Searching for Charlie - In Pursuit of the Real Charles Upham VC and Bar by Tom Scott

$39.99 NZD

Category: Military History

Charles Upham was the most highly decorated soldier in the Commonwealth forces of WWII, and could arguably be called the bravest soldier of the war. An unassuming stock worker/ valuer at the beginning of the war, he stormed through Crete and the Western Desert amazing and confounding his comrades with h is exploits. He won two Victoria Crosses (the only combat soldier ever to do so) and in the opinion of his superiors deserved many more. Captured, he became an escape artist and ended his war in the famous Colditz POW camp. Shy and reluctant to take credit for his actions, he deflected all praise onto his soldiers and was described as "distraught" that he had been honoured. He then farmed in North Canterbury until his death in 1994, avoiding the limelight wherever possible. There has been one previous biography, "Mark of the Lion" published in 1962, which was a major bestseller and sells to this day. ...Show more

Battle of Britain - The Pilots and Planes That Made History by Simon Pearson; Ed Gorman

$37.99 NZD

Category: Military History

In Battle of Britain: The Pilots and the Planes That Made History, Ed Gorman and Simon Pearson paint a vivid picture of the men and their machines as the battle for air superiority over Britain is played out across the skies of Europe, from western Ireland to the German capital. They tell remarkable st ories involving hitherto unknown airmen from across the world who flew aircraft, including some that will be new to many readers: the New Zealander who "borrowed" a seaplane from the Royal Navy to set up a freelance air-sea rescue service that saved the lives of dozens of British and German pilots; the Swiss baron who destroyed nine British fighters in a day; the vainglorious Dane whose RAF squadron was wiped out trying to disrupt Nazi invasion plans; and the German bomber pilot who fought the last battle involving foreign troops on British soil since Culloden - before repairing to a pub in Kent for a pint with soldiers from the Irish Rifle, who had taken him prisoner. Illustrated with contemporary photographs of the pilots and their aircraft, these are enthralling stories from both sides of a conflict that shaped the modern world, full of courage, endeavour and above all, humanity. ...Show more

From Taranto to Trieste by Jennifer Mallinson

$49.50 NZD

Category: Military History

Taranto to Trieste is an account of the author’s fascinating journey to retrace the actual path of the 2nd New Zealand Division in Italy from its arrival in October 1943 until the end of the European war. Although a personal journey with personal reflections, the real story is about the largely of f-the-beaten track places which the troops passed through, what they saw and experienced along the way and, in some cases what they missed. To complement the Division’s story, the historical context and military actions are explained with many maps as well as war-time photographs and colourful quotations from official military histories. As the author says, “There are many people of the post-war generation, and their children, with direct connections to the Italian campaign, who would like to know more about the small, mysterious places the Division passed through which appear in diaries, letters and on the back of photographs, but many of which do not appear on maps.” The author’s own photographs, descriptions of the places visited, the landscapes travelled and the roads followed will delight those wanting to follow in the footsteps of the 2nd Division in Italy. ...Show more

Battle of Berlin 1943-44 - Bomber Harris' Gamble to End the War by Richard Worrall; Graham Turner (Illustrator)

$34.99 NZD

Category: Military History | Series: Air Campaign Ser.

This illustrated study explores, in detail, the controversial Battle of Berlin -- RAF Bomber Command's costly, brutal attempt to prove that strategic bombing alone could bring an end to World War II.Throughout late-1943 into early-1944, an epic struggle raged over the skies of Germany between RAF Bomber Command and the Luftwaffe. This campaign had been undertaken by the Commander-in-Chief Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, and was baptized "The Battle of Berlin." The Berlin campaign was a hard, desperate slog. Struggling against dreadful and bitter winter weather, Bomber Command "went" to Berlin a total of sixteen times, suffering increasingly severe losses throughout the winter of 1943/44 in the face of a revitalized German air-defense. The campaign remains controversial and the jury, even today, is ultimately undecided as to what it realistically achieved. Illustrated throughout with full-color artwork depicting the enormous scale of the campaign, this is the story of the RAF's much debated attempt to win the war through bombing alone. ...Show more

