Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Dr Adrian Greaves’ is widely acknowledged as a leading expert on the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and his previous account of Rorke’s Drift has become a standard work on that battle. However, by his own admission, it is hopelessly out of date as are other existing accounts. Rorke’s Drift Revisited is not merely a revised edition of that earlier work but a completely new account with much new research that challenges many misconceptions and myths.Explaining how previous accounts have been distorted by false reporting, false memory syndrome, ignorance of the site and archaeological evidence, the author presents fascinating fresh evidence and analysis. Among the more sensational revelations is that Lieutenant John Chard did not write the famous Chard Report, which has been the main primary source for the battle. He also shows that neither Lieutenant Ardendorff nor the missionary Reverend Otto Witt was there. Nor were the famous mealie-bag-and-biscuit-box barricades hastily erected, as per the film; they were carefully planned and built over several preceding days. Drawing on previously neglected eyewitness accounts as well as the latest archaeological evidence, there is a wealth of other new information and fresh perspectives. The shift in perceptions of the battle and its hold on the national psyche is also discussed. Uniquely, over a quarter of a century of physically revisiting Rorke’s Drift and associated sites as a tour leader allows him to give an accurate appraisal of the battlefield today.

This second volume on the LNER 4-4-0 locomotives describes the design, construction, history, operation and performance of the North Eastern, North British, Great North of Scotland and Gresley LNER built examples, classified by the LNER at the Grouping as classes, D17 - D24, D25 - D36, D38 - D48 and D49 respectively. It covers from their emergence in the late nineteenth century to their demise in the mid or late 1950s and early 1960s with their performance at their peak operation times, mainly in the inter-war years of LNER ownership.

In the months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, a report from Nationalist China described a mysterious "super fighter plane" used by Japanese forces, said to be faster and more maneuverable than anything in America’s arsenal. U.S. intelligence dismissed it as exaggeration, underestimating Japan’s capabilities. The plane was later identified as the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero," which dominated the Pacific skies after Pearl Harbor.Lieutenant Commander John S. "Jimmie" Thach of the U.S. Navy recognized the threat posed by the Zero and devised a tactic to counter it. With the Japanese preparing to attack Midway Atoll, Thach trained his pilots in the "Thach Weave," a revolutionary formation designed to offset the Zero’s superior performance. This tactic proved highly effective in air combat and allowed Thach’s squadron to neutralize the Japanese advantage.The battle at Midway became a turning point in the Pacific War. The U.S. Navy’s victory, aided by Thach’s tactical innovation, crippled Japan’s offensive capabilities. After Midway, the Japanese would never win another major battle, while the Americans would never lose one, marking a decisive shift in the war’s outcome.

A thorough and illuminating biography of the infamous Wallis Simpson, who was one American half of the biggest scandals to hit royalty and the greatest love affair known for centuries. This book will be a holistic portrayal of the real Wallis Simpson, the woman behind the myth. Richly elaborative, the book is infused with anecdotes and stylish photographs of a bygone era. A ‘real,’ honest view of the woman, straight to the point and reflecting aspects of her complex and mysterious character, drawing on research from members of the fashionable London circle, as well as the Baltimore society where she was born and raised. The book will approach from a peripatetic view - from her inner circle of society’s hottest crowds in London with the question of ‘Was she? Was she not?' embroiled in sinister pro-Nazi plots, to the shores of former ‘Peking’, trotting through the streets on a rickshaw. Delve into a dramatic and fascinating piece of history that took place in an upheaval of societal and economic unrest. Discover a woman who was practical and resourceful, yet went to more parties than she cares to remember. The enigmatic and multi-faceted persona that led many to believe that there was more than meets the eye.

After fifty years of service the lives of the HST 125s are now drawing to a close. Some remain to remind us of the extraordinary impact these trains had on British Rail’s operations over so many decades, but their number is dwindling fast. A long goodbye, but a goodbye nonetheless. With their days numbered, now would seem to be the time to consider the achievement of the design engineers who created them and the service they rendered across Britain’s rail network, aided by so many others. It is a story that might never have been told if BR’s plans for its Advanced Passenger Train had reached fruition more quickly. But delay upon delay meant that there was pressing need for a fast modern passenger less technically advanced substitute to fill the gap. The 125s were the result and very quickly they showed what they could do, and would continue to do wherever BR, or the privatised companies that followed in the 1990s, operated them. This book pays homage to these exceptional trains and all those who were involved in their design, construction and day to day operation.

