{"title":"WWII \u0026 Military History","description":"\u003cp\u003eGripping accounts of the Second World War and military history — from SOE agents to Lancaster gunners, Dunkirk to the Household Cavalry.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"letters-from-a-lancaster-gunner-thompson-helen","title":"Letters from a Lancaster Gunner","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFlight Lieutenant Joseph Thompson, aka ‘Mac’, left his mother’s small Birmingham home in December 1943 at the age of 18 to join the wartime RAF. This book follows his journey through the hardship and adventure of basic \u0026amp; gunnery training, a love affair with a girl from Liverpool, crew friendships, losses and disasters, over 20 Lancaster bombing raids, a virgin mission which ends in a ‘ditching’ in the North Sea, and a postwar stint in Singapore.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJoe’s original letters and his mother’s replies are the narrators of this story, which begins and ends with the events surrounding their rediscovery some 65 years after they were written. The wartime experiences of the family Joe left behind, also unfold. A mother, widowed in 1941, struggling to cope physically, financially and emotionally with four children during wartime, while working full time in a factory. There is much love, detail and hardship in these letters, which ultimately end with heartbreak that could not have been foreseen.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Open Page","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59138635530565,"sku":null,"price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1093\/3344\/6981\/files\/IMG_0789.jpg?v=1788604904"},{"product_id":"desperate-victories-military-despatches-from-dunkirk-to-the-battle-of-britain","title":"Desperate Victories: Military Despatches from Dunkirk to the Battle of Britain","description":"\u003cp class=\"synopsis-body\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eFirst-hand accounts of Britain's darkest hour.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eDelve into the military despatches from key senior commanders in 1940, revealing the do-or-die decisions made during the German blitzkrieg. Discover the challenges and strategies behind the Allied struggle against the Nazi storm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDesperate Victories\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eunveils the extraordinary events of Dunkirk, the retreat from Norway, and the Battle of Britain. Gain insights into the leadership and resilience that defined a nation on the brink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExplore the plans that determined Britain's survival as the European continent collapsed. Perfect for readers interested in:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMilitary history\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWorld War II strategy\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrimary source analysis\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"The Open Page","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59138785116485,"sku":null,"price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1093\/3344\/6981\/files\/IMG_0192.jpg?v=1788605869"},{"product_id":"sisters-in-arms-female-warriors-from-antiquity-to-the-new-millennium","title":"Sisters in Arms: Female Warriors from Antiquity to the New Millennium","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA history of female combatants, from those who joined the military disguised as men to the current role of women in the armed forces.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn October 2018, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that all roles in the military would now be open to women. Although this marks a historic shift, officially allowing British women into combat roles, the presence of women on the front lines dates back to antiquity. Beginning with the founding myth of the Amazons--in reality female warriors of a nomadic tribe to whom the Greeks attributed super-heroic powers--Julie Wheelwright explores the history of women in arms. She traces our fascination with these figures, many of whom successfully disguised themselves as men, using primary sources and their own words to bring their experiences vividly to light. Among these forgotten heroines are Christian Davies, Ireland's most famous 18th-century soldier, who received poems from adoring women claiming that she represented a resurgence of \"the Amazonian race\"; Sarah Edmonds, who left her native Canada and was among hundreds of women to enlist on both sides during the American Civil War; Maria Bochkareva, a private in the Tsar's army and leader of the Women's Battalion of Death in 1917; and Captain Flora Sandes, hero of the Serbian Army, who toured Australia, thrilling her audiences with tales of bravery and patriotism.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe book follows the evolution of women in combat, from the Scythian women who begat the Amazonian myth, to the passing women in the eighteenth century, and on to the re-emergence of women as proud members of the armed forces in various countries in the 20th and 21st centuries. The book also explores the formalization of women's military roles and questions the contemporary relationship between masculinity and combat.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Open Page","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59139049423173,"sku":null,"price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1093\/3344\/6981\/files\/IMG_0732.jpg?v=1788607874"},{"product_id":"the-1st-household-cavalry-1943-44-in-the-shadow-of-monte-amaro-garry-oconnor","title":"The 1st Household Cavalry 1943-44: In the Shadow of Monte Amaro","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIn the Shadow of Monte Amaro\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e provides a new focus on the famous First Household Cavalry Regiment, the way its mettle was tested to the maximum in action in the mountains of Italy. It reveals and explores this largely undervalued and forgotten part of a costly and complex struggle, where there are lessons to be learned by everyone. We directly experience what it was like to be there. It also has a contemporary relevance to present-day areas of conflict and military engagement. In late 1943 1st HCR was sent to Syria to patrol the Turko-Syrian border, it being feared that Turkey would join the Axis powers. In April 1944, 1st HCR was shipped to Italy. The Italian campaign was at that time well underway. During the summer of 1944, 1st HCR were in action near Arezzo and in the advance to Florence. The Regiment finally took part in dismounted actions in the Gothic Line, the German defensive system in Northern Italy. Using interviews with survivors still with us and unpublished diaries, there are many revelations that will entertain - and shock.