Pen & Sword Books Ltd strana 18 z 41

This book examines the uniforms and equipment of the backbone of the French army, the Line Infantry, at the height of its glory. The crushing defeat of the Prussian army at the twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt in 1806 was arguably the most impressive of all Napoleon’s many victories. This was followed in 1807 with the defeat of the Russians at Friedland, leaving Napoleon as the unrivalled master of Europe.Just weeks after the Battle of Friedland, Napoleon became embroiled in Spanish politics. Seeking to rid the continent of Europe of British influence, the Emperor sought to conquer Portugal and subjugate the British ally to the Empire. The Peninsular War had begun. As the Grande Armée trudged from Germany to Spain, what were the troops wearing? A huge stock take took place across the armed forces of France in winter 1807 to spring 1808. Using tens of thousands of archive sources, housed in over 1,000 archive boxes, we are able to reconstruct in meticulous detail how the army appeared at the beginning of the Peninsular War. This book looks at the dress of the Line Infantry following the reforms of 1806 which did most to change the way the army appeared until the proto-Bardin regulation of 1811. The book seeks to explore the famous or infamous white habits as well as the dress of the army on campaign, notably in the Peninsular War.The author demonstrates that the perception of ‘anything goes’ was largely myth, regarding the dress of the line infantry during the rigours of the gruelling peninsular war. The author demonstrates that not every grenadier wore a bearskin let alone had scarlet epaulettes, nor every voltigeur had unique distinctions and sapeurs were a ‘rare beast’ in the Grande Armée.

The Battle of Coronel on 1 November 1914, when Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock and ships of his 4th Cruiser Squadron were out gunned and out matched by the German East Asiatic Squadron under Vice Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee, was the worst British naval disaster for more 100 years; two ships, HMS Monmouth and Good Hope were lost with all hands, totalling more than 1,600 men, including Cradock. He went to his death in a forlorn hope, believing that if he could damage his opponent sufficiently to slow them down, superior forces could eventually be brought to bear.Admiral Sir John ‘Jacky’ Fisher, recently returned to the Admiralty as First Sea Lord immediately despatched two battlecruisers from the Grand Fleet to exact revenge under the command of Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee, whom he detested and half expected to fail in this mission. And indeed, Sturdee’s force was surprised by von Spee’s ships while coaling at the Falkland Islands, but managed to get under way and perform the task for which Fisher had designed the battlecruisers: sweeping from the seas lesser craft by virtue of superior speed and gun power. The ships of the East Asiatic Squadron was sunk or scattered and von Spee and his two sons lost their lives.Tragedy and Revenge details both the battles and the events leading up to them, with the use of eye-witness accounts. It examines the ships which fought on both sides and points up the inferiority of the forces at Cradock’s disposal, resources which Churchill insisted were fit for the task of destroying von Spee. The hopelessness felt by many of the Royal Navy participants in Cradock’s little squadron is related, as is Cradock’s story, alone in the Atlantic and Pacific, and his crisis of conscience whilst staying with the governor of the Falkland Islands.The book also examines the leaders, Cradock, Churchill, Fisher, Sturdee and von Spee and the interplay of character between them. It demonstrates how Churchill’s interference, and the dispositions adopted by the Admiralty while Sturdee was Chief of the War Staff, led directly to the disaster at Coronel. The book evaluates the gap between the reality on the high seas and the perception held by those at the Admiralty, especially Churchill, and how this gap helped bring about a terrible tragedy.

The outbreak of the Second World War had an enormous effect on the railway system in Britain. Keeping the trains running through times of conflict was not such a distant memory for the railway companies and their workers but in this second major war of the twentieth century, the task was to prove a very different one. The railway system no longer consisted of the hundreds of companies of the past, but the Big Four' still needed to learn how to work together and forget their differences for the war effort. The logistics of the mass evacuation of children, and transporting thousands of troops during the evacuation of Dunkirk and the preparations for D-Day, for instance, were unprecedented. At the same time, they had to cope with the new and constant threat of aerial bombing that military advances brought to the Second World War. The railway system, and the men and women who ran it, effectively served as another branch of the military during the conflict. This book is a fascinating account of the important role that the railways played in the defence of the country as well as in their support of the Allied forces in theatres of war around the world. It brings to light the often forgotten stories of the brave and hard-working men and women who went to work on the railways and put their lives on the line.

