Reverend David Railton MC served as a chaplain on the Western Front during World War I. Attached to three divisions between 1916 and 1918, Railton supported the soldiers in their worst moments, he buried the fallen, comforted the wounded, wrote to the families of the missing and killed, and helped the survivors to remember and mark the loss of their comrades so that they were able to carry on. He was with his men at many battles, including High Wood, the Aisne and Passchendaele; he received the Military Cross for rescuing an officer and two men under heavy fire on the Somme. It was Railton’s idea to bring home the body of an unidentified fallen comrade from the battlefields to be buried in Westminster Abbey, and on Armistice Day 1920, his flag covered the coffin as the Unknown Warrior was laid to rest with full honours. Although suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he returned to work as a parish priest in Margate, where he took particular interest in supporting ex-servicemen who had returned home to the aftermath of a terrible war and crippling unemployment. While the story of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior has been told before, this is the first book to explore David Railton’s life and war, and of ‘the padre’s flag’ he used as an altar cloth and shroud throughout the war. The flag was consecrated a year after the burial of the Unknown Warrior and hangs in Westminster Abbey to this day. This book explains how the idea came out of Railton's traumatic experiences on the Western front, and how he made his idea become reality, drawing on his letters and unpublished papers.

“Ironclads are said to master the world, but torpedoes master the ironclads.” Gabriel J. Rains was a Confederate Brigadier General who was more than a military officer—he was a scientist. His Civil War appointment gave him an opportunity to develop explosives. He invented three mines: the “subterra shell” (land mine), the keg torpedo, and the submarine mortar battery (both naval mines). After the Battle of Seven Pines in 1862, he served the Confederacy in two ways, Superintendent of Conscription and Commander of the Torpedo Bureau. He and his men mined the roads around Jackson and the harbors of Mobile, Savannah, and Charleston. His naval mines sank many ships and were more effective than heavy guns.In 1864, at the request of President Jefferson Davis, he mined the principal roads leading into Richmond as well as the lines around Fort Harrison. When it came time to evacuate the city, Rains and his family joined the president and cabinet as they traveled by train to Greensboro.After the war, he earned a patent, prepared a notebook for West Point, and wrote an article on mine warfare. Rains had a significant military career as he introduced a new form of weaponry. To some, he is regarded as the “father of modern mine warfare.”Gabriel Rains and the Confederate Torpedo Bureau by W. Davis Waters and Joseph I. Brown tells his remarkable story.

Après le succès du volume 1 sur la percée du bocage dans le secteur du XXX Corps britannique du 30 juillet au 15 août 1944, ce second volume présente, pour la première fois de manière aussi détaillée, les opérations du VIII Corps britannique, sur la même période, qui permettra aux Anglais de percer le front allemand dans le bocage. Le 28 juillet, Monty ordonne le transfert rapide des divisions du VIII Corps et du XXX Corps dans le secteur de Caumont pour lancer une attaque simultanée des deux corps. L’opération est baptisée « Bluecoat ». Caumont l’Eventé, Sept Vents, Saint Martin des Besaces, le Bény Bocage, Saint Charles de Percy, Le Tourneur, Montchamps, Chênedollé, Estry, Vire, Vassy autant de noms qui symbolisent l’âpreté des combats livrés par les unités du VIII Corps britannique pour percer le bocage au cours des quinze premiers jours du mois d’août 1944. Les pertes britanniques durant cette période sont très élevées face aux Tigres et Jagdpanther des unités d’élite allemandes bénéficiant de l’avantage du terrain. La zone d’opération est beaucoup plus vallonnée et boisée que la tête de pont. Les principaux objectifs sont une série de collines entre Le Bény Bocage et Aunay-sur-Odon en direction de Vire puis de la route Vire-Vassy. En s’appuyant sur de nombreuses photos, cartes et témoignages pour l’essentiel inédits ainsi que sur les journaux de marche des unités, l’auteur, responsable du Musée de la bataille de Tilly sur Seulles, présente heure après heure, ces combats dans le bocage. English blurb:Following the success of Volume one covering the breakout from the bocage by the British XXX Corps between July 30th and August 15th 1944, this second volume covers for the first time in similar detail, the operations of British VIII Corps during the same period which resulted in the British breakthrough of the German lines. On July 28th Monty ordered the rapid transfer of both VIII and XXX Corps to the Caumont sector to launch a joint attack in the operation codenamed ‘Bluecoat’. Caumont l’Evente, Sept Vents, Saint Martin des Besaces, le Bény Bocage, Saint Charles de Percy, Le Tourneur, Montchamps, Chênedollé, Estry, Vire, Vassy… are names which symbolise the ferocious fighting unleashed by the units of VIII Corps to pierce the bocage during the first fifteen days of August 1944. The British losses were very high against the elite tank units of the German Tiger and Jagdpanther who benefited from the terrain, the area of operations being much more undulating and overgrown than that of the bridgehead. The main objectives were a range of hills situated between Le Bény Bocage and Aunay-sur-Odon in the direction of Vire then on to the Vire-Vassy road. Using numerous and mostly previously unpublished photos, maps and unedited accounts taken from unit journals, the author, the curator of the Musée de la bataille de Tilly sur Seulles, gives a blow-by-blow account of the fighting in the bocage.

