The Second World War campaigns in North Africa on the Eastern Front & in northwest Europe were dominated by armoured warfare but the battles in Italy were not. The mountainous topography of the Italian peninsula ensured that it was foremost an infantry war so it could be said that tanks played a supporting role. Yet as Anthony Tucker-Jones demonstrates in the battles fought from the Allied landings in Sicily in 1943 to the German surrender after the crossing of the Po in 1945 tanks self-propelled guns & armoured cars were essential elements in the operations of both sides. His selection of rare wartime photographs shows armour in battle at Salerno Anzio & Monte Cassino during the struggle for the Gustav Line the advance on Rome & the liberation of northern Italy. & they reveal the full array of Axis & Allied armoured vehicles that was deployed
- most famous among them were the German Mk IVs Panthers & Tigers & Allied Stuarts Chafees Shermans & Churchills. This volume in Anthony Tucker-Joness series of books on armoured warfare in the Second World War gives readers a vivid impression of the Italian landscapes over which the campaign was fought the wide range of military vehicles that were used & the gruelling conditions endured by the men who fought in them.
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This latest volume in Anthony Tucker-Jones's series of photographic histories of armoured warfare records in graphic detail the role played by tanks infantry fighting vehicles & self-propelled artillery during the decisive campaign in northwest Europe in 1944-5. In a sequence of over 200 archive photographs he shows how American British & Canadian & Polish armoured divisions spearheaded the assault on the Third Reich & how the Wehrmacht mounted a desperate armoured defence. Tanks were required to operate in the dust of Normandy the mud & waters of the Scheldt & Rhine rivers & the snows of the Ardennes & the forests of Germany. A succession of crucial armoured engagements was fought
- during the D-Day landings Operation Goodwood & the struggle for the Bourguebus ridge the Falaise pocket the Seine crossing Arnhem the German attack in the Ardennes the Rhine crossing in the Reichswald & during the rearguard actions & the last-ditch tank battles fought by the panzers in the Ruhr before the German surrender. Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic survey of the ultimate tank battles of the Second World War illustrates the range of armoured fighting vehicles that were developed during the conflict & it features the specialised vehicles deployed in Europe for the first time such as the Buffalo DUKW Weasel & Terrapin.
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The remarkable photographs collected together for this book show in graphic detail the role armour played in the Allied struggle to exploit the D-Day landings & liberate occupied France
- & the skill & tenacity of the German panzer units that confronted them. The struggle gave rise to a sequence of battles that were among the most intense & critical of any fought in the Second World War. Anthony Tucker-Jones traces the entire course of the armoured campaign through the photographs
- the D-Day landings the first clashes of the opposing tanks & anti-tank guns then the Allied operations
- Epsom Charnwood Goodwood Cobra
- that culminated in the Allied breakthrough & the destruction of the German 5th Panzer Army at Falaise. The images offer a fascinating inside view of the fighting itself
- & of the widespread destruction & horrific casualties that went with it. But they also record the routines of tank warfare & give a vivid impression of the experience of the tank crews of the day & of the tanks they operated
- the German Mk IVs Panthers Tigers & self-propelled guns & the Allied Shermans Churchills & specialized tanks
- Hobart's Funnies
- that confronted each other in the French countryside & towns.







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The North African campaign the struggle of the Italians & Germans against the Allies in Egypt Libya & Tunisia between 1940 & 1943 was a war of movement & manoeuvre of dramatic changes of fortune & it was a war in which mechanized forces excelled. Compared with the heavily populated landscapes of northwest Europe the empty open spaces of North Africa appeared to be ideal operating terrain for tanks yet the harsh desert conditions tested men & machinery to the limit as Anthony Tucker-Jones demonstrates in this remarkable selection of wartime photographs. The use of armour during the entire course of the campaign is covered from the initial Italian offensive the arrival of Rommels Panzergruppe Afrika the battles fought along the North African shore which culminated in El Alamein then the Allied advance into Tunisia which led to the final defeat of the German & Italian armies. The images give a fascinating inside view of combat but they also reveal the daily routines of tank warfare 65 years ago & give a vivid impression of what it was like to fight in & live with the tanks of the day. After a career in the intelligence community Anthony Tucker-Jones became a freelance defence consultant & a prolific writer on intelligence terrorism & military affairs. His most recent books are Hitlers Great Panzer Heist Falaise: The Flawed Victory Stalins Revenge: Operation Bagration & the Annihilation of Army Group Centre Operation Dragoon: The Liberation of Southern France 1944 & Armoured Warfare on the Eastern Front. ...

