First published in 1947, this novel from British author John Lodwick is an accolade to the British Special Boat Service (SBS), a commando force of some 300 men that inflicted great damage on the enemy in the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas during World War II.Founded in July 1940 by Commando officer Roger Courtney, and initially named the Folboat Troop—after the type of folding canoe employed in raiding operations—the Special Boat Service became the special forces unit of the Nava...

The Special Boat Service was a small force during World War II, never more than about 300 men. But that did not stop it from inflicting great damage on the enemy. In the Mediterranean arena and in the Aegean, which the Germans controlled after the fall of Greece and Crete, this small commando force kept up a constant campaign of harassment, thus pinning down enemy forces and preventing their joining other fronts.They travelled by night to their targets, using submarines, small surface vess...

A victim of betrayal, he plunged himself into a reckless life of crime and passion…This quite extraordinary novel begins with a domestic scene in London such as we will readily admit we have read before. The hero, one George Abbott, reaches a state of bitter disillusion which makes him ripe for the land of underworld adventure that only John Lodwick could imagine and create with such staggering realism.This is a brilliant novel of excitement, movement, crime, and passion.

Acclaimed historian and best-selling author Antony Beevor vividly brings to life the epic struggles that took place in Second World War Crete - reissued with a new introduction.'The best book we have got on Crete' ObserverThe Germans expected their airborne attack on Crete in 1941 - a unique event in the history of warfare - to be a textbook victory based on tactical surprise. They had no idea that the British, using Ultra intercep...

One of the most remarkable stories in the history of Special Forces' operations - Daily ExpressIn the bleak moments after defeat on mainland Europe in winter 1939, wartime leader Winston Churchill knew that Britain had to strike back hard.He recruited a band of eccentric free-thinking warriors to become the first 'deniable' secret operatives behind enemy lines, offering these volunteers nothing but the potential for glory and all-but-certain death....

One of the British Army's first paratroopers recounts in vivid detail his service in the 2nd Parachute Battalion during the Battle of Arnhem and beyond . . .No one who has read of Arnhem can fail to be inspired by gallantry of the 2nd Parachute Regiment, which held the north end of the key road bridge over the Rhine—the "Bridge Too Far"—not for twenty-four hours for which it was equipped, but for three days and four nights. Commanded by the then Lieutenant-Colonel ...

A decorated British officer's wrenching and inspiring firsthand account of the worst battle of the Burma campaign.Lt. Col. Michael Lowry MC MBE, was awarded the Military Cross for his role in the desperate defensive action at Kohima, considered the worst of the campaign in Burma. After joining up in 1939 with the Queen's Royal Regiment, Lowry was posted to the North West Frontier of India, where he cut his teeth chasing gangs of Pathan bandits for two years. As the...

When Australian troops stormed ashore in the pre-dawn darkness of April 25th 1915, it was the culmination of one of the most complex and daunting operations in the history of warfare - the seaborne assault of a heavily fortified shore, defended by a well-prepared and forewarned enemy.The risks were enormous, and the death toll on the beach at Anzac Cove could have been murderous - as it was with the British landings further south. Yet the Anzacs had been allowed to organise their o...

The spectre of the Great War still haunts us. No other conflict so dramatically illustrates the waste of life, and the slaughter of innocents, as that of 1914-18. And none has so dramatically shaped the modern world: the Russian Revolution, the rise of Hitler, the break-up of Empire, the supremacy of America and World War II all stem from the four years of the 'war to end all wars'.Here is the eye-witness chronicle of that war, from the trenches of Flanders to the staff rooms of the...

A gripping history of Britain's Special Boat Squadron in World War II, drawing on veteran interviews and including rare photographs from the SAS Regimental Association.The Special Boat Squadron was Britain's most exclusive Special Forces unit during World War II, and yet its exploits have been largely forgotten. This book tells its story.Highly trained, totally secretive and utterly ruthless, the SBS was established as an entity in its own right in early 19...

The First World War was, for Britain, as much about Imperial conflict, as it was about fighting on the Western front.Hundreds of millions of colonial subjects were forced into the war alongside Britain, and made a huge difference to the strength of the British army.In this fascinating study, Henry Newbolt and John Buchan take a general overview of the First World War, from its causes to the aftermath, with the focus on the central role played by both Britain and its colonie...

The British Army that faced Napoleon in the Peninsula was small by continental standards, but it consistently out-fought larger French armies, never losing a major open-field action.Its cavalry and artillery were standard; but its infantry achieved unique results, as their tactics were brought to a peak of professional perfection by Wellington. Using contemporary instruction manuals, first-hand accounts and in-depth analysis of individual actions, this book examine...