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British & Irish history: Second World War
Available
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When the Germans arrived
on the Channel Islands
after the defeat of
France in the summer of
1940, they and the
islanders agreed that it
would be a 'Model
Occupation'. But as the
war dragged on and
Britain appeared to
abandon the islands to
their fate, so features
of Nazi occupation
already widespread
throughout Europe
emerged. There were love
affairs between island
women and German
soldiers, betrayals and
black marketeering,
individual acts of
resistance, feats of
courage and endurance.
Every islander was faced
with uncomfortable
choices: where did
patriotism end and
self-preservation begin?
What moral obligation did
they have to the
thousands of emaciated
and ill-treated slave
labourers the Nazi's
brought among them to
build an impregnable ring
of defences around the
islands?
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Although nearly 90% of
the population of Great
Britain remained
civilians throughout the
war, or for a large part
of it, their story has
so far largely gone
untold. In contrast with
the thousands of books on
military operations,
barely any have concerned
themselves with the
individual's experience.
The problems of the
ordinary family are
barely ever mentioned -
food rationing, clothes
rationing, the black-out
and air raids get little
space, and everyday
shortages almost none at
all.
This book is
an attempt to redress the
balance; to tell the
civilian's story largely
through their own
recollections and in
their own
words.
'Mr
Longmate has recruited an
enormous volunteer army
of home-front veterans
who sent him their
wartime recollections...
He has brilliantly sifted
and assembled the
precious debris'
Guardian
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11:15 am, 3 September
1939. Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain
confirms the nation's
fears by announcing that
Britain is at war with
Germany. Outbreak
is the definitive history
of the build-up to,
outbreak and first few
months of the Second
World War. Drawing on the
Imperial War Museum
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Early on a wartime
winter's morning in 1941,
an 8, 000-ton cargo ship
loaded with whisky ran
aground in the beautiful
and treacherous seas of
the Outer Hebrides. The
events which followed
became the stuff of
folklore, and resulted
in the famous fiction of
Whisky Galore. But what
really happened.. . ?
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-
The World at War
is the definitive
television work on the
Second World War. It set
out
Availability: In Stock
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-
11:15 am, 3 September
1939. Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain
confirms the nation's
fears by announcing that
Britain is at war with
Germany. Outbreak
is the definitive history
of the build-up to,
outbreak and first few
months of the Second
World War. Drawing on the
Imperial War Museum
Availability: In Stock
£6.29
Available
-
By 1942 the civilised
world had been brought to
the brink of ruin. It had
taken the Axis powers
less than three years to
command the high seas in
the North Atlantic and
the South Pacific, to
lay waste most of Europe
and enslave millions in
Asia, to drive deep into
Stalin's Soviet empire
and come within an ace of
controlling the oilfields
in the Middle East. At
the height of their power
the European dictators
and the Japanese military
autocracy ruled
ruthlessly almost half
the world. Standing
alone, the British were
bankrupt and the United
States only driven from
isolation by the
humiliation at Pearl
Harbour. Before the tide
fully turned in 1943,
millions had been put to
death, the machinery of
the holocaust was in
place and nuclear
devastation well on the
way to become a reality.
Yet, Deighton warns,
fifty years on the
lessons of the Second
World War continue to
reverberate unheeded.
Racial hatred, ethnic
cleansing, recession,
trade wars and the
widening gap between the
world's rich and poor
promise economic
migration on a
frightening scale. The
dangers of today are seen
all too clearly in this
account of a recent time
when humanity was
consumed by violence and
destruction.
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The 1942 raid on Dieppe
was an attempt to test
the enemy readiness, and
take some pressure off
the Russian front. It was
a costly disaster, but
lessons learned there
were of the utmost
importance to the D-Day
planning. After a massive
build up of men and
materials the D-Day
landings finally took
place in Normandy on 6th
June 1944. Despite
vicious battles and
stubborn resistance,
within 12 weeks the
Allied invaded Paris. To
compound the enemy's
problems, the allies
invaded the South of
France and rapidly
advanced northwards. In
desperation Hitler
released his 'secret
weapons' the V1 and V2
over Britain. Slowly but
steadily the Allies
advanced through Belgium
and Holland, and despite
setbacks at Arndem and in
the Ardennes, finally
reached the shores of the
Rhine. After a hazardous
crossing they finally
advanced to meet the
victorious Russian Army.
Hitler, Mussolini and
their cohorts were all
dead or captured, and
the war was over, at the
cost of millions of human
lives.
