TheFirst World War saw the birth of the modern tank, the fighting machine that has fascinated generations and become an icon in its own right. And yet their crews are often overlooked. In fact their contribution to the wars was immeasurable, and their lives were often extraordinary. Thehistory of the tankwas a race to improve the technology of these metal leviathans, and the results werent always to the benefit of the crews daily they risked death and injury not only at the hands of the enemy but also from their own tank. Now for the first time Robert Kershaw brings to life the grime, the grease and the fury of a pitched tank battle, as well as the camaraderie and the fascinating detail of everyday life living and fighting in these fearsome machines. Drawing on newly researched eyewitness accounts of the hidden stories behind crucial battles of the twentieth century, TANK MEN is vivid history at its very best.

Tank Men: The Human Story of Tanks at War

Kershaw, Robert

Reference

Hodder&Stoughton

Never Surrender

In Never Surrender Robert Kershaw captures the authentic voices of the ordinary heroes of the Second World War, from the soldiers fighting abroad to those battling on the home front, and creates an extraordinary portrait of a generation fighting for survival. Beginning with first-hand accounts of the reaction to Chamberlain's declaration of war in 1939, Kershaw portrays the many aspects of war through the words of those who were there, from the sailors of the little ships of Dunkirk to German soldiers preparing for Operation 'Sea Lion'. He takes us from the nightly horrors of the Blitz to battles in the limitless desert of North Africa, and from jungle war in Burma to Lancaster bombers over Germany and the beaches of Normandy. Featuring new interviews with veterans and civilians from Britain, the Commonwealth and Germany as well as diaries, letters, and first-hand accounts, this is a testimony to the remarkable men and women who lived through the Second World War - whose refusal to surrender changed them, and Britain, forever.

History

Europe

Hodder Pb

Sky Men

Seventy years ago the army's elite air assault force, the Parachute Regiment was formed, tough and well-trained, designed to fight hazardous operations behind enemy lines, with little or no backup. These are the 'Sky Men'. Dropping into the middle of enemy territory, these British, American, German and Russian soldiers engage in gruelling combat in the most dangerous conflict zones around the world. Robert Kershaw, an ex-Parachute Regiment officer, reveals the history of these airborne forces, and their role during the most dramatic battles of the twentieth century. He finds out what makes them tick, what drives a 'Sky Man' to take these extraordinary risks, and what marks these sky warriors out from ordinary soldiers. Based on exclusive interviews with soldiers from around the world, as well as letters and diaries, Sky Men is full of vivid personalities and nail-biting action.

Sky Men: Outnumbered. Under Fire. Expect the Unexpected.

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Hodder

On the afternoon of 17 September 1944, Lieutenant Joseph Enthammer, a Wehrmacht artillery officer based in Arnhem, gazed up to the clear skies, hardly believing what he saw. White 'snowflakes' appeared to hang in the air. 'That cannot be' he thought. 'It never snows in September! They must be parachutists!' They were. He was witnessing the first wave of the British parachute assault on Arnhem. The war had reached the Reich. The blow moreover had come as a total surprise. The Allies had expected operation Market-Garden to bring the collapse of the Wehrmacht in the West and shorten World War II. But the Germans resolved to fight. This ground-breaking military study uniquely chronicles this period of the war through the eyes of the ordinary German soldier and analyses the reasons for the eventual outcome. A major work of military history, this new paperback edition is certain to stimulate renewed debate about one of the most controversial operations of World War II.

It Never Snows In September: The German View of MARKET-GARDEN and the Battle of Arnhem, September 1944

Ian Allan Pub

D-Day: Piercing the Atlantic Wall

Many books have been written about the Normandy landings, but Robert Kershaw brings a new perspective by drawing heavily on German and Allied sources little used in the standard accounts. The actual landings and the subsequent few days of battle often resolved themselves into a multitude of desperate small-scale struggles - for the next few yards of beach, to cross the next field, or to reach the next hedgerow. By looking at the battle at this level through the eyes of both Allied and German participants, the author is able to develop new insights into the successes and failures of both sides. He also shows why the battle for Normandy developed into the long and bitter struggle that has become so well known. The book features extracts from the German telephone log for Omaha Beach, bringing the landings to life. The author also analyses the failure by both sides to balance tank and infantry forces in the difficult Normandy terrain, and examines why the Allies, with local superiorit

Provides an eye-witness account from soldiers on the ground of the brutal reality of warfare on the Eastern Front during World War II.

War Without Garlands: Operation Barbarossa, 1941-1942

Each volume in the 'Railways of Britain' series is based on the hugely successful and innovative two-volume atlas of the Railways of Great Britain by Colonel Michael Cobb. The individual regional titles include over 40 maps updated and revised from Cobb's original work. The maps show the railway network in terms of those lines still open, those still open for freight traffic only, those preserved and those closed completely. Alongside the railway lines, the book also includes a current road network in simplified form to allow the inter-relationship between railways and roads to be clearly identified. In addition to the mapping, each volume also includes a detailed history outlining the development of the area's railway network.The third volume in the series covers the counties of Devon and Cornwall. The history of railway development in the region stretches back to the earliest years of the railway age with the Bodmin & Wadebridge opening in 1834 and with numerous mineral lines constructed to convey the region's rich mineral resources from mines to ports. As elsewhere, however, the railway network of today, shorn of many of the duplicate routes and rural branch lines, is but a pale shadow of that which existed at the height of the railway boom, but it still forms an essential link between the region and the rest of the country and between many of the scattered communities that form much of the area.

Red Sabbath: The Battle of Little Bighorn

Americas

The Battle of Balaclava, 1854, is one of the Crimean War’s stand out battles. The Russians took advantage of an ill-manned area near Balaclava, forcing the British back to the Thin Red Line. A heroic and unlikely victory from the heavy brigade’s charge halted the Russian advance, putting them on the defensive. However, that was before a misinterpreted order from Raglan led to a final Allied cavalry charge, and one of the most famous and ill-fated events in British military history.Here acclaimed military historian Robert Kershaw creates a vivid, intimate account of this famed battle, using human stories from eyewitness accounts, diaries and letters to illustrate the 24 hours of the Battle of Balaclava, and to place the reader shoulder to shoulder with the cavalry as it charged.

24 Hours at Balaclava

Russia

The History Press

The Battle of Borodino resonates with the patriotic soul of Mother Russia. The epic confrontation in September 1812 was the single bloodiest day of the Napoleonic Wars, leaving France's Grande Armée limping to the gates of Moscow and on to catastrophe in snow and ice. Generations later, in October 1941, an equally bitter battle was fought at Borodino. This time Hitler's SS and Panzers came up against elite Siberian troops defending Stalin's Moscow. Remarkably, both conflicts took place in the same woods and gullies that follow the sinuous line of the Koloch River. Borodino Field relates the gruelling experience of the French army in Russia, juxtaposed with the personal accounts, diaries and letters of SS and Panzer soldiers during the Second World War. Acclaimed historian Robert Kershaw draws on previously untapped archives to narrate the odyssey of soldiers who marched along identical tracks and roads on the 1,000-kilometre route to Moscow, and reveals the astonishing parallels and contrasts between two battles fought on Russian terrain over 100 years apart.

Borodino Field 1812 & 1941: How Napoleon and Hitler Met Their Matches Outside Moscow

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