The raiders would have to fly across occupied Europe at a perilously low level and drop their bombs at a mere 60 feet above the water to destroy the dam walls. Eight planes never returned.Bestselling author Max Arthur has collected together first-hand accounts of the preparation, practise, organisation and the raid itself, and the sense of emptiness and loss at RAF Scampton when 52 men failed to return. From RAF personnel and civilians to Germans who witnessed the raid, this landmark oral history collection paints a moving and personal picture of one of the most famous operations of the Second World War.

    Lt. Col Mark Hasara—who has twenty-four years’ experience in flying missions around the world—provides keen and eye-opening insights on success and failure, and emphasizes the importance of always being willing to learn. He provides twelve essential lessons based on his wartime experience and his own personal photographs from his missions during the Cold War, Gulf War, and Iraq War. With a foreword by #1 New York Times bestselling author and radio host Rush Limbaugh, this is a military memoir not to be missed.

    With the Allies giving chase across France, German forces are in full retreat after the defeat at the Falaise Gap. In the confusion of the fast-moving situation, small squads find themselves on their own or cobbled together from other units, with whichever officer has the highest rank taking command. These units have one goal in mind, which is to move closer to Germany. It’s bad enough that troops on both sides find themselves short on fuel and ammunition. Their path is also blocked by physical obstacles such as the Moselle River. Now, two of these orphaned squads—one American unit, one German—find themselves in a small French village with a bridge across that river. Both sides want possession of the ancient bridge across the Moselle, and the result will be an epic showdown that pits general against general, and sniper against sniper.

    These special missions were called “Advanced Force Operations.” Subsequently, these special teams brought in the rest of the Green Berets during an operation called "the Ugly Baby." Then, one of the most significant battles in Special Forces history occurred: "Operation Viking Hammer," where six Green Beret teams along with a handful of CIA and Air Force Special Ops personnel, combined with approximately 8000 Peshmerga, took back hundreds of square kilometers from almost 1000 Ansar Al Islam extremists, and secured a poison production facility of national level significance. This book is the only firsthand account of these essential Unconventional Warfare operations, written by an operator who was there. In addition to describing these historically significant Special Operations missions, "One Green Beret" also details a 15-year career in the Green Berets that includes many unique experiences, such as joint operations alongside Russian Spetznaz on the northern border of Kosovo, and postwar operations in Bosnia embedded deeply with the locals. Mark Giaconia questions everything, and provides a VERY humble, sobering, and human perspective on war, military service, and strategic considerations. One Green Beret is very inspiring, and conveys the author’s personal evolution from gunslinger to educated computer scientist; a true tale of “post traumatic success.”

     Yet despite his youth he was already one of the R.A.F.’s most experienced fliers and was immediately given the position of flight commander in 266 Squadron. Yet, the life of an R.A.F. pilot in the initial months of the war, with experience or not, was no easy feat. Just four months after war had broken out his Spitfire broke up while flying meaning that he was hurtling towards the earth from 18000ft without a plane. Fortunately, he still had his parachute, but it was a difficult start to his wartime career. After recovering from his injuries he was transferred to 87 Squadron, based in France, and there shot down two Me-110, one definite Bf 109, another probably Bf 109, two Do 17 bombers, and a shared He 111 bomber. This record set in two days made him the fastest R.A.F. pilot to have become an ace. Gleed’s book Arise to Conquer records his fascinating life through the course of World War Two as fights through the course of the Battle of Britain. “a candid, simply spoken record of a job done and likeable in the telling.” Kirkus Review Wing Commander Ian Gleed DSO, DFC, was a R.A.F. fighter pilot ace who shot down thirteen enemy planes through the course of his service in World War Two. He served in both the Battle of France and Battle of Britain. Tragically he lost his life at the age of twenty-six in Tunisia in 1943. His book Arise to Conquer was first published in 1942.

