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The Ballroom Blitz
by Anton Du BekeThe stunning new Buckingham novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Anton Du Beke, featuring an audio exclusive introduction from the author.September 1940. As the skies split apart and bombs rain down on London, it's all the staff at the famed Buckingham Hotel can do to keep their guests in the luxury they're accustomed to, and evoke the magic of the Grand ballroom for them each night. Home on leave and still reeling from the tragic events at Dunkirk, the dashing Raymond de Guise struggles to define his role in this new world, and to do his duty both to his country, and his beloved wife Nancy- who needs him now more than ever. With profiteers skulking the London streets, and devious rivals plotting the Buckingham's downfall, the hotel staff must all hold onto what matters most- and decide where their loyalties truly lie. As the bombing intensifies and Christmas fast approaches, somehow the show must go on...
Baltic Countdown: A Nation Vanishes
by Peggie BentonA firsthand account of Latvia during World War II: &“A British diplomat&’s wife&’s beautifully observed eye-witness account of the Soviet occupation.&” —Condé Nast Traveler With her husband in the British Foreign Service, Peggie Benton had already lived through the Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938 and had settled comfortably into the day-to-day life of Riga, the capital of Latvia. But the country&’s uneasy history with Russia and tensions brewing with Germany just prior to the outbreak of World War II meant their peace was not to last. In this compelling memoir, Benton captures both the small details of life in the city—the markets, the winter customs, the Baltic character—and the terrifying moments during the evacuation of Baltic Germans and the Soviet invasion that left the couple homeless and with an uncertain fate. Their world comes crashing down during the chaos of war, and the Bentons are forced to flee more than twenty-two thousand miles eastward across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway to Japan, then through Canada to England, crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.Baltic Countdown is a tribute to the people of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia—their resilience through the trials of history and their never-ending hope of independence. &“An engaging account in its own right . . . A bittersweet memoir of a city on the edge of disaster. Her compelling depiction of Riga and its inhabitants conjures up a world that is almost unknown in the West.&” —Studies in Intelligence, CIA journal
Baltic Mission: Number 7 in series (Nathaniel Drinkwater #7)
by Richard WoodmanCaptain Nathaniel Drinkwater's frigate, HMS Antigone, is ordered to the Baltic Sea in the spring of 1807 as Napoleon's grip has begun to reach across Europe to the borders of Holy Russia. As country after country falls under the weight of French domination, Captain Drinkwater is faced with the challenges brought about by military disaster and diplomatic intrigue. On board the Antigone, Drinkwater is threatened by the seething discontent of his crew and the instability of his drunken first lieutenant. Drinkwater's task is to cooperate with his country's allies and intelligence agents. When a coded message is intercepted, his mission suddenly becomes one of extreme personal danger. As the fate of Europe is being decided, Drinkwater must carry out his mission in the face of his old enemy. This final confrontation brings him to the brink of death.
The Baltic Question during the Cold War (Cold War History)
by John Hiden Vahur Made David J. SmithThis edited volume presents a comprehensive analysis of the ‘Baltic question’, which arose within the context of the Cold War, and which has previously received little attention. This volume brings together a group of international specialists on the international history of northern Europe. It combines country-based chapters with more thematic approaches, highlighting above all the political dimension of the Baltic question, locating it firmly in the context of international politics. It explores the policy decision-making mechanisms which sustained the Western non-recognition of Soviet sovereignty over the Baltic States after 1940 and which eventually led to the legal restoration of the three countries’ statehood in 1991. The wider international ramifications of this doctrine of legal continuity are also examined, within the context both of the Cold War and of relations between post-soviet Russia and the enlarging ‘Euro-Atlantic area’. The book ends with an examination of how this Cold War legacy continues to shape relations between Russia and the West.
