pen sword books ltd south yorkshire (Over 6,200 results)

Paperback. Condition: Good. This book has been published at regular intervals during the last 20 years, and the latest 2014 - 2015 addition is the one that deals with the most far reaching changes the UK Armed Forces have gone through for a generation. Although the UK's Armed Forces are reduced in size, the UK remains the country with the fourth largest defence budget in the world and extensive international commitments. This remains an extremely potent defence force and arguably the most powerful in Europe. The Royal Navy has new submarines, new destroyers and a Type 26 Global Combat Ship in the pipeline, with two new aircraft carriers and F-35 attack aircraft by the end of the decade. The Royal Air Force consolidates its Typhoon force, introduces new air to air refuelling aircraft, new transport aircraft and extra helicopters. The Army sees the most extensive organisational changes with a complete reorganisation of the Divisional and Brigade structures following the commencement of the withdrawal of Land Forces from Germany. Major armoured and infantry units are restructured to better cope with the challenges of the new operational environment. With a new Joint Forces Command that brings together the combat power of the three armed services, the UK is better positioned to engage in the expeditionary operations the UK government and its allies may wish undertake in the future. By 2020 the majority of capability enhancements and formation reorganisations will be complete, and this informative publication is the best guide available to the size and shape of the UK Armed Forces during the next decade. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. This is the most authoritative and comprehensive British account ever published of the brutal North Korean and Chinese mistreatment of British POWs during the Korean War. The author, a psychologist, was a Scientific Advisor to the POW Intelligence Organisation during the Korean War. He explains in detail how many prisoners were bribed, starved, flogged and tortured into informing on their compatriots and infiltrated into every prisoner group to sniff out potential progressives and reactionaries. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 'I am just going outside and may be some time.' With these words, on 17 March 1912, Captain Oates walked out to his death in an Antarctic blizzard and won a place for himself in history as 'a very gallant gentleman'. His reputation for courage and endurance as one of the members of Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole is as powerful today as it was almost a century ago. Yet, as Sue Limb and Patrick Cordingley reveal in this new edition of their classic biography of the man, there is much more to Captain Oates's life than his final famous act of self-sacrifice. Their work is, as Sir Ranulph Fiennes noted, a 'fascinating character study of a quintessential British hero'. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. By the laws of statistics John Wyatt should not be here today to tell his story. He firmly believes that someone somewhere was looking after him during those four years. Examine the odds stacked against him and his readers will understand why he hold this view. During the conflict in Malaya and Singapore his regiment lost two thirds of its men. More than three hundred patients and staff in the Alexandra Military Hospital were slaughtered by the Japanese - he was one of the few survivors still alive today. Twenty six percent of British soldiers slaving on the Burma Railway died. More than fifty men out of around six hundred died aboard the Asaka Maru and the Hakasan Maru. Many more did not manage to survive the harshest Japanese winter of 1944/45, the coldest in Japan since record began. John's experiences make for the most compelling and graphic reading. The courage, endurance and resilience of men like him never ceases to amaze. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. In 1984 the first edition of the British Army Guide was published and in September 2015 the 13th edition will be on sale. This invaluable information resource which deals with all aspects of British Army organisation, recruitment and training has been extremely popular with service personnel, the defence industry, military libraries and other groups who are interested in the British Army worldwide. Copies can be seen on desks throughout the UK Ministry of Defence and it would be fair to say that almost every foreign defence attache in London has a copy in his briefcase. Chapters include a Defence Overview; Army Organisation; International Commitments; Armour, Infantry, Artillery, Army Aviation, Engineers, Communications and Combat Service Support; Units of the Army; Recruiting and Training; Reserve Forces plus a final Miscellaneous Chapter which deals with a number of items essential to understanding How the British Army functions on a daily basis. Lavishly illustrated throughout there is no comparable publication available on the market. