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As this superb memoir bears out, General Sir Frank Kitson's 41-year career ranks among the most distinguished and eventful of the post-1945 era. Commissioned into the Rifle Brigade at the end of the Second World War, he distinguished himself during the vicious Mau Mau campaign. His highly innovative tactics and personal courage earned him his first Military Cross. The second quickly followed in Malaya at the height of the Emergency. In typically understated style, the Author describes his role planning the fight against communist aggression in Oman and his two tours in Cyprus, the second when commanding 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets. His effective uncompromising approach while commanding 39 Infantry Brigade in Belfast in the early 1970s was to have life-long security implications for Kitson and his family. Despite controversy he was marked out for high command. As GOC 2nd Armoured Division in BAOR and Commandant of The Staff College, his forensic brain and experience made a significant impact at a time of change. His final appointment was Commander-in-Chief UK Land Forces. How fortunate that this gifted, gallant and inspiring leader was persuaded by his ever-supportive wife Elizabeth to record his career and military thinking, albeit on the condition it would only be published after his death. The result is a highly readable, wide-ranging work which will appeal to all interested in late 20th Century military history.

In the heart of London, where the whispers of wealth and power echo through the cobblestone streets, a daring plan unfolds to pull off the ultimate heist: stealing from the prestigious Bank of England without plunging the nation into chaos. Going Underground is a gripping crime thriller that brings together an unlikely band of criminals for a high-stakes robbery that could change their lives forever. Tommy, a retired criminal seeking one last score to fund his luxurious lifestyle, enlists his son Terry, who yearns to surpass his father's legendary status. Together, they assemble a team including Jack, a fearless rooftop burglar,, Keith the Quiff, a well-connected facilitator with a penchant for vintage style, tech-savvy Veronica, and quiet and determined insider Jane. As their intricate plan unfolds, tensions rise, and the stakes grow higher with each passing moment. Will this eclectic crew of thieves pull off the impossible, or will their ambitions lead them to ruin?

Diaries and letters from service personnel who were held captive throughout the Second World War survive in quite large numbers, but rarely are they so detailed as those of John Blomfield Dixon, whose home was in the Hertfordshire town of Ware. Having joined the Territorial Army in 1938, he soon found himself hurried through officer training and, with the outbreak of the Second World War, being commissioned as a subaltern, attached to the East Riding Yeomanry. Following his death in 2013, his family were bequeathed a series of scrapbooks, folders, maps, photographs and documents, along with a small pile of well-worn booklets, revealing his voracious appetite in describing his training, life and death during the retreat to Dunkirk, his humiliating capture by the enemy at the culmination of the Battle of Cassel and the long arduous journey through a series of 'Offizierslagers', which would, ultimately, lead him to Oflag VIIB, which was located in the Bavarian town of Eichstätt. Complimented by a series of annotated photographs, some of which have not been seen before, this book provides an insight to the long tedious days, miserable food shortages, his thoughts for home, the woman he desperately loved, his hatred for both captors and captives, the killing of his comrades both on and off the battlefield, the tireless efforts and disasters of escape, and his passion for the theatrical life, which was borne out on dusty prison camp stages, all of which provide a picture of his experiences and emotions. His views and opinions on the wild and inaccurate rumours, as well as propaganda relayed through both the German and Allied press, paint an oft distorted picture of the war's progression at that time. The Normandy landings in June 1944 brought a sudden realisation that freedom may soon become a reality. However, the frustration and anxiety of anticipated release culminate in a terrible disaster at the very moment liberty appears upon the horizon. This was on 14 April 1945, when the prisoners were machine-gunned by U.S. aircraft as they moved to Moosburg. Fifteen were killed and a further forty-one were wounded. Liberation too brings its own frustrations, borne out in the final diary entries and supplemented by a post-war summary of his long journey home. Combined with a narrative lifted from both official records of the period, and the recollections of men who served or were imprisoned with him, the carefully selected entries not only provide one of the most detailed pictures of life at Oflag VIIB, but also serve to memorialise the service of John Blomfield Dixon and those with whom he shared his incarceration.

Commemorating 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, this book tells the story of the camp's construction and its evolution into the largest mass murder factory of all time. Using hundreds of captured German documents and architectural plans, the book is a unique historical source of how the architects came to plan and accomplish the horror we now call Auschwitz. Drawing on key documents from the Building Office archive, this in-depth study uses plans, letters, telegrams, worksite labour reports and minutes of meetings. It reveals how the SS needed civilian knowledge to install electrical, sewage and heating systems, and build chimneys and other structures. It explains how various outside contractors were involved in cooperating in genocide and shows just how eager they were to produce goods for the SS for financial reward. Just after the construction had begun on Birkenau in 1941, architectural plans were presented to include new crematoria and gas chambers. By the summer of 1943 Birkenau had been transformed into a murder camp but building and planning to further extend the site continued. In November 1944 Himmler gave the order to halt and dismantle the extermination facilities to conceal their murderous activities. When the Red Army arrived on 27 January 1945, most of the camp was still intact. Although the SS had incinerated the camps' archives they forgot to destroy the construction archive, which was kept in another building. As a result, the Russians found many of the technical drawings including construction blueprints that clearly detailed the extermination facilities. With detailed captions and text together with a plethora of rare photographs, the book is an important study into those that masterminded the murder of over 1 million people.

