Militaria

//Militaria
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  • Toward the end of 1977, articles appeared in Australian newspapers about a remarkable 97 year-old Australian who had just died in Khartoum. They told of an heroic figure who had been with General Freyberg, then a junior officer, when he made his daring Dardenelles swim before the landing at Gallipoli; who had been mentioned in dispatches at the Battle of Beersheba; who had been with Lawrence of Arabia and who had won several decorations, including the George Cross  for bravery under fire when he was chauffeur to the Governor-General of the Sudan at the time of his assassination in Cairo in 1924. He was one of the few Australians ever to win the coveted Serbian Eagle.  This incredible Australian was Frederick Hamilton March.  The newspaper articles so intrigued Sekuless than he began keeping a file on Fred March. Eventually, he travelled to Khartoum, Cairo, Gallipoli and London in a quest for information about this elusive and unknown Aussie hero to piece together the fascinating story of Fred March.   Illustrated with black and white archival photographs.
  • Using secret American, British and German sources previously unavailable, this story appears almost incredible. Few people know that behind all of the great decisions- and many of the small ones - of the past two world wars, lay information gathered from secret intelligence, either from agents or intercepted coded messages. At the time of writing the whole structure was still classified, yet Farago was able to obtain German records that had been lost for a generation, revealing a vast espionage network strung across Britain and the United States. He also shows how the Germans mopped up the British espionage network in 1939, and how it was painfully and carefully rebuilt by a new generation of British intelligence officers who cracked the German codes and fed false information  to the Abwehr throughout the war, eventually contributing to the defeat of the Axis powers.
  • For the first time since the early sixties there is widespread and growing concern about the possibility of a Third World War, given the massive stockpile of nuclear armaments and the growing tensions between superpowers. The author, the grandson of Winston Churchill, shows how this situation has arisen and provides the facts and figures to ensure a true understanding of the issues at stake.  What is the balance of armed power in the world today? What are the chances of either side winning a nuclear war? How should the Western Allies respond to the growing global challenge from Russia? These and more questions are answered - the answers echo the warnings that were made about the threat from Nazi Germany.  Those warnings went unheeded.

  • Subtitle: A True Story Of Adventure From The Arctic To The Argonne. Described as the biography of a common soldier with thirty three years of service in the American Army, this 'uncommon' soldier distinguished himself in the Argonne in World War I and several other conflicts.  Samuel Woodfill was regarded as being a true American frontiersman who seems to have had many and varied adventures, given such chapter headings as: I Was Born with a  Gun in My Hands;  A Surprise Attack and Escape Over A Precipice; Out of Company C Only Four Men Survived; The Tragedy of A Medicine Man; The Strange End of Sam Gowler and many others just as intriguing.  Illustrated with black and white photographs.
  • Published in 1945, this volume is literally by the men serving in the last days of World War II. Together, these articles, sketches, cartoons, poems and photographs are their story - not the story of the war, but a record of what they saw, felt and experienced. There's a humorous treatise on the Cockroach; an article on the first W.R.A.N.s to receive their sea training; and from an article simply entitled Tahiti by 'A.S.' : After dancing for a while I suggested a walk along the beach and the girls being agreeable were were soon settled down on the sands under the palms. Here is what I saw and felt. The moon shining through the palm fronds on the sand, while farther out the blue Pacific was breaking over the reefs, the moonlight making this appear like a lot of silvery cascades...my young lady's hair was lovely, and long enough to reach down and encircLe our waists, binding us together...I had read of scene such as these, but doubted them...Now I knew and felt...happy and contented and prepared to fall in love."  One hopes that 'A.S. made his way home to Australia.
  • Part One of this autobiography relates the dramatic escape to Australia of three young Swiss sisters during the Japanese invasion of Singapore, then traces their gradual and complete adaption to the Australian way of life by the youngest sister, Annelies. Part Two is the story of their father, the Swiss Consul and their mother Gritli, who remained in Singapore at their posts in dedication to their community. This second part is translated from the recently discovered original diaries of their father, Rudolph Arbenz.
  • In the split second that it took Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal to snap the shutter of his Speed Graphic, a powerful and enduring American symbol was born. Iwo Jima: Monuments, Memories and the American Hero tells the story of that icon as it appeared over the next 40 years in bond drive posters, stamps, Hollywood movies, political cartoons, and sculpture, most notably the colossal Marine Corps War Memorial outside Washington, D.C.  It is also a brilliant and moving study of the soldiers who fought one of the bloodiest battles in modern warfare and the impact that Iwo Jima had on the rest of their lives.  The battle of Iwo Jima raged for many days and ultimately claimed the lives of almost 7000 American serviceman, yet that famous photo - a grainy outline of massed men and their flag - already symbolised victory.
  • June, 1942. Johnnie Houlton has arrived in Britain from New Zealand under the Empire Training Scheme only a few months before.  From then on and for the next few years, he was almost constantly in action or seeking action with  485 (NZ) Spitfire Squadron. He volunteered for service in Malta and sharply describes the drama of the convoy that took him there and the five months of siege conditions on the island. Houlton vividly recalls the atmosphere and the incidents of the air war from a pilot's-eye view, together with the development and technique of fighter operations - covering daylight bombing missions, low-level bombing and strafing and the formation of the Second Tactical Air Force in  support of land forces. Illustrated with black and white photographs.
  • S.O.E. was a small, tough British secret service dirty-tricks department.  Its job was to support and stimulate resistance in occupied countries. It was wound up after the war.  Its total strength was never more than 10,000 men and 3,200 women, over a third of them secret agents - it exercised vast influence on the war all over the world. This is a readable volume on how S.O.E was created and run, the calibre of the men and women involved, what tools they used and how, when and where they used them, where they did well - and where they did badly. Illustrated with black and white photographs.