The first attacks on Australia by the Japanese were made by four submarines of the Sixth Submarine Squadron of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Together, these 80-man boats laid mines, and then waited in their killing zones for targets to torpedo. On 20 January 1942, it all went horribly wrong. Sunk with all hands, the submarine I-124 remains outside Darwin today, testimony to bravery but also to folly. Avonmore Books’ new edition of a 1990s work features new and improved graphics; a host of photographs, and the complete story of the submarine action, and events through the decades beyond – for the sunken vessel did not lie easy. Code seekers; treasure hunters; and potential salvors eventually led to the formation of the Historic Shipwrecks Act.

To the Bitter End is a penetrating and detailed account of the climactic battles of the German forces in Slovakia, the Carpathians, parts of Poland, Silesia and Saxony, from autumn 1944 until the end of the war. These were desperate times for the German forces as they fought frantically against overwhelming odds to prevent Soviet forces bent on revenge penetrating into the heart of the Reich. The author provides excellent detail on the movements and actions of numerous German units, and the text covers all major actions including the battle for the Vistula bridgeheads, the epic siege of Breslau where the troops held out until the day before the official surrender of all German forces, and the final desperate actions around Bautzen which featured the last successful German counteroffensive of the war and also their last tank offensive before Soviet superiority of men and equipment proved to be overwhelming. Appendices include comprehensive orders-of-battle. A 16-page photo section and a large number of detailed battle maps are also included to provide the reader with a sense of the futility and desperation of the position of the German soldiers, ordered to fight to the last man.

The images of soldiers and marines coming ashore on hostile beaches are embedded in our collective memory of World War II. But what of the sailors who manned the landing craft, going back and forth under fire with nowhere to take cover?In this book, Ken Wiley, a coast guardsman on an attack-transport ship in the Pacific, relates the extraordinary story of how the United States projected its power across 6,000 miles of ocean, despite fierce Japanese resistance. The author describes each invasion, detailing a swirl of moving parts, from frogmen to fire support, transport mother ships to attack-transports, the smaller Higgins boats (LCVPs) and, during the last terrifying stage, the courageous men who stormed the beaches.The author participated in the campaigns for the Marshall Islands, the Marianas, the Philippines and Okinawa, and, with a precise eye for detail, he relates numerous aspects of landing-craft operations, such as ferrying wounded, that are often discounted. He conveys the terror and horror of war, without neglecting the humour and cameraderie of wartime life.D-Days in the Pacific is an exciting book, full of harrowing combat action, which also provides a valuable service in explaining exactly how World War II’s massive amphibious operations were undertaken.

The primary objective of this source edition is to provide readers with original documents, allowing them to form their own impression of the development, manufacture and operation of the Heinkel He 162. By linking this accumulated data with the historical situation of those times, we hope to have facilitated a more objective assessment of the "Volksjäger" project.For the purposes of this book, around 200 file documents were selected from a multitude of material on the Heinkel He 162 and reproduced in their original state. Complementing them are some 140 photographs, 50 scale drawings, 30 colour plates and innumerable citations from contemporary documents, teleprints, orders, lectures, reviews and intelligence reports.To make orientation easy, documents and illustrations are arranged in chapters that follow the historic pass off: Project, devlopment of the Heinkel He 162, manufacturing of the "Volksjaeger", in action within the Luftwaffe and allied war booty are the most important topics. For the first time the production and delivery numbers of the Heinkel He 162 have been broken down. Most of the original documents are not translated, but discussed in the text. A German-English glossary helps to understand the content of those original files.Rounding off the publication is a comprehensive annex giving details of propulsion units, camouflage schemes, armament, the cockpit, plus the various versions of the Heinkel He 162. An index of individals, place names and subjects and a list of sources and literature, both covering several pages, completes this supremely detailed retrospective of this famous German aircraft.About the AuthorThe author, Peter Müller, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Swiss Army and is now a military historian. For the past quarter of a century, he has researched armament from 1914-1945.

