When Ray Ward died in 1999, his sons discovered an old and dusty manuscript in an Afrika Korps ammunition box in the cellar of the family home in Glasgow. These papers contained a collection of their father's memoirs, which detailed his experiences as an infantry officer during the Second World War, when he served in the 1st Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. His memoirs give vivid accounts of Ray Ward's time in Eritrea, Abyssinia, Egypt, the Western Desert, Sicily and mai...

As a 19-year old Black Watch conscript Tom Renouf's war began with some of the most vicious fighting of the conflict - against Himmler's fanatical 'Hitler Youth' SS Division. It ended with the capture of Himmler himself and Tom taking a trophy he still treasures - the Gestapo commander's watch.Seriously wounded and later decorated with a Military Medal for gallantry, Tom Renouf witnessed the death and maiming of countless of his teenage comrades and saw the survivors transformed in...

A remarkable World War II survival story and combat memoir by "an indestructible wartime tank commander" ( The Telegraph).In campaign after campaign, from the defense of Calais in 1940 to the defeat of Germany in 1945, Bill Close served as a tank commander in Britain's Royal Tank Regiment—and he survived.His tanks were hit eleven times by enemy shellfire and he bailed out. He was wounded three times. He finished the war as one of the most experienc...

The seminal account of the battle between Montgomery’s Eighth Army and Rommel’s Afrika Corps, amidst the endless harsh wastes of the Western Desert.In 1940, Alan Moorehead was sent to cover the North Africa campaign by the Daily Express, and he followed its dramatic course all the way to 1943. The three books he subsequently wrote about the Desert War – later collected as his ‘African Trilogy’ – were swiftly acclaimed as a classic account of the tussle betw...

Mike Morgan presents 25 stories about the larger-than-life exploits of the SAS and SBS in World War II, supported by a selection of rare archive and action shots.These vivid stories, including some new and previously unpublished, supported by an updated selection of rare archive and action photographs, explore the larger-than-life escapades of the Special Air Service in the Second World War. From an SAS Jeep patrol in France, outnumbered fifty-to-one, who shot thei...

The story of an astonishing band of Canadian soldiers and their part in the Allied victory in Italy.The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment (the Hasty Ps) was Canada’s most decorated regiment in the Second World War, winning thirty-one battle honours. Famed for their role in the Allied invasion of Sicily and the conquest of Italy, for six years the members of the regiment suffered brutal conditions, fighting bravely in the face of fierce opposition from the enemy, ...

When Australian troops stormed ashore in the pre-dawn darkness of April 25th 1915, it was the culmination of one of the most complex and daunting operations in the history of warfare - the seaborne assault of a heavily fortified shore, defended by a well-prepared and forewarned enemy.The risks were enormous, and the death toll on the beach at Anzac Cove could have been murderous - as it was with the British landings further south. Yet the Anzacs had been allowed to organise their o...

'As gritty as it is real. An amazing book about ordinary Australians made extraordinary by the times they lived through . . .' - Peter FitzSimonsAbout 1300 Australians died in the desert campaigns of World War I, while another 3500 died in North Africa and the Middle East during World War II. Thousands more carried the wounds of war for the rest of their lives. Countless families were left behind to mourn the dead and comfort the injured. A ripple effect of grief passed down the ge...

The exciting true story of a legendary leader and the men who fought by his side in World War II, told in his own wordsFrom the moment they hit the beaches in North Africa to their last desperate struggle at Anzio, Darby’s Rangers asked for only one thing in World War II—the chance to fight. Experts at amphibious landings, night attacks, and close combat, the Rangers were the spearhead advancing U.S. forces. And at their helm was William O. Darby, a forceful, chari...

A gripping history of Britain's Special Boat Squadron in World War II, drawing on veteran interviews and including rare photographs from the SAS Regimental Association.The Special Boat Squadron was Britain's most exclusive Special Forces unit during World War II, and yet its exploits have been largely forgotten. This book tells its story.Highly trained, totally secretive and utterly ruthless, the SBS was established as an entity in its own right in early 19...

Stories of real-life bravery and courage-under-fire contribute to a unique and poignant record of a club created for heroes.There are just a handful of men and women alive today who served and fought with the Special Forces during the Second World War. They are a dwindling bunch of veterans in their twilight years whose tales of heroism and daring-do will soon be lost in time forever – yet they still regularly get together in a gentleman’s club, right in the heart of London – The S...

The story of the transformation from of a horse cavalry unit to one of Canada's most famous armoured regiments. Twentieth century warfare is epitomized by the image of Allied tanks growling across the countryside, engaging their Nazi counterparts. One of the most storied of such regiments is the 8th (New Brunswick) Hussars. Founded in 1848 as the first volunteer cavalry regiment in British North America, the Hussars began the Second World War as a Motorcycle Regiment before converting to t...