Naval and Military Press Ltd (Over 7,800 results)

Condition: New. Softback 128 pagesPublished Price £12.99 Reconnaissance aircraft have always been the spearhead of the various air forces, helping to provide the basis for any further military operations. At the time of the Cold War and before the satellite era, the use of reconnaissance aircraft reached its zenith, as the warring nations were determined to know what was happening on the other side. Consequently, powerful aircraft emerged during this time, especially in terms of deployment altitude, speed and flight time;

Condition: New. Softback, 80 ppPublished Price £9.99 The Imperial War Museums (IWM) are widely recognized for its incomparable collection of twentieth-century British art, which is built around the extensive programs of war art that were created with government support during the First and Second World Wars. In the decades since, images from these artworks have become icons of British history and of the experience of war. What is less well known is that IWM has similarly striking holdings in contemporary art and that those artworks reflect experiences of and responses to a wide range of recent and ongoing conflicts.

Condition: New. Softback, 150 pagesPublished Price £9.99 Concentrating on the Ploegsteert and Neuve Eglise sectors in Belgium, this book features stories on such well known figures as sculptor Charles Sargent Jagger, ARA ; R Poulton Palmer and 'Tanky' Turner, great friends and rugby football captains of England and Scotland respectively; as well the discovery and eventual burial of a Lancashire Fuslier who was killed in action in 1914; the research leading to the erection in 2002 of a 'Believed to be buried' headstone in the Strand cemetery of an Australian killed in action at Messines in 1917; the action in 1914 that initiated the birth of the infamous 'Birdcage' on the western edge of Ploegsteert Wood and other stories of interest to enthusiasts of the Great War.

Condition: New. Softback 128 pagesPublished Price £12.99 The Soviet Union had already begun building an armoured industry as early as the 1920s. Although initially limited to reconstructing and developing Western European armoured vehicles, an independent line of powerful and easy-to-produce models had been established by 1939\. Even after the Second World War, the USSR expanded its armament force considerably, even planning to cross western Europe in a massive armoured wave in the event of any conflict with NATO. In this book, Alexander Ldeke looks at all the important Soviet tanks that were built from 1917 up until the end of the Second World War.

Condition: New. HB 214 pp + Plates B&W & ColourPublished Price £28 Second only to the Garter among British Orders of Chivalry, the Order of the Bath was originally instituted by King Henry IV after he seized the throne from Richard II, and designed to cement the loyalty of the knights to his regime. Knights were created in the Tower of London on the eve of the Kingâs coronation, and spent a long night in a vigil of prayer after taking their baths of ritual purification before being dubbed by the king. Published by Spink and Son Ltd, 1972 this is still the best full study of the Order. Drawing on a rich and most comprehensive variety of sources, it traces the history of the Order from its origins to its recent history. The work includes a most detailed examination of the Insignia. Sir Anthony Wagner, Garter King of Arms at the time of publication, wrote 'Mr Risk's exposition is clearer and more complete than previous accounts.Overseas clients please note: Due to excessively high wrapped weight shipping is weighted on this title.

Condition: New. DVDPublished Price £9.99 The German Propaganda Kompanien (PK) captured the events of Hitler s war on every front. Their footage was used to produce Die Deutsche Wochenschau, a weekly cinema newsreel detailing the events of World War II on land, sea and air. For the first time these unique primary source films have been collated, edited and translated into English in order to produce a complete military history of the Third Reich drawn exclusively from German primary sources. This amazing range of films captures the events of World War II exactly as they were presented to contemporary cinema audiences while the actions on the battlefield were still unfolding.

