This book traces Peter Howard, who was to become one of The Wooden Horse escapers, from his being shot down, through his capture, interrogation and first two POW camps. It gets into the mind of a man determined to escape his captors. It shows that for all the many schemes dreamt up, very few ever got started and of those only a tiny handful ever came to fruition - and of those a 'home run' was as rare as a lottery win. But none of this could suppress the determination, ingenuity and courage of those who were driven to try. This is a thrilling opportunity to read what is virtually 'lost' masterpiece of the Prisoner of War escaping genre.

Submarine duty in World War Two took the lives of more than twenty per cent of American submariners. As a young ensign, William J. Ruhe kept a journal on eight action-filled patrols in the South Pacific. His colourful memoir has earned a place alongside the best naval fiction, with such classics as Run Silent, Run Deep and The Hunt For Red October.

An explosive expose of how British military intelligence really works-from the inside. This book presents the stories of two undercover agents: Brian Nelson, who worked for the Force Research Unit (FRU), aiding loyalist terrorists and murderers in their bloody work; and the man known as Stakeknife, deputy head of the IRA's infamous "Nutting Squad," the internal security force that tortured and killed suspected informers.
This book is copublished with O'Brien Press, Dublin and is for sale only in the United States, it's territories and dependencies, Canada, and the Philippines.

The story of one woman's journey from a cultured life in pre-war Europe, through the devastation of Hitler's regime, to her commitment of helping the world understand the Holocaust.

The epic story of how the Second World War was won.On 4 January 1945, General 'Blood and Guts' Patton confided gloomily to his diary, 'We can still lose the war.' The Nazis were attacking in Eastern France, Luxembourg and Belgium. General Eisenhower's allied armies had lost over 300,000 men in battle (with a similar number of non-battle casualties) and they were still in the same positions they had first captured three months before. Would the German will to resist never be broken? Veteran military historian Charles Whiting assembled individual stories from the frontline as the war entered its last bloody, but ultimately victorious phase. From material such as diaries, interviews and battalion journals he vividly builds up a picture of the soldiers and combatants. As the greatest conflict of them all came to its epic crescendo, those on the ground knew that paths that lead to glory could also lead to death... Perfect for fans of Anthony Beevor, Richard Overy and Damien Lewis.

One Soldier's War is a visceral and unflinching memoir of a young Russian soldier's experience in the Chechen wars that brilliantly captures the fear, drudgery, chaos, and brutality of modern combat. An excerpt of the book was hailed by Tibor Fisher in the Guardian as "right up there with Catch-22 and Michael Herr's Dispatches" and the book won Russia's inaugural Debut Prize, which recognizes authors who write "despite, not because of, their life circumstances." In 1995, Arkady Babchenko was an eighteen-year-old law student in Moscow when he was drafted into the Russian army and sent to Chechnya. It was the beginning of a torturous journey from naive conscript to hardened soldier that took Babchenko from the front lines of the first Chechen War in 1995 to the second in 1999. He fought in major cities and tiny hamlets, from the bombed-out streets of Grozny to anonymous mountain villages. Babchenko takes the raw and mundane realities of war--the constant cold, hunger, exhaustion, filth, and terror--and twists it into compelling, haunting, and eerily elegant prose. Acclaimed by reviewers around the world, this is a devastating first-person account of war by an extraordinary storyteller.

Approximately 2.5 million men and women have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in the service of the U.S. War on Terror. Marian Eide and Michael Gibler have collected and compiled personal combat accounts from some of these war veterans. In modern warfare no deployment meets the expectations laid down by stories of Appomattox, Ypres, Iwo Jima, or Tet. Stuck behind a desk or the wheel of a truck, many of today's veterans feel they haven't even been to war though they may have listened to mortars in the night or dodged improvised explosive devices during the day. When a drone is needed to verify a target's death or bullets are sprayed like grass seed, military offensives can lack the immediacy that comes with direct contact. After Combat bridges the gap between sensationalized media and reality by telling war's unvarnished stories. Participating soldiers, sailors, marines, and air force personnel (retired, on leave, or at the beginning of military careers) describe combat in the ways they believe it should be understood. In this collection of interviews, veterans speak anonymously with pride about their own strengths and accomplishments, with gratitude for friendships and adventures, and also with shame, regret, and grief, while braving controversy, misunderstanding, and sanction. In the accounts of these veterans, Eide and Gibler seek to present what Vietnam veteran and writer Tim O'Brien calls a "true war story" - one without obvious purpose or moral imputation and independent of civilian logic, propaganda goals, and even peacetime convention.

