pen sword books ltd south yorkshire (Over 6,100 results)

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. A young captain in the Royal Norfolk Regiment, Reggie Burton was wounded in the closing stages of the disastrous defence of Malaya and Singapore. He vividly, yet calmly and with great dignity, describes the horror of captivity at the hands of the Japanese. After initial confusion, the true nature of their captors emerged as, increasingly debilitated, the POWs were forced into back-breaking work. This was only a taste of what was to come. After a horrific journey in overcrowded cattle trucks, Burton and his dwindling band of colleagues were put to work building the notorious Burma Railway. Somehow he survived to tell this moving and shocking story. 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. Benjamin Clouting was just sixteen years old when he embarked with the British Expeditionary Force for France in August 1914. The youngest man in the 4th Dragoon Guards, he took part in the BEF's celebrated first action at Casteau on August 22nd, and, two days later, had his horse shot from under him during the famous cavalry charge of the 4th Dragoon Guards and the 9th Lancers at Audregnies. Ben served on the Western front during every major engagement of the war except Loos, was wounded twice, and in 1919 went with the Army of Occupation to Cologne. The son of a stable groom, Ben was brought up in the beautiful Sussex countryside near Lewes and from his earliest years was, as he often said himself, "crazy to be a soldier". He worked briefly as a stable boy before joining up in 1913; his training was barely completed when war broke out. The Regiment, knowing Ben to be under age, tried to stop him embarking for France, but he flatly refused to be left behind. During the next four years, he served under officers immortalised in Great War history, including Major Tom Bridges, Captain Hornby, and Lieutenant-Colonel Adrien Carton de Wiart VC. Teenage Tommy is a detailed account of a trooper's life at the front, vividly recalling, for example, the privations suffered during the retreat from Mons. and later, the desperate fighting to hold back the German onslaught at 2nd Ypres. But this is more then just a memoir about trench warfare. Ben's lively sense of humour and healthy disrespect for petty restrictions make this an entertaining as well as a moving story of life at the front. 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 selecting my adventurers, I have had to find limits. The first has been to confine my selection to men and women who are (at least loosely) British and, even then, service and adoption have sometimes, as with Krystyna Skarbeka, taken the place of birth, and I have chosen to ignore such things as competing national claims for Tenzing Norgay. The second limit that I have set myself is generally to exclude heroic adventurers in battle, simply because there is (rightly), so much already written about them, but I have found place for certain (representative) secret agents of the Second World War, whose acts (in voluntary service, beyond the call of simple duty), surely took them out of the arena of straight-forward battle and into the realm of the most individual and courageous adventure. The result of these decisions remains to be judged but the overall objective has been to renew interest in the lives of some of our real heroes and heroines, as representative of the many others that there are; in an age in which contemporary sporting and pop art 'heroes' dominate the news and provide the only readily evident 'inspiration', and also an age in which addiction to the computer screen nearly robs the young of memories and dreams of high adventure; of which ripping yarns are born. The third limit is a limit of time: this speaks for itself; otherwise how would Drake and Raleigh, Clive of India, General Woolf and Captain Cook not have found their places? There have to be such limits. The final limit has been to exclude those who are widely famed already: what more is there to say of General Gordon or Dr David Livingstone of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Captain Laurence Oates; even though what has been said should often be repeated? Moreover, although Sir Edmund Hillary is acknowledged as the first conqueror of Mount Everest; Tenzing Norgay was there with him and what of George Mallory who, some time before had died, either going up or coming down?To those who might accuse me of having been obscure, I just plead that my purpose has been to bring back into ready remembrance certain men and women, not widely feted now, who had great impact upon the accrual of knowledge of: other peoples, their customs and their countries; or who have striven, often against various obstacles (including the odds), to promote exploration and, sometimes, even to preserve life and liberty for others. To the erudite, who might say that I shed little new light and that the coverage is uneven, I plead, in mitigation of sentence, that my principal purpose has been to remind of worthy lives that might still stir our blood; and to bring them together, as representative of our adventurous people, in one handy volume.James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak 1803-1868Mary Seacole 1805-1881 Richard and John Lander 1804-1834; 1806-1839Jane Digby 1807-1881General Sir James Abbott 1807-1896Colonel John Peard 1811-1880John William Colenso, 1st Anglican Bishop of Natal 1814-1883Sir Richard Burton 1821-1890 and John Hanning Speke 1827-1854 Emily Hobhouse 1860-1926Mary Kingsley 1862-1900Sir Francis Younghusband 1863-1942Colonel Percy Fawcett 1867-1925 and, in his wake, Peter Fleming OBE 1907-1971Cecil Henry Meares 1877-1937George Mallory 1886-1924 and Andrew Irvine 1902-1924Dame Freya Stark 1893-1993Sir Francis Chichester 1901-1972Gladys May Aylward 1902-1970Amy Johnson 1902-1941Krystyna Skarbek-Granville GM, OBE, Croix de Guerre Avec Palmes, born ca. 1908-1952Sir Fitzroy Hew Royle Maclean 1911-1996Tenzing Norgay GM 1914-1986 Violette Szabo GC, MBE 1921-1945The Present and the Future[Colonel John Blashford-Snell b. 1936Sir Ranulf Fiennes b. 1944Alan Hinkes b. 1954Adrian Hayes (45)Kenton Cool b. 1973Dame Ellen MacArthur b. 1976Rebecca Stephens b. 1982Xanadu and William Dalrymple]. 