Åbo Akademis bibliotek

On 13 September 1356 near Poitiers in western France, the small English army of Edward, the Black Prince crushed the forces of the French King Jean II in one of the most famous bat ...

John Joseph Steward fought in the Great War, from the Battle of the Somme to the final offensives of 1918, and he was an acute, unflinching observer of the conflict he took part in ...

The Ulster Tales captures the lives and experiences of ten individuals who were caught up in the Troubles. Each has a very distinct story to tell according to their role and positi ...

Highly experienced author John Frayn Turner has succeeded in capturing the indomitable spirit of the WAAF during WW2. His book vividly describes the many roles played by members o ...

Llewelyn Wyn Griffith’s Up to Mametz, published in 1931, is now firmly established as one of the finest accounts of soldiering on the Western Front. It tells the story of the crea ...

The first French invasion of Portugal in 1807 - which was commanded by Junot, one of Napoleon's most experienced generals - was a key event in the long, brutal Peninsular War. It w ...

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill is known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War Two. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1 ...

Women in the Second World War explores the experiences of women who served in the armed forces, or complimentary services. Using interviews, anecdotes, memoirs and/or accounts from ...

Jack McCleery was born in Belfast in 1898, the son of a mill owning family. He joined the RNAS in 1916 as a Probationary Flight Officer. During the next ten months he completed his ...

Major-General Urquhart commanded the 1st British Airborne Division in Operation Market Garden, the greatest airbone assault of World War II, the struggle to capture Arnhem and win ...

Among the British troops bound for the Black Sea in May 1854 was a young officer in the 5th Dragoon Guards, Richard Temple Godman, who sent home throughout the entire Crimea campai ...

Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein has attracted the attention of countless historians over the last 70 years but, despite this coverage, views of his character remain co ...

When Gerald Constable Maxwell was flying as a fighter pilot in World War I, his brother Michael was born. Both went on to have distinguished flying careers in World War II. This is ...

This is the autobiography of an outstanding fighter pilot during his twenty year career with the Royal Air Force. Tony Doyle first flew when in the CCF where he complted a glider c ...

General Colin Gubbins was in charge of SOE during World War Two. This is the first biography of a man who was destined to live his life in the shadows. A biography of General Colin ...

A distinguished soldier who had served in South Africa, the Author was selected to be Haig’s Director of Operations in 1915, a key position he held until the end of the War. This b ...

All too many historians have dismissed FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, first Baron Raglan, as at best, an indifferent and, at worst, an incompetent on the basis of his association wi ...

Alastair Timpson belonged to that generation of young men who were propelled straight from public school into the maelstrom of the Second World War. Inured as they had become from ...

Saturday at M.I.9 is the inside story of the underground escape lines in occupied North-West Europe which brought back to Britain over 4,000 Allied servicemen during World War Two. ...

The great retreat of the British Expeditionary Force from Mons in August 1914 is one of the most famous in military history, and it is justly celebrated. But not all the British so ...

The 6th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, was a prewar Territorial unit. Many of its members held “white collar” positions employed by the City’s legal, financial and stockbroki ...

Born the son of George Byng, a favorite of the king and himself an admiral and member of the admiralty board (and later First Lord of the Admiralty), John Byng seemed destined for ...

Alan Bristow, founder of Bristow Helicopters, died on April 26, 2009, seven days after completing his autobiography. He was a truly remarkable man; his full-page obituary was publi ...

After several years at sea, Sgt Bill Bailey arrived in Cairo in 1942 as a new recruit to the RAF, hoping to fulfill his ambition to fly bombers. Within hours of his arrival he is s ...

Eric Cropper’s RAF career started in 1943 and ended in 1968. It covered a period when the navigation of aircraft changed from astro, dead reckoning and drift bearings all plotted b ...