Panzer Commander Hermann Balck - Germany's Master Tactician by Stephen Robinson

$44.99 NZD

Category: Military History

A history of one of the world's greatest armoured warfare commanders, Hermann Balck (1897-1982). During World War II, Balck commanded panzer troops from the front line and led by example, putting himself in extreme danger when rallying his soldiers to surge forward. He fought battles that were masterpie ces of tactical operations, utilizing speed, surprise and a remarkable ability to motivate his men to achieve what they considered to be impossible. We follow his exciting journey through the fields of France, mountains of Greece and steppes of Russia. In Greece, through flair and innovative leadership, his soldiers overcame every obstacle to defeat determined Australian and New Zealand soldiers defending the narrow mountain passes. Balck personally led his men to victory in battles at Platamon Ridge on the Aegean coast and in the Vale of Tempe, before entering Athens. This is also the story of a cultured and complex man with a great love of antiquity and classical literature, who nevertheless willingly fought for Hitler's Third Reich while remaining strangely detached from the horrors around him. The book is the result of extensive research of primary and secondary sources, including Balck's battle reports and first-hand accounts written by Allied soldiers who opposed him, panzer division war diaries and campaign assessments, and declassified Pentagon documents. ...Show more

Chastise: The Dambusters 1943 by Max Hastings

$32.99 NZD

Category: Military History

A brand new history of the Dambusters raid from best-selling and critically acclaimed military historian, Max Hastings. Operation Chastise, the destruction of the Mohne and Eder dams in north-west Germany by the RAF's 617 Squadron on the night of 16/17 May 1943, was an epic that has passed into Britain' s national legend. Max Hastings grew up embracing the story, the classic 1955 movie and the memory of Guy Gibson, the 24-year-old wing-commander who led the raid. In the 21st Century, however, he urges that we should see the dambusters in much more complex shades. The aircrew's heroism was entirely real, as was the brilliance of Barnes Wallis, inventor of the 'bouncing bombs'. But commanders who promised their young fliers that success could shorten the war fantasised as ruthlessly as they did about the entire bomber offensive. Some 1,400 civilians perished in the biblical floods that swept through the Mohne valley, more than half of them Russian and Polish women, slave labourers. Hastings vividly describes the evolution of Wallis' bomb, and of the squadron which broke the dams. But he also portrays in harrowing detail those swept away by the torrents. He argues that what modern Germans call the Mohnekatastrophe imposed on the Nazi war machine temporary disruption, rather than a crippling blow. Ironically, Air Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris gained much of the public credit, though he bitterly opposed Chastise as a distraction from his city-burning blitz. Harris also made perhaps the operation's biggest mistake - failure to launch a conventional attack on the huge post-raid repair operation which could have transformed the impact of the dam breaches on Ruhr industry. Here once again is a dramatic retake on familiar history by a master of the art. Hastings sets the Dams Raid in the big picture of the bomber offensive and of the Second World War, with moving portraits of the young airmen, so many of whom died; of Barnes Wallis; the monstrous Harris; the tragic Guy Gibson, together with superb narrative of the action of one of the most extraordinary episodes in British history. ...Show more

Bravo Kiwi by Craig Wilson

$39.99 NZD

Category: Military History

Major Craig Wilson is a decorated former SAS member, and has been in more combat zones than any other Kiwi soldier. He was the commanding officer of Bravo Company, which lost 2 soldiers when they went to the aid Afghan police at Baghek in August 2012. Craig was left injured, shot in the shoulder, and wa s Medevac'd to a German hospital. There he heard 3 more of his team had died in an explosion. This is the story of Craig Wilson and the men and women of Bravo Company. It starts in 2010 at Burnham army base and includes infantry preparations for; Christchurch earthquake; planning for Afghanistan; life in Bamiyan; the battle at Baghek and its aftermath. ...Show more