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. R.C. Sherriff, author of Journey's End, the most famous play of the Great War, saw all his frontline service with the 9th Battalion East Surrey Regiment. This intense experience profoundly affected his writing and, through his play, it continues to have a powerful influence on our understanding of the conflict. Yet the story of his battalion has never been told in full until now. In The Journey's End Battalion, Michael Lucas gives a vivid account of its history. Using official and unofficial sources, diaries, letters, and British and German wartime records, he describes the individuals who served in it and the operations they took part in. He identifies the inspiration for Journey's End and considers how Sherriff delved into his experiences and those of his fellow soldiers in order to create his drama. So not only does the book shed new light on the wartime career of R.C. Sherriff, but it is a valuable record of the operation of a British battalion on the Western Front during 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. From Mata Hari through to Noor Inayat Khan, women spies have rarely received the recognition they deserve. They have often been trivialised and, in cinema and popular fiction, stereotyped as vamps or dupes. The reality is very different. As spies, women have played a critical role during wartime, receiving and passing on vital information, frequently at considerable risk. Often able to blend into their background more easily than their male counterparts, women have worked as couriers, transmitters and with resistance fighters, their achievements often unknown. Many have died. Ann Kramer describes the role of women spies during wartime, with particular reference to the two world wars. She looks at why some women chose to become spies, their motives and backgrounds. She looks at the experience of women spies during wartime, what training they received, and what skills they needed. She examines the reality of life for a woman spy, operating behind enemy lines, and explores and explodes the myths about women spies that continue until the present day. The focus is mainly on Britain but will also take an international view as appropriate. 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.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Herbs have been used since ancient times both to flavour food and as natural medicines. In this easy-access guide, gardener Gordon Thorburn reveals different types of herb garden to suit your needs, from those that don't need much attention (e.g. mint and rosemary don't need much watering but basil and the beautiful Vietnamese coriander are very demanding), to classic herb gardens, culinary options and medicinal herb gardens. Whether you suffer from migraines, insomnia, coughs and colds or fatigue, there are herbs which can treat you without side effects. But some herbs can prove fatal and they're not always sold as such, so discover which herbs are safe to use as herbal teas but not as salad leaves in this must-buy guide to creating the perfect herb garden for your needs. Each herb is listed with growing instructions and its culinary and medicinal uses, plus the colour of its flowers and any must-know information from health warnings to nature-friendly herbs which attract butterflies and bees to help pollinate your garden.The photographer is Sarah Cuttle. 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. Women in the Second World War explores the experiences of women who served in the armed forces, or complimentary services. Using interviews, anecdotes, memoirs and/or accounts from the women (or, where appropriate, their children), the book tells the women's personal accounts of what their lives were like and what particular experiences they had while serving.They were all ordinary British women, and tell here in their own words their experiences on active service.Their accounts cover the whole spectrum, from famous battles, such as Monte Cassino, to being shipwrecked by a tornado, to simple acts of kindness, which in themselves seem nothing, but at the same time meant something very specialto those young women, and were fondly remembered, even sixty years afterwards. The huge variety of services and experiences featured in the book reflect how widely spread the women's contribution to the war effort was, from tilling the soil below, to servicing the engines of aircraft about to take off to the sky above, and everything in between. 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. At the beginning of the Second World War, MiG was founded by two aircraft engineers, Artyom Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. Thus began a unique history. For decades, MiG aircraft have been among the most well-known and powerful military aircraft in the world and broke a number of records, both through their flight performance and with their large production numbers. Starting with the MiG-1 from 1939 to the MiG-35 of the year 2011, the world famous aircraft manufacturer and its products are presented in this Fact File edition. Numerous pioneering prototypes are described. 