Very few living men have taken part in a battle, and many must wonder how they would acquit themselves if ever they had to. A medieval battle was a very complex affair; it was far from being a simple kill or be killed. It could be won or lost at any stage; it could turn on the action of one man, and it could settle nothing, or alternatively the fate of a nation. But for the majority, when thinking of a battle, the overriding question would be: how would I behave? What would happen to me? Would I emerge unscathed and join in the celebrations, or would I be left wounded on the battlefield...

Very few living men have taken part in a battle, and many must wonder how they would acquit themselves if ever they had to. A medieval battle was a very complex affair; it was far from being a simple kill or be killed. It could be won or lost at any stage; it could turn on the action of one man, and it could settle nothing, or alternatively the fate of a nation. But for the majority, when thinking of a battle, the overriding question would be: how would I behave? What would happen to me? Would I emerge unscathed and join in the celebrations, or would I be left wounded on the battlefield...

Very few living men have taken part in a battle, and many must wonder how they would acquit themselves if ever they had to. A medieval battle was a very complex affair; it was far from being a simple kill or be killed. It could be won or lost at any stage; it could turn on the action of one man, and it could settle nothing, or alternatively the fate of a nation. But for the majority, when thinking of a battle, the overriding question would be: how would I behave? What would happen to me? Would I emerge unscathed and join in the celebrations, or would I be left wounded on the battlefield...

On 6th June 1944 there took place the greatest seaborne invasion in the history of mankind. The Allies, who had been planning and preparing for that day for over four years, launched a massive assault on the northern shore of France. It was on a scale which is never likely to be repeated, for the development of weapons of mass destruction has made it unlikely that such a large, vulnerable concentration of force would ever be assembled again. In a war which saw one massive military action after another - the blitzkrieg, the German invasion of Russia, Stalingrad, the Italian campaign - D Day...

The Special Boat Squadron, or SBS, is one of the most admired, respected and feared Special Forces units in the world. The date of the formation of the SBS is a matter of some debate. Officially it is the 14th April 1942, but long before that date SBS forces had been harassing the enemy in an unofficial existence; soon it was to be put on a more formal footing. Today, decades after the final curtain has dropped on World War II, it is a mystery to many people, particularly those in the regular forces, how the war managed to foster so many small, unorthodox formations like the SBS. In this book...

The Special Air Service (The SAS) are perhaps the Special Forces Regiment. With an almost unparalled experience and a rich history that is encapsulated by their motto 'Who Dares Wins'. The story which follows is not of course a complete account of all the deeds of this remarkable regiment. If such a record could be compiled it would require several volumes and, even then, there would be gaps because some of those who took part in the early raids are dead or untraceable, and many of the later activities are unavailable for security reasons. It is indeed typical of the SAS that they should...

In July 1942 German and Italian forces were on the point of sweeping away the remainder of the British resistance in the Middle East and triumphantly overrunning Egypt. If this had happened, the disaster for the Allies would have been irretrievable. Instead Rommel's victorious army was checked on the Alamein line in what became the first battle of Alamein. Two months later with General Bernard Montgomery now commanding the 8th Army and General Harold Alexander as C-in-C Middle East, another Axis thrust was held in the second battle of Alamein at Alam El Halfa. On 23 October the Allied forces...

Within these pages the vivid and colourful story of a remarkable episode in the 'high empire' period of British history. The Mahdi's rising in the Sudan in the 1880's, which started as a localised Holy War against the 'decadent' Turkish/Egyprian overlords, was soon to engulf a million square miles of territory and force the hand of the British Liberal Government, whose reluctance to get involved paved the way for the early disasters of the Hicks' expedition and Gordon's death at Khartoum. The narrative makes full use of diaries and first-hand reports, including those of celebrated novelist...

Although the Welsh are perhaps not widely known for their military history, the story of warfare in Wales spans some three thousand years. In Famous Welsh Battles, Philip Warner gives a detailed account of the major battles in Wales from prehistoric and Roman times up through the Battle of Fishguard in 1797. Whether fighting as mercenaries in the Middle Ages, when they were greatly esteemed and widely feared, or engaging in guerrilla combat on more rugged battlefields, where their best allies were mountains and rivers, the Welsh generals' clear grasp of strategy and tactics served them well...

On the 31st of July 1917, the small Belgian village of Passchendaele became the focus of one of the most gruelling, bloody and bizarre battle of World War I. By 6th November, when Passchendaele village and the ridge were captured over half a million British, French, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and Germans had become casualties. Philip Warner, the noted historian of twentieth century warfare and the author of over fifty books on military history has skilfully brought together all the elements of this horrific campaign. - the historical background, personal accounts, strategies and...