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Information in English on Japanese World War Two transport aircraft is hard to find, and in this book the story of the Japanese experimental transport designs is told in great detail. The context of each aircraft is explained, with information on the low priority given to transport aircraft and the disastrous implications of that neglect for the Japanese war effort. Fully illustrated with many rare photographs and excellent artwork, the various designs and proposals for transport aircraft during...

Libussa Fritz-Krockow was forced to live by her wits to survive the harrowing final days of the Third Reich. As waves of invading Russian troops poured into the remote Eastern provinces, sealing them off from the West, all vestiges of order were swept away. Christian von Krockow has used his sister's experiences to write this narrative, written as though with Libussa's voice. The book tells how Libussa kept her baby and ageing parents alive by stealing vegetables from the Russian headquarters, h...

"This is the most authoritative and highly literate account of these pernicious people that I have ever read." -- Patrick O'Brian Pirates are so much a part of legend that it is easy to forget they actually existed. UNDER THE BLACK FLAG tells their story in a rollicking account of the golden age of piracy that is packed with history, anecdote, and above all adventure. Here are the true stories of such bloodthirsty legends as Blackbeard and Captain Kidd, Anne Bonny, and the fearsome Mary Read. A...

During World War II navies developed low visibility, horizontal and vertical surface camouflage for their ships. The camouflage served to reduce the visibility of the ships by blending them in with the sea. It also made the identity of the ship confusing by applying more obtrusive patterns. In this the third volume by maritime artist Malcolm Wright, both the official and unofficial paint schemes that adorned the cruisers and minelayers of the Royal Navy and Commonwealth are depicted in detail. W...

Just hours after World War II was declared, Germany struck its first blow, firing without warning on the passenger liner Athenia. The British ship was loaded with Americans, Canadians, and Europeans attempting to cross the Atlantic before the outbreak of war. As the ship sank, 1,306 were rescued but 112 people were lost, including thirty Americans. This account of the disaster, based on new research, tells a dramatic story of tragedy and triumph, as historian Francis Carroll chronicles the survi...

In the worst peacetime disaster experienced by the Russian Navy, on 12 August 2000 the state-of-the-art nuclear-powered Kursk submarine sank with the loss of 118 officers and crew. The sinking was a humanitarian, environmental, and military catastrophe for Russia, and a powerful political reversal for President Putin But what really happened? Peter Truscott, former Foreign Affairs and Defence spokesperson in the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Security Committee, aims to provide th...

Since the 2003 American-led invasion to liberate the people of Iraq from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, the US military has been embroiled in a dangerous counter-insurgency operation. This book examines the wide range of US Army vehicles at the forefront of this counter-insurgency, many of them modified or introduced specifically as a result of this ongoing conflict in Iraq. This volume is the first in a two-part series. It takes a look at particular vehicle types section by section - namely th...

The dramatic story of the United States' destruction of a free and independent community of fugitive slaves in Spanish Florida In the aftermath of the War of 1812, Major General Andrew Jackson ordered a joint United States army-navy expedition into Spanish Florida to destroy a free and independent community of fugitive slaves. The result was the Battle of Negro Fort, a brutal conflict among hundreds of American troops, Indian warriors, and black rebels that culminated in the death or re-enslave...

Canadian and British airmen engaged in fierce and deadly battles in the skies over Europe during the Second World War. Those who survived often had to overcome incredible obstacles to do so - dodging bullets and German troops, escaping from burning planes and enduring forced marches if they became prisoners. In one story, a tail gunner from Montreal survived despite being unconscious when blown out of his bomber. Another story describes how the crew of a navigator from Ottawa used chewing gum to...

Divided Houses is a tale of contrasting fortunes. In the last decade of his reign Edward III, a senile, pathetic symbol of England's past conquests, was condemned to see them overrun by the armies of his enemies. When he died, in 1377, he was succeeded by a vulnerable child, who was destined to grow into a neurotic and unstable adult presiding over a divided nation. Meanwhile France entered upon one of the most glittering periods of her medieval history, years of power and ceremony, astonishing...