Military Titles for Review

Amir, an Afghan officer, faces trials and survival in the battlefield, rising through the ranks amid challenges.

Following the defeat of the Taliban in 2001 Amir joined the Afghan Army becoming an officer. For the next five or so years he is involved in fighting the resurgent Taliban alongside American, British and other coalition soldiers. During an operation to capture a district in Faryab province, his friend Jawad and several other of his soldiers are killed in an ambush and he berates the Afghan Brigade Commander in front of other senior officers, including some from the coalition. Arrested on suspicion of sympathy with the Taliban he faces Court Martial until a US Marine who had been an adviser attached to the Afghan battalion defends him, producing evidence that the Afghan Brigade Commander deliberately suppressed intelligence because the Taliban were holding some of his family hostage. Amir is acquitted but is advised that many senior Afghan officers distrust him for what they see as a betrayal leading Amir to transfer to Special Forces where he is put in command of his own team.

On one operation in Helmand, Amir and his team are cut off and besieged in an old fort for nine days, forced to survive by eating snakes and lizards after their food runs out. Fortunately, just before their ammunition ran out a British force backed up by helicopter gunships and American bombers breaks the siege.

Amir went on to become a battalion commander for his last four years serving as the US started to withdraw troops and hand over responsibility to the Afghan Army.

Details the second year of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, focusing on drone warfare, strategic battles, and global impacts.

This book describes, in great detail, the second year of Putin’s 'Special Operation' to obliterate Ukraine. General (Ret) Harrel’s previous book, entitled The Russian Invasion of Ukraine, February - December 2022, described the initial invasion, identifying the units and weapons on the battlefield with military precision. Now he continues the story of Ukrainian resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.

The author knowledgeably reports on twenty-first century mechanized warfare, and how drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have evolved to dominate the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of war. The year 2023 saw the dawn of drone warfare as combatants on both sides of the conflict at first tinkered with the use of civilian hobby-type machines but then, having had great success, rushed forward to design, purchase (often with crowd funding) and deploy drones through all domains of the battlefield. Drones performed reconnaissance, targeting for artillery and direct attacks, seeking, identifying, and striking targets not only on the battlefield but in the Black Sea and deep inside Mother Russia.

As the fighting raged, Russia successfully continued its worldwide cyber campaign to influence elections, divide allies and undercut support for Ukraine. The Pyrrhic Russian victories at Bakhmut and Avdviika were offset by Ukrainian victories in the Black Sea, after its failed counteroffensive in the Summer of 2023. Finland and Sweden joined NATO, while US support was stymied and delayed by internal politics. NATO clearly assumed its place as the bastion of Western freedom as the war continued into 2024.

The B-36 Peacemaker, a Cold War icon, was America's first intercontinental nuclear bomber with unmatched range and technological innovation.

The story of the Consolidated B-36 is unique in American aviation history. The aircraft was an interesting blend of concepts proven during the Second World War combined with budding 1950s high-tech systems. The program survived near-cancellation on six separate occasions during an extremely protracted development process. It was also the symbol of a bitter inter-service rivalry between the newly-formed US Air Force and the well-established US Navy over which of which of the two organizations would control the delivery of atomic weapons during the early years of the Cold War.

Entering service in 1948, the B-36 was a remarkable design. It was the largest mass-produced piston-engine aircraft ever built, having the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft in history. Importantly, in terms of the developing Cold War at least, the B-36 was the first bomber capable of delivering any of the weapons in America’s nuclear arsenal without modification. To achieve this part of its role, the Peacemaker had an operational range of 10,000 miles, being capable of intercontinental flight without refueling.

It is difficult to imagine a modern aircraft remaining airborne for two days without refueling – but such missions were relatively routine for the B-36 crews. while there were, at the time of its service, questions around its flight speed, the Peacemaker flew so high that this was considered of little concern – few fighters of its era could reach the same altitudes, and operational surface-to-air missiles were still in the future.

