One of the key objectives of British forces on D-Day was the capture of the strategically vital city of Caen.General Montgomery saw Caen as the key to Normandy and the springboard for the Allied breakout, but so did the Germans and the city did not fall. It took three major offensives and more than 30 bloody days of struggle to finally take Caen. In the process the city was controversially devastated and its civilian population decimated. The Allies paid a high pri...

The author of A Luftwaffe General gives a detailed history of the Allied forces' brutal Operation Clipper during World War II.The Anglo-American battle for the Geilenkirchen salient in November, 1944, was infantry warfare at its worst, and it is described in vivid detail in this new edition of Ken Ford's classic study. The onset of winter saw the Allied advance from the Normandy beaches forced to a halt on Germany's doorstep. The clock had been put back to ...

The assault crossing of the River Seine by the British 43rd (Wessex) Division in August 1944 remains one of the most important operations of the closing stages of the Second World War. Once the obstacle of the great river had been overcome, General Horrocks unleashed the armor of XXX Corps on their historic dash across northern France and Belgium.Assault Crossing Ken Fords classic account of this critical battle—is the story of one British division pitted against one German division. On on...

A richly illustrated examination of the British raid on the port of St Nazaire: one of the most daring actions of World War II.The port lies at the mouth of the River Loire and in 1942, as well as a U-Boat base, contained the massive 'Normandie' dock, the only facility on the Atlantic coast large enough to accommodate the German pocket battleship Tirpitz.This book tells the story of the raid that denied the use of the dock to the Tirpitz, the sister ship of...

On the night of December 7, 1942, five canoes were launched off the mouth of the Gironde river, each containing a pair of British commandoes tasked with slipping into the port of Bordeaux and destroying as many of the merchant ships as possible. Only two of the canoes made it to the target, but it was enough. Five enemy ships were badly damaged in the attack. It then became a game of cat and mouse for the surviving commandoes in their attempt to get back to Britain. Some of the men made it...

A highly illustrated and detailed study of the Sword Beach & the British Airborne Landings.At 0016hrs on 6 June 1944 a Horsa glider ground to a halt a mere 60 yards from the Orne Canal bridge at Bénouville in Normandy. A small group of British paratroopers burst from it and stormed the bridge within minutes. The Allied liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe had begun. Within a few hours landing craft would swarm towards Ouistreham as British 3rd Divisi...

Hitler had very definite views on the role of women in Nazi Germany; they were all destined to be wives and mothers. It was their duty to marry and produce lots of children for the future of the Third Reich. Set apart from these 'ordinary' women were a select group of others who were particularly close to him. They lived within his inner circle. They spent their lives in a cocoon, closeted amongst the elite of the nation far removed from the bestiality that Hitler wrought upon many of his ...

One of the key objectives of British forces on D-Day was the capture of the strategically vital city of Caen.General Montgomery saw Caen as the key to Normandy and the springboard for the Allied breakout, but so did the Germans and the city did not fall. It took three major offensives and more than 30 bloody days of struggle to finally take Caen. In the process the city was controversially devastated and its civilian population decimated. The Allies paid a high pri...

In the darkest days of World War II, the British planned a daring airborne operation to capture the secret of the new German radar.Lead by Major John Frost, a company of paratroopers dropped into Bruneval on the French coast, and quickly neutralized a small German garrison. Then began a desperate fight for time as the British tried to dismantle the German radar and evacuate back to England, as ever more German units converged on their position.Using artwork...

The naval plan behind the Normandy landings that aided the success of the Allied invasion of France.The story of Operation Neptune was, of course, more than just a tale of planning, building and logistics. It had action a-plenty and the emotive tales of bravery, ingenuity and determination by the crews of the ships involved brought credit to the naval traditions of the Allied nations.Battleships, cruisers and destroyers bombarded enemy positions; midget sub...

The final instalment in Osprey's trilogy on Operation Market-Garden, this is a fascinating account of the British XXX Corps assault towards the Rhine at Arnhem.Field Marshal Montgomery's plan to get Second British Army behind the fortifications of the German Siegfried Line in 1944 led to the hugely ambitions Operation Market-Garden. Part of this plan called for a rapid advance from Belgium through Holland up to and across the lower Rhine by the Br...

Illustrated by contemporary photos and specially commissioned maps, this book is a fascinating account of Rommel's greatest victory.Following a lull in the desert war which saw the Germans and British reinforce their armies, Rommel suddenly attacked British fortifications with an assault on the northern sector of the British line near Gazala.Pinning down the British in the north and outflanking the 1st Free French Brigade, Rommel succeeded in encircling the...