Condition: New. Hardback 240 pagesPublished Price £19.99 Today the Victoria Cross remains the supreme British award for bravery. It takes precedence over all other awards and decorations. During its 160-year history, since the first medals were given for gallantry during the Crimean War in the 1850s, 1,357 of these medals have been won, and no less than 69 of them have gone to Yorkshiremen. Alan Whitworth, in this carefully researched and revealing account, describes in graphic detail the exploits and the lives of this elite group of heroes.Among the roll of the brave whose gallantry and self-sacrifice are celebrated in these pages the reader will find the names and extraordinary deeds of men who were either born or bred or lived and died in Yorkshire. The first was Yorkshire-born Bombardier Thomas Wilkinson in 1857. He set an example that has been followed by generations of Yorkshire soldiers through the conflicts of the late nineteenth century â" among them the Indian Mutiny and the wars in Afghanistan and South Africa â" and then, in the twentieth century, in the two world wars and more recent operations in the Gulf and Afghanistan. Their stories give an unforgettable insight into the nature of heroism and into the role of individual soldiers who stand out from the ranks of men who took part in Britain's many wars and campaigns.The stories of these ordinary individuals who have 'performed some signal act of valour or devotion to their country' will be fascinating reading for anyone who is interested in military history in general and in the long military tradition of Yorkshire.AS REVIEWED IN THE 'YORKSHIRE POST'.

Condition: New. SB Map + 12ppPublished Price £5 A reproduction of the map and gazetteer showing the principal Central Powersâ Prisoner-of-War camps in Germany and Austria, compiled by Mrs Pope-Hennessey and published by Nisbet and Co. in the First World War.

Condition: New. Softback Published Price £14.99 Working in four-man patrols, the SAS teams first made friends with the head-hunting border tribes and even trained some of them as an irregular military force. As the conflict continued, SAS teams went beyond the borders into Indonesia, where they tracked down enemy camps, fired on supply convoys, staged ambushes, and attacked enemy soldiers in their riverboats. By talking to those who were there, Peter Dickens has recreated what it was really like to fight in the jungles of Malaysia. He also captures the bravery and relentless pursuit of excellence that make the SAS the elite and prestigious regiment it is.

Condition: New. Hardback xv+ 304 pages + plates in colourPublished Price £25.

Condition: New. DVD Run time : 1 hour.

Condition: New. Hardback 240 pagesPublished Price £25 Tanks caused a havoc among the Germans when they first appeared on the battlefields of Europe in 1917. These metal monsters broke up the trench warfare stalemate and thus hastened the armistice. This is the first full study of the U.S. Army's World War I Tank Corps.Because of production delays and political manoeuvring, no American tanks made it into the war, and American tankers had to use French machines instead. But a new breed of army officers, of which Eisenhower and Patton are the most famous, saw the promise of this new technology and staked their careers on it. Ike trained the first generation of tankers at Camp Colt at Gettysburg, and Patton led them into battle in France.

Condition: New. Softback, 176 pagesPublished Price £9.99 In 1914 Torquay was the crown jewel of the English Riviera, long the haunt of the rich and famous but this status was not to last. The Great War of 1914-1918 brought a shuddering end to this golden period in amongst the blood and mud of the Western Front as hundreds of Torquinians gave their lives in the fight against the Kaiser. This book documents the town's experience, both militarily and socially through the extensive use of previously unpublished letters from those who served, by following the career of General Sir Herbert Plumer, commander of the British Second Army and native Torquinian and by featuring a detailed analysis of the home front throughout the war. In doing so it challenges many of the war's myths including the idea of war enthusiasm in 1914, widespread opposition to the war and the old myth of lions led by donkeys. In doing so it reveals the extent to which even a small town such as Torquay contributed to the war effort and how much the war permanently changed Torquay.

Condition: New. Softback, 256 pagesPublished Price £14.99 George Frederick 'Fred' Dallas wrote 137 letters to his family and friends while on active service in the Crimea. A company commander in the 46th Foot, his first letters reflect a soldier's enthusiasm for the brilliant affair that awaits the British Army overseas. Within weeks of arriving, excitement turns to disbelief at the continual misjudgement of his leaders. Poor preparation and divided command exposed the troops to surprise attacks from The Russe , and to the appalling conditions of the Crimean winter. By contrast, Dallas' reports on the casual bravery of his comrades recognise the true heroes of a mismanaged campaign.

