Category - Backlist > Military/Weapons

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A vivid pictorial record of how Britons experienced this testing chapter of World War II through over 200 detailed photographs from the Daily Mail archive.

On 11th September 2006 - exactly five years after the attacks on the Twin Towers - a modern day Rorke's Drift was played out in the town of Garmsir, known as the Taliban gateway to Helmand Province. 40-year-old Capt. Doug Beattie of the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment was charged with the mission to help retake Garmsir from the Taliban. His commanders said it would take two days; it actually took two weeks of exhausting, bloody conflict in which at times he would be one of only a small unit up against a ferocious enemy in imposs... read more

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The momentous events of the Blitz on Britain are recounted through the archives of the Daily Mail and London's Evening Standard and Evening News in a detailed visual history containing rare and unpublished photographs that record the aerial bombardment from outbreak of WWII in September 1939 to the last V2 that fell in March 1945.

A gripping account of the everyday heroism of British bomber crews in 1943 - the year when Bomber Command believed it could win WWII by bombing aloneIn 1943 the RAF began a bombing campaign against Germany, the like of which had never before been seen. Over the next twelve months, tens of thousands of aircrews flew across the North Sea to drop their bombs on German cities. They were opposed not only by the full force of the Luftwaffe, but by a nightmare of flak, treacherously icy conditions, and constant mechanical malfunction. Mos... read more

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This book paints a vivid picture of what life was like for the ordinary but exceptional men, women and children of Britain. Over 850 photographs from the archives of the Daily Mail present a true-life record of Britain's 'finest hour'.

Field Marshal William Slim stands alongside Montgomery as the outstanding British field commander of World War II. "Defeat Into Victory" is his classic account of the Burma campaign: a story of retreat, attrition and final hard-fought victory over the Japanese. Told by a commander always at the centre of events, this is a narrative which captures both the high drama and the harsh reality of war.

In May 1940, the small British Expeditionary Force was sent to help the Belgians and French hold back the German army. Ill-equipped and under-trained, they fought hard for three weeks, from the German invasion of France to the rescue of the last British troops from the beaches at Dunkirk. Remarkably, they conducted a successful fighting withdrawal in the face of a formidable foe. Drawing on previously unpublished and rare material, Major-General Julian Thompson recreates the action from the misunderstandings between the British and... read more

World War II saw elite units take a prominent role on the battlefield for the first time. The Encyclopedia of Elite Forces in the Second World War is a wide-ranging guide to the excellent units on land, sea or in the air whose success was usually hard- won against the odds, and whose actions had an impact on the course of the fighting around them. The best units from both sides of the fighting are represented, as are the two main theatres of war. Arranged by combatant nation, the book covers such famous units as the US Rangers, Bri... read more

The first heroes of the air.

A world away from the killing fields of France was a battle that could have changed the face of history. Over the course of 1917, German bombers threatened to engulf London in firestorms - a portent of the London Blitz and the Battle of Britain over twenty years later. They were determined to bring London to its knees. The First Blitz took place over eight nights in 1917, but it was the second wave of attacks in the summer of 1918, following the development of the 'Elektron' incendiary bomb, that came within an ace of obliterating ... read more

Drawing material from the Imperial War Museum's extensive aural archive, Joshua Levine brings together voices from both sides of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain to give us a unique, complete and compelling picture of this turbulent time. In June 1940, British citizens prepared for an imminent German onslaught. Hitler's troops had overrun Holland, Belgium and France in quick succession, and the British people anticipated an invasion would soon be upon them. From July to October, they watched the Battle of Britain play out in the... read more

Afghanistan, 2008. After their eighteen-month epic tour of Helmand Province, the troops of 3 Para are back. This time, the weight of experience weighs heavily on their shoulders. In April 2006 the elite 3 Para Battle Group was despatched to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on a tour that has become a legend. All that summer the Paras were subjected to relentless Taliban attacks in one of the most gruelling campaigns fought by British troops in modern times. Two years later the Paras are back in the pounding heat of the Afghanistan fr... read more

In the early hours of the 27th of May, 1941, the German warship Bismarck - scourge of the Atlantic ocean - was sailing towards a fateful encounter. Two days previously, Prime Minister Winston Churchill had issued the order to 'Sink the Bismarck'. This title tells of everything that led the author to be able to say, 'I sank the Bismarck'.

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In 1930, the editor of "Everyman" magazine requested entries for a new anthology of Great War accounts. The result was a revolutionary book unlike any other of the period; for as Malcolm Brown notes in his introduction 'I believe it might fairly be described as a rediscovered classic'. It was the very first collection to reveal the many dimensions of the war through the eyes of the ordinary soldier and offers heart-stopping renditions of the very first gas attack; aerial dogfights above the trenches; the moment of going over the to... read more

A unique, full-colour, action-packed collection of true stories of astounding bravery from the front lines of present and past conflicts fought by the British Armed Forces.

July 2009 is the 70th Anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Britain, which was one of the most remarkable defensive actions of World War II. With 220 photographs from the wartime archive of the "Daily Mail", this book offers a visual coverage of this extraordinary period of the War.