Secret SAS Missions in East Africa by Michael Graham

$34.99 NZD

Category: Military | Reading Level: near fine

This fascinating book is the first to cover the little known C Squadron of the Special Air Service. Operating in East Africa, the Squadron was involved in almost continuous counter communist terrorist operations over the period 1968 to 1980. In the unstable final stages of British colonial and white rul e, the Squadron was never short of action. African nationalist movements, backed by Russia's and China's direct and indirect support posed a constant and deadly threat to the existing regimes. Small highly trained detachments of the SAS with highly developed bush warfare skills proved devastatingly effective and achieved results out of all proportion to their size. Often their enemies believed that they were facing rival factions and turned on each other. The inevitable involvement of African wildlife adds an extra dimension of excitement Written by a seasoned former senior member of C Squadron, Secret SAS Missions in East Africa paints a graphic and thrilling account of their covert operations and the colorful characters that undertook them. ...Show more

Chastise: The Dambusters 1943 by Max Hastings

$39.99 NZD

Category: Military History

A brand new history of the Dambusters raid from best-selling and critically acclaimed military historian, Max Hastings. Operation Chastise, the destruction of the Mohne and Eder dams in north-west Germany by the RAF's 617 Squadron on the night of 16/17 May 1943, was an epic that has passed into Britain' s national legend. Max Hastings grew up embracing the story, the classic 1955 movie and the memory of Guy Gibson, the 24-year-old wing-commander who led the raid. In the 21st Century, however, he urges that we should see the dambusters in much more complex shades. The aircrew's heroism was entirely real, as was the brilliance of Barnes Wallis, inventor of the 'bouncing bombs'. But commanders who promised their young fliers that success could shorten the war fantasised as ruthlessly as they did about the entire bomber offensive. Some 1,400 civilians perished in the biblical floods that swept through the Mohne valley, more than half of them Russian and Polish women, slave labourers. Hastings vividly describes the evolution of Wallis' bomb, and of the squadron which broke the dams. But he also portrays in harrowing detail those swept away by the torrents. He argues that what modern Germans call the Mohnekatastrophe imposed on the Nazi war machine temporary disruption, rather than a crippling blow. Ironically, Air Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris gained much of the public credit, though he bitterly opposed Chastise as a distraction from his city-burning blitz. Harris also made perhaps the operation's biggest mistake - failure to launch a conventional attack on the huge post-raid repair operation which could have transformed the impact of the dam breaches on Ruhr industry. Here once again is a dramatic retake on familiar history by a master of the art. Hastings sets the Dams Raid in the big picture of the bomber offensive and of the Second World War, with moving portraits of the young airmen, so many of whom died; of Barnes Wallis; the monstrous Harris; the tragic Guy Gibson, together with superb narrative of the action of one of the most extraordinary episodes in British history. ...Show more

Whitiki! Whiti! Whiti! E!: Maori in the First World War by Monty Soutar

$69.99 NZD

Category: Māori Military History

This major publication about Maori participation in the First World War is written by NZ's leading Maori military historian Dr Monty Soutar, author of the award-winning Nga Tama Toa C Company, Maori Battalion. A fascinating look at the Pioneer Battalion (the Battalion created for Maori to serve) that wi ll shed light on the reasons why some men signed on to serve, and others staunchly resisted the call to join the imperial conflict. As with Dr Soutar's first book, it combines the story of the war and the role of Maori in it, with the words and thoughts of the men themselves, as well as those back home. Over 300 images, many from family collections and not published before. ...Show more

The Martini-Henry Rifle by Stephen Manning; Peter Dennis

$34.99 NZD

Category: Military History | Series: Weapon Ser.