Condition: New. Softback, 144 pagesPublished Price £14.99 Many books have looked at the effect of the war on the Home Front, but this is the first book to take a glimpse at the Home Front photographically from an international point of view, covering both Allied and enemy countries, juxtaposing the same situations in different countries to show a similar response. This volume chronicles the changes brought on by just a few months of war: spies, increased casualties, food shortages, changes in work patterns, the shortage of men in the work force, women at work and at the end of the year the slow rush in Britain to volunteer for the army, hoping to not be called for service. It also looks at the Home Front for those caught behind enemy lines where life was both spartan, potentially dangerous and subject to the whim of the victor. The photographs, many of which have not been seen before and some which have never been published, clearly show that each year of war had a further profound effect on each nation. This unique series of international photographic books fits in with the author's more textual books on the Home Front: Hull in the Great War and Reading in the Great War, both of which explore the complex life of a city at war.

Condition: New. SB 64 pp IllustratedPublished Price £8.99 Five ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have all born the name HMS Cambridge, after the famous English university city.The first HMS Cambridge was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line launched in 1666 and wrecked in 1694. The second HMS Cambridge was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line launched in 1695. She was rebuilt in 1715 and broken up in 1750. The third HMS Cambridge was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line launched in 1755. She was on harbour service from 1793 and was broken up in 1808.The fourth HMS Cambridge was a 80-gun second rater launched in 1815. She became a gunnery training ship in 1856 and was broken up in 1869. The fifth HMS Cambridge was a 116-gun first rater launched in 1858 as HMS Windsor Castle. She was renamed HMS Cambridge in 1869 when she replaced the 1815 vessel as gunnery ship off Plymouth. She was sold in 1908.Finally, HMS Cambridge was commissioned as a shore establishment between 1956 to 2001 (formerly named HM Gunnery School, Devonport, then Cambridge Gunnery School at Wembury).This book tells the fascinating story of one of the most famous names in the Royal Navyâs history.

Condition: New. Softback 224 pagesPublished Price £14.99 Britainâs elite Special Air Service Regiment, the SAS, is one of the most revered and feared special-ops units in the world. Its high-profile operations include the spectacular storming of the Iranian Embassy in London on 5 May 1980 and the hunt for Osama bin Laden in southern Afghanistan following 9/11. The regiment has become a byword for the highest possible standards in both conventional and unorthodox methods of warfare. But where did it all begin? In this compelling book, Tim Jones tackles this fascinating question from a fresh perspective. It is commonly held that the regiment was the brainchild of just one man, David Stirling. While not dismissing Stirling s considerable contribution to the regiment s genesis, Jones s insightful investigation identifies all of the major factors that played a part in shaping the SAS, including the role of such notables as Dudley Clarke, Archibald Wavell and Claude Auchinleck, among others. Drawing extensively on primary sources, as well as reassessing the more recent regimental histories and memoirs, SAS Zero Hour is an illuminating and provocative account of how this renowned regiment came into being.

Condition: New. Softback, 176 pagesPublished Price £9.99 Bognor at the time of the Great War was a small seaside town, quiet in winter but full of visitors in the summer. At that time it was barely one hundred and thirty years old, developed from a hamlet by Sir Richard Hotham, a hatter, who wanted to create his own purpose built bathing resort, to attract the nobility to take the sea air and as a rival to other towns along the Sussex coast. In 1911 the population of Bognor had grown to a little over eight thousand, of whom around eleven hundred men answered the call in 1914, around a third of whom never returned. The book tells their stories, not in alphabetical Roll of Honour order, but in real time as it happened. It also takes a close look at those who fought and returned to Bognor, albeit with some badly injured, facing the future carrying the scars of four years fighting. Also included are the local villages of Aldwick, North and South Bersted and Felpham. Wartime life in Bognor has also been included, how the town coped from the influx of Belgian refugees in 1914, a look at the various voluntary organisations, recruitment, invasion fears, conscientious objectors, tribunals, lighting restrictions, Zeppelins, food shortages and the victory celebrations. Queen Victoria, who stayed at Bognor as a child, once referred to it in later life as 'dear little Bognor'. Some eighty years later 'dear little Bognor' flexed her muscles as her young men marched to war.

