Martin Brayley - Böcker

The inportance of the British Army's contribution to World War II - and of WWII in the history of the British Army - is impossible to overstate. This first of three titles covers the introduction of new uniforms and equipment, based on a new tactical doctrine, in the 1930s; the costly lessons of Norway and France, 1940; the grim period when Britain stood alone in the world against Hitler's Germany; the slow build-up to the Second Front, and the army which crossed the Channel on D-Day 1944, and liberated huge areas of Western Europe by spring 1945.

The Japanese onslaught in Asia following Pearl Harbor in December 1941 found the British and Indian Army garrisons of the imperial colonies unprepared for hard jungle fighting, not only in terms of equipment and tactical training but also in uniforms. After the bitter retreat came a frustratingly slow build-up for the eventual victorious counter-offensive. Starved of resources, 14th Army units modified and improvised; however, by 1945 experience was giving rise to some of the most modern tropical uniforms and equipment in the world. This third in Martin Brayley's series describes and illustrates in detail the road from 'khaki drill' to 'jungle green'

Women made a huge contribution to the Allied armed services in World War II, serving in hundreds of thousands all over the world. They not only freed men for combat service, but performed duties which took them into harm's way. Servicewomen manned anti-aircraft batteries, worked on heavily-bombed air stations, drove every kind of transport, repaired and maintained combat aircraft, and even went to sea as cypher experts. This important reference to the uniforms of the British, Commonwealth and US women's services will be followed by a further MAA title on the Allied nursing services.

The North Africa campaign of 1940-43 brought the British Army its first significant land victory, as they defeated the Italians in a number of battles between 1940-41. This overwhelming success was the trigger for the Afrikakorps deployment in North Africa, and the British then suffered a reversal in fortune at the hands of Rommel's elite troops between 1941 and 1942. They rallied in 1942 to 1943, claiming decisive victories at El Alamein and in Tunisia. For the 8th Army there followed another long, costly struggle up the mountainous length of Italy in 1943-45. This second of three titles describes and illustrates in detail the tropical uniforms and equipment issued to 8th and 1st Armies.