Captain Stanley Algar was an oil tanker master of a Shell Oil tanker and he spent four years in a German prison of war camp; captured in the Atlantic, he and his colleagues spent four years behind barbed wire. The book is based partly on his diaries which were hidden from the Germans which tell how the prisoners survived, confronted starvation, and reacted to camp life and German propaganda. A graphic account of their liberation written as it happened is included, and the role of the U-boats and the merchant raider vessels and their commanders is also discussed. Many other aspects of the war including the role of the BBC, the German attempt to persuade some prisoners to change sides and enemy propaganda are considered. 'Their tales remind us of the cruelty meted out to ordinary men, plunged into extraordinary times. Above all, it is hope that this book, dedicated to the Merchant Navy, does something to help an understanding of the mainly anonymous men who ensured an Allied victory.' How did the prisoners know what was going on in the War and why was their information so accurate? What was their relationship with the guards? What correspondence with home was allowed? All of this is investigated plus a discussion of the Nuremberg Trials and the appalling cost of the War. Finally there are many pen portraits of international leaders and 'ordinary' men, and the factors that led to the Second World War starting with the disastrous peace treaty after the 1914-18 conflict, the rise of Hitler and the economic depression. 224 pages, archive photos and drawings of camp activities, the Milag POW camp tower and the MV Kormoran among them. Substantial information has been added to the original diaries some of which first appeared in Goodbye Old Chap.

The award-winning journalist and cricket writer turns his journalism to focus on the most remarkable agent of the Second World War. In February 1941, a young Indian walked into the Italian Embassy in Kabul claiming to be a cook. He emerged as a spy, working for the Italians, Germans, Japanese, Soviets and the British, the only quintuple spy of the war. The Nazis awarded him the Iron Cross, Germany's highest military decoration, and paid him £2.5 million, never suspecting that he was actually working for the British and Russians, and controlled by Peter Fleming. The Englishman gave him the codename Silver, and working from the gardens of the Viceregal Palace in Delhi, the pair used the transmitters the Germans had provided to broadcast misleading military information directly to the Abwehr headquarters in Berlin. Silver made 12 trips from India to Kabul, always on foot over mountain passes and hostile tribal territory. A Hindu, he successfully passed himself off as a Muslim and dealt with Nazi intrigues to enlist Muslim Mullahs to revolt against the British. Mihir Bose, who corresponded with Silver and interviewed his associates, has carried out extensive research into previously secret documents from all countries to tell the story of this prince among spies. 'A document concerning the Punjab Police should not have been in that file. It might have got there by mistake, or maybe, because the events concerned the tribal areas. It was an amazing discovery revealing all the secrets which until then Silver had so successfully concealed.' 350pp, 16 pages of photos.

Hand-written accounts by Allied officers inside Oflag 1V-C, confined within the impregnable cold walls of Colditz Castle during WW2. Two Canadian army officers passed a logbook from a Red Cross parcel among the officers and men so that they could write their own stories to be published after the war. Although much of the logbook was typed and printed in 1946, the original writings were concealed in a bedroom drawer for nearly 70 years before finally seeing the light of day. They are now printed in their original historical form, exquisitely neat handwriting in pencil, dense across the pages but still very clear in these facsimile plates and beautifully typeset text transcript opposite together with an explanation about the writer. In meticulously written pages they bring to life many episodes of courageous prison camp escapes, air, land and sea battles, bombing raids, incarceration, deprivation and even amusing wartime experiences plus poems and drawings of their vivid experiences. 288 large, quality pages plus 30 pages of colour photos and portraits of the officers with their ranks and more illustrations.

Zeppelin! The word conjures images to the mind of a graceful airship with a deadly intent. The author was a Zeppelin commander during the First World War, bombing England on numerous occasions, and even met some of the supreme German commanders such as General Erich Ludendorss. He was well acquainted with Count Zeppelin and all the designers and management of the Zeppelin Company. He had ever increasing faith in its success on international routes and it is sadly ironic that this talented man should die in Hindenburg shortly after he had produced the draft for this book. He died following the fire that destroyed the Hindenburg on 6th May 1937, surviving the fire but badly burned, still discussing the future of airships and battled over the possibility of any natural phenomena causing the loss of the airship. He died the following day. After the war he had worked under Hugo Eckener who took over the management following Count Zeppelin's death in 1917. He was closely involved in the voyages of the Graf Zeppelin, including the famous round the world voyage, and pioneered services to the United States and the regular service to South America. Lehmann makes his Nazi sympathies quite clear, but tactfully does not touch upon his differences with Hugo Eckener regarding the use of the warships for Nazi electioneering. Nor does he touch upon Göring's manoeuvring which broke up the Zeppelin Company, thereby leaving Eckener as an outsider. Lehmann believes in the superiority of German engineering, and beyond that the superiority of everything German. He served as Commanding Officer on more than 100 of the flights between 1928 and 1936 and Captain Lehmann was named Director of the new airline in 1935. In 1936 he commanded ten round-trip flights to Lakehurst on the new Hindenburg. An amazing discovery of his book draft, now in 352 fine heavyweight pages, fully illustrated throughout.