Condition: New. Hardback, 256 pagesPublished Price £19.99 The most notorious, and most contentious, cavalry charge in history still remains an enigma. Though numerous books have been written about the charge, all claiming to 'reveal the truth' or to understand 'the reason why'; exactly what happened at Balaklava on 25 October 1854 continues to be fiercely debated. Voices from the Past, The Charge of the Light Brigade relives that fateful day not through the opinions of such historians but from the words of those that were there. This is the story of the charge told by the soldiers of both sides, in the most detailed description of the Battle of Balaklava yet written. Gallop with the light dragoons and lancers into the mouths of the Russian cannon as the shells and cannonballs decimate their ranks. Read of the desperate efforts to return down the Valley of Death as the enemy pressed around the remnants of the Light Brigade, and of the nine Victoria Crosses won that day. Possibly more significant are the accusations and counter-arguments that followed the loss of the Light Brigade. Just who was responsible for that terrible blunder? The leading figures all defended their own positions, leading to presentations in Parliament and legal action. Yet one of those senior figures made an astonishing admission immediately after the battle, only to change his story when the charge became headline news. Just who was it that made the fatal error that cost the British Army its Light Brigade?

Condition: New. Hardback, 256 pagesPublished Price £25 Sir Thomas Grahamâs Netherlands Campaign of 1813-1814 has produced a surprisingly rich crop of memoirs and letters. This compelling new book brings together six of the shorter accounts, several of them never before seen in print, to help shed new light on the triumphs and disasters of these forgotten operations. Mixing formal reports with lively personal narratives, and contemporary letters and diaries with later reflections, this selection covers all the major actions of the campaign and the authors range from one of Grahamâs senior staff to an NCO in one of his infantry battalions. In addition to explanatory notes throughout, detailed appendices resolve some of the controversies arising from these and other eyewitness accounts, helping to increase our understanding of these little-known but important operations.

Condition: New. Hardback, 450 pagesPublished Price £29.95 The First World War demanded one of the most sustained and extraordinary efforts ever made by the British people. It was made possible by a multitude of individuals and by the communities of which they were a part. This study is a celebration one of those communities.Appendices offer data about many of the Old Boys and Girls who served, including contemporary obituaries and photographs for almost all of those killed. No final figures can be established, but over 500 Old Boys saw military service and more than 80 were killed. In a sense, everyone at home served, but the study includes an account of over 200 Old Girls who took on new responsibilities on the Home Front or abroad. As this suggests, the studyâs principal focus is on all those involved in the war at Home and at the Fronts, and in particular on what they felt about it at the time. The echo of footsteps and voices in school corridors are accordingly as much part of the story as are moments of valour or desperation on the Western Front. The history of the schools just before and after the Great War and some account of their place in the local community are dealt with to provide context. For the same reason, attention is given to the key events of the period and to the ways in which they have been interpreted.Overseas clients please note: Due to excessively high wrapped weight shipping is weighted on this title.

Condition: New. 2002 N & M Press reprint, original pub 1937. 175pp with numerous b/w photos This is not a war record but a register of all Old Wycliffians from the time of the foundation of the college in 1882 to 1937. After an account of the collegeâs fifty-five years of existence it lists all the old boys in alphabetical order with short biographical details, including where the pupil came from, the years at school and his House. Any wartime service is noted. There are various chapters concerning school matters - chronological list of masters, school constitution, a topographical index listing all the pupils by county of residence and overseas students, school staff in 1937 and other miscellaneous notes.