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. Do you remember those wonderful days in the school lab? Not those days when you hadto do those dreadful tests, or when your science teacher demonstrated yet another experiment that failed abysmally and the chemicals turned the wrong colour. Rather, those days when you learned about some amazing principle and felt stimulated to go home and try it out yourself. And when you did, do you recall that Eureka moment?This book takes you on a voyage of scientific re-discovery. From the kitchen laboratory to the bathroom test site you will be able to do experiments galore, investigate the mystery of the pyramid, find things out about your body and make things fizz. If you want to reexperience those Eureka moments, then this book is for youDid you know? That Tycho Brahe, the great Renaissance scientist had an artificial silver nose and was assisted in his experiments by his court jester That you can make a battery from a stack of coins, blotting paper, silver foil and some salt and vinegar That an ancient Greek inventor, Hero of Alexandria invented a steam machine 1,700 years before James Watt built his steam engine That you can make a crystal set radio from a toilet tube, copper wire, a pencil, a safety pin, a few drawing pins and paper clips, and an old razor bladeWell, you can find out hereKEITH SOUTER is a part time doctor, medical writer and novelist. He has always had a passion for science and been an avid home experimenter. This all started in his early school days when he learned that his chemistry teacher had no intention of showing him how to make stink bombs.He is now happily married with three grown-up children, all of whom somehow survived his impromptu experiments. Apart from his passion for science and medicine he is interested in history, sport and fiction. In his spare time he writes novels under his own name and a couple of pseudonyms. He is a member of the Crime Writers Association, the Society of Authors and International Thriller Writers.He looks back with fondness at all those early forays into the laboratory and secretlyadmits to being a frustrated science teacher - hence this book SCHOOLBOY SCIENCEREMEMBERED. 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 Second World War is vanishing into the pages of history. The veterans were once all around us, but their numbers are fast diminishing. While still in their prime many recorded their memories with Peter Hart for the Imperial War Museum. As these old soldiers now fade away their voices from the front are still strong with a rare power to bring the horrors of war back to vivid life. The 2nd Norfolk Regiment were a proud old regular battalion honed in the pre-war traditions of spit and polish at their Britannia Barracks in Norwich. Sent to France they sold their lives to gain time for the retreat to Dunkirk when surrounded by an SS Division at Le Paradis in May 1940. Over 100 of the survivors would be brutally massacred. Back in England they reformed from ordinary drafts of men called up from all over the country. A new battalion was born. Sent to India they met the Japanese head on in the bloody fight for Kohima against the Imperial Japanese Army. As the fighting raged in the jungle the Norfolks were once again right at the very sharp end of modern war. This is their story. 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 aristocracy is full of scandal and intrigue. Lusty lords and naughty nobles have taken our history by storm. In this book you will see why our nobles are not such a noble lot after all. Many have been involved in scandals linked to kidnap, murder, rape, poisoning, cruelty, seduction, avarice, violence, torture and more! Some were happy to hob-nob with Hitler, one spent a fortune on 2,000 male prostitutes, another dressed all his male servants in yellow from head to toe and one changed sex before claiming her (his) aristocratic title. There are tales of blowing hundreds of millions of pounds, bankruptcy, jail terms, drug-taking, casual sex, gambling, making naughty movies and robbery! 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. Passcendaele is a subject which has been repeatedly covered in the form of military analyses and personal accounts. However surprising little has been written about the tens of thousands of men who died in the battle. How was it possible that so many men were killed? How were they buried and how have they been remembered up to the present day at Tyne Cot Cemetery? These two fundamental research questions have resulted in a two part book, which is based on two innovative projects in the area of biographical research: The Passchendaele Archives and the Tyne Cot Cemetery Inventarisian Project.The Passchendaele book represents a unique memorial concept which sets out to restore faces to the names of those killed at Passchendaele. 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. 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 - among them the Indian Mutiny and the wars in Afghanistan and South Africa - 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. 