In his quest for military glory, Benito Mussolini sent the Italian Eighth Army to the Eastern Front to help fight the Russians, only to have his forces routed within little more than a month of the launch of the Soviet counteroffensives of the winter of 1942-1943. The Cuneense, a division of mountain troops, was hit especially hard, with only a small percentage of its troops straggling back to Italy; the rest were killed in action or died of frostbite or in captivity from malnourishment, overwork, and disease. All told, the Italians suffered roughly 75,000 dead, more than in their six-month campaign in Greece and Albania or in their three years in North Africa.

Nuto Revelli, who fought in Russia himself, interviewed forty-three other survivors of the campaign for a book that has become a classic among Italian war memoirs. First published in Italian in 1966 as La strada del davai, Revelli's account, now available in English, vividly recaptures the experiences and sobering reflections of these men. It provides a chilling look at an experience that, in English-language writing, has been overshadowed by that of the main actors on the Eastern Front.

When news of the rout reached Italy, the shock was devastating. In Revelli's home province of Cuneo, the recruiting territory of the annihilated Cuneense Division, some villages lost almost all men of military age. The resulting rage and bitterness later fueled the partisan war against the Germans and Italian fascists.

The veterans of "Mussolini's Death March" speak candidly of nights in the open, of extreme cold, gnawing hunger, and eruptive madness. Thousands who survived the Soviet onslaught were taken prisoner and died on the so-called davai marches--named for Russian guards' command to keep prisoners moving--or later in the camps themselves. Even so, they developed a favorable impression of the Russian people, who provided hospitality in their small houses and aid to the wounded. Together, their recollections provide an eye-opening look at a largely neglected aspect of World War II.

This book examines the US infantry against the Chinese Army amid the unforgiving terrain of Korea during the first real clash of the Cold War. On June 25, 1950, North Korean troops invaded South Korea, triggering a bitter conflict that drew in US and other United Nations forces in support of the South, and soon prompted the Chinese to intervene on the side of the North. Featuring specially commissioned artwork, this study assesses the US and Chinese forces that clashed at Chipyongni (February 13-15, 1951), Triangle Hill (October 14-25, 1952), and Pork Chop Hill (July 6-11, 1953), casting light on the origins, doctrine, and combat effectiveness of these two very different forces during the struggle for victory in Korea. The Chinese forces fighting in Korea were composed of experienced, confident soldiers buoyed by the Communists' success in the recent Chinese Civil War. Initially armed and equipped with much the same weaponry and doctrine that they had employed in World War II, US Army units in Korea would often find themselves outnumbered, fighting in extremely difficult terrain that precluded the widespread use of armor. Both sides would be tested to the limit by the demands of fighting in such a formidable setting.

Wilton Park is a unique phenomenon: part of the Britih Government but academically independent; well-known among policy makers, but with a low public profile; created to help foster democracy in post-war Germany, but now with global reach; a vehicle for international dialogue, never one for British propaganda.

Why did the British Government create such an institution in 1946? What impact did it have? How did it evolve from a training centre for German prisoners of war to today's international policy forum?

In Victory, Magnanimity, in Peace, Goodwill tells the story for the first time. It describes how it was Winston Churchill who proposed Wilton Park's post-war role. But its founding father was a German: Heinz Koeppler, a historian who had fled from Hitler to Magdalen College, Oxford, and had worked in Britain's wartime Political Intelligence Department. After the war, he fought as many battles as during it, to resisit Government cuts and to maintain Wilton Park's academic independence as a centre of frank, searching and off-the-record debate. Koeppler's legacy is today's thriving institution.