The story of Scotland's male witches and wizards always promised to be a convulted one, and the tale indeed turns out to be a strange tree with many twisted branches. The nation has several venerable magical figures who compete in stature with the legendary Merlin. Michael Scot, Thomas of Erceldoune and Coinneach Odhar were, respectively scholar, poet and seer, but they still command enormous presence in the national imagination. The forgotten men who got caught up in the national witch hunts were as unfortunate as the far greater number if women persecuted. Among those prosecuted were healers like Andro Man, who practiced his skills for decades before being examined. For every sincere practitioner or innocent, there were many more frauds and distorted characters caught up in the supernatural net. Major Weir left a dark stain on Edinburgh for a century after his death and Gregor Willox Macgregor is still remembered in the north with a mixture of doubtful contempt and fear.

This is the history of Britain’s armaments industry during the Second World War. It begins with the rearmament before the war and shows how a shadow industry was prepared, in response to German aggression. See how industry was organised and programmed, before learning how armaments were researched, designed and developed. The narrative then looks at how enlistment was controlled, how skilled workers were deployed and how manufacturing was diluted, to allow tens of thousands of unemployed men and women to play their part. The story continues with an explanation of the importance of the coal and oil industries, followed by the development of the metal industries. It then looks at the huge amounts of imports and merchant shipping required, as well as the American Lend Lease programme. See how factories equipped the Royal Air Force, so it could fight the Battle of Britain, and reequipped the British Army following the disaster at Dunkirk. Also learn how the shipyards worked around the clock on warships and merchant ships, so the Royal Navy could defend the nation and protect the supply convoys. See how the lessons learnt on the battlefield helped modify early factory designs into practical ones. Learn how the war changed relations between the government, the employers, the unions, and the workforce. See how issues could cause widespread industrial unrest, as the cost of living rose and the rules became stricter. Also learn how the desire to improve production improved health and safety at work, welfare arrangements and developed management and human resources. We also see how the Luftwaffe attempt to cripple British industry with its aerial Blitz. The story ends with a nation being pushed to its limits for a second time in thirty years, before suddenly demobilising, again leaving the British people wondering what the future would hold for them.

In developing plans for the Allied invasion of France, from the very beginning, SHAEF planners considered the vital need to secure deepwater ports to bring in all the supplies needed to support an army of hundreds of thousands of troops. Cherbourg, at the tip of the Cotentin Peninsula, was the closest to the landing beaches chosen for Operation ‘Overlord’. The planners therefore decided to land forces at the base on the peninsula, in order to enable the rapid capture of Cherbourg, and also to widen the front of the landing. The First US Army was tasked to capture it as quickly as possible. In the early hours of June 6, paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions landed inland from Utah Beach to capture the beach exits, and secure the crossings over the Douve River at Carentan. On June 10, the 101st Airborne Division captured Carentan, thus liaising with the Omaha beachhead and ensuring the Allies a continuous front. This success allowed VII Corps to advance westward to isolate the Cotentin Peninsula. On June 18, the 9th Infantry Division reached the west coast of the peninsula, and within 24 hours, the 4th, 9th, and 79th Infantry Divisions advanced northward. Within two days, they were within striking distance of Cherbourg, but the German commander, Generalleutnant Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben, rejected a summons to surrender and began demolitions of the port. The VII Corps launched a general assault on June 22. Resistance was initially strong, but the Americans gradually drove the German defenders from their bunkers and pillboxes. Allied warships and cruisers bombarded the defences on the 25th, and the 79th Division captured Fort du Roule, which dominated Cherbourg and its defences, on the 26th. General von Schlieben surrendered the same day, and the port and arsenal capitulated on the 27th. Fregattenkapitän Witt, the port commander, escaped by boat to the Fort de l’Ouest, a bastion on the breakwater, and took command of the small forces holding this fort and the Fort du Centre. After two days of artillery hammering and several bombing raids, the two strongholds surrendered on June 29. The Battle of Cherbourg was over. In the battle for the Cotentin and Cherbourg, VII Corps had suffered over 22,000 casualties, while the Germans had lost 39,000 men taken prisoner, in addition to an unknown number killed. The early capture of Cherbourg was a major defeat for the Germans. In their plan to deny the Allies access to French ports, the German high command had anticipated that Cherbourg could hold out for several weeks (as Brest was soon to do). The capitulation of the Festung came much earlier than expected, and Hitler’s inner circle considered the fortress’s commander, General von Schlieben, a very poor commander. However, his engineers had carried out intensive demolition of the port, which was so thoroughly destroyed and mined that it was only put back into very limited use by mid-August. This, then, is the story of the capture of Cherbourg, the first Allied victory in Normandy, told through more than a hundred ‘Then and Now’ comparison photographs, which really bring history to life. You will thus be able to walk precisely in the footsteps of the heroes of this great moment in history.

