The Spellmount Guide To London

During the lead up to and over the course of the Second World War, London was a city transformed as it simultaneously became the front line and the command centre of Allied operations. The scale and speed of the city’s transformation has been unparalleled in London’s history as the government requisitioned buildings and defences were built while bombing wrought devastation across the city, changing it forever. This book will guide the reader, as a virtual tourist – or a real one – around war-time London.Buildings that had a specific war time use or have a link to an important event that occurred during the war are revealed, along with the often secret activities, known only to a select few at the time, of the organisations who occupied them. Buildings used as air raid shelters, iconic buildings damaged by enemy bombing and how London itself changed is all brought to life. Clear maps make this a user-friendly guide for the London explorer and the fascinating background information will enthrall the virtual tourist. Selfridges was still a shopper’s paradise during the war – but what did the emporium hide in the basement?

In the lead up to and throughout the course of the Second World War, London was a city transformed, as it simultaneously became the front line and the command centre of Allied operations. The scale and speed of London's transformation are unparalleled in its history as the government requisitioned buildings and built defences while bombing wrought devastation across the city, changing it forever. This book will guide the reader – as an armchair tourist or a real one – around wartime London. Buildings that had a specific wartime use or have a link to an important event that occurred during the war are revealed, along with the often secret activities, known to only a select few, of the organisations that occupied them. Structures used as air-raid shelters, iconic landmarks damaged by enemy bombing and other ways in which London changed are all brought to life in this user-friendly guide. Sections cover the seven central London boroughs, from Hammersmith to Tower Hamlets, together with chapters on Greater London and on memorials and museums, accompanied by maps and photographs of the city then and now.

After a tragic childhood among the Great War cemeteries of Flanders Fields, a troubled young woman searches for love and meaning in war-ravaged Europe. Elaine Madden’s quest takes her from occupied Belgium through the chaos of Dunkirk, where she flees disguised as a British soldier, into the London Blitz, where she finally begins to discover herself. Recruited to T Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as a ‘fast courier’, she is parachuted back to the country of her birth to undertake a top-secret political mission and help speed its liberation from Nazi oppression.Elaine Madden never claimed to be a heroine, but her story proves otherwise. Its centrepiece – war service as one of only two women SOE agents parachuted into enemy-occupied Belgium – is just one episode in an extraordinary real-life drama of highs and lows, love, loss and betrayal.Relayed to the author in the final years of her life, Elaine’s true story of courage and humour in testing times is more intriguing, more compelling than fiction.

This book contains some 600 entries on a range of topics from ancient Chinese warfare to late 20th-century intervention operations. Designed for a wide variety of users, it encompasses general reviews of aspects of military organization and science, as well as specific wars and conflicts. The book examines naval and air warfare, as well as significant individuals, including commanders, theorists, and war leaders. Each entry includes a listing of additional publications on the topic, accompanied by an article discussing these publications with reference to their particular emphases, strengths, and limitations.

An extraordinary city, London grew from a backwater in the Classical Age into an important medieval city and significant Renaissance urban center to a modern colossus--full of a free people ever evolving. Roy Porter touches the pulse of his hometown and makes it our own, capturing London's fortunes, people, and imperial glory with vigor and wit. 58 photos.

The first book to explore the contribution made by the military to British music history, Music & the British Military in the Long Nineteenth Century shows that military bands reached far beyond the official ceremonial duties they are often primarily associated with and had a significant impact on wider spheres of musical and cultural life.

Peter Simkins has established a reputation over the last forty years as one of the most original and stimulating historians of the First World War. He has made a major contribution to the debate about the performance of the British Army on the Western Front. This collection of his most perceptive and challenging essays, which concentrates on British operations in France between 1916 and 1918, shows that this reputation is richly deserved. He focuses on key aspects of the army's performance in battle, from the first day of the Somme to the Hundred Days, and gives a fascinating insight into the developing theory and practice of the army as it struggled to find a way to break through the German line. His rigorous analysis undermines some of the common assumptions - and the myths - that still cling to the history of these British battles.

Despite the bewildering number of tomes devoted to the Napoleonic wars, much basic data as been hitherto unavailable to anyone other than the most ardent scholars. McGuigan and Burnham have collected a tremendous treasure trove of information in a readily accessible form. Other books may tell you how many regiments were sent on the expedition to Hanover in 1805, but The British Army against Napoleon will tell you where every single regiment in the British army was stationed, who were their honorary colonels, and give you a list of all the barracks in Britain with the number of men they were designed to hold. Where else will you find not just the pay of different ranked officers but the amount of income tax they paid, as well as all the other deductions and stoppages that reduced their actual receipts to a fraction of their nominal (and generally quite low) pay? Or pension charts for widows? There are tables that list all the recipients of the honours and awards issued, casualties in action and disease, seniority of officers of the numerous expeditions and campaigns (a matter not just of curiosity but of major significance, for the date of rank of an officer determined who commanded the force and all of its sub-units.) The material in these tables has been collected from countless primary sources and official publications such as the Army List, London Gazette, Wellington s Dispatches, regimental histories, artillery manuals, and handbooks.