A vivid account of the opening weeks of war by a volunteer despatch rider who may have prevented a swift German victory. Of Anglo-German stock, Roger West was conflicted when the war broke out but volunteered out of the strong sense of duty that was characteristic of his class. His linguistic skills led to his being commissioned into the Intelligence Corps but he was seconded as a despatch rider to the 19th Brigade, which bore a great brunt of the fighting in the first few weeks in 1914. West was in the thick of things despite being crippled with a badly-damaged foot, often riding round the clock, delivering despatches and directing and assisting soldiers separated from their units and disoriented stragglers. Discovering that a critical bridge had been left open to the German advance he volunteered to ride back and blow it up, preventing the retreating Fifth French Army from being taken in the flank, something that could have fulfilled the Schlieffen Plan's aims and won the war for Germany.

'People can only be free in relation to one another.' Three exhilarating and inspiring essays in which the great twentieth-century political philosopher argues that there can be no freedom without politics, and no politics without freedom. One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 'Esther Safran Foer has written of her family in a way that is both uniquely and heartbreakingly her story and a deeply important testament for Ashkenazi Jews. Her memories are our important history.' Robert Peston, ITV Political Editor A moving and powerful inter-generational memoir about story and memory. Mine is a family of readers and writers. Our house is filled with books. There are contemporary design books on the coffee table in the living room, legal books in my husband's home office, and piles of children's books for when my grandchildren visit. However, the side table next to my bed is piled with books about the Holocaust. Framed maps of shtetls line my office walls and pictures of relatives killed in the Holocaust are displayed on our family gallery walls. Sometimes I feel like I exist across two polarized realities, experiencing great fulfillment from family, friends, and a meaningful career, and, at the same time, finding the joy of my life tempered by its shadows. In the darker corners of my mind live ghosts and demons who visit me from the shtetls in Ukraine where my family came from. Some of the details that make these visions so vivid are imagined because I grew up in a family where memories were too terrible to speak of. This is the true story of four generations who have been dealing with the Holocaust and its aftermath. We are four generations, survivors and survivors of survivors, storytellers and memory keepers. And we're still here.

This book investigates the uses of crusader medievalism - the memory of the crusades and crusading rhetoric and imagery - in Britain, from Walter Scott's The Talisman (1825) to the end of the Second World War. It seeks to understand why and when the crusades and crusading were popular, how they fitted with other cultural trends of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, how their use was affected by the turmoil of the First World War and whether they were differently employed in the interwar years and in the 1939-45 conflict. Building on existing studies and contributing the fruits of fresh research, it brings together examples of the uses of the crusades from disparate contexts and integrates them into the story of the rise and fall crusader medievalism in Britain.

Indianapolis is the thrilling true story of the greatest naval disaster in United States history - the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis during World War II - and the fight for survival and redemption that followed. Four days after delivering the components of the world's first atomic bomb to the island of Tinian, the Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, with nearly 900 men lost. Those who survived endured starvation, dehydration and shark attacks as they waited to be rescued. From a crew of 1,196 men, only 317 survived - the biggest single loss of life at sea to be suffered by the United States navy. When the remaining crew were finally rescued, the ship's captain, Charles B. McVay III, was wrongly court-martialled for negligence over the sinking. Decades after these events, the survivors of the Indianapolis, as well as the Japanese submarine commander who sank it, joined together to finally exonerate McVay. Extraordinary courage, terrible tragedy and the fight for justice: in Indianapolis, the true story is revealed. 'Extraordinary...serious naval history and a detective story, told with passion.' The Times 'Vividly detailed...compelling yet comprehensive.' Los Angeles Times 'Simply outstanding.' Booklist (starred review) 'Gripping... This yarn has it all.' USA Today

Originally published in 1973, Semi-Detached London looks at the great suburban expansion of London between the two world wars. The book covers all aspects of urban history, presenting an authoritative and balanced account of the Great Suburban Age, and the final uninhibited forty years before the Green Belt and Development Plan. The roles of the speculative builder, the estate developer and the local authorities receive careful attention and the author's special knowledge of London's transport systems ensures that the leading part they played is fully developed. Students of social, urban and transport history will find this book a valuable source of reference.

