|
Showing 1 - 10 of
10 matches in All Departments
The authorised illustrated history of the SAS by the number one
bestselling author of Dunkirk, Joshua Levine. With
never-before-seen photographs and unheard stories, this is the
SAS’s wartime history in vivid and astonishing detail. The SAS
began as a lie, a story of a British parachute unit in the North
African desert, to convince the Axis they were under imminent
threat. The lie was so effective that soon a small band of men were
brought together to make it real. These recruits were the toughest
and brightest of their cohort, the most resilient, most dynamic and
most self-sufficient. Their first commanders, David Stirling and
Paddy Mayne, would go down in history as unorthodox visionaries.
Yet this book tells much more than the usual origin story of the
unit and seeks out less well-known leaders like Bill Fraser, who
was essential in helping the SAS achieve fame for their devastating
raids. By looking beyond the myth, this book brings back to life a
group of men who showed immense bravery and endured unimaginable
risks behind enemy lines. Written with the full cooperation of the
SAS and with exclusive access to SAS archives, Levine draws on
individual stories and personal testimony, including interviews
with veterans and family members. On every page, the book gives a
visceral sense of what it was like to fight and train in the SAS in
both North Africa and Europe during the Second World War, focusing
on their failures as well as their successes. This book is vivid
with the characters of the men, their eclectic personalities, their
strengths, weaknesses and many disagreements. Levine has uncovered
a remarkable portrait of this enigmatic unit with photographs and
stories long thought lost to history
The authorized illustrated history of the SAS by the number one
bestselling author of Dunkirk, Joshua Levine. With
never-before-seen photographs and unheard stories, this is the
SAS’s wartime history in vivid and astonishing detail. The
authorized illustrated history of the SAS by the New York Times
bestselling author of Dunkirk, Joshua Levine. With
never-before-seen photographs and unheard stories, this is the SAS
’ s wartime history in vivid and astonishing detail. Includes a
foreword by Mike Sadler, the earliest surviving member of the
SAS.The SAS began as a lie, a story of a British parachute unit in
the North African desert, to convince the Axis they were under
imminent threat. The lie was so effective that soon a small band of
men were brought together to make it real. These recruits were the
toughest and brightest of their cohort, the most resilient, most
dynamic and most self-sufficient. Their first commanders, David
Stirling and Paddy Mayne, would go down in history as unorthodox
visionaries. Yet this book tells much more than the usual origin
story of the unit and seeks out less well-known leaders like Bill
Fraser, who was essential in helping the SAS achieve fame for their
devastating raids. By looking beyond the myth, this book brings
back to life a group of men who showed immense bravery and endured
unimaginable risks behind enemy lines. Written with the full
cooperation of the SAS and with exclusive access to SAS archives,
Levine draws on individual stories and personal testimony,
including interviews with veterans and family members. On every
page, the book gives a visceral sense of what it was like to fight
and train in the SAS in both North Africa and Europe during World
War II, focusing on their failures as well as their successes. This
book is vivid with the characters of the men, their eclectic
personalities, their strengths, weaknesses and many disagreements.
Levine has uncovered a remarkable portrait of this enigmatic unit
with photographs and stories long thought lost to history
The Blitz of 1940-41 is one of the most iconic periods in modern
British history - and one of the most misunderstood. The 'Blitz
spirit' is celebrated by some, whereas others dismiss it as a myth.
Joshua Levine's thrilling biography rejects the tired arguments and
reveals the human truth: the Blitz was a time of extremes of
experience and behaviour. People werepulling together and helping
strangers, but they were also breaking rules and exploiting each
other. Life during wartime, the author reveals, was complex and
messy and real. From the first page readers will discover a
different story to the one they thought they knew - from the
sacrifices made by ordinary people to a sudden surge in the
popularity of nightclubs; from secret criminal trials at the Old
Bailey to a Columbine-style murder in an Oxford college. There were
new working opportunities for women and the appearance of
unfamiliar cultures: whilst prayers were offered up in a south
London mosque, Jamaican sailors were struggling to cross the
country.Unlikely friendships were fostered and surprising
sexualities explored - these years saw a boom in prostitution and
even the emergence of a popular weekly magazine for fetishists. On
the darker side, racketeers and spivs made money out of the chaos,
and looters prowled the night to prey on bomb victims. From the
lack of cheese to the decreased suicide rate, this astonishing and
entertaining book takes the true pulse of a 'blitzed nation'. And
it shows how social change during this time led to political change
- which in turn has built the Britain we know today.