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. At the end of May 1916, a chance encounter with Admiral Hipper's battlecruisers has enabled Beatty to lead the German Battle Fleet into the jaws of Jellicoe's greatly superior force, but darkness had allowed Admiral Scheer to extricate his ships from a potentially disastrous situation. Though inconclusive, at the Battle of Jutland the German Fleet suffered so much damage that it made no further attempt to challenge the Grand Fleet, and the British blockade remained unbroken. Captain Bennett has used sources previously unavailable to historians in his reconstruction of this controversial battle, including the papers of Vice-Admiral Harper explaining why his official record of the battle was not published until 1927, and the secret "Naval Staff Appreciation" of 1922 whose criticism were so scathing that it was never issued to the Fleet. Also included are numerous battle plans, photographs and an introduction by Bennett's son. 2006 is the 90th anniversary of the battle. 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. This book about reclamation shows whats available and why salvage is a good option for people doing up their homes or wanting to have a stylish talking point whether it s stained glass windows, a vintage garden bench, Victorian roll-top bath or an Edwardian door or tiled fire surround. It also appeals to the fast-growing green market with its recycling element, plus reclaimed goods can be great value if you know what you re doing. This is an increasingly popular aspect of the antiques world which includes garden ornaments, as well as interior and exterior housing material. Written by interior design expert and TV favourite, Barty Phillips, the author of How to Decorate Your Home without Going Broke, Daily Mail Book of Household Hints and Tips and Teach Yourself Thrifty Living, this book offers a practical guide on identifying the age of salvaged goods and how to source it and use it in your home or business. This handy book also contains a directory of specialist salvage outlets and events. 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. Dozens of British and Commonwealth officers of the rank of colonel and above were captured by the Japanese at the fall of Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Burma. These senior officers, many of whom were decorated war heroes, were separated from the men and formations, and shipped around the Japanese Empire in one group, kept alive so that the Japanese could ritually humiliate them at every opportunity. In direct contrast to how the Germans treated captured Allied senior officers, the Japanese inflicted the same appalling regime of starvation, beatings and hard labour on these senior prisoners, and several died through such abuse. Prominent personages treated in this way included General Percival, (GOC Malaya) and a host of major-generals, brigadiers, colonels and senior colonial officials. The detailed post-war testimonies given by these prominent prisoners greatly aided the Tokyo War Crimes tribunal in exposing the nature of Japanese treatment of Allied POWs. It was an extraordinary story of middle-aged military professionals living a day-to-day existence at the behest of cruel and capricious gaolers. All previous POW books on the Far East have concentrated upon the well-known sufferings of the thousands of more junior officers and other ranks taken prisoner, and largely ignoring the fates of the men whose command decisions actually led to captivity. 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. Pals on the Somme covers the history of all the Pals Battalions who fought on the Somme during the First World War. The book looks at the events which led to the war and how the 'Pals' phenomenon was born. It considers the attitude and social conditions in Britain at the time. It covers the training and equipping of the Battalions, the preparations for the 'Big Push', 1st July 1916, and going over the top, and how each battalion fared, failed or succeeded. It looks at how they Battalions had to undergo a change after the 1st July, due to the heavy casualties, and the final victory in 1918, and how the battalions were eventually amalgamated. The final chapter examines how each area coped in the aftermath of losing their men in the three year slaughter. It covers the organisations and visits to the Battlefields as they are today. 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. No other technical development since the introduction of gunpowder has had as great an influence on warfare as the aircraft. From its early beginnings as simply a means of aerial reconnaissance to its utter supremacy on the battlefield, the aircraft has evolved into the most versatile and precise killing machine known to man. In this wide-ranging and comprehensive study, David Sloggett, an internationally-respected defence analyst, investigates the changing role and increasing significance of air power over the course of the previous 100 years. This is accomplished by detailing every major conflict during that period including not only the two world wars and the recent conflicts in the Middle East but also the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Falklands War and Russian use of air power in Afghanistan. Air power's role in Malaya, Oman, Kenya and in Northern Ireland is also explained. A Century of Air Power is the most important study of the use of military aircraft ever undertaken and as such provides valuable lessons for the future - not only for the commanders who have to apply these all-powerful weapons but also for the politicians who have to determine its use. 