The breech-loading, single-shot .458in Martini-Henry rifle has become a symbol of both the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and the numerous battles in Egypt and the Sudan in 1884-85, but continued to be used by both British and colonial troops well into the 20th century. Its invention and introduction into Briti sh service were in direct response to the success of the Prussian Dreyse needle gun, which demonstrated that the breech-loading rifle offered faster loading, improved accuracy and superior range; significantly, the weapon could be loaded and fired from a prone position, thus offering the rifleman greater security on the battlefield. Due to the longevity of service, many Martini-Henry rifles survive today, both in museums and in private collections, and the weapon is highly prized by shooting enthusiasts. Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork and an array of arresting first-hand accounts and written by an authority on warfare in the Victorian era, this engaging study tells the story of the powerful Martini-Henry and its impact on the battlefield, from the Anglo-Zulu War to the opening months of World War I. ...Show more

SAS in Action in Africa

$36.99 NZD

Category: Military History

The History of the SAS by Chris Ryan

$34.99 NZD

Category: Military History

In A Soldier's History of the SAS, bestselling author and SAS veteran Chris Ryan uses his matchless network of contacts to give the soldiers' accounts of missions in Malaya and Borneo, the Iranian Embassy Siege, Operation Certain Death in Sierra Leone, in the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan. There are a lso some first-hand accounts of hitherto unknown operations. ...Show more

The Lost Boys: The untold stories of the under-age soldiers who fought in the First World War (HB) by Paul Byrnes

$45.00 NZD

Category: Military History

They were just boys. And they were to face the horrors of a war more diabolical than any of them could have imagined. This is their story. Hundreds of Australian and New Zealander boys enlisted in the First World War, some as young as 13. No one knows how many went to war, but at least 150 Australians d id not come back. Their names are on the Roll of Honour, the record of war dead at the War Memorial in Canberra. Most died on the Western Front, in France and Belgium. They took part in every major battle in which the ANZACs fought - from Fromelles in July 1916, to the liberation of Villers-Bretonneux in 1918. Many died in the first wave at Gallipoli or at Lone Pine in August 1915. Why did they go and who allowed this to happen? We can only understand how if we look through their eyes and walk in their shoes. In The Lost Boys, their stories will be told for the first time. ...Show more

The Ultimate Art of War - A Step-by-Step Illustrated Guide to Sun Tzu's Teachings by Antony Cummins

$48.00 NZD

Category: Military History

This is the most accessible edition ofArt of War ever produced, with the text broken down into digestible individual lessons, unique teaching illustrations to clarify the text, and step-by-step commentary that draws on the full range of recent translations and ancient commentators.   Composed in the 5th century BC, Sun Tzu's Art of War is the earliest-known treatise on military strategy, and is still hugely popular around the world for its perceptive tactical advice to commanders on how to win at war with minimal bloodshed.   Aimed at all those who want to study the text in depth, this is the first step-by-step guide to the famous treatise, breaking down the 13 chapters of the original into 200 easily digested lessons, from 'do not press a desperate enemy' to 'control your troops through bond of loyalty' to 'when you are weak, beware attack', all accompanied by comprehensive commentary and clarified with around 250 illustrations. Making the lessons even more memorable and easy to understand, the black/red illustrations include strategic diagrams, evocative line drawings and beautiful calligraphy.   This ultimate guide to Art of War includes the classic 1910 translation by Lionel Giles and commentary that takes into account all academic interpretations of the text, highlighting differences between modern translations as well as the perspectives of historical Chinese commentators. No other edition compares and contrasts the viewpoints of different contemporary translators, or explains exactly what each section of this often enigmatic text actually means. ...Show more

SAS Italian Job: The Secret Mission to Storm a Forbidden Nazi Fortress by Damien Lewis

