On the night of 9/10 July 1943, an Allied armada of 2,590 vessels launched one of the largest combined operations of the Second World War - the invasion of Sicily, Operation 'Husky'. Over the next thirty-eight days, half a million British, Canadian, American and French soldiers, sailors, and airmen grappled with their German and Italian counterparts for control of this rocky outcrop of Hitler's 'Fortress Europe'. The Allied assault on Sicily featured airborne and amphibiou...

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 ...

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...

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 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...

Lisbon 1941. Britain and Germany are at war inside a neutral country. The conflict between them has been reduced to a 'cat and mouse' game of espionage, dirty tricks and informants, as each side strives to gain the upper hand without upsetting their Portuguese hosts. Colonel Hulse, chief of Britain's MI6 station in the city believes he has a German mole in his organisation. The German Abwehr chief, Stenzel, has someone close to him who is ready to defect. An agent of the Portuguese secret ...

Bloomsbury presents Operation Market-Garden 1944 (3): The British XXX Corps Missions by Ken Ford, read by Tom AlexanderThe 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 ambitio...

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...

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 ...

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...

A highly illustrated account of the crossings of the great river, which Churchill called 'The last great heave of war'.No invading army had crossed the Rhine since Napoleon's in 1805 and the task fell to Field Marshal Montgomery's 21st Army Group in 1945. Opposing them were the forces of a failing fascist regime, including battalions of old men and boys, strengthened by several formations of crack troops including paratroopers and Panzer Grenadiers.With an ...