LakersThe L.A. Lakers have long been one of the NBA's most exciting teams. In The Show, critically acclaimed sportswriter Roland Lazenby brings the story of this charismatic team to life in an unprecedented oral history, featuring such legendary players as Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul- Jabbar, and Magic Johnson, along with current stars like Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.Through in-depth interviews with players, coaches, and many other key figures, Lazenby follows the Lakers from their birthplace in 1946 Minneapolis to their eventual successes and failures in Los Angeles, using his flair for storytelling and eye for detail to show you exactly why the 14-time NBA champion Lakers are a celebrated favorite for sports fans all over America.

     He would remain part of the French Foreign Legion for the next five years. After swearing to the cause of liberté, égalité, fraternité Manington was immediately transported away from France to begin his training in Algeria. But Africa was not where he would be fighting, instead he and his comrades, from Germany, Scotland, America and the rest of the world, were sent to south-east Asia. Tonquin in French Indochina was their destination, to help quell the rebels against colonial rule that had emerged after the Sino-French War. The Yên Thế Insurrection had been continuing for twenty-two years in this area before Manington arrived, and he entered into the midst of this of this vicious war. Manington’s work A Soldier of the Legion is a fascinating account of life in one of the most famous regiments in history. Although loyal to the legion, he saw many faults in the colonial administration and developed friendships with the locals. This work gives brilliant insight into the guerrilla warfare used by the Tonkinese rebels. Methods of warfare that would be once again used in this area in the twentieth century, first against the French and later against the Americans during the Vietnam War. George Manington left the French Foreign Legion in 1895. Prior to joining he had been a student in France and Germany and a prospective doctor in Paris. After his time serving under the French flag he continued to live in Southeast Asia as an interpreter, traveller and journalist. This work was published in 1907.

    Mano Ziegler was involved from its inception and contributed to the design, testing, training and even served in it operationally. Could the ME 262 have broken the Allied supremacy in the air? Why did it take so long to come into service and why were hundreds of German pilots sacrificed in developing it? Why did the ME 262 prove not to be the unparalleled success claimed by Goering and why were German cities left dangerously exposed against Allied bombing campaigns? These are only some the important questions this new book answers. Mano Ziegler, born 7 June 1908, had a lifetime fascination with flight. At the age of eight, he wrote to Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, the famous "Red Baron", asking to be allowed to fly with him. Richthofen even replied, telling him, "Yes, we'll fly together!". At the age of 21, he took up glider flying. He also pursued his sport of diving and was a core member of Germany's Olympic high-diving team. In 1932 and 1934 he was student world high-diving champion at the world championships in Darmstadt and Turin. When war broke out in 1939 he became a pilot in the Luftwaffe, and from 1943 until the war's end he flew the Me 163 with Erprobungskommando 16 (Operational Test Unit 16) and Jagdgeschwader 400 (Fighter Group 400). After the war he escaped from Russian captivity and - having returned to Berlin - continued to fly and write newspaper articles. In Berlin he guested as a high-wire walker with the Camilla Mayer circus troupe, walking the 24-metre high wire - without any prior training - for a newspaper article. He eventually became editor-in-chief of the Flug-Revue aviation monthly in Stuttgart and, as such, made his first supersonic flight in an English fighter aircraft in the spring of 1960. Hitler's Jet Plane fills an important gap in the history of the Luftwaffe and of aviation in general with new research which dicloses how the first ever military jet plane failed to make its mark on World War II.

    It describes the gradual emergence of the Navy from the neutrality patrol and Western Hemisphere defense, through the "short-of-war" phases to full-fledged war with Germany and Italy. Much of it is devoted to the history of transatlantic, coastal, Russian, Caribbean and Brazilian convoys, and to the war on the U-boats. There are chapters on the fearful ordeal of the North Russian run, on the experiences of lonely merchantmen with Naval Armed Guards, on operations off the coast of Brazil, and on auxiliary efforts such as the Coastal Picket Patrol by sailing yachts (the "Hooligans"), the Mystery Ships, and the Civil Air Patrol.