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. On every high street there used to be butcher, baker, grocer, greengrocer, draper, Boots, ironmonger, pub, W H Smith, cafe, bank, Freeman Hardy & Willis, jeweller, Marks and Spencer, furniture shop, hotel, secondhand bookseller, off-licence, haberdasher, Woolworth's, confectioner, cobbler, tobacconist, electrical showroom, Burton's, gas showroom, ladies' fashions, Home and Colonial, and more, and maybe a department store or two. You know what we mostly have now. A parade of pound shops, charity shops, building society branches, ladies' hairdressers, kebab take-aways and shops boarded up.So what has gone wrong - if it is wrong? The author answers this and many other important questions, such as who exactly was H Samuel, who was the Fifty Shilling Tailor and what the Dolly Sisters did to Mr Selfridge. So, if you wondered where the yellow went, when you brushed your teeth with Pepsodent, wonder no more. It's all in here. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Small in physical stature Colonel, later Brigadier, Patsy Pagan was seen as a giant by the men of the Gloucestershire Regiment, whom he commanded for over three gruelling years of The Great War. He and his Battalion endured some of the hardest fighting and grimmest conditions on the Western Front; The battles of Loos 1915, Somme 1916 and Passchendaele 1917. Wounded three times, Pagan discharged himself from hospital to rejoin his men rather than be evacuated to Blighty. He reluctantly left his beloved Glosters when promoted to command a brigade for the closing months of the war. His brigade found itself as the last line of defence before the Channel against the Germans' 1918 offensive. The author uncovers the contribution and character of this great fighting soldier through personal records, trench diaries and other official papers. This is a stirring and inspiring read. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The author describes how he joined the French Foreign Legion, without being able to speak any French and very close to the age limit. He takes the reader through the vigorous selection procedure, the relentless recruit regime and then elite Second Parachute Regiment's training in Corsica. We learn about the ethos and strict discipline of the Foreign Legion. He describes his fellow legionnaires drawn from many backgrounds and nations. Having won his kepi and paratroop wings he served across Africa and the Middle East, taking part in Operation DESERT STORM (fighting Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard), peace keeping operations in Sarajevo and Bosnia and in former French colonies such as Chad and the Central African Republic. He graphically describes the action and appalling conditions of the local population. Accounts of life in the modern day Foreign Legion are rare indeed and this one written by a mature and modest man makes fascinating reading. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The story of the mighty imperial British army's defeat at Iswandlwana in 1879 has been much written about but never with the detail and insight revealed by Dr Adrian Greaves' research. In re-constructing the dramatic and fateful events, the Author draws on recently discovered letters, diaries and papers of survivors and other contemporaries such as Henry Harford, Lt Henry Carling of the Royal Artillery, August Hammar and young British nurse Janet Wells. These, coupled with his own detailed knowledge of the ground, enable the Author to paint the most accurate picture yet of this cataclysmic battle that so shamed the British establishment. We learn for the first time of the complex Zulu decoy, the dishonourable attempt to blame Colonel Durnford for the defeat, evidence of another 'fugitives' trail'. The identity of previously unknown escorts for Lts Coghill and Melville, both awarded VCs for trying to save the Colours. Isandlwana is a brilliant and fresh account of this most famous battle which will fascinate experts and laymen alike. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Republished to coincide with the new ITV film, My Boy Jack? starring Daniel Radcliffe, this is the full account of the tragic life of John 'Jack" Kipling. On 27th September 1915 John Kipling, the only son of Britain's best loved poet, disappeared during the Battle of Loos. The body lay undiscovered for 77 years. Then, in a most unusual move, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)re-marked the grave of an unknown Lieutenant of the Irish Guards, as that of John Kipling. There is considerable evidence that John's grave has been wrongly identified and for the first time in this book, the authors name the soldier they believe is buried in 'John's grave'. This is the first biography of John's short life, analysing the devastating effect it had on his famous father's work. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Children of the Camps: Japan's Last Forgotten Victims tells the truly heart-rending stories of Caucasian and Eurasian children who ended up imprisoned inside Japanese internment camps throughout Asia. It is written from the perspective of the survivors, who are all elderly today, and the effects that it had on their lives and families.Survivors' testimonies run right through the book, as we follow their traumatic change of circumstance and experiences from pre-war privilege into the horrors of the internment camps and finally the uncertainties of the immediate post-war period when liberation often meant discovery of the loss of parents.The Japanese treatment of Allied children was as harsh and murderous as that of their parents and military POWs, but this whole episode has been overlooked. Children were plucked from comfortable colonial lives and forced to mature hastily in terrible circumstances, where survival became a daily game, and where their lives were constantly threatened by disease, starvation and physical abuse. Many were separated from their parents, or they saw their families destroyed by the Japanese. Most witnessed almost daily episodes of bestial violence that no child ever should see, and the entire cumulative experience has had a deep and lasting effect on their subsequent adult lives. They are among the last victims of Japanese aggression, and even over 60 years later many carry the mental and physical scars of that atrocious episode. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Good. Martin Bell, the former BBC war reporter and Independent MP, served as a soldier in the British army in Cyprus in the late 1950s during the EOKA rebellion against British rule, and recently he discovered the letters he had written home during the conflict. They describe road blocks and cordons and searches, murders and explosions and riots - and a strategy of armed repression that failed. Now, almost sixty years later, he has used these letters to write The End of Empire. His narrative is a powerful personal account of the violent process of decolonization, of the character of the British army at the time and the impact of National Service on young men who were not much more than 'kids in uniform'. He also gives a graphic insight into the futility of the use of force in wars among the people and reveals, for the first time, the true story of the insurgency and the campaign to defeat it, for recently declassified documents show that the army commanders adopted misguided tactics that served only to strengthen support for their enemy. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Martin Bell, the former BBC war reporter and Independent MP, served as a soldier in the British army in Cyprus in the late 1950s during the EOKA rebellion against British rule, and recently he discovered the letters he had written home during the conflict. They describe road blocks and cordons and searches, murders and explosions and riots - and a strategy of armed repression that failed. Now, almost sixty years later, he has used these letters to write The End of Empire. His narrative is a powerful personal account of the violent process of decolonization, of the character of the British army at the time and the impact of National Service on young men who were not much more than 'kids in uniform'. He also gives a graphic insight into the futility of the use of force in wars among the people and reveals, for the first time, the true story of the insurgency and the campaign to defeat it, for recently declassified documents show that the army commanders adopted misguided tactics that served only to strengthen support for their enemy. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Margaret B. was an ordinary middle-class English girl of the late Victorian era, not wealthy but comfortable. Father was a Church of England cleric and, later, she would marry another. Meanwhile, the family took holidays and made trips around England, not venturing abroad, and these are the pictures from those happy days, all sunny ones.Soon there would be charabancs, deckchairs and electric light. For Margaret B., at the seaside there were bathing machines, and modesty forbade being seen out of the water in anything other than full dress, including hat.In the country, holidaymakers were a rarity. The railways could take you almost anywhere, but it was only the middle classes who went. So there were no crowds, and many of our pictures show tourist hotspots before they were hot, before there was any such thing as a car park.The text provides local knowledge and background to the photographs and is an enjoyable read in itself, but the real pleasure is in seeing Brighton, Margate, Scarborough, Broadstairs, Clovelly, Ilfracombe, Minehead and other such places before it all happened. See Exmoor, the White Peak and Somerset when the loudest noise was the click of the camera shutter. The nostalgia is almost unbearable. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Librettist William S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan teamed up to make some of the most memorable operettas of all time which still sell out to today's audience at opera houses and theatres around the world and at the cinema. This detailed pocket guide explores the themes around each operetta, setting them in the context of the day. It celebrates their biggest stars and what made the characters so memorable and recognisable. Like all of the Pocket Guide series, this accessible guide is full of information and fascinating facts - did you know that fairy lights were invented for Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe? The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The Pocket Guide to Musicals is your all-singing, all-dancing narrator to the world of musical theatre by leading expert Maureen Hughes. As well as including the synopses of the most popular and some lesser-known musicals, she leads us through who wrote what and when, which musicals reflect reflect their era, the big names in musical theatre and even which songs come from which musicals. She'll answer every question you've ever had about the subject, including some amazing facts, just what you'd expect from someone who has lectured on this popular medium for over 40 years, written eight musicals and whose former pupils can be found in virtually every single musical in the West End. So, if you've 'Gotta Sing' and 'Gotta Dance', you must buy this book and discover everything there is to know about musicals, its stars and creators and the history of musical theatre. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. This is much more than just another book to add to the thousands on The Great War. It sets out to fill a gap. Written for the layman by a layman (who is also an articulate and experienced battlefield guide) it summarises the key events and contributions of key individuals, some well, others unknown but with a story to tell. To get a true picture of this monumental event in history, it is necessary to grasp the fundamentals, be they military, political, social or simply human. The slaughters at Verdun, Somme and Passchendaele are no more than statistics without the stories of those that fought, drowned and died there. It is designed to capture the imagination and feed the mind of those ever increasing number of people who seek a better understanding of The Great War. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. A great upheaval in tank construction took place in the 1970s, as new combat techniques, helicopters, weaponry and new types of ammunition reduced the value of a conventional combat battalion. Nevertheless, complete new developments are rare and in this book, Alexander L deke looks at the most important developments that have taken place since 1970. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The Author was shot down in his Wellington bomber on his third operational mission. Captured shortly after he was interrogated in Dulag Luft before being sent to Stalag Luft 1 on the Baltic where he stayed from April to September 1944. As the noose tightened on Germany, Tony and his fellow kriegies were kept on the move.He describes the increasingly harsh conditions they all endured, including the infamous Long March of the winter of 1945. He twice escaped, the second time successfully reaching the Allied Second Army. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Captain F J Walker, RN, did more than any other man at sea to win the Battle of the Atlantic, a vicious and unrelenting struggle which Churchill described as the dominating factor throughout World War Two. He was a formidable figure and one of the greatest fighting captains in the Royal Navy, sinking twenty U-boats. For this he was awarded a CB and four DSOs. A month after D-Day, exhausted by his continuous actions at sea against the enemy and his successful exertions to keep the U-boats out of the English Channel to ensure the safe passage of the Allied landings at D-day, he went ashore in Liverpool after a patrol. His ships and the men he had trained and inspired were already back at sea when he died on the 9 July, 1944, aged 48. His ships went on to sink another nine U-boats, bringing his flotillas' total up to twenty-nine, before the U-boat fleet finally surrendered. Fifteen of which were sunk by Walker's own ship, HMS Starling. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. A wide range of personal experiences are covered in the eleven chapters of this book. Nearly all the stories are written by the participants who describe exactly what happened to them during the war. What makes them special is that they were written while the images were fresh in their minds. The experiences recorded are those of civilians and soldiers. Where possible information about these men has been provided to explain their life before and after the war. Also included are rarely seen images that augment the text. The writers tell true stories of spying, escape from certain death, escape from captivity and working for the Germans to help the Allied war effort. Edwin Woodhall describes his work in counter-intelligence, spies, counter-spies and disguises, in the early days of the war. Harold Beaumont tells the dramatic story of his escape through Belgium where he was helped by Nurse Cavell. The hardships and difficulties an escaper faced are detailed by Walter Ellison, who failed to get away, while a successful escape is told by Duncan Grinnell-Milne who returned to flying over the Western Front and quickly found himself in no man's land when his plane crashed.Captain Evans was eventually a successful escaper as was H. G. Durnford who managed to escape the first time. Marthe McKenna, one of the most famous spies in the war, tells of the time she was ordered to investigate and assist in a plot to assassinate the Kaiser. Esmee Sartorius tells of her escape to Holland at the start of the war, and the breath-taking thrills of two men disguised as German officers is told by Lieutenant Marchal. The final story describes how Trooper Potts escaped certain death while rescuing his friend on Burnt Hill in Gallipoli. