|
|
Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence
'A sprawling tale of love, family, duty, war, and displacement'
Khaled Hosseini Correspondents by Tim Murphy is a powerful story
about the legacy of immigration, the present-day world of
refugeehood, the violence that America causes both abroad and at
home, and the power of the individual and the family to bring good
into a world that is often brutal. Spanning the breadth of the
twentieth century and into the post-9/11 wars and their legacy,
Correspondents is a powerful novel that centres on Rita Khoury, an
Irish-Lebanese woman whose life and family history mirrors the
story of modern America. Both sides of Rita's family came to the
United States in the golden years of immigration, and in her home
north of Boston Rita grows into a stubborn, perfectionist, and
relentlessly bright young woman. She studies Arabic at university
and moves to cosmopolitan Beirut to work as a journalist, and is
then posted to Iraq after the American invasion in 2003. In
Baghdad, Rita finds for the first time in her life that her safety
depends on someone else, her talented interpreter Nabil al-Jumaili,
an equally driven young man from a middle-class Baghdad family who
is hiding a secret about his sexuality. As Nabil's identity
threatens to put him in jeopardy and Rita's position becomes more
precarious as the war intensifies, their worlds start to unravel,
forcing them out of the country and into an uncertain future.
Written by a former Survival Instructor of the SAS, The SAS and
Special Forces Self-Defence Handbook provides easy-to-follow,
illustrated instructions on coping with all kinds of threatening
situations, from muggings to knife attacks. The author teaches you
strategies for both avoiding conflict and getting out of a
dangerous situation quickly and safely. Learn how mental attitude,
body language, assertiveness, and the ability to overcome fear can
prevent you from becoming a prime target for criminals. Learn which
parts of the body are the most effective weapons in fending off an
attacker, and which are the most likely targets for attack. Defend
yourself from sudden grabs, strangles, weapons, and road rage. And
find out how to deliver the SAS five-second knockout, a defence
previously available only to British SAS Special Forces soldiers.
Illustrated with black-and-white photographs and instructive
artworks and including expert advice throughout, The SAS and
Special Forces Self-Defence Handbook is a comprehensive guide to
self-defence for both men and women.
1 Recce: Agter vyandelike linies neem die leser tot in die Recces se “binnekamer”. In hul eie woorde vertel Recce-operateurs van die lewensgevaarlike operasies wat hulle onder groot geheimhouding in die laat 1970’s in Angola, Rhodesië en Mosambiek uitgevoer het. Dié wat daar was vertel van die spanning, afwagting, vrees, adrenalien, moegheid, dors en hartseer wat hulle beleef het, maar ook van die humoristiese momente en die hegte vriendskapsbande wat hulle gesmee het.
1 Recce: Behind Enemy Lines takes the reader into the ‘inner sanctum’ of the Recces. In their own words, Recce operators recount some of the life-threatening operations they conducted under great secrecy in the late 1970s.
Those who were there give first-hand accounts of the tension, anticipation, fear, adrenalin, exhaustion, thirst and grief they experienced, but also of the humorous moments and the close bonds of friendship that were forged in situations of mortal danger.
