The Gurkhas have fought on behalf of Britain and India for nearly two hundred years. As brave as they are resilient, resourceful and cunning, they have earned a reputation as devastating fighters, and their unswerving loyalty to the Crown has always inspired affection in the British people. There are also now up to 40,000 Gurkhas in the million-strong army of modern India. But who are the Gurkhas? How much of the myth that surrounds them is true? Award-winning historian Chris Bellamy uncovers the Gurkhas' origins in the Hills of Nepal, the extraordinary circumstances in which the British decided to recruit them and their rapid emergence as elite troops of the East India Company, the British Raj and the British Empire. Their special aptitude meant they were used as the first British 'Special Forces'. Bellamy looks at the wars the Gurkhas have fought this century, from the two world wars through the Falklands to Iraq and Afghanistan and examines their remarkable status now, when each year 11,000 hopefuls apply for just over 170 places in the British Army Gurkhas. Extraordinarily compelling, this book brings the history of the Gurkhas, and the battles they have fought, right up to date, and explores their future.

Featured in the Amazon top ten in November 2013, and also as a UK paperbacks top 5 book on 1st December 2013. No Ordinary Life by Peter Stokes, published by FeedARead.com. The true story of a father who, on his death bed, handed his son a dusty journal containing details of his secret past as a Second World War hero and founding member of the 2nd SAS. Just weeks prior to his death Horace Stokes asked his son Peter to return home as he had 'something important' to share with him, and presented him with a battered diary. Peter, himself a decorated military officer, said: "He wanted me to come home so that he could talk to me about his life growing up in the shadow of war and also about his part in some of the most famous raids during the Second World War; throughout his life he'd never revealed these secrets". His secret journal, published as a book, recalls daring missions behind enemy lines in France, the Mediterranean and Italy. It also documents his capture, escape and recapture in Italy and Germany. Stokey, as he was known to his war-time comrades, served with 12 Commando, the Small Scale Raiding Force and the SAS. This book tells the story of a modest man who epitomised a generation now nearly all gone, someone who lived no ordinary life.

"Over the past dozen years special operations forces (SOF) have been one of the few areas of growth and expansion in a number of militaries. This growth and expansion, however, has not been mirrored by a comparable one in academic inquiries into the subject. Special Operations from a Small State Perspective - Future Security Challenges, which contains a wide range of perspectives from both practitioners and academics, makes a unique contribution to the literature and offers fascinating insights into the opportunities provided by and challenges confronting small states such as Swedenin their evolutionary development and use of SOF." Dr James Kiras, Associate Professor, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, The Air University, Alabama, USA.

This book covers the use and development of the Panzer 35(t) armored fighting vehicle.

Written by the renowned expert Nigel West, this book exposes the operations of Britain's overseas intelligence-gathering organisation, the famed Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, and traces its origins back to its inception in 1909. In this meticulously researched account, its activities and structure are described in detail, using original secret service documents. The main body of the book concerns MI6's operations during the Second World War, and includes some remarkable successes and failures, including how MI6 financed a glamorous confidant of the German secret service; how a suspected French traitor was murdered by mistake; how Franco's military advisors were bribed to keep Spain out of the war; how members of the Swedish secret police were blackmailed into helping the British war effort; how a sabotage operation in neutral Tangiers enabled the Allied landings in North Africa to proceed undetected; and how Britain's generals ignored the first ULTRA decrypts because MI6 said that the information had come from a well-placed source called BONIFACE'. In this new edition, operations undertaken by almost all of MI6's overseas stations are recounted in extraordinary detail. They will fascinate both the professional intelligence officer and the general reader. The book includes organisational charts to illustrate MI6's internal structure and its wartime network of overseas stations. Backed by numerous interviews with intelligence officers and their agents, this engaging inside story throws light on many wartime incidents that had previously remained unexplained.

An unprecedented introduction to the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. On February 1, 2016, the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) celebrated its tenth anniversary. This benchmark passed largely unheralded. After all, few Canadians actually realize their nation possesses special operations forces, and fewer yet know Canada's long and distinguished history with these forces and the exceptional warriors who fill their ranks. CANSOFCOM carries on this tradition and in its short history has earned a reputation for courage, professionalism, and operational excellence. This book is a rare glimpse into the shadows, providing detailed information on CANSOFCOM and its units, as well as a pictorial history of the Command's evolution. Le 1er fevrier 2016, le Commandement des Forces d'operations speciales du Canada (COMFOSCAN) a celebre son dixieme anniversaire. Ce jalon est passe largement inapercu. Apres tout, peu de Canadiens savent que leur pays possede des forces d'operations speciales et encore moins de personnes savent que le Canada a une longue tradition prestigieuse avec ces forces et les guerriers exceptionnels qui les composent. Le COMFOSCAN poursuit cette tradition et, depuis sa creation, ses membres ont ete reconnus pour leur courage, leur professionnalisme et leur excellence operationnelle. Ce livre offre un rare apercu de ces guerriers de l'ombre. Il offre des informations detaillees sur le COMFOSCAN et ses unites, en plus de presenter l'histoire illustree de l'evolution du commandement.