1 begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac. The word "narrative" is the key to this extraordinary book's incandescence and its truth. The story is told entirely from the point of view of the people involved in it. One learns not only what was happening on all fronts but also how the author discovered it during his years of exhaustive research. This first volume in Shelby Foote's comprehensive history is a must-listen for anyone interested in one of the bloodiest wars in America's history.

    Johnson returned from the European Theater in 1944 as one of the highest-scoring American ace of the war. When he had first arrived in Europe the combat-wise R.A.F. pilots had said that his Republic P-47C Thunderbolt would be no match for the Luftwaffe’s deadly Focke-Wulf 190’s. Yet, under the skillful hands of men like Johnson and Gaddy Gabreski, this plane which weighed seven tons, was sixteen feet long, equipped with four .50 calibre guns, and powered by 2,000 horsepower, proved to be one of the deadliest fighter planes of the war. Over the course of the war Johnson and his comrades of the 56th Fighter Group had shot more enemy planes than any other European Theater. They had shot down 1006 German aircraft at the cost of 128 planes, meaning that they had a ratio of eight to one against the battle-hardened Nazi Luftwaffe. Johnson’s memoir of this time, Thunderbolt!, co-authored with Martin Caidin, is a brilliant account of his time in France in the cockpit of a remarkable plane, fighting alongside some of the best pilots that ever lived. Ever page of Thunderbolt! is filled with fascinating details that bring to life what it was like for these young men who risked everything to fight against the Nazis in the skies above northern France and Germany. Robert S. Johnson was the first USAAF fighter pilot in the European theater to surpass Eddie Rickenbacker’s World War I score of 26 victories. After the war he served for eighteen years as an engineering executive and test pilot for Republic Aviation. He passed away in 1998. Martin Caidin was an American author and an authority on aeronautics and aviation. Caidin was an airplane pilot as well, and bought and restored a 1936 Junkers Ju 52 airplane. Caidin passed away in 1997. Thunderbolt! was first published in 1958.

     Whitcomb manages to evade the enemy on Bataan by travelling to Corregidor Island in a small boat. However, his efforts to escape eventually fail and he is captured but later manages to escape at night in an hours-long swim to safety. After weeks of struggle in a snake-infested jungle, he sailed by moonlight down the heavily patrolled coast, only to fall, once again, into the clutches of the enemy. Facing captors, Ed Whitcomb took a desperate chance for freedom. Clenching his fists, he said: “My name is Robert Fred Johnson, mining employee.” This is the story of a man who vowed never to give up. He assumed the identity of a civilian and lived another man’s life for almost two years. Neither hunger, nor beatings, nor the long gray hopelessness of prison life could shake Ed Whitcomb’s determination to escape the enemy and return home to Indiana. 'one of the most frank, and readable personal narratives of service in the Philippines, and escape from Japanese captivity' - Pacific Wrecks Edgar Doud Whitcomb (November 6, 1917 – February 4, 2016) was an American politician, who was the 43rd Governor of Indiana. He enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in 1940 and was deployed to the Pacific Theater. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1941 and made an aerial navigator. He served two tours of duty in the Philippines and was promoted to Second Lieutenant. During the Philippines Campaign, Whitcomb's base was overrun; he was captured by the Japanese and was beaten and tortured by his captors, but was able to escape. Recaptured a few days later, he escaped a second time and was hunted for several more days but was able to evade his pursuers. He escaped by swimming all night through shark-infested waters to an island unoccupied by the Japanese army. He was eventually able to secure passage to China under an assumed name where he made contact with the United States Army and was repatriated in December 1943. Escape from Corregidor, his memoir of war-time experiences, was first published in 1958. He was discharged from active duty in 1946, but he remained in the reserve military forces until 1977 holding the rank of colonel. In retirement Whitcomb still sought adventure, with a six-year, around-the-world sailing trip.

    

    The story of David Stirling and His Desert CommandPreviously titled by Ballantine Books as Who Dares, Wins

    At the time of his arrest by French paratroopers during the Battle of Algiers in June of 1957, Henri Alleg was a French journalist who supported Algerian independence. He was interrogated for one month. During this imprisonment, Alleg was questioned under torture, with unbelievable brutality and sadism. The Question is Alleg's profoundly moving account of that month and of his triumph over his torturers. Jean-Paul Sartre’s preface remains a relevant commentary on the moral and political effects of torture on both the victim and perpetrator.This Bison Books edition marks the first time since 1958 that The Question has been published in the United States. For this edition Ellen Ray provides a foreword. James D. Le Sueur offers an introduction.

    Its mission: to cut the lifeline of British shipping and win the war with one mighty blow. How the Royal Navy tried to meet this threat and its desperate attempt to bring the giant Bismarck to bay is the story C. S. Forester tells with mounting excitement and suspense!