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-
In 1939 Britain and her
allies were completely
unprepared for total war.
In the spring of 1940,
after months of
inactivity, the powerful
highly trained German
Army smashed it's way
through neutral Holland
and Belgium and into
northern France. The
Allies had no choice but
to retreat to the costal
areas, where the
'Miracle of Dunkirk' took
place. Half a million men
were finally evacuated to
England. Hitler, anxious
to invade Britain,
ordered the Luftwaffe to
destroy the Royal Air
Force. The Battle of
Britain started. A climax
was reached on September
15th when, following a
great raid over London,
the RAF shot down 175
raiders. Hitler
relentlessly bombed
Britain hoping to break
the British people. Many
were killed or wounded
and countless home where
destroyed but the British
spirit never broke. The
British people defied the
enemy until May 1941 when
much of the Luftwaffe
were moving away to fight
on the Russian front.
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In 1939 London was not
merely the greatest city
in the world, it was the
most tempting and
vulnerable target for
aerial attack. For six
years it was the
frontline of the free
world's battle against
Fascism. It endured the
horrors of the Blitz of
1940 and 1941, the V1s,
the V2s. Other cities
suffered more intensely;
no other city was so
constantly under attack
for so long a time. This
is the story of London at
war - or, perhaps, of
Londoners at war, for
Philip Ziegler, known
best as a biographer, is
above all fascinated by
the people who found
their lives so suddenly
and violently
transformed: the
querulous, tiresome yet
strangely gallant
housewife from West
Hampstead; the turbulent,
left-wing retired
schoolmaster from
Walthamstow, always
having a go at the
authorities; the odiously
snobbish middleclass lady
from Kensington,
sneering at the scum who
took shelter in the
Underground; the typist
from Fulham, the plumber
from Woolwich. It was
their war, quite as much
as it was Churchill's or
the King's, and this is
their history. Through a
wealth of interviews and
unpublished letters and
diaries, as well as
innumerable books and
newspapers, the author
has built up a vivid
picture of a population
under siege. There were
cowards, there were
criminals, there were
incompetents, but what
emerges from these pages
is above all a record of
astonishing patience,
dignity and courage. 'I
hope, ' Ziegler writes,
'we will never have to
endure again what they
went through between 1939
and 1945. I hope, if we
did, that we would
conduct ourselves as
well.'
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The Imperial War Museum
holds a vast archive of
interviews with soldiers,
sailors, airmen and
civilians of most
nationalities who saw
action during WW2. As
they did for the highly
acclaimed Forgotten
Voices of the Great
War, Max Arthur and
his team of researchers
spent hundreds of hours
digging deep into this
unique archive,
uncovering tapes, many
of which had not been
listened to since they
were created in the early
1970s. The result is the
first complete oral
history of the Second
World War.
We
hear at first from
British, German and
Commonwealth soldiers and
civilians. Accounts of
the impact of the U. S.
involvement after Pearl
Harbour, and the major
effects that this had on
the war in Europe and the
Far East are chronicled
in startling detail.
Including compelling
interviews from U. S. and
British troops who fought
against the Japanese,
and accounts from D-Day,
to the Rhine Crossing and
the dropping of the Atom
Bomb in August 1945,
this book is a unique
testimony to one of the
world's most dreadful
conflicts. One of the
hallmarks of Max Arthur's
work is the way he
involves those left
behind on the home front
as well as those working
in factories or essential
services. Their voices
will not be
neglected.
Availability: In Stock
£5.99
Available
-
The Imperial War Museum
holds a vast archive of
interviews with soldiers,
sailors, airmen and
civilians of most
nationalities who saw
action during WW2. As in
the highly-acclaimed
Forgotten Voices of
the Great War, Max
Arthur and his team of
researchers spent
hundreds of hours digging
deep into this unique
archive, uncovering
tapes, many of which
have not been listened to
since they were created
in the early 1970s. The
result will be the first
complete oral history of
the war. We hear at first
from British, German and
Commonwealth soldiers and
civilians. Accounts of
the impact of U. S.
involvement after Pearl
Harbour and the major
effects it had on the war
in Europe and the Far
East is chronicled in
startling detail,
including compelling
interviews from U. S. and
British troops who fought
against the Japanese.