A further title in this well-established series looks at the history of this USAAF B-25 Mitchell 345 Bomb Group unit, which operated mainly in the Pacific Theatre. The unit was formed in late 1942 and finally entered the Pacific in mid-1943. There, due to the ingenuity of an ex-Philippines Airlines pilot, 'Pappy' Gunn and Jack Fox, a North American aviation technician, standard B-25s were turned into gun-toting strafers by adding additional machine guns to the nose and in special gun packs added to the sides of the forward fuselage. Black and white photos, colour profiles plus a bookmark with FS colour chips are all included. About the SeriesAir Miniatures is a series of books which focuses on the combat history of combat aircraft units. Each volume covers the history of the air unit, its organisation, equipment, camouflage, markings and detailed descriptions of the day-to-day exploits of the unit’s air combat. Includes over 50 photographs, as well as maps, colour profile artwork and free extras for modellers, with decals, photo-etched brass and masking foil.

The first in a new series from Kagero illustrating the combat history of P-40s in the Mediterranean. The Curtiss P-40 was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. It was used by the air forces of 28 nations, including those of most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in front line service until the end of the war. By November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built.Content covers their combat use in Syria and the Western Desert, Tunisia and Italy.About the SeriesAir Battles is a series of books focusing on World War II air battles of specific aircraft and units. Each volume contains information on the planes involved, lists of scores, pilot reports and portraits, colour profile artwork and maps. Over 50 photographs feature in each book, with free extras for modellers, such as masking foil and decal sheets.

History’s greatest military operation and the commanders who nearly led it to success . .

This book is built around two recently discovered war diaries—one by a member of the 23rd Panzer Division which served under Manstein in Russia, and the other by a member of Rommel’s AfrikaKorps. Together, along with detailed timelines and brief overviews, they comprise a fascinating “ground level” look at the German side of World War II. The assignment of keeping the first diary was given to a soldier in the 2nd Battalion, 201st Panzer Regiment by a commanding officers and the author never saw fit to include his own name. This diary covers the period from April 1942 to March 1943, the momentous year when the tide of battle turned in the East. It first details the unit’s combat in the great German victory at Charkov, then the advance to the Caucasus, and finally the brutal winter of 1942–43. The second diary’s author was a soldier named Rolf Krengel. It starts with the beginning of the war and ends shortly after the occupation. Serving primarily in North Africa, Krengel recounts with keen insight and flashes of humour the day-to-day challenges of the AfrikaKorps. During one of the swirling battles in the desert, Krengel found himself sharing a tent with Rommel at a forward outpost. The Field Marshal read parts of the diary with interest and signed it. Evacuated due to illness, Krengel then records service in Berlin beneath the relentless Allied bomber streams and other occurrences on the German homefront.Neither of the diarists was famous, nor of especially high rank. However, these are the brutally honest accounts written at the time by men of the Wehrmacht who participated in two of history’s most crucial campaigns.About the AuthorsThe authors previously collaborated on Mr. Gehlen’s childhood memoir, Jungvolk: The Story of a Boy Defending Hitler’s Third Reich (Casemate, 2008).

On the 6th of June 1944, thousands of men landed on the Normandy beaches to free Europe from the Nazi occupation. Over 2 months, soldiers of all origins were to battle in the Normandy bocage. American and British soldiers of course, but also Canadian, Polish, Belgian and French troops were to challenge those from the German Wehrmacht and SS, together with Russians donning the German uniform. Over 240,000 soldiers were to pay the ultimate sacrifice during these 2 months of intense combat, during which landscapes were devastated and Normandy's towns and villages destroyed, with civilian losses estimated at 45,000.The aim of this book is to offer an insight into the uniforms worn and the equipment used by the soldiers who fought on Norman soil, many of whom are now laid to rest throughout the region's cemeteries. Several collectors have contributed towards enhancing the book's contents, presenting, for the first time, the finest from their collections, painstakingly and patiently recovered across Normandy's battlefields. Each and every one of these precious objects holds its own share of history and many are the last remaining witnesses of this terrible combat.

The sinking of the German battleship Bismarck—a masterpiece of engineering, well-armored with a main artillery of eight 15-inch guns—was one of the most dramatic events of World War II. She left the port of Gotenhafen for her first operation on the night of 18 May 1941, yet was almost immediately discovered by Norwegian resistance and Allied air reconnaissance. British battlecruiser Hood was quickly dispatched from Scapa Flow to intercept the Bismarck, together with new battleship Prince of Wales. They were ordered to find the ship quickly because, on their way from the USA, several large convoys were heading for Britain.On 24 May, Bismarck was found off the coast of Greenland, but the ensuing battle was disastrous for the British. The Hood was totally destroyed within minutes (only 3 crewmen surviving), and Prince of Wales was badly damaged. The chase resumed until the German behemoth was finally caught, this time by four British capital ships supported by torpedo-bombers from the carrier Ark Royal. The icy North Atlantic roiled from the crash of shellfire and bursting explosions until finally the Bismarck collapsed, sending nearly 2,000 German sailors to a watery grave.Zetterling and Tamelander’s work rests on stories from survivors and the latest historical discoveries. The book starts with a thorough account of maritime developments from 1871 up to the era of the giant battleship, and ends with a vivid account, hour by hour, of the dramatic and fateful hunt for the mighty Bismarck, Nazi-Germany’s last hope to pose a powerful surface threat to Allied convoys.

