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After over half a century of secrecy, a Swiss bank safe was opened, it contained the long-lost research notes of Josef Mengele, as well as those of his chief assistant in Auschwitz. They had been deposited there by the assistant who himself had been a Jewish doctor. Sent to Auschwitz, he was forced to participate in Josef MengeleâEUR(TM)s gruesome human experiments. Following the war, he completely disappeared, assuming a new identity and shrouding himself in silence. He did write his story down, but ordered the documents to be sealed away until decades after his death. With the release date drawing closer, his granddaughter, a well-connected Vatican doctor, wanted to have the documents examined by a professional historian. Thus, a great investigation was launched to track him down and pin down his place in the medical system in Auschwitz and the horrendous medical experiments conducted there. However, after some time, doubts regarding the authenticity of the documents began to emerge. Thus, what promised to be a sensational historical breakthrough, soon turned into a criminal investigation into one of the greatest historical fraud attempts in recent decades. At the end of the second investigation, the person behind the forged documents was brought to trial and sentenced on 22 counts of fraud. This book thoroughly examines the way the fraud evolved over the span of three decades and how it succeeded in convincing so many people, while also comparing it to other historic hoaxes, particularly those concerning the Holocaust.

The Tudors as a dynasty executed many people, both high and low. But the nobility were the ones consistently involved in treason, either deliberately or unconsciously. Exploring the long sixteenth century under each of the Tudor monarchs gives a sense of how and why so many were executed for what was considered the worst possible crime and how the definition of treason changed over the period. This book examines how and why Tudor nobles like Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham; Queen Consort Anne Boleyn; Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey; and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, fell into the trap of treason and ended up on the block under the executionerâEUR(TM)s axe. Treason and the Tudor nobility seem to go hand in hand as, by the end of the sixteenth century and the advent of the Stuart dynasty, no dukes remained in England. How did this happen and why?

The dinosaurs are a source of endless fascination, and each new generation is inspired and enchanted by images of these wondrous and awe-inspiring creatures that dominated the Earth eons of time ago. The smallest was the size of a chicken; the largest on record, the titanosaur _Argentinosaurus huinculensis_, weighed about 95 tonsâEUR"fifteen times as much as an African bull elephant (todayâEUR(TM)s largest terrestrial creature). Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for no less than 181 million years: about 600 times longer than _Homo sapiens_ have existed on the planet (_Homo sapiens_ is defined as the primate species to which modern humans belong: the first modern humans having evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago). Today, the consensus is that the dinosaurs became extinct when a meteorite impacted with the Earth 66 million years ago, covering it with a thick layer of soot and throwing up enormous quantities of dust which caused the sky to darken, and photosynthesis on which all terrestrial animals ultimately depend for their survival to cease. The unanswered question, however, is how did mammals, reptiles, and birds (which are the only species of dinosaur to survive) escape this holocaust?An entirely new theory is put forward for the first time to explain this mysterious and intriguing phenomenon.

Situated in the Welsh borderland to the West of Oswestry, the scenic Tanat Valley reached westwards into Wales, its Llangynog terminus nestling where the road starts the climb over the Berwyn mountain range towards Bala. It was a lightly populated area that sustained agriculture and some mineral extraction whose residents struggled to get their produce to market. During the 19th Century there were several schemes for a railway that failed due their inability to raise sufficient capital. The Tanat Valley Light Railway is, therefore, a true child of the 1896 Light Railways Act, promoted by the Oswestry Urban District Council the following year to take advantage of the grant-making facilities of that legislation. Because it took so long to obtain powers, and it was not opened until 1906, the Light Railway never really fulfilled its potential. Operated initially by the Cambrian Railways, it was not heavily worked, although it benefited from pipe traffic generated by renewals of Liverpool CorporationâEUR(TM)s Vyrnwy reservoir pipeline. Although closure came in stages during the 1950s, and was deemed to be complete in 1960, a short section of track remains in situ at Porthywaen. Author Peter Johnson has drawn on the material available at the National Archives at Kew and the Parliamentary Archives in the House of Lords as well as conducting extensive research in digitised newspapers to tell the Light RailwayâEUR(TM)s story, producing the first in-depth account of its development, operation and closure. Peter Johnson is also the author of The Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway âEUR" the rise and fall of a rural byway, published by Pen & Sword Transport in 2024\. The two railways were connected at Blodwel Junction and the surviving section of the Tanat Valley Light Railway thence to Porthywaen enabled stone traffic on the Shropshire & MontgomeryshireâEUR(TM)s Nantmawr branch to continue until 1971.