This account of the life of Jacques Vaillant de Guelis follows him
from his birth in Cardiff, through school and University and French
Military Service. Newly married he was recalled to France in 1939
and was assigned to a company of British engineers as liaison
officer until reportedly captured. He escaped via Dunkirk, only to
return to France a few days later. He retreated south, escaped over
the Pyrenees only to be caught again and flung into the Miranda del
Ebro Concentration camp. On his release he returned to England
where he was recruited by the fledgling SOE, after an interview
with Churchill. He became a familiar figure in Baker Street as a
recruiting and conducting officer until he was sent to France on a
fact- finding mission in 1941. A stay in Algiers in 1942-3 followed
when he took part in the liberation of Corsica before returning to
London and leading his 2nd mission to France in 1944. In 1945 he
joined SAARF and led his last mission to Germany which culminated
in collision with another vehicle when he was badly injured. He
died later as a result
This book is a transcript of diaries, letters and recollections all
written by Thomas Cheshire during the Great War. Thomas Allen
Cheshire was born in Crewe in Cheshire in 1889. He served under the
Royal Warwickshire Regiment and was 25 when he started writing
letters and diaries from the Front line to be sent to his
sweetheart, Kit. Dedicated to her, he wanted to give an insight
into the social conditions of the war, and to portray the soldier's
true character. His first diary commences on the 4th August 1914
when he describes the mobilisation of Great Britain. He continues
his daily diaries throughout August, detailing the training,
preparation and travels until finally setting sail aboard the SS
Caledonia on August 22nd, setting foot on French soil on the 23rd
and joining the Battle of Mons on the 25th August 1914. October's
diary continues with another battle - the Battle of Meteren. The
2nd diary covers the period from the end of October 1914 to January
1915 and in Thomas's letter to Kit he dedicates the two diaries as
a wedding present. Thomas describes life in the trenches in this
diary, his meeting of The King in December, and also the `rest' at
Christmas. In April 1915, Thomas was badly injured in the arm and
sent home from The Front. The 3rd diary is a series of
recollections detailing his recuperation during 1915, although it
wasn't finished and ready to send to Kit until February 1918. Kit
and Thomas got married in January 1916 and welcomed a baby son in
February 1917. His marriage and the birth of his only son are
touched upon in the 4th Diary, although this was never completed.
The last entry is dated 1st March 1918 and Thomas passed away on
the 16th October 1918. The diaries and recollections survived the
war and were kept and treasured by Kit, until she gave them to a
member of Thomas's family for safekeeping. They were then lent to
Malcolm to read and he was so taken by them that he felt they ought
to be transcribed so that a wider audience could appreciate them.
He took upon the task and spent many hours trying to do the diaries
justice. Although he completed the actual transcript, Malcolm sadly
passed away before publication. The book was completed for Malcolm
by his family to honour his wish and in dedication of all his hard
work.
For more than twenty-five years, David Nott has taken unpaid leave from his job as a general and vascular surgeon with the NHS to volunteer in some of the world’s most dangerous war zones. From Sarajevo under siege in 1993, to clandestine hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, he has carried out life-saving operations and field surgery in the most challenging conditions, and with none of the resources of a major London teaching hospital.
The conflicts he has worked in form a chronology of twenty-first-century combat: Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur, Congo, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Gaza and Syria. But he has also volunteered in areas blighted by natural disasters, such as the earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal.
Driven both by compassion and passion, the desire to help others and the thrill of extreme personal danger, he is now widely acknowledged to be the most experienced trauma surgeon in the world. But as time has gone on, David Nott began to realize that flying into to a catastrophe - whether war or natural disaster – was not enough. Doctors on the ground needed to learn how to treat the appalling injuries that war inflicts upon its victims. Since 2015, the Foundation he set up with his wife, Elly, has disseminated the knowledge he has gained, training other doctors in the art of saving lives threatened by bombs and bullets.
War Doctor is his extraordinary story.
CHRISTOPHER PIKE's first book in his trilogy Making Sense of War
examined war as a social phenomenon. About War (2021) explained why
war, organised violence, happens. War in Context shows - through
examples from history - how the state legitimises war and how war
legitimises the state, and how Britain has used military force in
the past. Pike asks: is war necessary? Can it be predicted? Is
terrorism war? Is terrorism effective and how should it be
countered? What were the implications of al Qaeda's attacks on the
Twin Towers and the Pentagon in September 2001? What then might be
the effect on world stability of America's less assertive
leadership? War in Context looks at deterrence, the basis for
nuclear strategy; and the strategic implications of such modern
phenomena as cyborgs, Artificial Intelligence and Drones. But the
human factor is emphasised - the moral and physical pressure on
commanders of robots and hypersonic missiles. Above all, it is
humans who decide how and when death is delivered. Science
increases the intensity of battle, but man, not the machine,
controls the outcome. The book ends with an assessment of Putin's
invasion of Ukraine.