With the help of technical specifications, discover all the cannon used by the American forces campaigning between 1941 and 1945. Field artillery and anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns are presented from the technical and historical point of view. A chapter is devoted to radio vectors and another to artillery spotting. Undisputed specialist of 20th Century French Army history and former officer, Paul Gaujac served in the paratroopers, in the air transport command, at the nuclear submarines headquarters and then at that of the Army, finishing his career as head of the Historical Department of the Armée de Terre. He has published twenty works, three of them with Histoire & Collections. Modelers, military equipment enthusiasts and readers interested in World War II history will all find this an excellent new reference book.

During the preparation of the Normandy Invasion, the American high command realized soon enough that the 8th Air Force, which was wholly committed to strategic bombing, could not undertake the close support of ground units in this major offensive. The keystone of operation “Overlord” would indeed be mastery of the skies: tactical aviation had to be able to intervene quickly and precisely, and to operate from bases on the Continent. The heavy bombers, as they were dependent on large and permanent airfields, could not be called upon for such tasks. The concept of on-call tactical air support was therefore paramount in the Overlord plans and the 9th Air Force was transferred to England for this purpose. The hundreds of hitherto unpublished photos copied out from the pilots and crews’ albums, and the full-color reconstruction of their flying gear are a unique testimony to the day to day life of 9th Air Force personnel and the missions of combat crews. Let us look at these men’s faces, they belong to the Past but we owe them our Freedom. This book is dedicated to the memory of the airmen and soldiers of the Ninth Air Force who gave their all for the Liberation of Europe.

The wartime autobiography of one of the most colorful SOE operatives of his time. Sheppard's is a tale of extraordinary courage and bravery and of a man who ended his war in Nazi concentration camps but survived to tell the tale.TEXT IN FRENCH

A rarely frank account of the U.S. infantry experience in northern Europe, A Foot Soldier for Patton takes the reader from the beaches of Normandy through the giddy drive across France, to the brutal battles on the Westwall, in the Ardennes, and finally to the conquest of Germany itself. Patton’s army is best known for dashing armoured attacks, its commander combining the firepower of tanks with their historic lineage as cavalry. But when the Germans stood firm the greatest fighting was done by Patton’s long undersung infantry—the foot sloggers who were called upon to reduce enemy strongpoints, and who took the brunt of German counterattacks. Michael Bilder, a member of the 5th Infantry (“Red Diamond”division), played a unique role in the Third Army’s onslaught. A rifleman foremost, he was also a German-speaker, called upon for interrogations and special duties. Also a combat lifeguard, he played a key role in successive river crossings. An astute observer, he relates dozens of fascinating insights into the campaign, from dealing with German snipers to intoxicated Frenchwomen, as well as relaying the often morbid humor of combat. Laughter, for example, erupts among Bilder’s unit when a hated Graves Registration officer, known for robbing the pockets of the dead, gets his hand blown off by a German booby trap. When the 5th Infantry comes up against the fortress of Metz, the battle is detailed in all its horror, as is the sudden drive into the flank of the Bulge, where the Americans face their first winter battle against enemy veterans of Russia. Incidents common to the ordinary GI, but which seldom see the light of day in histories, are routinely related in this book, enriching the reader’s sense of the true reality of World War II combat.

Field guide to the landing Beaches - full of photographs.

After a first volume devoted to the Focke Wulf FW 190, the new release in the collection “Planes and Model Kits” is dedicated to the Curtiss P-40. Despite its limits, the Warhawk is an aircraft which played a major part in the whole war and on all the front lines, displaying the most colorful insignia and “nose arts” of WW2. This book has no historical claim and makes us discover the B, E, F, N versions of this mythical fighter through the most beautiful models currently available. Each of the four versions are organized around one main technical part, which presents in a clear and dynamic way some of the well-tried knacks used by the most experienced modelers.