Battle of Britain - The Pilots and Planes That Made History by Simon Pearson; Ed Gorman

$37.99 NZD

Category: Military History | Reading Level: near fine

In Battle of Britain: The Pilots and the Planes That Made History, Ed Gorman and Simon Pearson paint a vivid picture of the men and their machines as the battle for air superiority over Britain is played out across the skies of Europe, from western Ireland to the German capital. They tell remarkable sto ries involving hitherto unknown airmen from across the world who flew aircraft, including some that will be new to many readers: the New Zealander who "borrowed" a seaplane from the Royal Navy to set up a freelance air-sea rescue service that saved the lives of dozens of British and German pilots; the Swiss baron who destroyed nine British fighters in a day; the vainglorious Dane whose RAF squadron was wiped out trying to disrupt Nazi invasion plans; and the German bomber pilot who fought the last battle involving foreign troops on British soil since Culloden - before repairing to a pub in Kent for a pint with soldiers from the Irish Rifle, who had taken him prisoner. Illustrated with contemporary photographs of the pilots and their aircraft, these are enthralling stories from both sides of a conflict that shaped the modern world, full of courage, endeavour and above all, humanity. ...Show more

Seek and Destroy by Harrison Paul

$39.99 NZD

$90.00 (55% off)

Category: Military

In 2015 No.3 Squadron Royal New Zealand Air Force celebrated 50 years of continuous helicopter operations since it reformed in August 1965. Seek and Destroy is the official history of the machines and personnel that make up the colourful and wide-ranging operations of this unique squadron, which was fir st formed in 1930 and whose aircraft and personnel have seen service all around the world from the UK to Asia, the Pacific and the Antarctic. Comprising 388 pages, including 265 black & white photos and maps, and 94 colour plates, this illustrated hardback brings together anecdotal stories of the operations and exercises conducted during the past 50 years, including numerous civil defence and peacekeeping activities ...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

Rendezvous with Death by John Ramsland

$29.99 NZD

Category: Military History

Some AIF men had a rendezvous with death in the 'silence in the summer night', but many were to survive only to face 'the thudding of the guns', again and again until 11 November 1918 at 11am. Their stories were about ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. They endured physical and psycholo gical horrors. This volume by historian John Ramsland is packed with unusual stories of a deeply personal nature: gripping, frequently harrowing and sometimes chilling. They are bought vividly to life from when the first shot was fired until the last bullet and, then, beyond to the aftermath. Such studies are first-hand, meticulously researched and comprehensively analysed. From the life stories of historical figures, known or unknown, celebrated or forgotten, the author elegantly crafts an anthology of epic heroism in WWI. In it, he chronicles the harsh reality of it all; he creates a strong picture of living conditions for frontline soldiers in the South Pacific, Gallipoli, the Western Front and Palestine. ...Show more

We Will Not Cease by Archibald Baxter

$30.00 NZD

Category: Military History

To oppose the military machine means to accept the possibility that one may be destroyed by it. - Archibald BaxterWe Will Not Cease is the unflinching account of New Zealander Archibald Baxter's brutal treatment as a conscientious objector during World War I.In 1915, when Baxter was 33, he was arrested, sent to prison, then shipped under guard to Europe where he was forced to the front line against his will. Punished to the limits of his physical and mental endurance, Baxter was stripped of all dignity, beaten, starved and left for dead by the New Zealand military. In the final attempt to discredit him authorities consigned him to a mental institution, an experience that would haunt him for the rest of his life.Long regarded as a classic, We Will Not Cease is as relevant now as when it was first published in 1939. This revised edition has a new foreword by Kevin Clements (foundation director of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies), a brand new cover, and a full index. ...Show more

Pilgrim Days - A Lifetime of Soldiering from Vietnam to the SAS by Alastair MacKenzie

$26.99 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

The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War by Scott Anderson

$39.99 NZD

Category: Military History

At the end of World War II, the United States dominated the world militarily, economically, and in moral standing - seen as the victor over tyranny and a champion of freedom. But it was clear - to some - that the Soviet Union was already executing a plan to expand and foment revolution around the world. The American government's strategy in response relied on the secret efforts of a newly-formed CIA. The Quiet Americans chronicles the exploits of four spies - Michael Burke, a charming former football star fallen on hard times, Frank Wisner, the scion of a wealthy Southern family, Peter Sichel, a sophisticated German Jew who escaped the Nazis, and Edward Lansdale, a brilliant ad executive. The four ran covert operations across the globe, trying to outwit the ruthless KGB in Berlin, parachuting commandos into Eastern Europe, plotting coups, and directing wars against Communist insurgents in Asia. But time and again their efforts went awry, thwarted by a combination of stupidity and ideological rigidity at the highest levels of the government - and more profoundly, the decision to abandon American ideals. By the mid-1950s, the Soviet Union had a stranglehold on Eastern Europe, the U.S. had begun its disastrous intervention in Vietnam, and America, the beacon of democracy, was overthrowing democratically-elected governments and earning the hatred of much of the world. All of this culminated in an act of betrayal and cowardice that would lock the Cold War into place for decades to come. Anderson brings to the telling of this story all the narrative brio, deep research, skeptical eye, and lively prose that made Lawrence in Arabia a major international bestseller. The intertwined lives of these men began in a common purpose of defending freedom, but the ravages of the Cold War led them to different fates. Two would quit the CIA in despair, stricken by the moral compromises they had to make; one became the archetype of the duplicitous and destructive American spy; and one would be so heartbroken he would take his own life. The Quiet Americans is the story of these four men. It is also the story of how the United States, at the very pinnacle of its power, managed to permanently damage its moral standing in the world. ...Show more

Three Days at the Brink: FDR's Daring Gamble to Win World War II by Bret Baier; Catherine Whitney

$39.99 NZD

Category: Military History | Series: Three Days Ser.