This book is the second in a series that will delve in to the inner workings of Germany's most fearsome panzers of the Second World War, the Tiger and Tiger II. There are many books already in publication that deal with various aspects of the Tiger series of tanks but few include more than minimal biographical information of the men who crewed these battlefield behemoths. Based mainly on interviews, personal diaries, and recollections, the series will present to the reader the German Tiger and King Tiger crewmen as soldiers who had the opportunity to serve as a member of a crew and unit that fielded an extraordinary and deadly weapon. The series will include all levels of soldiers from the Tiger-abteilung commanders, down to the drivers, loaders, gunners, and radio-operators. As with the first book in this series covering the experiences of Alfred Rubbel, this second book is strictly the story of one man: Horst KrAnke. The story combines the experiences of KrAnke with approximately 400 photographs (most which are unpublished), hand-drawn maps, and original documents, to tell the story of a veteran of Germany's elite panzerwaffe and feared Tiger tanks. His initial experience was in training with Panzer Ersatz Abteilung 5. From there he was assigned to Panzer Regiment 6, of the 3rd Panzer Division and experienced the opening of the war in Russia. KrAnke was in action on the Eastern Front through the end of 1942 at which time he was sent back to Germany to attend officer cadet and then officer's schools. Upon his return to the front and Panzer Regiment 6 he was sidetracked by an old comrade and was incorporated into schwere Panzer Abteilung 503. At that point, Horst was introduced to the new Tiger tank and served with a Tiger unit, transferring to schwere Panzer Abteilung 505 to serve with his brother, until the end of the war.

From the iconic to the intimate, each object is illustrated and accompanied by the story of its role within the war and its significance todayObjects allow us to reach out and touch the past and they play a living role in history today. Through them we can understand the experience of men and women during World War I. They bear witness to the stories of men whose only morning comfort in the trenches was the rum ration, children who grew up with only one photograph of the father that they would never get to know, and women who would sacrifice their girlhood in hospitals yards from the frontline, pinning a brooch on to remind themselves of a past life. Weapons like the machine gun and vehicles like the tank transformed the battlefield; planes with pilots that had just learned to fly them entangled in dogfights far above the barbed wire of the frontline; and German submarines stalked the seas. These incredible artifacts tell the story of the World War I in a whole new light, as do the Football of Loos, the Mk I tank, the German Pickelhaube, Canadian cap badges, the "Butcher" bayonet, a trench coat, a soldier's Christmas gift, a death card, and many more.

With the beginning of the Operation Barbarossa more than 100,000 Ukrainians volunteered for the fight against Stalin and communismn. These volunteers were put into Schutzmannschafts-Bataillone under the control of the German Police. After Stalingrad however, Ukrainians were allowed to build up a division sized unit for the frontline. Around 15,000 Ukrainians were drafted and their first combat was at the Brody front in Galicia in summer 1944.

The German battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz had brutally short careers. The Bismarck was sunk by the Home Fleet on her first operational sortie in May 1941. But the Tirpitz, hiding in Norwegian fjords, remained a menace to Allied convoys and tied down the British Home Fleet for three years. Periodic scares that the Tirpitz was 'out' disrupted naval operations and in 1942 led to the dispersal and destruction of Convoy PQ17. Many attacks on the Tirpitz were made by British X-craft and Chariots, by the Fleet Air Arm and by RAF Bomber Command. From May 1940 over 700 British aircraft tried to bomb, mine or torpedo the Tirpitz on 33 separate missions; she was finally destroyed by Lancaster bombers with 5-ton Tallboy bombs. This is the most comprehensive account of the air attacks on 'the beast' ever published, which is the result of extensive research of the British and German records by the author, former head of Defence and International Affairs at RMA Sandhurst.