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Open Page","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59139065807173,"sku":null,"price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1093\/3344\/6981\/files\/IMG_0704.jpg?v=1788608296"},{"product_id":"we-were-berliners-from-weimar-to-the-wall","title":"We Were Berliners: From Weimar to the Wall","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne family's personal story is combined with a popular history of Germany from the 1920s through the fall of communism\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eHelmut and Charlotte Jacobitz were born in Berlin during the mid-1920s. They experienced depression and inflation, witnessed violence as fascists and communists vied for control of Germany, and when the Nazis prevailed, they survived the 12 years of the Third Reich. Drafted in 1943, Helmut was wounded fighting in Normandy. Charlotte, meanwhile, worked at the Reichsbank and took shelter against frequent bombing raids. After the Russians surrounded Berlin in April 1945, she witnessed first-hand the brutal battle for the city. The two young Germans met each other after the war, Charlotte joining Helmut to smuggle food into Berlin through the Russian blockade. The family finally immigrated to America, barely escaping before the Berlin Wall sliced the city in half. This book blends personal memoir with a historical primer about Berlin, the Nazis, and the Soviets.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Open Page","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59139110076741,"sku":null,"price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1093\/3344\/6981\/files\/IMG_0778.jpg?v=1788608831"},{"product_id":"aliens-the-chequered-history-of-britainas-wartime-refugees-paul-dowswell","title":"Aliens: The Chequered History of Britain's Wartime Refugees","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe welcome given to refugees from fascist Europe is part of Britain’s fond nostalgia for the Second World War. But there was a darker side to this story, both before and during the conflict. Then, as now, there was great suspicion, resentment and fear – much of it kindled by Britain’s infamous tabloid press. Then, as now, government dealt with a reluctance to accommodate refugees by hiding behind bureaucratic hurdles.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the 1930s, Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts were a significant presence in British politics and support for Hitler went right to the top. In 1940, shortly before the Blitz, the recently abdicated Edward VIII even told a Spanish journalist that Britain ought to be bombed to bring it to its senses and stop it opposing the Nazis.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMany of the 10,000 \u003ci\u003eKindertransport\u003c\/i\u003e children have warm memories of the kindness they were shown, but around half a million anti-fascist and Jewish refugees were refused entry and most of them died as a result. Once here, German Jews, especially, found their troubles far from over – 30,000 were rounded up and placed in internment camps. One passenger ship, the \u003ci\u003eDunera\u003c\/i\u003e, was packed with an unhappy combination of German Jews and pro-Nazi sympathisers and despatched to Australia.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMaking use of in-depth research and first-hand interviews, Paul Dowswell casts a fresh eye on the wartime era to paint a picture of what life was really like in Britain for refugees from fascism.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Open Page","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59139127017797,"sku":null,"price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1093\/3344\/6981\/files\/IMG_0750.jpg?v=1788609002"},{"product_id":"vicious-elegant-bastards-the-truth-behind-the-legend-of-the-krays-hyams-jacky","title":"Vicious, Elegant Bastards: The Truth Behind the Legend of the Krays","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThey ruled the streets of London in the 1960s. Half a century later, Ronnie and Reggie Kray, unrepentant purveyors of violence and murder, hold more fascination than ever before.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePortrayed as charismatic gangsters on the big screen, the saga of the twins, their firm and their thirty-odd years behind bars is one that is determinedly and deliberately embellished with every passing year. Yet it is only recently that the stark, unvarnished truth about the twins has started to emerge after being so cunningly concealed behind the façade of charitable deeds and East End loyalties.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBestselling author Jacky Hyams has carefully re-examined some of the stories, the lies and the myths to reveal a very different portrait of the twins and those closest to them. She reveals the complexity of their relationships and their closest bonds, and contests the police’s belief that Ronnie Kray senselessly murdered ‘one of their own’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRonnie Kray is said to have described he and his twin as ‘vicious, elegant bastards’. It is one of the few truths ever uttered by either of them.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Open Page","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59139273785669,"sku":null,"price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1093\/3344\/6981\/files\/IMG_0722.jpg?v=1788610569"},{"product_id":"the-twins-the-soes-brothers-of-vengeance-jacobs-peter","title":"The Twins: The SOE's Brothers of Vengeance Jacobs, Peter","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘There was no sign of any movement from the car, or any sound coming from it. The Twins could not have timed it better. In that one moment, everything they had trained for came to fruition. They could never fully avenge their family, but at least this went some way towards it. At last, they had got some revenge. And it felt sweet.’\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e December 1941. After setting up one of the first resistance organisations in Vichy France and escaping over the Pyrenees into Spain, brothers Henry and Alfred Newton received devastating news. The SS \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eAvoceta\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, carrying their parents, wives and children to the safety of Britain, had been torpedoed by a German U-boat. All of their family were dead. From that moment on, the Newton brothers were consumed by revenge. Recruited by SOE, and known to everyone simply as the Twins, they returned to France and waged their own personal war against the Nazis. For nine months they lived on the edge before they were betrayed, and the net finally closed. They were caught by the Gestapo and tortured at the hands of Klaus Barbie, known as the Butcher of Lyon, before being taken to the dreaded Buchenwald concentration camp. For the first time in over sixty years, acclaimed historian Peter Jacobs reveals the full story of Henry and Alfred Newton. Drawing on personal archives and new research, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Twins\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a dramatic tale of courage steeped in vengeance – and of the bonds of brotherhood in the face of hell on earth.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Open Page","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59139277947205,"sku":null,"price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1093\/3344\/6981\/files\/IMG_0726.jpg?v=1788610730"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1093\/3344\/6981\/collections\/military-history-collection-banner.png?v=1789030907","url":"https:\/\/theopenpage.store\/collections\/wwii-military-history.oembed","provider":"The Open Page","version":"1.0","type":"link"}