Few television science fiction series have had the enduring appeal of the original, late 1970s Battlestar Galactica. Despite lasting only one season (1978-1979), almost half a century later Battlestar remains a cultural touchstone and major influence on genre productions in a variety of media. For all its popularity, however, Battlestar remains a largely unstudied series, with relatively few resources available for those interested in learning more about the show, including both its development and its afterlife.This companion is the definitive resource for fans of the series. It contains all the essential facts that fans would expect, such as plot and other details of each episode, but uniquely also explores the scholarly and philosophical influences on the series. Battlestar Galactica borrows extensively from classical mythology and biblical sources, as well as from myths and folklore associated with nation-building and the timeless wonder of travel stories. In many regards, Battlestar is nothing less than an Aeneid in outer space, telling the story of how an exiled, defeated people seeks a return to their ancestral home, surmounting countless perils along the way. Fratantuono brings his expertise in classical mythology and ancient history to bear on the series.There are new interviews with stars Dirk Benedict (Lt. Starbuck) and Cathey Paine (the voice of Galactica''s computer, C.O.R.A). Comprehensive information is provided on series merchandise, a concise overview of the short-lived Galactica, 1980), and the connection of the series to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. There is no comparable guide available.

The Revolutionary period was marked by upheaval for France and its army. The early Republic’s military comprised former Royal Army members and revolutionary volunteers, reflecting diversity in their uniforms. Despite the chaos, records were meticulously maintained, and Paul L. Dawson examined thousands of documents from the Service Historique Armée du Terre in Paris to detail the uniforms worn before Napoleon’s rise.Soldiers’ clothing followed strict regulations, with each item assigned a specific lifespan. Regular inspections assessed uniform conditions, and unserviceable items were returned and replaced. Repairs were logged, and soldiers bore the costs of replacements. A regiment’s clothing officer managed equipment purchases for enlisted men, while officers supplied their own uniforms. The regimental council ensured purchases met quality standards, recorded in a Register of Uniforms.Inspection returns and registers provide unprecedented insights into Revolutionary army uniforms, much of which was previously unpublished. Though not all regiments’ data were found, Dawson’s research offers the most accurate depiction to date. His book combines detailed records with illustrations and photographs of rare surviving items, giving readers a unique visual and historical perspective on soldiers’ appearances during this transformative era.

Public affection for the iconic Spitfire endures; indeed, if anything, it increases as more of these incredible aircraft are restored to airworthy condition. The Spitfire story, however, is one of people, designers, engineers, pilots, groundcrew, and more, whose lives were touched in some way by this extraordinary machine – and such stories are the inspiration for this book.Spitfire Mk.IA R6644 was built by Supermarine at Woolston, and test-flown by the famous test pilot Jeffrey Quill on 30 May 1940. Thereafter, the aircraft was taken on charge by 5 Operational Training Unit at Aston Down. While there, it was flown by a number of The Few, new replacement pilots converting to type.It is likely, for example, that R6644 was flown by Pilot Officer Richard Hillary, who, shot down and badly burned, became a member of the Guinea Pig Club. In his classic memoir The Last Enemy, Hillary described how 5 OTU’s young pilots would fly beneath the arches of the great railway bridge spanning the Severn estuary. This inspired the famous scene in the 1980s TV series Piece of Cake, when Ray Hanna flew Spitfire MH434 beneath a bridge for the cameras. Amongst the other pilots known to have flown R6644 at Aston Down are at least two aces. On 26 February 1941, R6644 was handed on to 65 Squadron. One of the latter’s pilots who flew in R6644 was the great ace Flying Officer Brendan ‘Paddy’ Finucane DFC. In April, R6644 was taken on charge by the recently formed 308 (Polish) Squadron. On 11 May 1941, Pilot Officer Franciszek Surma was flying R6644 to investigate an unidentified radar plot, which transpired to be a friendly Blenheim, but was forced to abandon the Spitfire near Malvern, Worcestershire, owing to an engine fire. Surma, again one of The Few, descended safely by parachute; he was reported missing off Dunkirk during Circus 110 on 8 November 1941.This book not only explores the men who flew R6674 throughout its wartime service, but also brings the story up to date by detailing the excavation of the Spitfire’s crash site in 1987.