Over the past century, much attention has been paid to the literature written for adults in response to the First World War, but there has been comparatively little consideration of how the war influenced literature for young readers at the time. Based on extensive archival research, this study examines an array of wartime writing for young people and provides a new understanding of the complexities and nuances within children's literature of the period. In its discussion of nearly 150 primary sources from Britain, Canada, and the United States, this volume considers some well-known texts but also brings to light forgotten children's literature of the era, providing new insights into how WWI was presented to the young people whose lives were indelibly impacted by the crisis. Paying special attention to the varied ways in which child figures were depicted, it reflects on what these portrayals reveal about adult conceptualizations of youth, and it considers how these may have shaped young readers' own views of armed conflict, citizenship, and childhood. From the helpless victim to the heroic combatant, child figures appeared in many guises, exposing a range of adult concerns about nation, empire, and children's citizenship. Exploring everything from alphabet books for beginning readers, to recruitment materials for high school students, this book examines works from multiple genres and provides a uniquely comprehensive study of transatlantic children's literature produced during the first global war.

The SS Division 30. Januar was one of the last SS-Divisions formed during World War II and was almost entirely composed of training units and 16-18 year old boys (the honorary name 30. Januar was the same date Hitler became Reich chancellor in 1933). First planned as a motorized division, the unit ended up as a normal infantry division because of a lack of fuel. With a final strength of 12,000, they fought on the Oder-front south of Frankfurt/Oder. After the Soviet attack on 16 April 1945 they were wiped out in the pocket of Halbe southeast of Berlin.

Today Italy is a land of beauty and prosperity but in 1944-45 it had become a place of nightmares, a land of violence, war, and destruction. James Holland's ground-breaking account expertly documents the German advance and a segment of Italian history that has been largely neglected. The war in Italy was the most destructive campaign in the west as the Allies and Germans fought a long, bitter and highly attritional conflict up the mountainous leg of Italy during the last twelve months of the Second World War. For front-line troops, casualties rates at Cassino and then along the notorious Gothic Line were as high as they had been along the Western Front in the First World War. There were further similarities too: blasted landscapes, rain and mud. For the men who fought there, Italy really was the hardest campaign. And while the Allies and Germans were slogging it out through the mountains, the Italians were fighting their own battles, one where Partisans and Fascists were pitted against each other in a bloody civil war. Around them, civilians tried to live through the carnage, terror and anarchy while, in the wake of the Allied advance, beleaguered and impoverished Italians were forced to pick their way through the ruins of their homes and country and often forced into making terrible and heart-rending decisions in order to survive. 'Italy's Sorrow' is the first account of the war in that most beautiful of countries to tell the story from all sides and to include the experiences of soldiers and civilians alike. Offering extensive new research, it weaves together the drama and tragedy of a terrible year of war with new perspectives and material on some of the most debated episodes to have emerged from the Second World War. It is a magnificent achievement by one of our finest young military historians.

A jaw-dropping account of life as an RAF doctor during the Second World War.
As an RAF medical officer, Aidan McCarthy served in France, survived Dunkirk, and was plunged into adventures in the Japanese-American arena comparable with those of famous war heroes.
Interned by the Japanese in Java, he helped his fellow prisoners with amazing ingenuity in awful conditions. En-route back to Japan in 1944, his ship was torpedoed but he was rescued by a whaling boat and re-interned in Japan. His life was literally saved by the dropping of the Nagasaki atom bomb. He was then eyewitness to the horror and devastation it caused.
"This is an almost incredible account written with humour and dignity." - Pete McCarthy
"This book is an epic." - Sir Dennis Spotswood, Marshal of the RAF
"His description is terrifying but fascinating." - Air Marshal Sir William Coles

The RAF and Commonwealth air crews were bound by regulations and discipline during WWII. Survival was by no means a certainty, with casualties becoming a part of everyday life. The evolution of non-established clubs was recognised and regarded as an important area within RAF history that boosted moral. The regulations flexed to allow membership pins and badges to be worn on RAF and Commonwealth flying uniforms. This book allows the reader to experience a number of individual stories and understand the relevance of being a: - 'Goldfish' (Lives saved by the use of personal life preservers and dinghies), 'Caterpillar' (Lives saved by parachutes) or: - 'Guinea Pig' (Lives saved by pioneering surgery conducted by Archibald McIndoe at the Queen Victoria Hospital Sussex) In many instances the accounts are recalled in great detail from the official records of medals and awards. True heroism and gallant deeds supported by original photographs create an easy to read book, revealing areas of interest not previously visited in this format.

