Download or read book Britain s Secret Defences written by Andrew Chatterton and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2022-08-09 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first full history of the highly trained and ruthless civilian volunteers secretly trained across Britain to be deployed in the case of a German invasion. The narrative surrounding Britain’s anti-invasion forces has often centered on ‘Dad’s Army’-like characters running around with pitchforks, on unpreparedness and sense of inevitability of invasion and defeat. The truth, however, is very different. Top-secret, highly trained and ruthless civilian volunteers were being recruited as early as the summer of 1940. Had the Germans attempted an invasion they would have been countered by saboteurs and guerrilla fighters emerging from secret bunkers, and monitored by swathes of spies and observers who would have passed details on via runners, wireless operators and ATS women in disguised bunkers. Alongside these secret forces, the Home Guard were also setting up their own ‘guerrilla groups’, and SIS (MI6) were setting up post-occupation groups of civilians – including teenagers – to act as sabotage cells, wireless operators, and assassins had the Nazis taken control of the country. The civilians involved in these groups understood the need for absolute secrecy and their commitment to keeping quiet meant that most went to their grave without ever telling anyone of their role, not even their closest family members. There has been no official and little public recognition of what these dedicated men and women were willing to do for their country in its hour of need, and after over 80 years of silence the time has come to highlight their remarkable role.
Download or read book Britain s Secret Defences written by Andrew Chatterton and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2022-09-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new comprehensive history of the secret defensive preparations made in Britain in World War II to be deployed in the case of Nazi invasion.
Download or read book Fortress Britain 1940 written by Andrew Chatterton and published by . This book was released on 2024-08-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Britain in 1940 was not unprepared nor alone--this new history assesses the British armed forces and secret civilian organisations that stood ready to fight off a German invasion.
Download or read book Britain s Secret War written by Michael Smith and published by Andre Deutsch. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Book contains removable documents of facsimile items.
Download or read book Britain s Secret War against Japan 1937 1945 written by Douglas Ford and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-09-27 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new look at how Britain’s defence establishment learned to engage Japan’s armed forces as the Pacific War progressed. Douglas Ford reveals that, prior to Japan’s invasion of Southeast Asia in December 1941, the British held a contemptuous view of Japanese military prowess. He shows that the situation was not helped by the high level of secrecy which surrounded Japan’s war planning, as well as the absence of prior engagements with the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army. The fall of ‘Fortress Singapore’ in February 1942 dispelled the notion that the Japanese were incapable of challenging the West. British military officials acknowledged how their forces in the Far East were inadequate, and made a concerted effort to improve their strength and efficiency. However, because Britain’s forces were tied down in their operations in Europe, North Africa and the Mediterranean, they had to fight the Japanese with limited resources. Drawing upon the lessons obtained through Allied experiences in the Pacific theatres as well as their own encounters in Southeast Asia, the British used the available intelligence on the strategy, tactics and morale of Japan’s armed forces to make the best use of what they had, and by the closing stages of the war in 1944 to 1945, they were able to devise a war plan which paved the way for the successful war effort. This book will be of great interest to all students of the Second World War, intelligence studies, British military history and strategic studies in general.
Download or read book MI6 and the Machinery of Spying written by Philip Davies and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-06 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philip H. J. Davies is one of a growing number of British academic scholars of intelligence, but the only academic to approach the subject in terms of political science rather than history. He wrote his PhD at the University of Reading on the topic 'Organisational Development of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1979', and has published extensively on intelligence and defence issues. After completing his PhD he taught for a year and a half on the University of London external degree programme in Singapore before returning to the UK to lecture at the University of Reading for two years. He was formerly Associate Professor of International and Security Studies at the University of Malaya in Malaysia where he not only conducted his research but provided a range of training and consultancy services to the Malaysian intelligence and foreign services. He is now based at Brunel University, UK
Download or read book The Special Operations Executive SOE in Burma written by Richard Duckett and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-10-30 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the mountains and jungles of occupied Burma during World War II, British special forces launched a series of secret operations, assisted by parts of the Burmese population. The men of the SOE, trained in sabotage and guerrilla warfare, worked in the jungle, deep behind enemy lines, to frustrate the puppet Burmese government of Ba Maw and continue the fight against Hirohito's Japan in a theatre starved of resources. Here, Richard Duckett uses newly declassified documents from the National Archives to reveal for the first time the extent of British special forces' involvement - from the 1941 operations until beyond Burma's independence from the British Empire in 1948. Duckett argues convincingly that `Operation Character' and `Operation Billet' - large SOE missions launched in support of General Slim's XIV Army offensive to liberate Burma - rank among the most militarily significant of the SOE's secret missions. Featuring a wealth of photographs and accompanying material never before published, including direct testimony recorded by veterans of the campaign and maps from the SOE files, The SOE in Burma tells a compelling story of courage and struggle in during World War II
Download or read book Britain s Shield written by David Zimmerman and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2010-08-15 with total page 519 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of radar and the crucial role it played in Britain's air defences during World War II from an expert in warfare technology.