Once upon a time, it was necessary to have a weapon that could unleash hell. Britain hand-picked its healthiest and cleverest men to undertake a truly terrifying mission: to create and detonate an atomic bomb. Somehow, a country beset by post-war rationing and isolated from her allies created the most devastating weapons known to man, on the cheap and at the hurry-up. But it came at a horrifying price for them - and their families. The race to build a nuclear bomb sucked thousands into its vortex, who are still dealing with the effects of radiation today: veterans, widows, children, scientists and indigenous people, all subjected to fear, radiation, and experimentation. A black cloud still hangs over those who survive, and their descendants who fear the consequences of every fresh pregnancy. Exposed tells the complete story of the Cold War arms race, from inception to fallout, and for the first time reveals the blood-stained truth at the heart of the British state's longest criminal cover-up. Today, the UK's nuclear deterrent is a theoretical shield that shelters millions worldwide, protects it from aggressors, and guarantees its Prime Minister a seat at the top table. But for seven decades the veterans who created it have been denied truth and justice. As the handful of survivors launch a last-ditch legal bid for the answers, Exposed reveals the full price they paid for our peace and prosperity.

So much has been written, and is still being written, about the Wars of the Roses - both in print and on the internet - that the interested student of history is in grave danger of being utterly overwhelmed. The key players in the conflict are very interesting personalities but they have become so distorted by caricature that they now appear as a procession of heroes and villains rather than living, breathing people. The aim of A Guide to the Wars of the Roses is simple: to help the reader understand what happened and why during the great political upheaval of the fifteenth century. It describes the origins, nature and aftermath of the wars in short, accessible chapters and explains how the period can be divided into three separate, though related, political crises. In describing the rise of Richard, Duke of York, in the mid-fifteenth century, the Guide traces how his rivalry with Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, ultimately led to the deposition of the hard-pressed, and wholly unsuitable, King Henry VI. It also explains how the accession of a new king from the House of York failed to solve England's political problems. The triumphant Yorkist faction is examined to chart how the fears and jealousies of its leading figures eventually led to a fatal instability at the heart of government. By putting the wars firmly in their medieval context, the Guide seeks to strip away the hype of half a millennium to examine objectively the roles and motives of those involved, without seeking either to exonerate, or demonise, any particular individual. While the Guide is intended to be comprehensive, it is also an easy-to-follow manual for a subject which has often been dismissed as 'too complicated'.

More than a Viking call to arms, An O.S.S. Secret Agent Behind Enemy Lines chronicles the incredible life of Leif Bangsboll up to and including the Second World War. Compiled by Bangsboll's son, this book explores the life of, variously, a Danish sailor, Norwegian aviator, American airborne serviceman, Green Beret soldier, and secret agent with the Office of Strategic Services. Brook G. Bangsboll heard his father's stories told and retold around the dinner table as far back as he could remember. He recalled his father talking of his christening at five weeks old aboard His Danish Majesty's Ship Grønsund in the middle of the North Sea during the First World War; about his attendance as a young man at German Chancellor Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday celebration in Berlin; and about his unplanned role in a rescue mission off the embattled shores of Dunkirk. Invigorated by the heroic efforts of the Allies at Dunkirk, Leif then joined the Norwegian Air Force and was trained as a pilot in Canada as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Prior to being assigned to an operational squadron, Flight Sergeant Bangsboll was recruited into the United States Army by Colonel William 'Wild Bill' Donovan to become a field agent for the Office of Strategic Services, or O.S.S.. After completing his O.S.S. training at the top-secret facility known as Camp X, located on the shores of Lake Ontario, Second Lieutenant Bangsboll was sent to the United Kingdom to work with the O.S.S.' counterparts at Special Operations Executive. In October 1944 Lieutenant Bangsboll was parachuted into in the dark skies over occupied Denmark to lead the Danish Resistance forces in the central region of Jutland, operating out of the city of Aarhus. Operating under the field name of Mr. Jorgen Bech, ostensibly a Danish Maritime Engineer and businessman, Bangsboll trained Danish resistance fighters, planned and led sabotage missions against the German occupation forces and hunted down and eliminated known collaborators. For ten months he played a dangerous and daring game of cat and mouse with the Gestapo. In the spring of 1945, Lieutenant Bangsboll was reassigned by the O.S.S. to Copenhagen where during the final days of the war, he led an assault to capture the fortified German garrison at Ryvangen. His efforts in this assault would earn him the United States Distinguished Service Cross as well as the Danish Royal Knights Order of King Christian X - sighted for 'courage and selfless bravery in the face of the enemy'.

