Canelo History – serie

The riveting exploits of a fighter aircraft and an underrated aerial hero of the Second World WarThe Hawker Hurricane was flying on the outbreak of war in 1939. Six years later, having saved Britain, it was still playing a major part in the war effort.Widely remembered in its fighter role and unjustly left in the shade of the Spitfire, the Hurricane's role was varied and pivotal: as a fighter, fighter-bomber, anti-tank aircraft and used at sea. Nor was its theatre of operations any less wide: it saw action in France from the beginning of the Phoney War to the outbreak of the Blitzkrieg, in the Battle of Britain, and then as far afield as Russia, Sumatra and Madagascar.In this intensely readable, spirited and classic account, Adrian Stewart describes all the Hurricane's roles, adventures and achievements. He recounts the exploits of the aircraft's outstanding pilots who contributed so much towards mastery of the skies and eventual victory.Perfect for readers of John Nichol's Spitfire and Lancaster.

The bloodiest battle in the history of the British Army.In 1916 the Great War seemed caught in a stalemate. The British were determined to break it with a huge summer push. By the time the campaign wound down in November, it proved to be the most destructive ever encounter for the Army, seeing thousands of casualties for every day of the conflict. It wasn't meant to have been like this: the British had a massive artillery superiority, and were primed to crush their enemy. In the end, despite fierce fighting, the Germans lost far fewer men.The Somme has come to be an emblem for the horrors of war, for the pounding of shells and the hunkering down in rain-sodden trenches. What happened? How did it go so wrong for the British? Here in sharp detail, the bestselling writer John Harris tells the story of one the key battles of world history, describing in gripping terms how a series of events soon spiralled wildly, and hopelessly, out of control.This is an unforgettable history of assault and bitter defence that takes the reader into the ferocious heart of a conflict whose scars remain today.

The end of the beginning An epic conflictNorth Africa was a turning point for the British in the Second World War: a harsh landscape of sand and enemy tanks, but ultimately a place of victory, that Churchill famously called 'the end of the beginning.'When General Montgomery became commander of the Allied Eighth Army in 1942, he found the troops dispirited after a series of defeats by his nemesis, General Rommel. However, under Monty's inspired leadership the army turned their fortunes around, going on to win seven battles and driving the enemy out of North Africa.However, little credit has been attributed to the Eighth Army for its victories, and even the legendary Battle of El Alamein has been consistently underrated. This highly informed and gripping account brings to light how the troops, and their leaders, won these decisive battles, and helped to win the war.Lucid and accessible, this masterly account is vital reading for all enthusiasts of military history. Perfect for readers of Jonathan Dimbleby and Max Hastings.

The generals that defined the Nazi WarJames Lucas, military historian and British Army veteran, spoke with many veterans of both Axis and Allied armies, digging deeper into the question of what it is that makes a good soldier. His studies of German forces are some of the most insightful and significant ever undertaken, showing why they were such formidable foes.Here he has selected fifteen of the leading players in Hitler's war effort, including men at or near the top, and describes their role in the German military hierarchy and their performance at strategic or battlefield level.They had, Lucas suggests, an extra dimension, an additional qualityadministrative skill, the ability to motivate, great tactical awareness, originality of thoughtwhich set them apart from others of equal rank. Here his subjects include iconic names like Kesselring, von Manstein, Model, Nehring and Rommel in a riveting book about command, control, military tactics and the hard realities of soldiering.Perfect for readers of Max Hastings or Ian Kershaw.

A war hero, a mass murderer and a Gothic legend the world has never forgottenVlad the Impaler is one of history's most compelling and brutal characters, with a bizarre afterlife as a cult horror sensation. A hero to his countrymen, Vlad Dracula is a byword for dread. Not just for generations of Western fans of Gothic fiction and film, but also for an appalled and fascinated 15th-century readership, for whom contemporary accounts of Dracula's atrocities became the world's first horror bestsellers. Combining historical research and dramatic reconstruction with contemporary reference, here is Vlad the Impaler's dramatic career, from pampered captive of the Ottoman Sultans to exterminating angel of Christian vengeance. But in reality, was he the embodiment of unbridled cruelty or model ruler of an embattled realm?Prince Dracula also examines the role of psychological warfare and black propaganda in international politics, from the medieval torture chamber to the headlines of the modern age, and shows Vlad as an unwitting pioneer of the modern world.Plying a grisly course through medieval bloodbaths and contemporary horrors, Gavin Baddeley and Paul Woods leave no tombstone unturned in this extraordinary history.

