Showing titles in World War II

The Third Reich's Luftwaffe began World War II with significant advantages over other European air forces, playing a critical role in the German war machine's swift, powerful advance. By war's end, however, the Luftwaffe had been decimated by combat losses and crippled by poor decisions at the highest levels of military decision-making, and it proved unable to challenge Allied air superiority despite a last-minute upsurge in German aircraft production.

British Heroes of World War II: True Stories of Individual Bravery from the Battlefields of World War II tells the incredible true stories of men and women whose bravery left a lasting impact on the Allies' victory. From covert operations behind enemy lines to heroic acts in fierce battlefield confrontations, these stories showcase the unbreakable human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Born and raised in Mississippi, Peter K. Lutken, Jr. (1920–2014) joined the army in 1941 and was assigned to the Coast Artillery. Originally sent to India to guard airfields, he was reassigned to the British V Force, then the American OSS (Office of Strategic Services and precursor to the CIA) after he volunteered for reconnaissance missions behind Japanese lines. Skills he had learned as a boy in the backwoods and swamps around the Pearl River stood him in good stead, and by the end of the war, he attained the rank of major, commanding an entire battalion of ethnic Kachins and other local people of northern Burma (now called Myanmar).

This memoir offers an unrivaled firsthand account of World War II in the Pacific - what it looked like, sounded like, smelled like, and most of all, what it felt like to one who underwent all but the ultimate of its experiences.

One of the few RAF aircrew to play a central part in two of the Second World War's most momentous events, the Battle of Britain and D-Day, Cyril 'Frank' Babbage was a survivor. He wasn't just an immensely skilled pilot; he was also blessed with extraordinary good fortune.

Samurai! is the gripping autobiography of Saburō Sakai, one of Japan’s most renowned fighter pilots during World War II. Co-written with Fred Saito and Martin Caidin, the book chronicles Sakai’s rise from a poor rural upbringing to becoming an elite Zero pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Drawing upon sources in German, Russian, Italian, Hungarian, Romanian, and English, 1942: Hitler's Gamble describes the spring and summer campaigns in the Soviet Union and Africa which crowned the Axis forces with fresh laurels. Based upon 15 years of research in archives, museums, and libraries across Europe, this is a unique account of this critical year in World War II.

The true story of World War 2’s legendary Hell’s Angels—the 8th Air Force’s 303rd Bomb Group. Although the United States declared war against Germany in December 1941, a successful assault on Nazi-occupied Europe could not happen until Germany’s industrial and military might were...

Este libro recopila el testimonio de cientos de combatientes de los cuarenta y cinco mil que formaron parte de la División Azul entre 1941 y 1943. A través de las palabras de los divisionarios, el lector va a poder conocer desde la intimidad del soldado la historia de la más singular campaña militar española del siglo XX. Una de las particularidades de la División Azul fue el alto nivel educativo de sus integrantes.

A former CIA officer and curator of the CIA Museum unveils the shocking, untold story of Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway s secret life as a spy for both the Americans and the Soviets before and during World War II. While he was the curator of the CIA Museum, Nicholas Reynolds, a...

An extraordinary wartime memoir, combining the best kind of adventure story with a coming-of-age testimony of unforgettable resonance and poignancy.

September 2011, Halkidiki, Northern Greece: A solitary 86-year-old man gazes across an Aegean headland, knowing that he must finally confront his past. He begins to write...September 1939, Nieppe, Northern France:14 year-old Stephen is living with his family, 25 kilometres from Ypres. His French mother battles with her encroaching blindness.

From the plains of Kansas to the war rooms of London and the beaches of Normandy, The Man Who Led the Liberation of Europe traces Dwight D. Eisenhower’s extraordinary journey. He wasn’t a battlefield general in the traditional sense—but he wielded one of the most powerful weapons of the war: strategy. Balancing complex alliances, clashing egos, and an enemy entrenched across the continent, Eisenhower’s role as commander required more than just military brilliance—it demanded diplomacy, emotional intelligence, and nerves of steel.

The last weeks of World War II on the Western Front in Europe witnessed extraordinary scenes of heroism, horror, melodrama and pathos. In Plunder, Max Hastings presents a cast of fascinating people British, American and German, in a series of great events in which some distinguished themselves...

How did a Black child, growing up in segregationist Mississippi during the early 1900s, become the commander of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Corps during the brutal Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935? In this gripping, never-before-told tale, biographer Thomas E. Simmons brings to life Robinson’s outstanding success in becoming a pilot, his expertise in building and assembling his own working aircraft, his influence on the establishment of a school of aviation at Tuskegee Institute, and his wartime service.

Judith Hermann folgt den Spuren ihres Großvaters, der während des Zweiten Weltkriegs für die SS im polnischen Radom stationiert war. Sie verknüpft ihr Schreiben mit seiner lange verleugneten Geschichte, reist von Polen aus weiter zu ihrer Schwester nach Neapel und geht Erinnern und Vergessen der folgenden Generationen nach. In Zwischen- und Untertönen spürt Judith Hermann das Verdrängte, die Leerstellen unserer Gesellschaft auf. Ebenso magisch wie magnetisch erzählt sie davon, wie fragil wir uns in unseren Leben einrichten – und zeigt auch, welche Schönheit sich darin verbergen kann.

This is Michael Krupa’s story of how in 1939 he escaped the German invasion of Poland only to be captured by the Red Army, accused of espionage and interrogated in the notorious Lubianka prison. He was then sent to the infamous Pechora Gulag, where most inmates died of overwork and starvation within a year. Amazingly, Kupra then escaped and made the gruelling journey from Siberia to Afghanistan. This is a remarkable true story of survival and also gives a chilling insight into the brutality of Stalinist Russia.

From the beginning, it was clear that Ralph Nutter was an exceptional navigator. Rapid promotion followed when he was assigned as Maj. Gen. Curtis the Eagle LeMay's personal navigator. Later, he was picked by Maj. Gen. Haywood Possum Hansell, the 20th Air Force Commander, to be his personal navigator. The author's vivid recollections of those halcyon years make for exciting, informative listening.

Few disasters have touched Australia as profoundly as the sinking of the hospital ship Centaur – one of the deadliest wartime attacks ever on Australia – killing 268 souls on a mission of mercy. Ellen Savage, a fearless nurse from country New South Wales, was the only woman to survive. For more than 34 hours, she and other heroes fought off sharks and helped the injured until rescuers arrived. She was awarded the George Medal for her bravery.

Som ganske ung fik Birgitte Possing af sin mor overdraget en skotøjsæske med strenge pålæg om først at åbne den, når hun selv var blevet gammel. Æsken viste sig at indeholde et utal af breve, Birgitte Possings forældre havde skrevet til hinanden i deres ungdom under Anden Verdenskrig.

From James D. Hornfischer, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Stand of the Tin Can Soldiers, a riveting account of the life of WWII hero Commander Ernest E. Evans and his heroics and sacrifice during the Leyte Gulf Battle of Samar. For the first time ever, acclaimed naval historian...