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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > War & defence operations > Battles & campaigns
Again available in paperback is Eric Sevareid's widely
acclaimed Not So Wild a Dream. In this brilliant first-person
account of a young journalist's experience during World War II,
Sevareid records both the events of the war and the development of
journalistic strategies for covering international affairs. He also
recalls vividly his own youth in North Dakota, his decision to
study journalism, and his early involvement in radio reporting
during the beginnings of World War II.
How does one play bridge in a gas mask? Or enjoy motoring without
consuming petrol? Or deal with a nationwide shortage of pea-sticks?
For this compact little book Heath Robinson joined forces with
writer Cecil Hunt to show civilians 'how to make the best of
things' during the air raids, rationing, allotment tending and
blackouts of the Second World War. The result is a warm celebration
of the British population's ability to 'make do and mend'.
The successful evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from
Belgium and northern France through the port of Dunkirk and across
adjacent beaches is rightly regarded as one of the most significant
episodes in the nation's long history, although Winston Churchill
sagely cautioned in Parliament on 4th June that the country "must
be careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a
victory. Wars are not won by evacuations". Nevertheless, the
Dunkirk evacuation, Operation "Dynamo", was a victory and, like
many others before it, it was a victory of sea power. The Royal
Navy achieved what it set out to do, despite grievous losses, in
the teeth of determined opposition. It denied an aggressive and
ruthless continental power a potentially war-winning total victory
that could have changed the direction of civilization for
generations to come. The loss of the main British field army would
have enfeebled the nation militarily and psychologically, prompting
political upheaval, potentially resulting in a negotiated peace
with Nazi Germany on unfavourable terms dictated by Adolf Hitler.
The undeniable success of the evacuation was certainly a crucial
naval and military achievement but its positive effect on the
nation's morale was just as important, instilling confidence in the
eventual outcome of the war, whatever the immediate future might
hold, and creating optimism in the face of adversity that added
"the Dunkirk spirit" to the English language. This edition of
Dunkirk, Operation "Dynamo" 26th May - 4th June 1940, An Epic of
Gallantry, publishes the now declassified Battle Summary No 41, a
document once classified as 'Restricted' and produced in small
numbers only for official government purposes. This Summary, The
Evacuation from Dunkirk, lodged in the archive at Britannia Royal
Naval College, Dartmouth, is one of the very few surviving copies
in existence and records events in minute detail, being written
soon after the evacuation using the words of the naval officers
involved. This makes it a unique record and a primary source for
the history of Operation "Dynamo" from mid-May 1940 until its
conclusion on 4th June. The original document has been supplemented
in this title by a Foreword written by Admiral Sir James
Burnell-Nugent, formerly the Royal Navy's Commander-in-Chief,
Fleet, whose father commanded one of the destroyers sunk off
Dunkirk when rescuing troops. In addition, there is a modern
historical introduction and commentary, putting the evacuation into
context and this edition is enhanced by the inclusion of a large
number of previously unpublished photographs of the beaches, town,
and harbour of Dunkirk taken immediately after the conclusion of
the operation, together with others illustrating many of the ships
that took part. Britannia Naval Histories of World War II - an
important source in understanding the critical naval actions of the
period.
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Principal Events, 1914-1918
(Hardcover)
Great Britain Committee of Imperial D; Henry Terence Skinner; Created by Harry Fitz Maurice Stacke
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R1,041
Discovery Miles 10 410
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Ships in 12 - 19 working days
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The Bosnian war of 1992-1995 was one of the most brutal conflicts
to have erupted since the end of the Second World War. But although
the war occurred in 'Europe's backyard' and received significant
media coverage in the West, relatively little scholarly attention
has been devoted to cultural representations of the conflict.
Stephen Harper analyses how the war has been depicted in global
cinema and television over the past quarter of a century. Focusing
on the representation of some of the war's major themes, including
humanitarian intervention, the roles of NATO and the UN, genocide,
rape and ethnic cleansing, Harper explores the role of popular
media culture in reflecting, reinforcing -- and sometimes
contesting -- nationalist ideologies.
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