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. Despatches in this volume include that on the Battle of Britain, and air fighting 1940-1941, by Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh C.T. Dowding, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Fighter Command, Air Operations by Fighter Command between November 1940 and the end of December 1941, the anti-aircraft defence of the United Kingdom between 1939 and 1945, and the report on air operations by Air Defence of Great Britain and Fighter Command in connection with the German flying bomb and rocket offensives, 1944-1945. This unique collection of original documents will prove to be an invaluable resource for historians, students and all those interested in what was one of the most significant periods in British military history. 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 Great War will never be forgotten but that does not mean that it is understood. Then as now it was the massive set-piece battles (Somme and Passchendaele) that are best remembered. But to understand the whole conflict with its diverse and complex elements the political background, allegiances and alliances of the combatants and the military thinking of the time must be grasped.Philip Warner provides in this fine book the overview necessary to follow the ambitions and reactions of those involved so enabling the reader to appreciate the strategies and tactics on the ground. He lists the main figures who shaped events and comments on their strengths and failings as well as their significance. Helpfully he describes the end game, the literature spawned by war and asks 'was it avoidable'?For a full understanding of both the course of the most appallingly costly war in the history of mankind and its causes and effects this book is unlikely to be bettered. 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 Second World War was a defining experience in British history. It shaped us, made us what we are, and we are still fascinated by it. And one of the most extraordinary aspects of this unique war was the effect it had on crime - and this is the focus of M.J. Trow's compelling survey. He does not write solely about servicemen who committed crime - although there were many of them - and he does not celebrate heroes. On the contrary, his account highlights the unheroic, the weak and the corrupt. And it draws attention to something perhaps uniquely British - the will of the people to cope, be it housewives with rationing, the police with the black market or magistrates all too aware that 'careless talk costs lives'. The war may have been Britain's finest hour, but during it there were many dark moments which M.J. Trow explores in his intriguing study. 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 edited diary is Colonel Bill Spackman's extraordinary personal record of his experiences as the Medical Officer of an Indian Infantry battalion during the Mesopotamian Campaign 1914 - 1916. In particular he describes the harrowing events of the five month siege of Kut and, after the surrender of the 10,000 strong garrison in April 1916, the hardships of the 1,000 mile forced march to Anatolia in Turkey. As a doctor he witnessed at first hand suffering the and deaths of many POWs, both British and Indian.The book goes on the record life in Turkish captivity which was relatively relaxed and fortunately, in sharp contrast to their earlier experiences.Written with humorous understatement and infinite good sense Captured at Kut : Prisoner of the Turks is a gripping read and will appeal strongly not just to Great War enthusiasts but all who enjoy reading of the triumph of men over extreme adversity. 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. Originally conceived as a carrier-born maritime attack aircraft, the Blackburn design included many original features such as Boundary Layer Control, a system which blew hot air over the flying surfaces to increase lift when landing. The rotating bomb bay was also new and enabled easier maintenance, accessibility and reduced drag. The first model, the S Mk 1, entered operational service with the Fleet Air Arm in 1961. S Mk 2 became operational in 1964, powered by Rolls-Royce Spey engines that gave considerably more thrust. The aircraft were armed with rocket pods, up to 1,000 lb free-fall bombs, Martel air-to-ship missiles or the nuclear Red Beard system. During the financial upheavals of the mid 1960s, the government decided to retire the RN carrier fleet, thus eliminating a fixed-wing aircraft requirement. Simultaneously, the TSR2 development programme was abandoned and left the RAF without a new attack aircraft. Enter the S Mk2B, a land-based Buccaneer, with increased range and payload, which joined the RAF in 1969, and by the early 1970s the ex-Fleet Air Arm aircraft were also carrying RAF markings. 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. With the call to action stations in August 1914, the Royal Navy faced its greatest test since the time of Nelson. This classic history of the Great War at sea combines graphic and stirring accounts of all the principal naval engagements -- battles overseas, in home waters and, for the first time, under the sea--with analysis of the strategy and tactics of both sides. Geoffrey Bennett brings these sea battles dramatically to life, and confirms the Allied navies' vital contribution to victory. 