From a choirboy on HMS Victory to a Royal Marine and then an early recruit of the Special Boat Service and Special Air Service, Ken Smith was a witness to many of the key events of the Second World War. Not for nothing was he often heard to say, ‘I never expected to see the end of the war.’ He did survive and credited the SAS with saving his life, although he carried a permanent reminder of his service for over seventy years: a bullet embedded in his arm.As a Royal Marine Ken survived the North Atlantic, Arctic and Mediterranean. When he heard there was a call for men to join a special forces group, Smith volunteered and was accepted into the SBS. Operating across the Mediterranean, the SBS raided German garrisons in North Africa, the Greek islands, Albania, Italy and Yugoslavia. In the Dodecanese, Smith and his comrades terrorized the occupying Germans. ‘We used to go out every night, landing on all these islands, shooting up Germans,’ recalled Ken.One of these missions was the famous raid on the island of Symi in July 1944. In what was one of the SBS’s largest raids, the entire German garrison was killed or taken prisoner. Ken was also there, as part of a specially selected force of eighteen men, when the legendary Dane, Anders Lassen, earned his posthumous Victoria Cross a raid on the north shore of Lake Comacchio in Italy. It was in a raid in Yugoslavia that Ken was hit with one bullet going through his back and out the other side, and a second being the one which remained in his arm for the rest of his life. Ken’s many missions saw him cradling his mortally wounded officer in his arms and sitting alongside an officer, in the same canoe, when he earned his Military Cross. This is Ken’s astonishing story.

Towards the end of 1906, a meeting took place between two emerging giants of the age, Mohandas K. Gandhi and General Jan Christian Smuts. United under the same empire, but separated by distance and culture, Smuts was born in the Cape Colony, and Gandhi in Porbandar, a duchy of the Indian province of Gujarat. Both, however, went on to study law in Britain, and while developing a great admiration for the institutions of empire, each man also suffered his own particular crisis of faith. From their widely dispersed origins, Gandhi and Smuts collided over the issue of race and equality in a turbulent province of the empire, each attempting to hold the British to their stated ideals. This insightful book explores attitudes to race, and belonging, in an age when the English speaking peoples straddled the globe, and sought to impose on all of their subject races, basking under the radiance of Britannia, a common ideal of parity, equal opportunity and free movement.

The dramatic story of Franz von Werra, famously the only Axis PoW to succeed in escaping and make it home during the Second World War, is told in the 1957 movie The One That Got Away. The film details von Werra’s interrogation by RAF intelligence in 1940, presenting an enlightening, but compressed, version of his treatment following his capture in the Battle of Britain. The script revealed a little of the tactics of his RAF interrogators, which so impressed von Werra that he was quick to tell the Luftwaffe High Command upon his return to Germany in 1941.Of course, von Werra was just one of many Luftwaffe airmen captured during 1939 and 1940. Many, if not all, were subject to processing and interrogation having been taken prisoner. Information was gleaned through ‘private’ discussions between senior officers and some lower ranks, obtained via covert microphones, as well as interrogation, stool pigeons. However, these tactics had been developed in the first months of the war and with the Battle of Britain producing vast quantities of PoWs, the new tactics were honed on these unsuspecting guinea pigs.The German airmen, most of whom at this stage of the war believed that victory was inevitable, provided Air Intelligence both wittingly and unwittingly, with a treasure trove of information which covered not only technical and tactical intelligence, but also possible war crimes, morale and more. Air Intelligence used tactics that any modern interrogator would recognise. The RAF also built up quite a library of information, much of it coming from what we now call ‘Open source’ material. This included newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasts and information from previous prisoners. Carefully collated and analysed, in time, Air Intelligence built up a detailed picture of pilots, aircraft, units and the general social situation around a unit or airfield community. This book examines the development of Air Intelligence and its interrogation of Luftwaffe airmen from 1939 to the end of the 1940, providing a fascinating insight into a little-known part of both the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.

"The Swanage Railway (Heritage Guide)" marks the debut of a new series of guidebooks with a unique twist. Created by railway and industrial historian Dr Richard Marks, this guide introduces a fresh approach and style to travel literature. It serves as an introduction to both the heritage railway and the history of the region. There is so much more to Britain’s heritage railways than just the trains, once a key part of British industry and society they bring to life a lost past.The guide extends beyond the railway, highlighting captivating destinations and activities nearby. It promises something for every reader, ensuring days out that are both enjoyable and inspiring.The book offers numerous reasons for tourists to extend their stay beyond a train ride or a single day trip. It paints a vivid picture of local life in the surrounding countryside and towns in the past. Encompassing museums, castles, wildlife sanctuaries, beaches, and trails, alongside the railway, the guide provides a variety of enjoyable suggestions for visitors, to match all interests.The book points out additional resources for finding more local attractions, making it a friendly and indispensable companion for any trip to the railway and beyond.