First published in 1918 Whizzbangs and Woodbines presents a candid
portrait of life behind the lines on the Western Front by Reverend
Durell, then Rector of Rotherhithe, and Chief Commissioner of the
Church Army in France.The Church Army, along with its counterparts
the YMCA, TOC-H and Salvation Army played an important part in the
support and morale of soldiers in war. In addition to providing
spiritual support,the Church Army welcomed more than 200,000 men
each day to their recreation huts and provided visits and gifts to
the wounded, tents and hostels near the front lines, drove
ambulances, mobile canteens and kitchen cars.In addition to
voluntary Church services, for those who wished to attend, a simple
salvation from trench life was offered; music, singing, concerts,
card games,billiards and refreshments, all small measures of joy in
the midst of dangers and hardships and as vital to the continued
war effort as bullets and shells. For a packet of woodbines and a
cup of tea was restorative ammunition enough for the average
British Tommy.
Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 and events
on the Eastern Front that same year were pivotal to the history of
World War II. It was during this year that the radicalization of
Nazi policy -- through both an all-encompassing approach to warfare
and the application of genocidal practices -- became most obvious.
Germany's military aggression and overtly ideological conduct,
culminating in genocide against Soviet Jewry and the decimation of
the Soviet population through planned starvation and brutal
antipartisan policies, distinguished Operation Barbarossa-the code
name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union-from all previous
military campaigns in modern European history. This collection of
essays, written by young scholars of seven different nationalities,
provides readers with the most current interpretations of Germany's
military, economic, racial, and diplomatic policies in 1941. With
its breadth and its thematic focus on total war, genocide, and
radicalization, this volume fills a considerable gap in
English-language literature on Germany's war of annihilation
against the Soviet Union and the radicalization of World War II
during this critical year. Alex J. Kay is the author of
Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder: Political and Economic
Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union,
1940-1941 and is an independent contractor for the Ludwig Boltzmann
Institute for Research on War Consequences. Jeff Rutherford is
assistant professor of history at Wheeling Jesuit University, where
he teaches modern European history. David Stahel is the author of
Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East and Kiev
1941: Hitler's Battle for Supremacy in the East.
First published in 1918, this book is a record of observations and
evidence compiled by the then US Consul in Queenstown, Eire. A rare
study from first-hand accounts. Contains detailed testimonies of
survivors from over fifty vessels attacked and often sunk by German
submarines during the Great War.A vivid and accurate picture of the
tactics and motives of German submarine warfare is provided in the
first part of the book. The second part concentrate son the attack
and sinking of RMS Lusitania. The sinking of the Lusitania remains
a controversial topic with the loss of 1,198 lives on 7May 1915
Robert Southey was an English poet and contemporary of Nelson. It
was his ambition to write a clear and concise life of Nelson which
could be easily absorbed by any young sailor.'
On September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
flew back to London from his meeting in Munich with German
Chancellor Adolf Hitler. As he disembarked from the aircraft, he
held aloft a piece of paper, which contained the promise that
Britain and Germany would never go to war with one another again.
He had returned bringing "Peace with honour--Peace for our time."
Drawing on a wealth of archival material, acclaimed historian David
Faber delivers a sweeping reassessment of the extraordinary events
of 1938, tracing the key incidents leading up to the Munich
Conference and its immediate aftermath: Lord Halifax's ill-fated
meeting with Hitler; Chamberlain's secret discussions with
Mussolini; and the Berlin scandal that rocked Hitler's regime. He
takes us to Vienna, to the Sudentenland, and to Prague. In Berlin,
we witness Hitler inexorably preparing for war, even in the face of
opposition from his own generals; in London, we watch as
Chamberlain makes one supreme effort after another to appease
Hitler.
Resonating with an insider's feel for the political infighting
Faber uncovers, "Munich, 1938 "transports us to the war rooms and
bunkers, revealing the covert negotiations and" "scandals upon
which the world's fate would rest. It is modern history writing at
its best.""
|
|