'Peter Sellers and the RAF Gang Shows' is the sub-title of a story now told for the first time. The book reveals previously unknown film footage, photos, performances, broadcasts and recordings like two reels of 35mm film catalogued as 'RAF Gang Show, Akyab Island, Burma.' The footage of excellent quality shows a group of men in khaki Air Force uniforms. Among them is a rather skinny young man with a confident air who takes the lead in some staged high-jinks for the camera and later he is playing drums as part of a jazz quintet and acting in a two-handed sketch. That instantly recognisable face was Aircraftman 2223033 Richard Henry Sellers, better known as Peter Sellers, whose family came from the world of variety and vaudeville. Sellers was one of the biggest stars of the 1960s and 70s and his career began with characters such as Bluebottle on BBC Radio's The Goon Show. He achieved global fame as Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther series but what is less well known is he served in the Royal Air Force Entertainment Unit, known as Gang Shows, for over three years. This is a tale of the formation and education of his remarkable talent as well as a small corner of WW2 history that is uniquely British. Groups of servicemen and women were sent all around the world with hampers full of theatrical props and costumes to rally the troops in distant outposts of Empire. 128pp, illus.

Nurses give Tube shelter garlic oil for prevention of flu as they take cover at St Johns Wood tube station during the Blitz or work at Villa Day Nursery, opened for the express purpose of releasing women for war work. A record output of 200,000 bricks in 48 hours was reached by a staff of eight women and two ex-soldiers, working to do their bit. Women assemble cylinder studs on crank cases of Rolls-Royce Merlin engines for the RAF bombers and other women workers destroy shells at the end of the war where the cordite was removed from 6-pounder shell cases. Here are Wrens on the River Tees 1945 or chatting to an American sailor in a pub in Northern Ireland, Sea Rangers at Cobham having a tea break sat on a blanket on the ground, a Petty Officer woman taking rifle training instruction, women rat catchers, land girls on horseback in the countryside or harvesting oats, WAAFs on an RAF base wheeling out their bicycles, women of the ATS who repaired army vehicles, operating searchlights or undertaking precision work in the Instrument Department. Plus boot polishing, fishing, keeping over 200 warships in order, manning AA guns, cutting logs in the Forestry Commission, gathering potatoes in a field - typically a man's job. 144pp of fantastic nostalgic photographs, last one a cheeky female chimney sweep.

Following in the tradition of the great poets Kipling and Tennyson, Harry Turner includes brief portraits of the three towering and brilliant historic personalities in his retelling of the story of the Battle of Waterloo in verse. The eve of Waterloo, the Duchess of Richmond's Ball 15th June 1815. 'Beneath a soaring, vaulted roof a thousand candles gleam, it is that fateful, balmy night, of Thursday, June 15th...' At around 11.30am on a Sunday morning in 1815, a few shots rang out as the curtain-raiser to one of Europe's most titanic military clashes. By late afternoon at the close of the Battle of Waterloo, nearly 40,000 men lay dead or wounded. Until that day the army of Napoleon Boneparte seemed almost invincible. Indeed by mid afternoon victory for the French seemed a distinct possibility. But the Allied army led by the Duke of Wellington, and ably assisted by the Prussian prince and general Marshall Blücher, finally delivered a fatal blow that not only defeated the French forces, but destroyed forever Napoleon's dreams of conquest and glory, in which he would stand astride Europe like a colossus. Events of that day confirm the Duke of Wellington as a military genius, and Blücher as an eccentric but loyal ally (he did once believe he was pregnant with an elephant.) For the British, the Battle of Waterloo was one of our greatest ever victories and the story of that extraordinary day still fascinates. Also includes abridged extracts from the Duke of Wellington's despatch to Earl Bathurst, Secretary for War. Illus. and maps, 72pp.