Download or read book Their Trade is Treachery written by Harry Champan Pincher and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2014-11-13 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harry Chapman Pincher is regarded as one of the finest investigative reporters of the twentieth century. Over the course of a glittering six-decade career, he became notorious as a relentless investigator of spies and their secret trade, proving to be a constant thorn in the side of the establishment. So influential was he that Prime Minister Harold Macmillan once asked, 'Can nothing be done to suppress Mr Chapman Pincher?' It is for his sensational 1981 book, Their Trade is Treachery, that he is perhaps best known. In this extraordinary volume he dissected the Soviet Union's inflitration of the western world and helped unmask the Cambridge Five. He also outlined his suspicions that former MI5 chief Roger Hollis was in fact a super spy at the heart of a ring of double agents poisoning the secret intelligence service from within. However, the Hollis revelation was just one of the book's many astounding coups. Its impact at the time was immense and highly controversial, sending ripples through the British intelligence and political landscapes. Never before had any writer penetrated so deeply and authoritatively into this world - and few have since. Available now for the first time in thirty years, this eye-opening volume is an incomparable and definitive account of the thrilling nature of Cold War espionage and treachery. The Dialogue Espionage Classics series began in 2010 with the purpose of bringing back classic out-of-print spy stories that should never be forgotten. From the Great War to the Cold War, from the French Resistance to the Cambridge Five, from Special Operations to Bletchley Park, this fascinating spy history series includes some of the best military, espionage and adventure stories ever told.
Download or read book Secret Casualties of World War Two written by Simon Webb and published by Pen and Sword History. This book was released on 2020-02-28 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study of friendly fire on civilians during the London Blitz and the attack on Pearl harbor exposes the unknown horror behind these iconic WWII events. The London Blitz and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor have ascended to the level of myth for Britain and America. Yet both of these artfully constructed narratives of heroic resistance to aerial bombardment conceal the massacre of citizens by the very militaries charged with protecting them. In Britain, thousands of civilians were killed when the army shelled London and other cities to prevent residents from fleeing the German bombs. At Pearl Harbor, American warships fired their heavy guns at the city of Honolulu with devastating results. Simon Webb begins this volume with an overview of bombing and anti-aircraft guns from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 through to the First World War. He then reveals the casualties which friendly fire from heavy artillery inflicted upon British and American civilians during World War Two. In the case of the British, these deaths were a deliberate part of a shockingly cynical policy. There were times during the German bombing of London when more people were being killed by British shells than by enemy bombs.
Download or read book With Britain in Mortal Danger written by John Warwicker and published by Cerberus Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1938 the War Office ordered the Director of Military Intelligence to create a unit that would research the tactics and organisation needed in the event of an invasion. After Dunkirk Lt Col Holland's Military Intelligence (Research) expanded greatly, secretly recruiting civilians and service personnel thought suitable for subversive and irregular warfare. Although never called upon, their story remained shrouded in secrecy for half a century.
Download or read book The Last Ditch written by David Lampe and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2013-05-30 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An analysis of World War II German and British plans that were in place if the Nazi forces had successfully managed to invade mainland Britain in 1940. In 1940 Britain faced its biggest threat since the Spanish Armada. Hitler’s invasion plans were in full swing, and Britain had to quickly assemble a secret resistance force. This compelling study reveals the intentions of both sides, from Hitler’s strategies for Operation Sea Lion and subsequent occupation, to Britain’s secret plans for resistance. German decrees show that the occupation would have been severe, with mass deportation for all able-bodied men as well as widespread arrests, as revealed in the notorious Gestapo Arrest List. In telling this story Lampe relates one of World War II’s best kept secrets and offers insight into what would have been a brutal future. Originally published in 1968, The Last Ditch remains the authoritative work on this subject and features interviews with key players who lived through the action. “An extremely good read. I was enthralled by the book as an undergraduate and twenty-five years later I reread it with much pleasure.” —Gary Sheffield, Professor of War Studies, University of Birmingham, from the foreword
Download or read book Great Britain s Secret Secret Service written by Harry Howe Ransom and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Secret Wartime Britain written by Colin Philpott and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2018-11-30 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The secret military facilities hidden across Great Britain are revealed and investigated in this fascinating WWII history. During the Second World War, thousands of facilities across Britain were requisitioned to support the war efforts. Beyond that, countless others were built from scratch. Often the purpose of these locations was a closely guarded secret, even from those living close by. In Secret Wartime Britain, Colin Philpott has compiled a fascinating collection of sites that still exist in some form today. They include underground factories, storage sites and headquarters; spy and communication centers; interrogation and POW camps; dummy sites; research facilities such as the sinister Porton Down; treasure stores in stately homes and even royal retreats in the event of invasion, such as Madresfield Court. Where were these sites and why were they needed? How successfully were they kept secret? What has happened to them since? Were they returned to their owners? Answers to these and other questions make Secret Wartime Britain a riveting and revealing read.