The Silent Division & Concerning One Man's War 1914-1919

$59.99 NZD

Category: Military History

The book is in three parts. Part One: a re-issue, unaltered, of the acclaimed The Silent Division - New Zealanders at the Front 1914 - 1919, first published in 1935, but now including maps and illustrations. Part Two: issued for the first time; that part of Ormond Burton's hitherto unpublished autobiogr aphy which deals with his heroic, front-line service in The Great War, entitled Concerning One Man's War, 1914-1918. This is a vibrant account at an individual level; arguably the finest writing by a New Zealander about that war. Edited by John H Gray, an acknowledge historian and published author, specialising on the The New Zealand Division in the Western Front. Part Three: a brief biography of the author by, David Grant, author, historian and lecturer Victoria University. ...Show more

Nuking the Moon: And Other Intelligence Schemes and Military Plots Best Left on the Drawing Board by Vince Houghton

$27.99 NZD

Category: Military History

"Compulsively readable laugh out loud history." Mary RoachBomb-carrying bats. Poisoned flower arrangements. Cigars laced with mind-altering drugs. Listening devices implanted into specially-trained cats. A torpedo-proof aircraft carrier made out of ice and sawdust. And a CIA plan to detonate a nuclear b omb on the moon ... just because. In Nuking the Moon, Vince Houghton, Historian and Curator at the International Spy Museum, collects the most inspired, implausible and downright bizarre military intelligence schemes that never quite made it off the drawing board. From the grandly ambitious to the truly devious, they illuminate a new side of warfare, revealing how a combination of desperation and innovation led not only to daring missions and brilliant technological advances, but to countless plans and experiments that failed spectacularly. Alternatively terrifying and hilarious, and combining archival research with newly-conducted interviews, these twenty-six chapters reveal not only what might have happened, but also what each one tells us about the history and people around it. If 'military intelligence' makes you think of James Bond and ingenious exploding gadgets ... get ready for the true story. ...Show more

Hitler: Military Commander by Rupert Matthews

$19.99 NZD

Category: Military History

Spy Pilot - Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy by Francis Gary Powers; Keith Dunnavant; Sergei Krushchev (Foreword by)

$48.00 NZD

Category: Military History

Based on newly available information, the son of famed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers presents the facts and dispels misinformation about the Cold War espionage program that turned his father into a Cold War icon.. One of the most talked-about events of the Cold War was the downing of the American U-2 s py plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. The event was recently depicted in the Steven Spielberg movie Bridge of Spies. Powers was captured by the KGB, subjected to a televised show trial, and imprisoned, all of which created an international incident. Soviet authorities eventually released him in exchange for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. On his return to the United States, Powers was exonerated of any wrongdoing while imprisoned in Russia, yet, due to bad press and the government's unwillingness to heartily defend Powers, a cloud of controversy lingered until his untimely death in 1977.        Now his son, Francis Gary Powers Jr. and acclaimed historian Keith Dunnavant have written this new account of Powers's life based on personal files that had never been previously available. Delving into old audio tapes, letters his father wrote and received while imprisoned in the Soviet Union, the transcript of his father's debriefing by the CIA, other recently declassified documents about the U-2 program, and interviews with the spy pilot's contemporaries, Powers and Dunnavant set the record straight. The result is a fascinating piece of Cold War history. This is also a book about a son's journey to understand his father, pursuing justice and a measure of peace.      Almost sixty years after the fact, this will be the definitive account of one of the most important events of the Cold War. ...Show more

Tigers I and II - Germany's Most Feared Tanks of World War II by David Doyle

$45.00 NZD

Category: Military History | Series: Legends of Warfare: Ground Ser.

Germany's Tiger tank, whether in the form of the Tiger I or later Tiger II (King Tiger), was the most feared tank of WWII.  Despite production totaling fewer than 2,000 units, its heavy armor, its power, and perhaps the even more powerful Nazi propaganda machine ensured that the Tiger remains well known over seven decades after last being on the battlefield. Through more than 175 photos, this volume chronicles the design, development, and deployment of this famed German tank. Full-color photographs of rare surviving examples from around the globe augment carefully selected war-era photos in bringing this tank back to life. Comprehensive tables reveal the details of performance and technical specifications of each variant. A concise, easy-to-read text and detailed photographic captions expose the secrets of this iconic tank. Part of the Legends of Warfare series. ...Show more