Condition: New. Hardback, 240 pagesPublished Price £19.99 The village of Givenchy-les-la-Bassee sits on a small rise in the Pas de Calais Department in northern France. One hundred years ago it was overtaken by the First World War. The fighting there was intense - eleven Victoria Crosses were won in this tiny locality between 1914 and 1918. Phil Tomaselli's in-depth account shows what happened at Givenchy when it became a battlefield, and the story here was repeated in the other villages and towns on the Western Front. Givenchy's key position made it the target for crushing bombardments, infantry assaults and subterranean warfare. The landscape was pulverized by shellfire, the ground beneath was honeycombed with tunnels. Mining operations, shelling, sniping and trench raids took place around the remains of the village even when this stretch of the front line was relatively quiet. The gruelling struggle of attrition that characterized the fighting on the Western Front continued here throughout the war. Phil Tomaselli's gripping narrative makes extensive use of war diary extracts, personal stories, official and unofficial histories.

Condition: New. Hardback 288 pagesPublished Price £25 An Indian Summer of Steam is the second volume of David Maidmentâs railway autobiography, following his first book A Privileged Journey , published in February 2015. David was a railway enthusiast who made the hobby his career. After management training on the Western Region, between 1961 and 1964, he became a stationmaster in a Welsh Valley, an Area Manager on the Cardiff Swansea main line and radiating valleys, the South Wales Train Planning Officer, the Head of Productivity Services for the Western Region and subsequently the British Railways Board, before four years from 1982 as Chief Operating Manager of the London Midland Region, the BRB s first Quality & Reliability Manager in 1986, and finally British Rail s Head of Safety Policy after the Clapham Junction train accident, until privatisation. This experience led to a number of years as an international railway safety consultant, and, as a result of an encounter on an Indian railway station during a business trip abroad, to found the Railway Children charity to support street children living on the rail and bus stations of India, East Africa and the UK, described in 2012 by an officer of the United Nations Human Rights Commission as the largest charity in the world working exclusively for street children. All this is the background to the descriptions the author gives of the last years of steam and his many journeys and experiences during his training in South Wales and the South West, his travels all over BR from 1962 until the end of steam in 1968, his search for steam in France, East and West Germany and China and the steam specials in Britain, France, Germany and China after the demise of regular steam working. The book includes over 100 black and white and 100 colour photos, most taken by the author during his travels, and nearly forty pages of logs of locomotive performance in Britain and the continent.

Condition: New. Softback 160 pagesPublished Price £10.99 Somewhat forgotten in the saga of the First World War, Gavrelle, a small North Eastern French village positioned at the eastern end of the Arras battlefield, had nevertheless, been the scene of some of the most vicious fighting of the Arras Offensive. Lost between the battlefields of Ypres and Passchendaele to the north and the Somme to the south, and overshadowed by Vimy Ridge a few kilometres to the north, the village is rarely visited by the thousands of pilgrims who flock each year to the Western Front even though many hundreds of soldiers, airmen, civilians, and especially Royal Marines and sailors of the 63RD [Royal Naval] Division had lost their lives there.

Condition: New. Hardback 466 pages with 50 illustrationsPublished Price £25 War Behind Enemy Lines tells the unvarnished story of British Special Forces in the Second World War. While the SAS and SBS remain household names today, there were a plethora of lesser known units, large and small, that played their part before departing the scene. Of special note was the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) formed in North Africa who imparted their skills to David Stirling's SAS in the early days. The Special Boat Sections and Squadron and other Royal Marine units inflicted great damage. Popski's Private Army used heavily armed jeeps effectively in Italy while the Jedburghs parachuted in to assist the French Resistance. In Burma, the Chindits, under the controversial Orde Wingate, conducted deep penetration patrols against the Japanese, suffering heavy casualties from enemy action and disease. Drawing on personal accounts as well as official records, the author paints a vivid picture of the operations and contribution of these and other units. He also analyses, using his own experience, the reasons for the resulting successes and failures.