Many are the remarkable stories of the men who, through good fortune or sheer determination, survived the loss of their aircraft in the Second World War. Depending on the circumstances, these aircrew often became members of the Caterpillar, Goldfish or Late Arrivals clubs, as well as the famous Guinea Pig Club where membership was reserved to aircrew who were operated on by the legendary plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe. Such individuals include Captain R.L. Morrison who was injured when his Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk was shot down over North Africa; he was one of six aircraft brought down by the Luftwaffe Ace Hans-Joachim Marseille in just eleven minutes. Having survived his crash landing, Morrison was eventually picked up by a South African armoured car unit operating behind enemy lines. He finally reached Tobruk, gaining membership of the Late Arrivals Club in the process, from where he was evacuated just two days before the port-city was taken by Rommel's Afrika Korps. Then there is the story of Flight Lieutenant Charles Parish, who was the sole survivor of the crew of a Wellington bomber which was shot down in the English Channel. In pitch darkness, Parish swam seven miles to reach the English coast supported only by his Mae West life-preserver. For this remarkable achievement Parish was admitted into the hallowed ranks of the Goldfish Club. Other airmen who became a member of the Goldfish Club include rear-gunner Sergeant Frederick Price, who had been adrift at sea for six days before being rescued, and navigator Brian Beecroft, who survived not one, but two ditchings at sea. After parachuting to safety over France, and in so doing gain membership of the Caterpillar Club, Flight Engineer Kenneth Board evaded capture with the help of the Resistance. Some, however, survived the horror of the downing of their aircraft only to land in the hands of the enemy. Sergeant John Lord, who became a member of the Caterpillar Club, was one of these men; he was killed in error while a prisoner of war. Sergeant Cecil Room, meanwhile, had been adrift for three days before he was rescued by the Luftwaffe. Often these men received gallantry awards, and all have fascinating experiences to relate but their tales have not been told - until now. This collection of more than twenty accounts covers several theatres of war and deals with a wide variety of escapes following the disastrous loss of an aircraft over land or sea in the Second World War.

This book details the extraordinary life of Sean Moylan. Moylan became a major and very influential character in the war against the British during the years 1919 to 1921. Moylan, and the men he commanded, fearlessly confronted the enemy and managed to claim a string of notable IRA victories against all the odds which, to this day, are embedded in local and national folklore. The purpose of this book, based on the author's very extensive research into the Bureau of Military History's Witness Statement archive, is to revisit the life of a true Irish hero whose exploits during the War of Independence contributed, in no small way, to bringing the British to the negotiating table. Moylan graduated from being captain of the Newmarket Volunteers Company to Commanding Officer of the IRA's Cork No 2 Brigade by the time he was captured by the British in May 1921. During the War of Independence he also led a very effective Active Service Unit which inflicted major damage on the forces of the Crown at places like Clonbanin and Tureengarriffe. Such was his military prowess he had the distinction of not losing even one of his men in the many engagements he oversaw with the enemy. During the conflict he became a legendary and influential figure among his own people in Cork, not only because of his military activities but also because of his political work as a Sinn Fein member of the Dail. In May 1921, Moylan was eventually captured by the British but because of an extraordinary set of circumstances he narrowly avoided the death penalty. He went on to oppose the Anglo-Irish Treaty because it failed to deliver the Irish Republic he had gallantly fought for. During the Civil War he spent many months in the United States of America, at the behest of Eamon de Valera, raising money for the Republicans and championing the anti-Treaty cause. After the Civil War, Moylan was eventually coaxed back into politics by de Valera who saw in him a potential to contribute to the emerging Ireland under the stewardship of Fianna Fail. Moylan went on to become a popular and influential member of Dail Eireann and, in due course, was elevated to cabinet level. As a government minister in the Departments of Lands, Education and Agriculture he made very valuable and progressive economic and social contributions to the process which saw Ireland remove the shackles of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and assert herself as a truly independent nation.

This is the account of a very ordinary woman who, during a 38-year career in nursing, had many exciting and far-from-ordinary adventures. Nursing was not always easy, as evidenced in various episodes, not least, during training, visits to matron with broken thermometers and later, stressful times when newly qualified, and during midwifery. There were exciting months as a Nursing Sister on board the P&O liner 'Oriana' followed by a few years as a domiciliary midwife in Liverpool, culminating in nineteen years serving in Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. They include the tale of a Christian Dior necklace, one of owning a rowing boat while a pupil midwife in Plymouth, and world exploration with the Merchant Navy. QA Postings included Hong Kong, Nepal, Germany and Cyprus, the latter working with the Royal Air Force at Princess Mary's RAF Hospital, Akrotiri. Several flights were great privileges, one in a Shackleton, one with the Red Arrows, one in a Lightning, and one in a helicopter, having been winched up from the deck of a Landing Craft at sea.