The Baltimore Sabotage Cell
by Dwight R. MessimerBy the summer of 1915, Germany was faced with two related, but somewhat dissimilar problems; how to break the British blockade and how to stop or seriously disrupt the British supply line across the Atlantic. The solution to breaking the blockade was to find a way over it, through it, or under it. Aircraft in those days were too primitive, underpowered, and short range to accomplish the first and Germany lacked the naval strength to force a passage through the blockade. But if a fleet of cargo U-boats could be built that were large enough to carry meaningful loads and had the range to make a round trip between Germany and the United States without having to refuel, the blockade might be successfully broken. Responsibility for implementing this solution rested with a section of German Navy Intelligence known as the Etappendienst. The Germans also lacked the naval strength to effect the solution to the other problem; cutting Britain's supply line to America. The German Navy could not defeat the Royal Navy in a slug-fest and there were not enough U-boats to effectively block Britain's cross-Atlantic sea trade. The answer lay in sabotage--blowing up the munitions factories, the depots, and the ships, and infecting the remounts--horses and mules--with Anthrax and Glanders at the western end of the supply line. Responsibility for carrying out sabotage of all types in the United States rested with a newly established subsection of the German Army Intelligence called the Sektion Politik that sent trained saboteurs to the United States beginning in 1915. German agents, together with American sympathizers, carried out more than fifty successful attacks involving fire and explosion before America's entry into the war on 6 April 1917, in addition to spreading Anthrax and Glanders on the East Coast. Of the two solutions to those problems, sabotage was incompatible with Germany's primary diplomatic goal to keep the United States out of the war, while the other, breaking the blockade with a fleet of cargo U-boats, provided the least danger of bringing the United States into the war. The two solutions were widely dissimilar, but the fact that the cargo U-boat project and the sabotage campaign were run by intelligence agencies--the Etappendienst (Navy) and the Geheimdienst (Army), through the agency of one man--Paul Hilken, in one US city--Baltimore, make them inseparable. Those separate solutions created the dichotomy that produced the U-Boat Deutschland and the Baltimore Sabotage Cell.
Bamboo Battleground (Criminal Investigation Detachment #3)
by Don BendellThe Criminal Investigation Detachment returns-to stop a traitor.<P><P> Al-Qaeda has moved its training facilities from the Middle East to the Far East-and is testing American forces for weakness all along the Pacific Rim. But when undercover operatives Major Bobby Samuels and Capt. Bo Devore are sent to investigate, they uncover a secret that leads right back to the halls of power in Washington, D.C.
Bamboo Terror
by William RossEx-U.S. Army intelligence officer, Michael Hazzard, and the only foreign private detective in Japan, is offered $10,000 to deliver a cheap $5.00 string of Buddhist prayer beads to someone in Saigon, who will be identified by the phrase, "There is terror in the bamboo only for the wicked." When he finally agrees, he finds himself the target in a bizarre plot of Oriental intrigue when he is taken hostage and brought to a guerrilla camp in the jungles of North Viet Nam.
Bamboo Terror
by William RossEx-U.S. Army intelligence officer, Michael Hazzard, and the only foreign private detective in Japan, is offered $10,000 to deliver a cheap $5.00 string of Buddhist prayer beads to someone in Saigon, who will be identified by the phrase, "There is terror in the bamboo only for the wicked." When he finally agrees, he finds himself the target in a bizarre plot of Oriental intrigue when he is taken hostage and brought to a guerrilla camp in the jungles of North Viet Nam.
Bamie: Theodore Roosevelt's Remarkable Sister
by Lilian RixeyTheodore Roosevelt’s daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth once remarked that if her “Auntie Bye” had been a man, she would have been the president.Anna Roosevelt Cowles was Theodore Roosevelt’s older sister by almost four years. She was nicknamed Bamie as a child. Her siblings, nieces, and nephews later called her “Auntie Bye” because she was always on the go.After overcoming a childhood disability, Bamie grew into a tower of strength for her immediate family and supported them throughout her life, especially after her father passed away. She also assisted her extended family at every opportunity.Throughout his life, Bamie was Theodore’s close confidante and political advisor, as well as a guiding force to other family members and friends. She was the only family member to encourage Theodore to enter politics. She planned her brother's political campaigns with Cabot Lodge and other Washington luminaries.She used her charm, perceptive judgment, and extensive contacts on both sides of the Atlantic to promote TR and his policies while and after she served as an unofficial ambassador to England.In Washington, Anna hosted regular luncheons and parties to help Theodore meet people and discuss issues with them. In fact, while he was president, Theodore was so often at his sister’s DC home that it was referred to as “the other White House”. He wrote her weekly letters, explaining he needed her help in clarifying his thoughts.Anna was a history-maker in her own right, helping to establish the US Army’s corps of nurses.Author Lillian Rixey was the grand-niece of TR’s White House physician and a journalist who was given access to unpublished material including a memoir that Bamie wrote for her son.This sparkling biography overflows with personal writings from the close-knit Roosevelt family and quotes from journalists and significant historical figures.