The first heroes of the air. Rewriting the rules of military
engagement and changing the course of modern history as a result,
the pioneering airmen of the First World War took incredible risks
to perform their vital contribution to the war effort. Fighter
Heroes of WWI is a narrative history that conveys the perils of
early flight, the thrills of being airborne, and the horrors of war
in the air at a time when pilots carried little defensive armament
and no parachutes. The men who joined the Royal Flying Corps in
1914 were the original heroes of flying, treading into unknown
territory, and paving the way for later aerial combat. They became
icons for the soldiers in the trenches, and a stark contrast to the
thousands on the ground fighting faceless thousands as men fought
aircraft to aircraft and man to man - for the first time the air
became a battlefield of its own. The war changed flying forever. In
1914 aircraft were a questionable technology, used for only basic
reconnaissance. But by 1918, hastened by the terrible war, aircraft
were understood to be the future of modern warfare. The Wright
brothers' achievements of a mere ten years earlier and Bleriot's
crossing of the Channel just a few years before the war seemed a
distant memory as aircraft became killing machines - the war
becoming the ancestor of the fearsome air wars of later years. The
stories reveal the feelings of those who defended the trenches from
above and witnessed the war from a completely different perspective
-the men who were the first fighter heroes of the air.
Operation Fortitude was the ingenious web of deception spun by the
Allies to mislead the Nazis as to how and where the D-Day landings
were to be mounted. 'One of the most creative intelligence
operations of all time' - Kim Philby The story of how this web was
woven is one of intrigue, personal drama, ground-breaking
techniques, internal resistance, and good fortune. It is a tale of
double agents, black radio broadcasts, phantom armies, 'Ultra'
decrypts, and dummy parachute drops. These diverse tactics were
intended to come together to create a single narrative so
compelling that it would convince Adolf Hitler of its authenticity.
Operation Fortitude was intended to create the false impression
that the Normandy landings were merely a feint to disguise a
massive forthcoming invasion by this American force in the Pas de
Calais. In other words, the success of D-Day - the beginning of the
end of the Second World War - was made possible by the efforts of
men and women who were not present on the Normandy beaches. Men
such as Juan Pujol, a Spanish double-agent (code-name GARBO) who
sent hundreds of wireless messages from London to Madrid in the
build-up to D-Day relaying supposed intelligence from his
fictitious spy network. This allowed the enemy to conclude that the
number of Allied divisions preparing to invade was twice the actual
number. Men such as R.V Jones, the head of British Scientific
Intelligence, who masterminded the dropping of tinfoil confetti
from the bomb-bay doors of Lancaster bombers, creating a false
impression that a flotilla of Allied ships was heading in the
opposite direction to the genuine invasion fleet. Using first hand
sources from a wide range of archives, government documents,
letters and memos Operation Fortitude builds a picture of what
wartime Britain was like, as well as the immense pressure these men
and women were working under and insure D-Day succeeded.
THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER THE EPIC TRUE STORY OF
DUNKIRK - NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN AND STARRING KENNETH BRANAGH, TOM HARDY AND MARK
RYLANCE. In 1940, at the French port of Dunkirk, more than 300,000
trapped Allied troops were dramatically rescued from destruction at
the hands of Nazi Germany by an extraordinary seaborne evacuation.