Since virtually its first moments as an academic science, women have played a major role in the development of psychology, gaining from the outset research opportunities and academic positions that had been denied them for centuries in other branches of scientific investigation. Look wherever you will, in any branch of psychology or neuroscience in the last century and a half, and what you will find are a plethora of women whose discoveries fundamentally changed how we view the brain and its role in the formation of our perceptions and behaviors. A History of Women in Psychology and Neuroscience tells the story of 267 women whose work opened new doors in humanity's ongoing attempt to learn about its own nature, from Christine Ladd Franklin's late 19th century studies of how the brain perceives color to Virginia Johnson's pioneering studies of the human sexual response, and Augusta Dejerine-Klumpke's early association of neurological conditions with their underlying brain regions to May-Britt Moser's Nobel-winning discovery a century later of the grid cells that allow us to mentally model our surroundings. Here are the stories of when and how we learned how memories are formed, what role an enriched environment plays in mental development, why some individuals are better able to cope with chronic stress than others, how societal stereotypes unconsciously feed into our daily interactions with other people, what role evolution might have played in the formation of our social habits, what light the practices of sign language might shed on our brain's basic capacity for language, how children internalize the violence they experience from others, and hundreds of other tales of the women who dug deep into the structures of the human mind to uncover, layer by layer, the answers to millennia-old questions of what humans are, and why they behave as they do.

During the Middle Empire period (AD 180-284) the Roman army had to face the terrible âEUR¿Third Century CrisisâEUR(TM), wherein a combination of socio-economic problems and new external threats threatened the Empire with complete collapse. Several provinces became temporarily independent from the central government of Rome, while others were frequently raided by foreign invaders. The Roman army had to fight with all its resources in order to reconquer a good portion of the Empire and preserve its unity. The Romans were forced to modernize and reform their forces to face the new challenges posed by a multitude of warlike enemies, such as the Persians in the Middle East or the Germanic Peoples in Central Europe. The previous military system based on the power of the legionsâEUR(TM) heavy infantry was completely revised, with the introduction of new organizational patterns. Cavalry became much more important than before, together with light troops specialized in skirmishing. The personal equipment of the Roman soldiers changed in a very significant way, with the introduction of new weapons that permitted the development of innovative tactics. Gabriele Esposito follows this evolution of Roman forces from the death of Marcus Aurelius to the rise of Diocletian, reconstructing the major military campaigns and explaining how the Roman military forces were transformed. All the major troop types are covered, with details on the organization and equipment of each contingent. The book is lavishly illustrated throughout with excellent colour photos of reconstructed costume and equipment in use.

With iconic images depicting it in the skies over Occupied Europe or the Far East, the B-24 Liberator is remembered for its part in the AlliesâEUR(TM) bombing campaigns during the Second World War. But there was another part to this famous four-engine aircraft âEUR" one that is less well known. While the Douglas C-47 Dakota is deservedly celebrated as the most important twin-engine transport aircraft of the war, the early use of the four-engine Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber as a passenger carrier is virtually unknown but was as important. Since the B-24 had more interior room than the B-17, it could be more easily be converted into a personnel carrier. These early Liberators operated AmericaâEUR(TM)s and BritainâEUR(TM)s early diplomatic missions and then were to be extensively flown by the Atlantic Ferry Organization and the Transport Commands on missions that opened the world to air transport as never before. Several B-24s were converted for VIP personal and diplomatic use, which included HarrimanâEUR(TM)s Moscow and round-the-world diplomatic mission, and those used by Churchill and Eisenhower to âEUR¿get aroundâEUR(TM). To meet the need for a cargo and personnel transport which had longer transoceanic range and improved high-altitude performance than the C-47, in early 1942 the C-87, a hastily designed B-24 derivative, was placed into production. By installing a built-up floor section that replaced the bomb bay doors, the C-87 could carry six tons of cargo loaded through a cargo door cut into the side of its fuselage or through a special hinged door in its nose. Most C-87s were operated by the US Ferrying Command and Air Transport Command; by the late summer of 1943, they were extensively operating regular routes from the United States to the worldâEUR(TM)s most remote areas. To meet this increased requirement for air transport, the ATC was forced to turn to four civil commercial airlines for help operating the system. Of the 287 purpose-built C-87s, 24 were transferred to the RAF under Lend-Lease for RAF Ferry and Transport Command. The C-87 would remain as a prime mover until the dedicated C-54 Skymaster four-engine transport came into service. The 218 C-109s were fuel tanker conversions of completed B-24 bombers which had all armament removed and extra fuel tanks added to carry fuel from India for B-29s based in China. Due to the lack of C-47s after D-Day, conventional B-24s were again converted for transporting vital supplies and bulk fuel to troops in France. Once Allied troops broke out of the Normandy beachhead, converted Liberators flew _Trucking_ supply drop operations delivering emergency fuel and supplies to PattonâEUR(TM)s fuel-starved armies racing across France. Later these B-24s supplied the ill-fated Operation _Market Garden_ at Arnhem.

