There are few moments in American history in which the course of events tipped so suddenly & so dramatically as at the Battle of Midway. At dawn of June 4 1942 a rampaging Japanese navy ruled the Pacific. By sunset their vaunted carrier force (the Kido Butai) had been sunk & their grip on the Pacific had been loosened forever. In this absolutely riveting account of a key moment in the history of World War II one of Americas leading naval historians Craig L. Symonds paints an unforgettable portrait of ingenuity courage & sacrifice. Symonds begins with the arrival of Admiral Chester A. Nimitz at Pearl Harbor after the devastating Japanese attack & describes the key events leading to the climactic battle including both Coral Sea--the first battle in history against opposing carrier forces--and Jimmy Doolittles daring raid of Tokyo. He focuses throughout on the people involved offering telling portraits of Admirals Nimitz Halsey Spruance & numerous other Americans as well as the leading Japanese figures including the poker-loving Admiral Yamamoto. Indeed Symonds sheds much light on the aspects of Japanese culture--such as their single-minded devotion to combat which led to poorly armored planes & inadequate fire-safety measures on their ships--that contributed to their defeat. The authors account of the battle itself is masterful weaving together the many disparate threads of attack--attacks which failed in the early going--that ultimately created a five-minute window in which three of the four Japanese carriers were mortally wounded changing the course of the Pacific war in an eye-blink. Symonds is the first historian to argue that the victory at Midway was not simply a matter of luck pointing out that Nimitz had equal forces superior intelligence & the element of surprise. Nimitz had a strong hand Symonds concludes & he rightly expected to win. ...

Angus Konstams gripping account tells the story of this crucial but under-studied naval battle & explains why the hopes of the German Kriegsmarine went down with their last great ship; only 37 of the German battlecruisers 1700 crew were saved.
- The Nautical Magazine Angus Konstams book is an excellent read & strongly recommended...thoughtful & totally engrossing... If you are interested in the Royal Navy in the Second World War the Arctic convoy campaign or capital ship actions The Battle of North Cape is well worth its cover price.
- Naval Review On 25 December 1943 the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst slipped out Altenfjord in Norway to attack Artic convoy JW55B which was carrying vital war supplies to the Soviet Union. But British naval intelligence knew of the Scharnhorsts mission before she sailed & the vulnerable convoy was protected by a large Royal Naval force including the battleship Duke of York. In effect the Scharnhorst was sailing into a trap. One of the most compelling naval dramas of the Second World War had begun.ANGUS KONSTAM is a highly respected & widely published military historian. The body of his work encompasses everything from ancient Greece to the Second World War. However his main field is maritime & naval history. He has published books on Blackbeard: Americas Most Notorious Pirate The History of Pirates PT Boats: US Naval Torpedo Boats The History of Shipwrecks Hunt the Bismarck & the 7th U-Boat Flotilla. His most recent books include Salerno 1943: The Allied Invasion of Italy & Piracy.

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On 20 September 1854 the combined British & French armies confronted the Russians at the river Alma in the critical opening encounter of the Crimean War. This was the first major battle the British had fought on European soil since Waterloo almost 40 years before. In this compelling & meticulously researched study Ian Fletcher & Natalia Ishchenko reconstruct the battle in vivid detail using many rare & unpublished eyewitness accounts from all sides
- English French & Russian. Their groundbreaking work promises to be the definitive history of this extraordinary clash of arms for many years to come. It also gives a fascinating insight into military thinking & organization in the 1850s midway between the end of the Napoleonic era & the outbreak of the Great War.
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From 1939 until 1942 Hitler's U-boats
- his 'grey wolves'
- threatened to accomplish what his air force had hitherto been unable

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In the middle of December 1944 at a time when most people thought Germany was finished the German army launched a surprise attack against the American army in Belgium. Thousands of crack troops & large numbers of tanks breached the thin American lines & drove deep into Belgium. The Battle of the Bulge would be a brutal bloody struggle in a dismal winter landscape against an enemy imbued with Adolf Hitlers fanatic conviction that victory could be snatched from defeat. Before it ended the Battle of the Bulge would involve over a million men & thousands of guns tanks & other fighting vehicles. In that dark December fighting both bitter winter storms & a grim & determined enemy the American soldier faced his greatest challenge in the European war ...

Evil Pharoah Oba has imprisoned the gods who protect Egypt & now bloodthirsty monsters roam the l&. Only one boy can stop them: Akori an orphaned farm-boy with a huge destiny. Akori must brave the crocodile-infested waters of the Nile to battle two evil gods
- the terrifying Crocodile King & his gruesome wife the Frog Goddess
- both hungry for his blood... Dont miss a single battle in this huge new adventure series!

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Hordes of Uploaded (the online incarnations of dead people) have escaped the Metasphere & taken over the bodies of living people in the real world. As warring factions vie for control of the online sphere computer viruses & rocket technology are among the weapons used in a savage battle between the living & the dead. Jonah faces an ever more complicated future
- & must make a terrible choice about his own Uploaded father...
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Life in the monastery is simple for Edwin & Luke two young boys who are training to be monks. It seems that nothing will disrupt the peace & order. Then news arrives that the Vikings have invaded & they are forced to run for their lives. If the Vikings catch them they will be taken away & become slaves. But with the elders in danger will they turn back to help them? A Viking story blending Norse mythology with historical fact & Terry Dearys vividly imagined characters. ...

In the RSPCBs most dangerous mission to date Ulf the werewolf visits a haunted castle to investigate some very spooky goings-on. But little does he know that hes heading into a trap: the evil Baron Marackai is lying in wait with a beastly plan
- & this time hes got help from the dead! Can Ulf unravel the ghostly mystery or will he end up as zombie food? The future of the RSPCB depends on him...
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Koushun Takamis notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of 42 junior high school students are taken to a deserted island where as part of a ruthless authoritarian program they are electronically collared provided with weapons of varying potency & sent out onto the isl&. If they are in the wrong part of the island at the wrong time their collars will explode. If they band together to save themselves a collar will explode at random. If they try to escape from the island they will be blown up. Their only chance for survival lies in killing their classmates. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan
- where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller
- Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century & a potent story of politics & survival in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic & is now available for the first time to the UK mainstream.

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