Throughout the course of centuries, the Somme has been the scene of numerous battles and the passageway for armies. However, the Great War of 1914-1918 was, by far, the most murderous conflict to fall upon the region, leaving in its wake an indelible mark. Today, the Somme has hundreds of military cemeteries. In the woods, trench lines still wind their way between the shell holes. In the fields, munitions still emerge when the tractor's plough cuts through the earth. This guide takes a look at the major events that took place in the specific sector and, thanks to a map, covers a circuit of remembrance that follows the armies of both sides.

Days of the Fall takes the reader into the heart of the terrible wars in Syria and Iraq. The book combines frontline reporting with analysis of the deeper causes and effects of the conflict. Over five years, Jonathan Spyer reported from the depths of the wars, spending time in Aleppo, Baghdad, Damascus, Mosul, Idlib, Hasaka and other frontline areas. He witnessed some of the most dramatic events of the conflict - the rescue of the trapped Yezidis from the attempted ISIS genocide in 2014, the Assad regime's assault on Aleppo, the rise of independent Kurdish power in north east Syria, the emergence of the Shia militias in Iraq as a key force. The book depicts these events, and seeks to place them within a broader framework. The author notes the ethnic and sectarian faultlines in both Syria and Iraq, and contends that both countries have now effectively separated along these lines, leading to the emergence of de facto fragmentation and the birth of a number of new entities. The book also notes that this confused space has now become an arena for proxy conflict between regional and global powers. Containing interviews with key figures from all sides of the conflict, such as the Shia militias in Iraq, and even ISIS members, Days of the Fall serves as an invaluable and comprehensive guide to the complex dynamics and the tragic human impact of the wars.

This book offers a new appraisal of the ancestry and career of Godfrey of Bouillon (c.1060-1100), a leading participant in the First Crusade (1096-99), and the first ruler of Latin Jerusalem (1099-1100), the polity established by the crusaders after they captured the Holy City. While previous studies of Godfrey's life have tended to focus on his career from the point at which he joined the crusade, this book adopts a more holistic approach, situating his involvement in the expedition in the light of the careers of his ancestors and his own activities in Lotharingia, the westernmost part of the kingdom of Germany. The findings of this enquiry shed new light on the repercussions of a range of critical developments in Latin Christendom in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, including the impact of the 'Investiture Conflict' in Lotharingia, the response to the call for the First Crusade in Germany, Godfrey's influence upon the course of the crusade, his role in its leadership, and his activities during the initial phases of Latin settlement in the Holy Land in its aftermath.

Much has been written about Operation Market Garden, but the contribution made by Colonel Boeree, who lived at Ede right on the doorstep of the Battle, adds an important element to the recorded information on the subject. Colonel Boeree made a deep study of the operations carried out by the 1st Airborne Division, north of the Neder Rhine, and for a number of years lived and breathed the battle day and night. The end result was this book written by Cornelius Bauer on information supplied by Colonel Boeree. Here for the first time is the complete story of this controversial operation told by a skilled observer who has spent 20 years carrying out the most detailed possible research which included obtaining the personal opinions and experiences of many British and German participants. In doing so, he proved conclusively that the plans for 'Market Garden' were not disclosed to the Germans beforehand by a Dutch traitor as was widely believed at one time. Luck always plays a big part in war and it was pure chance, not foresight on the part of the Germans, which enabled the II SS Panzer Corps to intervene in the battle so quickly.