"Acclaimed WWII historian James Holland both narrates and reframes the controversial first months of the Italian Campaign and sets a new standard in the chronicling of war. Following victory in Sicily, while the central command planned the spring 1944 invasion of France, Allied troops crossed into southern Italy in September 1943, expecting to drive Axis forces north and liberate Rome by Christmas. Italy quickly surrendered but German divisions fiercely...

The true story of the bloodiest and most dramatic march to victory of the Second World War. The battlefield odyssey of a maverick U.S. Army officer and his infantry unit as they fought for over five hundred days to liberate Europe; frmo the invasion of Italy to the gates of Dachau.

An improbable tale of espionage and crime recounts the Allied war effort's clandestine coalition between the Mafia and the U.S. government to protect New York Harbor against sabotage and assist in the 1943 U.S. invasion of Sicily.

"Europe was in the throes of World War II, and when America joined the fighting, Ernie Pyle went along. Long before television beamed daily images of combat into our living rooms, Pyle's on-the-spot reporting gave the American public a firsthand view of what war was like for the boys on the front. Pyle followed the soldiers into the trenches, battlefields, field hospitals, and beleaguered cities of Europe. What he witnessed he described with a clarity,...

Documents the true story of a U.S. Navy destroyer that inspired the writings of John Ford and Herman Wouk, drawing on the journals and other writings of five shipmates who witnessed the Anzio attacks and D-Day invasion.

In the summer of 1942, an extraordinary group of men united to form an exceptional unit. Known as the Maritime Unit, it comprised America's first swimmer-commandos-an elite breed of warrior-spies who were decades ahead of their time when they created the tactics, technology, and philosophy that live on in today's Navy SEALs. Often armed only with knives and wearing nothing more than swim trunks and flippers, the Maritime Unit's combat swimmers and...

Ben Macintyre’s Agent Zigzag was hailed as “rollicking, spellbinding” (New York Times), “wildly improbable but entirely true” (Entertainment Weekly), and, quite simply, “the best book ever written” (Boston Globe). In his new book, Operation Mincemeat, he tells an extraordinary story that will delight his legions of fans.
In 1943, from a windowless basement office in London,...

"War heroes come in many shapes and sizes. They can be tall or short, old or young. During World War II, one war hero was ... a bear! He was all alone, an orphan. Until he found his ... brothers in arms" -- Book jacket flap.

In the pre-dawn darkness of April 30, 1943, the body of a Royal Marine Major washed ashore on the south-western coast of Spain, part of an incredible plot to mislead the German High Command about the Allies' impending Mediterranean invasion. What made this ruse unique--and macabre--was that the "Major" was actually a deceased Welsh laborer, who drifted lifelessly ashore carrying false documents indicating that the Allies were set to launch an attack...