Books published by publisher Pen and Sword

WINNER OF (Gold Award) HISTORICAL FICTION AWARD for 2012; by the Military Writers Society of America (MWSA). P7A IS THE FIRST IN A TRILOGY SET IN WWII: "In late 1941, President Roosevelt agonized over the rapid advances of the Japanese forces in Asia, they seemed unstoppable. He foresaw their intentions of taking India and linking up with the two other Axis Powers, Germany and Italy, in an attempt to conquer the Eastern Hemisphere. US naval forces had been severely surprised and diminished in Pearl Harbor and the army was outnumbered and ill-prepared to take on the invading hoards. One of his few options was to form a defensive line on the eastern side of the Patkai and Himalayan Ranges, there he could look for support from the Chinese and Burmese. It was to be the only defence to a Japanese invasion of India.To support and supply these troops, fighting in hostile jungle terrain where overland routes had been cut off, he desperately needed to set up an air supply from Eastern India. His problem was lack of aircraft and experienced pilots to fly the dangerous 'Hump, over the world's highest mountains. Hence came Operation Seven Alpha, a plan to enlist the aircraft, DC-3s, and pilots, veterans of World War One, of American Airlines. This newly formed Squadron would fly these medium-range aircraft in a series of long-distance hops across the Pacific and Southern Asia to the Assam Valley in India. They would then create and operate the vital supply route carrying arms, ammunition and food Eastward to the Allied bases and return with wounded personnel. This is the story of this little-known operation in the early days of the Burma Campaign.This book is based on the true experiences of those who were involved and is a fitting tribute to the bravery and inventiveness of a band of men who answered their country's desperate call at the outset of the war against Japan in Asia."

Billy Yank or Billy Yankee was the name given to the Union soldiers of the North during the American Civil War: and a famous and enduring symbol of the period. Typically Billy Yank is presented dressed in regulation blue uniform topped with a forage hat, the standard headdress used by the military of the period. This handy guide delves a little deeper and sets out to discover exactly what the typical ‘Billy Yank’ looked like and how they lived. Compiled by two experts on the subject of military uniforms of the period, and crammed with fascinating facts and images, this is an excellent glimpse into the life and times of the union soldier and a valuable addition to the popular G.I. series.

Romans clearly loved their pets and gave them human names. The wealthiest kept gazelles and ibex on their estates as living lawn ornaments. At the same time, they imported exotic animals from Africa and then slaughtered them in both gladiatorial combat and cold-blooded spectacle. Animals in Roman Life and Art explores animals in Roman iconography, Roman knowledge - both factual and fanciful - about various fauna, and Roman use of animals for food, clothing, transport, war, entertainment, religious ceremony, and companionship. Arranged by species, J.M.C Toynbee's magisterial survey ranges from the exotic (the rhinoceros and hippopotamus) to the commonplace (dogs and cats). Toynbee concludes her study with a discussion of Roman beliefs about animals in the afterlife, where, according to Virgil, "the herds will not fear the mighty lion" and "the timid deer will ... drink beside the hounds"."As a study of the place of animals in Roman art, this is a labor of love by a scholar who knows her subject inside and out ... About the individual beasts known to the Romans and illustrated by their artists it is a mine of information, both useful and curious." - Times Literary Supplement"Classically excellent." - The Economist

Many wargamers enjoy the challenge of skirmish games where, instead of the strategy of vast armies portrayed by traditional wargames, the focus is on the tactics of a small unit. However, skirmish rules are often so complex that it can take hours of rolling dice, consulting tables and recording data to recreate what would in reality be a fast and furious firefight lasting just minutes. Now these new rules make it possible to recapture the speed and intensity of these actions where every man, and every second, counts. The basic rules are supported by sections which give special rules and scenarios to capture the flavor of a range of different periods, from Napoleonic to Modern Warfare and beyond with Sci-Fi. From the 95th Rifles scouting for Wellington, Western gunfights and WWI trench raids, through WW2 parachute assaults or Special Forces strikes in Afghanistan, or even Space Marines storming a space station, Squad Firefights elegantly simple system allows you to focus on proper tactical decisions rather than rolling buckets of dice or calculating masses of modifiers.

