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D-Day.By Anthony Beevor. Hardback, 160mm x 238mm, 591 pages. Black & white photos and maps.
Even Stalin was awed by D-Day. "In the whole history of war," he wrote to Churchill, "there has never been such an undertaking." Those who took part in the great cross-Channel invasion, whether soldier, sailor or airman, would never forget the sight. Nor, of course, would the German defenders alerted at the last moment on the Normandy coasts. It was by far the largest invasion fleet ever known.
The very scale of the undertaking and its meticulous planning were unprecedented, but although the beachheads were established as planned, it soon became clear that the next stage of the battle would be far more difficult than anyone had imagined. The thick hedgerows of Normandy were ideal for the defender, and the Germans, especially the Waffen-SS divisions, fought with cunning and a desperate ferocity. As they made their way inland, the British, Canadian and American forces became involved in battles whose savagery was often comparable to the Eastern front.
Casualties began to mount and so did the tension between the principle commanders on both sides. French civilians, caught in the middle of these battlefields or under Allied bombing, endured terrible suffering. Even the joys of Liberation had their darker side. The war in Northern France marked not just a generation but the whole of the post-war world, profoundly influencing relations between America and Europe.
Making use of overlooked and new material from over thirty archives in half a dozen countries, D-Day is the most vivid and well-researched account yet of the Battle of Normandy. As with Stalingrad and Berlin - the Downfall, Antony Beevor's gripping narrative conveys the true experience of war.
NZ$60.00 + delivery.
SUBMARINE.Edited By Jean Hood. Hardback, 162mm x 240mm, 448 pages.
This book is a testament to the courage, tenacity, initiative and humour of the many thousands of Second World War submariners who served their countries, often in the most difficult and extraordinary circumtances. It allows men of all ranks and nationalities to tell their stories in their own words. Their accounts are expertly woven together by Jean Hood with additional references in the form of patrol reports, diary entries and letters. Some of these first-hand accounts come from post-war autobiographies but many have been gained during interviews and correspondence with veterans themselves. Their underwater world is brought vividly yo life, from the monotony of patrol work to the adrenalin rush of an attack, and from the deathly stillness of trying to avoid Asdic detection to the drama of escaping a doomed boat. We can share their differing memories of food and drink and the common problems of sleeping conditions and capricious toilet arrangements.
Follow U-47's attack on HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow, as written by her commander just a few months after the event, and the account by a German midshipman of the sinking of the ace U-boat, U-99. An outstanding Royal Navy Officer describes how he pulled off a fiendishly difficult attack on a tanker; a young French sub-lieutenant narrates the poignant account of his submarine's escape from the German attack on Toulon in 1942; and a Norwegian wireless operator tells of his epic escape from Norway. The aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbour is recounted by the US torpedoman whose boat was fired upon by a US destroyer as it returned from patrol, and British and Italian accounts relate both the defence and stalking of Operation Pedestal, the desperate Allied convoy that came to the aid of beleaguered Malta, and events surrounding the Italian Armistice. The X-craft attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz are also included, along with the moving account by the pilot of one of Japan's Kaitens - the manned torpedoes that literally sent their operators to their deaths.
This outstanding anthology is sure to appeal to anyone interested in the role played by submarines in the Second World War, from historians to veterans and general readers.
NZ$60.00 + delivery.
AN AWKWARD TRUTH.By Peter Grose. Paperback, 152mm x 230mm, 258 pages.
Darwin was a battle Australia would rather forget. Yet the Japanese attack on 19 February 1942 was the first wartime assault on Australian soil. The Japanese struck with the same carrier-borne force that devastated Pearl Harbour only ten weeks earlier. But there was a difference. More bombs fell on Darwin, more civilians were killed, and more ships were sunk.
The raid led to the worst death toll from any event in Australia. The attackers bombed and strafed three hospitals, flattened shops, offices and the police barracks, shattered the Post Office, and left the harbour and airfields burning and ruined. The people of Darwin abandoned their town, leaving it to looters, a few anti-aircraft batteries and a handful of dogged defenders with single-shot .303 rifles.