The B-36, despite its seemingly conventional appearance, pushed the state-of-the-art technology further than any other aircraft of its era. Its sheer size brought with it structural challenges, while its high-altitude capabilities led to engine cooling and associated problems. However, all of these were finally overcome, and the B-36 served well as the first ‘Big Stick’ of the Cold War.

SS-Obersturmbannführer Jochen Peiper's leadership in the failed Ardennes Offensive, highlighting victories, defeats, and war crimes.

By the autumn of 1944, Hitler’s plans for the conquest of Europe were in disarray. The Führer’s much-vaunted Third Reich, facing an Allied onslaught from the east and west, was slowly collapsing.

Desperate to seize the initiative on the Western Front, Hitler, seeing himself as a beleaguered modern-day Frederick the Great, looked for some bold counterattack that could change his fortunes. Hitler’s wish had at least one clear result, for as even as early as 19 August 1944, he had instructed Alfred Jodl to consider a bold counter-stroke in the west in November. Hitler’s generals therefore set about drawing up plans for an offensive in the area of the Ardennes Forest. It was to be an attack that would enable German forces to cross the Meuse and, decisively breaking through the Allied front-line, advance on Antwerp.

Given the limitations he and his forces faced, Hitler knew he would need panzer leaders capable of a delivering a Blitzkrieg advance, perhaps one that took advantage of night-time hours. One of the German officers who was tasked with delivering this audacious victory was the battle-hardened veteran SS-Obersturmbannführer Jochen Peiper.

A Waffen SS officer and one of the most celebrated heroes of Hitler’s armies, Peiper, and the SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte as a whole, were already on his mind. A long-time adjutant of Heinrich Himmler, and completely dedicated to the Nazi cause, Peiper had fought in every major campaign of the Second World War. However, having been wounded in Normandy following the D-Day landings, Peiper, also ailing from a combination of battle fatigue and hepatitis, had been evacuated to a field hospital and then back Germany in August 1944.

It was while he was recuperating at the SS Reserve Hospital 501, overlooking Lake Tegernsee in Bavaria, that Peiper learnt of his part in the forthcoming offensive. Though his skin had a sickly ochre cast from jaundice and three years of front-line combat, too many days of coffee and cigarettes, followed by nights of fighting and frustration, and the fact that his nerves were shot, he had been selected as one of the men who would lead the Führer’s final great gamble.

Comprising some 4,800 men and 600 vehicles, including a number of the powerful Tiger II heavy tanks, Kampfgruppe Peiper played a central part in the Ardennes Offensive, or the Battle of the Bulge as it is commonly known, which was unleashed on 16 December 1944. It is a role that is explored here by Danny S. Parker, who reveals the successes, defeats and war crimes that Kampfgruppe Peiper was involved in before the Ardennes Offensive ended in failure in January 1945.

Photographic account of Manfred von Richthofen's life, WWI aerial combat achievements, propaganda influence, and enduring historical legacy.

It is more than a hundred years since the First World War fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen was killed in combat on the Western Front. By then, due to a strange twist of fate, his name was becoming as well known in Britain, France and the USA as it was in Germany.

Following the outbreak of war in 1914, von Richthofen initially served as a calvary reconnaissance officer. Such a role was soon diminished by the stagnation of trench warfare, and so von Richthofen volunteered for aircrew duties. From June to August 1915 he flew as an observer over the Eastern Front, before transferring to the Western Front. From there he progressed to pilot training.

Von Richthofen’s first confirmed victory occurred on 17 September 1916, by which time he had transferred from two-seater reconnaissance aircraft to single-seater fighters. After achieving his sixteenth ‘kill’, the up and coming fighter ace was awarded the Pour le Mérite in January 1917, this being highest military honour in Germany at the time and informally known as ‘The Blue Max’. That same month, he assumed command of Jasta 11, by which time a legend surrounding his name was becoming firmly established.

His life and deeds as a fighter pilot were so convincingly sold by a highly polished and quite ruthless propaganda machine that it created an image of knightly virtue and courage that has fame has lasted to this day and, indeed, shows no sign of lessening. And yet this phenomenon owes much to the fact that he was a highly successful killer of Allied airmen in a war of extreme violence where gallantry, if practised at all, was rarely done so. Kill or be killed became their mantra for survival.