The Byzantine Empire originated in AD 395 from the definitive subdivision of the Roman Empire into two distinct political entities: the Western Empire and the Eastern Empire. While the Western Empire disappeared in 476, due to Germanic invasions, the Eastern Empire endured for centuries. During Justinian’s reign (527-565) a good portion of the western territories were reconquered for a time and the Empire retained a distinctive ‘Roman’ nature at least until the reign of Heraclius (610-641). But during his reign, the Eastern Empire came under attack from the expanding Muslim Arabs, losing a much of its original Eastern territories. With Imperial power weakened and restricted largely to the Balkans and Anatolia, the ‘Roman’ nature of the Eastern Empire became progressively more Greek and transformed into what we know as ‘the Byzantine Empire’ (though they called themselves Romans to the end).Despite being surrounded by enemies, the Byzantines defended their remaining domains for a further half a millenium, their territories expanding and contracting with fluctuating fortunes. This tenacious survival was largely due to the ability of their military to adapt (as Roman armies always had) to emerging threats from a wide variety of enemies. The Byzantine Empire collapsed only in 1204, when attacked by forces of the Fourth Crusade, its ostensible allies. In addition to presenting an overview and analysis of the various campaigns of the period, Gabriele Esposito provides a complete review of Byzantine military organization, weapons, tactics and equipment. The clear text is lavishly illustrated with dozen of colour photographs of replica arms, armour and costume in use.

This is the story of Thomas Lancashire who joined the RAF in 1936 and became one of the famous Trenchard Brats at RAF Halton to be educated and learn the trade of fitter. He was first posted to 7 Squadron in 1939, at that time flying Whitley bombers but decided to advance himself to become a flight engineer on the new Stirling heavy bomber. He was posted to 15 Squadron at Wyton and completed a full tour that included the famous Lbeck raid, the Thousand Bomber assault on Cologne and the follow up on Essen during which he was almost shot down over Antwerp. In July 1942 he was rested and became an instructor until being posted to 97 Squadron flying Lancasters. On his ninth raid of this tour, 11 August 1943, the aircraft was attacked by a night fighter over Belgium but he successfully baled out and was eventually picked up by the Resistance and handed to an escape line. Eventually the group of evaders was betrayed by a German agent and placed in captivity, ending up in Stalag Luft IV at Mhlberg. During this time he escaped but was eventually recaptured and he was forced to share the growing despair and hardships in late 1944, enduring overcrowding, hunger and cold, until the Russian Army liberated the camp and he was airlifted back to the UK. His post-war career took him to Canada where he was employed on the Avro Arrow project until it was abandoned and he was forced to seek work in the USA. He worked with Boeing until his retirement .

The troops who fought their way up through the Italian peninsula in 1943 were labelled the ‘D-Day Dodgers’, but for the tens of thousands of men who were seriously wounded in the first months of the campaign, the mocking phrase was loaded with irony.It had all started so positively on 10 July 1943, when 2,600 ships landed more than 180,000 Commonwealth and American troops on the island of Sicily, part of what Churchill had described as the ‘soft under-belly of Europe’. This amphibious assault, supported by airborne landings, marked the start of the Italian Campaign. The Allies’ military planners thought it might be possible for a concentrated invasion to quickly knock Italy out of the war. The reality, however, was completely different. The situation was compounded by Italy’s surrender on 3 September 1943, an act which forced Hitler to launch Operation Axis, the occupation of Italy.In the months that followed, Allied troops were required to perform multiple amphibious assaults, engage in trench warfare, fight in mud, in freezing rain and snow, in the most challenging terrain imaginable. This book tells the story of the early months of the Italian campaign through the eyes of one 21-year-old private in the Royal Berkshire Regiment, Dennis Neil, who found himself lying severely wounded and near death on an Italian mountain on a bitterly cold day in November 1943. While a surgeon at a Field Hospital fought to save his life, his family received a telegram notifying them of the death of his elder brother in that same campaign.This is a story that traces one soldier’s journey to that mountainside and how his life changed irrevocably as a result of the wounds he suffered that day. It is a dramatic, and harrowing, story that is told in unparalleled detail, with the benefit of contemporary records and unpublished photographs, having been compiled through the memoirs of Dennis Neil by his son, John. Winston Churchill called Italy the ‘soft underbelly of the Axis’. It proved to be quite the opposite.