    In the Pacific, Japan's soldiers had seemed unstoppable. However, the tide was about to turn.On Sunday, 6 September 1942, Japanese land forces suffered their first conclusive defeat at the hands of the Allies. At Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea, a predominantly Australian force - including 75 Squadron (fresh from their action in 44 Days) - fought for two weeks to successfully defend a vital airstrip against a determined Japanese invasion. The victorious Australian army units were crucially supported by two locally-based squadrons of RAAF Kittyhawks.The Battle for Milne Bay and victory for the Allies was a significant turning point in the Pacific War, but while it received worldwide publicity at the time, it has since been largely forgotten... It deserves to be remembered. Michael Veitch, actor, presenter and critically acclaimed author, brings to life the incredible exploits and tragic sacrifices of these Australian heroes in another fast-paced and thrilling tale.

    In 1985 Hans von Ohain, the scientist who pioneered Nazi Germany's efforts to build a jet plane, posed the question: 'Would World War II have occured if the Luftwaffe knew it faced operational British jets instead of Spitfires?' He immediately answered, 'I, for one, think not.'Frank Whittle, working-class outsider and self-taught enthusiast, had worked out the blueprint of a completely new type of engine in 1929, only for his ideas to be blocked by bureaucratic opposition until the outbreak of war in 1939. The importance of his work was recognized too late by the government for his revolutionary engine to play a major part in World War II. After the war Whittle's dream of civilian jet-powered aircraft became a reality and Britain enjoyed a golden age of 1950's jet-powered flight.Drawing on Whittle's extensive private papers, Campbell-Smith tells the story of a stoic and overlooked British hero, a tantalizing tale of 'what might have been'.

     It forms a companion piece to Charlwood’s highly-regarded elegy on Bomber Command, No Moon Tonight, expanding on the author’s experiences as a WWII navigator. It is the story of twenty young Australians who sailed together to Canada to train as navigators under the Empire Air Training Scheme. Most of them went on to Bomber Command, fifteen of the twenty losing their lives. Charlwood based much of this book on wartime diaries and letters, his own and those of others among the twenty men and Charlwood’s crew members. This book is as much their story as it is Charlwood’s own. In 1991 Elizabeth Webby, Professor of Australian Literature at Sydney University, wrote: ‘Journeys into Night is notable for the clarity and power of its writing. Don Charlwood’s wartime experiences – travelling overseas, training, the tedium and terror of ops – are recreated in vivid and moving detail.’ Praise for Journeys Into Night "This poignantly conceived and strongly written look-back-in-old-age [book] must surely rank as one of the most perceptive and rewarding accounts by any Australian who found himself on the cutting edge of the tragic insanity of war." - Alan Roberts, The Advertiser "This is one of the most moving books to come out of World War II; no reader without a heart of ice could fail to become involved with the young characters... The reader becomes part of the family of the crew, sharing their fears and jokes, their superstitions, and their spells of leave..." - Geoffrey Dutton, Overland Donald Ernest Cameron (Don) Charlwood AM (6 September 1915 – 18 June 2012) was an Australian author. He worked as a farm hand, an air traffic controller, and most notably as an RAAF navigator in Bomber Command during the WWII. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1992 in recognition of service to literature.

    By the end of April she was sailing south in the vanguard of the Task Force towards the Falklands. This is the personal testimony by the ship's captain, describing the bombing & sinking of HMS Coventry.

     Randolph Spencer-Churchill was the son of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine. He was a Member of Parliament between 1940 to 1945. He served with the 4th Queen's Own Hussars during the Second World War and later worked as a journalist. He was the author of several works of non-fiction, including the first two volumes of the official biography of his father. Winston Spencer-Churchill was the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill. He served as a member of British Parliament between 1970 and 1997. He was the author of five works of non-fiction, while he also compiled and edited Never Give In!, a collection of the Best of Sir Winston Churchill's speeches.

