Pen Sword: 3374 books

When war was declared in 1914, the people of South Dorset were taken by surprise. Initially, there was excitement as the garrison town of Dorchester sprang to life, and Britain's Grand Fleet steamed from Portland Harbour to its war stations in the North Sea. But when the fervour subsided, what was...

Although Lancaster was the ancient County town, it had a population of only 40,000 in 1914. Of these, it is thought that some 5,000 men saw war service between 1914-18, and over 1,000 did not return. In consequence, the recruiting drives, the tribunals to consider exemption from 1916, and the ever-growing...

How the experience of war impacted on the town, from the initial enthusiasm for sorting out the German kaiser in time for Christmas 1914, to the gradual realization of the enormity of human sacrifice the families of Doncaster were committed to as the war stretched out over the next four years. A record...

This book features the design, creation and use of air raid shelters, including interviews with people who used them during the Second World War. The different types of bunkers/air raid shelters (both public and in people’s gardens) are covered and the strength and weakness of their designs discussed,...

Many histories have been written about the conflicts the British army was involved in between the Battle of Waterloo and the First World War. There are detailed studies of campaigns and battles and general accounts of the experiences of the soldiers. But this book by Anthony Dawson is the first to...

The latest of Ian Hughes' Late Roman biographies here tackles the careers of the brother emperors, Valentinian and Valens. Valentian was selected and proclaimed as emperor in AD 364, when the Empire was still reeling from the disastrous defeat and death in battle of Julian the Apostate (363) and the...

The fascinating history of “a race that simply would not accept defeat” (Books Monthly).   In the late fourth century, pressure from the Huns forced the Goths to cross the Danube into the Roman Empire. The resultant Battle of Adrianople in 378 was one of Rome’s greatest defeats. Both western...

On 30 November 1939 Stalins Red Army attacked Finland, expecting to crush the outnumbered, ill-equipped Finnish forces in a matter of days. But, in one of the most astonishing upsets in modern military history, the Finnish defenders broke the Red Armys advance, inflicting devastating casualties and...

The greatest tank battle in world history, known as Operation CITADEL, opened during the early hours of 5 July 1943, and its outcome was to decide the eventual outcome of the war on the Eastern Front. Images of War - Battle of Kursk 1943, is an illustrated account of this pivotal battle of the war...

The little-known story of the Battle of Kalinin on the eastern front, and how it shaped the course of WWII—based on archival records from both sides.   There was only one point in the Second World War when Nazi Germany had a chance of winning. That point was October 1941, when most of the Red Army’s...

From the beginning in 1935 this attractive book describes the different elements that went into the Panzer-Divisions. It describes how the Germans carefully built up their assault forces utilizing all available reserves and resources into making an effective fighting machine. It depicts how these...

Hitler’s decision to invade Poland in August 1939 triggered the start of the Second World War. It was also the first demonstration of Blitzkrieg tactics – the ruthless use of armor, mobile infantry and air support. The brave Polish army, inadequately equipped and inferior in numbers, was...

In the summer of 1944 the Red Army crushed Army Group Centre in one of the largest offensives in military history. Operation Bagration - launched almost exactly three years after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union - was Stalin's retribution for Hitler's Operation Barbarossa. Earlier battles...

A Century of Remembrance is a study of one hundred outstanding United Kingdom war memorials which commemorate 20th century conflicts from the Boer War to the Falklands and Gulf wars. The first described is a Boer War memorial unveiled on 5 November 1904, and the last is the Animals in War memorial...