    He had a small army--seldom exceeding 40,000 men--but a constellation of bold, revolutionary ideas about the conduct of war and the nature of government. J. F. C. Fuller, one of the foremost military historians of the twentieth-century, was the first to analyze Alexander in terms of his leadership as a general. He has divided his study into two parts. The first, entitled "The Record," describes the background of the era, Alexander's character and training, the structure of the Macedonian army, and the geography of the world that determined the strategy of conquest. The second part, "The Analysis," takes apart the great battles, from Granicus to Hydaspes, and concludes with two chapters on Alexander's statesmanship. In a style both clear and witty, Fuller imparts the many sides to Alexander's genius and the full extent of his empire, which stretched from India to Egypt.

    Lo, the first major objective of the invading American armies in Normandy in June of 1944. Although St. Lo was intended to be taken within days of the landing, stubborn German resistance postponed the town's fall until July 18. The author describes the bloody action that took place in the thirty days in between as he led his battalion -- dubbed "The Indestructible Clay Pigeons" -- through the daunting combat.

    How near the South came to victory is clearly set forth in these pages. The author vividly conveys the background of the crucial b attle of the Civil War so that the reader can fully appreciate its unfolding.

    Now it is up to him to take the place of their dead first lieutenant and earn the respect of his captain and crewmates.

    As a memorial to his oldest daughter Josephine (1963-1999), David Irving invites you to accept his biography of Hitler's propaganda minister Dr Joseph Goebbels, the first work to be based on the long-lost diaries of the minister which he retrieved from the former KGB archives in Moscow.

    

    Indianapolis had just delivered a secret cargo that would trigger the end of World War II. Heading westward, she was sunk by a Japanese submarine. In twelve minutes, some 300 men went down with her. More than 900 other spent four horrific days and five nights in the ocean with no water to drink, savaged by a pitiless sun and swarms of sharks. Incredibly, no one knew they were there until a Navy patrol plane accidentally discovered them. In the end, only 316 crewmen survived.How could this have happened -- and why? This updated edition of Abandon Ship!, with an Introduction and Afterword by Peter Maas, supplies the chilling answer. A harrowing account of military malfeasance and human tragedy, Abandon Ship! also scrutinizes the role of the U.S. Navy in the disaster, especially the court-martial of the ship's captain, Charles Butler McVay III. Maas reveals facts previously unavailable to Richard Newcomb and chronicles a forty-year crusade to right a wrong, a crusade Abandon Ship! inspired.

    Tuchman’s classic histories of the First World War era   In January 1917, the war in Europe was, at best, a tragic standoff. Britain knew that all was lost unless the United States joined the war, but President Wilson was unshakable in his neutrality. At just this moment, a crack team of British decoders in a quiet office known as Room 40 intercepted a document that would change history. The Zimmermann telegram was a top-secret message to the president of Mexico, inviting him to join Germany and Japan in an invasion of the United States. How Britain managed to inform the American government without revealing that the German codes had been broken makes for an incredible story of espionage and intrigue as only Barbara W. Tuchman could tell it.  Praise for The Zimmermann Telegram   “A true, lucid thriller . . . a tremendous tale of hushed and unhushed uproars in the linked fields of war and diplomacy . . . Tuchman makes the most of it with a creative writer’s sense of drama and a scholar’s obeisance to the evidence.”—The New York Times  “The tale has most of the ingredients of an Eric Ambler spy thriller.”—Saturday Review

    Renowned scholars Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris have provided a prudent, perceptive answer—the participants themselves—and in the process have fashioned from the vast source material a thrilling chronological narrative. The Spirit of 'Seventy-Six allows readers to experience events long-entombed in textbooks as they unfold for the first time for both Loyalists and Patriots: the Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill, the Declaration of Independence, and more. In letters, journals, diaries, official documents, and personal recollections, the timeless figures of the Revolution emerge in all their human splendor and folly to stand beside the nameless soldiers.Profusely illustrated and enhanced by cogent commentary, this book examines every aspect of the war, including the Loyalist and British views; treason and prison escapes; songs and ballads; the home front and diplomacy abroad. In short, the editors have wrought a balanced, sweeping, and compelling documentary history.

    Syme not only analyzes in detail Tacitus's writings, their development and style, but also his political career, using his progress through government to illustrate the process that brought new men from thewestern provinces to success and primacy at Rome.

    Somewhere in Germany. Only a few days before the capitulation. Seven Hitler-youth, who’ve been stuck into Wehrmacht uniforms, are deployed to defend a bridge of no strategic significance, equipped with nothing more than a few carbines and bazookas. Abandoned by their senior officer, helplessly torn between a thirst for adventure and a confused belief that they must save the Fatherland, they take up the futile struggle just as the American tanks roll in. The Bridge, which achieved worldwide success as a book initially, followed by the equally successful film version directed by Bernhard Wicki, is a memorial to a duped generation that was sent to the slaughter in the final days of World War Two.

    The events and decisions that culminated in the Battle of the Barents Sea—what many consider to be the most important naval engagement of World War II's European theatre—in which eight of the German navy's most powerful ships failed to sink a Russian convoy guarded by only four small British destroyers, are brought to life by the author in this tale of men struggling to carry out their orders in the face of overwhelming obstacles.