London has a long and fascinating history which has not always been pleasant; it has been peppered with murderers, shoplifters, smugglers, prostitutes, grave robbers and highwaymen. Learn about the darker side of the history of this great city through the buildings and sites on London streets which remain standing to tell the story. Do you want to know where Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell? Do you want to pay your respects to the victims of Jack the Ripper? Do you want to know what went on behind the doors of the most discreet hotel in London? You will find these locations to visit, and many more within these pages. This guide will take you on a journey visiting 299 sites covering the history of more than 60 crimes (or crime sprees) which took place over nearly 1,000 years of LondonâEUR(TM)s criminal past. Visit where heists were planned, murders were carried out, bodies were dumped and criminals were punished. You can follow the pre-set tours which includes a murder site tour, pub crawl and a cemetery tour or you can create a bespoke tour depending on where you happen to be in this great city. But rest assured, you will start to wonder what went on behind every closed door you see.

The 1st July 1916 was the blackest day in the history of the British Army when 60,000 unsuspecting men of the British 4th Army advanced into the teeth of a hurricane of German fire. This well-illustrated anthology examines the events of that terrible day from two very different perspectives. The vivid eyewitness account of the battle from the soldiers point of view is provided by Edward Liveing of the London Regiment. After joining the London Regiment in 1914, Liveing was deployed to both Palestine and to France, where he was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in 1916\. This book describes his war on the front line up until his injury on the Somme. Also on the field that day and engaged in filming the battle for posterity was cameraman Lieut. Geoffrey Malins, who produced the famous documentary film of the battle. At the outbreak of war in 1914, Malins, aged 28, traveled to the Western Front where he acted as a freelance war correspondent, filming newsreels in Belgium and France. 1915 brought a fateful change of direction for Malins when he was recruited by the British Kinematograph Manufacturers Association to make a film of the preparations and the execution of a battle on the Western Front. This proved to be a dangerous business and by the end of the first year Malins, now with the rank of Lieutenant, had found himself deafened, gassed and twice wounded in the line of duty. Malins continued his work as a wartime cameraman before he was discharged from the army in 1918, having suffered bad health for sometime previously. These two contrasting accounts provide a remarkable insight into the chaotic events as they unfolded on the battlefield and provide the reader with two very different views of the battle as well as the visual records as produced by Malins, and the other photographers and artists at work on the Somme that day.

At 08.15 hours on 6 August 1945, one of the most seismic events in human history unfolded over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. An atomic bomb, nicknamed _Little Boy_, exploded about 1,500 feet above the city with a force of 15,000 tons of TNT. Around five square miles of the city were destroyed in seconds and tens of thousands of its citizens and soldiers were killed. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was unleased against Nagasaki with similar devastating results. Less than a week later Emperor Hirohito announced JapanâEUR(TM)s unconditional surrender, bringing the Second World War to an explosive end. The story of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki begins with the Manhattan Project. From its inception in 1939, the Manhattan Project, which at its height involved more than 125,000 individuals and ultimately cost billions of US dollars, is explored in this book, as is the organisation and training of the bomb crews of 393rd Bombardment Squadron of Colonel Paul TibbetsâEUR(TM) 509th Composite Group. For its attacks on Japan, the squadron was equipped with fifteen dazzling silverplate Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, which had been specially adapted to carry nuclear weapons. It is, of course, the dramatic events of 6 and 9 August 1945, which are featured most prominently in this book. Every step of the attacks, from the arming of _Enola Gay_ and _Bockscar_, which famously carried the two nuclear devices, to their take-off from Runway Able on the tiny island of Tinian, to the flights to the targets and the release of the bombs are revealed. Many are the unmistakable images of the detonation and effects of the two nuclear blasts, portrayed here in graphic contemporary photographs. Portraits of the key individuals are shown, as are the test sites, workshops, aircraft and the weapons themselves to provide a wide-ranging, comprehensive visual study of the steps which led to the first and only deployment of nuclear bombs in warfare.