Continuing through from
D-Day, to the Rhine
Crossing and the dropping
of the Atom Bomb in
August 1945, this book
is a unique testimony to
one of the world's most
dreadful conflicts. One
of the hallmarks of Max
Arthur's work is the way
he involves those left
behind on the home front
as well as those working
in factories or essential
services. Their voices
will not be neglected.
Availability: In Stock
£7.19
Available
-
The 1942 raid on Dieppe
was an attempt to test
the enemy readiness, and
take some pressure off
the Russian front. It was
a costly disaster, but
lessons learned there
were of the utmost
importance to the D-Day
planning. After a massive
build up of men and
materials the D-Day
landings finally took
place in Normandy on 6th
June 1944. Despite
vicious battles and
stubborn resistance,
within 12 weeks the
Allied invaded Paris. To
compound the enemy's
problems, the allies
invaded the South of
France and rapidly
advanced northwards. In
desperation Hitler
released his 'secret
weapons' the V1 and V2
over Britain. Slowly but
steadily the Allies
advanced through Belgium
and Holland, and despite
setbacks at Arndem and in
the Ardennes, finally
reached the shores of the
Rhine. After a hazardous
crossing they finally
advanced to meet the
victorious Russian Army.
Hitler, Mussolini and
their cohorts were all
dead or captured, and
the war was over, at the
cost of millions of human
lives.
Availability: In Stock
£9.88
Available
-
The first British major
success of World War two
was when Royal Navy
forced the preying pocket
Battle ship the Graf
Spee, to scuttle at
seaHitler had ordered a
blockade of the British
Isles and for some months
German U-boats and
warships caused havoc
among allied merchant
shipping carrying vital
supplies. In 1941 the one
sided battle of the
Atlantic became more
even, when the Royal
Navy started moving ships
in convoy with escorts
using radar, and
information from British
scientists who had
cracked the Kreigsmarine
version of the Enigma
Code captured by the
Royal Navy. The perils of
the Atlantic were only
equalled by the Convoys
on the run to northern
Russia. Sub-zero
temperatures, pack ice
and appalling weather
conditions plus the
menacing Luftwaffe and
the German Navy based in
Norway, made it one of
the most hazardous
actions of the entire
war. Meanwhile, in the
air, bomber planes of
the RAF and US air force
were incessantly
bombarding German
Industries and cities.
Casualties on the ground
were devastating and the
life expectancy of the
aircrew was alarmingly
short. The destruction of
communications and
armament factories was
the main contribution
from the bombing
campaign.
Availability: In Stock
£9.88
Available
-
When the Italian dictator
Mussolini saw that Hitler
was conquering Europe he
decided that he too,
would have a share of the
plunder. He declared war
on the Allies, vowed to
control the
Mediterranean, and with
his 300, 000 troops
stationed in Libya, take
Egypt and the Suez Canal.
But he knew that this
could not be accomplished
while the strategic
island of Malta remained
in Allied hands. For the
next two years Malta and
its people suffered for
almost continuous
bombardment, but never
gave in. In North Africa,
because of stubborn
Allied resistance, the
Italian ambitions where
not realised and the
Germans led by General
Rommel, joined them in
campaign. Following
months of bitter fighting
Rommel's Afrika Corps
were only halting just
150 miles from Cario. But
after the Allies' victory
at El Alamein, General
Montgomery's 8th Army
drove the Italians and
Germans back to Tunisia
where, strengthened by
the British first army
and the U. S. Second
corps the Axis troops
were driven from North
Africa. This opened the
way for the Allies to
invade Sicily and
eventually the Italian
mainland.
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-
Children lay at the heart
of the Nazi war. The
Nazis murdered Jewish,
gypsy and disabled
children, so that the
pure-bred German child
would inherit the new
colonial empire being
conquered in the East.
Yet in the final weeks of
the war, the regime
would devour its own,
calling on the very
teenagers it had so
lauded to sacrifice
themselves on the 'altar
of the fatherland', as
it sent teenage girls to
flak batteries and boys
to fight Soviet tanks,
or to hunt down escaped
concentration camp
inmates. Although the
Nazi regime separated
children on the basis of
race and national
identity, the experience
of children does not fall
into tidy categories.
Even in this most
murderous of European
wars, children were not
merely passive victims of
genocide, bombing,
mechanised warfare,
starvation policies and
mass flight. They were
also active participants,
going out to smuggle
food, ply the black
market, and care for
sick parents and
siblings. As they
absorbed the brutal new
realities of German
occupation, Polish boys
played at being Gestapo
interrogators, and
Jewish children at being
ghetto guards or the SS.