The true history of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians
involved in the nine-day skirmish has passed into legend. Now, the
story Winston Churchill described as a 'miracle' is narrated by
bestselling author Joshua Levine in its full, sweeping context,
including new interviews with veterans and survivors. Told from the
viewpoints of land, sea and air, Joshua Levine's Dunkirk is a
dramatic account of a defeat that paved the way to ultimate victory
and preserved liberty for generations to come.
A powerful oral history of the evacuation of Dunkirk, published for
the 70th anniversary.
It could have been the biggest military disaster suffered by the
British in the Second World War, but against all odds the British
Army was successfully evacuated, and 'Dunkirk spirit' became
synonymous with the strength of the British people in adversity.
On the same day that Winston Churchill became Prime Minister,
German troops invaded Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium. The
eight-month period of calm that had existed since the declaration
of war was over. But the defences constructed by the Allies in
preparation failed to repel a German army with superior tactics.
The British Expeditionary Force soon found themselves in an
increasingly chaotic retreat. By the end of May 1940, over 400,000
Allied troops were trapped in and around the port of Dunkirk
without shelter or supplies. Hitler's army was just ten miles away.
On May 26, the British Admiralty launched Operation Dynamo. This
famous rescue mission sent every available vessel -- from navy
destroyers and troopships to pleasure cruisers and fishing boats --
over the Channel to Dunkirk. Of the 850 'Little Ships' that sailed
to Dunkirk, 235 were sunk by German aircraft or mines, but over
this nine day period 338,000 British and French troops were safely
evacuated.
Drawing on the wealth of material from the Imperial War Museum
Sound Archive, Forgotten Voices of Dunkirk presents in the words of
both rescued and rescuers in an intimate and dramatic account of
what Winston Churchill described as a 'miracle of deliverance'.
Kumar and colleagues' Neurocritical Care Management of the
Neurosurgical Patient provides the reader with thorough coverage of
neuroanatomical structures, operative surgical approaches,
anesthetic considerations, as well as the full range of known
complications relating to elective and non-elective neurosurgical
procedures. Drawing upon the expertise of an interdisciplinary team
of physicians from neurosurgery, neurology, anesthesiology,
critical care, and nursing backgrounds, the text covers all aspects
intensivists need to be aware of in order to provide optimal
patient care. Expert Consult eBook version included with purchase.
This enhanced eBook experience allows you to search all of the
text, figures, images, and references from the book on a variety of
devices. Over 100 world-renowned authors from multispecialty
backgrounds (neurosurgeons, neuro-interventionalists, and
neurointensivists) and top institutions contribute their unique
perspectives to this challenging field. Six sections cover topics
such as intraoperative monitoring, craniotomy procedures,
neuroanesthesiology principles, spine and endovascular
neurosurgery, and additional specialty procedures. Includes 300
tables and boxes, 70 line artworks, and 350 photographic images.
Clinical pearls pulled out of the main text offer easy reference.
1916. The Somme. With over a million casualties, it was the most
brutal battle of World War I. It is a clash that even now, over 90
years later, remains seared into the national consciousness,
conjuring up images of muddy trenches and young lives tragically
wasted. Its first day, July 1st 1916 - on which the British
suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead - is the
bloodiest day in the history of the British armed forces to date.
On the German side, an officer famously described it as 'the muddy
grave of the German field army'. By the end of the battle, the
British had learned many lessons in modern warfare while the
Germans had suffered irreplaceable losses, ultimately laying the
foundations for the Allies' final victory on the Western Front.
Drawing on a wealth of material from the vast Imperial War Museum
Sound Archive, Forgotten Voices of the Somme presents an intimate,
poignant, sometimes even bleakly funny insight into life on the
front line: from the day-to-day struggle of extraordinary
circumstances to the white heat of battle and the constant threat
of injury or death. Featuring contributions from soldiers of both
sides and of differing backgrounds, ranks and roles, many of them
previously unpublished, this is the definitive oral history of this
unique and terrible conflict.
|
You may like...
Hampstead
Diane Keaton, Brendan Gleeson, …
DVD
R49
Discovery Miles 490
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
|