Yet the story has remained in the shadows. Drawing on long-hidden documents and first-person accounts, Peter Grose tells what really happened and takes us into the lives of the people who were there. There was much to be proud of in Darwin that day: courage, mateship, determination and improvisation. But the dark side of the story lingers: looting, desertion and a calamitous failure of leadership. Australians ran away because they did not know what else to do.
Absorbing, spirited and fast-paced, this book is a compelling and revealing story of the day war really came to Australia, and of the motley bunch of soldiers and civilians who were left to defend the nation.
NZ$38.00 + delivery.
MAURETANIA.By Humfrey Jordan. Hardback, 138mm x 222mm, 332 pages.
This, the first volume in the new PSL Library of Ocean Travel, is a facsimile reprint of the first edition of Humfrey Jordan's 'biography' of the Cunard liner Mauretania. She was truly a legend in her own lifetime. Originally published in 1936, soon after the Mauretania was withdrawn from service and broken up, Humfrey's book sets out to show, and eminently succeeds, how this beautiful vessel contributed so much to the history of her time. Appendices include the full list of the Mauretania's voyage which were first published in the original edition.
Was NZ$69.50 + Delivery.
Now NZ$2.00 + Delivery
FACE WITH FORTITUDE.By James Ian Johnston, Hardcover, 157mm x 234mm, 191 pages, monochrome photographs.
The author, James Ian Johnston had been a member of the N.Z.R.N.V.R. for almost nine years at the outbreak of World War II. He held the rank of Petty Officer and within a week of war being declared in September 1939 received papers notifying him to be ready for active service. When just newly married, he sailed overseas as part of the Second Echelon aboard the Aquitania, fulfilling duties as a N.C.O.P.O. After an initial few weeks at H.M.S. St.Vincent Portsmouth he was assigned to the Cruiser Alynbank and spent a year and a half based at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. He served initially as a Petty Officer in charge of the aft magazine, and later transferring to watch PO. In 1942 he was advised to report to Aberdeen, his new ship the minesweeper Inchkeith would be sailing for New Zealand after sea trials. He sailed as a Chief Petty Officer, and maintained this rank while on shore duties for several months, both in Auckland and wellington. Recalled to active service for Officer training, he sailed on the H.T. Nieuw Amsterdam to San Fransisco, and from there by train across Canada, before sailing on the Queen Mary to the United Kingdom. He gained his Commission from H.M.S.King Alfred Hove and was appointed to the Mediterranean Minesweeping Fleet as a Lieutenant. The small minesweepers were allocated numbers and he served on H.M.M.S.46. These ships continued sweeping for mines after Germany surrendered on 8th May and Japan in August 1945. It was some months before discharge from the Royal Navy was obtained, and a passage arranged back to New Zealand, arriving home to at last take up normal family life in April 1946. This is his chronicle of 'his' war.
NZ$60.00 + delivery.
CHURCHILLS NAVY.By Brian Lavery, Paperback, 247mm x 296mm, 287 pages, monochrome photographs.
The British have always had a sense of pride in the Royal Navy and during the Second World War the service had no problems attracting men and women. The navy still had a great self-belief that dated from the time of Nelson and before, but the set-piece fleet battles on which it had built its reputation were in the past and it would have to adapt to meet the needs of a new type of warfare, in a war in which naval aircraft and submarines would play a major role.
In this remarkable book, Brian Lavery examines every aspect of the Royal Navy, both ashore and at sea, during the Second World War, and casts a lucid eye over the strengths and weaknesses of an organisation that was put under acute strain during the period, yet rose to the challenge with initiative and determination.
Divided into twelve sections, the book delves into the structure of naval power from the Board of Admiralty and shore commands to officers and crews, their recruitment and training, daily life and discipline. The roles of the Reserves, Merchant Navy, Royal Marines and Wrens within this structure are also explained. Developments in ship design and technology, as well as advances in intelligence, sensors and armament are all discussed and set in context. The different divisions are dealt with one by one, including the Submarine Service, Fleet Air Arm, Coastal Forces, and Combined Operations.
The author's prose is complemented with over 300 colour and black-and-white images, and enchanced by the personal accounts of those who served, from fleet commanders and escort captains to such voices as the actor Alec Guinness and broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy. Their brilliant descriptions of life in an escort vessel in the unforgiving Atlantic, manning a landing craft, or entering one of the training bases, inject a vivid immediacy.