Beginning in late 1916, when his lethal skills were first realised, his carefully nurtured image proved a godsend to a war weary nation soon to face defeat and ignominy. Far above the misery of life in the trenches was created a shooting star of unimaginable potency which was then exploited with little regard of the personal cost to this increasingly war weary young man.

This unique photographic record not only charts his life in great detail, but also places it in a much wider historical context, so giving it greater meaning and potency. He didn’t live or fight his battles in a small exclusive bubble, but in the full glare of military and public scrutiny both of which, although essential to the German cause, allowed him no rest or privacy as he struggled to survive.

The Red Baron’s life was one of great endeavour and sacrifice which broke down national and political barriers so allowing us to consider the achievements of an undoubted hero and the period in which he lived. This fresh photographic assessment of von Richthofen’s life and times offers us a rare view of all that made him famous and the events that surrounded his rise to fame.

Offers a detailed, minute-by-minute account of the battle from both British and German perspectives, highlighting personal stories of heroism and sacrifice.

Battle of Monte Natale brings together contemporary accounts showing war, not only at the strategic level involving Corps, Division, Brigade and Battalion, but also the individual level, by extensive use of War Diaries, personal accounts, missing person reports and the inspiring stories of heroism and the sacrifices made which were recognised by the awards for valour. It is the story of those individuals who fought and died in the Battle of Monte Natale. Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, by words, pictures, and maps it shows what happened in the three weeks from 17th January to 7th February 1944 in an area of just nine square kilometres. It is a unique glimpse of an important battle from both sides of the conflict and includes personal German and British views of the battle. Few books about World War II show a battle in such detail.

The remarkable life of Leif Bangsboll, a Danish sailor, aviator, Green Beret, and O.S.S. secret agent during WWII.

More than a Viking call to arms, An O.S.S. Secret Agent Behind Enemy Lines chronicles the incredible life of Leif Bangsboll up to and including the Second World War. Compiled by Bangsboll’s son, this book explores the life of, variously, a Danish sailor, Norwegian aviator, American airborne serviceman, Green Beret soldier, and secret agent with the Office of Strategic Services.

Brook G. Bangsboll heard his father’s stories told and retold around the dinner table as far back as he could remember. He recalled his father talking of his christening at five weeks old aboard His Danish Majesty’s Ship Grønsund in the middle of the North Sea during the First World War; about his attendance as a young man at German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday celebration in Berlin; and about his unplanned role in a rescue mission off the embattled shores of Dunkirk.

Invigorated by the heroic efforts of the Allies at Dunkirk, Leif then joined the Norwegian Air Force and was trained as a pilot in Canada as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Prior to being assigned to an operational squadron, Flight Sergeant Bangsboll was recruited into the United States Army by Colonel William ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan to become a field agent for the Office of Strategic Services, or O.S.S..

After completing his O.S.S. training at the top-secret facility known as Camp X, located on the shores of Lake Ontario, Second Lieutenant Bangsboll was sent to the United Kingdom to work with the O.S.S.’ counterparts at Special Operations Executive. In October 1944 Lieutenant Bangsboll was parachuted into in the dark skies over occupied Denmark to lead the Danish Resistance forces in the central region of Jutland, operating out of the city of Aarhus.

Operating under the field name of Mr. Jorgen Bech, ostensibly a Danish Maritime Engineer and businessman, Bangsboll trained Danish resistance fighters, planned and led sabotage missions against the German occupation forces and hunted down and eliminated known collaborators. For ten months he played a dangerous and daring game of cat and mouse with the Gestapo.

In the spring of 1945, Lieutenant Bangsboll was reassigned by the O.S.S. to Copenhagen where during the final days of the war, he led an assault to capture the fortified German garrison at Ryvangen. His efforts in this assault would earn him the United States Distinguished Service Cross as well as the Danish Royal Knights Order of King Christian X – sighted for ‘courage and selfless bravery in the face of the enemy’.

