Despite all the works on airborne forces published since 1945, the full story of Britain's 'airborne armour' has remained untold. This book is intended to correct that omission. The story has two main strands - the project to fly tanks onto the battlefield to support airborne forces, and the history of the unit which operated those tanks and supported 6th Airborne Division in the ground role - the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment. The book is the result of considerable origina...

The Seven Years' War was the pinnacle of 18th-century warfare, with dramatic campaigns and battles, famous leaders, and wide variety of colourful uniforms. Compared with the later Napoleonic Wars, tactics were simpler, armies more professional, and battles tended to be smaller. Using these quick-to-learn rules, players can bring this period to the tabletop, recreating anything from a small skirmish to a major pitched battle. Although simple, the rules allow for a wide range of tactics and ...

When the German Battleship Bismarck was commissioned in 1940 she was one of the fastest and most powerful ships afloat. To the Royal Navy and the security of Allied shipping in the Atlantic she posed an enormous threat she must be destroyed. When she broke out into the Atlantic in 1941, some of Britains most powerful ships were sent to pursue and sink her. The first encounter proved disastrous for the British Battleship HMS Hood, which was sunk at 0800 on 24 May. Bismarck had sustained sev...

In February 1942, three of the major ships of the German surface fleet – the battle-cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen – stormed out of the harbour at Brest on a dramatic voyage back to Germany.Passing through the straights of Dover, the ships faced everything the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy could throw at them. In a dramatic running fight, the ships managed to sail right under the nose of history's greatest maritime nation...

A detailed history of the World War II battle, featuring experiences from over 500 participants, by the author of The First Day on the Somme.The Battle of Arnhem was a turning point in the war, a gamble by Montgomery, using three airborne divisions to capture a series of bridges spanning the wide rivers of Holland and unleash the Allied armies into the plains of northern Germany. If the bridges had been captured and held, and the ground forces had been able...

Ever wondered what it would be like to fly a biplane or triplane in the First World War? Raymond Collishaw and the Black Flight takes you to the Western Front during the Great War. Experience the risks of combat and the many close calls Collishaw had as a pilot, flight commander, and squadron leader. Understand the courage Collishaw and his fellow flyers faced every day they took to the air in their small, light, and very manoeuvrable craft to face the enemy.As the third-h...

DESCRIPTION John Moffat: Legend of the Bismarck tells the remarkable story of a Fleet Air Arm pilot and flying legend who, with a single torpedo strike, delivered from an obsolete biplane, in a force nine gale, in the middle of the Atlantic, brought about the sinking of Nazi Germany’s most powerful battleship, the Bismarck. This short book gives the reader a concise and straightforward insight into the achievements of John Moffat an...

The only book written by the legendary "legless" ace, the double amputee World War II fighter pilot immortalized by the film Reach for the Sky.In Fight for the Sky, Douglas Bader tells the inspiring story of the Battle of Britain from the viewpoint of "The Few." Using superb illustrations he traces the development of the Spitfire and Hurricane and describes the nail-biting actions of those who flew them against far superior numbers of enemy aircraf...

Admiral Schofields accounts of the Taranto and Bismarck battles make for unforgettable reading.The author traces the development of British naval aviation from its early beginnings in 1912, through the First World War and the frustrations of the inter-war years. The November 1940 attack on the Italian fleet in its strongly defended base at Taranto demonstrated for the first time the battle-winning capability of carrier-borne aircraft from HMS Illustrious. The lesson was quickly learnt by t...

The fierce struggle between the British 1st Airborne Division and the superior German forces in and around Arnhem is well documented. This book tells of the role played in the battle for Oosterbeek and the bridge at Arnhem itself by the men of the Glider Pilot Regiment (GPR). These men were already experienced soldiers who volunteered to join the airborne forces and take the fight to the Germans in a totally new regiment.The men of the GPR were predominantly SNCOs trained to fly wooden ass...

An amazing array of leaflets, books and manuals were issued by the Air Ministry during the Second World War to aid pilots in flying the Supermarine Spitfire, here for the first time they are collated into a single book. An introduction is supplied by expert aviation historian Dilip Sarkar. Other sections include aircraft recognition, how to act as an RAF officer, bailing out, and so on.

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, photographs, and detailed map...