We all know that some of the greatest inventions came from the Victorian age, the successors of which are still with us today. But this book is not entirely about those. It’s more about some of the weird and wonderful inventions, ideas and projects – some successful, others less so – that have largely been forgotten. Where well-known inventions or design concepts are included, it is from a perspective not previously appreciated, with details of the ingenious technology and thinking that led to their introduction and success. Here you can read how Victorian innovators were responsible for: the world’s largest glass structure; an electric railway with lines under the sea and a carriage on stilts 20 feet above the waves; a monster globe that visitors could enter to see the world’s land masses, seas, mountains and valleys modeled on the interior; cameras disguised as bowler hats and many other everyday objects; the London Underground as a steam railway; safety coffins designed to prevent premature burial; unusual medical uses for electricity; the first traffic lights, which exploded a month after their erection in Westminster; and the birth and rapid rise to popularity of the cinema ... as well as many other ingenious inventions.

The Seleukid kingdom was the largest state in the world for a century and more between Alexander's death and the rise of Rome. It was ruled for all that time by a succession of able kings, but broke down twice, before eventually succumbing to dynastic rivalries, and simultaneous external invasions and internal grasps for independence. The first king, Seleukos I, established a pattern of rule which was unusually friendly towards his subjects, and his policies promoted the steady growth of wealth and population in many areas which had been depopulated when he took them over. In particular the dynasty was active in founding cities from Asia Minor to Central Asia. Its work set the social and economic scene of the Middle East for many centuries to come. Yet these kings had to be warriors too as they defended their realm from jealous neighbors. John D Grainger's trilogy charts the rise and fall of this superpower of the ancient world. In the first volume, John D Grainger relates the remarkable twists of fortune and daring that saw Seleukos, an officer in an elite guard unit, emerge from the wars of the diadochi (Alexander's successors) in control of the largest and richest part of the empire of the late Alexander the Great. After his conquests and eventual murder, we then see how his successors continued his policies, including the repeated wars with the Ptolemaic rules of Egypt over control of Syria. The volume ends with the deep internal crisis and the wars of the brothers, which left only a single member of the dynasty alive in 223 BC.

The Hawker Hurricane, together with the Spitfire, is the most famous aircraft of the Second World War. Many pilots including Douglas Bader thought it was superior to the Spit but together they saved Britain from Nazi invasion and possible defeat.Adrian Stewart has produced a gloriously atmospheric and nostalgic book capturing the spirit of this great aircraft and the pilots who flew them. It tracks the aircraft as it was developed and improved and follows it to the many theatres of the war where it saw service. Among the lesser known are Burma and the hazardous convoy protection both in the Arctic and Mediterranean, flying from makeshift ‘carriers’. This book will fascinate specialist aviation historians and those who enjoy a rattling good war story, backed by a superb selection of rare photographs.

This biography tells of the life of a Czech airman who escapes from the Nazi invasion, fights with the French and finally arrives in Britain to fly as an air-gunner with the RAF during WWII. He returns to his homeland after WWII but escapes back to the UK again when the communists gained control. Again he joined the RAF and rose to the rank of WO.The unique part of this is that from his time in France, throughout WWII and until half way through his second tour with the RAF he was inseparable from his Alsatian dog, an animal that became famous and was awarded the dog equivalent of the VC. The animal flew with his owner on many bomber raids, became the squadron mascot and was officially a serving RAF dog. It played an amazing part in the second escape from the Czech communists regime when the author was lucky to make it over the border to the US zone in Germany.