    Victory in the forthcoming air battle would mean national survival; defeat would establish German tyranny.The Luftwaffe greatly outnumbered the RAF, but during the Battle of Britain it was the RAF that emerged triumphant, thanks to two key fighter planes, the Spitfire and the Hurricane. The Hurricane made up over half of Fighter Command`s front-line strength, and its revolutionary design transformed the RAF`s capabilities. Leo McKinstry tells the story of the remarkable plane from its designers to the first-hand testimonies of those brave pilots who flew it; he takes in the full military and political background but always keeps the human stories to the fore - to restore the Hawker Hurricane to its rightful place in history.

    The Dogs of War, by Leo Kessler. It was January 1940, and the coldest winter within living memory. The Western front was still paralysed by the phoney war, but, at the Adolf Hitler Kaserne, a new battalion of SS troops were being put through the most gruelling training programme in the history of the German army. SS Assault Regiment Wotan were preparing for a mission so secret that it was known only by its codename, Zero. Only the Vulture, Major Horst Geier, knew that the objective was the key Belgian fortress guarding the junction of the River Meuse and the Albert Canal. It was the most impregnable stronghold in Europe and had to be taken, regardless of the cost of human lives, if Hitler's handpicked SS Panzer troops were to turn the flank of the Maginot line and force the phoney war to explode into the Blitzkrieg.

    Co. Jimmy Doolittle\s legendary bombing raid on Tokyo gave America the morale boost it needed in the wake of Pearl Harbor. This is the full story as told by the Doolittle Raiders\ official historian. Carroll Glines is also the author of Attack on Yamamoto.

     After covering the war from the British home front to North Africa, Italy, and France, he left the European Theater to go to the Pacific to cover what would be the last few months of conflict with the Japanese forces. Instead of recounting the discussions and activities of generals or the movements of armies, Pyle captured the daily lives of the common soldier and showed the public how their brothers, fathers and sons were experiencing the war. Rather than covering the war from safety, he threw himself into the heat of battle so that he could fully understand and record what the fighting men were going through. Last Chapter is a collection of his last articles that he wrote while witnessing the conflict in the Pacific. During his time in the Far East he spent time in the occupied Marianas, with pilots and aircrew of B-29’s as they flew in missions over the Japanese mainland, with sailors in the hundreds of boats that were swarming the Pacific Ocean, and with marines as they were preparing for the assault of Okinawa. "No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told", wrote Harry Truman. "He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen." “These pages will of course have a commemorative value, mark an end to one of the best known, best loved figures of the war.” Kirkus Reviews Ernie Pyle was the most celebrated war correspondent of World War Two. His work ran in one-hundred and forty-four papers and reached an audience of forty million Americans. His brilliant portrayal of the everyday fighting man in World War Two won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1944. Last Chapter was first published in 1946 after Pyle had been killed at Ie Shima on 18th April, 1945.

    He was an employee of Hindustan Shipyard limited which is building India’s nuclear submarine fleet. This is the fourth submarine engineer in the last twelve months who perished under mysterious circumstances. Navy leadership gets suspicious about a covert sabotage operation being carried out by an unknown enemy, to slow down India's attempt at acquiring a potent nuclear deterrent platform. After deliberations at different levels, an Intelligence Bureau agent is sent to Vizag to work as an undercover operative. What secrets will she uncover? Will she become the next target of an enemy spy ring? Would the Indian Navy exact revenge from a belligerent enemy?

    The author assures us it is not!Three years before they came together, four young American men left their fraternities and college campuses for an adventure exceeding their imaginations. Wanting something more than the draft and unknown to each other, they chose Naval Aviation as the next step in their lives. Generally, they were better than their navy peers, all qualifying for high performance aircraft to be flown from steel decks over foreign seas. They would become the pointy end of the stick in aerial battles over North Vietnam, the most heavily defended patch of real estate in the history of aerial warfare. They were to do this in 1967, the year in which Naval Aviation experienced its greatest losses.These four young men, now Lieutenants Junior Grade, United States Navy, were ordered to Attack Squadron 34 to fly A4 Skyhawks into combat. They were assigned Junior Officer's stateroom 0111 aboard USS Intrepid, a venerable aircraft carrier with a distinguished history. This "bunkroom" better known to them as Triple Sticks was the repository for a log (in navy terms) or journal written by these four young aviators. Forty years later this log was the genesis of this memoir.In the lethal environment over the northern reaches of North Vietnam or ashore in the Officer's clubs and bars of Asia, the writing brings to life wonderful humor, bizarre behavior, vivid aerial battles, uncommon loyalty, anger, frustration and respect. One survived or did not according to his skill and luck.

