by the idea of men flying alone high above the earth in the open cockpit of First World War aircraft, as they fought the gaily-coloured Fokker, Albatross and Pfalz of the German Air Service. This 'feeling for the fighter' was strengthened in 1940 when the Hurricanes and Spitfires of the Royal Air Force saved Britain from German invasion. This book describes the fighters of both wars; there is also the entire development of the fighter from its primitive beginnings  up to the supersonic age. The most significant fighters of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the United States, Japan and the U.S.S.R. are among those featured.  Illustrated with black and white photos.
  • In September 1945, the fate of Hitler was a complete mystery. He had simply disappeared, missing for four months. The author, a British counter-intelligence officer, was given the task of solving this mystery. His brilliant piece of detective work not only proved that Hitler had killed himself in Berlin, but also produced one of the most fascinating history books ever written, telling the extraordinary story of those last days in the Berlin Bunker. Chapters include: Hitler and His Court; Hitler In Defeat; The Court in Defeat; Crisis and Decision; Siege of the Bunker. Et Tu, Brute. The Death of Hitler. Epilogue.
  • Regarded as one of the best books ever written about Australian servicemen in action. It captures the spirit of the whole United Nations' effort to halt aggression in the Land of the Morning Calm. The back-drop of three years of bitter fighting are the snow-capped jumble of mountain peaks swept by chilling winds, the ice-packed rivers, the stark slopes gripped by the cruel cold of winter that froze the steel of men's arms to their flesh and the clouds of stench-laden dust that choked the  valleys in summer. Apart from being the story of the exploits of the few thousands of Australian soldiers, airmen and sailors it is also an excellent short history of the whole Korean war. The dramatic events, as told by the men themselves, take the reader to the battlefront in all its grimness. There are also stories from war correspondents, combatants. clergymen and others: some humorous, some hard but all of interest. Illustrated with black and white photographs.
  • In the early 1930s, Nancy Wake was a young woman enjoying a bohemian life in Paris. By the end of the Second World War, she was the Gestapo's most wanted person. As a naïve, young journalist, Nancy witnessed a horrific scene of Nazi violence in a Viennese street. From that moment, she declared that she would do everything in her power to rid Europe of the Nazis. What began as a courier job here and there became a highly successful escape network for Allied soldiers, perfectly camouflaged by Nancy's high-society life in Marseille. Her network was soon so successful - and so notorious - that she was forced to flee France to escape the Gestapo, who had dubbed her "the white mouse" for her knack of slipping through its traps. But Nancy was a passionate enemy of the Nazis and refused to stay away. Supplying weapons and training members of a powerful underground fighting force, organising Allied parachute drops, cycling four hundred kilometres across a mountain range to find a new transmitting radio - nothing seemed too difficult in her fight against the Nazis.Illustrated with black and white photographs.
  • This Australian analysis was the fourth in a series of background books sponsored by the Australian Institute of International Affairs.  This book dispassionately consider the much-discussed factual and legal consequences of the 1954 international agreements with an appraisal of the circumstances of Australian and American intervention as well as the arguments for and against involvement.