Quatre ans avant le débarquement allié en Normandie, le littoral français a été le théâtre d’un autre épisode majeur de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Il s’agit de l’Opération Dynamo, nettement moins connue que le Jour J. Et pourtant, il suffit de rappeler quelques chiffres pour mesurer l’importance de cette page de l’histoire de la Campagne de France : entre le 27 mai et le 4 juin, près de 350 000 soldats britanniques et français ont été évacués de la poche de Dunkerque par une flotte hétéroclite de 850 bateaux. Près de 80 ans après, Jean-Charles Stasi, auteur de plusieurs livres à succès aux éditions Heimdal, revient sur ce fait majeur du dernier conflit mondial, de la genèse à ses conséquences, dans un ouvrage au style alerte, illustré de nombreuses photos en noir et blanc et en couleurs, mais aussi de cartes, d’infographies, de profils d’avions et de bateaux.

George VI's biographer, Sir John Wheeler Bennett wrote “The actual turning of the tide in the 2nd World War may be accurately determined as the first week of July 1942.” This book argues that it is possible to be even more exact: the tide turned at about 21.00 hrs on 2 July 1942, when Rommel’s tanks withdrew for the first time since the fall of Tobruk on 20 June, or arguably since 14 January 1942 at El Agheila. At dusk on Wednesday 1 July 1942, Rommel broke through the centre of the British defences at Alamein. His tanks had overwhelmed the gallant defence of the 18th Indian Infantry Brigade in the Deir el Shein at the foot of the Ruweisat Ridge. At that moment, and for the next twelve hours, there was no further organised defence between the spearhead of the Afrika Korps and Alexandria. Throughout the next day, only a handful of men and guns stood between Rommel and his prize. In Cairo, black clouds of smoke from burning files showed that many people believed Rommel would not stop short of the Suez Canal, his stated objective. But, on Friday 3 July at 22.56 hrs, only 48 hours later, Rommel called off his attack and ordered his troops to dig in where they stood. The Delta was saved. Just a few weeks earlier, the 18th Indian Infantry Brigade, which took the brunt of the initial attack on 1 July, and the guns of the small column known as Robcol that stopped Rommel on 2 and 3 of July, had been in northern Iraq. General Auchinleck's desperate measure, pulling them 1,500 miles from Iraq into the Western desert, just succeeded but it greatly increased the price of failure. If Robcol had failed, it is doubtful that Rommel would have stopped at the canal; it does not require much imagination to see his forces threatening to link up with Barbarossa in the Ukraine. This vivid account of the battle of Ruweisat Ridge, the beginning of the battle of Alamein, was written by an officer who was part of Robcol on the fateful day.

In the early summer of 1941 German mountain soldiers under the command of General Eduard Dietl set out in northern Norway up through Finland to the Russian border. Operation Silberfuchs was underway. The northernmost section of the Eastern Front would ensure Hitler supplies of nickel from Finnish mines, and bring the strategically important port city of Murmansk under German control. The roadless rocky terrain and extremes of weather created major challenges for the German troop movements. Despite this Dietl's men made quick gains on his Russian foe, and they came closer to Murmansk. Despite repeated warnings of a German attack, Stalin had failed to mobilize, and the British hesitated to come to the rescue of the Red Army. But while the weather conditions steadily worsened, the Russians' resistance increased. Three bloody efforts to force the river Litza were repulsed and the offensive would develop into a nightmare for the inadequately equipped German soldiers. In an exciting and authoritative narrative based on previously unpublished material, Alf Reidar Jacobsen describes the heavy fighting that would lead to Hitler's first defeat on the Eastern Front. With firsthand accounts of the fighting on the front line, this is a dramatic new account of a forgotten but bloody episode of World War II.

