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Anthony Dawson

The Crimean War, the most destructive and deadly war of the nineteenth century, has been the subject of countless books, yet historian Anthony Dawson has amassed an astonishing collection of previously unknown and unpublished material, including numerous letters and private journals. Many untapped French sources reveal aspects of the fighting in the Crimea that have never been portrayed before. The accounts demonstrate the suffering of the troops during the savage winter and the ravages of cholera and dysentery that resulted in the deaths of more than 16,000 British troops and 75,000 French. Whilst there is graphic firsthand testimony from those that fought up the slopes of the Alma, in the valley of death at Balaklava, and the fog of Inkerman, the book focusses upon the siege; the great artillery bombardments, the storming of the Redan and the Mamelon, and the largest man-made hole in history up to that time when the Russians blew up the defences they could not hold, with their own men inside. The Siege of Sevastopol also highlights, for the first time, the fourth major engagement in the Crimea, the Battle of the Tchernaya in August 1855, the Russian's last great attempt to break the siege. This predominantly French-fought battle has never before examined in such in English language books.

Frontline Books

Voices from the Past

The Siege of Sevastopol, 1854–1855: The War in the Crimea Told Through Newspaper Reports, Official Documents and the Accounts of Those Who Were There

John Grehan

The most notorious, and most contentious, cavalry charge in history still remains an enigma. Though numerous books have been written about the charge, all claiming to reveal the truth or to understand the reason why; exactly what happened at Balaklava on 25 October 1854 continues to be fiercely debated. Voices from the Past, The Charge of the Light Brigade relives that fateful day not through the opinions of such historians but from the words of those that were there. 

This is the story of the charge told by the soldiers of both sides, in the most detailed description of the Battle of Balaklava yet written. Gallop with the light dragoons and lancers into the mouths of the Russian cannon as the shells and cannonballs decimate their ranks. Read of the desperate efforts to return down the Valley of Death as the enemy pressed around the remnants of the Light Brigade, and of the nine Victoria Crosses won that day. 

Possibly more significant are the accusations and counter-arguments that followed the loss of the Light Brigade. Just who was responsible for that terrible blunder? The leading figures all defended their own positions, leading to presentations in Parliament and legal action. Yet one of those senior figures made an astonishing admission immediately after the battle, only to change his story when the charge became headline news. Just who was it that made the fatal error that cost the British Army its Light Brigade?

The Charge of the Light Brigade: History's Most Famous Cavalry Charge Told Through Eye Witness Accounts, Newspaper Reports, Memoirs and Diaries

Gillian Mawson

With the declaration of war in September 1939, the Government Evacuation Scheme was implemented, in which almost one and a half million civilians, mostly children, were evacuated from the British cities thought most likely to be the targets of aerial bombing. The fear of invasion the following year resulted in another mass evacuation from the coastal towns.Hundreds of thousands of school children, and mothers with babies and infants, were removed from their homes and families, and sent to live with strangers in distant rural areas and to entirely unfamiliar environments. Some children were also sent to countries of the Commonwealth, such as Canada and Australia. The evacuations had an enormous impact upon millions of individuals, both those that were evacuated and those that had to accommodate and care for the displaced multitude.Over the course of eight years research Gillian Mawson has interviewed hundreds of evacuees from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Families have also allowed her access to the testimony of those who have passed away. Coupled with the extensive newspaper coverage of the day and official documents Britains Wartime Evacuees provides not just a comprehensive study of the evacuations, but also relates some of the most moving and emotive stories of the Second World War.

Britain's Wartime Evacuees: The People, Places and Stories of the Evacuations Told Through the Accounts of Those Who Were There

Richard Osborne

The Battle of Jutland was the greatest naval engagement of the First World War, if not any war. Admiral Scheer had adopted a policy of launching attacks against the British coast. What he did not know was that the British had broken his naval codes and that they knew of his plans. Consequently, when Scheer threw his entire fleet in a mission to attack the British mainland in May 1916, he could not know that the Royal Navy at Scapa Flow were underway. 

This is a fresh account of this greatest naval engagement, it offers fascinating insight into the events preceding the action, the tactics during the battle and the political and military fall-out. The book draws on released official records and personal accounts. Jellicoe failed to ensnare Scheer and the bulk of the German fleet which escaped battered, but intact. The Germans knew however that despite their great fleet, it was the Royal Navy that controlled the North Sea.

The Battle of Jutland

Paul Kendall

Approximately a third of all Allied merchant vessels sunk during the First World War were by German boats and submarines based at Bruge-Zeebrugge on the coast of Belgium. By 1918 it was feared that Britain would be starved into surrender unless the enemy raiders could be stopped. A daring plan was therefore devised to sail directly into the heavily defended port of Zeebrugge and then to sink three obsolete cruisers in the harbour in the hope they would block German vessels from reaching the English Channel. The cruisers were also to be accompanied by two old submarines, which were filled with explosives to blow up the viaduct connecting the mole to the shore, whilst 200 Marines were to be landed to destroy German gun positions at the entrance to the Bruges Canal.On 23 April the most ambitious amphibious raid of the First World War was carried out, told here through a huge collection of personal accounts and official reports on the bitter fighting which saw more than 500 British casualties from the 1,700 men who took part, and saw the awarding of eight Victoria Crosses.

The Zeebrugge Raid 1918: A Story of Courage and Sacrifice Told Through Newspaper Reports, Official Documents and the Accounts of Those Who Were There

Stephen Snelling

The initial Allied landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula began on 25 April 1915. Many of those who went ashore at V Beach near Cape Helles did so from the SS River Clyde. In the first full-length study devoted entirely to River Clyde and the men who sailed in her, the author reveals a remarkable tale of human endeavor told in the words of the men who were there: from the naval captain whose brainchild it was, to the teenage midshipmen who risked their lives to rescue the operation from disaster; from the infantrymen who braved a storm of fire to the staff officers who led the assault that finally secured the beachhead; from the armored car machine-gunners whose covering fire saved hundreds of men marooned on the shore, to the navys own infantrymen who ventured out into the bullet-swept waters to succor the wounded.The Wooden Horse of Gallipoli tells the story of how this collier became an icon of the First World War, its stranded bulk synonymous with one of the most extraordinary exploits of a campaign doomed to failure.

The Wooden Horse of Gallipoli: The Heroic Saga of SS River Clyde, a WW1 Icon, Told Through the Accounts of Those Who Were There

For more than twenty years Europe had been torn apart by war. Dynasties had crumbled, new states had been created and a generation had lost its young men. When it seemed that peace might at last settle across Europe, terrible news was received Napoleon had escaped from exile and was marching upon Paris. Europe braced itself once again for war. 

The allied nations agreed to combine against Napoleon and in May 1815 they began to mass on France's frontiers. The scene was set for the greatest battle the world had yet seen. Composed of more than 300 eyewitness accounts, official documents, parliamentary debates and newspaper reports, Voices from the Past tells the story of Napoleon's last battles as they were experienced and reported by the men and women involved. 

Heroic cavalry charges, devastating artillery bombardments, terrible injuries, heart-breaking encounters, and amusing anecdotes, written by aristocratic officers and humble privates alike, fill the pages of this ambitious publication. Many of these reports have not been reproduced for almost 200 years.