During the Second World War, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were occupied on three separate occasions âEUR" twice by the Soviet Union and once by Nazi Germany. The signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of 1939 allowed the Soviets to dominate the Baltic states without fear of German reprisals, causing many in the German-Baltic populations to flee to Poland. Soviet rule of the Baltics was brutal with the purging of political elites and deportation of many tens of thousands in a bid to turn them into vassal states. Consequently, when Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, many Balts saw it as a liberation from Soviet cruelties. The reality was, however, that it turned out to be the beginning of something much worse. During their occupation of Poland prior to Barbarossa the Nazis had decimated the Polish political elites, and the Jews there had been herded into ghettos in preparation for deportation to the east where they would serve as slave labour in the Nazi economy after the conquest of the Soviet Union. Similar policies were to be adopted in the Baltics when Reinhard HeydrichâEUR(TM)s murder squads, the Einsatzgruppen, were allowed to move into the newly-occupied territories. Operating behind the advancing German forces Einsatzgruppen A, B, C, and D âEUR" four special mobile killing units, each made up of about a thousand men from the security police and the German intelligence service âEUR" proved to be more than willing to carry out HeydrichâEUR(TM)s orders. He had called for the removal of every vestige of opposition to Nazi rule which primarily meant complete elimination of the âEUR¿inferiorâEUR(TM) races who were unfit for work and the ghettoization of others in preparation for their economic exploitation. On foreign soil, away from scrutiny and free of all constraint, the Einsatzgruppen discovered that through the mass shootings of communists, Jews and gypsies it was possible to accelerate the pace of the Holocaust, slaughtering men, women and children in their tens of thousands. The Einsatzgruppen were assisted by local âEUR¿volunteersâEUR(TM) who helped to identify victims as well as kill them; in places whole Jewish communities were swiftly eliminated. Many of the killers and victims had known one another as neighbours and colleagues. This massive slaughter of civilians convinced Heydrich and Himmler that complete extermination of Jews was within their grasp and before very long, in the death camps, new industrial methods of killing would be devised.

The United States and Soviet Union began a race to develop the first and most capable fifth generation stealth fighters in the late 1970s. The Cold WarâEUR(TM)s end, however, was followed by both a near total collapse of Russian efforts and major cuts and delays to American programs. This provided an opening for a rising and fast modernising Chinese defence industry to kick off its own ambitious program to produce a world leading fighter jet with next generation capabilities. Once unveiled, the program came to be seen as a herald of ChinaâEUR(TM)s rising status as a leading player in high tech and major world power. Development of the Chengdu J-20 began in the 1990s and has since consistently far exceeded expectations in both its performance and its development timeline. The fighter made its first flight in 2011 and began deliveries to the People's Liberation Army Air Force in 2016 âEUR" a small fraction of the time its American and Russian rivals would take. Today it is the worldâEUR(TM)s second most numerous stealth fighter, outnumbered only by AmericaâEUR(TM)s much smaller Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, with the two rivals seeing their first of many likely encounters confirmed in March 2022\. As the J-20âEUR(TM)s capabilities have rapidly improved and the rate of production has significantly grown, it has very conspicuously played a growing role in patrolling major hotspots in East Asia from Korea and the East China Sea to the Taiwan Strait and disputed South China Sea. The J-20 programâEUR(TM)s success has been the most potent symbol of ChinaâEUR(TM)s ascent from a minor player in combat aviation during the Cold War, to the United StatesâEUR(TM) only peer level competitor today. It has also set China on a course of pursuing multiple other fighter development efforts âEUR" including a close competition with America to field the first and most capable sixth generation fighter in the 2030s. The J-20 thus marks a major landmark not only in Chinese aviation history, but also more broadly in the evolving balance of power between East and West as the countryâEUR(TM)s technological and economic ascents allow it to successfully pursue highly ambitious weapons programs. This book takes the J-20âEUR(TM)s story far back to the formation of the PeopleâEUR(TM)s Liberation Army Air Force and its trial by fire in the Korean War, tracing the rationale for developing a top end air superiority fighter. It also compares its performance with rival fifth generation fighter programs in other countries and looks ahead to what the future may hold in this new arms race.

Margaret More Roper may be remembered as the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas More, but she was much, much more. Well-educated, loyal, passionately pious, and a skilled writer and translator, Margaret inspired a generation and proved to Tudor England and beyond just how accomplished a woman could be. Her life provides a window into the turbulent times of the English Reformation and life at the court of King Henry VIII. In this biography, Margaret is presented in her own right and given the attention and acknowledgement she so richly deserves.

The SAS is the most famous regiment in the world and the subject of countless books, documentaries and TV dramas, including the BBC mini-series Rogue Heroes. Much of the action of the second season of Rogue Heroes is located in Italy, where both 1SAS and 2SAS took part in many daring operations in 1943. The third volume of Gavin MortimerâEUR(TM)s impeccably researched and handsomely illustrated SAS Operations covers their missions in Sicily and Italy. After the derring-do of Desert Warfare, when the SAS raided enemy airfields in heavily-armed jeeps, the operations in Sicily and Italy were more challenging and diverse in nature. Sometimes the SAS inserted by parachute and sabotaged trains or attacked vehicle convoys; at other times they stormed beaches from landing craft and neutralised enemy coastal batteries. Whatever the mission the SAS displayed their characteristic courage, initiative and determination in the vanguard of the Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy. In this book Mortimer describes in detail these operations, embellishing his gripping narrative with first-hand accounts from the scores of SAS veterans he interviewed. Drawing also on personal papers, diaries, private photographs and his many visits to the sites of the action, Mortimer blends the past with the present so that readers can follow in the footsteps of such SAS legends as Paddy Mayne and Roy Farran