     It was there that he met the young Englishwoman, Mary Allison Walters. Mary was the British wife of Baron Jenő Miske-Gerstenberger – the Hungarian consul-general in Munich and Istanbul. This unassuming woman became a special operations executive during WWII and was responsible for smuggling top secret documents into Hungary. However, her luck soon ran out when she was caught and given the death penalty. Somehow, she managed to escape, only to be suddenly abducted and imprisoned once again. And this time she was in a Soviet camp in the middle of the frozen artic, forced to battle against the terrible conditions every day in order to survive. This shocking true story was recounted to Tickell through letters almost 50 years later, revealing how years of happiness can be torn to tatters by the brutality of war. This is the story of inspirational Miss May. Praise for Jerrard Tickell ‘…an eye for the adventure and drama… and often uncommon courage. Good.” – Kirkus Review ‘There is room for more authors of this quality.’ – The Daily Telegraph Jerrard Tickell was born in Dublin and wrote his first book at just 18. He was a member of the Royal Army Service Corps. His official duties took him all over the world including Egypt and practically every port in the Near East. His books, a number of which have been made into successful movies, include Moon Squadron, Island Rescue, and Hussar Honeymoon. He now lives with his wife Renée Haynes, the daughter of E.S.P. Haynes and Oriana Huxley Waller, and three sons in London. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

    The legendary Marine Corps officer and his bunch of misfits, outcasts, and daredevils gave new definition to "hell-raising" - on the ground and in the skies.Pappy himself was a living legend - he personally shot down 28 Japanese planes, and won the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. He broke every rule in the book in doing so, but when he fell into the hands of the vengeful Japanese his real ordeal began.Here, in his own words, is the true story of America's wildest flying hero, of his extraordinary heroism, and of his greatest battle of all - the fight to survive.

    For this book is her testimony to the dignity and the courage of the human soul in the face of apparently unsurmountable obstacles. It is the story of one woman's attempt to retain her humanity in the midst of the most pervasive and obscene corruption the world has ever seen.

    

    Foxes of the Desert is the definitive work on the Afrika Korps and the other German forces who served in the Western Desert and Tunisia during World War II. Dominating the story are the personality and the brilliant strategy and tactics of the wily, fast-thinking and hard-hitting Desert Fox, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. In fascinating detail the author tells the full story of the great German master of desert armored warfare and his men and the other German forces in North Africa, during their many months of bitterly contested fighting against the pick of Britain's forces under such commanders as Wavell, Auchinleck, and finally Montgomery, and the Americans under Eisenhower. Here are the famous siege of Tobruk; Rommel's celebrated surprise push in the early spring of 1941 when the Afrika Korps captured Mersa el Brega and Agedabia and rolled on far eastward into Bardia and Sollum; the battle of Halfaya (Hellfire) Pass; the great tank battle on the Gazala front; the Germans' capture of Tobruk, with 33,000 prisoners and vast booty; the fateful battles of Alam Halfa and El Alamein; and the bloody campaign in Tunisia. Interwoven are fascinating accounts of the work of the German Secret Service; of the British Long Range Desert Group, and of its German counterpart, the Brandenburg Group. Numerous other commando operations and exciting exploits of espionage and sabotage are described in detail for the first time. As a result of personal interviews with over a thousand combatants, tireless reading, and painstaking research, Paul Carell has skillfully blended a mass of new and exciting information into a dramatic and completely authentic narrative. As a story of strategy and battle, Foxes of the Desert is both exhaustive and engrossing, and, as authorative history, it cannot be overlooked by anyone wishing a full understanding of World War II. This edition contains a new preface by Paul Carell who is also the author of Invasion! They're Coming!, Scorched Earth, Hitler Moves East, Stalingrad: The Defeat of the German 6th Army, and Operation Barbarossa in Photographs.

    A touching yet accurate portrait of this Indian Boadicea, The Ranee of Jhansi as a biography also puts the events of the 'mutiny' and the actual role of Lakshmibai in it, into perspective. Manakarnika was born on the banks of the Ganges at Benares in 1828, a lively and precocious young girl who would grow up to be the queen of Jhansi and an Indian hero. The Ranee of Jhansi explores the plains and hills of central India in 1857, the circumstances that led to the great revolt and the vivid scenes of the battle of Jhansi. At the heart of it all, however, is the story of Rani Lakshmibai, who continues to be celebrated for her courage and valour a century-and-a-half after her death. Her intuitive grasp of warfare, astute judgement and indomitable will, made her fight in the face of defeat. A young widow by the age of thirty, she led an army against the British. She was hailed by them, after her death, as 'the most dangerous of all Indian leaders'.

    The battles, massacres, stratagems, and logistics of this war are all detailed, with the leaders of both sides figuring prominently in this tale of bloodshed, privation, and woe. The author weighs all the factors contributing to the Native Americans’ defeat and surveys the effects of the war on the lives of both Indians and colonists in the years to come. With insight, balance, and compassion, Leach portrays the tragedy of the war and points toward the future of the nascent American republic.