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Founded by Catherine the Great, the maritime city of Sevastopol has been fought over for centuries. Crucial battles of the Crimean War were fought on the hills surrounding the city, and the memory of this stalwart defence inspired those who valiantly battled the Germans during World War II. Twice the city has faced complete obliteration yet twice it has risen, phoenix-like, from the ashes.

In this groundbreaking volume, award-winning author Mungo Melvin explores how Sevastopol became the crucible of conflict over three major engagements – the Crimean War, the Russian Civil War and World War II – witnessing the death and destruction of countless armies yet creating the indomitable ‘spirit of Sevastopol’.

Get 30% off this book until 15 December!

Even after the legendary evacuation from Dunkirk in June 1940, there were still large British formations fighting alongside their allies in defence of France. In a final push to seal their victory, the Germans launched Case Red (Fall Rot), an offensive that, in a few short weeks, saw the complete collapse of Allied resistance and a second evacuation from the ports of Le Havre, Cherbourg, Brest and St Nazaire. While France was in its death throes, politicians and soldiers debated what to do – flee to England or North Africa, or to seek an armistice.

In this book, Robert Forczyk captures the military, political and human drama of the collapse of France, and explains the great impact it had on the course of Anglo-French relations during the remainder of the war.

Soaring high above the fields and cities of Europe and Asia as well as the vast expanse of the Pacific, Allied and Axis pilots engaged in a deadly battle for control of the skies in World War II. Whoever won the skies would win the war. Published in association with the National Museum of World War II Aviation, 'Storm of Eagles' is a stunningly illustrated book filled with classic as well as never-before-seen wartime images.

Compiled by one of the world’s premier aviation photographers and historians, this remarkable volume is a must-have for anyone interested in World War II aviation.

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At the beginning of 1917, the three empires fighting on the Eastern Front were reaching their breaking points, but none was closer than Russia. After the February Revolution, Russia’s ability to wage war faltered and her last desperate gamble, the Kerensky Offensive, saw the final collapse of her army. This helped trigger the Bolshevik Revolution and a crippling peace, but the Central Powers had no opportunity to exploit their gains and, a year later, both the German and Austro-Hungarian empires surrendered and disintegrated.

Concluding his acclaimed series on the Eastern Front in World War I, Prit Buttar comprehensively details not only these climactic events, but also the ‘successor wars’ that raged long after the armistice of 1918. New states rose from the ashes of empire, and war raged as German forces sought to keep them under the aegis of the Fatherland. These unresolved tensions between the former Great Powers and the new states would ultimately lead to the rise of Hitler and a new, terrible world war only two decades later.

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Naval operations and warfare were, and remain, a key element for mapping. Maps were vital for commanders in drawing up plans of attack, and their detail and usefulness have increased over the centuries as the science of mapping has developed.

This beautiful book examines stunning original maps from a series of key conflicts from the Spanish Armada, the American Wars of Independence, and the Napoleonic wars to twentieth century conflicts from the First World War to Vietnam, and explains how they were represented through mapping and how the maps produced helped naval commanders to plan their strategy.

On 27 October 1942, four “Long Lance” torpedoes fired by the Japanese destroyers Makigumo and Akigumo exploded in the hull of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8). Minutes later, the ship that had launched the Doolitte Raid six months earlier slipped beneath the waves of the Coral Sea. Of the pre-war carrier fleet the Navy had struggled to build over 15 years, only three were left
For the American naval aviators licking their wounds in the aftermath of this defeat, it would be difficult to imagine that within 24 months of this event, Zuikaku, the last survivor of the carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbor, would lie at the bottom of the sea. Alongside it lay the other surviving Japanese carriers, sacrificed as lures in a failed attempt to block the American invasion of the Philippines, leaving the United States to reign supreme on the world’s largest ocean.

This is the fascinating account of the Central Pacific campaign, one of the most stunning comebacks in naval history as in 14 months the US Navy went from the jaws of defeat to the brink of victory in the Pacific.

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General William Howe was the commander-in-chief of the British forces during the early campaigns of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Howe evoked passionate reactions in the people he worked with – his men loved him, his second-in-command detested him, his enemies feared him, his political masters despaired of him. There was even a plot to murder him, in which British officers, as well as Americans, were implicated.

Howe’s story includes intrigue, romance and betrayal, played out on the battlefields of North America and concluding in a courtroom at the House of Commons, where Howe defended his decisions with his reputation and possibly his life on the line. The inquiry, complete with witness testimonies and savage debate between the bitterly divided factions of the British Parliament, gives Howe's story the flavour of a courtroom drama. Using extensive research and recent archival discoveries, this book tells the thrilling story of the man who always seemed to be on the verge of winning the American Revolutionary War for Britain, only to repeatedly fail to deliver the final blow.

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The Civil War changed America forever. It shaped its future and determined its place in history. For the first time in military history, the camera was there to record these seismic events from innovations in military and naval warfare, to the battles themselves; the commanders at critical moments in the battle, and the ordinary soldier tentatively posing for his first ever portrait on the eve of battle. Displaying many rare images unearthed by the author, an acclaimed Civil War historian, this beautiful volume explores how the camera bore witness to the dramatic events of the Civil War.

It reveals not only how the first photographers plied their trade but also how photography helped shape the outcome of the war, and how it was reported to anxious families across the North and South.