Now a major television documentary (Channel 4, 2021)The epic mission to destroy Hitler's flagship.'Bismarck was now loose in the Atlantic we had to find and sink her.'May, 1941. The most powerful battleship the world has ever seen, the German Navy's Bismarck, breaks out into the Atlantic to ravage Allied convoys. Together with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, the Bismarck will seek to deliver a killer blow to Britain's war effort.The British launch an all-or-nothing bid to sink her, with the Home Fleet and other naval units steaming hard from all points of the compass, straining every sinew to trap and destroy Bismarck. HMS Hood, the battlecruiser pride of the Royal Navy, is destroyed within eight minutes of engaging Bismarck on 24 May. However, the brand new battleship HMS Prince of Wales lands a pivotal blow on Bismarck, puncturing a fuel tank, forcing the German battleship to make for refuge in a friendly port.Reeling from the loss of the Hood, the Royal Navy redoubles its efforts, intent on avenging lost shipmates. Aircraft carrier Ark Royal, along with battleships King George V and Rodney, plus cruisers and destroyers, are among those who hunt and pursue the foe over more than 1,700 miles.This is the story of Bismarck's fateful final twenty-four hours on 26/27 May 1941: the finale of the hunt and the culminating brutal close-quarters battle as Bismarck makes a desperate bid to escape the enemy.Using eyewitness accounts of Royal Navy sailors, Royal Marines and Swordfish torpedo-bomber aviators including searing testimony gleaned by the author during unique interviews with a 'band of brothers' who were in the thick of the action - Ballantyne brings one of the Second World War's most dramatic events thundering to life. He also draws on new research in museum archives and other accounts from both the British and German side, to present a multi-dimensional, cinematic telling of a legendary episode in naval combat history.An epic story, told with compelling immediacy, it takes readers aboard warships in unforgiving seas, into the cockpits of warplanes in shrapnel-lashed skies and even inside a U-boat under a cruel ocean. Perfect for readers of Richard Hough and Saul David.Praise for Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom 'A powerful and moving cinematic study devoted to what has to be the most dramatic event of the Second World War at sea'Julian Stockwin, author of the Thomas Kydd series of naval adventures'By drawing on the first-hand experiences of veterans in the thick of the action, Iain Ballantyne has produced a deeply researched and unputdownable account of the hunt for the Bismarck that is at once authoritative, insightful and highly readable'Rowland White, author of Harrier 809 and Vulcan 607

The extraordinary mysteries of the pyramids - revealedFrom the development of monumental architecture around 3,000 BC to the fabulous edifices that rose up from the desert plains of Giza, these are amongst the most remarkable structures in world history.Their story has given rise to a set of incredible legends: spaceships, ley lines, mysterious goings on Is it fact or fiction? Joyce Tyldesley, writer, lecturer and broadcaster on Ancient Egypt, cuts away modern myth and prejudice to reveal the truth behind these astonishing structures.The Old Kingdom pharaohs believed that death was the beginning of eternal life. To help them on their way they built pyramids; huge ramps or stairways charged with the most potent magic, leading directly to the sky.Pyramids chronicles how and why Egypt's pharaohs built on so grand a scale, and shows how the pyramids helped to build Egypt itself.'A fascinating survey For anyone who wants to know about pyramids, this is required reading' Spectator'Tyldesley sets out to fill the gap between Egyptologists' reserve, the excesses of tour guides and misinformed traditions [she] should be required reading.' Sunday Times

"Go on, my son. Maybe you will survive" The remarkable autobiography of a Holocaust escapeeAron Goldfarb was fifteen years old when he was ripped from his bed in Poland and forced to enter a Jewish work camp.Watching helplessly as Nazis murdered his friends and family, he and his brother, Abe, made their courageous escape after hearing rumours of fellow prisoners being executed in gas chambers. With astonishing bravery and an unshakeable will to survive, the brothers hid together in underground holes on an estate controlled by the Gestapo.In this moving testament to the strength of human endurance and the power of relationships, Goldfarb tells his unbelievable true tale at long last.Vivid, compelling and frequently harrowing, Maybe You Will Survive is a book no reader will ever forget.

The year the once all-conquering German army was finally defeated.By the summer of 1944, Germany was in crisis. The Allied landings had forced another battle arena upon an army already fighting on the vast Eastern front. The July bomb plot attempt on Hitler's life made the dictator even more paranoid and suspicious of his own military commanders.In this absorbing study, James Lucas examines the army's changing structure and weaponry throughout this final year of war, and reveals the often surprising measures taken to confront a situation Hitler had never contemplated, and never really accepted.From D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge and on to the Fall of Berlin, the author examines the last battles fought by the German army which had by no means given up its struggle as the Allies swept across Europe, charting the very unique experiences of a military force moving from dominance to defeat.Perfect for readers of Antony Beevor and Max Hastings.