The Knights Templar have fascinated us for centuries. They were holy warriors who fought with incredible bravery in the Crusades but were then destroyed by their own side. In battle they were the bravest knights - first on the battlefield and the last to quit. Charging towards the enemy with their white cloaks emblazoned with the red cross of martyrdom. Every young man in medieval Europe yearned to be a Knight Templar. The reality, though, could be tough. Battles fought against fearsome foes sometimes resulted in terrible defeat with a huge loss of life. The Templars were always the target of jealousy and hatred because of their military prowess, financial acumen, and strict organisation. Eventually, their enemies got the better of them. Not the Saracens they had fought in the Holy Land, but kings and bishops back home. The Templars were accused of bizarre initiation rituals and heretical beliefs. Many were executed for the sole crime of being a Templar. But their memory was not extinguished. It has endured. Today, millions of people still want to understand the history and mystery of the Knights Templar. Is it true they possessed the Holy Grail? Why were they destroyed so brutally?This book sets out to find the answers.

"The peerless musicians of the Royal Marines Band Service are no strangers to war, as the Author, Brian Short, himself a musician, reminds us in his book. Brian Short has an engaging style, and sense of humour, combined with a shrewd assessment of his fellow human beings. His description of his training and early years in the Band Service provide a vivid and necessary prelude to what follows, setting the scene and introducing the reader to aspects of life in the Royal Marines Band Service and the Band's experiences at war. From time to time the future existence of Royal Marines Bands is questioned by politicians. They should read this book; perhaps they will come to appreciate what a splendid contribution the Royal Marines Band Service has made to our country, by land and sea, and will continue to do so." **- Major General Julian Thompson Royal Marines**The Royal Marines Band Service are well known for their professional musical performances around the world and at all Royal and major high profile public engagements in the UK. Arguably one of the finest military bands, perhaps they are less well known for their military deployments in war zones around the globe, along with their humanitarian work in times of need. These fine musicians, can turn their talented hands to a multitude of non musical taskings, bringing enthusiasm and 'musical intellect' to whatever is asked of them. Held in high regard by Royalty, the Royal Marines and the anyone in the public who has seen them perform; the book 'Royal Marines musicians at war' shows them in a different light as they show their worth in the likes of Afghanistan, Kosovo, The Falklands and many more areas of conflict besides.

A mistake is an error of judgement, a blunder is a mistake caused by carelessness or ignorance, implying incompetence. Blunders are not always the result of incompetence; a chess player may give a critical piece away being distracted by noise, but in war it results in death with serious repercussions. This book explores such errors during the Second World War, some hardly known, a few contentious, many embarrassing. An American destroyer which fired a live torpedo at a battleship carrying Roosevelt, an American officer who unintentionally passed British information to Rommel, and a German plane crash-landing in neutral territory with plans for invasion are some little-known incidents. Overconfidence resulted in a Luftwaffe raid hitting exposed American gas shells killing Italian civilians, British and American military. Self-assurance led to an American general who lost men and tanks failing to rescue his son-in-law from a PoW camp. Inadequate planning brought disaster in the raid on Dieppe. Poor tactics deployed in the bombing of Monte Cassino was bad propaganda for the Allies but assisted the German defence. There are some issues which remain disputed, as with the British sinking the French Fleet, but whether it was a blunder remains questionable. There is the issue of the abdicated King Edward often accused of being a traitor, which may not have stood a court case but possibly a Judas caused by immature naivety. Finally, Dönitz was condemned at Nuremberg, but his U-boat warfare was no different from the Allies and at times almost chivalrous.

When Hitler was striving for recognition and relevance in the political turmoil of the early Weimar years in Germany he gave little thought to the world on the other side of the Atlantic other than to nurture a constant nagging resentment over President Wilson's role in the post-war evisceration of Germany at Versailles in 1919. It was the United States, however, that had bankrolled the German economy to substantially boost industrial production and employment in the 1920s and the evidence of American wealth and economic power was hard to ignore.Even when the Nazis took over in Germany after the elections of March 1933, Hitler's narrow vision was still concentrated on consolidating his power base in Germany itself and quickly thereafter expanded to take in the countries of Eastern Europe. What impressions he had of American culture and society were encapsulated in the trivialities and stereotypes of Hollywood movies depicting the 'wild west' or the deprivations of the Great Depression.Despite its economic power, nothing in Hitler's world view envisaged the United States as a potential player in European politics, but the Germans intelligence services that he inherited were not so easily convinced. They had been aware of American power and influence since before the First World War and for them, spying on the United States was nothing more than a continuation of their efforts to prevent that country thwarting German ambitions.There had been spectacular successes in the past, such as the espionage attack that had wreaked massive destruction in the Black Tom Island explosion on 30 July 1916. But overall, the German agencies had gone to great lengths and considerable expense without achieving their ambitions and failed to prevent American participation in the war. With another war in prospect, the Germans once again made plans to influence American policy and do what they could to keep their forces out of European affairs.Spying for Hitler traces the history of German espionage in the United States and describes, in detail, the personnel involved and operations they conducted all through the 1930s and early 1940s. It examines the training of German agents and the espionage techniques they employed.The way in which the FBI reacted to the threat, in particular, from the Griebl-Lonkowski spy ring, shows how Hoover's 'Feds' were initially slow to appreciate the danger, but soon learned the lessons. This was later to put them on a sounder footing to counter further attempts to infiltrate agents into the United States. This was most spectacularly displayed in Operation Pastorius, when saboteurs were landed on the American East Coast from U-boats.This book also examines the way in which the Germans used 'sleeper' agents and also describes how the FBI successfully 'turned' German agents to feed disinformation to Abwehr headquarters in Berlin. It describes how espionage missions played out and the fate of those involves.