Chronicles the Air National Guard's evolution from a post-WWII "flying club" to a vital U.S. military force.

When it was established alongside the United States Air Force in 1947, the Air National Guard consisted of a colorful mix of World War II veterans and a dubious collection of "flyable storage" aircraft, mostly obsolete. Four years later, it was mobilized for the Korean War, which, after producing a handful of National Air Guard jet aces, precipitated an influx of new equipment for the unit. The Air Guard had entered the "Jet Age," an era in which it truly belonged, and began entering air races and aerobatic competitions, winning public appeal as an elite unit with crack pilots and state-of-the-art jet aircraft. This book is a detailed history of the first two decades of the Air National Guard as it evolved from a post-war hometown "flying club" for World War II veterans to a critical operational force integral to U.S. aerial strength. It uncovers the dramatic stories of the combat aces and record-breaking jet racers, as well as the pioneers who established the Air Guard on a wing and a prayer, and those who molded it into a first-rate fighting force.

Explores how luxurious Victorian and Edwardian steam yachts were repurposed into warships during the Spanish-American War and World War I.

This is the story of how the luxurious steam yachts of the Victorian and Edwardian eras were transformed into weapons of war. These beautiful vessels were the ultimate status symbols of British and European royalty, American magnates, the landed aristocracy and the nouveau riche, but when wars came, in 1898 and 1914, they were quickly transformed into warships, and many of their crews became warriors rather than servants.

The US Navy was the first to recognise the potential of these elegant vessels. In the Spanish-American war of 1898, the USN – short of ships to operate a blockade of Spanish-owned Cuba – purchased twenty-eight of them and turned them into patrol craft and bombardment ships. In Britain in 1914 steam yachts became a stop gap navy, filling in for neglected investment in small craft. The USN followed suit in 1917. Their wonderful interiors were ripped out, antiquated guns and sometimes depth charges fitted, and their crews signed into the naval reserves. Around the coasts of the Britain and France, in the Mediterranean and the USA, Canada, these former luxurious playthings now attacked land positions and fought surface warships and U-boats. They interdicted blockade runners, escorted convoys, were used as depot ships, served as hospitals afloat and undertook a host of other functions. In all, some 300 yachts fought at sea.

This new book, lavishly illustrated with photographs and plans of pre-war and wartime steam yachts from a world now lost to view, tells their story and the stories of the men who served in them. It examines their peacetime origins and development, describes their owners and designers, and considers their naval deployment, the conditions under which the crews lived and worked, the many and varied duties assigned to the yachts, and their successes and failures together with the losses sustained.

In just a couple of generations these beautiful craft progressed from status symbols to instruments of war to complete extinction; Steam Yachts at War tells this compelling story.

Details the history of US Navy landing guns, from the Civil War-era Dahlgren howitzers to the 1942 Mark XI, highlighting their role in imperial and military actions.

In a series of imperial adventures in the mid- to late nineteenth century, often in cooperation with the Royal Navy, the United States Navy put armed landing parties ashore in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. Their purpose was chiefly to protect Americans and their national interests, but such parties also served to safeguard international communities against the “savage hordes” of “uncivilized” nations. The following century saw landings against more developed nations such as Mexico and Russia. Specially designed light field guns carried aboard gunboats and larger warships sometimes supported the bluejackets and marines, customarily when larger parties more likely to face sharp actions went ashore.

In Armed Bluejackets Ashore, Nelson Lawry explores in meticulous detail a subject area barely considered in previous American naval histories: that of US Navy landing guns. From the bronze Dahlgren muzzleloading smoothbore howitzer deployed extensively during and after the Civil War, to the final 3-inch naval landing gun, the Mark XI, which likely saw use in the Philippines during 1942, this book chronicles the history and characteristics of every model of US Navy landing gun in service between 1850 and 1942. It is an account of a largely forgotten but fascinating part of US naval ordnance development, evolved in the exciting context of interdepartmental wrangling, coercive diplomacy, swashbuckling military adventure, and actual combat.

