J. R. D. 'Bob' Braham was Britain's most-decorated fighter pilot and one of the most successful fighter pilots of World War II. Joining the RAF in 1938 at the age of 18, he was posted to No. 29 Squadron at Debdon, where he learned to fly the Hawker Hurricane and Bristol Blenheim. By 1939, the squadron had become a specialised night fighting unit and Braham gained his first victory in August 1940. From that point on, he was constantly in action. Famed for his individual night-time intruder ...

The memoir of a man who was a member of the Nazi Party—and ultimately became a martyr to the resistance.Ulrich von Hassell began working for the German Foreign Office in 1909, then aged twenty-eight. Two years later, he married Ilse von Tirpitz, the daughter of Grand Adm. Alfred von Tirpitz. After being wounded in the First Battle of the Marne, he worked as the admiral's advisor and private secretary.Hassell joined the Nazi Party in 1933, but strongly oppos...

"Insightful commentary on the tangible relics of the Third Reich . . . Tells the history of the Nazi regime from a fascinating new perspective" ( Military History Monthly).Hitler's Third Reich is covered in countless books and films: no conflict of the twentieth century has prompted such interest or such a body of literature. Here, two leading World War II historians offer a new way to look at the subject—through objects that come from this time and place,...

"A brilliant first-hand account of the life of a fighter pilot" in World War II ( The Spectator).Spitfire Pilot was written in 1940 in the heat of battle, when the RAF stood alone against the might of Hitler's Third Reich. It is a tremendous personal account of one of the fiercest and most idealized air conflicts—the Battle of Britain—seen through the eyes of a pilot of the famous 609 Squadron, which shot down over one hundred planes in that epic ...

**“Richard Overy [is] one of the world’s finest military historians and probably the best historian of World War II writing in English today.” —Gen. Mark Milley, U.S. Army retired, Twentieth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army magazineThe 30th anniversary edition of the indispensable history that explains how Allied forces rallied for victory against Germany and Japan.**The Allied victory in 1945 has since come to seem inevitable, but it was not. In 1942, G...

The first English translation of one German military pilot's experience before, during, and after World War II flying for the Third Reich.Johannes Kaufmann's career was an exciting one. He may have been an ordinary Luftwaffe pilot but he served during an extraordinary time with distinction. Serving for a decade through both peacetime and wartime, his memoir sheds light on the immense pressures of the job.In this never-before-seen translation of a rare accou...

A unique glimpse of the deadliest profession of the Second World War.In June 1941, Flight Sergeant Leslie Mann, a tail gunner in a British bomber, was shot down over Düsseldorf and taken into captivity. After the war, wanting to record the experiences of the RAF's 'Bomber Boys', he gave voice to his private thoughts and feelings in a short novella, uncovered only after his death.Visceral, shocking and unglamorous, this compelling story transmits as rarely be...

Above the mud and misery of the trenches and the endless slugging matches of the First World War another contest was played out with all the military glamor, chivalric values and deadly outcome of a medieval, knightly tournament. This was the battle in the air between the first primitive aircraft and the intrepid aviators who flew them. This image of air war is brought nobly to light in the memoirs of Ernst Udet, the German ace of aces, whose impressive wartime record was second only to th...

Experience the history, politics, and tragedy of World War II as you've never seen it before with original, often firsthand daily reportage of The New York Times, our country's newspaper of record.The Times' complete coverage of World War II is now available for the first time in this unique package. Hundreds of the most riveting articles from the archives of the Times including firsthand accounts of major events and little-known anecdotes have been selecte...

**“Monumental… [A] vast and detailed study that is surely the finest single-volume history of World War II. Richard Overy has given us a powerful reminder of the horror of war and the threat posed by dictators with dreams of empire.” – The Wall Street JournalA thought-provoking and original reassessment of World War II, from Britain’s leading military historianA New York Times bestseller**Richard Overy sets out in Blood and Ruins ...

A history of warfare distilled into 100 momentous battles – epic moments that have shaped our world.From the earliest recorded skirmishes of the ancient world to the computerized conflicts of today, renowned military historian Richard Overy dramatically brings to life the sights and sounds of the most significant battles in world history: the flash of steel, the thunder of guns, the shrieks of the dying, and the strange, eerie calm that descends on the bloodstained battlefield when...

The ultimate history of the Allied bombing campaigns in World War IITechnology shapes the nature of all wars, and the Second World War hinged on a most unpredictable weapon: the bomb. Day and night, Britain and the United States unleashed massive fleets of bombers to kill and terrorize occupied Europe, destroying its cities. The grisly consequences call into question how “moral” a war the Allies fought.The Bombers and the Bombed radically overhauls...