Within days of Germany's
own surrender, German
children were playing at
being Russian soldiers.
As they imagined
themselves in the roles
of their enemies,
children expressed their
hopes, fears and envy in
their play. Drawing on a
wide range of new
sources, from welfare
and medical files to
private diaries, letters
and drawings, Nicholas
Stargardt evokes the
individual voices of
children under Nazi rule.
In re-creating their
wartime experiences, he
has produced a
challenging new
historical interpretation
of the Second World War.
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-
'The Gestapo kept me
three days in this
interrogation house. They
especially wanted to know
what I did after my
escape, and precise
things on the
organisation of the SOE.
And just for fun I
suspect, because I had
really not much to tell
them, they pulled one of
my toenails out...' -
Robert Sheppard, SOE
agent
The
Special Operations
Executive (SOE) was a
secret British
organisation created
early in the Second World
War to encourage
resistance and carry out
sabotage behind enemy
lines: in Winston
Churchill
Availability: In Stock
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-
11:15 am, 3 September
1939. The nation gathers
around their radios to
hear Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain make
the announcement they
have feared for months:
Britain is at war with
Germany. Seventy years on
from that historic day,
this is the definitive
history of the build-up
to, outbreak and first
few months of World War
Two, from the events of
early 1939, right
through to the first
war-time Christmas.
Drawing on the
Imperial War
Museum
Availability: In Stock
£18.00
Available
-
The first British major
success of World War two
was when Royal Navy
forced the preying pocket
Battle ship the Graf
Spee, to scuttle at
seaHitler had ordered a
blockade of the British
Isles and for some months
German U-boats and
warships caused havoc
among allied merchant
shipping carrying vital
supplies. In 1941 the one
sided battle of the
Atlantic became more
even, when the Royal
Navy started moving ships
in convoy with escorts
using radar, and
information from British
scientists who had
cracked the Kreigsmarine
version of the Enigma
Code captured by the
Royal Navy. The perils of
the Atlantic were only
equalled by the Convoys
on the run to northern
Russia. Sub-zero
temperatures, pack ice
and appalling weather
conditions plus the
menacing Luftwaffe and
the German Navy based in
Norway, made it one of
the most hazardous
actions of the entire
war. Meanwhile, in the
air, bomber planes of
the RAF and US air force
were incessantly
bombarding German
Industries and cities.
Casualties on the ground
were devastating and the
life expectancy of the
aircrew was alarmingly
short. The destruction of
communications and
armament factories was
the main contribution
from the bombing
campaign.
Availability: In Stock
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-
'The Gestapo kept me
three days in this
interrogation house. They
especially wanted to know
what I did after my
escape, and precise
things on the
organisation of the SOE.
And just for fun I
suspect, because I had
really not much to tell
them, they pulled one of
my toenails out...' -
Robert Sheppard, SOE
agent
The
Special Operations
Executive (SOE) was a
secret British
organisation created
early in the Second World
War to encourage
resistance and carry out
sabotage behind enemy
lines: in Winston
Churchill
Availability: In Stock
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-
'The Gestapo kept me
three days in this
interrogation house. They
especially wanted to know
what I did after my
escape, and precise
things on the
organisation of the SOE.
And just for fun I
suspect, because I had
really not much to tell
them, they pulled one of
my toenails out...' -
Robert Sheppard, SOE
agent
The
Special Operations
Executive (SOE) was a
secret British
organisation created
early in the Second World
War to encourage
resistance and carry out
sabotage behind enemy
lines: in Winston
Churchill
Availability: In Stock
£7.34
Available
-
11:15 am, 3 September
1939. The nation gathers
around their radios to
hear Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain make
the announcement they
have feared for months:
Britain is at war with
Germany. Seventy years on
from that historic day,
this is the definitive
history of the build-up
to, outbreak and first
few months of World War
Two, from the events of
early 1939, right
through to the first
war-time Christmas.
Drawing on the
Imperial War
Museum
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-
In June 1941 the Ark
Royal won one of
Britain's most famous
naval victories. The
German
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Witnesses of War
is the first work to show
how children experienced
the Second World
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-
Of all the accounts
written about the Second
World War, none are more
compelling than the
personal diaries of those
who lived through it.
We Are At War is
the story of five
everyday folk, who,
living on the brink of
chaos, recorded
privately on paper their
most intimate hopes and
fears.