The Banality of Indifference: Zionism and the Armenian Genocide
by Yair AuronThe genocide of Armenians by Turks during the First World War was one of the most horrendous deeds of modern times and a precursor of the genocidal acts that have marked the rest of the twentieth century. Despite the worldwide attention the atrocities received at the time, the massacre has not remained a part of the world's historical consciousness. The parallels between the Jewish and Armenian situations and the reactions of the Jewish community in Palestine (the Yishuv) to the Armenian genocide, which was muted and largely self-interested, are explored by Yair Auron. In attempting to assess and interpret these disparate reactions, Auron maintains a fairminded balance in assessing claims of altruism and self-interest, expressed in universal, not merely Jewish, terms.While not denying the uniqueness of the Holocaust, Auron carefully distinguishes it from the Armenian genocide reviewing existing theories and relating Armenian and Jewish experience to ongoing issues of politics and identity. As a groundbreaking work of comparative history, this volume will be read by Armenian area specialists, historians of Zionism and Israel, and students of genocide. Yair Auron is senior lecturer at The Open University of Israel and the Kibbutzim College of Education. He is the author, in Hebrew, of Jewish-Israeli Identity, Sensitivity to World Suffering: Genocide in the Twentieth Century, We Are All German Jews, and Jewish Radicals in France during the Sixties and Seventies (published in French as well)
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (American History Ser.)
by Stephen E. Ambrose<p>They fought on Utah Beach, in Arnhem, Bastogne, the Bulge; they spearheaded the Rhine offensive and took possession of Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden. Easy Company, 506th Airborne Division, U.S. Army, was as good a rifle company as any in the world. From their rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to D-Day and victory, Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company, which kept getting the tough assignments. <p>Easy Company was responsible for everything from parachuting into France early D-Day morning to the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. <i>Band of Brothers</i> is the account of the men of this remarkable unit who fought, went hungry, froze, and died, a company that took 150 percent casualties and considered the Purple Heart a badge of office. Drawing on hours of interviews with survivors as well as the soldiers' journals and letters, Stephen Ambrose tells the stories, often in the men's own words, of these American heroes.</p>
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (American History Ser.)
by Stephen E. AmbroseStephen E. Ambrose&’s classic New York Times bestseller and inspiration for the acclaimed HBO series about Easy Company, the ordinary men who became the World War II&’s most extraordinary soldiers at the frontlines of the war's most critical moments. Featuring a foreword from Tom Hanks.They came together, citizen soldiers, in the summer of 1942, drawn to Airborne by the $50 monthly bonus and a desire to be better than the other guy. And at its peak—in Holland and the Ardennes—Easy Company was as good a rifle company as any in the world.From the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the disbanding in 1945, Stephen E. Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. In combat, the reward for a job well done is the next tough assignment, and as they advanced through Europe, the men of Easy kept getting the tough assignments.They parachuted into France early D-Day morning and knocked out a battery of four 105 mm cannon looking down Utah Beach; they parachuted into Holland during the Arnhem campaign; they were the Battered Bastards of the Bastion of Bastogne, brought in to hold the line, although surrounded, in the Battle of the Bulge; and then they spearheaded the counteroffensive. Finally, they captured Hitler's Bavarian outpost, his Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden.They were rough-and-ready guys, battered by the Depression, mistrustful and suspicious. They drank too much French wine, looted too many German cameras and watches, and fought too often with other GIs. But in training and combat they learned selflessness and found the closest brotherhood they ever knew. They discovered that in war, men who loved life would give their lives for them. This is the story of the men who fought, of the martinet they hated who trained them well, and of the captain they loved who led them. E Company was a company of men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other, a company that took 150 percent casualties, a company where the Purple Heart was not a medal—it was a badge of office.
Band of Brothers
by Alexander FullertonDanger and bravery at sea from thriller-master Alexander Fullerton. It is early autumn 1943 and a German U-boat supply ship is sailing under heavy escort from Le Havre to the Atlantic. A mixed force of torpedo boats from Allied Coastal Forces is ordered to intercept and sink her. Navigator Ben Quarry has other worries. His girlfriend, Rosie, is set on returning to occupied France as an SOE agent, and his former mistress, now the wife of his CO, Bob Stack, has embarked on an affair with another officer. Ben&’s got to tell him. But in the heat of battle, survival is everything… A standalone naval thriller from a writer who was there, Band of Brothers will keep you gripped, and is perfect for fans of Max Hennessy and Alan Evans.
