The classic history about Winston Churchill's role as a strategist in both World Wars and his misuse of sea power."A massively thought-provoking book. . . . Roskill's book gives us an excellent and authoritative insight into Churchill as a leader, and serves as an excellent antidote to the modern tendency to worship him blindly. . . . Roskill has a highbrow but entirely readable style, and despite all the criticisms in this book, retains a shrewd loyalty to...

First published in 1968 and 1976, the two volumes of this work still constitute the only authoritative study of the broad geo-political, economic and strategic factors behind the inter-war development of the Royal Navy and, to a great extent, that of its principal rival, the United States Navy. Roskill conceived the work as a peacetime equivalent of the official naval histories, filling the gap between the First World War volumes and his own study of the Navy in the Second. As such it is m...

First published in 1968 and 1976, the two volumes of this work still constitute the only authoritative study of the broad geo-political, economic and strategic factors behind the inter-war development of the Royal Navy and, to a great extent, that of its principal rival, the United States Navy. Roskill conceived the work as a peacetime equivalent of the official naval histories, filling the gap between the First World War volumes and his own study of the Navy in the Second. As such it is m...

Admiral Beatty was beyond doubt the best known fighting Admiral, perhaps the best known military leader, of the First World War. His conduct at Heligoland Bight and Dogger Bank, and later at Jutland, caught the public imagination, while his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet in taking into custody the German High Sea Fleet in November 1918 associated him with perhaps the most tangible symbol of the collapse of Germanys military might. He is probably remembered by most for his co...

"A real-life Boy's Own escapade, telling the absorbing story about the capture of U-boat 110 in May 1941 by the Royal Navy." — Defense Focus MagazineFor fifteen years after the end of the war, all official Admiralty records showed the German submarine U-110 as sunk on nine May 1941 by the surface escorts of convoy OB.318. As this book was th...

A "truly exceptional" account of how Churchill's experiences in the armed forces helped him lead Britain to victory in World War II ( Booklist).No defense minister in modern times has faced the challenges that Winston Churchill did during the Second World War. Fortunately, he had a unique and intimate inside knowledge of all three services, which allowed him to assess their real needs—a crucial task when money, material resources, and, especially, manpower...

**"A compelling, dramatic account of the Royal Navy's last great sea battle." —Robert K. Massie, Pulitzer Prize–winning and New York Times–bestselling author of DreadnoughtMore than a century later, historians still argue about this controversial and misunderstood World War I naval battle off the coast of Denmark. It was the twentieth century's first engagement of dreadnoughts—and while it left Britain in control of the North Sea, both sides claimed victo...

July 1940: as Britain stood alone, the Army exhausted and defeated by the Wehrmacht and the Roval Navy, stretched worldwide, only the English Channel and the RAF remained between Britain and the expected German invasion. But the Luftwaffe's ill-prepared and last-minute assault on the RAF was met by a carefully planned system of fighter intervention, the defensive strategy devised by Hugh Dowding, Commander-in-Chief, RAF Fighter Command. Dowding fought and won Britain's most vital victory, ...

Ostensibly fought for control of Swedish iron ore to Germany, the Norwegian campaign made an important but largely overlooked contribution to the conduct of the Second World War. It convincingly proved the supremacy of air power in modern warfare and, particularly, the vulnerability of land and sea forces to sustained undefended air assault. It was the first conflict in which one side, the Germans, used all three arms of their forces in integrated combined assault – Blitzkreig – and in whi...

'A lively and readable account' Spectator'A fine book ... well-written and well-researched' Washington TimesIn less than six hours in August 1942, nearly 1,000 British, Canadian and American commandos died in the French port of Dieppe in an operation that for decades seemed to have no real purpose. Was it a dry-run for D-Day, or perhaps a gesture by the Allies to placate Stalin's impatience for a second front in th...

"The hunting down and sinking of the magnificent German battle cruiser Scharnhorst was one of the epic actions of World War II . . . stirring" ( Work Boat).On December 25, 1943, the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst slipped out of Altenfjord in Norway to attack Arctic convoy JW55B which was carrying vital war supplies to the Soviet Union. But British naval intelligence knew of the Scharnhorst's mission before she sailed, and the ...

The sixth volume in the official biography: "A milestone, a monument, a magisterial achievement" (Andrew Roberts, author of The Storm of War).Starting with the outbreak of war in September 1939 and ending with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, this volume in the epic biography of Winston S. Churchill draws on remarkably diverse material: from the War Cabinet and other government records to Churchill's own archive and diaries and letters...