Books published by publisher Osprey Publishing Ltd.

The Dowager Duchess has decided to sell off the less important family possessions. Blotto and Twinks are dispatched to help the valuer. He spies some Egyptian artifacts and in some excitement rushes back to London, leaving Blotto and Twinks alone in the attic, where they are drawn to a sarchophagus decorated with hieroglyphs. Twinks starts to translate: "Anyone who desecrates this shrine will be visited by the Pharoah's curse...." - just as Blotto prises the lid off. It's the brainy Twinks who decides the only thing to be done is to put the genie back in the bottle and so she, together with Blotto and their trusty chauffeur Corky Froggett, take the sarcophagus back to the Valley of the Kings.

The southernmost region of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) encompassed the vast Mekong River Delta, and area covering 10,190 square miles. Three major rivers run through the Delta, the Song Hou Giang (aka Bassac) and the Song Mekong, which broke into three large rivers (Song My Tho, Ham Luong, and Go Chien). The Nhon Trach delineated the Delta's eastern edge. In all there were some 1,500 miles of natural navigable waterways and 2,500 miles of man-made canals and channels. The canal system was begun in 800 AD and its expansion continued up to World War II. The nation's capital, Saigon, lies on the Delta's northern edge. Few roads and highways served the region with sampans and other small watercraft via the canals being the main means of transportation.At least 70,000 Viet Cong (VC) were scattered over the area controlling up to a quarter of the population. Three Army of the Republic Vietnam (ARVN) divisions as well as various paramilitary forces battled the VC in the marshes, forests, and paddies. In 1965 the military situation in the Delta had deteriorated and the decision was taken to shore things up by committing a joint Army and Navy Mobile Riverine Force. This force was unique in its composition, mission, and the special craft in which it operated. The Army component was the 2d Brigade, 9th Infantry Division; the Navy component was River Assault Flotilla One. The various watercraft assigned to the Mobile Riverine Force are the subject of this book. These included much-modified landing craft, purpose-built patrol boats including Swift Boats and Monitors, and a variety of auxiliary and support vessels. Task Force CLEARWATER, a much smaller operation in the extreme northern portion of South Vietnam, also used these craft.

Ibn Sina, who is referred to as Avicenna in Latin, was a true polymath. Born in Persia in the tenth century, his passion for knowledge was unbound, and he made lasting contributions to medicine, math, and philosophy. Due to the scope and brilliance of his work he can be compared to the great Leonardo da Vinci.With illustrations, photographs, and maps, the rich and diverse world that produced Ibn Sina is vividly brought alive.Edoardo Albert is a London-based writer of Italian and Sri Lankan extraction. He also wrote Imam al-Ghazali: A Concise Life which was the first book in the Concise Life series.

A brilliant but little-known operation, the Shimazu clan raid on the independent kingdom of Rykkyu (modern Okinawa) in 1609 is one of the most extraordinary episodes in samurai history and the culmination of centuries of rivalry between the two powers. The defeat of the Shimazu at Sekigahara in 1600, and their need to win favor with the new ShMgun, led them to hatch an audacious plot to attack the islands on the ShMgun's behalf and bring back the king of Rykkyu as a hostage. Stephen Turnbull gives a blow-by-blow account of the operation, from the daring Shimazu amphibious landing, to their rapid advance overland, and the tactical feigned retreat that saw the Shimazu defeat the Okinawan army and kidnap their king in spectacular fashion. With a detailed background and specially commissioned artwork, the scene is set for a dramatic retelling of this fascinating raid.

A killer is murdering Goths with relish - skinning and butchering them. The cops aren't getting anywhere so Jack Nightingale's nemesis, Superintendent Chalmers, asks him for help. Nightingale discovers that the murdered Goths had one thing in common: a tattoo connected to the secretive, Satanic, child-sacrificing cult called the Order Of Nine Angles. As Nightingale closes in on the killers, the tables are turned and he finds himself in the firing line, along with his friends and family. The Order will stop at nothing to protect their secrets and Nightingale realises that there is nothing he can do to protect himself. It leaves him with only one way to stop the carnage - and that's to take his own life....

At the close of the 18th century the Ottoman Empire still had huge military potential. It was a complex structure of military provinces, autonomous regions and virtually independent 'regencies'. The Ottoman Empire had a larger population than its land could actually support which resulted in bloated cities, migration to under-populated mountainous areas, widespread banditry and piracy. It also meant that Ottoman armies had a ready pool of military manpower. With numerous illustrations, including eight full page colour artworkss by Angus Mcbride, this fascinating text by David Nicolle explores the armies of the Ottoman empire from 1775 until 1820.

The battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862 was the first major Civil War engagement on Northern soil, and it remains the bloodiest single-day battle in American history. Of the 90,000 troops that fought, over 23,000 were killed or wounded. Antietam also marked a significant turning point: General Lee's bold invasion of the North was halted, and the Union's success, though not exploited, gave President Lincoln the victory he needed to make his Emancipation Proclamation. The battle arguably sealed the fate of the Confederacy, even if the war still had nearly three years to run. This book accurately brings to life this significant and very costly engagement in highly accessible graphic novel format. It also includes eight pages of authoritative information placing Antietam in its historical context, describing the key players, the build-up to the battle and its aftermath.

In the two centuries before the Norman invasion of England, Anglo-Saxon and Viking forces clashed repeatedly in battle, with mixed success for both sides. After the Vikings defeated three out of the four great Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and came close to defeating the fourth in the 860s and 870s, they conquered and settled large areas of England. The surviving West Saxon kingdom in turn conquered the Viking settlements in England to create the first unified English kingdom in the mid-10th century, before a new wave of Viking raids led to the Danish conquest of England in 1016. Fifty years later a Norwegian army sought to conquer England again, under the leadership of the celebrated Viking warrior Harald Hard-Counsel. His defeat at Stamford Bridge in 1066 is often seen as the end of the Viking age in England.The two sides are seen as very different in popular perceptions, but how much are these differences based on fact, and how much on the bias of the surviving contemporary accounts and later historical traditions? And how far did the two sides learn from each other in the course of 200 years of conflict? Drawing upon historical accounts from both English and Scandinavian sources, and on archaeological evidence, Gareth Williams presents a detailed comparison of the weaponry, tactics, strategies and underlying military organization of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, and considers the developments which took place on both sides between the arrival of the Vikings' 'Great Raiding Army' in 865 and the battle of Stamford Bridge.

Left behind. Scared. And getting really pissed off.Tessa and her friends were supposed to be on their way home. On their way to safety. Instead she wakes up alone, with her friends kidnapped. Targeted and hunted, Tessa goes on the attack, desperate to find her friends and family. But her attackers want her throwback genes and will do anything to have her locked down in their lab.Caught in a dangerous maze, Cody is torn between helping his fellow captives and finding Tessa. He’s young to have the connection that’s growing between him and his best friend’s sister. But any future they might have is in jeopardy if they can’t stop the blood farm from taking over the humans…and his people.Jared is free at last, but he can’t stop thinking about what he went through at the blood farm and those who helped him. Then he finds out something personal that so horrifying, he has to act…even if it means walking back into the place he swore to never return.These three need to be strong…the war is far from over…and they are right in the middle of it.

The battle of Guadalcanal brutally shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility. August 7, 1942, marked the first American amphibious assault of World War II, and the first attempt to secure the Japanese-controled island of Guadalcanal. Over 30,000 American and Japanese casualties were suffered during five months of some of the war's most vicious fighting.From the ranks of the units that contested this campaign a seasoned fighting force of US veterans was created that, island by island, would sweep the Japanese back across the Pacific. The US Marines and Army halted the apparently unconquerable Japanese advance in its tracks.This full-color comic book includes further reading, essential information on the background, aftermath and key players of the conflict. Its gripping comic strip narrative places the reader at the heart of the action, providing a thrilling account of the arduous struggle that faced soldiers such as valiant Medal of Honor winner Captain Joe Foss, and illustrates the Allies' first major offensive action of the Pacific War.

The first major Civil War battle in the Western theater, Shiloh came as a horrifying shock to both the American public and those in arms. On April 6, 1862, Confederate forces staged a surprise attack on the Union army encamped along the Tennessee River. Fighting was fierce as General Grant struggled to hold off the enemy until his reinforcements arrived the following day so that he could 'Whip 'em tomorrow'. Though nearly driven into the Tennessee River, the Union army could ultimately claim victory - won at a dear cost. With nearly 24,000 total casualties in two days' fighting, 'Bloody Shiloh' served as a wake-up call to the nation, announcing that the continuing fight for the Union would be devastating for both sides. Surprise Attack! brings to life one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles in highly accessible graphic novel format. It also includes eight pages of authoritative background information placing Shiloh in its historical context, detailing the key players, and describing the build-up to the fighting and its aftermath.

In Case Red, Robert Forczyk shows that there was much more to the fall of France than Dunkirk. In fact, even after that legendary evacuation in June 1940 there were still large British formations fighting the Germans alongside their French allies. After mounting a vigorous counterattack at Abbeville and then engaging a tough defense along the Somme, the British were forced to conduct a second evacuation from the ports of Le Havre, Cherbourg, Brest, and St. Nazaire. While France was in its death throes, politicians and soldiers debated what to do--flee to England or North Africa, or seek an armistice.Case Red captures the drama of the final three weeks of military operations in France in June 1940, and explains the great impact it had on the course of relations between Britain and France during the remainder of the war. It also addresses the military, political, and human drama of France's collapse in June 1940, and how the windfall of captured military equipment, fuel, and industrial resources enhanced the Third Reich's ability to attack its next foe--the Soviet Union.