Hitler's Third Reich and Stalin's Soviet Union invaded Poland in September 1939 and the two autocracies proved utterly ruthless in their efforts to subjugate the Polish people. The resultant loss of life was almost unimaginable in scale but Poles from all walks of life refused to submit, either at home or abroad. Germany turned on its Soviet ally in June 1941, with Britain, the USA and the USSR eventually becoming partners in the war against Hitler. At various meetings and conferences, the 'Big Three' agreed post-war Poland would fall into the Soviet sphere of influence and Poles fighting for a free and independent country found themselves cut adrift. They had a stark choice after VE Day: live in Poland dominated by Stalin's puppets or face a life in exile. Betrayal of Poland is the first major English-language compendium of Polish first-hand accounts from the Second World War. Two of the witnesses flew over the Third Reich and faced the deadly threat of night fighters and flak. One fought at Hill 262 in Normandy, joining the effort to close the Falaise Gap, while another was parachuted into the Arnhem campaign. Two saw the horrors of Auschwitz: one from behind the wire and the other outside it. Others detailed the hell of being deported into Stalin's Soviet Union and their daily struggle to survive. Departing the USSR and joining what became the Polish II Corps, many went onto to fight at Monte Cassino. Finally, several witnesses recalled life under German Occupation and how they joined the Warsaw Uprising - the unequal and ultimately doomed battle against some of Hitler's most-murderous units. Backed by comprehensive appendices and several never-seen-before photographs, this work is a must-have for anyone interested in Polish history or the Second World War.

At the age of twelve, on hearing that Sir Ross Smith had broken the England-Australia aero record in a Vickers Vimy, Roly Alderson decided that he wanted to fly. Denied a secondary education, orphan Roly was an accomplished engineer by the time he arrived at Cambridge in his home-built car. He left with a degree, a racing Bentley and a pilot's licence. Alderson had already logged several hundred hours when recruited by Imperial Airways in 1933. His skills were quickly recognized, and he was selected to fly Lord Willingdon, the Viceroy and Governor General of India, on his farewell tour of India. Alderson's Holy Grail, nevertheless, was to 'fly boats', and it was not long before Roly had joined these venerated ranks on the new route to South Africa. Whilst serving as a Captain on Imperial Airways' prestigious New York-Bermuda service, Alderson reported a number of serious concerns regarding carburettor icing on his Short Empire flying boat Cavalier. His prescience was ignored, and on 21 January 1939, a day after penning a final warning, Cavalier was forced down into the empty wastes of the Atlantic. Due to Alderson's consummate airmanship and the bravery of heroine passenger Edna Watson, ten of the thirteen souls on board survived. Their miraculous rescue by the tanker Esso Baytown, part of a huge international search and rescue effort, after eleven gruelling hours in cold shark-infested waters, dominated the world's headlines. Alderson returned to duty on the long-distance flying boat routes to Singapore and Durban, but, following the German invasion of France in 1940, he was transferred to the treacherous West Africa run. After a brush with a U-boat off Sierra Leone, he was tasked with ferrying General de Gaulle back to the UK from Nigeria. After avoiding a suspected poisoning attempt at Freetown and Luftwaffe interception over the Bay of Biscay, the General personally thanked Alderson for his safe return. Later, in 1940 the British Government bought three huge Boeing flying boats to maintain the wartime transatlantic link, and Alderson was promoted to the roster for these. The hours in these behemoths were prodigious, routing via Portugal, West Africa, and Brazil, with the fear of enemy attack a constant and very real threat. Only V.I.P.s and vital mail were carried, although Alderson did once deliver President Roosevelt's personal gift to Winston Churchill: a critical supply of Havana cigars!Adventure abounds in this remarkable story of a flying boat pilot and captain in both war and peace: racing Bentleys, landing on beaches, black-tie dinner with the Luftwaffe, landing on the Nile, flying across India, and espionage and intrigue in Lisbon.

The macabre meets the factual in this spine-chilling exploration of humanity's darkest fear: being buried alive. From ancient folklore to modern medical marvels, Buried Alive delves deep into the annals of history, uncovering tales of premature interment and miraculous escapes. Imagine the horror of waking up in a coffin, surrounded by suffocating darkness, with no hope of escape. Drawing on historical records and eyewitness accounts, this book reveals the grim reality of those who were inadvertently entombed before their time. From cases of war, where whole battalions have been covered in earth whilst still living, to ritual and superstition, from voodoo to suttee in Haiti and India, as well as the immurement in walls or errant monks and convent sisters. Less-known cases of burials of the living, through murderous intentions and natural disasters are also told, alongside tales of fakirs and hypnotists whose challenges were to have themselves put into a grave and left for days. Amidst tales of terror, this book also celebrates the resilience and heroism of those who defied death's grasp, providing a wealth of historical detail and many cases which have never before appeared in print. From the invention of bell-rigged coffins to the formation of societies dedicated to preventing premature burials, discover the remarkable measures taken to combat this age-old fear. Through meticulous research and a gripping narrative, Buried Alive separates fact from fiction, shedding light on the truth behind centuries of taphophobia. This book is a haunting reminder of the fragility of life and the enduring power of human resilience in the face of our deepest fears.