$24.99 NZD

Category: Military

Praise for Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author Damien Lewis' SAS mission series: 'One of the great untold stories of WWII' - Bear Grylls on SAS Ghost Patrol 'The untold story' - Daily Mail on SAS Nazi Hunters 'A tale of bravery against desperate odds' - Sunday Times on Churchill's Secret Warriors ' True adventures laced with staggering bravery and sacrifice' - Sun on Hunting the Nazi Bomb An impossible mission in wartime Italy: the next explosive bestseller from Damien Lewis. In the hard-fought winter of 1944 the Allies advanced northwards through Italy, but stalled on the fearsome mountainous defences of the Gothic Line. Two men were parachuted in, in an effort to break the deadlock. Their mission: to penetrate deep into enemy territory and lay waste to the Germans' impregnable headquarters. At the eleventh hour mission commanders radioed for David 'The Mad Piper' Kilpatrick to be flown in, resplendent in his tartan kilt. They wanted this fearless war hero to lead the assault, piping Highland Laddie as he went - so leaving an indelible British signature to deter Nazi reprisals. As the column of raiders formed up, there was shocking news. High command radioed through an order to stand down, having assessed the chances of success at little more than zero. But in defiance of orders, and come hell or high-water, they were going in. ...Show more

Pilgrim Days - From Vietnam to the SAS by Alastair MacKenzie

$42.99 NZD

Category: Military

'We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go, Always a little further; it may be, Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow.' If there was ever anyone who went a little further, a little beyond, it was Alastair MacKenzie. In a career spanning 30 years, MacKenzie served uniquely with the New Zealand A rmy in Vietnam, the British Parachute Regiment, the British Special Air Service (SAS), the South African Defense Force's famed ParaBats, the Sultan of Oman's Special Forces, and a host of private security agencies and defense contractors.MacKenzie lived the soldier's life to the full as he journeyed "the Golden Road to Samarkand." This extraordinary new work from the author of Special Force: The Untold Story of 22nd Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) vividly documents, in a detail that stuns, the experience of infantry combat in Vietnam, life with the Paras, the tempo of selection for UK Special Forces, covert SAS operations in South Armagh and SAS Counter Terrorist training on the UK mainland, vehicle-mounted Pathfinder Brigade insertions into Angola, and maritime counter-terrorism work in Oman. ...Show more

Brothers in Arms - Real War. True Friends. Unlikely Heroes by Geraint Jones

$37.99 NZD

Category: Military | Series: .

Darkly funny, shockingly honest, Brothers in Arms is an unforgettable account of the brutal reality of war - every boring, scary, exciting moment - and the bonds of friendship that can never be destroyed.'If you could choose which two limbs got blown off, what would you go for?' Danny said. 'Your arms o r your legs?'In July 2009 Geraint (Gez) Jones was sitting in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan with the rest of The Firm - Danny, Jay, Toby and Jake, his four closest friends, all junior NCOs and combat-hardened infantrymen. Thanks to the mangled remains of a Jackal vehicle left tactlessly outside their tent, IEDs were never far from their mind. Within days they'd be on the ground in Musa Qala with the rest of 3 Platoon - a mixed bunch of men Gez would die for. As they fight furiously, are pushed to their limits, hemmed in by IEDs and hampered by the chain of command, Gez starts to wonder what is the point of it all. The bombs they uncover on patrol, on their stomachs brushing the sand away, are replaced the next day. Firefights are a momentary victory in a war they can see is unwinnable. Gez is a warrior - he wants more than this. But then death and injury start to take their toll on The Firm, leaving Gez with PTSD and a new battle just beginning. ...Show more

D-Day Remembered: From the Invasion to the Liberation of Paris by Richard Holmes; Imperial War Museum

$65.00 NZD

Category: Military

D-Day was the largest amphibious invasion in history, and this graphic account explores all the details of its planning and execution, as well as the campaign that effectively destroyed the German forces in France. Enhancing the superb information on key personnel, weapons, and military units are a DVD with veterans' firsthand accounts and more than 40 facsimile documents, including a German radio signal log timed at 4:15am on D-Day, propaganda leaflets, log book extracts, diary extracts, military orders, maps, and much more.Published in association with the Imperial War Museum, London, one of the world's leading museums devoted to military history, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of D-Day. ...Show more