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 Tony McCrum's naval career started in 1932. He survived the sinking of HMS Skipjack at Dunkirk and went on to serve on minesweepers and at sea during the landings at Salerno. His wartime experiences were recently published as Sunk by Stukas.This book covers the second part of his naval career between 1945 and 1963. Having arrived back in Plymouth from Trincomlee as a lieutenant aboard the destroyer Tarter in November 1945, his first appointment was as senior instructor at the RN Signals School in Devonport. There then followed two appointments as Flag Lieutenant; first to Admiral Pridham-Wippell, CinC Plymouth Command and then Admiral Sir Rhoderick McGrigor, CinC Home Fleet, where he was also Deputy Fleet Communications Officer. He was based on the admiral's flagship, the battleship HMS Duke of York which he joined in 1947. The fleet exercised in the Atlantic and Mediterranean and 'showed the flag' in various ports in the USA, Caribbean Islands and the Baltic. In May 1948 he was promoted Lt. Commander. In 1950 he instructed at the main Naval Signals School at Leyedene House near Petersfield.Promoted Commander, now 32 years of age, he was surprised to be appointed to accompany King George VI on a state visit to Australia and New Zealand. This was to be aboard the liner SS Gothic as there was no Royal Yacht at that time. However after months of preparation the voyage was cancelled because of the King's terminal illness and the coronation of Britain's new Queen.In November 1954 he took his first command, HMS Concord, a destroyer in the 8th Destroyer Squadron based in Hong Kong. During his eighteen month captaincy of this ship he saw action off the coast of Malaya and a lengthy visit to Australia to assist in the aftermath of a hurricane. After a spell ashore as Training Commander at HMS Ganges and after promotion to Captain in 1958, he was sent to Norway on the staff of the CinC Northern European Command. In November 1960 he was again given a seagoing command. He was to skipper HMS Meon and responsibility for the Amphibious Warfare Squadron in the Persian Gulf. The squadron composed of Meon, two tank-landing ships, four tank-landing craft and a Rhino (a pontoon-like vessel for the shallow-water landing of tanks). He was ordered to cover an area extending from the East African coast, the Red Sea and to the Persian Gulf. Having worked-up this mixed bunch of vessels and their crews, plus army personnel he was confronted with the defence of Kuwait when it was threatened by the Iraqi dictator General Kassem in 1961. He was charged with landing the twelve tanks in his squadron to defend Kuwait's main port of Shuwaikh. This was successfully carried out under difficult circumstances and the Iraqi invasion was defeated. After 42 years in the RN, Tony retired to be with his wife and young family. 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 fascinating new book is devoted to an almost unknown period in the history of Sheffield. It sets the city's people and events against a background of key national developments by looking also at the way government regulations were tightened, how the country's morale was maintained, and how industry was encouraged to deliver more output. Sheffield in the Great War is written for the general reader, and a large number of the city's residents, companies and streets are mentioned by name. Many aspects of life and work are described and illustrated with more than one hundred original photographs. Numerous advertisements and excerpts are presented from the city's wartime newspapers, and highlighted Display Boxes in every chapter summarize particularly interesting or quirky themes. For more specialist readers, Notes at the end of the book provide additional detail and links to other publications and websites; general readers can of course ignore those. Two substantial Indexes make it easy to find personally-relevant people, topics and places.The book thus offers to the general reader an easy-to-read narrative with many pictures, and it provides a valuable source of information and reference to those who would like to learn more. Sheffield in the Great War starts with a brief account of the conflict itself, looking at its enormous cost not only in terms of money but also in thousands and thousands of men and horses killed or disabled. Next it presents short reviews of Britain and the city in 1914 to introduce national features which became important in wartime Sheffield. The following chapters describe Sheffield life in the four and a half years of war, with special attention to recruiting and the creation of more than twenty new military hospitals. Huge numbers of people devoted themselves to voluntary work, and the book includes much information that has been lost for the past hundred years. 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 this compelling study of leadership, Correlli Barnett examines the strengths and weaknesses of twenty leaders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He examines how the difficulties they faced and the political and strategic backgrounds of their days and analyses how they performed and what they achieved. Were they successful, or were they beaten down by the burden of their roles? His book considers men from very different backgrounds and from three continents in a range of modern conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to the Second World War. They range from statesmen like Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, to generals like Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas Haig, Erwin Rommel, Georgi Zhukov, Dwight Eisenhower and William Slim, to admirals lie Isoruku Yamamoto and Bertram Ramsey. These leaders present fascinating contrasts of personal character, styles of leadership and sheer aptitude for command as well as contrasts in the daunting professional problems that challenged each of them. In Lords of War Correlli Barnett yet again demolishes hallowed reputations and rehabilitates the unjustly scapegoated. His latest book confirms his reputation as a master in the field of strategic history. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.