The stories of Ukrainians who stood up to defend their country during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Some of the storytellers had never held a weapon before the full-scale invasion, while for others it was a profession.These stories are not just about war, but about who they are besides being ordinary people, students, workers, priests, teachers and doctors, professors, managers, actors, artists and musicians, pensioners, parents, and children, and so on.In addition to the reconstruction of events, here is also the comprehension of events by the people who are active creators of the history. They talk about the biggest terrorist attacks not only as military men, but also as ordinary people with their own experiences. The narrators talk about different periods of the war in different cities and have different views of what is happening. Their views combine to create a picture of the war's world and the image of a human who stood up to defend his country during the bloodiest war of our time.

Peredur, The Undiscovered Truth of the Nazi Grail Quest is written in two parts.The first part of the book charts the life and adventures of Otto Rahn, the man tasked by the Nazis, in the 1930s, with finding and getting his hands on the Holy Grail for them. The Nazis were hell bent on finding the Grail and reuniting it with the Holy Lance in a bid to create a mythical past of the Aryan race. Rahn believed that by uncovering the truth behind the Germanic saga of Parzival he would discover the whereabouts of the Grail. Parzival had, according to legend, successfully completed a quest to find the Grail, while being a knight in the court of King Arthur. In dissecting the story of Parzival, Rahn concluded that the Grail had been held by the Cathars, a heretical Christian sect, in their fortress at Montsegur. He believed that the Grail was still there, waiting for him to find it and based his quest around this belief. Unfortunately, after chasing round Europe in his efforts to find the Grail, and coming within touching distance of finding the truth, the Nazis patience with him ran out with him, and Rahn came to a sticky end, without ever having found the Grail. Rahn was the real-life figure who inspired the fictional movie character Indiana Jones.The second part focusses on Peredur, a British knight hailing from York, and the true hero of the original Grail Story. By examining the life of Peredur and the Grail Story, Peredur, the Son of Evrawc, written about him, we are able to reach the truth of the Grail Rahn and the Nazis never found. Rahn came very close to uncovering this, but the Nazis had lost faith in him, and casting him as a charlatan, hounded him to his death. Much of the story of Peredur, the Son of Evrawc is played out in the ancient British kingdom of Elmet, encompassing much of what we now call South Yorkshire, and whose southern border lay along the line of the River Don. As the story is unpicked, the truth of the Grail, is unraveled, leading to some astonishing findings.

Southern Thailand, 1941. This is the story of Operation Cleeves. A daring and long forgotten SOE Far East mission, where a handful of tin miners risked their lives fighting against the onslaught of Japan on the eve of World War Two in Southeast Asia. Using declassified documents, previously undiscovered records and extensive original research, Kate Reid-Smith provides an intimate yet harrowing look into a most secret and turbulent operation shrouded in mystery. Where vivid and powerful accounts of tremendous courage in the face of resilience and redemption, uncovers how an eclectic mix of European civilians and Indian soldiers all marooned amid danger, violence and bloodshed, were suddenly confronted by unspeakable survival choices, as the circumstances of war catapulted them into an unimaginable world of horrific atrocities. Some of their stories are told for the very first time in this revelatory book, uncovering perilous undertakings requiring daring and sang-froid bravery, and how using only their wits for survival, all bore the full brunt of Japan's initial invasion.

An accessible book to draw on popular interest in transport history, routes, vehicles and experiences. Transport history is social and industrial national history. Passengers and freight will be covered including all types of transport from walking and packhorses, that predominated for much of national history, both of which tend to be underrated, to changes brought by improvements to road transport from the Romans to medieval bridgebuilders and eighteenth-century turnpikes, and, in parallel, river, coastal and canal travel, again from the Romans to the eighteenth century. The story moves to the age of rail, motoring and lastly air. All forms overlap. as well as being sequential.

The Falklands War of 1982 was a brief 74 days of intense warfare resulting in the losses of 255 British Service personnel and just three civilians. Many books have been written with varying accounts about the military action, this book is the personal stories of the men behind the uniforms, the untold details of the three civilians who died towards the end of the war. Whilst researching the backgrounds of the fallen links to other military campaigns come to life through the personal stories of these brave men and their forebears. These stories are often unknown even to family members but ensure their immortality. We say 'Lest We Forget' this book is a stark reminder of how easy it is to lose history should we not document it.