The remarkable story of the seven African American soldiers ultimately awarded the World War II Medal of Honor, and the 50-year campaign to deny them their recognition. In 1945, when Congress began reviewing the record of the most conspicuous acts of courage by American soldiers during World War II, they recommended awarding the Medal of Honor to 432 recipients. Despite the fact that more than one million African-Americans served, not a single black soldier received the Medal of Honor. The omission remained on the record for over four decades. But recent historical investigations have brought to light some of the extraordinary acts of valor performed by black soldiers during the war. Men like Vernon Baker, who single-handedly eliminated three enemy machineguns, an observation post, and a German dugout. Or Sergeant Reuben Rivers, who spearhead his tank unit's advance against fierce German resistance for three days despite being grievously wounded. Meanwhile Lieutenant Charles Thomas led his platoon to capture a strategically vital village on the Siegfried Line in 1944 despite losing half his men and suffering a number of wounds himself. Ultimately, in 1993 a US Army commission determined that seven men, including Baker, Rivers and Thomas, had been denied the Army's highest award simply due to racial discrimination. In 1997, more than 50 years after the war, President Clinton finally awarded the Medal of Honor to these seven heroes, sadly all but one of them posthumously. These are their stories.

'I am one of few Jewish survivors of World War Two, but one of many Jewish people to fight the Nazi regime. My story illustrates what happened to thousands of Jews and non-Jews alike. I have recorded the small details that made up our lives, the sheer luck that saved some of us and the atrocities that led to the deaths of so many, as a tribute to all those who suffered and died...' _______________ Selma van de Perre was seventeen when World War Two began. Until then, being Jewish in the Netherlands had been of no consequence. But by 1941 this simple fact had become a matter of life or death. Several times, Selma avoided being rounded up by the Nazis. Then, in an act of defiance, she joined the Resistance movement, using the pseudonym Margareta van der Kuit. For two years 'Marga' risked it all. Using a fake ID, and passing as Aryan she travelled around the country delivering newsletters, sharing information, keeping up morale - doing, as she later explained, what 'had to be done'. In July 1944 her luck ran out. She was transported to Ravensbruck, the women's concentration camp, as a political prisoner. Unlike her parents and sister - who, she would later discover, died in other camps - she survived by using her alias, pretending to be someone else. It was only after the war ended that she was allowed to reclaim her identity and dared to say once again: My name is Selma. Now, at ninety-nine, Selma remains a force of nature. Full of hope and courage, this is her story in her own words.

An urgent, insightful account of the human side of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine by seasoned war reporter Tim Judah Making his way from the Polish border in the west, through the capital city and the heart of the 2014 revolution, to the eastern frontline near the Russian border, Tim Judah brings a rare glimpse of the reality behind the headlines. Along the way he talks to the people living through the conflict - mothers, soldiers, businessmen, poets, politicians - whose memories of a contested past shape their attitudes, allegiances and hopes for the future. Together, their stories paint a vivid picture of what the second largest country in Europe feels like in wartime: a nation trapped between powerful forces, both political and historical. 'Visceral, gripping, heartbreaking' Simon Sebag Montefiore 'Haunting . . . timely . . . Interviewing a wide range of people who have been caught up in the recent conflict, Judah concentrates skilfully and affectingly on the human cost' Alexander Larman, Observer 'Comes close to the master, Ryszard Kapuscinski' Roger Boyes, The Times 'A kaleidoscopic portrait . . . Judah looks at the present - what Ukraine looks and feels like now' Marcus Tanner, Independent

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE, 2014 Haunted by the fate of Dora Bruder - a fifteen-year-old girl listed as missing in an old December 1941 issue of Paris Soir - Nobel Prize-winning author Patrick Modiano sets out to find all he can about her. From her name on a list of deportees to Auschwitz to the fragments he is able to uncover about the Bruder family, Modiano delivers a moving survey of a decade-long investigation that revived for him the sights, sounds and sorrowful rhythms of occupied Paris. And in seeking to exhume Dora Bruder's fate, he in turn faces his own family history. Translated by Joanna Kilmartin 'Absolutely magnificent' Le Monde

As World War II in Europe reached its end, armour development and doctrine had experienced several years of massively accelerated change, especially within the crucible of the Eastern Front. The German Jagdpanther and Soviet SU-100, both turretless tank-destroyer designs based on a 'traditional' turret-tank chassis, were the culminating examples of how the progression of experience, resources and time constraints produced vehicles that were well suited for roles of defence and offence, respectively. The Jagdpanther represented a well-balanced solution and an excellent use of limited resources, while the SU-100 was a natural progression of the SU-85, where numbers produced compensated for rudimentary construction, poor crew comfort and limited optics.