Adrian Carton de Wiart’s autobiography is one of the most remarkable of military memoirs. He was intended for the law, but abandoned his studies at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1899 to serve as a trooper in the South African War. Carton de Wiart’s extraordinary military career embraced service with the Somaliland Camel Corps (1914-15), liaison officer with Polish forces (1939), membership of the British Military Mission to Yugoslavia (1941), a period as a prisoner of war (1941-43), and three years as Churchill’s representative to Chiang Kai-shek (1943-46). (Churchill was a great admirer.) During the Great War, besides commanding the 8th Glosters, Carton de Wiart was GOC 12 Brigade (1917) and GOC 105 Brigade (April 1918). Both these commands were terminated by wounds. He was wounded eight times during the war (including the loss of an eye and a hand), won the VC during the Battle of the Somme, was mentioned in dispatches six times, and was the model for Brigadier Ben Ritchie Hook in the Sword of Honour trilogy of Evelyn Waugh.

MAJOR & MRS HOLT'S Concise, Illustrated BATTLEFIELD GUIDE TO THE WESTERN FRONT- SOUTH contains many fascinating but little-visited areas by travelers and is hoped that they will be tempted further afield than the 'showcase' and sophisticatedly presented battlefields like the Somme to discover some marvelous sites. Many of them have lain virtually 'dormant' for many years (such as areas of the Meuse-Argonne and Champagne) but have recently been renovated and opened up by dedicated local enthusiasts. There are many 'gems' in store in this book. Each battlefield starts with some pertinent quotations by participants, has a succinct Summary of the Battle, Opening Moves and What Happened sections then a Battlefield Tour which follows the same tried and tested formula as the rest of the series of a timed and measured itinerary with historic and anecdotal information at each stop. A detailed Sketch Map showing battle lines and each stop on the route accompanies every battle using the same color code (of yellow for memorials, purple for cemeteries, blue for museums) as the larger Holts' Battle Maps.Together the two books MAJOR & MRS HOLT'S Concise, Illustrated BATTLEFIELD GUIDE TO THE WESTERN FRONT- SOUTH and NORTH will form the most comprehensive and detailed English-language guides to the WW1 Western Front ever produced.

These are the combat experiences of the first Marine to command a special operations task force, recounted against a backdrop of his journey from raw Second Lieutenant to seasoned Colonel and Task Force Commander; from leading Marines through the streets of Mogadishu, Baghdad, Fallujah and Mosul to directing multi-national special operations forces in a dauntingly complex fight against a formidable foe. The journey culminates in the story’s centerpiece: the fight against ISIS, in which the author is able to use the lessons of his harsh apprenticeship to lead the SOF task force under his command to hasten the Caliphate’s eventual demise. Milburn has an unusual background for a US Marine, and this is no ordinary war memoir. Very few personal accounts of war cover such a wide breadth of experience, or with so discerning a perspective. As Bing West comments: “His exceptional skill is telling each story of battle and then knitting them into a coherent whole. By the end of the book, the reader understands what happened on the ground in the wars against terrorists over the past twenty years.” Milburn tells his extraordinary story with self-effacing candor, describing openly his personal struggles with the isolation of command, post-combat trauma and family tragedy. And with the skill and insight of a natural story teller, he makes the reader experience what it’s like to lead those who fight America’s wars.

In the dark and uncertain days of 1941 and 1942, when Rommel’s Afrika Korps was sweeping towards Egypt and the Suez Canal, a small group of daring raiders made history for the Allies. They operated deep behind the German lines, driving hundreds of miles through the deserts of North Africa. They hid by day and struck by night, destroying aircraft, blowing up ammunition dumps, derailing trains and killing many times their own number. The men were the Special Air Service, the SAS, the brainchild of David Stirling, a deceptively mild-mannered man with a brilliant idea. Under his command, small teams of resourceful, highly trained men penetrated beyond the front lines of the opposing armies and wreaked havoc where the Germans least expected it. Virginia Cowles’s The Phantom Major is a classic account of these raids, an amazing tale of courage, impudence and daring, packed with action and high adventure. Her narrative, based on the eyewitness testimony of the men who took part, gives a fascinating insight into the early years of the SAS.