At the Emperors Pleasure follows the young couple Christopher and Topsy Man through the savage battle for Hong Kong and the years of enforced separation, she interned in Stanley Camp, Hong Kong, he as a prisoner of war and forced labourer in Kobe, Japan. The book is not about Christopher and Topsy Man alone but also of friends and colleagues close to them forced to endure the cruel torture and execution by the Kempeitai. Amongst those close to them some of Topsy's friends and colleagues were raped and murdered, one was imprisoned within shouting distance of her husband being tortured then executed by the Kempeitai, while another died when their camp was mistakenly bombed by the Allies. Topsy was herself the reluctant witness to ritual executions. Christopher lost brother officers and many of the Cockney soldiers under his command in the battle for Hong Kong. Others drowned in the East China Sea, victims of a barbaric but little-known mass war crime, the sinking of the Lisbon Maru. Still others survived the sinking only to succumb to the harsh regime of the POW camp in Japan. Perhaps most tragic of all, four of Christopher's men came through the battle, the Lisbon Maru sinking and cruel imprisonment only to die when the aircraft carrying them to freedom crashed into the sea during a typhoon. Like many of their generation who suffered at the hands of the Japanese during the second world war, Christopher and Topsy Man rarely spoke of their experience, and when they did, they were guarded in what they chose to share of it, even with those closest to them in their post-war lives. With privileged access to personal letters, diaries and records from the wartime years, from memories exchanged with Christopher's and Topsy's contemporaries and from knowledge shared by other historians, the author has written a compelling and moving account of the young couple's lives being torn apart by world events in late 1941.

A forensic study of the trial of Amelia Dyer, one of Britain's most prolific serial killers, thought to have murdered up to 400 babies. This book explores how life in Victorian England created the ideal conditions for Amelia to establish herself as a baby farmer, taking infants from desperate women in exchange for payment. It examines what motivated her to kill and go on killing: her need for money versus her role as custodian in a cult that worshipped Lucifer and delves into her personal life, taking evidence from hundreds of contemporary trial and government records, memoirs and newspaper articles, and investigating what it was about society and policing in the late nineteenth-century that allowed her to get away with it for so long. The nineteenth century was a horrible time to be a woman in England. The lack of legal and effective birth control affected even the highest in the land. Queen Victoria, after having given birth to nine children, was advised by physicians for the sake of her health to have no more. Her diaries complain of 'no more fun in bed' as the only legal and safe way to avoid pregnancy was abstinence from sexual intercourse. It was against this backdrop that Amelia Dyer carried out her monstrous campaign. In 1856, she began advertising in local papers under assumed names and reassuring backgrounds, offering to adopt newborn babies in exchange for fees that varied according to the means of the mother. Her 40-year-long killing spree only ended with a local police force sting operation.

Sunk by a U-boat, Attacked by Kamikazes tells the story of one man's experiences during the years 1939 to 1947. Aged sixteen when the war broke out, Joseph Marsden worked casual shiftwork on the Liverpool docks. Lucky to survive an air raid on the night of 4 May 1941, he lost two members of his family before the Liverpool blitz came to an end. On 9 June 1941 - his eighteenth birthday - he volunteered for service with the Royal Navy. After completing basic training at Malvern, he was finally sent to his home town in April 1943 to join HMS Woodpecker, a sloop recently assigned to Johnny Walker's famous Second Support Group. After seeing action in the Bay of Biscay, the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic, Woodpecker was sunk during an anti-submarine patrol in February 1944, a patrol during which Walker's ships sank six U-boats. After completing his two weeks of survivors' leave he was recalled to Devonport. Demoralised by the thought of surviving on half-pay for six months, he lost his appetite for the fray and sought medical attention for an aural complaint, being prescribed a period of rest at a naval base in the Scottish highlands. A restless soul, Marsden did not take to the isolation on the shores of Loch Ewe, and asked to be sent to sea once more. He was posted to the Firth of Clyde to join the crew of the escort carrier, HMS Empress, aboard which he sailed for Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in December 1944. Whilst in the Far East, Marsden saw action during Operation Stacey, Operation Bishop, Operation Livery and Operation Carson, witnessing Kamikaze attacks on allied warships. After the surrender of the Japanese, HMS Empress was detailed to help repatriate Australian and New Zealand troops, before embarking on her homeward journey to the UK. Before being de-mobbed he was transferred to the destroyer, HMS Zealous, then based at Keil in Germany where he witnessed the destruction inflicted upon Hamburg by the allied bombing campaign.

Great War Land Girls were all very different individuals - they radiated vitality, resolve and determination. In this book, their sense of fun and infectious humour shines through the myriad of humorous stories and poems penned whilst doing their National Service. Amidst the troubling times they worked through, their ability to 'stick it if it kills' no matter what, earnt them a richly-deserved respect. Using previously unpublished photographs from personal collections that intimately depict the ups and downs of their daily lives, this book attempts to immerse readers in the quirky and unusual world of the Great War Land Girl and discovers exactly how they interacted, lived together, socialised, relaxed, fell in love, went off the rails and got through difficult times. The minutiae of life as a recruit in land organisations, (established early on in the war) and later in the Women's Land Army, is vividly brought back to life through previously untold accounts. Ultimately, their legacy tells of unwavering devotion to duty and to the country they held dear. Land Girls broke new ground and turned their hand to any task that was asked of them with an inextinguishable wartime spirit. The attitudes and approaches they showed to their work when faced with such adversity remain inspirational more than a century later. Their forgotten testimonies are shared in this book. They fizz off the page as a true record of 'I was there.'

