Mike Chappell – Illustratör

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.

In this companion volume to The French Army 1939-45 (1), Ian Sumner and François Vauvillier examine the history, uniforms and insignia of the Free French, Fighting French and the Army of Liberation.By 16 June 1940, De Gaulle, with the decisive support of Churchill, had come to the conclusion that, whatever happened, France could not stand to one side in the struggle against Nazi Germany. And so, Free France was born.Featuring detailed illustrations and contemporary photographs throughout, this is an ideal guide for anyone interested in French military uniforms.

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.

Philip Katcher provides an overview to the conflict that engulfed Vietnam following the division of the country into two along the 17th Parallel in 1954.The uniforms and insignia of the US forces, including the army, Special Forces, air force, navy and marine corps, are dealt with in detail, together with those of the ARVN, the Allied Forces (such as the Royal Thai Army and Korean troops), and also the Communist NLF (Viet Cong) and NVA forces.Mike Chappell's colourful artwork provides plenty of detail to accompany this authoritative text.

In the 1930s the War Office grew increasingly aware of the need for a new and more rational combat dress, and by 1937 the design for what would become known as 'battledress' was complete.Though the change in uniform was initially disappointing to the British soldiers, the new battledress served its purpose well, clothing the servicemen for more than 25 years with reasonable warmth and convenience.Complete with a wealth of photographs, diagrams and colour plates, this book offers a history of British battledress up to 1961, detailing its evolution in design, materials, sizes and applied insignia.

The Australians have had a brief military history, by world standards.Yet, they have taken part in nine wars and, British troops apart, they have fought in more countries than the soldiers of any other nation. Friend and foe alike have assessed them as men-at-arms perhaps equalled but never surpassed. This absorbing text by John Laffin examines the history, uniforms and organisation of these colourful and courageous troops, from the Diggers of the First World War to their role in Vietnam.

Israel assumes in advance that defeat in war means an end to its state, and it wages war accordingly.This fact influences the Israeli approach to its army and to the strategy, tactics, training and conduct of war. Surrounded by hostile nations, Israel has fought six victorious wars between 1948 and 1973, despite having begun as an irregular, impoverished and improvised group.Backed by plenty of photographs and eight full page colour plates, this detailed text examines the six wars fought between 1948–73, including the substantial Israeli victory of 1967.

The modern wars of the Middle East began in 1947, when the Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians and Lebanese were unofficially at war with the Jewish settlers of Palestine.On the 15 May, the day after Israel was declared a sovereign state, the Arab invasion began. Between then and 1973 five wars occurred: those of 1948; the Sinai War; the Six-Day War; the 1968–1970 War of Attrition and the 1973 October War.This book examines the organization, training and equipment of the key Arab armies during these conflicts and the variety of uniforms are illustrated by a number of contemporary photographs and full colour artwork.

The 1930s were a time of growing tension for the smaller states of Eastern Europe.Since the end of the First World War they had enjoyed an independence which most of them had not known for centuries, but this was now threatened by the growing power of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Instead of combining for self defence, they were bitterly divided. The Munich crisis showed how little reliance could be placed on the Western democracies, whose power to intervene militarily in Eastern Europe was negligible. In effect this left the smaller East European states with little alternative but to become clients of either Germany or Russia.This is a concise introduction to the Eastern European states who allied with Germany in World War 2.

In June 1948 Communist insurgent forces commenced a guerrilla war to end British rule in Malaya.During the ensuing 12 years of conflict there were 8750 reported 'contacts' between units of the Security Forces and the Communist enemy. Eventually Malaya was made independent, and the British and their Commonwealth allies emerged victorious. Written and illustrated by infantry veterans of the campaign, this book examines the Malayan Emergency, detailing the forces involved and the harsh jungle conditions in which they fought.The text is complete with first-hand accounts from the contributors themselves and numerous illustrations depicting the forces' uniforms.

Airborne operations have often been called a vertical envelopment, and therein lies one of the best descriptions of their value.The essence of an envelopment is to pin the enemy in place so that it can be destroyed. A strong enemy force to one's rear disrupts supplies and communications and makes one more vulnerable to an attack from the front. It also has a major psychological impact. To an aggressor the value of airborne troops, used properly, far outweighs their numerical strength.Bruce Quarrie's engaging text tells the story of the German airborne troops of the Second World War.