    There were 20,000 Japanese troops on Saipan, but the US obliterated the opposition after a horrific all-arms campaign. The sudden silence only indicated it was now Tinian’s turn.By the time the US 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions switched their sights to Tinian, the island had already been bombarded for a month; meantime both sides had learned their lessons from the previous island-hopping invasions. The Americans had learned the arts of recon, deception, plus preliminary firepower so as not to suffer the huge casualties they’d suffered at Saipan, Guadalcanal, and Tarawa; the Japanese, for their part, had learned not to contest US strength on beaches but to draw it further inland where terrain and bomb-proof fortifications could assist.When the battle for Tinian finally took place the US acted with great skill. Historian Samuel Elliot Morrison called it “the most perfectly executed amphibious operation of the entire war.” Nevertheless, the Japanese resisted with their usual stubbornness, and the already decimated US Marines suffered hundreds of more casualties.During the battle Japanese shore batteries were able to riddle the battleship Colorado, killing scores, plus make multiple hits on a destroyer, killing its captain. On the island itself the US used napalm for the first time, paving the way for Marines painstakingly rooting out strongpoints. One last Banzai attack signaled the end to enemy resistance, as Marines fought toe-to-toe with their antagonists in the dark.In the end some 8,000 Japanese were killed, with only 300 surrenders, plus some others who hid out for years after the war. But those Japanese who resisted perhaps performed a greater service than they knew. After Tinian was secured the US proceeded to build the biggest airport in the world on that island—home to hundreds of B-29 Superfortresses. Among these, just over a year later, were the Enola Gay and Boxcar, which with their atomic bombs would quickly bring the Japanese homeland itself to its knees.

    World War II experienced from the cockpits of fighter aircraft, and through the eyes of men trapped in island Tropical Hells. Written by a retired Naval Aviator and former Paratrooper; the author puts the reader in the F-4F Wildcat and jungle, as warriors engage in a titanic struggle around the globe. A diverse and rich cast of characters reveal the sacrifice and frustrations of war. A no holds bar accounting of the actual battles, shown through the eyes of the novels characters, uncovers mistakes and even incompetence at the highest levels. Vengeance shows the disastrous results of these decisions, on the lowest common denominator; the war fighter. Closely following the actual battles of Midway and Guadalcanal the reader gets an insider’s view so vivid the smell of cordite will hang in the air. A rare perspective written by an author that flew modern fighters over the historic battlefields, even from the decks of aircraft carriers that fought in the Pacific. A riveting story, Vengeance tells of the impact at an individual level, a personal level; of an entire world at war. From the struggles of a young man in Officer Candidate School facing down a sadistic Drill Instructor; to entire fleets engaging in War At Sea. Vengeance will pull back the curtain of historical perspective and frame it in reality. The harsh reality will come as a shock to readers who have read of great victories. But know little of the tremendous cost; like fifteen hundred sailors lost in a single nights battle, all five of the Sullivan brothers among them. To the soldier, sailor or airman: war is about the small unit they are a part of and the struggle not only to stay alive, but protect their comrades. Sometimes, even to avenge their deaths. Shanle's latest novel; End Game in the Pacific, will be released in the new year.