For the first time, journalists who shared details about Nazi crimes from the International Military Tribunal, better known as the Nuremberg Trial, have their own story told. As World War II in Europe drew to a close in 1945, the Allies prepared to hold Nazi leaders accountable for crimes against humanity and selected Nuremberg as the site for the trial. The U.S. military took the lead in refurbishing a courtroom and making accommodations for 325 journalists and 23 defendants plus Allied judges, prosecutors, translators and administrative staff. Because publicity was a main consideration, the latest innovations and technology were incorporated into the courtroom to enhance news coverage of the trial. Press passes were in demand worldwide for courtroom seats. A press pool was selected to witness the executions in which 10 criminals were hung on Oct. 16, 1946. Famous war correspondents and young journalists who later became household names were headquartered in a castle, explored bombed ruins and faced dangers as a lingering spirit of Nazism seethed within the city. The lengthy trial became an excruciating endurance test for journalists by the time it ended (far longer than expected) on Oct. 1, 1946, setting a precedent for coverage of subsequent justice at Nuremberg. The author, a long-time journalist and former foreign correspondent, provides an insider’s look at how the news was gathered and conveyed. The book is based on extensive research and insights gathered from Nuremberg, including at the location where the journalists were housed and at the courtroom itself.

A forensic study of the trial of Amelia Dyer, one of Britain’s most prolific serial killers, thought to have murdered up to 400 babies. This book explores how life in Victorian England created the ideal conditions for Amelia to establish herself as a baby farmer, taking infants from desperate women in exchange for payment.It examines what motivated her to kill and go on killing: her need for money versus her role as custodian in a cult that worshipped Lucifer and delves into her personal life, taking evidence from hundreds of contemporary trial and government records, memoirs and newspaper articles, and investigating what it was about society and policing in the late nineteenth-century that allowed her to get away with it for so long.The nineteenth century was a horrible time to be a woman in England. The lack of legal and effective birth control affected even the highest in the land. Queen Victoria, after having given birth to nine children, was advised by physicians for the sake of her health to have no more. Her diaries complain of ‘no more fun in bed’ as the only legal and safe way to avoid pregnancy was abstinence from sexual intercourse.It was against this backdrop that Amelia Dyer carried out her monstrous campaign. In 1856, she began advertising in local papers under assumed names and reassuring backgrounds, offering to adopt newborn babies in exchange for fees that varied according to the means of the mother. Her 40-year-long killing spree only ended with a local police force sting operation.