On the night of 1–2 April 1982, the Argentinian Junta led by Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri made its move against the Falkland Islands.On 3 April British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher faced an appalled and furious House of Commons to announce that Argentine armed forces had landed on British sovereign territory; had captured the men of Royal Marine detachment NP8901; had run up the Argentine flag at Government House; and had declared the islands and their population to be Argentine.This absorbing text by William Fowler details the land forces that contested the Falklands War.

During the Falklands conflict, aircraft (both fixed and rotary-wing) were of crucial importance to both sides.They moved reinforcements quickly across the sea and over the islands, attacked surface vessels, and provided protection against attacks from both above and below the waves. The role of air power was thus to assist friendly surface forces in theirs. Consequently, the air arms of the two antagonists functioned in what was essentially a supporting role, but nevertheless a vital one.

A compact volume on the history, organisation, uniforms and equipment of the Communist-led and non-Communist resistance groups resisting German occupation.During 1941 the Germans occupied first Greece and the former Yugoslavia, then enormous areas of European Russia. Once the front line troops had moved on the struggle continued as bands of resistance fighters waged war against the occupation forces until their final withdrawal. The term 'partisan' is associated with Communist-led bands and they were often the most fanatical defenders of the Soviet realm. However, there were also non-Communist resistance groups which were nationalist and broadly constitutionalist and as a result a complicated three-way war developed.This book details the guerrilla war which was waged in the various regions and the uniforms and equipment of the combatants.

On 8 March 1965 some 3,500 US Marines, the first US combat troops to arrive in Vietnam, landed in Da Nang to defend the US air base there.On 8 June, following further reinforcements, General Westmoreland authorised his troops to begin 'offensive patrolling'. Lee Russell's follow-up to Men-at-Arms 104 focuses in finer detail on the uniforms and insignia of the US Army and Marines, the ARVN and the NVA. The book is packed with superbly detailed black and white photographs of the forces in the field, and Mike Chappell's excellent illustrations provide key reference material for the contemporary uniforms and battledress.

Throughout the twentieth century, Canadian armies participated in the world's major conflicts, from the Boer War at the dawn of the century, to the Korean War in the 1950s. As part of the British empire, Canada supported Britain in South Africa, and came to the aid of the Allies in both world wars. This book chronicles the development of the Canadian Army and the legendary achievements of a nation which might have justifiably stayed aloof from the quarrels of others.As both author and illustrator, Mike Chappell paints an engaging picture of the history, equipment and uniforms of the Canadian Army.

A concise illustrated study of the first military conflict of the Cold War.At 4am on Sunday 25 June 1950, powerful North Korean forces invaded South Korea, advancing down the Uijongbu Corridor towards the Southern Capital of Seoul. South Korean troops resisted bravely, but were crushed by overwhelming Northern superiority. Later that day, the United Nations Security Council condemned the aggression, and on 7 July appointed US General of the Army Douglas MacArthur to command UN forces which would be sent to save South Korea. Nigel Thomas and Peter Abbott explore the history of this conflict, which pitted UN forces against the People's Republic of China in a struggle that resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties.The text is accompanied by black and white photographs, maps and diagrams, along with colour plates from artist Mike Chappell depicting uniforms and equipment of soldiers of North and South Korea, People's Republic of China, the United States and other UN forces.

The British soldiers who marched off to war in 1914 wore only regimental insignia, yet by the time of the armistice in November 1918, insignia in the British Army had undergone a considerable change.Now visible was a bewildering display of coloured devices on uniforms, helmets, vehicles, guns, signboards and flags. Regimental badges remained but were joined by divisional insignia. These were rarely seen in the front line. Instead the 'battle patch' had appeared for combat use.In this beautifully illustrated book, Mike Chappell looks at the colourful variety of insignia used by the British Army during the Great War.

The Rhodesian War of 1965–80 was the battle for control of present day Zimbabwe.The former British colony of Southern Rhodesia rejected British moves towards majority rule and on 11 November 1965 the Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith announced his country’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. That act sparked a series of violent encounters between the traditional colonial army and the African guerrilla insurgents of the Patriotic Front.This book examines the successes and failures of the counter-insurgency campaign of Smith’s security forces and the eventual bloody birth of a modern African nation.

By the New Year of 1940 the War Office had agreed in principle to three things.These were (a) the enhancement of officers' badges of rank with cloth in the colour of the arm-of-service; (b) strips of cloth in the same colours to be worn at the top of the sleeves by all ranks; and (c) the wearing of regimental flashes on Battledress. And so the rules for the wearing of battle insignia throughout the British Army were established.How far they were obeyed and how often they were ignored will become obvious to anyone reading Mike Chappell's splendid companion work to Men-At-Arms 182.

