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The question is, how did a once great nation that built an empire lose it all? From the Meiji Restoration in 1868, restoring Imperial rule under Emperor Meiji, until Japan’s surrender at the end of the Second World War in 1945, the dream lasted a comparatively short period of time: seventy-seven years from beginning to end. Under Emperor Meiji’s rule, Imperial Japan began a period of rapid industrialization and militarization, leading to its emergence as a world power and the establishment of a colonial empire. Economic and political turmoil in the early 1920s led Japan down the path of militarism, culminating in her conquest of large parts of the Asian and Pacific region. The beginning ...
Stalag 383 was somewhat unique as a Second World War prisoner of war camp. Located in a high valley surrounded by dense woodland and hills in Hofenfels, Bavaria, it began life in 1938 as a training ground for the German Army. At the outbreak of war it was commandeered by the German authorities for use as a prisoner of war camp for Allied non-commissioned officers, and given the name Oflag lllC. It was renamed Stalag 383 in November 1942. For most of its existence it comprised of some 400 huts, 30 feet long and 14 feet wide, with each typically being home to 14 men. Many of the British service men who found themselves incarcerated at the camp had been captured during the evacuations at Dunkir...
“Based largely on a POW diary, this book sheds fresh light on the conditions facing POWs in Poland as the Nazi State collapsed . . . Very Highly Recommended.” —Firetrench Stalag XXA was a Second World War German POW camp for noncommissioned officers located in Nazi occupied Torun, in northern Poland. This book examines in detail what life was like in the camp for those held there, which over the course of the war numbered more than 60,000 men, including Polish, French, Belgians, British, Yugoslavians, Russians, Americans, Italians and Norwegians. The bulk of the book is based on a diary kept by Leonard Parker, a POW at Stalag XXA who was forced to undertake a march from the camp, comme...
The Korean War (1950-53) is often referred to by many British and Commonwealth veterans who took part in it as the 'forgotten war', a reference which does not include themselves or the families and friends of those who were killed. On 15 August 1945, US and Soviet forces liberated Korea from the Japanese and the country was subsequently divided along the 38th parallel, with the Soviets administering the northern part of the country and the Americans the south. Tensions between the two states continued, with both governments claiming to be the legitimate government of Korea. This came to a head on 25 June 1950, when the Korean People’s Army of North Korea crossed the 38th parallel into Sout...
From Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and culture critic Christina Binkley comes an updated edition of her New York Times bestselling account of sex, drugs, and the rise of Las Vegas. With a new prologue on the rise and fall of Steve Wynn. The Strip. Home to some of the world's grandest, flashiest, and most lucrative casino resorts, Las Vegas, with its multitude of attractions, draws millions of tourists from around the world every year. But Sin City hasn't always been booming: modern Vegas exists largely thanks to the extraordinary vision, and remarkable hubris, of three competing business moguls: Kirk Kerkorian, Dr. Gary Loveman, and Steve Wynn. And in the wake of #MeToo revelations, not ...
This book looks at the invaluable work carried out by members of the Air Transport Auxiliary during the course of the Second World War. Comprised of both men and women, it was a civilian organization tasked with the collection and delivery of military aircraft from the factories to the RAF and Royal Navy stations. Men who undertook the role had to be exempt from having to undertake war time military service due to health or age, but other than that there were very few restrictions on who who could join, which accounted for one-legged, one-armed, one-eyed and short sighted pilots being accepted. Initially it was only men who were allowed to carry out this service, but by December 1939, Britis...
A history of the World War II clandestine special operations group that linked German-occupied Norway with Scotland’s Shetland Islands. The Shetland Bus was not a bus, but the nickname of a special operations group that set up a route across the North Sea between Norway and the Shetland Islands, north-east of mainland Scotland. The first voyage was made by Norwegian sailors to help their compatriots in occupied Norway, but soon the Secret Intelligence Service and the Special Operations Executive asked if they would be prepared to carry cargoes of British agents and equipment, as well. Fourteen boats of different sizes were originally used, and Flemington House in Shetland was commandeered ...
“An eye-opening exposé of the Pre-D-Day disaster and incident of friendly fire tragedy and cover up that was the Slapton Sands.” —WorldWars.com This is a book of two stories. The first is the sad tale of how at least 749 American servicemen lost their lives on a pre-D-Day landing exercise, code-named “Operation Tiger,” on the evening of 23/24 April 1943. The second, was the unanswerable question of whether the attacking E-Boats of the German Kriegsmarine had fully grasped the importance of what they had stumbled across. Because of the time scale between the operation and the actual D-Day landings, secrecy surrounding the tragedy had to be stringently adhered to, and even after the...
Until the late 1930s, Singapore was noted as a popular stop-off point for wealthy European travellers on their way to countries such as Australia and New Zealand. All of that changed with the outbreak of the Second World War. Despite Major-General William Dobbie, the General Officer Commanding Malaya between 8 November 1935 and August 1939, warning that Singapore could be conquered by the Japanese, his concerns went unheeded. As far as the British authorities were concerned, Singapore was an impregnable fortress. There were many reasons which led to the fall of Singapore. The apparent arrogance of some senior British military personnel and politicians; a misconception that Japanese soldiers ...
Walter Tull would have been a remarkable individual no matter when he had been born, but to achieve what he did, during the time that he did, makes him even more remarkable. He was an orphan at just six years of age, and despite not wanting to, his step mother, Clara, had no choice but to place him and his elder brother, Edward, in to a children's home in the East End of London. As neither Walter or Edward had ever traveled outside of Folkestone before, the upheaval must have come as quite a shock. Two years after entering the home, Walter and Edward were split up when Edward was adopted and went to live in Glasgow.Walter's sporting prowess saw him play for top local amateur side, Clapton Fo...