Now in its final resting place at the bottom of the Potomac River in Maryland, the U-boat U-1105 is unique among German World War Two submarines. Technologically innovative, it was the only U-boat to conduct a wartime patrol while equipped with the snorkel, GHG Balkon passive sonar, and a rubberised coating known as Alberich designed to reduce its acoustic signature and hide from Allied sonar. Known as the Black Panther, one key development was the airmast (snorkel), allowing it to regain air and charge its batteries without ever having to surface. After the end of the war, it was the single most tested U-boat by the Western Allies and the last U-boat to sail across the North Atlantic under its own power during the winter of 1945-46. Highly illustrated with many new and previously unpublished pictures, this complete history includes its 'rediscovery' in the 1980s, technical detail on each of its late-war innovations, and a full colour underwater guide to all the key features of the wreck site. Each is individually captioned whether it is the top of the sky periscope mount with fishing line caught on it, or the gun mounts. Colour and black and white, 136pp, 24.7 x 26.2cm.

This impressive pictorial history puts Britain's World War II in a global context, starting with the fact that a total of 60 million died, the majority civilians. Stanley Baldwin, the prime minister between the wars, said that "if you want to save yourselves you have to kill more women and children more quickly than the enemy". The Blitz is central to British perception of the war, yet the Allied combined bomber offensive against Germany inflicted far more damage. The people who worked and fought for the Allied war effort were more diverse than is remembered today, with Punjabis, Nigerians and Canadians playing a key role, to name a few. The book starts with several pages of notes and maps explaining the Japanese push to expand its empire, which already included the Chinese province of Manchuria. This section is followed by the creation of Mussolini's empire, the rise of Nazism in the Weimar Republic, and the effective death of German democracy as Hitler assumed the dictatorship. An antisemitic kindergarten book and a photo of the 1934 Nuremberg rally underline the inter-war menace, while a die-cast Hurricane in the Dinky Toys range is a sign of Britain's growing defences. Although Jews could leave Germany they were unable to take money and possessions, which meant other countries were unwilling to admit them. Celia Horwitz, a Kindertransport girl, receives a letter from "Papi" whom she will never see again. The invasion of Norway found the Allies without adequate resources, and a photo of Rommel in the Battle of France shows that the Germans themselves were using Czech tanks. There are thumbnail features on individuals throughout, including Muhammed Akbar Khan, seen here in a fine portrait, who led his force of Muslim Punjabis and Pashtuns to safety in the evacuation of Dunkirk. A grim chapter on the Holocaust gives the locations and numbers exterminated at the different camps. Quality Thames & Hudson heavyweight 288 pages in conjunction with the IWM. Photos in colour and black and white on every page.

Including panoramic gatefolds, this sumptuously illustrated book sweeps through a century of military aviation covering the milestones and key technological developments. It features the designs and manufacturers who produced the early biplanes, helicopters, VTOL and swing-wing aircraft, heavy bombers, giant transporters and stealth intruders. These machines played their part in two global wars, the Cold War and numerous other conflicts, and their stories thus offer a fascinating window on world history as well as relating how military minds sought to gain mastery of the skies. Pilots who took to the air on scouting missions began taking pot shots at each other. Bombs were dropped from the cockpit. From these rudimentary beginnings, the twin branches of military aviation were born - the fighter and the bomber. It was a division that presented designers with different problems. Fighters needed to be fast and agile, but for the bomber, payload capacity was vital. As sleek, metal monoplanes with more powerful engines replaced their wooden-framed predecessors, fighters were also able to carry a useful bomb load. With the arrival of jet propulsion, swept wings and guided missiles, fighter-bombers such as McDonnell's F-4 Phantom became the forerunner to the modern multi-role combat aircraft. By the 1980s, radar-defending stealth was the buzzword, shown off in Lockheed's Nighthawk Fighter and Northrop's B-2 Spirit Bomber. The F-22 Raptor added super cruise to the mix, but the future may lie in unmanned drones, examples of which are already equipped as weapons-delivery platforms. With spectacular colour photography, many in close up of the Westland Lynx iconic helicopter, the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, the Avro Lancaster, the B-52 Mitchell, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the SR-71 Blackbird, Lockheed's C-5 Galaxy and as we reach the centre pages a spectacular triple gatefold, a skyborne F-15E Eagle flying over Nevada and on the reverse the cockpit and wings in very close up of the F-37C Lightning II with its reinforced landing gear. Gloriously illustrated and huge in size, 192 pages of stunning photographs and excellent extended captions, text, fact boxes and full specifications.
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