<div><B>From the athletic fields to the fields of battle&mdash;these great sportsmen gave their all and sacrificed their lives for their countries in World War I.</B><BR />  <BR /> As the First World War swept across Europe, millions of eager and idealistic volunteers lined up to serve in what was to be the War to End All Wars. All were expected to do their duty&mdash;and those rare men who were idolized as the greatest athletes of their time were bound and determined to keep up their end. But no one could have foreseen the true horrors of war that awaited them all . . .<BR />  <BR /> This fascinating book examines the deadly impact of the Great War on a number of leading professional sportsmen of the age. Their untimely deaths underscored how even the fittest and most gifted were as vulnerable as any normal soldier&mdash;and their loss was felt by far more than their families and friends.<BR />  <BR /> Among those featured in this illustrated book are such luminaries as Donald Bell, the only professional football player to win the Victoria Cross; Anthony Wilder, the glamorous Wimbledon champion who fell in May 1915; Francois Faber, the Tour de France star; Percy Poulton Palmer, the England Rugby Captain; and many others.<BR />  <BR /> Here, the authors explore the effect that famous athletes have on their countrymen and fellow soldiers in a time of war, and the devastating consequences that World War I had on the emerging world of professional sports.</div>

The Greater Game

<div>Lt. Col. Michael Lowry MC MBE, was awarded the Military Cross for his role in the desperate defensive action at Kohima, rated the worst of the campaign in Burma. After joining up in 1939 with the Queen's Royal Regiment, the Author  was posted to the North West Frontier of India where he cut his teeth chasing gangs of Pathan bandits for two years. As the Japanese advanced into Burma, Lowry found himself fighting in the Arakan region, where his battalion was cut off by the Japanese for three weeks. Having survived that, next came the action at Kohima where during one week Lowry's battalion lost 173 members. Lowry was seriously wounded in the conflict but fortunately lived to tell the tale.This is a fascinating and inspiring book, one of the most action-packed memoirs of the war in Burma ever published.</div>

Fighting Through to Kohima

<div>In 1643 and again in 1644 the forces of King Charles I and Parliament clashed at Newbury in a bloody fight. Each time the fate of the country hung in the balance. Chris Scott retells the story of these two complex and exciting battles and provides a fascinating guided tour of the surviving battlefields.</div>

The Battles of Newbury

<div><B>This groundbreaking WWI history presents a detailed narrative of German Army operations from the start of the war to the 1st Battle of the Somme. </B><BR /><BR /> A renowned expert on the German Army during the First World War, historian Jack Sheldon draws on his extensive research into German sources to shed new light on the famous battleground. In an account filled with graphic descriptions of life and death in the trenches, Sheldon demonstrates that the dreadful losses of July 1st, 1916, were a direct consequence of meticulous German planning and preparation.<BR /><BR /> Although the Battle of the Somme was a close-run affair, poor Allied co-ordination played into the hands of the German commanders. The German Army was able to maintain the overall integrity of its defenses and continue its delaying of battle until winter ultimately neutralized the considerable Allied superiority in men and material.</div>

The German Army on the Somme, 1914–1916

<div>X D Operations is the first account of the thrilling operations by the Kent Fortress Royal Engineers, a small Territorial Army Unit given the largest demolition program ever undertaken by the Royal Engineers. These took place in May 1940 with the object of destroying all the oil reserves stored in refineries in the ports along the Continental coastline from Holland to the Bay of Biscay, thus denying the Nazis vital stocks.The operations were mounted at very short notice and in extreme secrecy. Such was the importance attached to them that no plans existed for the unit's evacuation.The destruction of some two million tons of oil was a serious blow to the German war machine. Churchill was delighted with their success especially at a time of military setbacks. Although for security reasons there was no publicity at the time, they earned a generous allocation of decorations.The book describes the trip over in destroyers, frequently under air attack, the chaotic conditions ahead of the advancing Germans, the difficulties faced in carrying out the tasks and the drama of getting back to England.The unit went on to undertake further unusual expeditions from Spitzbergen to the Middle East over the next two and a half years of the Second World War.</div>

XD Operations

<div>The events of 1857 to 1859 were tragic and momentous. The challenge to British colonial rule was on an unprecedented scale. This book places these grim events into their historical, political and economic contexts. The authors use of sources including personal accounts brings events of a century and a half ago vividly to life.</div>

Prof. Richard Holmes

Books By Prof. Richard Holmes (6 Books)

The Greater Game

Fighting Through to Kohima

The Battles of Newbury

The German Army on the Somme, 1914–1916

XD Operations

Mutiny & Insurgency in India, 1857–58

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