Nazi Germany's assault on the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, Operation Barbarossa, was the largest invasion in history. Almost 3.5 million men smashed into Stalin's Red Army, reaching the gates of Leningrad, Moscow and Sevastopol. But not all of this vast army was German; indeed, by the summer of 1942, over 500,000 were Romanians, Italians, Hungarians, Slovaks and Croatians – Hitler's Axis allies. As part of the German offensive that year, more than four allied armies...

Nazi Germany's assault on the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, Operation Barbarossa, was the largest invasion in history. Almost 3.5 million men smashed into Stalin's Red Army, reaching the gates of Leningrad, Moscow, and Sevastopol. But not all of this vast army was German; indeed by the summer of 1942 over 500,000 were Romanians, Italians, Hungarians, Slovaks, and Croatians – Hitler's Axis allies. As part of the German offensive that year, more than four allied armies advanced to the ...

Motivated by anti-communist zeal and a burning desire for Flemish self-rule, the men of the SS Langemarck answered Himmler's call to arms and earned a reputation for steadfastness in battle from friend and foe alike, right through to their eventual destruction by the Soviets in 1945. The exploits of key figures such as the famous Flemish Knight's Cross winner Remy Schrijnen are covered in detail. Written by a former captain in the British Army, this is the second in Spellm...

In 1066 the most significant battle on English soil – and arguably the most important in British history – took place some six miles northwest of Hastings. A king would die on the battlefield and a new dynasty would be established. The fighting exemplified the superiority of an all-arms combined attack employing foot soldiers, cavalry and archers against massed infantry. To understand what happened and why – read Battle Story. Photographs of the battlefield today,...

‘I was in the Army over thirty years and Derry was the most resentful place I ever served, even the dogs hated us.’When civil rights protests in the 1960s gave way to armed struggle, the Provisional IRA in Derry – both city and county – led the fight against the British security forces. In the city Martin McGuinness – a young butcher’s assistant from the Bogside – quickly rose through the ranks, launching a bombing campaign that reduced the city centre to rubble. In tandem, the IRA...

Everyone is familiar with the story of D-Day and the triumphal liberation of France by the Allies: a barbaric enemy was defeated by Allied ingenuity, courage and overwhelming military force, helped by dreadful German command errors and the terrible state of Wehrmacht forces in the West – but is this all true? The Wehrmacht was hugely experienced, equipped with some of the best weaponry of the war and was holding its own in Italy and Russia at the time. Berlin knew the invasion was coming a...

Nazi Germany's assault on the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, Operation Barbarossa, was the largest invasion in history. Almost 3.5 million men smashed into Stalin's Red Army, reaching the gates of Leningrad, Moscow and Sevastopol. But not all of this vast army was German; indeed, by the summer of 1942, over 500,000 were Romanians, Italians, Hungarians, Slovaks and Croatians – Hitler's Axis allies. As part of the German offensive that year, more than four allied armies...

‘We knew that this time we were on the verge of a battle such as the world had never seen. Soon our excited talk rose to a pitch that would have rejoiced the hearts of any freebooters, or of Frederick’s grenadiers. A few days later there were very few of that party still alive.’Everyone is familiar with the story of the Battle of the Somme: on the morning of Saturday 1 July 1916 the finest army that Great Britain ever produced climbed out of their trenches and jauntily wal...

‘If Germany stays united and marches to the rhythm of its revolutionary socialist outlook, it will be unbeatable. Our indestructible will to life, and the driving force of the Führer’s personality guarantee this.’ (Joseph Goebbels, 4 June 1943.) It wasn’t and it didn’t. After the collapse of the German Army in the West in August 1944, the western Allies raced towards the borders of the Reich itself, and in the East the victorious Red Army was doing the same – everyone believed the war woul...

‘In Belfast the Provos were trying to make the 6 o’clock news, in East Tyrone they were trying to kill you.’With the advent of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Provisional IRA (PIRA) became active in the towns and villages of East Tyrone, the volunteers forming the so-called East Tyrone Brigade and carrying out attacks on members of the security forces. Drawing volunteers from the region’s tight-knit Catholic communities, many with republican sympathies dating...

Five months, one week and three days of hell. The German offensive to capture Stalingrad began in August 1942, using Friedrich Paulus’s 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army. The attack was supported by intense bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. The battle degenerated into house-to-house fighting, as both sides fought for the city on the Volga. By mid-November, the Germans were on the brink of victory as the Soviet defenders clung on to a final few slivers of land alon...

Spring 1941 – the Third Reich triumphant! Having taken over Germany in 1933, Hitler launched a series of lightning campaigns across Europe that crushed Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, the Low Countries and then the Balkans. Only Great Britain had withstood the Nazis, but even it was battered and bruised and close to defeat. Then, on 22 June 1941 – in the most momentous decision of the war – the Nazi dictator turned East and flung his victorious armies into the vastness of the Soviet Union...