Details the daring missions of the SAS in Sicily and Italy during World War II, blending firsthand accounts and personal documents.

The SAS is the most famous regiment in the world and the subject of countless books, documentaries and TV dramas, including the BBC mini-series Rogue Heroes. Much of the action of the second season of Rogue Heroes is located in Italy, where both 1SAS and 2SAS took part in many daring operations in 1943.

The third volume of Gavin Mortimer’s impeccably researched and handsomely illustrated SAS Operations covers their missions in Sicily and Italy. After the derring-do of Desert Warfare, when the SAS raided enemy airfields in heavily-armed jeeps, the operations in Sicily and Italy were more challenging and diverse in nature.

Sometimes the SAS inserted by parachute and sabotaged trains or attacked vehicle convoys; at other times they stormed beaches from landing craft and neutralised enemy coastal batteries. Whatever the mission the SAS displayed their characteristic courage, initiative and determination in the vanguard of the Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy.

In this book Mortimer describes in detail these operations, embellishing his gripping narrative with first-hand accounts from the scores of SAS veterans he interviewed. Drawing also on personal papers, diaries, private photographs and his many visits to the sites of the action, Mortimer blends the past with the present so that readers can follow in the footsteps of such SAS legends as Paddy Mayne and Roy Farran

Revisits the 1950s golden era of military aircraft development, showcasing a diverse range of planes from multiple nations.

For many people, the 1950s was the golden era of military aircraft development, and a time when the world's air forces boasted probably the most varied and eclectic fleet of aircraft ever seen in peacetime. Aircraft in active military service ranged from a few left-over World War Two designs, through first generation jets and 1940's re-purposed aircraft, to new machines at the cutting edge of aerospace technology, some of which would continue in service for decades to come.

The UK armed forces alone were operating more than 100 types of aircraft, many of them produced by domestic aviation manufacturers. The US and Canada were also fielding a wide variety of military aircraft and starting to push the boundaries of speed and altitude capabilities. In continental Europe it seemed that almost every country had its own indigenous military aircraft; whilst rumours and speculation were rife about the latest aerospace advances by the USSR.

The 1950s also saw the rise of the 'abc' range of books by Ian Allan. Originally started as a series of 'spotters guides' for railway enthusiasts wanting to record the identities of steam locomotives, the series grew to encompass hundreds of titles on subjects as diverse as ships, military vehicles, motorcycles, space travel and, of course, aircraft. Each abc book contained the known data and specifications for each aircraft type, together with a short description, three view drawing and photograph. In an era when public information on military aircraft types was often in short supply, the abc guides were the acknowledged reference source for enthusiasts, aviation professionals and even the military themselves!

The original abc books have become highly-prized collectors items, but to bring their contents to a wider audience Crécy Publishing has delved into its extensive Ian Allan archives and produced this compilation of several abc titles from the mid-1950s. Covering military aircraft from Britain, the USA, Canada, Continental Europe and even the USSR, the types covered range from the famous and legendary, to experimental one-offs and rare designs which were destined for obscurity or even notoriety.

For many, this book will be pure nostalgia for a lost era of classic military aviation; but it is also an important historical record of its time, highlighting the contrast between the break-neck pace of military aircraft development for the front-line, alongside the classic wartime aircraft still to be found operating in many parts of the world.

General Sir Frank Kitson’s memoir details his distinguished 41-year career, highlighting his innovative tactics and leadership in key conflicts.

As this superb memoir bears out, General Sir Frank Kitson’s 41-year career ranks among the most distinguished and eventful of the post-1945 era.

Commissioned into the Rifle Brigade at the end of the Second World War, he distinguished himself during the vicious Mau Mau campaign. His highly innovative tactics and personal courage earned him his first Military Cross. The second quickly followed in Malaya at the height of the Emergency.

In typically understated style, the Author describes his role planning the fight against communist aggression in Oman and his two tours in Cyprus, the second when commanding 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets.