    . . within seconds, flaming gasoline was pouring out, burning white and orange . . .”“We shot at the Russian tanks when they came out of the dust cloud . . . the T34 exploded like a rotten fruit . . . engine, turret and deck all going in different directions, with the crew torn apart likewise . . .”Told by the men who fought in the tanks, with all the searing aggression and violence that they experienced . . . these are the shocking first-hand stories of the SS panzer troops themselves. The crews of the Panzer IV, the Stug, the Panther, Jagdtiger, Tiger and King Tiger . . . the authentic voices of the gunners, commanders and drivers who fought some of the deadliest battles in human history.In 1962, German researchers conducted a series of interviews with former members of the Waffen SS panzer troops who had fought in World War 2. The intention was to probe the SS veterans' motivations and psychology, but the men were unwilling to discuss these matters in depth. They were prepared, however, to describe their combat experiences - and they gave astonishing accounts of tank battles in Operation Barbarossa, Normandy, Italy, the Russian Front, the massive conflict at Kursk, the Ardennes and during the final apocalyptic battles against the Soviets within the Reich and for Berlin itself. These were men whose memories of battle were still vivid, and they were ready to relate the physical details of combat – the violent sights, sounds, and sensations of tank fighting, the weapons and tactics that they used, their triumphs and humiliations. Told in ice-cold, clinical detail, with phenomenal drama and sense of crisis, these first-hand accounts stand out today as one of the most remarkable testimonies to the experience of tank warfare in WW2. They will fascinate anyone interested in tank combat, the Waffen SS and the use of armor from 1941 to 1945.This book has the complete set of interviews from Books 1 and 2, with accounts of tank battles in:Operation Barbarossa (Panzer IV) Onslaught in the East (Stug III) Kursk (Tiger I)Italy (Elefant and Panther)Normandy (Panther)The Ardennes (Jagdtiger)Prussia (Stug IV)Berlin (King Tiger and Wirbelwind)A unique and shocking insight into panzer warfare in all its horrors.

     Washington D.C. and Manhattan disappear beneath nuclear mushroom clouds. Stripped of its congress, judicial and executive branches, the United States is a fractured, frantic shell of its former self; each state, a world unto its own. Germany’s threat of further attacks on major American cities like Chicago, Miami and Pittsburgh compels Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, sole survivor of the executive branch and now president, to bend to Hitler’s demand of neutrality. Powerless and impotent, America watches from the sidelines while Europe and Asia go up in flames. In search of a cause to unite America once again as a nation, the “Sons of Liberty,” a distant echo of our nation’s revolutionary war volunteers, secretly band together again, in the South this time, led by take-no-prisoners, General George S. Patton himself. And in doing so, he calls upon a group of ordinary citizens, including ex-Pan Am pilot Sam Carter and Hollywood actress Ava James, to embark on a series of missions that, if successful, will deliver America from its darkest hour and set it on a path toward the bright light of victory. The odds are impossible, the missions dangerous, and with an unknown spy in their midst threatening to wreck their intricate plans, everything seems doomed from the start as they struggle to bring America back into the fight for liberty and justice for all.

    On June 9, 1945, torpedoes from nine American submarines - 'The Hellcats' - were launched at dozens of Japanese freighters, paralyzing maritime operations between Japan and Korea. Each U.S. sub was equipped with newly designed mine-detectors and Mark-18s -- electronic torpedoes that left no traceable wakes or fume exhausts. Operation Barney continued for 15 days and proved a crucial breakthrough in the war, with U.S. submarines sinking 28 Japanese ships totaling some 70,000 tons. Hellcats of the Sea is a riveting account of the planning and events of those 15 days.*Annotated edition with original footnotes.*Includes photographs from Operation Barney.

