Sa: 138 books

Many of the photographs are as familiar as they are iconic: Nelson Mandela gazing through the bars of his prison cell on Robben Island; a young Miriam Makeba smiling and dancing; Hugh Masekela as a schoolboy receiving the gift of a trumpet from Louis Armstrong; Henry ‘Mr Drum’ Nxumalo; the Women’s...

OPERATION BARBAROSSA: One hundred and ten German Divisions smashed across the Russian Border in June of 1941, destroying and encircling every Russian Army in its path. The poorly led and equipped Russians fell back into the vast recesses of the Russian Steppe, biding their time until the newly erected...

FALAISE POCKET: It could be said that the Battle of the Falaise Pocket was actually the culmination of many preceding battles: The German Generals and the Allied Commanders together could never have guessed the outcome of this epic battle, a turning point of World War II. The Allied encirclement...

The Battle of the Java Sea: This little known sea battle was overshadowed by Pearl Harbor, The Philippines, Wake Island and other events at the outset of World War II. The Battle of the Java Sea was none the less a critical sea battle. The allies threw together a battle fleet to blunt Japanese expansion...

U-Boat the Happy Times: Shortly after America’s entry into World War 2, German U-Boats were roaming almost at their leisure up and down the East Coast sinking ships, just about entirely unopposed. The Pacific War was drawing all of the assets of the US Navy and none could be spared for the Atlantic...

In the first weeks of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Russian Air Force was nearly wiped out on the ground by the Luftwaffe, leaving Stalin with very few aircraft to fend off the German onslaught. The American and British allies rapidly sent fighters to help the Russians. British Hurricanes...

When the Allies landed at Anzio the success of an amphibious landing at that location, a beach surrounded by mountains, depended completely on the element of surprise and the swiftness with which the invaders could move  before the defenders reacted. Any delay could result in the occupation...

While the German High Seas Fleet was bottled up in the Baltic Sea and the Norwegian Fjords by the British Home Fleet, their Schnellbootes operated in the English Channel almost with impunity. The "E-Boats" so named by the British were fast and powerful. Triple shafted driven propellers by...

SALERNO: The invasion at Salerno was to be a sudden amphibious operation, quickly concluded and followed by a rapid dash up the coast to the Capital of Rome. In one fell swoop, the Allies were going to occupy Italy and trap large formations of occupying German troops in the southern boot of the Italian...

The Flying Tigers: The dark days at the beginning of World War 2 saw the Japanese victorious across the Pacific. Clair Chennault was called to China by Chiang Kai-shek to help his failing Chinese Air Force combat the Japanese Imperial Army. Chennault recruited one hundred American pilots as volunteers...

By June of 1942, the Japanese had finished their stunning victories across the Pacific and down the Indo-China peninsula all the way to the Dutch East Indies, Sweeping all British, American and Dutch Forces before them. To solidify their Island Fortresses in the Pacific, and to finish off the remaining...

The events that capitulated the Congo into prominence in 1960 were many: Congo’s recent independence from Belgium, Congo’s immense mineral wealth, the lack of leadership which plunged the country into civil war, and the harsh treatment by the Belgians of the native population for the proceeding...

Rommel: When Hitler sent Rommel to Libya to command the Africa Korps, his purpose was to help the Italians contain and “hold the line” defensively, but Hitler underestimated Rommel’s ability and his resourcefulness. Outwitting his British opponents at every turn he pushed them back to the Egyptian...

The Germans were among the first to raise a parachute force and they used them with tactical success in Belgium and Holland at the outbreak of World War II. The isolated island of Crete seemed to be the perfect place to use them in a large scale operation. The British forces were in disarray on Crete,...