Mike Chappell – illustratör

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Truly an example of engineering ingenuity born out of the desperation of war, the legendary ''all-wooden'' Mosquito was perhaps the best twin-engined fighter-bomber of its size to see action in World War 2.The first bomber variant to enter service was the B Mk IV, initial examples of which were issued to No 2 Group''s No 105 Sqn at Swanton Morley, in Norfolk, in November 1941. Considerably faster than the unit''s previous Blenheim Mk IVs, powered by inline rather than radial engines, and made of wood instead of metal alloy, the Mosquito initially proved a challenging mount for both air– and groundcrew alike.Featuring period photography and beautifully-illustrated aircraft profiles, this volume is ideal for those interested in wartime fighter-bombers.

The first virtually all-jet war, the conflict in Korea saw F-86 Sabres of the USAF take on MiG-15s of the North Korean and Chinese air forces. Although the Allied pilots were initially taken aback by the ability of the communist fighter in combat, sound training and skilful leadership soon enabled Sabre pilots to dominate the dogfights over the Yalu River. In all 39 F-86 pilots achieved ace status, and a number of these are profiled in this volume, as are notable pilots from the US Navy, Marine Corps and Royal Navy and, for the first time, the handful of MiG-15 aces.

At the time of publication, no single volume in English had ever appeared in the West dealing with this intriguing subject area. Once restrictions relaxed in the former Soviet Union, the records of their elite pilots'' deeds - detailed in this book - came to light.Although initially equipped with very poor aircraft, and robbed of effective leadership thanks as much to Stalin''s purges in the late 1930s as to the efforts of the Luftwaffe, Soviet fighter pilots soon turned the tables through the use of both lend-lease aircraft like the Hurricane, Spitfire, P-39 and P-40, and home-grown machines like the MiG-3, LaGG-3/5, Lavochkin La-5/7/9 and the Yak-1/3.

Illustrated throughout, this book describes the action pilots of the Polish Air Force saw from the first day of World War 2 until the final victory in Europe.Flying hopelessly outmoded P.11 fighters in defence of their country in September 1939, a handful of aviators inflicted serious losses on the Luftwaffe before being overwhelmed. The survivors escaped to then neutral Hungary and Romania, before being ordered to France by the new C-in-C of exiled Polish Armed Forces, General Sikorski.As this book describes, with the invasion of Western Europe in May 1940, the surviving pilots were once more thrust into desperate action in newly-formed Polish units

Truly an example of engineering ingenuity born out of the desperation of war, the legendary ''all-wooden'' Mosquito was perhaps the best twin-engined fighter-bomber of its size to see action in World War 2.The first bomber variant to enter service was the B Mk IV, initial examples of which were issued to No 2 Group''s No 105 Sqn at Swanton Morley, in Norfolk, in November 1941. Considerably faster than the unit''s previous Blenheim Mk IVs, powered by inline rather than radial engines, and made of wood instead of metal alloy, the Mosquito initially proved a challenging mount for both air– and groundcrew alike.Featuring period photography and beautifully-illustrated aircraft profiles, this volume is ideal for those interested in wartime fighter-bombers.

The first virtually all-jet war, the conflict in Korea saw F-86 Sabres of the USAF take on MiG-15s of the North Korean and Chinese air forces. Although the Allied pilots were initially taken aback by the ability of the communist fighter in combat, sound training and skilful leadership soon enabled Sabre pilots to dominate the dogfights over the Yalu River. In all 39 F-86 pilots achieved ace status, and a number of these are profiled in this volume, as are notable pilots from the US Navy, Marine Corps and Royal Navy and, for the first time, the handful of MiG-15 aces.