The Lancaster gunner gave a friendly wave to the approaching American Thunderbolt. It was great to have these powerful, heavily‑armed fighters on his side, he reckoned. Then his grin vanished as the Thunderbolt hurtled towards him in an attacking dive, its guns blazing. He wasn’t to know that the Thunderbolt belonged to a special force […]
The German troops rushed into view just as the Fairey Battle was taking off. Immediately they fired at the aircraft, desperate to prevent its escape. With bullets flying all around him, this would be the supreme test of the pilot’s nerve… but the man behind the controls was a self-confessed coward who had run from […]
In Britain the newspaper hailed Clive Bellamy as a hero. But in the deserts of Libya his own men saw him as a coward. All that the enemy ever saw of him was his back. Yet even cowards can change. Even Clive Bellamy, at last, had his one moment of glory. Story: CG Walker […]
Germ warfare — unheard of and undreamt of by most people in 1944. But throughout that year the Nazis were being pushed back on all fronts and getting desperate. In a sinister, gloomy castle in a German forest, scientists had developed what they called the Red Death virus, the most horrible and lethal germ known […]
The desert war was a hard, fast and furious series of lightning clashes between tough professional warriors striving for supremacy in the sandy wastes. But it was a clean, fair war, with each side treating its enemies decently and honourably… It should have been like that for Lieutenant Dick Shannon too — but then Dick […]
Dropping bombs on Britain – that was the task of Leutnant Carl Toller, an ace Luftwaffe pilot. Making the bombs that didn’t explode safe – that was the dangerous job of Jim Bannon, an officer in the Royal Engineers. You couldn’t get two tasks more different than that, but one fateful night this pair would […]
Instant recognition of all other aircraft in the sky — that was an asset for any fighter pilot in the clash between the RAF and Hitler’s Luftwaffe. And Dick Marsh was better than most at knowing which aircraft were hostile and which were friendly. All the hard work he had put into perfecting this had […]
It was an ordinary, standard issue British Lee Enfield rifle. But after being dropped muzzle-down into soft mud, it picked up a hidden extra: a plug of clag that hardened deep in the barrel. That rifle was now a deadly trap. It would kill the first person who pulled the trigger… Story: CG Walker […]
It was another day of doom for Peter Cobb, his corvette sinking beneath him, crippled by the Luftwaffe and the German Navy. There had been another equally grim day not so long ago when his great friend and fellow skipper had been ruthlessly executed by a sadist Nazi U-boat commander. All this had gone far […]
The past was about to catch up with Sergeant Ted Lewis as he led his platoon into the ruins of Germany in the closing months of the war. It wasn’t a past he was proud of, but he had more than made up for it with his courage and leadership. Yet even all that still […]
Enter your postcode below (with a space) and click "Find" to search for your local stockist.
Thank you. You have been successfully subscribed to our newsletter.