Band Of Brothers: The 2d Marine Division And The Tiger Brigade In The Persian Gulf War
by Major Craig A. TuckerThis monograph is an analysis of the impact of organizational culture on tactical joint warfare. The merger of the Tiger Brigade with 2d Marine Division during the Persian Gulf War serves as a laboratory for this analysis. The author researched after action reports, the papers of authors who have written on the Persian Gulf War and interviewed commanders and key staff of both units to determine whether differences in service culture reduced the combat effectiveness of either unit. This research is analyzed using a recently developed organizational theory that postulates that the human element is the most important and least understood factor in determining whether a merger between two organizations with different cultures will succeed or fail.This study concludes that the merger of the Tiger Brigade and 2d Marine Division was very successful. The key elements to that success were the relationship between the commanders, the effectiveness of liaison officers, the willingness of both units to learn from and understand the culture of the other and the amount of time available before actual combat to reduce cultural barriers.
Band of Brothers or Dysfunctional Family? A Military Perspective on Coalition Challenges during Stability Operations
by Russell W. GlennDuring stability operations, coalitions must incorporate participation by government agencies other than the military, the indigenous government, and its population more than is expected during conventional combat operations. This book investigates challenges confronting coalitions today and considers potential solutions that include questioning the conception of what constitutes a coalition in today's world.
Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq
by Kirsten HolmstedtIn Iraq, the front lines are everywhere . . . and everywhere in Iraq, no matter what their job descriptions say, women in the U. S. military are fighting - over 155,000 of them. A critical and commercial success in hardcover, Band of Sisters presents a dozen groundbreaking and often heart-wrenching stories of American women in combat in Iraq, such as the US's first female pilot to be shot down and survive, the military's first black female pilot in combat, a young turret gunner defending convoys, and a nurse struggling to save lives, including her own.
Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq
by Kirsten HolmstedtNow available in paperback. Winner of the 2007 American Authors Association Golden Quill Award. Winner of the 2007 Military Writers Society of America Founder's Award.
Band of Sisters: A Novel
by Lauren Willig"A crackling portrayal of everyday American heroines…A triumph." — Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue A group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel based on a true story—a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The Alice Network—from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig.A scholarship girl from Brooklyn, Kate Moran thought she found a place among Smith’s Mayflower descendants, only to have her illusions dashed the summer after graduation. When charismatic alumna Betsy Rutherford delivers a rousing speech at the Smith College Club in April of 1917, looking for volunteers to help French civilians decimated by the German war machine, Kate is too busy earning her living to even think of taking up the call. But when her former best friend Emmeline Van Alden reaches out and begs her to take the place of a girl who had to drop out, Kate reluctantly agrees to join the new Smith College Relief Unit.Four months later, Kate and seventeen other Smithies, including two trailblazing female doctors, set sail for France. The volunteers are armed with money, supplies, and good intentions—all of which immediately go astray. The chateau that was to be their headquarters is a half-burnt ruin. The villagers they meet are in desperate straits: women and children huddling in damp cellars, their crops destroyed and their wells poisoned. Despite constant shelling from the Germans, French bureaucracy, and the threat of being ousted by the British army, the Smith volunteers bring welcome aid—and hope—to the region. But can they survive their own differences? As they cope with the hardships and terrors of the war, Kate and her colleagues find themselves navigating old rivalries and new betrayals which threaten the very existence of the Unit.With the Germans threatening to break through the lines, can the Smith Unit pull together and be truly a band of sisters?
The Band That Went to War: The Royal Marine Band in the Falklands War
by Brian ShortThe Royal Marines are renowned for their military skill and also for having one of the finest military bands in the world. These highly trained and talented musicians are equally at home parading at Buckingham Palace, playing at the Royal Albert Hall, or on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in a foreign port. Why then when the Argentines invaded the Falklands in April 1982 did these superb musicians get involved in what became a serious and deadly military campaign? The answer is that, in addition to their musical expertise, the RM Band Service members are trained for military service and fully qualified in a multitude of military and medical skills, providing support to their comrades, the fighting commandos. The Band That Went to War is a graphic first-hand account of the Falklands War as it has never been told before. It describes the roles played by Royal Marine musicians in the conflict; unloading the wounded from helicopters, moving tons of stores and ammunition, burying their dead at sea and guarding and repatriating Argentine prisoners of war. These and other unseen tasks were achieved while still ready to provide morale boosting music to their commando brethren and other frontline troops. These men are not just musicians; they are Royal Marines.