In 1941, a year after France formally surrendered, Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French forces, appointed Jean Moulin to coordinate the various resistance movements that had sprung up all over France. His mission was to unify the diverse and often fragmented resistance groups into a more cohesive organization. He successfully brought together various resistance factions under the umbrella of the National Council of the Resistance (CNR), which was a crucial step toward creating a united front against both the Nazis and the Vichy French regime. Since the start of the Occupation, the Germans realized that resistance to their rule was inevitable. With this in mind, they went about establishing total control of France, not only through the German Army forces stationed in the country, but using the entire Nazi security apparatus. From 1941 onwards, the Germans began to encounter frequent and increasingly more damaging acts of resistance, which required not only intelligence and counter-intelligence work, but the launching of raids and small operations. The intensity of partisan attacks began to increase even more in 1942. This level of resistance grew even greater in 1943. By then, the partisans were selectively challenging local German garrisons and collaborator forces in the French countryside. By the beginning of 1944, the Resistance, or Maquis as it was also known, became bolder, even establishing so-called Free-French republics in various regions of the country. Employing primary source documents from several archives, author Antonio Munoz has produced a one-volume study that fully covers the partisan and anti-partisan struggle in France from 1940 through to 1944. Hitler’s War Against the French Resistance, 1940-1944 is a valuable reference source for those who wish to study the guerrilla and anti-guerrilla struggle during the Second World War.

The Mosquito was the most successful battle-winning multi-role combat aircraft of the Second World War. It was introduced by the de Havilland Aircraft Company as an unarmed, un-interceptable, long range, high speed, high altitude medium bomber. An unarmed bomber without protective armament was a concept that ran directly contrary to the tactical doctrines of both the Royal Air Force and the US Army Air Force. Notwithstanding, it was developed to carry out almost unlimited roles including ground-attack dive-bomber, anti-shipping strike aircraft, day, and night fighter, 'Pathfinder’ marking targets for a main heavy bomber force, and long-range reconnaissance aircraft. There seemed to be nothing it could not be adapted to do with unmatched success. Its most important role was as a deadly long-range, low level precision ground attack fighter-bomber, ideal for 'special duties' operations. The book examines the crucial role of designers and engineers from drawing board to production and company support. Powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin engines it could carry the same bombload as four-engine heavy bombers but at much greater speeds and at altitudes from low-level to ultra-high. It was the combination of this performance with its prodigious range capability that made it a truly strategic weapon in air warfare, striking precision targets in the heart of Nazi-Germany and sapping morale. The text is of full of detailed and dramatic attacks from the aircrew point of view. “It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I run green and yellow with envy.”Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring.

The B-29 Superfortress was a vital and iconic strategic bomber of the Second World War. It was designed with a range and warlord capability that made it viable for operation in the vast regions of Asia Pacific. This bomber played a key part in the defeat and unconditional surrender of Japan, principally using fire-bombing techniques. The complex role and effectiveness of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are reviewed critically. The work has 21st century connection in the 80th anniversary of VJ Day. The United States Navy, US ground forces and the B-29 wings were brought together to fight, in the author's words, 'he most massive air war the world had ever seen'. Technical aspects including bomb-load and range - vital for the vast Asia Pacific, are set out for all readers, service, academic and lay. The narrative takes readers through the history of the major air wars commencing with Europe, where the US Army Air Corps was allied with Britain's RAF. After victory in Europe in 1944 the combined war effort shifted to the war with Japan on land, sea, and in the air. The great sea battles follow with the Coral Sea, Midway and combined operations in the Guadalcanal Campiagn of 1942 seen as a turning-point. The Philippine Sea carrier battle brought about the end of the Japanese navy's carrier strength and the following battle of Leyte was seen as a ‘grudge-match' for Pearl Harbor'. The invasion of the Marianas secured air bases that at last brought B-29 operations within striking range of Japan. Preparation of crews for combat takes readers into sharing combat experience with crews and personal flying experience is graphic - problems affecting sighting targets, bomb-aiming, escape from attack, danger and fear of loss. In this campaign the B-29 played the most important combat role of its career. It was an aircraft unique in the history of aviation.