Download or read book The Western Front written by Nick Lloyd and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2021-03-04 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A tour de force of scholarship, analysis and narration . . . Lloyd is well on the way to writing a definitive history of the First World War' Lawrence James, The Times 'This well-researched, well-written and cogently argued new analysis . . . will undoubtedly now take its rightful place as the standard account of this vital theatre of the conflict' Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny _________________ In the annals of military history, the Western Front stands as an enduring symbol of the folly and futility of war. However, as bestselling military historian Nick Lloyd reveals in this highly-praised history - the first of an epic trilogy -- the story is not one of pointlessness and stupidity, but rather a heroic triumph against the odds. With a cast of hundreds and a huge canvas of places and events, Lloyd tells the whole tale, revealing what happened in France and Belgium between August 1914 and November 1918 from the perspective of all the main combatants - including French, British, Belgian, US and, most importantly, German forces. Lloyd examines the most decisive campaigns of the Great War and explains the unprecedented innovation, adaptation and tactical development that have been too long obscured by legends of mud, blood and futility, drawing upon the latest scholarship on the war, wrongly overlooked first-person accounts, and archival material from every angle. Conveying the visceral assault of the battlefield with vivid detail, Lloyd ultimately redefines our understanding of a crucial theatre in this monumental tragedy. _________________ 'Excellent on detail . . . Lloyd's book will be cherished by military history buffs' Max Hastings, Sunday Times 'It is the best modern single-volume history of war on the Western Front and is likely to remain the standard account for some time' Jonathan Boff, The Spectator
Download or read book Task Force Black written by Mark Urban and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2011-06-07 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When American and British forces invaded Iraq in March 2003, select teams of special forces and intelligence operatives got to work looking for the WMD their governments had promised were there. They quickly realized no such weapons existed. Instead they faced an insurgency—a soaring spiral of extremism and violence that was almost impossible to understand, let alone reverse. Facing defeat, the Coalition waged a hidden war within a war. Major-General Stan McChrystal devised a campaign fusing special forces, aircraft, and the latest surveillance technology with the aim of taking down the enemy faster than it could regenerate. Guided by intelligence, British and American special forces conducted a relentless onslaught, night after night targeting al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups. Task Force Black reveals not only the intensity of the secret fight that turned the tide in Baghdad but the rivalries and personal battles that had to be overcome along the way. Incisive, dramatic, exceptionally revealing, the war in Iraq cannot be understood without this book.
Download or read book Churchill s Secret Defence Army written by Arthur Ward and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the spring of 1940, the phoney war suddenly became very real. In April Hitler's forces, invaded Norway and a month later began their assault on France and the Low Countries. The Anglo/French allies were routed. The British escaped to fight another day after evacuating the bulk of their armies at Dunkirk. When on 10 May Winston Churchill became Prime Minister he soon discovered that the nation's defenses were in a parlous state and a Nazi invasion was a very real possibility. By the end of the month, nearly a million British citizens had joined the Local Defense Volunteers, soon to become the Home Guard, of Dad's Army fame. Churchill, however, realized the Home Guard was initially of little more than PR value, an important morale booster. A more serious deterrent needed to be created if Hitler's panzer divisions and the full might of the blitzkrieg were to be thwarted. Consequently, to supplement the sorely ill-equipped regular forces (all of their tanks and most of their artillery had been abandoned in France) a new, British resistance force was required. The intentionally blandly named 'Auxiliary Units' might have been the answer. Formed in the Summer of 1940, in great secrecy, this force of 'stay behind' saboteurs and assassins was intended to cause havoc behind the German front line should the Wehrmacht gain a foothold in Britain. Their mission was to go to cover, hiding in underground bunkers for the first 14 days of invasion and then springing up, at nightfall, to gather intelligence, interrogate prisoners, destroying fuel and ammunition dumps as they went about their deadly business. Each Auxilier knew his life expectancy was short, a matter of weeks. He also knew he could not tell a soul about his activities, even his spouse. 'Dads Army' they were not. Following the publication of his 50th anniversary history of the Battle of Britain, A Nation Alone, written in association with the RAF Museum, Arthur Ward looked deeper into the story of the Invasion Summer of 1940 and enjoyed unique opportunities to interview those involved with Auxiliary Units at the very top and in the front line, as volunteers in a six-man cell.