The 1994 crash of Chinook with top Northern Ireland intelligence experts on board into the Mull of Kintyre has remained the source of intense speculation ever since. The book is not only a full account of the incident itself and the subsequent and on-going controversy over blame, but also attempts to solve the mystery about this accident. After the accounts of those who witnessed the crash or communicated with the aircraft on its fateful journey, the book analyses the activities of the crew on the day in question, including the maintenance record and the behaviour of the aircraft. It then deals in sequence with the various investigations; that by the AAIB, the RAF and the FAI held in Paisley in 1996\. It then describes the various parliamentary inquiries and their conclusions. Finally, it reviews the evidence for the strength and weaknesses of the various claims about the cause, including allegations that there was something wrong with the aircraft and/or its computer systems. This book will largely justify the claim of the RAF hierarchy that the cause was gross negligence by the crew, but not for the reason they give.

From the very beginnings of torpedo craft, all naval powers have seen the occasional need for larger, more powerful or in other respects special designs that stand outside the contemporary norms for flotilla craft. The driving forces were often different from country to country and varied over time, but all the resulting ships may be conveniently defined as ‿super destroyers‿. This book is a history of these out-of-the-ordinary vessels, the specific conditions that produced them, and their impact on naval warfare, especially during the two world wars. Notable highlights of this story include the introduction of ‿destroyer leaders‿ during the Great War, the Japanese ‿Special type‿ of the late 1920s, the British ‿Tribal‿ class, German ‿Narviks‿, and the interwar Franco-Italian rivalry that produced some of the fastest of all super destroyers. By the end of the Second World War only the largest designs seemed adequate, so although built in quantity the US _Gearing_ class were effectively super destroyers by the standards of the day and pointed the way to the future.. A final chapter explores the way that after 1945 the big destroyer slowly evolved into the contemporary all-purpose warship ‿ whether described as cruiser, destroyer or frigate ‿ that has become the dominant surface combatant in the world‿s navies. Although it concentrates on exceptional designs, in broader terms the book provides a valuable overview of destroyer development as a whole so will be of interest to any warship enthusiast and historian.

The French Revolution was a period of radical political and societal change in the eighteenth century. Everyone knows about the guillotine and the grisly processions of tumbrils, but less is generally appreciated about the much greater violence in provincial France. This book examines the beliefs and assumptions about the French Revolution which have become popularised in films and novels but also accepted in standard accounts to see if they stand up to scrutiny. There is no attempt to deny the intense drama of the whole revolutionary period but rather to separate myth and reality. There are chapters on the development of the constitutional monarchy and its failure and also on the tragic period of the Terror which for many is the most characteristic period. The role of women in this period is one of huge turmoil as well as the impact of the Revolution on the French colonies and in particular Saint-Domingue in the West Indies. This book looks at the leading figure in the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint Louverture, with some myths being challenged and attempts to reach a realistic judgement as well as exploring some of the vivid, if at times horrifying, events of this key part of the history of colonialism. It includes a critical look at commonly held beliefs about the Revolution and its aftermath. It is also an account of many of the highly colourful and dramatic events and personalities for those who want to get beneath the surface of one of the most absorbing periods of history. The range of extraordinary people in the Revolution has led to many fictional accounts and we look at many of their lives, but also at the way that a period of intense belief impacted ordinary people with often tragic results. It really was ‿the best of times and the worst of times‿.

The Nazis‿ dream was to populate their future Greater-German Reich exclusively with ‿racial valuable‿ people and Himmler became the main executor of this gruesome and unimaginable plan. For this purpose, millions of ‿inferior‿ people had to be expelled or killed, while as many men, women and children of Germanic descent as possible had to be brought together in the territory of the Third Reich. Children were the key players in Himmler‿s sinister plans, and the  Lebensborn programme exploited luxurious maternity homes, led by SS-officers, for selected women with the required Aryan features. The pregnant women, often not married, and the fathers of their future children, usually members of the SS, had to comply with very strict racial requirements: Himmler considered their offspring as the future nobility of the Germanic empire. Obsessed with racial purity and birth rates, the Lebensborn programme fell directly under Himmler's personal control, and arguably became his favourite project. He spent hours drawing up selection criteria, regulations and dietary requirements, personally studying the files of mothers and children and using his private aircraft to transport them to other Lebensborn establishments. The organization was active throughout Germany and the occupied Western European countries, and was also involved in the abduction of 'Aryan' children from Eastern and Central Europe. On Himmler‿s orders, tens of thousands of blond, blue-eyed children in Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and other countries were abducted for ‿Germanisation‿, partly in Lebensborn children‿s homes. Himmler was so absorbed by the racial delusion, he was convinced this policy served a dual purpose: by abducting the ‿superior‿ children, he robbed the subjected countries of their future leaders, while at the same time, strengthening the ‿Germanic race‿.