Ever since Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe and deputy Führer, crunched a cyanide capsule between his teeth and died the night before his execution for war crimes, speculation about his death has never ended. The question of how Goering obtained the poison led to an official investigation, several reviews, intense debates, many books and articles, and several dramatizations and documentaries. Yet none have been able to provide a compelling and convincing explanation. The answer to this riddle was in fact unfathomable without the knowledge of key pieces of information contained within statements made by two military personnel who, late in their lives, revealed that they had been present during that history-defining moment of 1945. Combined with all the documentation previously obtained by investigators, and recently published records, the actual sequence of events of that fateful day can at last be understood. Just six US and British officers knew what took place on the day Goering received the cyanide capsule that allowed him to escape being hanged by his enemies and, in the eyes of his legions of followers, die a martyr – the very end the Allies were so desperate to avoid. Of those six Allied officers, four died taking their secrets with them. The revelations of the remaining two only came to light during casual meetings. The disclosures made by the first of the two former wartime officers, during an interview he gave in 2003, are as astounding as they are unequivocal – yet it seems they have never been fully scrutinised until now. Goering’s Suicide: ‘They Will Not Hang Me!’ chronicles events that occurred in Nuremberg during the crucial eight-week period in the autumn of 1945 that immediately preceded the start of the International Military Tribunal in which twenty-four leaders of Nazi Germany who had planned, carried out, or otherwise participated in the Holocaust and other war crimes, were tried. The author, Paul Hooley, believed the information received about Goering’s suicide was too important for it not to be shared with the world. Now, the truth has been revealed.

Formed a mere two months after the Bolshevik Revolution, the Cheka, the Soviet Security and Intelligence Agency, was formed to gather intelligence and promote revolution abroad. This organisation underwent a series of transformations over the following decades and achieved some remarkable successes against Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, the USA, and the United Kingdom. Throughout the 1930s, the Soviets pursued their ambition of gaining influence in Eastern Europe. It was a plan that inevitably brought them into conflict with Nazi Germany, against which they began setting up clandestine organisations that were meant to become operational in the event of war. The USA had been of peripheral interest to the Soviets up until the prospect of war loomed ever closer. Then, when it became known that Britain and the USA were exploring the potential of atomic weapons, espionage in the western hemisphere became of paramount importance. Despite their being allies against the Nazis, the Soviets significantly increased spying activity against both nations in an effort to develop their own atomic bomb programme. After the end of the Second World War, a new and ominous threat hung over the world in the guise of the Cold War when the Soviets brought into play their British spy network which became known as the Cambridge Five. These were agents who had been radicalised and recruited during the 1930s and then embedded within the British security services. In Stalin’s Top Spies the author explores five of the Soviet Union’s greatest spies: Leopold Trepper (and the Red Orchestra), Ursula Kuczynski (the Atomic Spy), Richard Sorge (a Soviet agent in Tokyo), Kim Philby (the Cambridge Spy), and Rudolf Abel (a Soviet intelligence officer who was arrested in the USA on charges of espionage in 1957). The book not only reveals their successes and failures, but assessing the extent to which they influenced world events from the Second World War through to the early years of the Cold War. In so doing, it also highlights the failures of the target nations to recognise the threat posed to them and exposes their lack of success in dealing with it.

Madeline Smith’s career began suddenly - shop girl in a London suburb one week, modelling for rising fashion chain BiBa the next and then a nationally recognized face soon after. It was 1967 and Maddie never looked back. Telling her story for the first time, despite many calls for her to tell her own story, Maddie has decided to take us on a very personal journey through her eventful life – a book for all people that reminisce about the 60s, 70s and 80’s and provided by a star with a zest for life that was always the hallmark of her smile, personality and humility. This book appeals to many audiences – James Bond enthusiasts for her role as Roger Moore’s first Bond Girl in Live and Let Die (1973) and fans of Hammer Horror films, where Maddie remains an iconic figure from playing opposite Peter Cushing and Vincent Price in The Vampire Lovers (1970) and Theatre of Blood (1973). Maddie’s roles in Carry On Matron in 1972 and The Amazing Mr Blunden bring back to life talented stars now long forgotten and are supplemented by anecdotes on Tony Curtis in The Persuaders, Ronnie Barker in The Two Ronnies, Leslie Phillips in Casanova ’73 and Christopher Timothy in All Creatures Great and Small. Passionate about theatre, Maddie talks about her roles with Alec Guiness, Donald Sinden and Brian Cox, and her friendships with Rob Stewart and Richard Harris. Working alongside experienced writer and biographer Philip Kay-Bujak, this opportunity to share with us her personal battles, tragedies and achievements joins with her philosophy on growing old and will inspire anyone that reads it. This is a book that is long overdue and proves that stars like Madeline Smith truly Live and Never Let Die.