From the #1 bestselling author of Three Days in Moscow and anchor of Fox News Channel's Special Report with Bret Baier comes a gripping history of the secret meeting that set the stage for victory in World War II.

The Ratline: Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive by Philippe Sands

$27.99 NZD

Category: Military

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Hypnotic, shocking and unputdownable' JOHN LE CARRÉ 'Remarkable' THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Breathtaking, gripping, shattering' ELIF SHAFAK 'A taut and finely crafted factual thriller' OBSERVER 'A triumph of research and brilliant storytelling' ANTONY BEEVOR 'Extraordinary' EVENING STANDARD In this riveting real-life thriller, Philippe Sands offers a unique account of the daily life of senior Nazi SS Brigadeführer Otto Freiherr von Wächter and his wife, Charlotte. Drawing on a remarkable archive of family letters and diaries, he unveils a fascinating insight into life before and during the war, as a fugitive on the run in the Alps and then in Rome, and into the Cold War. Eventually the door is unlocked to a mystery that haunts Wächter's youngest son, who continues to believe his father was a good man - what happened to Otto Wächter while he was preparing to travel to Argentina on the 'ratline', assisted by a Vatican bishop, and what was the explanation for his sudden and unexpected death? ...Show more

The Music Maker of Auschwitz IV by Jaci Byrne

$35.00 NZD

Category: Military History

The inspirational true story of an Allied POW appointed Kapellmeister to the Nazis in Auschwitz. When called up to fight in yet another World War, Drum Major Jackson promised his beloved wife Mabel that he would return to lead his band and play for her once more.  In May 1940, he was captured at Dunkir k and interned in several German forced labour camps throughout Poland. Two years later he was transferred to Auschwitz IV, part of the notorious concentration camp complex where it is not widely known held Allied POWs.  When his captors appointed Jackson their 'Kapellmeister' (man in charge of music), he seized the opportunity to provide entertainment for his fellow prisoners at rehearsals, and cover for escapees during concerts.  Finally liberated in May 1945, malnourished and gravely ill, Jackson carried his secret war diary--an incredible exposé on five years of life and death in Nazi concentration camps.  THE MUSIC MAKER OF AUSCHWITZ IV, based on Jackson's diary, is written by his granddaughter. It is a thrilling testament to the resilience one man found in the darkest of times through his two greatest loves--music and the woman who waited for him.  ...Show more

Easy Day Was Yesterday: Life, The SAS and 24 Days in Jail by Paul Jordan

$35.00 NZD

Category: Military History

My SAS selection course instructor, was as hard as nails. At the start of each day’s training, he would say, ‘Men, the easy day was yesterday.’ With that, we’d all let out a silent sigh contemplating the tortures that lay ahead of us. From his cage in a putrid, ov ercrowded Indian gaol, Paul Jordan reflects on a life lived on the edge and curses the miscalculation that robbed him of his freedom. His childhood, marred by the loss of his father and brother, produce a young man hell bent on being the best of the best - an ambition he achieves by being selected to join the elite SAS. He survives the gut-wrenching training regime, deployment to the jungles of Asia and the horrors of genocide in Rwanda before leaving the army to embark on a career as a security adviser. His new life sees him pursuing criminals and gun-toting bandits in Papua New Guinea and the Solomons, protecting CNN newsmen as the US 7th Cavalry storms into Baghdad with the outbreak of the Iraq War, and facing death on a massive scale as he accompanies reporters into the devastated Indonesian town of Banda Aceh, flattened by the Boxing Day tsunami. During his 24 days in an Indian gaol, Paul Jordan discovers that friendship and human dignity somehow survive the filth and deprivation. This is a personal account of a tough, hardened fighter who suddenly finds himself totally dependent on others for his every need. The Easy Day was Yesterday is fast paced, brutally honest and raw, but laced with dark humour. The core of Paul Jordan’s eventful life, however, is the strength of his bonds with family and friends and the ability of the human spirit to survive even the direst adversity. ...Show more

Race of Aces - WWII's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Master of the Sky by John R. Bruning

$29.99 NZD

Category: Military History

The astonishing untold story of the WWII airmen who risked it all in the deadly race to become the greatest American fighter pilot.In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" -- the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker -- offered a bottle of bourbon to the first U.S. fighter pilot to break his record of twenty-six enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command.What developed was a wild three-year sprint for fame and glory, and the chance to be called America's greatest fighter pilot. The story has never been told until now.Based on new research and full of revelations, John Bruning's brilliant, original book tells the story of how five American pilots contended for personal glory in the Pacific while leading Kenney's resurgent air force against the most formidable enemy America ever faced.The pilots -- Richard Bong, Tommy McGuire, Neel Kearby, Charles MacDonald and Gerald Johnson -- riveted the nation as they contended for Rickenbacker's crown. As their scores mounted, they transformed themselves from farm boys and aspiring dentists into artists of the modern dogfight.But as the race reached its climax, some of the pilots began to see how the spotlight warped their sense of duty. They emerged as leaders, beloved by their men as they chose selfless devotion over national accolades.Teeming with action all across the vast Pacific theater, Race of Aces is a fascinating exploration of the boundary between honorable duty, personal glory, and the complex landscape of the human heart."Brings you into the cockpit of the lethal, fast-paced world of fighter pilots . . . Fascinating." -- Sara Vladic"Extraordinary . . . a must-read." -- US Navy Captain Dan Pedersen"A heart-pounding narrative of the courage, sacrifice, and tragedy of America's elite fighter pilots." -- James M. Scott"Vivid and gripping . . . Confirms Bruning's status as the premier war historian of the air." -- Saul David ...Show more