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John Grehan was born in Co. Longford in the Republic of Ireland in 1928. The second eldest son of a family of seven, he spent little time at school, working on a farm for 6 shillings a week from the age of thirteen. In his early twenties John joined many of his countrymen, and boarded the ferry at Dun Laoghaire for England. Life for a casual labourer in England was tough - digging roads with a pick and shovel, rough lodging houses and isolation. But life went on and John worked his way through a variety of different jobs - a short spell on the railway hauling heavy rails and dirty sleepers; then a salesman; then a few years in the motor industry before a return to hard manual work in the tunnels. His final position before retirement was as part of a team maintaining London's bridges. Over these years, he wrote poetry in his spare time, as a retreat from the gruelling realities of life and as an outlet for his creativity.
At 07.30 hours on 1 July 1916, the devastating cacophony of the Allied artillery fell silent along the front on the Somme. The ear-splitting explosions were replaced by the shrill sound of hundreds of whistles being blown. At that moment, tens of thousands of British soldiers climbed out from the trenches on their part of the Western Front, and began to make their way steadily towards the German lines opposite. It was the first day of the Battle of the Somme.By the end of the day, a number of the regiments involved had met with some degree of success; others had suffered heavy losses for no gain, whilst a few quite literally ceased to exist. That day, the old infantry tactics of the British ...
Despatches in this volume include that on the Battle of Britain, and air fighting 1940-1941, by Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh C.T. Dowding, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Fighter Command, Air Operations by Fighter Command between November 1940 and the end of December 1941, the anti-aircraft defence of the United Kingdom between 1939 and 1945, and the report on air operations by Air Defence of Great Britain and Fighter Command in connection with the German flying bomb and rocket offensives, 1944-1945.This unique collection of original documents will prove to be an invaluable resource for historians, students and all those interested in what was one of the most significant periods in British military history.
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This historical study upends the traditional narratives surrounding the Norman Conquest by revealing the true location of its most important battle. The Duke of Normandy’s victory at the Battle of Hastings on October 14th, 1066, was one of the most important events in English history. As such, its every detail has been analyzed by scholars and interpreted by historians. Yet one of the most fundamental aspect of the battle—the ground upon which it was fought—has never been seriously questioned, until now. Could it really be that for almost 1,000 years everyone has been studying the wrong location? In this in-depth study, the authors examine both early sources and modern interpretations, unravelling compulsive evidence that historians have chosen to ignore because it does not fit the traditional narrative of this foundational event. Most importantly, the authors investigate the archaeological data to reveal the exact terrain on which history was made.
“This is a well-researched, well-written, closely argued and fascinating contribution to the historiography of the Peninsular War.”—The Spectator In 1809 French armies controlled almost every province of Spain and only Wellington’s small force in Portugal stood between Napoleon and the conquest of Iberia. The French invaded Portugal in the summer of 1810, but found their way blocked by the most extensive field fortifications the world had ever seen—the Lines of Torres Vedras. Unable to penetrate the Lines, the French were driven back into Spain having suffered the heaviest defeat yet experienced by Napoleon’s armies. The retreat from Portugal marked the turning point in the Penin...
The Special Operations Executive was one of the most secretive organizations of the Second World War, its activities cloaked in mystery and intrigue. The fate, therefore, of many of its agents was not revealed to the general public other than the bare details carved with pride upon the headstones and memorials of those courageous individuals.Then in 2003, the first batch of SOE personal files was released by the National Archive. Over the course of the following years more and more files were made available. Now, at last, it is possible to tell the stories of all those agents that died in action.These are stories of bravery and betrayal, incompetence and misfortune, of brutal torture and ult...
By the winter of 1810–11, the armies of Napoleon had overrun most of Spain, and Joseph Bonaparte sat on the throne in Madrid. But the Spanish government had found refuge in the fortress-port of Cadiz, and the Spaniards refused to admit that they had been conquered. With a British army under Sir Thomas Graham helping to defend Cadiz, the Spanish cause seemed certain to prevail. But then the Spaniards wanted to throw Graham’s force into a reckless battle against the French. If the battle was won, the siege of Cadiz would be lifted; if the battle was lost, Cadiz would be rendered defenseless and the Spanish government left at the mercy of the invaders. The opposing forces met on the heights...
The epic of Dunkirk has been told many times, but the numerous accounts from surviving soldiers and sailors were often a blur of fear and fighting with the days mingling into each other, leaving what is, at times, a confusing picture. In this book, adopting a day by day approach, the author provides a clear portrayal of the unfolding drama on the perimeter around Dunkirk, in the port itself and along the beaches to La Panne and the Belgian border.Reports from many of the captains of the vessels which took part in the great evacuation were submitted to the Admiralty immediately after the conclusion of Operation Dynamo. With access to these, and supported by the various records maintained by t...
In 1940 British forces were withdrawn from the Channel Islands, allowing the Germans to occupy British territory. Hitler was determined to hold onto what he saw as a valuable prize, and the islands were heavily fortified. However, despite being extensively defended, the occupied Channel Islands remained vulnerable to commando-style raids. Indeed, a total of nine such operations were conducted between 1940 and 1943. Many others were planned but never executed. Each one was a bold and dangerous expedition, with small groups of men daring to trespass on Hitler’s cherished British stronghold. The first of these attacks, Operation Ambassador, took place on the night of 14/15 July 1940. The seco...