Military

The Battle for Hong Kong lasted eighteen days. It was always going to be a losing battle. Winston Churchill knew that Hong Kong could not be defended or relieved if attacked. It had become an isolated outpost to be held as long as possible. After reaching the limits of endurance the British administration surrendered the Crown Colony on Christmas Day, December 1941. The military defeat ushered in a brutal occupation by the Imperial Japanese Army, who ruled the captured territory under martial la...

The highly effective leadership of Major-General Richard Gale overcame the haphazard nature of airborne operations 1939-1945, and enabled the unproven British 6th Airborne Division to achieve its objectives during the Normandy Campaign of June – August 1944. Despite its scattered parachute landings 6th Airborne achieved its D-Day goals, and held the line for three months, a task for which it was not equipped. This study examines the factors that made this possible and analyses Gale’s impact on t...

The Russia-Ukraine War erupted on February 24, 2022, when Russian military forces took much of the world by surprise by launching a massive, multi-front land, air, and sea attack against Ukraine. The Russians targeted Kyiv in the north and other key cities in the east and south, expecting a quick victory. However, the Ukrainians mounted a fierce defence of their country, deploying old and new technology combined with creative tactics and information warfare. Backed by covert NATO assistance, Ukr...

But what is the German view of this stunning Allied escape. Drawing on German interviews, diaries and unit post-action reports, Robert Kershaw creates a page-turning history of a battle that we thought we knew. Dunkirchen 1940 is the first major history on what went wrong for the Germans at Dunkirk. As supreme military commander, Hitler had seemingly achieved a miracle after the swift capitulation of Holland and Belgium, but with just seven kilometres before the panzers captured Dunkirk - the on...

Denmark has been a user of the Leopard 2 main battle tank since 2004, when the Leopard 2A5DK entered service. Now, a new chapter in the story of the Leopard 2 in use with the Danish Army is being written. With the introduction of the Leopard 2A7DK, Denmark has become a member of an exclusive club of users of the latest Leopard 2 variant. With the introduction of the Leopard 2A7DK, their existing vehicles with, for instance, better armament and better armour.

While the Red Army's arsenal at the start of the Second World War included weapons dating back to the Great War or earlier, the 1930s' modernization programme had introduced the automatic Tokarev pistol and self-loading Tokarev rifle. Its small arms were soon replaced by mass-produced sub-machine guns, such as the PPSh 1941. Fitted with a circular pan magazine, it received the not-unsurprising nickname Record Player. New mortars and towed artillery pieces, ranging from 76mm to 203mm, entered ser...

From Desert Eagle Publishing, Book 34 covers the entire Spearhead current family of tanks and APCs, and includes, articles and photo albums. Mantak – The Merkava Program Directorate. The Merkava tank generations, End of multi tank model fleet. Photo album of the Merkava Mk. 4M new photos, Namer family, Namer infantry and trophy, Namer Combat Engineers Carpet with the adapter, Namer maintenance 9, Namer Command, Proving ground photos, Eitan 8x8 newly rolled-out APC.

The reader will obtain the following information with regard to French volunteers of the Waffen-SS. Formation of French Sturmbrigade of the Waffen-SS and its subsequent deployment to Galicia. Formation of Waffen-SS Division Charlemagne including histories of its primary components, namely the LVF and Milice française and the Divisions bitter battles in Pomerania during 1945. Reconstitution of Charlemagne as a regimental command. Blow-by-blow account of the French Sturmbataillon in the final de...

First published in 1983 but out of print for many years, Cromwell Tank: Vehicle History and Specification is available again from The Tank Museum. This book shows what made the Cromwell tick, featuring an edited facsimile reprint of the official Service Instruction Book for the Cromwell Mark I published in 1943. This is the crew’s ‘bible’, which describes every detail in straightforward terms: from driving instructions to the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine, Christie suspension and tracks, and from tu...

First published in 1983 but out of print for many years, Churchill Tank: Vehicle History and Specification is available again from The Tank Museum. In this book, it lives again as an edited facsimile reprint of the official Service Instruction Book on the Churchill Marks VI and VIll published in 1944. This is the crew’s ‘bible’: it instructs them how to handle and maintain their charge, and in doing so it presents the modern reader with a detailed anatomy of the tank – from driving instructions ...

Autocannon is a comprehensive history of the development of automatic cannon and their ammunition from the end of the nineteenth century up to the present day. A brief history of their development is followed by sections examining the basic principles of gun and ammunition design, including various unconventional systems. Next comes a survey of cartridges in calibre order, from 20mm to 57mm, including not only ammunition that has seen service, but also a wide range of experimental types. Finally...

Reinhard Heydrich along with Heinrich Himmler, whose deputy he was, will always be regarded as one of the most ruthless of the Nazi elite. Even Hitler described him as a man with an iron heart. He established his fearsome reputation in the 1930s, as head of the Sicherheitsdienst, the intelligence organisation which neutralised opposition to the Nazi Party by murder and deportation. He organised Kristalnacht and played a leading role in the Holocaust, chairing the 1942 Wannsee Conference which f...