HMS Stour

HMS Stour was a River class destroyer that served with the Ninth Destroyer Flotilla in 1914-15 and the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla in 1915-1918.

USS Swasey (DD-273)

USS Swasey (DD-273) was a Clemson class destroyer that had a limited US career, but went to Britain as part of the Destroyers for Bases deal as HMS Rockingham. In British service she served as an Atlantic convoy escort ship and troops convoy escort, before being converted into an air target ship in 1943. She sank after hitting a British mine on 27 September 1944

Call to Arms – Over by Christmas, David Bilton

A photographic history of the first few months of the First World War, looking at just about everything apart from the fighting itself, so covers the pre-war period, the initial mobilisation, propaganda, key personalities of 1914, the fate of Europe’s many refugees, ending with a look at Christmas 1914, by which time it was clear the war would very much not be over by Christmas
(Read Full Review)

The Naval Siege of Japan 1945 – War Plan Orange Triumphant, Brian Lane Herder

Looks at the final stage of the US Navy’s war against Japan, the series of carrier strikes and battleship attacks on the Japanese Home Islands then helped devastate the Japanese war economy in the last months of the war. Often only looked at in brief, between the battle of Okinawa and the dropping of the Atomic Bombs, these raids were actually a key part of the US plan for the invasion of Japan, and the damage they caused (and the ability of the US fleet to operate so close to Japan) helped convince the Japanese leadership that the war was lost
(Read Full Review)

Hitler's Ardennes Offensive – The German View of the Battle of the Bulge, ed. Danny S. Parker

A series of interviews with the leading figures in the Ardennes offensive – the main German army commanders Dietrich, Kramer and Manteuffel, the high commander represented by Keitel and Jodl and a later commentary by Blumentritt. Provides an invaluable insight into how these high ranking officers saw the offensive in its immediate aftermath, before the post-war process of revisionism really took off
(Read Full Review)

HMS Ouse (1905)

HMS Ouse (1905) was a River class destroyer that served with the Ninth Destroyer Flotilla in 1914-1915 and the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla in 1915-19, sinking UC-70 and helping to sink UB-115

USS Tingey (DD-272)

USS Tingey (DD-272) was a Clemson class destroyer that had a brief career after the First World War, before being decommissioned in 1922 and sold for scrap in 1936.

HMS Moy (1904)

HMS Moy (1904) was a River class destroyer that served with the Ninth Destroyer Flotilla in 1914-15, taking part in the defence of Hartlepool then with the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla from 1915 to the end of the war.

USS Morris (DD-271)

USS Morris (DD-271) was a Clemson class destroyer that had a very brief career in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, but was decommissioned in 1922 and sold for scrap in 1936.

Gaiseric – The Vandal who Destroyed Rome, Ian Hughes

A biography of the Vandal king Gaiseric, one of the most important figures in the fall of the Western Roman Empire as the founder of the Vandal kingdom in North Africa that both bankrupted and defeated the Empire. This is the fascinating story of a man whose career spanned the fall of the Roman Empire, and in many ways helped caused it
(Read Full Review)

Heinrich Himmler, The Sinister Life of the Head of the SS and Gestapo, Heinrich Fraenkel & Roger Manvell

One of the first post-war biographies of Himmler, originally published in 1965, but still a valuable look at the life of one of the most evil men in the Nazi regime. Gives us a valuable portrait of a basically petty man, dangerous because of his combination of vile opinions and almost unrestricted power within the Third Reich. A little dated (originally published in 1965), but otherwise sound.
(Read Full Review)

Commando General - The Life of Major General Sir Robert Laycock KCMG CB DSO, Richard Mead

A biography of one of the key figures in the formation of the British Commandos, and the head of Combined Operations during the D-Day landings. Tells the story of a leader who was successful despite limited combat experience, and a general lack of support from the higher ranks of the home army
(Read Full Review)

HMS Liffey (1904)

HMS Liffey (1904) was a River class destroyer that served with the Ninth Flotilla in 1914, with the Grand Fleet early in 1915, the Portsmouth Escort and Local Defence Flotillas from 1915 to 1917, the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla on the East Coast in 1917-18 and the First Destroyer Flotilla at Portsmouth for the rest of 1918.

USS Thornton (DD-270/ AVD-11)

USS Thornton (DD-270/ AVD-11) was a Clemson class destroyer that was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked, then served in the Aleutians and the South Pacific, taking part in the battles for Guadalcanal and Okinawa before being badly damaged in a collision and abandoned as not worth repairing.

HMS Arun (1903)

HMS Arun (1903) was a River class destroyer that served with the Grand Fleet in 1914-15, the Portsmouth Local Defence and Escort Flotillas in 1915-1917, the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla in 1917-18 and the First Destroyer Flotilla in 1918.