     Just over a month later they engaged five enemy destroyers and sunk three of them and received no damage themselves in what has been described by tacticians as “near perfect surface actions”. Over the course of the next four months Destroyer Squadron 23, which was nicknamed “The Little Beavers, would continue in the same vein and engage with enemy ships a further twenty-two times, destroying one Japanese cruiser, nine destroyers, one submarine, several smaller ships, and approximately 30 aircraft. “The Captains of Squadron 23 went out looking for trouble; they found it; they sank it; and then they looked for more. When a ship became lost, as some did, she simply headed for the enemy and continued to fight by herself. It is impossible for me to express the proud, paternal feeling I felt for you all during the heat of battle. There are many officers in the United States Navy who probably would have done as well had the opportunity been granted them. There are NO officers in the United States Navy who could have done better.” — Captain Arleigh Burke Ken Jones’ account of this brilliant squadron takes the reader to the heart of the action as he uncovers Arleigh’s tactics and the strategies that were deployed to defeat Japanese ships. He also uncovers what life was like for the men in the squadron as they powered across Pacific Ocean. “While the period covered by this book is relatively short, it was a crucial period in the Pacific War, and the vital part played by Destroyer Squadron 23 under the inspiring leadership of Arleigh Burke was, in a sense, only a beginning, but the vital beginning, of a steady drive forward which gained momentum and power until United States naval forces steamed victoriously into Tokyo Bay.” — Fleet Admiral William Halsey Ken Jones wrote a number of works on World War Two, including the biography Admiral Arleigh. His book Destroyer Squadron 23 was first published in 1959.

     Howard Miner never expected to contract the first documented case of the mumps in Guadalcanal history.    As a Navy Black Cat, he took his share of chances during the ten-hour, night long flights in darkened PBYs painted entirely black, searching the seas for enemy ships and downed fliers ~ the original stealth aircrafts.  But wartime was unpredictable, and whether landing on an exotic tropical isle where the women he saw from the air turned out to be topless, or dropping wing tanks containing a strange new substance called “Napalm,” this was clearly a very different world than he had known as a college student in Indiana. His is a tale of seven buddies, all pilots who flew at night, slept and got into mischief by day, then repeated. Their PBY Catalina odyssey stretched from the Solomon Islands to the northern tip of the Philippines and included a full range of missions, from search, attack, and bombing runs, to daring sea rescues. Howard’s journey through training and tours of duty is skillfully captured in his art and narratives, framing a wartime drama with a personal coming of age story. The descriptive verse from the artist’s viewpoint gives us a creatively told and intriguing portrayal of WWII’s Pacific Theater. * * * * Miner combines his father's writings and interviews with WWII veterans to craft a loving tribute to the young men who fought in WWII...He does his father and other WWII veterans proud. ~Publisher's Weekly/Booklife * * * * "Sketches of a Black Cat" is a unique and fascinating memoir of a World War II combat aviator ~ with original and previously unpublished sketches and photographs. This artfully crafted book is a must read for anyone in search of a new and completely different view into the world of war in the Pacific and on the home front during America's greatest conflict." ~ Larkin Spivey, military historian and author. * * * * “From boxes of notes and drawings comes a book illuminating a WWII pilot’s experiences as part of the Black Cat Squadron…accounts of support missions, rescues of airmen and interactions with indigenous island peoples told in vivid but unembellished detail…a handsome volume that reads breezily and is punctuated with photos and drawings from Howard’s war years. ~ Mike Francis the Oregonian * * * * "Wonderful and beautifully real stories such as this are dying every day as we lose our WWII veterans. Kudos to Ron Miner for preserving and sharing with the rest of us the gold of his father's journals, photos, and drawings to bring us such a compelling look at life during the war. This is not only a valuable and insightful historical document but a dramatic and warm personal story." ~ Don Keith, WWII author * * * * “... Howard Miner’s memoirs are a wonderful view into the world of a patrol squadron at war. Miner sees the war through the eyes of an artist, revealing details of day-to-day life that are often overlooked in war time narratives. A wholly enjoyable story!” ~ Stewart Bailey, Curator, Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum * * * * " “As a former flight engineer aboard a PBY in WWII… I can truly say I felt as though I was on Howard’s Catalina…so many similarities to my own experiences.