Published in 1987, this illustrated study provides a unique insight into the British Army of the time. Composed entirely of volunteers, its morale sustained by its curious and little-understood attitudes towards tradition, the British Army of the 1980s, with its reputation as one of the best in the world, attracted respect and admiration from the military expert and the layman alike. Written and illustrated by a former British Army infantryman with 22 years' experience, this book details the Army's history, organization, uniforms and distinctions. The text is backed by numerous illustrations including photographs and detailed colour figure artworks.

This book examines the uniforms, equipment, history and organisation of the troops that fought in Cambodia in the 1970s.Kenneth Conboy and Ken Bowra's detailed text discusses all the US and Cambodian forces, including Special Operations, and summarises the course of the war. Alongside the text, uniforms are shown in full illustrated detail, highlighting the varied range of military clothing used by each of the different forces.

In 1939 more than 140,000 New Zealanders enlisted to fight overseas during World War II. Of these, 104,000 served in the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force.Initially thrown into the doomed campaign to halt the German blitzkrieg on Greece and Crete (1941), the division was rebuilt under the leadership of MajGen Sir Bernard Freyberg, and became the elite corps within Montgomery’s Eighth Army in the desert.After playing a vital role in the victory at El Alamein (1942) the ‘Kiwis’ were the vanguard of the pursuit to Tunisia. In 1943–45 the division was heavily engaged in the Italian mountains, especially at Cassino (1944); it ended the war in Trieste. Meanwhile, a smaller NZ force supported US forces against the Japanese in the Solomons and New Guinea (1942–44). Fully illustrated with specially commissioned colour plates, this is the story of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force’s vital contribution to Allied victory in World War II.

Originally the German assault gun was designed as an infantry support weapon.However, the changing conditions of the battlefields of the Second World War forced it to adapt to perform a number of different roles, most importantly as a tank destroyer, although the infantry support role was never wholly discarded. If the much-glamorised Panzer divisions were the sword of the German army then the assault gun and tank destroyer units were its shield. When the Panzers' grip on the battlefield began to fail, it was left to the assault gun and tank destroyer crews to take up the burden.This book explores these varying roles, alongside illustrations throughout.

It was the Mediterranean theatre which saw the blooding of the US Army against the German Wehrmacht, in North Africa in winter 1943/44.After this rough education the US forces pressed on to Sicily, the South of France and the Italian mainland. Here, faced by difficult terrain , they and their British Commonwealth allies fought a long campaign until VE-Day.This second of a series of three MAA titles covers the uniforms worn on these fronts, including US Army cold weather, airborne and tankers' gear; some particularly interesting and important units, including mountain, Japanese-American and African-American troops; and a variety of crew-served weapons.

The GIs who struggled ashore through the surf of Omaha and Utah Beaches on 6 June 1944 were members of the best-equipped army ever assembled up to that date.It was in the NW Europe campaign of June 1944-May 1945 that the US Army was finally able to show its full potential for fluent mechanised warfare. Here, Mark Henry describes both combat and service uniforms worn in the ETO, from the assault troops on the D-Day beaches to bemedalled veterans celebrating VE-Day.Accompanied by illustrations throughout, this book also includes artillery, tanks, anti-tank weapons, the engineers, the replacement system; and the insignia of the divisions committed to this front.

At the height of its strength and confidence the army of British India was a unique organisation, whose officers and other ranks - all volunteers - were bound together by extraordinary ésprit de corps.Already the largest volunteer army in the world in 1914, by 1918 it had quadrupled in strength to nearly 600,000 men. Indian divisions served with distinction on the Western Front and, particularly, in the Middle East. After interwar campaigns on the North-West Frontier, in the Second World War Indian divisions made a major contribution to the British effort in North Africa, Italy and Burma.With independence and partition the old army was divided between the new states of India and Pakistan, retaining its discipline and professional pride in the most difficult circumstances.

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.

It is often forgotten that the German Wehrmacht of 1939-45 relied heavily upon horses.Not only was the majority of Army transport and much of the artillery dependent on draught horse teams; the Germans also kept a horse-mounted cavalry division in the field until the end of 1941. After withdrawing it, they discovered a need to revive and greatly expand their cavalry units in 1943-45. The Army and Waffen-SS cavalry proved their worth on the Russian Front, supported by other Axis cavalry contingents - Romanian, Hungarian, Italian, and locally recruited.In this book an experienced horseman describes that last generation of horse-soldiers in a text supported by tables, photographs, and meticulous colour plates.