Condition: New. Hardback, 160 pagesPublished Price £30 The four classes included one American design the class 59 which set new standards in haulage capacity and reliability. The other three designs classes 56, 58 and 60 were more suitable to their tasks than previous models, but in the case of the class 56, suffered a poor repuatation for availability for several years, although the few remaining members of the class have now attained acceptable standards. Of the four classes, a small number of class 56s operate in private ownership, all the class 58s have been withdrawn, but all the class 59s and 60s are in daily use throughout England and Wales. This album has been written by David Cable, author of a series of illustrated books covering railways in the UK as well as overseas. The book shows examples of all four classes working a variety of duties at a wide range of locations.

Condition: New. Hardback, 208 pagesPublished Price £19.99 For many years the importance and contribution of the Hawker Hurricane was eclipsed by the Spitfire but statistically the Hurricane was superior in the majority of cases. Thanks to Tommy Sopwith's initiative and gamble the Hurricane was ready at the outbreak of the Second World War and in service throughout. As this superbly researched book reveals by examining the roles, actions and personalities of ten Hurricane squadrons, this iconic aircraft was not only exceptionally robust but astonishingly versatile. We track its performance from the Battle of France and Britain through the Middle East, Italy and on to Burma. It excelled as day and night interceptor, intruder and importantly as a rocket firing tank buster. The Hurricane inspired great loyalty among its pilots and their colourful personalities and thrilling experiences make this splendid book an informative and entertaining read.

Condition: New. Hardback, 416 pagesPublished Price £25 During the First World War, the village of Lijssenthoek was situated on the main communication line between the Allied military bases in the rear and the Ypres battlefields. Close to the Front, but out of the extreme range of most German field artillery, it became a natural place to establish casualty clearing stations. The cemetery was first used by the French 15th Hopital D'Evacuation and in June 1915, it began to be used by casualty clearing stations of the Commonwealth forces.From April to August 1918, the casualty clearing stations fell back before the German advance and field ambulances (including a French ambulance) took their places.The cemetery contains 9,901 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 24 being unidentified. There are 883 war graves of other nationalities, mostly French and German, 11 of these are unidentified. There is 1 Non World War burial here.The only concentration burials were 24 added to Plot XXXI in 1920 from isolated positions near Poperinghe and 17 added to Plot XXXII from St. Denijs Churchyard in 1981.Eight of the headstones are Special Memorials to men known to be buried in this cemetery, these are located together alongside Plot 32 near the Stone of Remembrance.The cemetery, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, is the second largest Commonwealth cemetery in Belgium.

Condition: New. Softback, 256 pagesPublished Price £19.99 To many, the First World War conjures up exclusively a picture of trench warfare, in which the armies of both sides remained locked in the mud and despair of their static positions. The war of movement with which the conflict opened and closed is less well remembered. This book, originally published in 1976, is an attempt to correct that situation, by providing a detailed daily account of the actions of one of the finest of the battalions of the original British Expeditionary Force that crossed over to France in the summer of 1914, the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards - The Models.The story is told in the words of the officers of the Battalion, few of whom survived the war, taken from their diaries and letters, and covers all the major actions of the first five months of the War - Mons and the Retreat, the Marne, the Aisne, culminating in the dark and desperate days of First Ypres. By the end of that battle the Battalion had lost 959 men killed, wounded and missing - practically its entire strength. for the most part the story is told by Major 'Ma' Jeffreys, later General the Lord Jeffreys, whose diaries, supplemented on occasion by the diaries and letters of some of his brother officers and others, provide a very complete, graphic and deeply moving picture of those turbulent days as seen by an ordinary regimental officer of the old school.