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 16th Durham Light Infantry were supposed to be just an 'ordinary' battalion. But their experiences as t...

"In reading Laugh or Fly you will fly with aircrew in various types of airplanes over every major and minor battle fought by the British on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918. You will read of their intimate fears, skills, and triumphs, and of the realities of loss after grueling air battles." - Roads to the Great War A rip-roaring gallop through the lives of the Royal Flying Corps air crew in the Great War. They lived their lives amidst a strange dichotomy as they moved from safety to di...

Awakened by great shouted oaths below. Peeped over the side of the manger and saw a Belgian lass milking and addressing a cow with a comprehensive luridness that left no doubt in my mind that British soldiers had been billeted here before.' - Private Norman Ellison, 1/6th King's Liverpool Regiment Humor helped the British soldier survive the terrible experiences they faced in the trenches of the Western Front during the Great War. Human beings are complicated, and there is no set pattern a...

This history of the Royal Flying Corps during the Battle of Somme offers a comprehensive firsthand look at WWI military aviation.During the summer and fall of 1916, high above the blood-soaked trenches of the Somme, the Royal Flying Corps was engaging in one of the first great aerial battles of history. Even in those pioneering days of aerial warfare, primitive aircraft and the brave men who flew them were proving vital. Before the battle, photographic reconnaissanc...

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 South Notts Hussars were the pride of Nottingham. A territorial artillery unit made up of a strange mix...

Using original personal and military diaries, with hundreds of carefully selected newspaper extracts, letters and photographs, this book traces individual stories of tragedy and heroism, involving tradesmen, apprentices, lawyers, musicians, sportsmen, brothers, husbands and fathers from Harrogate and the West Riding. As such, it characterises the experience of the British Infantryman in the Great War.The Territorials of the 1/5th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment were the unsung heroes of ...

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 pol...

The dramatic opening weeks of the Great War passed into legend long before the conflict ended. The British Expeditionary Force fought a mesmerizing campaign, outnumbered and outflanked but courageous and skillful, holding the line against impossible odds, sacrificing themselves to stop the last great German offensive of 1914. A remarkable story of high hopes and crushing disappointment, the campaign contains moments of sheer horror and nerve-shattering excitement; pathos and comic relief; ...

Shortlisted for the Military History Matters Book of the Year Award 2026'Gripping' Britain at War'Deeply informative and entertaining ... Peter Hart is an excellent guide' Military History MattersIn the 1880s, control over northeastern Africa was a political minefield into which Prime Minister Gladstone did not want to step - until his emissary Charles Gordon was besieged in Khartoum, and the city ...

Shortlisted for the 2023 Military History Matters Book of the Year AwardThe only way to truly understand what it was like to fight in the Second World War is to listen to the experiences of those men who were there. And often, there was nowhere more dangerous than on the ground.In Footsloggers, Peter Hart reconstructs one infantry battalion's war in staggering detail. Based on his interviews with members of the 16th Durham Light Infantry, Hart bears witness not onl...

'Excellent ... a raw and visceral, bird's-eye view of the action from the men who were there' The TimesThis is the story of a tank regiment: the 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in the Second World War. Raw and visceral personal recollections from the men themselves recall some of the most dramatic and horrific scenes imaginable - the sheer nerve-wracking tension of serving in highly inflammable Sherman tanks, the sudden impact of German shells, the desperate ...

WINNER OF THE MILITARY HISTORY MATTERS AWARD'Hart is a historian and author at the peak of his powers' Richard van EmdenThe best way to understand what it was like to fight in the Second World War is to see it through the eyes of the soldiers who fought it. The South Notts Hussars fought at almost every major battle of the Second World War, from the Siege of Tobruk to the Battle of El Alamein and the D-Day Landings.Here, Peter Hart ...