Dame Agatha Christie reigns supreme as the 'Queen of Crime.' Numerous books have been written about the legendary crime writer, focusing on nearly every aspect of her craft. But until now no one has carried out an in-depth investigation into how she conquered the serial market with her thrilling tales of murder and intrigue. In the UK and US, Agatha Christie's work was serialized in the most prestigious magazines and newspapers of the day, often under an array of different titles, prior to being published by Collins and Dodd, Mead and Company. Second serial rights could result in a single title being syndicated to over 40 newspapers. Over the decades, numerous records have been lost or destroyed and keeping track of her literary legacy has proved a major challenge for her publishers, literary agents and others until now. Jared Cade, author of the ground-breaking biography Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days, has unearthed a huge plethora of hitherto unknown facts about the timeline of her publishing history that will delight her devotees and enable future generations to write about her work with far greater authority and accuracy than ever before, especially when correlating her publications to the parallels in her life. Illustrated with rare pictures, Secrets from the Agatha Christie Archives is destined to become an essential reference tool for fans, librarians, scholars, antiquarian booksellers, broadcasters and others interested in the making of one of the 20th century's most beloved writers. 'Jared Cade is an acknowledged authority on Christianna' - Crime Time

The Mounted Infantry had a short life spanning from the mid 1880's until disbanded in 1913. To continue the camaraderie of the corps, past surviving members formed the M.I Club and in 1936 decided to publish a short history based on Regimental records and personal reflections. An appeal elicited responses and work was begun by Major Tomlin. The manuscript was almost complete at the start of the Second World War when an enthusiastic cull of papers by Tomlin's family during a "wastepaper salvage drive" included much of the work he had completed. This would have been the end of the project, but Brigadier Standish G Craufurd intervened and undertook to rewrite the work using what material remained and his own resources. When the draft was substantially completed Sir Ian Hamilton (then in his 91st year) was approached to write the foreword, he responded that he felt this was a "makeshift history" that would best be left until the end of the war when access to records would be easier, and the manuscript could be improved upon. This archive including the unpublished manuscript, letters and reminiscences came up for sale on an online auction recently and provides a unique and interesting record of the Mounted Infantry. Considering that history of this corps is sparsely documented it would be, as Craufurd put it "a great pity to let slip an account of a side issue of the old Army, a very distinct phase, just before the great change brought by the Great War".

For more than a decade after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Henry VII's fledgling dynasty was threatened by two Yorkist claimants. Lambert Simnel's rebellion, though short-lived, ended at the Battle of Stoke in 1487, a far bloodier affair than Bosworth two years earlier. The second rebellion, centred on Perkin Warbeck, ended in ignominious surrender but was the fulcrum of a power struggle involving the major European powers for most of the 1490s. Who were these two men? Were they the imposters claimed by the King and generally accepted as such by most historians, or were they the nobles they claimed to be - Edward, Earl of Warwick and Richard, second son of Edward IV? What became of the other "Prince in the Tower", Edward V? Were Edward IV's two sons really murdered by their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, or were both alive and involved in the two rebellions? Was there any link between the rebellions, or were they the last desperate and uncoordinated rolls of the dice by remnants of the House of York unwilling to accept the new Tudor regime? Do we really know what became of Simnel and Warbeck after their rebellions failed other than what Henry VII told us?Part I of this book examines the evidence for the identity of Lambert Simnel while Part II recreates a courtroom trial for Perkin Warbeck allowing you, the reader, to act as jury.

When Napoleon overreached himself by usurping the Burbon throne of Spain in early 1808, the resulting Spanish resentment and the brutal suppression of the Dos di Mayo Rebellion in Madrid turned Spain, a long-term enemy of Britain, into an ally. Sir Arthur Wellesley's expedition to South America was promptly cancelled and redirected to the Peninsular. Eventually landing in Portugal at the mouth of the Rio Mondego, the army found itself with little transport, but by keeping close to the coast and with logistical support from the Royal Navy, Wellesley set off south to confront Marshal Junot and liberate Lisbon. The first clash of arms was at Obidos and, days later, at the Combat of Roliça, Wellesley achieved his first victory in battle against the willey General Delaborde. With word that reinforcements were expected to arrive at Maceira Bay, the army was deployed at Vimiero to protect their landing. Meanwhile, Junot had assembled his army and decided to attack at Vimiero. In a short but hard-fought battle, Wellesley was victorious, however an opportunity for total defeat of the French was squandered in succession by generals Burrard and Dalrymple, who instead accepted an armistice. This eventually became the notorious Convention of Cintra.