Luminously written thrilling unexpectedly erudite & beautifully structured Geoffrey Wansell Daily Mail When Ellie Pascoe finds herself under threat the men in her life assume its because shes married to a cop. But while they trawl after shoals of red herrings Ellie is blasted off course with a motley crew of women on a voyage of discovery whose perils make Scylla & Charybdis look like a pair of Barbie dolls. Irish arms Colombian drugs & men who will stop at nothing create a tidal wave which threatens to sweep her away. She heads out of town in search of haven but instead finds herself at the very edge of the storm in a remote clifftop house undermined by the sea. Fat Andy eventually smells a Security Service rat & comes steaming to the rescue but for once its too little too late. Ellies on her own (apart from her Middle England friend Daphne; an octogenarian aid-worker & her vapid secretary; a gorgeous South American money launderer; an ancient crone; & a female cop who gets up her nose) & must reach deep down into her reserves to find the strength to survive. ...

The liberation of Europe & the destruction of the Third Reich is a story of courage & enduring triumph of calamity & miscalculation. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy Rick Atkinson shows why no modern reader can understand the ultimate victory of the Allied powers without a grasp of the great drama that unfolded in North Africa in 1942 & 1943. Beginning with the daring amphibious invasion in November 1942 An Army at Dawn follows the British & American armies as they fight the French in Morocco & Algeria & then take on the Germans & Italians in Tunisia. Battle by battle an inexperienced & sometimes poorly led army gradually becomes a superb fighting force. Central to the tale are the extraordinary but fallible commanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower Patton Bradley Montgomery & Rommel. ...

Arne & Carlos the innovative knitting designers who have given us '55 Christmas Balls to Knit' & ' Knitted Dolls' have now created a wonderful collection of cute & cuddly springtime knits all in their own inimitable style. With the emphasis placed very firmly on having fun the dynamic duo provide easy-to-follow patterns for knitted eggs bunnies chicks & rabbits all based on traditional Scandinavian designs. All the projects are quick & easy to make & can be used to decorate the home or to give away as gifts (if you can bear to part with them). Suitable for adults as well as children you will be enthralled & delighted by the range of projects in the book all accompanied by fabulous photos & you will not fail to find something that you just have to knit. ...

For fans of A Bridge Too Far" " Saving Private Ryan" & " Band of Brothers" & for readers of Antony Beevors " Stalingrad" & Hugh Sebag-Montefiores " Dunkirk" " Arnhem" by John Nichol & Tony Rennell is an absolutely gripping narrative packed with action & heroic tales of courage. " Riveting.. .reveals the ice-cool courage of British troops trapped in the bloody shambles of Arnhem". (" Daily Mail"). In September 1944 a mighty shock force of battle-hardened Allied troops dropped from the skies into enemy-occupied Holland in what was hoped would be the decisive final battle of World War II. Landing miles behind the German lines their daring mission was to secure bridges across the Rhine so that ground forces could make a rapid dash into Nazi Germany. If all went well the war could be over by Christmas. The plan went terribly wrong... Seen through the dramatic first-hand accounts of those who were there " Arnhem" is the gripping story of a bitter military defeat that became a triumph of the human spirit. It paints a vivid portrait of those in the cauldron of war fighting for their lives fighting for their comrades fighting for their honour a battle they won hands down. John Nichol is a former RAF flight lieutenant whose Tornado bomber was shot down on a mission over Iraq during the first Gulf War in 1991. He was captured & became a prisoner of war. He is the bestselling co-author of " Tornado Down" & with Tony Rennell " The Last Escape" " Tail-End Charlies" " Home Run" & " Medic" & author of five novels. He is also a journalist & widely"ed military commentator. Tony Rennell is the author of " Last Days of Glory: The Death of Queen Victoria" & co-author of " When Daddy Came Home" a highly praised study of demobilization in 1945 & with John nichol " The Last Escape" " Tail-End Charlies" " Home Run" & " Medic". He is a former deputy editor of the " Sunday Times" & writes regularly on historical subjects for the " Daily Mail"." ...

An insightful & gripping account of the largest airborne operation in history. In September 1944 the river Rhine was a serious barrier to the advancing Allied armies in the West who were intent on charging Berlin & ending the war. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery decided to utilise the First Allied Airborne Army consisting of British American & Polish troops. Codenamed Operation Market Garden 40 000 paratroopers were dropped behind enemy lines while ground forces linked to relieve them. But due to bad weather & German resistance the operation failed. In March 1945 asecond attempt was planned: Operation Varsity Plunder. This time the plan worked. Despite extremely heavy fighting they cracked the German line. ...

Jack Nicklaus & Arnold Palmer are two of the greatest golfers in history. In fact it's fair to say that between them
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