His effective uncompromising approach while commanding 39 Infantry Brigade in Belfast in the early 1970s was to have life-long security implications for Kitson and his family. Despite controversy he was marked out for high command. As GOC 2nd Armoured Division in BAOR and Commandant of The Staff College, his forensic brain and experience made a significant impact at a time of change. His final appointment was Commander-in-Chief UK Land Forces.

How fortunate that this gifted, gallant and inspiring leader was persuaded by his ever-supportive wife Elizabeth to record his career and military thinking, albeit on the condition it would only be published after his death. The result is a highly readable, wide-ranging work which will appeal to all interested in late 20th Century military history.

Ron Burrows recounts his career test-flying RAF and US aircraft, surviving close calls, crashes, and critical Cold War missions.

The Falkland Islands had been invaded and a Task Force was already steaming south at full speed. On board the carriers were the Harriers that would provide essential aerial cover for the British troops and ships sent to recapture the islands. They would be entering particularly hostile territory, and the type’s capabilities had urgently to be expanded and proved. This was a job that Ron Burrows and the test pilots of his elite Fighter Test Squadron at Boscombe Down were ready to take on.

From the 1960s through to the 1990s, Ron test-flew all of the RAF’s fast-jets of the era, in the process of which he survived two crash landings and two emergency ejections, as well as numerous other close shaves. A master of his craft, he rose to become the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment’s chief test pilot – and this is his remarkable story.

With four test flying tours under his belt and close-air-support missions flying Hunters in the Aden Emergency, Ron’s experiences extended throughout the critical final decades of the Cold War. Ron was a graduate of the US Navy’s test pilot school and in his long career he has flown an unusually broad range of US and UK aircraft from fast-jets to heavy multi-engine aircraft.

With his unrivaled knowledge and expertise, Ron is able to explain the methods, techniques, and demands of his profession, with many examples of what can and often does go wrong in aircraft development and testing. His descriptions of his near misses and catastrophic accidents are written with color and candor. But he also tries to inform the reader about the skills required to fly and test fast-jets and about the development of cockpit displays and design, highlighting some of the issues and problems encountered in development and in operation. ‘If it could go wrong, it will go wrong’ could be the subtitle of this frank and witty account which flies along with the speed of one of those fast jets.

Uncover the intertwined quests of Otto Rahn's Nazi search for the Holy Grail and the true hero, Peredur, in this captivating exploration of history and legend.

Peredur, The Undiscovered Truth of the Nazi Grail Quest is written in two parts.

The first part of the book charts the life and adventures of Otto Rahn, the man tasked by the Nazis, in the 1930s, with finding and getting his hands on the Holy Grail for them. The Nazis were hell bent on finding the Grail and reuniting it with the Holy Lance in a bid to create a mythical past of the Aryan race. Rahn believed that by uncovering the truth behind the Germanic saga of Parzival he would discover the whereabouts of the Grail. Parzival had, according to legend, successfully completed a quest to find the Grail, whilst being a knight in the court of King Arthur. In dissecting the story of Parzival, Rahn concluded that the Grail had been held by the Cathars, a heretical Christian sect, in their fortress at Montsegur. He believed that the Grail was still there, waiting for him to find it and based his quest around this belief. Unfortunately, after chasing round Europe in his efforts to find the Grail, and coming within touching distance of finding the truth, the Nazis patience with him ran out with him, and Rahn came to a sticky end, without ever having found the Grail. Rahn was the real-life figure who inspired the fictional movie character Indiana Jones.

The second part focusses on Peredur, a British knight hailing from York, and the true hero of the original Grail Story. By examining the life of Peredur and the Grail Story, Peredur, the Son of Evrawc, written about him, we are able to reach the truth of the Grail Rahn and the Nazis never found. Rahn came very close to uncovering this, but the Nazis had lost faith in him, and casting him as a charlatan, hounded him to his death. Much of the story of Peredur, the Son of Evrawc is played out in the ancient British kingdom of Elmet, encompassing much of what we now call South Yorkshire, and whose southern border lay along the line of the River Don. As the story is unpicked, the truth of the Grail, is unravelled, leading to some astonishing findings.