    Patton, Jr. is one of the most famous military figures in U.S. history. Yet, he is better known for his profanity than his prayers. Until now. In his new book Patton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer, author Michael Keane takes readers on a journey through Patton's career in three parts: his military prowess, his inspirational bravery, and his faith. Using Patton's own diaries, speeches, and personal papers, Keane examines the general's actions and personality to shed light on his unique and paradoxical persona. From his miraculous near-death experience to his famous prayer for fair weather, Patton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer recounts the seminal events that contributed to Patton's personal and religious beliefs. Comprehensive and inspiring, Patton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer is an extraordinary look at the public and private life of one of World War II's most storied generals.

    Despite the proven effectiveness of the rifleman in battle, the sniper in the 20th century has been regarded as little more than a paid assassin, whose life if captured was forfeit. However, since the Vietnam War the undeniably effective use of such men in combat means that the value of the sniper has gradually become more appreciated by the military, and their prominence on the modern battlefield has increased significantly. In the 21st century they are now regarded as one of the most vital battlefield specialists.Illustrated throughout with colour and black and white photographs, this is a chronological study of snipers, detailing their evolution, training, weaponry and actions. There are also unique contributions from the men and women whose skill and extraordinary courage have made them the most greatly feared specialist in warfare.From the Foreword by Harry Furness, decorated Sniper-Sergeant, British Army Wold War IIWe will always need to deploy our new age warrior, that highly trained specialist, the military sniper....Factual books on snipers are few and far between, so I find it refreshing and timely that this new book has been published which will provide the reader with the true facts about these unique soldiers; and readers of this excellent, deeply researched book will now be more knowledgeable about a rarely discussed subject. You have to dig deep to bypass the many half truths in order to reach any conclusion as to why manking continues to wage wars that kill off the cream of our young society, but it might be said that if it is the fate of a soldier to die in battle, then a sniper's swift killing bullet must be preferable to dying from devastating wounds.Chapter Heads The sniper in perspective. The rifleman emerges 1500-1854. The American Civil War and European wars 1854-1914. The First World War, the watershed 1914-16. The First World War, the fight back 1916-18. Russian sniping 1936-45. The German sniper and the war with Russia 1941-45. The war against Japan 1941-45. The war in Western Europe 1940-45. Limited wars 1945-85. Vietnam, America's nemesis. Into the 21st century.

     It was these ships that carried the bulk of the troops and equipment to the bloody assault beaches of the overseas landings. The Japanese military had swept across Pacific Ocean conquering and fortifying hundreds of small islands that the Allied forces would have to conquer one by one in order to defeat their enemy. Despite being unarmored and having little fire power, attack transports continued to make a monumental impact in the fate of the war. Not because they could defeat the Japanese on their own but because they carried in their hulls the war’s one essential combat element: the troops that fought on the ground. U.S.S. Doyen was one such attack transport that served with honor and made its contribution felt through the course of the war. Lawrence Marsden’s fascinating history of this ship uncovers the action of the Doyen from commissioning through to her last operation in World War Two and of course exposes the lives of the men who sailed her through treacherous waters to do their duty. This book provides brilliant insight into the Pacific War as it was seen from one small unit in the fleet as they were involved in some of the most important operations of that front, including the invasions of Kiska, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, Guam, Leyte, Lingayen Gulf and Iwo Jima. “In war, transports seldom rest. Between assaults, on long and dreary voyages they carry out to distant bases replacement and service troops and freight, and carry back to home ports our casualties and essential war materials. They are the unsung, battle-scarred work horses of the Navy.” Richmond K. Turner, Admiral, U.S. Navy, Former Commander Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet. This book is perfect for readers who wish to learn more about these fascinating boats, the men who fought aboard them and the impact that they made throughout the war. Lieutenant Commander Lawrence A. Marsden served on the U.S.S. Doyen from May 1944 through to the end of the war, and was involved in the landings at Saipan, Guam, Leyte Gulf, Luzon and Iwo Jima. After the war he resigned his commission and became a textile company executive. His book Attack Transport: The Story of The USS Doyen was first published in 1946 and he passed away in 2005.