Arthur volunteered for aircrew service with RAF in 1940 at the age of 19, as soon as his school examinations were completed. He completed his training in Canada and Florida. After further training in UK and crewing up with a pilot and other crew members, he joined 97 Squadron flying Lancasters in December 1942\. The following April the crew transferred to Pathfinder Force, where their operations included the shuttle-service attack on Friedrichshaven and the attack against Peenemunde. In September, having completed two tours, he was posted to the Mediterranean theatre, initially in Libya and later in Italy. He flew five further operations, three in Halifaxes and two in Wellingtons, the latter in support of the Yugoslav resistance. In December 1944 he returned to UK and joined Transport Command before being seconded to BOAC. Arthur's direct and detailed account of his experiences is a fascinating and valuable document of an astonishing feat to be exposed to such danger and to survive to tell the tale.

Between December 1943 and August 1944, Second Suffolk, as part of the 5th (Indian) Division, played a key role opposing the Japanese in Burma and later at the critical battle at Imphal. The odds could not have been higher or the challenges greater. The Japanese had already earned an awesome reputation as a formidable and ruthless enemy who could only be described as fanatical. The rugged jungle terrain, over which the Battalion had to fight, was tough and unforgiving and pushed all ranks to the limits of their physical and mental endurance. Against them too was the harsh tropical climate and the extremes of the monsoon season. The combination of these three factors called for the highest standards of leadership and discipline. Supplies too were often not forthcoming but despite these difficulties and a lack of appreciation of their efforts in the press at home, morale of the stolid regular Suffolk soldier and his newer drafted comrades, always remained high as they learned to fight their enemy in the way that he fought him. For over seventy-five years their story has remained largely forgotten and untold but, now drawing on previously unpublished accounts of those who served there, together with unpublished photographs, this book describes the Battalion‿s outstanding service during the Burma Campaign.

On February 25, 1941 Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, made his first approach to the Australian and New Zealand governments seeking their approval for the use of their troops in his Greek venture. While the New Zealand government was adamant that their forces should have the support of an armoured brigade, the Australian government was more concerned that it would end in an evacuation, a fear also evident among the British planners, a view they were reluctant to share. Fast forward two months and it is now April 14\. Ten days have passed since the German invasion of Greece and the Anzacs are in trouble, even if they don‿t yet know it. The small German motorcycle battalion that has just reached the 21st NZ Battalion positions at Platamon is a harbinger of the panzer battle group yet to come. To the south is the strategic town of Larissa. North of it almost the entire Anzac Corps is spread out along the line of the Olympus mountains, with its western end anchored on Kalabaka, where a small brigade group waits for the appearance of the 1st Armoured Brigade further north. Larissa is their only escape route and the German thrust is aimed straight at it. Worse still, as the fighting intensified at Platamon, the Anzac Corps high command seemed slow to react and almost turned a blind eye to it as they continued to reinforce the west against what was only a perceived threat. That this lone battalion, with four 25-pounders in support, managed to hold off the attackers for as long as they did until Anzac Corps Headquarters finally reacted was certainly not due to the latter‿s commander, Lieutenant General Thomas Blamey. There is a view in some quarter that this successful delaying action only became possible for the intervention of Blamey‿s Chief-of-Staff, Brigadier Sydney Rowell. However, the complete evacuation of all Anzac troops north of Larissa may owe much more to the propensity of the New Zealand soldier for misappropriation of other people‿s assets, in this case British anti-tank mines. In the end this situation was turned around thanks to the actions of small groups of men, whose resilience and resourcefulness, often under extreme circumstances, helped delay the advance. The Germans in turn made a number of blunders, not the least of which were logistic but it could also be put down to overconfidence on their part after their easy victories in France. In the end the entire Anzac Corps escaped the trap, albeit by the skin of their teeth, and the British avoided the wider political ramifications of what could have happened had they lost what was, in New Zealand‿s case, their sole contribution to British land forces in the Middle East. Just how the Anzac troops in Greece succeeded in the face of what was thrown against them from both sides of the hill is the subject of this book.

THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE account of Britain‿s complex plans to fight a secret war in the event of a Nazi invasion. When Winston Churchill made his ‿we shall never surrender‿ speech in 1940 he was speaking in the knowledge that Britain‿s Secret Intelligence Service had already created a civilian guerrilla organisation to oppose any invasion and a separate resistance network to mobilize if the country had been occupied. There then followed a fierce battle between the Secret Intelligence Service and the War Office for the control of guerrilla warfare, and conflicting ideas over the legitimacy of armed civilians. A multi-layered system of secret organizations was the result. The Auxiliary Units are now the best known of these ungentlemanly forces, but in this perceptive new study Malcolm Atkin unravels the considerable mythology that has grown up around them. He explains their origins and how they were never intended as a resistance organization. Instead, the Auxiliary Units patrols were designed as uniformed guerrilla to support an active military campaign, whilst their Special Duties Branch would spy on the British public as much as any Nazi invader. other Home Guard and army units were also preparing to 'go to ground'. Meanwhile, deep in the shadows, was the real resistance organization known only by its cover as Section VII of SIS ‿ so secret that the first detailed account was not published until 2015, by the present author.

Step into a world of darkness!Towering castles‿magical spells‿demonic creatures‿certain DEATH. The gothic video game has crossed generations, from 8-bit computers to the most powerful 4K PCs and consoles, to deliver dark thrills filled with atmosphere and peril. Gathered in this book are some of the most prominent and enduring games to be developed under a veil of gothic presentation, from their gloomy settings to spine-chilling audio design. Follow the histories of some of gaming‿s most popular franchises, such as the decade-spanning Castlevania series and FromSoftware‿s “Soulsborneâ€? titles (Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Elden Ring). Packed with over a hundred screenshots that encompass all generations of gaming - with home console, handheld and PC gaming included - and featuring trivia and recommendations across a variety of genres such as strategy games, hack-and-slashers and first-person shooters, _The History of the Gothic Video Game_ is an essential book for fans of all things macabre. The shadows await‿

In May 1902, a great storm hit the small village of Peasenhall, Suffolk. The following morning, the body of Rose Harsent was found in the house where she worked. Whilst originally believed by the doctor to have been suicide, her brutal injuries, alongside evidence of an attempted fire, told a different story. When looking for a murderer, there were very few suspects, but as more details unfolded, the evidence started to point towards one William Gardiner. William was a respected figure in the community, with a loving family, a job as a foreman carpenter at the local Seed Drill Works, and several positions within the local church. However, the previous year, William had been involved in a scandal that suggested an affair between him and Rose; one that had brought an inquest into the matter and could not be forgotten in such a small village. This made him a person of interest for the police, and when a medicine bottle filled with paraffin was found near her body with the Gardiner family name on it, alongside letters from him amongst Rose's things, it comes as no surprise he was arrested for her murder. Rose was also pregnant at the time of her death; was this the motive?_The Peasenhall Murder_ explores the crime in great detail, from the original scandal through to the aftermath of the trial. It's the perfect read for lovers of true crime and a murder mystery, and those with an interest in Edwardian England.

The Victorian and Edwardian periods saw the development of the steam locomotive in Britain from a comparatively simple machine to a powerful main line express capable of speeds of a hundred miles an hour. The book starts with an introduction dealing with the main line of development and that is followed by a picture section with over 190 photographs. Each illustration has an extended caption giving details of the engine and its history. The material is arranged geographically, starting with the railways of southern England and ending with Irish railways. The Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Man are also included, and there is a section on English light railway. The photographs are all of the locomotives in their working days, many showing them in action on both passenger and goods trains. This splendid collection shows the rich diversity of Britain‿s railways and how different companies and their engineers produced engines of great individuality. This is a book that will be enjoyed by all lovers of the golden age of steam railways.

