Pen And Sword imprint: 2611 books

Seventy-nine heavy bombers failed to return from the catastrophic raid on the industrial city of Leipzig on the night of 19/20 February 1944. Some 420 aircrew were killed and a further 131 became prisoners of war. It was at that time by far the RAF’s most costly raid of World War II. The town was...

On D Day, 6th June 1944 the greatest seaborne assault ever was launched against Hitler's Fortress Europe onto the beaches of Normandy. This battlefield guide tells in detail, how these objectives were achieved and relates the battles to the area as it is today. The book contains details of...

Amédée Maingard was a young Mauritian studying in London in 1939 who volunteered for the British Army. After a frustrating spell in the infantry, Maingard joining the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and later had a successful career as a leader and peace keeper in France and later Mauritius. Maingard...

This battlefield guide is the companion work to Pegasus Bridge & Horsa Bridge. Together, these two books form the fully revised and updated edition of the previous best selling Battleground Europe Series book Pegasus Bridge & Merville Battery. This book examines, in great detail, the...

This is a unique selection of wide-ranging experiences of British and Commonwealth Bomber Command aircrew during World War II. Their endearing bravery and fortitude and sometimes their despondency and cynicism, shows through in these stirring, daring, often irreverent, humorous and sometimes sardonic...

The book describes the problems of instigating resistance in France and the slow development of the clandestine warfare and special operation forces, equipment, training, delivery, communication, command, control and intelligence techniques. It covers the wide variety of organizations involved...

Drawing upon a new international archive of the Second World War, the support of veterans world-wide and from archives overseas, the author uses previously unpublished letters, diaries, photographs and reminiscences to tell the story of D Day in a way which brings the reader closer to the actual experience....

The Bruneval Raid, launched against a German radar installation on the French coast in February 1942, was unique: it was one of the first fully combined operations put together by HQ Combined Operations under Mountbatten; for the first time a unit of the newly formed British Parachute Regiment went...

Hitler's Atlantic Wall, the complex system of coastal fortifications that stretched from Norway to the Spanish border during the Second World War, was built to defend occupied Europe from Allied invasion. Many of its principal structures survive and can be visited today, and this book is an authoritative...

One hundred and fifty years ago the Royal Navy fought a daring campaign against ruthless pirates and won, killing ‘The King of the Pirates’, Bartholomew Roberts off the coast of Africa and capturing his fleet. Scores of his men were executed by the Admiralty Court. On the Barbary Coast...

What kind of Royal Navy does Britain need now? The 21st century promises to be one of huge uncertainties and challenges for the senior service. Does Britain have the right naval strategy to cope with emerging threats (does it have a naval strategy at all, and should it?) and, if so, does the Navy...

In 1922 the US Navy commissioned its first small experimental aircraft carrier. This was followed into service by two much larger and capable carriers in 1927 with five more being built prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor including three large Yorktown class.

To take the offensive against...

This paperback edition of this seminal new study of a key battle of the Civil Wars re-examines one of England's most mysterious battlefields at Edgehill, and it combines the work of three outstanding military historians. Each is an expert in the areas of battlefield interpretation, military equipment...

Stuart J Wright tells the gripping story of a World War II American aircrew flying missions from Old Buckenham, England in a B-24 Liberator bomber they nicknamed Corky. This is a true account based on years of research and correspondence with crew members and their families. Wright adds a dimension...