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. This guide book covers the present-day battlefield, and the actions that took place on and immediately behind the D-Day beaches, and Major and Mrs Holt's Pocket Guide to Normandy has been put together to take you around the area.This book, part of a new series of guides, is designed conveniently in a small size, for those who have only limited time to visit, or who are simply interested in as an introduction to the historic battlefields, whether on the ground or from an armchair. They contain selections from the Holts' more detailed guide of the most popular and accessible sites plus handy tourist information, capturing the essential features of the Battles.The book contains many full colour maps and photographs and detailed instructions on what to see and where to visit. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. During the early years of World War Two it soon became apparent that the system for tracing the whereabouts of the remains of RAF aircrew deemed 'Missing Believed Killed' was totally inadequate. The Missing Research Section (MRS) of the Air Ministry was set up in late 1941 to deal with this increasing problem. It collected and collated intelligence reports from a wide variety of official, unofficial and covert sources in an attempt to establish the fate of missing aircrew. Increasingly this included forensic or semi-forensic work to identify personal effects passed on through clandestine channels or bodies washed up on Britain's shores.In December 1944 the MRS was expanded and a small team of fourteen men, named the Missing Research and Enquiry Service (MRES), was sent to France to seek the missing men on the ground. With 42,000 men missing, the amount that fourteen men could achieve was naturally limited, so in July and August 1945 a series of meetings at the Air Ministry decided on the rapid expansion of the MRES to over twenty-five times its current size, split between six units with set geographical areas of responsibility. This book explains why, in their own words, men volunteered for the job, and why they worked for so long at such a gruesome task. Each faced difficulties in terrain and climate, all the way from the Arctic Circle to the jungles of Burma. Local populations, essential to much of the MRES's work, ranged from the immensely friendly to the openly hostile; teams had to operate in Germany, only recently razed from end to end by the aircrews they were seeking and then also behind an ever solidifying Iron Curtain. The final chapters explain how to trace RAF members through both personnel and operational records, show where these records are kept and explain how to access them. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. There are thousands of websites devoted to all aspects of military history from ancient Greece to the modern Gulf. This unique book helps you find the ones that will help with your research whether you are checking out a soldier ancestor or an airman or researching a naval campaign. It also features sites that are entertaining or controversial. Sections cover the British armed services and their long military history, but the author also describes in detail websites that focus on American and Canadian forces. A Guide to Military History on the Internet is a companion volume to Pen and Sword's best-selling Tracing Your Army Ancestors by the same author. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Edward Teach - 'Blackbeard'-is one of the legends of the so-called 'golden age of piracy'. There have been so many accounts of his short, bloody career that it is hard to see him and his times in a clear historical light. This new study looks for the man behind the legend, and it gives a vivid insight into the nature of piracy and the naval operations that were launched against it. The narrative focuses on the roles played by the Governor of Virginia Alexander Spotswood who masterminded the pursuit of Blackbeard, and Lieutenant Robert Maynard of HMS Pearl who led the pursuit and finally cornered Teach and his crew and, after a vicious fight, saw him killed.In vivid detail it reveals how the hunt for Blackbeard was orchestrated, how he was tracked down, and the parts played in the drama by the larger-than-life leading characters in this extraordinary story. This freshly researched study of the pursuit of the notorious pirate and his crew - and of the final fight in which Blackbeard lost his life - makes compelling reading. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Fair. Walking Arras marks the final volume in a trilogy of walking books about the British sector of the Western Front. Paul Reed once more takes us over paths trodden by men who were asked to make a huge ' and, for all too many, the ultimate ' sacrifice. The Battle of Arras falls between the Somme and Third Ypres; it marked the first British attempt to storm the Hindenburg Line defences, and the first use of lessons learned from the events of 1916. But it remains a forgotten part of the Western Front. It also remains one of the great killing battles of the Great War, with such a high fatal casualty rate that a soldier's chances of surviving Arras were much slimmer than even the Somme or Passchendaele. Most soldiers who served in the Great War served at Arras at some point; it was a name very much in the consciousness of the survivors of the Great War. Ninety years later, while there has been development at Arras, it is still an impressive battlefield and one worthy of the attention of any Great War enthusiast. This book will give a lead in seeing the ground connected with the fighting in 1917. Making a slight departure from the style of the previous two walking books, the chapters look at the historical background of an area and then separately describe a walk; with supplementary notes about the associated cemeteries in that region. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. While the Americans were fighting in Vietnam, a struggle of even greater strategic significance was taking place in the Middle East: the Sultanate of Oman guards the entrance to the Arabian Gulf, and thus controls the movement of oil from that region. In the 1960s and 70s, the Communists tried to seize this artery and, had they succeeded, the consequences for the West and for the Middle East would have been disastrous - and yet, few people have ever heard of this geo-political drama at the height of the Cold War. In the Service of the Sultan tells, first-hand, the largely unknown story of a small number of British officers who led Muslim soldiers in this hard-fought anti-insurgency war which has shaped today's Gulf. After outlining the historical, geographical and political background, the book describes military action in a stark and mountainous environment, including operations with irregular forces and the SAS as well as action in the air and at sea. The book gives a gripping, moving, funny account of all these and paints a powerful and illuminating picture of the realities of war. It will appeal to all who are interested in the Cold War and relationships between the Western and the Arab worlds. Politics, history, irregular warfare, religion, international affairs: all are ingredients in this absorbing, informative read. In the light of the current insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is also timely to be reminded how a rare victory was won over Communist guerrillas. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Cambridge is one of the most famous universities in the world and its library is one of only five copyright libraries in the UK. At the start of the twentieth century it was a privileged life for some, but many in Cambridge knew that war was becoming truly inevitable. What the proverbial 'gown' feared communicated itself to the surrounding 'town'. Terrible rumours were rife, that the Germans would burn the university library and raise King's College chapel to the ground, before firing shells along the tranquil 'Backs' of the River Cam until the weeping willows were just blackened stumps. Frightened but determined, age-old 'town and gown' rivalries were put aside as the city united against the common enemy. This book tells Cambridge's fascinating story in the grim years of the Great War. Thousands of university students, graduates and lecturers alike enlisted, along with the patriotic townsfolk. The First Eastern General Military Hospital was subsequently established in Trinity College and treated more than 80,000 casualties from the Western Front. Though the university had been the longtime hub of life and employment in the town, many people suffered great losses and were parted from loved ones, decimating traditional breadwinners and livelihoods, from the rationing of food, drink and fuel, to hundreds of restrictions imposed by DORA. As a result, feelings ran high and eventually led to riots beneath the raiding zeppelins and ever-present threat of death. The poet, Rupert Brooke, a graduate of King's College, died on his way to the Dardanelles in 1915, but his most famous poem The Soldier became a preemptive memorial and the epitaph of millions. If I should die Think only this of me That there's some corner of a foreign field That is forever England. 176 illustrations Contemporary images of the Great War in Cambridge. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Wilhelm Emil Messerschmitt is the most famous German aircraft designer and manufacturer. Messerschmitt's single most important design was the Bf 109, designed in 1934 which remains the most-produced fighter in history. Another Messerschmitt model, the Me 209, broke the absolute world air-speed record. Messerschmitt AG also produced the first jet-powered aircraft in the world, the Me 262. This Fact File edition includes details on all Messerschmitt aircraft and its variants. Included are all the facts and figures associated with each plane combined with contemporary photographs making this serious reference book. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. By the laws of statistics John Wyatt should not be here today to tell his story. He firmly believes that someone somewhere was looking after him during those four years. Examine the odds stacked against him and his readers will understand why he hold this view. During the conflict in Malaya and Singapore his regiment lost two thirds of its men. More than three hundred patients and staff in the Alexandra Military hospital were slaughtered by the Japanese - he was the only known survivor. Twenty six percent of British soldiers slaving on the Burma Railway died. More than fifty men out of around six hundred died aboard the Aaska Maru and the Hakasan Maru. Many more did not manage to survive the harshest Japanese winter of 1944/45, the coldest in Japan since record began. John's experiences make for the most compelling and graphic reading. The courage, endurance and resilience of men like him never ceases to amaze. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.