USS Bailey (DD-269)

USS Bailey (DD-269) was a Clemson class destroyer that served with the Neutrality Patrol in 1939-40, before joining the Royal Navy as HMS Reading. In British hands she was used on convoy escort duties, briefly with the 8th Escort Group, before she joined the Newfoundland Escort Force

Ancient Warfare Vol XI, Issue 1: Blotting out the Sun - Archers in the ancient world

Focuses on archery across the Ancient world, covering an impressively wide geographical and historical range, from Qin China in the east to Rome in the west, and including the Neo-Assyrians, Cretan archers and the mounted archer. Also looks at Marathon, the famous Lorica Segmentata and an example of a Roman Centurion
[see more]

Ancient Warfare Vol XII, Issue 3: The Many Means of Protection - Body armour in the ancient world

Focuses on the use of armour in the ancient world, including a look at its earliest forms, the emergence of chain mail, how heavy armour could be countered and the industrial scale of armour production in the Roman Empire. Also looks at the use of magical wards in the supersticious Roman army, the use of animal pelts by standard bearers, aspects of the cavalry and the development of siege warfare
[see more]

The Ismaili Assassins – A History of Medieval Murder, James Waterson

A detailed history of the infamous Assassins, showing that they were much more than just a band of killers. Traces their birth out of the internal disputes that split the early Islamic world, their establishment in Persia, their use of political murder to try and protect their small state, and their influence on the wider world
(Read Full Review)

HMS Itchen (1903)

HMS Itchen (1903) was a River class destroyer that served with the Ninth Destroyer Flotilla in 1914-15 and the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla from 1915 until she was sunk by UC-44 on 6 July 1917.

USS Shubrick (DD-268)

USS Shubrick (DD-268) was a Clemson class destroyer that had a brief US career before joining the Royal Navy as HMS Ripley. In British service she was used on convoy escort duties, first in the Atlantic and later in British coastal waters, as well as taking part in the hunt for the Bismarckand a diversionary sweep along the Norwegian coast in 1943.

HMS Foyle (1903)

HMS Foyle (1903) was a River class destroyer that served with the Ninth Flotilla in 1914, with the Grand Fleet early in 1915 and with the Devonport Local Defence Flotilla from 1915 until she was sunk by a mine on 15 March 1917.

USS Ballard (DD-267/ AVD-10)

USS Ballard (DD-267/ AVD-10) was a Clemson class destroyer that served as a seaplane tender in the Pacific from 1942 to 1944, taking part in the invasion of Saipan and the battle of the Philippines Sea.

With the Royal Navy in War and Peace, O’er the Dark Blue Sea, Vice Admiral B.B. Schofield

An autobiography of a senior British naval officer of the Second World War, covering his time as naval attaché in France and Holland in 1939-40, with the key Trade Division and sharing Eisenhower’s HQ before D-Day, as well as his time commanding several warships including two of Britain’s last battleships
(Read Full Review)

The Secret South - A Tale of Operation Tabarin 1943-46, Ivan Mackenzie Lamb

A first hand account of a wartime expedition to Antartica, launched to counter an Argentinian claim to the area, but that turned into an impressive voyage of discovery. Written by a truly extraordinary person, this book tells an utterly fascinating tale, almost entirely divorced from the war that triggered it!
(Read Full Review)

Amiens 1918 - Victory from Disaster, Gregory Blaxland

Looks at the main British contribution to the campaigns of 1918 – the battles on the Amiens sector of the Western Front, which saw one of the famous German offensives of 1918 and some of the most significant battles in the Allied fightback and the ‘100 days’ that led to victory. A bit dated, but still a useful detailed account of this key campaign
(Read Full Review)

HMS Kale

HMS Kale was a River class destroyer that served with the Ninth Destroyer Flotilla in 1914-1915 and the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla until she was sunk by a mine on 27 March 1918

USS Greene ((DD-266/ AVD-13/ APD-36)

USS Greene ((DD-266/ AVD-13/ APD-36) was a Clemson class destroyer that began the war as a seaplane tender, took part in several successful anti-submarine patrols in 1943 and then became a fast transport, taking part in Operation Dragoon and supporting the invasion of Okinawa.

HMS Doon

HMS Doon was a River class destroyer that served with the Ninth and Seventh Flotillas on the East Coast during the First World War, and was the only one of the four destroyers involved in the Hartlepool raid to suffer casualties.

USS Edwards (DD-265)

USS Edwards (DD-265) was a Clemson class destroyer that had a limited career in US service before going to Britain, where she became HMS Buxton. In British and Canadian service she was used on Atlantic convoy escort duties from 1941-43 but needed constant repairs and was eventually turned into a static training ship.