Imperial War Museum Wartime Classics – serie

When the children of Gowburgh - a soot-streaked industrial town known for its razor gangs and slums - are evacuated to the quiet Scottish Borders village of Langrigg at the outbreak of the Second World War, the contrast is stark. Langrigg, with its clipped hedges and clipped vowels, prides itself on order, cleanliness and calm. But as 800 children and their mothers arrive, tensions rise, and the village must reckon with the realities of war, class and community. In the upheaval that follows, unlikely bonds are forged, and a fractured community learns to meet hardship with resilience - and a grace it never knew it had.This reprint of Robin Jenkins's classic includes an introduction from IWM, placing the novel in its historical context and shedding light on the wartime experience of ordinary families uprooted by conflict. Jenkins's characters are not heroic, nor exceptional, but they endure. In the face of disruption and division, they find ways to come together, quietly embodying the resilience that defined a generation.

January 1944, the south coast of England. The Fifth Battalion, Wessex Regiment wait patiently and nervously for the order to embark. There is boredom and fear, comedy and pathos as the men - all drawn from different walks of life - await the order to move. From The City, From The Plough is a vivid and moving account of the fate of these men as they set off for Normandy and advance into France.

October 1941. Twenty-one-year-old Alan Mart is posted to India and taken under the wing of the dogmatic, overbearing Acting-Captin Sam Holl. Following the Japanese advance on Singapore, the men are deployed to Malaya. What follows is a quietly shattering and searingly authentic depiction of the claustrophobia of jungle warfare and the futility of war.

London, 1942. Flight-Lieutenant David Heron, home in London on convalescent leave, awakes to the news that a murder victim has been discovered in the garden of his boarding house. With a week until his service resumes, David Sets out to solve the murder. Drawn into a world of mystery and double dealing, can he solve the mystery before his return to the skies?

Autumn 1943. Realising that his feelings fro his sweetheart are not reciprocated, Major John Overton accepts a posting behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Albania. As he struggles to complete his mission amidst a chaotic backdrop, Overton is left to ruminate on loyalty, comradeship and the futility of war.

He stared desperately into the dark trying to force his eyes to see, so that they ached more than ever . . . He sensed that the eyes of men were drilling into the back of his neck, so that it felt prickly. Being lost when you are the leader is the worst thing of all. He hated them because he was lost . . . Rage and despair were welling up inside him . . . 1943, the North African desert. Major Tim Sheldon, an exhausted and battle-weary infantry officer, is asked to carry out a futile and unexpected patrol mission. He'd been on many patrols, but this was to be the longest and most dangerous of all. Fred Majdalany's superb novel of the men who fought in the North African campaign puts this so-called minor mission at center stage, as over the course of the day and during the patrol itself, Sheldon looks back on his time as a soldier, considers his future, and contemplates the meaning of fear.

"Brook was overcome by the most powerful feeling of sheer animal terror. It was as though his whole body and soul had suddenly rebelled against what he was doing and where he was. For a fraction of a second he wanted to scream and fly in panic, and only the physical impossibility of getting out of the tank stopped him. A moment later it passed, and he found himself obeying Donovan's orders automatically." Based on Peter Elstob's own wartime experiences, Warriors for the Working Day follows one tank crew as they proceed from the beaches of Normandy into newly liberated Western Europe, evoking the claustrophobia, heat, and intensity of tank warfare in brilliant detail. Published to great acclaim in 1960, the classic novel has been translated into several languages. This repackaged edition includes a contextual introduction by an Imperial War Museums historian.

It is 1943, and a month into their service as Land Girls, Bee, Anne and Pauline are dispatched to a remote farm in ruralScotland. Here they are introduced to the realities of 'lending a hand on the land', as back-breaking work and inhospitable weather mean they struggle to keep their spirits high.Soon one of the girls falters, and Bee and Pauline receive a new posting to a Northumberland dairy farm. Detailing their friendship, daily struggles and romantic intrigues with a lightness of touch, Barbara Whitton's autobiographical novel paints a sometimes funny, sometimes bleak picture of time spent in the Women's Land Army during the Second World War.

In the summer of 1940, the Battle of Britain rages in the skies over southern England. Nineteen-year-old Pilot OfficerPeter Stuyckes arrives at RAF Westhill and is immediately put to the test.Based on the author's own service as an RAF Flight Engineer,Squadron Airborne takes place over one unforgettableweek that summer, depicting with intensity and brilliance the work of the many ground-crew and other staff as they support the Few in their fight against the Luftwaffe. The novel is published to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in September 2020.

A new edition of Cecil Lewis’s 1944 aviation classic.Over the course of a single night in 1942, the crew members of a Wellington bomber reflect on the paths of their own lives as they embark on a fateful mission deep in the heart of Nazi Germany. Based on his own experience as a World War I fighter ace, Cecil Lewis’s stunning novel examines the life of each man, rendering a moving account of each as not merely a nameless crew member, but as an individual with a life lived: “A life precious to some, or one. . . . These men with dreams and hopes and plans of things to come.”This new edition of the 1944 classic includes a new introduction from an Imperial War Museums historian that puts the novel in historical context and shines a light on this vital and sometimes contested aspect of Britain’s involvement in World War II.

A reissue of Anthony Rhodes’s acclaimed 1942 novel detailing his own wartime experience during the evacuation at Dunkirk. It is September 1939. Shortly after World War II is declared, Anthony Rhodes is sent to France, serving with the British Army. His days are filled with the minutiae and mundanities of army life—friendships, billeting, administration—as the months of the “Phoney War” quickly pass and the conflict seems a distant prospect. It is only in the spring of 1940 that the true situation becomes clear. The men are ordered to retreat to the coast and the beaches of Dunkirk, where they face a desperate and terrifying wait for evacuation.

A seminal novel of factory life in wartime England. Praised for its detailed portrayal of the roles of women in wartime society, Monica Felton's 1945 novel gives a lively account of the experiences of a group of men and women working in a munitions factory during World War II. Detailing the challenges, triumphs, and tragedies of a diverse cast of characters, To All the Living provides fascinating insight into this vital aspect of Britain's home front.

The story of a troop in the British Army during World War II as told by the man who led them. In April 1943, newly commissioned John Foley was posted to command Five Troop and their trusty Churchill tanks Avenger, Alert, and Angler--thus beginning his initiation into the Royal Armoured Corps. This book is a history of Five Troop through the author's own experiences with the British Army. Covering the trials of training, embarkation to France, and battle experience through Normandy, the Netherlands, the Ardennes campaign, and into Germany, Foley's intimate and detailed account follows the fate of this group of men in the latter stages of World War II. Mailed Fist is brought back into print here in a new edition that features an introduction from curators at the Imperial War Museum, putting the work into historical context and shining a light on this fascinating experience of the World War II.

When Singapore falls to Japan's Imperial army in early 1942, the life that Susan Sandyman has lovingly created abroad is shattered. Forced to flee home to the hamlets of southern England, she can either succumb to grief or find solace in war work. When a chance encounter with the elusive Air Transport Auxiliary pilots stirs a spark of excitement, Susan's decision is made.Based on the authors' own experiences with the ATA, Paid To Be Safe vividly captures the gruelling training and day-to-day life of female ferry pilots. To these women, the allure of the Spitfire is more than just the freedom to fly, but an invitation to start anew. Detailing their camaraderie, bravery and romantic encounters, this classic novel explores the depths of personal loss during conflict and the healing powers of love, family and friendship.