British Military

During the summer of 1940, Hitler's Germany appeared unstoppable. The Nazis were masters of mainland Europe, in alliance with Stalin's Russia, and only the English Channel prevented an immediate invasion. Britain stood alone. Operation Sealion examines just how realistic the German threat of invasion was. The author studies the plans, the available capability and resources, and the Germans' record in Norway and, later, Crete. The author weighs these against the state of Britain's defenses and the relative strengths of the land, air, and naval forces.

As the horror of Nazism tightened its grip on Germany, Jews found themselves trapped and desperate. For many, their only hope of salvation came in the form of a small, bespectacled British man: Frank Foley. Working as a Berlin Passport Control Officer, Foley helped thousands of Jews to flee the country with visas and false passports, personally entering the camps to get Jews out, and sheltering those on the run from the Gestapo in his own apartment. Described by a Jewish leader as "the Pimpernel of the Jews," Foley was an unsung hero of the Holocaust.

Arthur Charles gives a personal account of his time as a POW on Java, including the use of secret radios and how he survived a firing squad. He depicts amazing resilience, resourcefulness, and even moments of humour amid the horror of captivity, where he suffered terrible mistreatment and deliberate efforts to humiliate. He managed to learn skills from other POWs such as contract bridge, chess, shorthand, and even English law.

Semi-finalist, Publisher's Weekly Booklife Prize Can a conspiracy be uncovered before the Death Count rises? Forensic accountant Kat Munro fights corporate fraud during the day and kickboxes her demons at night while trying to ignore the nightmares that have plagued her since a car accident changed her life forever. DS Adam Jackson is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of a friend two years ago. When the partner of a successful London Investment fund dies in suspicious circumstances, Kat joins forces with Adam to investigate the firm. As they gather evidence of a crime with ...

Nine thousand men of the First British Airborne Division were parachuted into the peaceful countryside that surrounded Arnhem. Their objective was to capture and hold the bridge over the Rhine ahead of the advancing British Second Army. Nine days later, after some of the fiercest street-fighting of the war, 2,000 paratroopers managed to escape to safety.

On 11 September 2001 19 al-Qaeda-inspired jihadists hijacked four aircraft and mounted the deadliest terrorist attack in history. The outrage triggered a chain of events that saw British forces drawn into a lengthy military campaign against a fierce insurgency in Afghanistan. Sergio Miller served in Defence Intelligence in Whitehall throughout the campaign, and Pride and Fall answers the many questions surrounding the conflict. Based on abundant open-source material generated by the war and first-hand testimonies, this is the story of the men and women who served.

What can a boy get up to? The London suburbs, 1980. Chris was no stranger to a sense of purpose; to right and wrong. His days followed a course formed by school, music, sport, and his rambunctious peers, but he itched for more than just a comfortable life. He dived headfirst into mischief and mayhem; finding athleticism, girls, and chance romance. Sandy beaches and craggy mountains beckoned, and a cheeky travel trip around Europe by train; and he endured trials on the way to becoming an elite parachutist. Could he seek meaning and learn resilience, despite the setbacks and turmoil of ...

The Chamberlain Mandate... By the spring of 1941 Britain’s strategic situation was considerably improved, in no small part due to what sympathetic historians would call the ‘Chamberlain Mandate’. The Italians were heading for defeat in Africa, with their German allies distracted by their own preparations for Operation Barbarossa. The focus on Hitler’s dreams for a grand crusade in the east to sweep away Bolshevism and secure new lands for the Reich removed the threat of invasion from the British mainland for now, but threatened to magnify the power of Nazi Germany if the USSR proved...

Meet John Caul, the government's go-to operative when situations demand swift, decisive action, often delivered through the barrel of a gun. Armed with a special license that allows him to break any law to safeguard the United Kingdom, Caul is the man for missions where others would falter. But his latest mission is unlike any other, with stakes higher than ever before. "Rakehell" introduces a dark and complex world of thrilling action, where villains' schemes can succeed, altering the global landscape in ways no one could have predicted. As the world teeters on the brink of catastrophe, ...