_Martin Packard is an extraordinary man who has led an extraordinary life. An idealist and a man of liberal instincts, his enthusiasms resulted in him having an inside track in several major events of recent decades, including the coup and bloody dictatorship in Greece and the unravelling of the Soviet Union. Easy going, warm and generous with his friendship, his life story is a ripping read_.‿ **Peter Murtagh, journalist and author of The Rape of Greece (Simon & Schuster, London, 1994)**_His story needed telling_ ‿ **Peter Preston, ****editor of The Guardian 1975-1995**_This gripping biography is a classic tale of fact being stranger than fiction. Martin Packard was an incurable romantic who thought he could do ethical business in the chaos of Gorbachev's perestroika Russia, but was constantly thwarted by more ruthless rivals or incompetent partners. He was a Don Quixote of the Cold War. His story is a fascinating, alternative and very personal view on the confrontations of his times, from the cynical US and UK policies towards Greece and Cyprus, to the chaotic collapse of the USSR. His tale suggests that cock-up, not conspiracy, is usually the most plausible explanation of history._ -  **Quentin Peel, former Moscow Correspondent and Foreign Editor of the Financial Times.**_Wonderful. They don‿t make men like that anymore._ - **Helena Smith, Correspondent of The Guardian for Greece and Cyprus.**This biography describes how a British naval officer became a Kremlin favourite and CIA target as Gorbachev‿s Moscow tried to open its economy to the West. He would gear the riches of Siberia and they would gain technology and foreign exchange. But, as the Communist Party imploded, this previously-undescribed offer turned into a Faustian bargain, and his life became a captivating saga of rags-to-riches-to-rags. In 1985, Gorbachev‿s Kremlin decided to open the Soviet economy to the west. It reached out to Martin Packard, a retired British naval commander, who rose briefly to become to some Russians the most important foreign businessman in the Soviet Union, but then precipitously collapsed. This book describes his rise, the details of his freelancing for Gorbachev - and his fall. A former intelligence analyst at the British Mediterranean command in Malta, Packard‿s role as Scarlet Pimpernel of the Greek Colonels saw him forced out of the Royal Navy. He then became one of the largest jeans manufacturers in Europe. In this capacity, the insiders of Gorbachev‿s perestroika made him a focus of their efforts to lift the life of the Soviet peoples, an unlikely partnership of the Kremlin and a quintessential Briton, a scion of Empire, Church and Navy, but a non-conformist in every sense. It is a political tale, where Packard finds himself at odds with the British Foreign Office and the CIA in Cyprus and the Colonels‿ Greece. Forced out of the Navy, he begins to head the English Cell of the Greek resistance, shipping printing presses, passports and petards across Europe to Athens. He then becomes an intimate of the wayward but brilliant Dom Mintoff and survives a mysterious poison attempt by “Ericaâ€? at a Moscow airport. It is also a deeply human tale, of a charismatic figure who rose so high, mingled with the mighty of East and West, and then lost it all.

On the evening of Monday, 5th June 1944, the people of Britain went to bed with a sense of great events impending. They knew that any day now would come news of the battle that would forever alter the course of their lives, and the lives of their children and their grandchildren. The following day‿s morning newspapers and early radio news bulletins were full of the fall of Rome to the Allies, which had been announced the day before. But then, at 9.33 am on that Tuesday, came the brief announcement: Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, had begun landing Allied armies on the coast of France.‿ D-Day had finally dawned. _D-Day to VE Day_ tells the story of the last year of the Second World War in Europe, from the Normandy landings and on through the hard slog to that long-awaited day ‿ 8th May 1945 ‿ when Britain broke out the bunting, rolled out the barrel, and celebrated victory over Hitler. The air-raid sirens were silenced, the lights could be switched on again, and the boys would be coming home. In many homes, festivities were muted because the war in the Far East was still to be won, but for a few short hours at least, the nation could afford to let its hair down and dance in the streets. Using contemporary accounts ‿ interviews, newspaper reports and official documents ‿ of those final months, _D-Day to VE Day_ looks at life in Britain during those vital months, at the events that brought an end to war in Europe, and at the redrawing of national borders that would shape a new world order.

Napoleon Bonaparte held absolute political power in France and his influence stretched across Europe and beyond. Yet he remained ‿ between leading his armies and ruling over a vast empire ‿ an indefatigable reader who even carried libraries into battle. Bonaparte‿s love of the written word, birthed in childhood and nurtured as an adolescent and young adult, never left him. He was a lover of literature for its own sake ‿ often swooning over melodramatic love stories ‿ but he also understood the value of books as instruments of power. Before his campaigns, he poured over dozens of texts relating to the relevant theatres‿ geography, population, trade, and history. When contemplating grave decisions, such as his divorce to Empress Josephine, he consulted the historical record for useful precedents to justify and inform his actions. To bolster his troop‿s morale during challenging times, he constantly referenced history in his proclamations, making his contemporaries feel as if they were actively shaping history. They were. The library of an individual is the key to his mind. Behind the grandiose paintings of the victorious conqueror and the constructions of the propagandist, stands the reader. This book is an attempt to glimpse Napoleon‿s character without the veneer of imperial glory. What was he like, alone at night by his fireplace? What thoughts percolated in the mind of the ambitious 20-year-old, isolated in a little room while theorizing about man‿s happiness? Who are the literary and historical figures which can claim to have had impacted his life? Who were his favourite authors?Through this book the reader will embark on a literary promenade with the great general and statemen. In these pages are found the emperor‿s favourite authors. And with them, the key to understanding his mind.

This book is a comprehensive history of all the 0-6-0 tender locomotives built by the Great Western Railway or by railways absorbed by the GWR from the very earliest broad gauge engines designed by Daniel Gooch to the Collett 2251 class of the 1930s some of which were still under construction at nationalisation. It includes the Joseph Armstrong ‿Standard Goods‿ and the famous Dean Goods, many of which served overseas in the two world wars. The text of 40,000 words describes the design, construction and operation of eight GW and five ‿Absorbed‿ broad gauge classes, and thirteen GW and thirteen ‿Absorbed‿ standard gauge classes. The book has over 250 black and white and 30 colour photos, weight diagrams and drawings.