While the 6th Airborne Division had landed in France on D-Day and covered itself in glory, its counterpart, the 1st Airborne Division, had last seen action during an amphibious assault at Taranto on September 9, 1943, as part of the invasion of Italy. Returned to the UK in December 1943, it was held in reserve during the battle of Normandy and spent three months waiting for action, as plan after plan was proposed and then discarded, such was the speed of the Allied pursuit of the Germans.In September 1944, however, 1st Airborne played a leading role in Operation Market—the air component of Operation Market Garden, an audacious attempt by the Allies to bypass the Siegfried Line and advance into the Ruhr. It was to be 1st Airborne’s last action of the war. Encountering more resistance than expected, including II SS Panzer Corps, the division landed too far from Arnhem bridge, and fought bravely but in vain. Held up en route, particularly at Nijmegen, XXX Corps’ advance to Arnhem stuttered and ran late.After nine days of fighting, 1st Airborne had lost 8,000 men around Arnhem when the survivors retreated across the Lower Rhine to safety. During those nine days, however, they had created a legend: first as the small unit under Lt-Col John Frost held the “bridge too far” and then as the Oosterbeek perimeter came under sustained attack waiting for XXX Corps to arrive.The Past & Present Series reconstructs historical battles by using photography, juxtaposing modern views with those of the past together with concise explanatory text. It shows how much infrastructure has remained and how much such as outfits, uniforms, and ephemera has changed, providing a coherent link between now and then.

This new photo album, one of first in the MMPBooks/Stratus "Camera On" series, contains 200+ photos of the Battle for Dunkirk - from the German perspective. The photos, mostly unpublished before now, are from German sources, including private photos taken by German soldiers. They cover the retreat to Dunkirk, the battles for the town and beaches, and the aftermath of the evacuation. Vehicles, equipment, ships and aircraft are all covered. A compelling new perspective on this classic battle, this book is an invaluable reference for military historians and modellers alike.

The odds were against the Allies on June 6, 1944. The task ahead of the paratroopers who jumped over Normandy and the soldiers who waded ashore onto the beaches, all under fire, was colossal. In such circumstances good leadership can be the defining factor in victory or defeat. This book is about the extraordinary leadership of seven men who led American soldiers on D-Day and the days that followed. Some of them, like Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt Jr, and Lieutenant Dick Winters, are well known while others are barely a footnote in the history books. All of them made a dramatic difference during Operation Overlord. All understood that they had a mission to accomplish and that if they failed to lead that mission would fail and more men would die. When things did not go as planned, they took action, adapted and overcame – they were leaders. Leadership was the only ingredient that would get them through the storm of death surrounding them and their men. This book is not a full history of D-Day, nor does it cover the heroic leadership shown by men in the armies of the Allies or members of the French Resistance who also participated in the Normandy assault and battles for the lodgment areas. It is, however, a primer on how you can lead today, no matter what your occupation or role in life, by learning from the leadership of these seven.A critical task for every leader is to understand what leadership is. Socrates once said that you cannot understand something unless you can first define it in your own words. This book provides the reader with a means to define leadership by telling seven dramatic, immersive and memorable stories that the reader will never forget.

On August 15, 1942, the 82nd Airborne became the US Army’s first airborne division. Commanded by Major General Matthew B. Ridgway, they trained exhaustively for their new role, which involved parachuting from C-47s and insertion by Waco CG-4A gliders. In April 1943 the 82nd was shipped overseas to Casablanca, North Africa, and on July 9 made its first combat drop as part of Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. A second operation—night parachute drops onto the Salerno beachhead on September 13 and 14—provided more experience, and in December the bulk of the division left for the United Kingdom and training for D-Day.Reorganized with two new parachute infantry regiments, the 507th and the 508th, joining the 505th, the division dropped onto the Cotentin peninsula between Ste-Mère-Église and Carentan on the night of June 5–6, in a mission codenamed Boston. Their glider-borne component, the 325th GIR, arrived the next day. Widely dispersed on landing, the division overcame its problems and strong German defenses to take the important town of Ste-Mère-Église. Further intense action along the Merderet River ensured that the Utah beachhead wasn’t compromised, and subsequently the division fought on losing 5,245 troopers killed, wounded, or missing. When withdrawn after 33 days of action, the division could be satisfied it had performed heroically and helped establish the Allied forces’ foothold in France.The Past & Present Series reconstructs historical battles by using photography, juxtaposing modern views with those of the past together with concise explanatory text. It shows how much infrastructure has remained and how much such as outfits, uniforms, and ephemera has changed, providing a coherent link between now and then.