As a little girl Gladys Lunn was thrilled at the prospect of moving to the seaside resort of Skegness, but when she ran down to the beach she found her way blocked by a barricade of barbed wire. That was when she realised that her country was at war. This book is her memoir of those long-ago years when she and her sister, the daughters of a fireman who worked long hours to deal with bombs and explosions, were often uncomfortably close to the action - on one occasion Gladys found herself running for home with bullets from a dogfight overhead hitting the pavement beside her.

A celebrated warrior who led his people to victory on the battlefield, Red Cloud was also a skilled diplomat who transitioned the Oglala Sioux to reservation life. In Red Cloud: Oglala Legend, John D. McDermott examines Red Cloud's early years, his rise to prominence, and his struggle to protect his people from cultural domination. McDermott goes beyond Red Cloud's War to focus on the Oglala chief's time as a statesman. Chronicling the chief's diplomatic trips to the United States capital, the author examines the changes in Red Cloud's vision of armed resistance and his long-term strategy for maintaining Oglala life and culture. Through negotiation, passive resistance, and selective integration, Red Cloud worked to defend his people's interests in the face of change. As the only American Indian leader to win a war against the United States Army, Red Cloud is a larger-than-life figure in the history of the West. McDermott adds new layers to the story of the chief, illuminating his early youth and worldview through little-used sources. Red Cloud: Oglala Legend is the fourth book in the South Dakota Biography Series, which highlights some of the state's most famous residents.

Two months after being posted to France in 1917, Edward Thomas wrote: 'I already know enough to confirm my old opinion that the papers tell no truth at all about what war is and what soldiers are - '. This anthology provides an impression of what it meant to be a soldier on the Western front in the First World War and, above all, what it meant to be a Welsh soldier. Although this collection of writings, prose and poetry, includes such famous names as Edward Thomas, Robert Graves, David Jones and Saunders Lewis, the pieces have been chosen not purely by literary criteria, but to reflect as wide a range as possible of experience within Welsh military units. These personal reminiscences record not just horrific and dramatic events, soldiers under artillery bombardment or coping with mud, or the confusion of attacks or retreats, but also routine activities - the everyday working parties to repair trenches, the tunnelling, the waiting, the food, the blisters and the cold - and the comradeship in the Welsh regiments. Some additional background military information is provided in the appendices.

John Holmes was a schoolboy when World War II broke out in 1939, but even then he knew his destiny lay in the skies. 'Boys from these parts don't join the RAF', he was told on more than one occasion. But they were wrong. After many months undergoing selection and training he eventually made it into the air crew of 196 Squadron. It was there he embarked on a love affair with the Stirling Bomber, and it was there that he met up with his crew - his brothers in arms. With in-depth research, Steve Holmes' inspirational, harrowing and at times humorous book charts the wartime exploits of his father, John 'Sherlock' Holmes, and his flight crew. Through many hours of research and contact with living relatives of 'Sherlock's Squadron' Steve has pulled together a unique and personal insight into the most brutal and devastating armed conflict in history. Verified and independently confirmed by the MOD, War Office Bomber Command and preserved navigator's records and pilots' log books of the time, this is a comprehensive and compelling account of World War II from the eyes of a group of young RAF men from distant corners of the globe.

November 1944: Army airmen set out in a B-24 bomber on what should have been an easy mission off the Borneo coast. Instead they found themselves unexpectedly facing a Japanese fleet - and were shot down. When they cut themselves loose from their parachutes, they were scattered across the island's mountainous interior. Then a group of loincloth-wearing natives silently materialized out of the jungle. Would these Dayak tribesmen turn the starving airmen over to the hostile Japanese occupiers? Or would the Dayaks risk vicious reprisals to get the airmen safely home? The tribal leaders' unprecedented decision led to a desperate game of hide-and-seek, and, ultimately, the return of a long-renounced ritual: head-hunting.A cinematic survival story that features a bamboo airstrip built on a rice paddy, a mad British major, and a blowpipe-wielding army that helped destroy one of the last Japanese strongholds, "The Airmen and the Headhunters" is a gripping, you-are-there journey into the remote world and forgotten heroism of the Dayaks.

On the eve of World War II, Krystyna Wituska, a carefree teenager attending finishing school in Switzerland, returned to Poland. During the occupation, when she was twenty years old, she drifted into the Polish Underground. By her own admission, she was attracted first by the adventure, but her youthful bravado soon turned into a mental and spiritual mastery over fear. Because Krystyna spoke fluent German, she was assigned to collect information on German troop movements at Warsaw's airport. In 1942, at age twenty-one, she was arrested by the Gestapo and transferred to prison in Berlin, where she was executed two years later. Eighty of the letters that Krystyna wrote in the last eighteen months of her life are translated and collected in this volume. The letters, together with an introduction providing historical background to Krystyna's arrest, constitute a little-known and authentic record of the treatment of ethnic Poles under German occupation, the experience of Polish prisoners in German custody, and a glimpse into the prisons of Berlin. Krystyna's letters also reflect her own courage, idealism, faith, and sense of humor. As a classroom text, this book relates nicely to contemporary discussions of racism, nationalism, patriotism, human rights, and stereotypes. This is a new edition of the book originally titled ""I Am First a Human Being: The Letters of Krystyna Wituska"" (Vehicule Press, 1997).

