British soldiers, with their old-fashioned helmets, spring-powered PIAT anti-tank guns and veneration of heroic defeats, may have lost the propaganda war, but their record speaks for itself: they may have started badly in France in 1940 and the Far East in 1941, but they were victorious in the North African desert, in Europe and in India and Burma where the 'Forgotten Army' first held the Japanese and then inflicted at Imphal and Kohima the greatest loss to the Japanese on land. They held back the might of the Panzers in Normandy in 1944, chased the Germans back into Holland and came within a whisker at Arnhem of circumventing the Siegfried Line, and won battle after battle against a fanatical defence on their way to final victory. This book doesn't cover the progress of the Second World War, but looks in detail at the weapons, uniform, accoutrements, equipment and tactics of the Second World War British infantryman, following the themes of the Haynes Great War British Tommy and German Infantryman Manuals.

Southern England. Late summer 1940. The UK is fighting for its very survival and the Luftwaffe's aerial offensive is unrelenting. All that lies between invasion and salvation for Britain is the "thin blue line" of RAF Fighter Command and its pilots. This newly illustrated anniversary edition of "Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot" reveals what it was like to fly a fighter plane in the Battle of Britain. Who were the Spitfire and Hurricane pilots of 1940? How did they spend a typical day? And when pitched together in combat at 30,000 feet, which was the better machine--Spitfire or Me109? Read" Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot" and then ask yourself: would I have been up to the job?

Author Chris McNab and photographer Patrick Bunce go above and below deck to discover how a supercarrier is built, examining its structure, systems, departments, flight deck and hangar deck. With the full cooperation of the US Navy, they join the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) to discover how a supercarrier operates, looking at flight operations, logistics and life onboard. Commissioned in 1977, this awesome carrier has a complement of more than 6,000 crew and an embarked air wing of anything up to 90 aircraft, together capable of delivering more than 150 combat sorties per day.

The period of the English Civil War began in 1640 and lasted until the restoration of the monarchy some twenty years later. It was a divisive and disruptive episode in English history, when loyalties were tested and saw family set against family, brother against brother, and neighbour against neighbour. Its causes lay in attitudes towards religion, the authority of the King, and a belief among many that Parliament should have more say in how the country was governed. In time these tensions grew and escalated into armed conflict that saw the abolition of the monarchy and the House of Lords, the beheading of King Charles I and the subjugation of the nation under a military protectorate headed by Oliver Cromwell. When the monarchy was finally restored in 1660 and King Charles II returned to the throne, the war was brought to an end, but the untold suffering it had heaped on the ordinary citizens of England continued for years after. It took generations for the scars of the Civil War to heal. English Civil War specialist Stephen Bull opens the English Civil War Operations Manual with a chapter outlining the course of the conflict, including accounts of the main battles and notable events in the war; he then reviews the organisation and structure of the two opposing forces, their commanders and their armies - the Royalists (also known as Cavaliers) and the Parliamentarians (the Roundheads); he goes on to describe their weapons and how they were used - mortar, cannon, musket (matchlock and flintlock), swords and pike; equipment, uniforms and armour; battlefield tactics involving musketeers, pikemen and cavalry, and how they were used; and finally, the aftermath of the Civil War and the insights we can gain today into the period through archaeology.

Insights into the organisation, equipment, men, machines, technology and tactics of the RAF's bomber offensive 1939 - 1945, Night and day in the Second World War RAF Bomber Command pounded away at the infrastructure of Germany to bring the Reich to its knees., Author Jonathan Falconer describes the Command's complex organisation and the science, technology and engineering behind every raid: how were bomber airfields built? How were bomber crews trained? What aircraft did they fly and what weapons did they use? How was the Command organised? Who decided what to bomb? How was a raid planned, executed, and its effectiveness analysed? How were the 47,000 'missing' aircrew traced? How were damaged bombers repaired?, Author: Jonathan Falconer is the author of more than 35 books and has published widely on the history of the RAF and Bomber Command including the Haynes de Havilland Mosquito Manual (with Brian Rivas), Short Stirling Manual, Handley Page Halifax Manual and RAF 100: The Royal Air Force in 100 Technical Innovations. He lives in Wiltshire.

The landing of Allied forces on the shores of Normandy on 6 June 1944 was the greatest amphibious invasion in history. To mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019, this new edition of the Haynes D-Day Operations Manual features an additional chapter describing how beach obstacles were neutralised and destroyed, and how the beachhead was organised to manage the rapid build-up of men and materiel before the breakout inland. Technology and innovation played crucial parts in the D-Day drama - from tank-carrying gliders, swimming tanks and the Mulberry harbours, to radio and radar aids that ensured landing craft arrived on the right beaches and combat aircraft overhead were controlled. This manual describes the development, construction and use of a wide range of innovative machines, structures and systems, explaining their uses on D-Day and after, and revealing how they contributed to the success of 'Overlord'.

Of the RAF's trio of four-engined heavy bombers in World War 2, the mighty Short Stirling was the first to enter service in August 1940. From its first raid in February 1941, the Stirling was at the forefront of the British night bombing offensive against Germany before unacceptably high losses forced its relegation to second-line duties later in the war.

In its modified form as the Mark IV the Stirling fulfilled vital roles with the RAF as a paratroop transport and glider tug on D-Day, at Arnhem and on the Rhine crossing as well as flying countless Special Duties operations over Occupied Europe and Norway. Its last gasp was in 1948-49 when a handful of Mk Vs were acquired by the Royal Egyptian Air Force to bomb Israel in the First Arab-Israeli War.

Containing numerous first-hand combat accounts from the crews that flew the bomber and detailed profile artwork, Short Stirling Units of World War 2 uncovers the history of one of the RAF's greatest World War 2 bombers.