'Punchy. Trenchant. Heavyweight. Mark Urban’s Tank blows the doors off, just as you’d expect from such an accomplished author. Take cover!’ Damien Lewis, author of SAS Great EscapesAn authoritative history of the tank and the remarkable individuals who designed them and fought in them, from a former officer and best-selling historianTanks are the ultimate embodiment of industrial age warfare. In the popular imagination, th...

A GRIPPING, AUTHORISED HISTORY OF THE DARING 'RED DEVILS' TOLD THROUGH THE FATES OF SIX HEROES.'Riveting . . . Full of daring action, standout characters and cutting edge operations, this is unputdownable' Damien Lewis'Gripping and authoritative. Family men, circus performers, solicitors, communists, and reactionaries all fought together and shed blood for their country - a true and moving story of war' Andy McNab--...

The size of western armed forces, their stocks of weaponry and their readiness for combat are declining. Meanwhile, growing nationalism is hampering international cooperation and fuelling conflict everywhere. The west's will - as well as its capability - to shape the world is ebbing away.Beset by economic woes, western countries are continuing the post-Cold War process of disarmament at the very moment that many believe a new Cold War is starting. NATO members have compared Vladimi...

The true story of one of the most dramatic and sustained special operations in military historyWhen American and British forces invaded Iraq in March 2003, select teams of special forces and intelligence operatives got to work looking for the WMD their governments had promised were there. They quickly realized no such weapons existed. Instead they faced an insurgency—a soaring spiral of extremism and violence that was almost impossible to understand, let alone reve...

"One of the few truly authentic accounts of the modern SAS outside the world of fiction." THE TIMESFollowing the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq in 2003, the SAS launched one of the most intense and secretive operations in its history: Task Force Black.Operating out 'The Station' in Bagdad, Task Force Black's role was to hunt down senior members of Al-Qaeda operating in Iraq. Using the latest weaponry, combining with other international...

From Dunkirk to North Africa, from D-Day to Hamburg, the 5th Royal Tank Regiment were in the frontline. Few regiments had longer wars or saw more action than the 'Filthy Fifth'.In this remarkable narrative history, acclaimed author Mark Urban tells the story of World War II through the eyes of this brave regiment. In many ways, the fighting Fifth's journey reflects Britain - early losses turned to eventual victory through ingenuity, daring and exceptional bravery. ...

The 95th Rifles - Wellington's sharpshooters - first into battle and last out.Acclaimed military writer Mark Urban explores the extraordinary story of these military pioneers; the toughest and deadliest infantrymen in Wellington's Army.Immortalised in Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels, the 95th Rifles were skirmishers tasked with acting as Wellington's advanced guard. It was new technology for the warfare of the time: they travelled light, moved rapidly, arm...

The little-known story of a brilliant British code-cracker: "[Urban] has pieced together the fragments and deciphered the truth about a hidden hero." — Daily TelegraphThe Duke of Wellington—who began his military career as Arthur Wellesley—is rightly credited for the strategic and intelligence-gathering brilliance that culminated in Britain's defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. Two centuries later, many of his subordinates are still remembered for their roles i...

**Brought to you by Penguin.“Tanks are like dinner jackets”, an Australian general once commented, “you don’t need them very often, but when you do, nothing else will do.”**An authoritative history of the tank and the remarkable individuals who designed them and fought in them, from a former officer and best-selling historianTanks are the ultimate embodiment of industrial age warfare. In the popular imagination, they represent both a terrif...

In 2007, after almost 40 years of operations, the SAS ceased operations in Northern Ireland and ended the longest operational commitment in the unit's history. It had been a brutal and ruthless conflict on both sides with the SAS famously describing its attitude to the use of lethal force as 'Big Boys' Rules'. Anyone suspect caught with a gun or bomb could expect to be shot without question.Starting in 1969, Mark Urban reveals the extraordinary history of the speci...

Brought to you by Penguin.A GRIPPING AUTHORISED HISTORY OF THE DARING 'RED DEVILS', THE TRAILBLAZERS OF THE PARACHUTE REGIMENTThe Parachute Regiment is Britain's elite airborne infantry. On the 80th anniversary of their first crucial campaign, in Operation Torch in North Africa, historian and broadcaster Mark Urban combines perspectives from German and British sources to tell the gripping stories of the men who had the resilience, fitness a...

The explosive story of the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and what it reveals about the growing clandestine conflict between the West and RussiaSalisbury, England: March 4, 2018.Slumped on a bench, paralyzed and barely able to breathe, were a former Russian intelligence officer named Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. Sergei had been living a quiet life in England since 2010, when he was expelled from Russia as part of a spy swap; he ...