Pen And Sword Military imprint: 1065 books

On 13 August, with the war only a matter of days old, the German cargo vessel, Herbert Fischer, was on its way from Russia to deliver timber to J T Sydenhams in Poole. It was challenged and stopped by Royal Naval vessels in the English Channel, but somewhat remarkably, it was allowed to continue its...

Before the outbreak of the First World War, the Channel Islands were viewed as they are today; scenic, sunny and relaxing holiday destinations, where it was possible to briefly escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. As soon as the fighting began, the immediate worry was the threat of...

Animals in the Great War looks at the use of animals by all sides in the Great War and to what effect. In the main, it focuses greatly on horses, dogs and pigeons but also addresses the war efforts of other animals. In the early years of the war horses were, to a large extent, the only form...

In the opening months of the First World War, 1,500 men from Cambridgeshire came forward to serve their country as a battalion in Kitchener's New Army. They came from the city and they came from the fields. Many had never left the county before, let alone their country, and all too many would never...

The Men Behind Monty examines the role played by the staff in the victorious campaigns of Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, Britain's most successful field commander since the Duke of Wellington.

When Monty took command of Eighth Army in August 1942, he inherited the staff of his predecessor....

It was 2am on the 16th June 1915 and dawn was slowly breaking over Bellewaarde. It was exceptionally quiet, the troops of 3rd Division were situated on the western edge of Railway Wood and shrouded in a thick mist which reduced visibility and gave the illusion of safety. Across the few yards of no...

The M4 Medium Tank - the Sherman – was one of the most famous tanks of the Second World War. It was produced in greater numbers than any other Allied tank, it fought on every front – in Western Europe, on the Eastern Front, in North Africa, Burma, the Pacific – and it continued to serve effectively...

Gregory Blaxland has written a superb account of 1918, the final year of the war when the balance of advantage between the combatants changed so dramatically in a matter of weeks that summer. As the realities of the changing nature of warfare by late 1917 made the retention of static lines,...

Twenty-seven Irish newspapers for the period covering the Great War have been trawled through to deliver the amazing stories of those years which changed the world for ever. These are the accounts of local men at the front; of torpedoed ships; drunken wives; final letters and requests from the trenches....

Seen through the eyes of John Fletcher-Cooke, the horrifying, but by now often-told story of the treatment meted out by the Japanese to their prisoners of war takes on an entirely new light. His is a book written without bitterness but at the same time a book which does not look back on suffering...

The Second World War saw many people consigned to long periods of exile, far from home. How did the exiled keep in touch with home? Why were some exiles silent when others wrote frequently and at length? Posted in Wartime explores the nature of such exile and considers what could be written in diaries...

In 1914 Billericay was a peaceful compact village of about 2000 inhabitants. There was the High Street, Back Street, which today is called Chapel Street, and Back Lane which is now Western Road. Within half a mile of the High Street there were groups of cottages; Sun Street had some, which are still...

Portsmouth in the Great War is a story with a cast of thousands. They included a future archbishop and at least six brave and determined young clergymen with a talent for writing letters who volunteered as Army chaplains. There was the first naval VC of the war who was also the first submariner VC...

Barely 17 years after the Great War that had brought Britain to its knees, the country was once again asked to make sacrifices and give their all to the war effort. With its strong industrial background, Birmingham was already geared to help manufacture the vehicles that could be adapted for war use,...