Martin Brayley – författare

The Second World War was Britain's last conflict as a world power. For a year it saw Britain standing alone against the fascist dictatorships; winning it demanded the sacrifice of the entire national wealth.This first book of three describes the uniforms developed for European service. It traces the appearance of the 'Tommy' from pre-war mobilization, through the years of defeat and endurance, to D-Day and the long fighting advance to Northern Germany.The book also includes a campaign summary, infantry organization tables, lists of arms and services and basic specifications of a number of heavy weapons.

The lightning Japanese offensives in East Asia in 1941/42 inflicted a series of costly defeats on the ill-prepared and badly supported British Commonwealth forces in Malaya and Burma.The 'forgotten' 14th Army on the India-Burma border slowly built up its strength and its tactical expertise; and Wingate's 'Chindits' proved that units supplied from the air could operate deep behind enemy lines. In 1944 General Slim's troops decisively smashed Japan's last offensive at Imphal and Kohima; and over the next year they drove the enemy relentlessly back through Burma, reducing them to starving fugitives by the final victory in August 1945.This concise summary of Britain's East Asia campaigns is illustrated with many rare photographs, and eight detailed colour plates.

The contribution of women to the Allied war effort in 1939-45 was massive.Apart from their many vital roles 'on the home front', about a million Soviet, 500,000 British and 200,000 American women, and tens of thousands from other Allied nations, served in uniform with the armed forces. To put these figures in perspective: enough American women served to free sufficient able-bodied men to form 15 infantry divisions. It was not only in the USSR that their duties took them into harm's way; hundreds of British Commonwealth and US servicewomen died, and many were decorated. This book gives a concise introduction to the organisation and uniforms of these services, with an emphasis on the British and US forces.

The scope of Britain's wartime Middle East Command stretched far beyond the Libyan desert where the 8th Army's most famous battles were fought.It extended from Gibraltar and Tunisia in the west, to Iraq and Persia in the east, and from Greece south to the Gulf of Aden. In 1940-43 this was the only arena where the British Army could take the ground war to the German Wehrmacht; it saw a succession of setbacks and triumphs, until spring 1945 found the 8th Army victorious in northern Italy.A summary of these campaigns is illustrated by photographs, and detailed colour plates of the wide range of uniforms worn in the varied conditions of this huge theatre of war.