Medicine and Duty is the World War I memoir of Harold McGill, a medical officer in the 31st Alberta Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, that was originally compiled and written by McGill in the 1930s. Anticipating that his memoir would be published by Macmillan of Canada in 1935, McGill instead was met with disappointment when the publishing house, forced by financial constraints, was unable to see the project to its final conclusion. Decades later, editor Marjorie Barron Norris came upon a draft of the manuscript in the Glenbow Museum archives, and utterly compelled by what she found, took it upon herself to resurrect McGill's story. Performing an exhaustive edit of the original manuscript, Norris has also included a wealth of information adding detailed explanatory notes and topographical maps, as well as excerpts of letters Captain McGill sent home to friends and family. These letters are literally written "from the trenches" and lend an unsettling atmosphere and stark realism to the original memoir. Wartime accounts written by medical officers are quite rare, and often more than other regular officers, the M.O.'s position in the battalion provides a unique perspective on the day-to-day lives of soldiers under his command. Norris's painstaking archival research and careful editing skills have brought back to light a gripping first-hand account of the 31st Battalion and, on a larger scale, of Canada's participation in World War I, making this book of great interest not only to military historians, but also to any Canadian compelled by the incredible sacrifice of soldiers during wartime.

'There may be dark days ahead and war can no longer be confined to the battlefield. But, we can only do the right thing as we see the right, and reverently commit our cause to God. If, one and all, we keep resolutely faithful to it, ready for whatever service or sacrifice it may demand, then, with God's help, we shall prevail. May He bless and keep us all.' Those words, haltingly delivered by King George VI on 3 September 1939 and broadcast to the world, are still occasionally quoted in radio programs and newspaper or magazine articles. This is not a story for children in the Hans Christian Andersen mould. It is a 'story' worth the telling about children. How, as pawns, they may be rolled over in the mud of the political feeding frenzies of world leaders mad for power. And how a nation's future, its children, may be subverted; degraded; education disrupted; potential destroyed exposing fearful, wasteful aspects of postwar economic recovery. Threading through the events of one war, World War II, is a plain tale of a child evacuee escaping the London blitz - and perhaps worse, if the imminence of invasion by gloating shock troops of Nazi elite is taken into account. postwar writers. In that context, the story raises questions posed by history. The story's main title is chosen for two reasons. America no longer feels insecurely isolationist. Just less secure. In a world where national boundaries increasingly count for little more than lines on a map, its child population could also suffer evacuation to safer zones if a land war affected the country internally. For nothing now is beyond imagination in terms of terrorism in the name of culture, not a country. The second reason: As a child evacuee to America in a global political climate not unlike the present, the author chose an option. He would avoid the horrors which ultimately proved the lot of Europe's children had Britain not missed being overrun by a whisker. Winston Churchill hesitated over relinquishing British children to different cultures. Visiting New York three weeks after 'nine-eleven'; aware of the city's spontaneous official and citizen response among numbing scenes, was to return to the London blitz, to the 1940s - even the smell was there. This is a story about courage and a family's ultimate triumph.

Lurps is the memoir of a juvenile delinquent who drops out of ninth grade to pursue a dream of military service. While a paratrooper in Europe, he volunteers for Vietnam where he joins the elite U.S. Army LRRP / Rangers-small, heavily armed long-range reconnaissance teams that patrolled deep in enemy-held territory. Set in 1968, during some of the war's major campaigns and battles including Tet, Khe Sanh, and A Shau Valley, Lurps considers war through the eyes of a green young warrior. The compelling narrative and realistic dialogue engrosses the reader in both the horror and the humor of life in Vietnam and reflects upon the broader philosophical issue of war. This poignant, auto-biographical, coming-of-age story explores the social background that shaped the protagonist's thinking; his quest for redemption through increased responsibility; the brotherhood of comrades in arms; women and his sexual awakening; and the mysterious, baffling randomness of who lives and who dies.

In A Soldier Without Arms, author David A. Kronick describes his experiences as a World War II Medical Supply Officer at station hospitals in the United States, England, France, and Germany. The author's personal accounts provide a unique and fascinating firsthand view of the dominant historical event of the 20th century.