The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler was the spearhead of the assault by Sepp Dietrich’s Sixth Panzer Armee on the northern flank of the German Ardennes offensive. Divided into Kampfgruppen, the lead was Kampfgruppe Peiper whose armored force included SS Heavy Tank Battalion 501 equipped with King Tigers.The attack was launched on a snowy, freezing December 16, but from the outset, the division lost time against schedule. It captured a fuel dump at Büllingen, but brave defense forced Peiper onto the southern Rollbahn D whose tight, winding roads proved difficult to negotiate and soon the Kampfgruppe was strung out over 25 kilometres with its heavy armor—the King Tigers—slowly losing ground as vehicle after vehicle succumbed to automotive failures. Pushing through Stavelot and Trois Pont, the advanced units of the Kampfgruppe reached Stoumont before lack of fuel—the Americans had retaken Stavelot and closed off the route for German resupply—and US Army action forced it to halt at La Gleize.Six days later, on Christmas Eve, with no hope and no fuel, Peiper and his men abandoned their vehicles and made their way back to their lines: only 770 got there. They left behind 135 armored vehicles including the King Tiger that today stands in front of the museum at La Gleize. They also left scattered on their route the murdered bodies of US servicemen—at Malmedy, Ligneuville, and Wereth—and civilians, massacres that would lead to postwar trials and continued recriminations.The Past & Present Series reconstructs historical battles by using photography, juxtaposing modern views with those of the past together with concise explanatory text. It shows how much infrastructure has remained and how much such as outfits, uniforms, and ephemera has changed, providing a coherent link between now and then.

On a typical day during the Second World War, Winston Churchill, as Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, issued numerous memos to the ministers and service commanders on many different subjects, on both the grand strategy and the detail of the war effort. It was not just his work rate and his self-confidence which allowed him to do this. He had a unique and intimate inside knowledge of all three services which allowed him to assess their real needs – a crucial task when money, material resources, and especially manpower, were reaching their limits. No defence minister in modern times has faced such severe problems. No-one else has ever been able to balance the needs of the services in such a way – most of them came from outside with little service experience, while for those trained inside one service it is almost impossible to gain inside knowledge at a lower level without a bias in favour of one service or another. But Churchill’s knowledge of the three services was almost perfectly balanced by his experiences since he first joined the army in 1896. He made his share of mistakes as a war leader, but this unique balance served him, his cause and his country well. Churchill: Warrior looks at how Churchill gained his unique insight into war strategy and administration, and the effect this had on his thinking and leadership. Each period (before, during and after the First World War, and in the Second World War) is divided into four parts – land, sea and air warfare, and combined operations. The conclusion deals with the effect of these experiences on his wartime leadership. Written in Brian Lavery’s acclaimed, insightful and anecdotal style, a grand narrative unfolds starting with the Marlborough toy soldiers and the army class at Eton, which then leads us through those early military and journalistic experiences, the fascinating trials and lessons of the First World War, the criticism, and his tenacity which came into its own during the Second. It explores how some of Churchill’s earliest innovations were to bear fruit decades later, how his uncompromising, but uniquely informed, hands-on approach, and his absolute belief in combined force in Normandy, led to a systemic victory against the odds.

In early July 1864, a quickly patched together force of outnumbered Union soldiers under the command of Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace prepared for a last-ditch defense along the banks of the Monocacy River. Behind them, barely fifty miles away, lay the capital of the United States, open to attack.Facing Wallace’s men were Lt.

The First World War was the first international conflict in history, killing more than 20 million people, including 11 million soldiers of various nations. The United States, which at the beginning of the conflict had chosen to remain neutral, enlisted on April 6, 1917, following the declaration of President Woodrow Wilson. The American Expeditionary Force, commanded by General John Pershing, landed in France in early 1918 at the rate of 10,000 soldiers a day, at a time of war when the Germans were unable to replace their losses. Uncle Sam's young soldiers, alongside seasoned French soldiers, discovered new ways of fighting, but soon revealed their fighting qualities and changed the course of the war. On November 11, 1918, at 11 am, more than two million American soldiers had served on the battlefield and more than 53,000 had lost their lives.