Bandit Mentality: Hunting Insurgents in the Rhodesian Bush War, A Memoir
by Lindsay O’BrienA former officer of British South Africa&’s anti-terrorist unit recounts his experiences on the frontlines of the Rhodesian Bush war from 1976–1980. A native of New Zealand, Lindsay &‘Kiwi&’ O&’Brien served in the British South Africa Police Support Unit&’s anti-terrorist battalion. He traveled across the country as a section leader and a troop commander before joining the UANC political armies as trainer and advisor. The BSA Support Unit started poorly supplied and equipped, but the caliber of the men, mostly African, was second-to-none. Support Unit specialized in the &“grunt&” work inside Rhodesia with none of the flamboyant helicopter or cross-border raids carried out by the army. O&’Brien&’s war was primarily within selected tribal lands, seeking out and destroying Communist guerilla units in brisk close-range battles with little to no support. O&’Brien moved from the police to working with the initial UANC deployment in the Zambezi Valley where the poorly trained recruits had to learn fast or die. O&’Brien&’s account is a foreign-born perspective from a junior commander uninterested in promotion and the wrangling of upper command. He was decorated and wounded three times.
The Bandits of Cisterna
by Alan Hart William PickeringThe true story of Bill Pickering who was sent into Occupied Italy with a clandestine wireless set during World War II. He experienced many close encounters with the enemy and ended up fighting the Germans alongside the Italian Resistance Group, "The Bandits of Cisterna".
Bandoola
by Lt.-Col. J. H. Williams O.B.E.Those who have read Elephant Bill will remember the wartime exploits of that magnificent creature Bandoola. Bandoola and his oozie, Po Toke, are the principal characters in this delightful successor to a famous best-seller. But there are many others whom the author met and knew in the course of his work of extracting timber from the teak forests of Burma; Willie, who preferred wine to women; Millie, who could read the droppings of elephants like books; reckless Gerry Dawson and desperate Rasher; and--among the most intriguing--Molly Mia, the dog which Elephant Bill controlled by telepathy and which helped to select a wife for him."Bandoola touches a peak as high as that achieved by Elephant Bill. His latest book of elephant-lore in Burma is enthralling"--Daily Telegraph"If Elephant Bill is as good as Bandoola it must be a very good book indeed"--Howard Spring
Bang Bang, Shoot Shoot! Essays on Guns and Popular Culture (Second Edition)
by Murray Pomerance John SakerisThe essays in this book all relate to movies or television in which guns played a significant role. The director's use of guns is explored and the statement he is trying to make is often analyzed.
Bangor in World War II: From the Homefront to the Embattled Skies (Military)
by David H. BergquistAs the specter of a second world war grew, so did Bangor's strategic importance in eastern Maine. National Draft Day saw 3,157 local men register to serve, and the city built up its Dow Field as the nation braced for war. Nearly 6,000 servicemen and women called Dow their home base throughout World War II. Organizations like the local Soldiers Welfare Council and the USO welcomed the troops even as women stepped into roles vacated by enlisted men and worked tirelessly to keep up the community's patriotic spirit. Bangor and its world-class air base stood strong at home as its native sons fought valiantly on the warfront.
Bankrupting the Enemy
by Edward S. MillerAward-winning author Edward S. Miller contends in this new work that the United States forced Japan into international bankruptcy to deter its aggression. While researching newly declassified records of the Treasury and Federal Reserve, Miller, a retired chief financial executive of a Fortune 500 resources corporation, uncovered just how much money mattered. Washington experts confidently predicted that the war in China would bankrupt Japan, not knowing that the Japanese government had a huge cache of dollars fraudulently hidden in New York. Once discovered, Japan scrambled to extract the money. But, Miller explains, in July 1941 President Roosevelt invoked a long-forgotten clause of the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 to freeze Japan s dollars and forbade it to sell its hoard of gold to the U.S. Treasury, the only open gold market after 1939. Roosevelt s temporary gambit to bring Japan to its senses, not its knees, was thwarted, however, by opportunistic bureaucrats. Dean Acheson, his handpicked administrator, slyly maneuvered to deny Japan the dollars needed to buy oil and other resources for war and for economic survival.Miller's lucid writing and thorough understanding of the complexities of international finance enable readers unfamiliar with financial concepts and terminology to grasp his explanation of the impact of U.S. economic policies on Japan. His review of thirty-seven studies of Japan's resource deficiencies begs the question of why no U.S. agency calculated the impact of the freeze on Japan's overall economy. His analysis of a massive OSS-State Department study of prewar Japan clearly demonstrates that the deprivations facing the Japanese people were the country to remain in financial limbo buttressed its choice of war at Pearl Harbor. Such a well-documented study is certain to be recognized for its significant contributions to the historiography of the origins of the Pacific War.