Over the course of its history, England has engaged in an uncountable number of battles, but none of her military heroes has had a greater military legacy than Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté. Whether traveling to Trafalgar Square or one of the hundreds of pubs named after him, seemingly it becomes easy to believe that no Briton has cast as long a shadow.

For over three and a half years, from 1779 to 1783, the tiny territory of Gibraltar was besieged and blockaded, on land and at sea, by the overwhelming forces of Spain and France. It became the longest siege in British history, and the obsession with saving Gibraltar was blamed for the loss of the American colonies in the War of Independence. Located between the Mediterranean and Atlantic, on the very edge of Europe, Gibraltar was a place of varied nationalities, languages, religions and social classes.

Published for the eightieth anniversary of the end of World War Two, this poignant book examines the inspirations and individuals behind our statue-studded country to rediscover war-torn Britain in 100 monuments. Acclaimed historian Tessa Dunlop travels the length and breadth of the British Isles on a quest to uncover a story of national warring and national mourning, of fighting each other and of fighting together. Lest We Forget casts new light on the map of Britain through hidden treasures and uncomfortable truths, and asks what our war heroes and monuments say about us.

From the author of Wartime and The Thirties comes an outstanding history of the most prolonged and devastating attack ever endured by Britain's civilian population – the Blitz. September 1940 marked the beginning of Nazi Germany's sustained attack on civilian Britain. Lasting eight months, the Blitz was a new and terrible form of warfare that had been predicted throughout the 1930s, widely feared since Neville Chamberlain's declaration that Britain was at war.

Continuing his exploration of the alternative paths that British history might so easily have taken, Timothy Venning turns his attention to the Hundred Years War between England and France. Could the English have won in the long term, or, conversely, have been decisively defeated sooner?

On 16 July 1940, Hitler issued Directive No. 16, setting in motion Operation Sea Lion: his plan to invade England. The success of Operation Sea Lion hinged entirely on the destruction of the RAF and the Royal Navy, but even as Hitler's plans swung into action and England, barely recovered from Dunkirk, rallied her defences, the Battle of Britain began and in just a few months Germany had lost all hope of dominating England's skies and with it, the key to the invasion. On 17 September, 1940, Hitler postponed Operation Sea Lion indefinitely and the entire episode faded from memory.

Matt 'Mace' Mason is deployed on a deniable SAS mission in war-torn Yemen, becoming embroiled in a hostage rescue that goes terribly wrong. Pulling at the strings of the local political scene is not only the local warlord who is destined to become Mace's nemesis, General Ruak Shahlai, but hardbitten American arms dealer Erica Atkins, who controls a whole international network to her advantage. As well as his own team, Mace has to work, initially unwillingly, with female CIA Agent (and Islamic scholar) Redford.

Oliver Cromwell's death in 1658 sparked a period of unrivaled turmoil and confusion in English history. In less than two years, there were close to ten changes of government; rival armies of Englishmen faced each other across the Scottish border; and the Long Parliament was finally dissolved after two decades. Why was this period so turbulent, and why did the republic, backed by a formidable standing army, come crashing down in such spectacular fashion?

In A Genius for Deception, Nicholas Rankin offers a lively and comprehensive history of how Britain bluffed, tricked, and spied its way to victory in two world wars. As Rankin shows, a coherent program of strategic deception emerged in World War I, resting on the pillars of camouflage, propaganda, secret intelligence, and special forces. All forms of deception found an avid sponsor in Winston Churchill, who carried his enthusiasm for deceiving the enemy into World War II.

The Armies of the Revolutionary War reveals to readers the complexity of the organization of the military forces of the rebelling American colonies as well as the British Army and Navy. The book also discloses the intricate intelligence gathering network both armies devised to spy on each other to gain an advantage in the titanic struggle for America's independence.

Perhaps no other single day in United States history was as threatening to the survival of the nation as August 24, 1814, when British forces captured Washington, DC. This unique moment might have significantly altered the nation's path forward, but the event and the reasons why it happened are little remembered by most Americans.