According to conventional naval history, the Coastal Motor Boat was the brainchild of three enterprising young Royal Navy officers in the early stages of the First World War. This new book reveals that the truth was far more complex, and historically more significant. Research in previously unused family records shows that the shipbuilder John I Thornycroft played a pivotal role, building on his pre-war experience in the new sport of fast motor-boat racing, without which the technologically advanced CMB could never have been built.This book goes on to analyse the original role for which these boats were specifically designed – an attack on the German High Seas Fleet in its protected anchorages – and why the operation never took place. Later activities are covered but by the end of the war many regarded the CMB as a disappointment, if not a downright failure. This changed dramatically in 1919 with the RN’s intervention against the Bolsheviks, when CMBs spectacularly raided the Kronstad naval base following the single-handed sinking of the Russian cruiser Oleg by CMB.4. Although these operations have been written up many times previously, for the first time this book has had access to contemporary Soviet reports which throw much new light on these events and their significance.After the war, the Royal Navy lost interest in CMBs – unlike the Soviets who built large numbers of what were effectively copies – but the Thornycroft design continued to be built and operated by navies as far apart as those of Finland and China. Some of these saw action in the Second World War and these largely unreported actions are also covered.The story concludes with a description of the current project in Portsmouth Naval Base which aimed to build an exact replica of CMB.4. The information gleaned from this ‘experimental archaeology’ forms a fitting end to a book replete with new information and novel insights.

Engineering entrepreneur James Edmiston acquired the Sterling Armament Company in 1971 while still in his twenties. The company was notable for manufacturing one of the most famous sub-machine guns ever produced. The Sterling had seen limited use in the Second World War and by 1953 had been formally adopted by the British Army. Sterling guns were even the basis for the weapons used by the Storm Troopers in the Star Wars films.By the beginning of the 1970s the Sterling Armament Company had been in operational difficulties. James set about putting its troubles to rights and building on its reputation for manufacturing the best quality, high-performance machine guns that could be obtained. By the age of 40 he had turned the business around and was successfully selling Sterling guns to legitimate purchasers all around the world adhering strictly to the rigorous British licensing and export regulations.But all this suddenly changed when James, along with arms dealer Reginald Dunk, was wrongly charged with illegal arms exports through Jordan to Iraq at a time when British policies were reacting to rapidly fluctuating foreign regime changes and allegiances.Their defence resulted in a merry-go-round of legal wrangles involving the British Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence and Customs & Excise.In 1985 Reginald Dunk was persuaded to plead guilty to the charges after an important witness reneged on assurances to come to court to prove his innocence. James was acquitted and it later transpired that the authorities had only been after Dunk anyway perhaps to settle another, unrelated, score. So James had all along been a pawn in a wider game that seemed incomprehensible to him at the time.The case was to have serious repercussions in Whitehall when the Scott Report (commissioned in 1992 to inspect cases of reported arms sales in the 1980s to Iraq by British companies) discovered a cover-up in the Sterling case and that senior officials had blocked Dunks witnesses. The Report condemned the misconduct as disgraceful.Though his conviction was quashed and Dunk received more than 2m for wrongful conviction in 1999, compensation for James seemed impossible because of a curious anomaly in the legal system.It was only through the efforts of Lawrence Kormornick, the lawyer who had helped Dunk receive eventual acquittal and compensation, that James could have any hope of recompense. Another fifteen years of legal battles would ensue before the matter was brought to some sort of conclusion in 2008.The book follows a period of more than twenty-five years from the sudden and unimaginable accusation of illegal arms dealing, through the ensuing legal and personal struggles that James Edmiston experienced.Packed with ironies, twists of fate and many unanswered questions it is a compelling read for anyone interested in political intrigue and abuse of power, miscarriage of justice and learning about how an individual took on the state.

The Peiper Kampfgruppe was the spearhead of the 6th Panzer Army. Most often mentioned for its actions on Ardennes soil, today the Gepanzerte Kampfgruppe "Peiper" remains an object of interest for its actions during the engagements between Stavelot and La Gleize, as well as the engagement of its Tiger II against the American armoured units.Although the unit had exceptional crews, including some of the most emblematic aces of the Panzerwaffe, and benefited from the element of surprise, it suffered a bitter failure in the Ardennes. How could a vehicle considered to be among the most powerful of the conflict suffer almost 100 percent losses? In hindsight, can we speak of a tactical failur? his study, carried out by a duo of Ardennes authors experienced in this episode of the Second World War, meets the dual objective of reconstructing the facts and explaining why, in the end, the Tiger tank battalion N°501 (schwere SS-Panzer Abteilung 501) was able to survive the Battle of the Bulge. It includes a summary of their confrontations, a history of the unit, as well as a tank-by-tank analysis of the causes of destruction. In total, the authors found sixteen different examples, and the machines lost one by one in the Ardennes make it possible to follow the unit''s course throughout the conflict.