September 5, 1944'The Americans are approaching; we follow their progress impatiently on the radio, by intercepting messages reserved for the commandos. They cannot be beaten now. But it is up to us to do the impossible to speed up the progression of the bulk of their troops, to facilitate the advance of their spearhead, and, above all, to prevent the Germans from withdrawing to the Rhine in good order, with all their equipment. How many human lives will we manage to save? How many sons of Utah, or of Georgia, will be able to push open the door of their homes thanks to our action, in the near future?Yes, I must fight for "Louis" and all these unknown brothers. For each tank that does not make it, for every ammunition truck pitched into a ditch, how many soldiers will be saved?' 'Hubert Verneret was able to highlight the feelings of young people of his time; they match our memories exactly, whether we lived in France or in Great Britain, whether we were then wearing his Majesty’s uniform, or the armbands of the maquisards.'Colonel Maurice Buckmaster Hubert Verneret was a fourteen-year-old schoolboy in South Morvan, Burgundy, when the Germans invaded Poland, and fifteen when France fell. A boy scout, he helped refugees, aided the gendarmerie, moved wounded soldiers, and dug out bodies after air raids. Throughout, he wrote an eloquent diary that noted not only his actions but his thoughts and feelings as the French troops retreated and the Germans arrived. In 1944, aged nineteen, he decided to join the local maquis resistance fighters, operating from a hidden base in the forest. Though constantly in danger as he undertook his duties, his youthful optimism turned to frustration as he felt he was fated never to fight the Germans, never to take a prisoner. As the Allies approached, the maquisards worked to upset and weaken the retreating Germans to aid the Allied advance.. Hubert details the joy with which the maquisards were welcomed in local villages when the fighting ended. Only as he listened to the speech given as the maquisards disband did he understand that his part in the war, while perhaps not heroic as that played by others, was still important in gaining the victory. Years later, Hubert interviewed local maquisards to understand more about maquis history; their words and excerpts from the diary of a local civilian during the German retreat provide context to Hubert’s youthful testimony. This first English edition of Hubert’s diary retains the original prefaces by Colonel Buckmaster, chief of the French section of the SOE, and Colonel d’Escrienne, aide de camp to General de Gaulle.

‘For you the war is over’. ‘Last of the Kriegies’ tells the extraordinary stories of five of the last remaining Second World War RAF Bomber Command Prisoners-of-War: pilot Reg Barker, bomb aimer Charles Clarke, air gunner David Fraser, air gunner Albert Gunn and navigator Henry Wagner. Each veteran shares the journey they went through joining up with the Royal Air Force, their training and crewing up, and operational duties with RAF Bomber Command. We accompany them on raids over enemy territory as they fight to survive against the relentless flak, searchlights, and deadly enemy nightfighters. Eventually each airmen’s next of kin receives a knock on the door and the dreaded ‘regret to inform’ you telegram. Reg, Charles, David, Albert and Henry describe the circumstances in which they are shot from the sky, descending by parachute in to hostile territory, and their subsequent failed attempt to avoid capture. Interrogation follows and we hear how the downed airmen negotiate the aggressive and devious tactics employed by their captors as they try and extract secret information. Our ‘Kriegsgefangener’ soon find themselves behind the barb wire of a German prison camp facing the trials and tribulations of daily life as a ‘kriegie’; the battle with hunger and frustration, the baiting and harassing of prison guards, friendships made, and attempts to break out and escape their captivity. In the final months of the war some of our POWs endure the gruelling and harsh conditions of the forced ‘Long March’. Despite frustrating delays, as the Nazi regime enters its final death throes, our airmen eventually taste the sweetness of liberation and journey home to loved ones and family. Fighting High Publishing and Bomber Command historian Steve Darlow present the extraordinary testimony of five veterans who endured and survived being shot down, captivity, degradation, and suffering. Illustrated with previously unpublished photographs and with a foreword from former Gulf War POW Squadron Leader Bob Ankerson RAF (Ret’d) ‘Last of the Kriegie’s' reveals the extraordinary strength and resilience of the human spirit struggling with incarceration and the loss of freedom.