Pam
Ashford, a woman who
keeps her head when all
around are losing theirs,
writes with comic genius
about life in her Glasgow
shipping office.
Christopher Tomlin, a
writing-paper salesman
for whom business is
booming, longs to be
called up like his
brother. Eileen Potter
organises evacuations for
flea-ridden children,
while mother-of-three
Tilly Rice is frustrated
to be sent to Cornwall.
And Maggie Joy Blunt
tries day-by-day to keep
a semblance of her
ordinary
life.
Entering
their world as they lived
it, each diary entry is
poignantly engrossing.
Amid the tumultuous start
to the war, these
ordinary British people
are by turns apprehensive
and despairing, spirited
and cheerful - and always
fascinatingly, vividly
real.
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-
The World at War
is the definitive
television work on the
Second World War. It set
out
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-
* In May 1945 Italy
was liberated from Nazism
and Fascism by the
British Eighth and
American
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After the fall of France
to the German army in May
1940, Hitler set his
sights on the invasion of
Britain. Within weeks he
had a vast battle fleet
ranged along the French
coast. But his biggest
obstacle was the small
and under-resourced Royal
Air Force
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-
In 1939 Britain and her
allies were completely
unprepared for total war.
In the spring of 1940,
after months of
inactivity, the powerful
highly trained German
Army smashed it's way
through neutral Holland
and Belgium and into
northern France. The
Allies had no choice but
to retreat to the costal
areas, where the
'Miracle of Dunkirk' took
place. Half a million men
were finally evacuated to
England. Hitler, anxious
to invade Britain,
ordered the Luftwaffe to
destroy the Royal Air
Force. The Battle of
Britain started. A climax
was reached on September
15th when, following a
great raid over London,
the RAF shot down 175
raiders. Hitler
relentlessly bombed
Britain hoping to break
the British people. Many
were killed or wounded
and countless home where
destroyed but the British
spirit never broke. The
British people defied the
enemy until May 1941 when
much of the Luftwaffe
were moving away to fight
on the Russian front.
Availability: In Stock
£9.88
Available
-
When the Italian dictator
Mussolini saw that Hitler
was conquering Europe he
decided that he too,
would have a share of the
plunder. He declared war
on the Allies, vowed to
control the
Mediterranean, and with
his 300, 000 troops
stationed in Libya, take
Egypt and the Suez Canal.
But he knew that this
could not be accomplished
while the strategic
island of Malta remained
in Allied hands. For the
next two years Malta and
its people suffered for
almost continuous
bombardment, but never
gave in. In North Africa,
because of stubborn
Allied resistance, the
Italian ambitions where
not realised and the
Germans led by General
Rommel, joined them in
campaign. Following
months of bitter fighting
Rommel's Afrika Corps
were only halting just
150 miles from Cario. But
after the Allies' victory
at El Alamein, General
Montgomery's 8th Army
drove the Italians and
Germans back to Tunisia
where, strengthened by
the British first army
and the U. S. Second
corps the Axis troops
were driven from North
Africa. This opened the
way for the Allies to
invade Sicily and
eventually the Italian
mainland.
Availability: In Stock
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Available
-
Witnesses of War
is the first work to show
how children experienced
the Second World
Availability: In Stock
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-
This landmark series
brought history to life
in a way that had never
been done before -
through the words of
ordinary men and women.
Their eyewitness accounts
tell the story of the
Second World War in a way
that no other history
title can. Now this
bestselling book
has been edited, adapted
and illlustrated to make
it more accessible and
even more commercial. It
is the only history book
on the market that
consists almost entirely
of authentic oral
accounts of the Second
World War, told in the
words of the people who
survived it. Divided into
three sections, each
section is arranged
thematically so that
readers can find out more
about subjects such as
what life was really like
fighting the Japanese or
how women contributed to
the war effort. Fully
illustrated with
photographs from the
Imperial War Museum
archives, maps and
timelines, complete with
special features boxes
giving additional
background information
and a glossary, this
book is destined to
become an essential
reference for pupils,
teachers and families
everywhere.
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Len Deighton's skill as a
novelist is used to show
how the human factor
influenced every twist
and turn of this
close-fought battle. His
encyclopedic knowledge of
technology makes clear
how machines played a
vital role in the fight
for Britain's survival.
Here is the intensely
vivid story of the men
who developed radar,
designed the high-speed
monoplanes, fought each
other in the skies and
those who simply engaged
in vicious vendetta.
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