For anyone who has an interest in the Second World War, for scholars and historians, ex-servicemen and women, and people who had a relative in the Royal Navy and want to understand the reality of their life during those crucial years, this book presents a vast and fascinating subject in a highly readable and accessible form.
NZ$60.00 + delivery.
SHATTERED SWORD - The untold story of the Battle of Midway.By Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully, Paperback, 176mm x 254mm, 612 pages, monochrome photographs, drawings and tables.
The Battle of Midway turned the tide of the Pacific war. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange's bestseller Miracle at Midway, comes a myth-smashing new interpretation of this great naval engagement.
Making extensive use of untapped Japanese primary sources, including Imperial Navy operational records never before used by Western authors, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully reconstruct the actual sequence of the critical events of june 4, 1942, looking afresh at the decision of the U.S. and Japanese commanders, and placing them within the seldom-understood context of the Imperial navy's doctrine and technology.
Compellingly readable and filled with sharp insights and penetrating reassessments, Shatterd Sword is the first substantive contribution to our understanding of the Battle of Midway in more than a generation. With a foreword by leading World War II naval historian John Lundstrom it will become an indispensable part of any military history buff's library.
Was NZ$70.00 + delivery
Now NZ$50.00 + delivery.
AIRCRAFT CARRIERS VOL I.By Norman Polmar, Hardback, 220mm x 284mm, 576 pages, monochrome photographs and maps.
Aircraft Carriers is the definitive history of world aircraft carrier development and operations. This two-volume work describes the political and technological factors that influenced aircraft carrier design and construction, meticulously records their operations and explains their impact.
In volume I, Norman Polmar emphasizes carrier actions from World War I, through the Japanese strikes against China in the 1930s, to World War II in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic, and Pacific theaters. This book begins with French inventor Clement Ader's remarkably prescient 1909 description of a future aircraft carrier. The book then explains how Britain led the world in the development of aircraft-carrying ships, soon to be followed by the United States, Japan and several other nations. While shipbased aircraft in World War I had limited impact, they foreshadowed the aircraft carriers built in the 1920's and 1930's. This volume also describes the aircraft and personnel operating from those ships. It is generously illustrated with maps and more than 250 photos, some never before published.
Volume II,which is forthcoming in the spring of 2007, will cover aircraft carrier development and operations from 1946 to the present.
Was NZ$135.00 + delivery
Now NZ$90.00 + delivery.
KIWI GUNNERS IN WAR AND PEACE.By Mike Subritzky, Paperback, 150mm x 210mm, 246 pages, colour and monochrome photographs.
Mike Subritzky edits this collection of gunners’ stories and personal accounts in times of war and peace. Some of these stories have been published on the RNZA "Old Comrades" website.
This is a copy of a limited edition of 500 books, personally signed by the author.
NZ$40.00 + delivery.
SPIRIT OF ANZAC.By Mike Subritzky, Paperback, 150mm x 210mm, 200 pages, colour and monochrome photographs.
A collection of poetry from the first Kiwi war poet to have his work read at Westminster Abbey, and also the first Kiwi poet to be read at the ANZAC Memorial in Hyde Park in London. Wrought in straightforward language, the work gives a sense of what it is like to "be there".
This is a copy of a limited edition of 500 books, personally signed by the author.
NZ$40.00 + delivery.
MAYDAY TUGS OF WAR DVD. By Robin Williams Film, DVD, 3 disc set, including a bonus CD e-book about rescue tugs in WWII. Total running time 210 minutes.
They saved thousands of lives, but the press ignored them. The largest assault in military history was a success because of their efforts, yet they were left out of the textbooks. They did their job in unimaginable weather while constantly facing the threat of an attack from the enemy. Without these true sailors, the greatest global conflict in human history would have raged for many more years.
The public has yet to meet these heroic men who have been forgotten in the past sixty years. Finally, their stories, photographs, and contribution to the war have now been recorded. They too gave their lives for our freedom and it's time the world knows who they were.Mayday Tugs of War tells the story of the Rescue Tugmen of WWII.
NZ$60.00 + delivery.
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