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This is the 27th edition of the independent price guide and collectors’ handbook published annually by Medal News. An invaluable reference for collectors, this deluxe edition includes the current medals, orders and decorations of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa as well as details of dealers and specialist booksellers, prices, order of wear and detailed, illustrated entries on hundreds of medals. With an index of medals and cumulative index to Medal News, 1989–2020.

Often unfairly eclipsed by the Spitfire, the Hawker Hurricane was vital to Britain’s survival in the Second World War. This book details the plane’s construction, its varied service as a fighter, fighter-bomber and anti-tank aircraft, and its crucial role in France, the Battle of Britain and North Africa. It also recounts the exploits of Hurricane pilots such as Billy Fiske and Group Captain Peter Townsend.

Georgios Theotokis uses 20 decisive battles to tell the story of Europe from the defeat of the Western Roman armies near the river Frigidus in 394 CE to the confrontation between Ottoman and Christian forces at Varna (1444), which sealed the fate of the Byzantine Empire. He sets out each engagement’s historical background and describes the composition and equipment of the opposing sides before analysing their strategy and battle-tactics.

Scotland’s warring relationship with England, from the Wars of the Rough Wooing in the 1540s to the Jacobite uprising in 1745, and its later roles in defending against French invasion, the two world wars and Cold War defences, have left a rich legacy of Scottish military mapping. Using all types of maps and plans – for fortifications and reconnaissance, military roads, defensive constructions, battle plans and maps showing military targets – this book examines the history of attacking and defending Scotland.

Blum tells the story of the post-war counter-espionage operation that aimed to frustrate Soviet attempts to steal American and British military and nuclear secrets. Meredith Gardner, a brilliant linguist, and Bob Lamphere, an FBI agent (supported by the mainly female codebreakers of Arlington Hall), were unlikely partners in this mission, which ultimately led to the arrest of the Rosenbergs and the notorious Venona files.

As holder of the highest offices of state, Sir John Tiptoft was a powerful figure during the reigns of Henry VI and Edward IV, but became known for the scale and brutality of the executions he ordered. In this reappraisal the author argues that contemporary denigration of Tiptoft’s character reflected the deep antipathy of the English towards a cosmopolitan intellectual who refashioned the royal court according to continental models.

These 28 essays on the evolution and conduct of warfare cover the period from the establishment of Sumer and Egypt as nation states to the age of the Arab conquests. Informed by the author’s own years as an army officer, they provide a wide-ranging survey of topics including ancient military logistics and medical care, Buddha’s experiences in war and the strategy of great generals such as Hannibal and Thutmose III.

Following a brief account of Wat Tyler’s role in the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, this cultural history traces the long afterlife of the revolutionary leader who was killed when his army of commoners presented their demands to Richard II. Basdeo reveals how Tyler’s name has been repeatedly invoked, in plays, novels and radical literature, by later reformers and rebels including the Chartists and those protesting against Margaret Thatcher’s Poll Tax.

After retiring from the Royal Navy, Charles Elliot (1801–75) took up diplomatic assignments in British Guiana, China and Texas. Using previously unpublished documents, this biography highlights his controversial actions in the First Opium War and the ceding of Hong Kong to Britain. It also discusses Elliot’s role in the abolition of slavery and his liberal beliefs on racial equality.

From the earliest days of military flying, small, unarmed aircraft have been sent over enemy lines to scout positions and guide artillery. This book explains how tactics and aircraft evolved and pays tribute to the skill and courage of the pilots.

Challenging the conventional narratives of cotton mills and inspired innovators, Priya Satia argues that the constant state of war and Britain’s thriving gun trade were driving forces in the Industrial Revolution. Discussing the economic impact of war on political and industrial progress, she scrutinizes the claims by Samuel Galton Jnr, the leading gun manufacturer, that his industry was no worse than any other as everyone was participating in war manufacturing, and that guns were instruments of civilization, essential for preserving property.

Beginning with a clever ruse to sow disinformation about emigré Russians opposing the Soviet regime in the 1920s, this study reveals a century of undercover intelligence operations that have sought to exploit political tensions by planting, leaking or forging false stories. The final chapters deal with the emergence of computer hacking, cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns waged through social media.

Investigative reporter Ernest Volkman presents stories of espionage and surveillance from ancient Rome and the medieval world to the Cold War and harvesting of data in the digital age. Illustrated with rare photographs, and including 12 case studies, his survey explores how the wealth of information gathered by spies is assembled into intelligence, and some of the methods and ciphers used to preserve national security.

While they have mostly ceremonial uses today, musicians in the British Army traditionally participated in battles, including acting as heralds and enforcers of discipline. James Tanner, a retired Brigadier, details the role of fighting drummers, buglers, and fifers, looking at their deployment, tactics and practical roles; dispelling some common myths; and describing the lives of some of the individual soldiers.

This illustrated introduction to the near-miss nuclear confrontation between Kennedy and Khrushchev explains the background to the emergency and describes the tense diplomacy of the days of crisis.

The first of a two-part history of the Hundred Years War looks at the period covering the two major victories at Crecy and Poitiers and the subsequent Treaty of Bretigny that established the British right to territory in France without tribute. Burne argues that while these victories are routinely credited to the Black Prince, Edward III is yet to receive full recognition of his strategic skill and vision.

Sun Tzu's The Art of War was written in China almost 2,500 years ago and contains great wisdom not just about war itself, but about the science and skill of manoeuvre and strategy in their broadest terms.

As the Cold War intensified in the late 1950s, an eccentric Greek-American physicist developed a startling idea: to detonate nuclear explosions in space to create a radiation belt that would destroy incoming Soviet missiles. Drawing on newly declassified sources, this book describes the plans for Operation Argus, the New York Times exposé of the project, and the 1963 Test Ban Treaty that prevented high-altitude explosions.

A Victorian military writer’s classic accounts of Renaissance warfare in the British Isles are reproduced here, together with the engravings that illustrated them, detailing skirmishes from the Battle of Flodden in 1513 to the Battle of Newburn Ford in 1640.

Richard Evans has visited each of the ancient battle sites analysed in this volume and brings new perspectives based on an understanding of the terrain and the latest archaeological finds. The study covers the famous battles of the Persian Wars such as Marathon and Thermopylae, Caesar's campaigns in Iberia, and Vitellius’s battles of Bedriacum in 69 CE.

The city of Hue was of major strategic importance to the US Army in Vietnam, but the January 1968 offensive against the city by the North Vietnamese Army led, as the Black Hawk Down author Mark Bowden shows, to the war’s costliest campaign.

The Conservative politician Airey Neave was assassinated by a car-bomb as he left the House of Commons in March 1979. Drawing on interviews with his colleagues, family and friends, this biography recalls the remarkable career of a man who escaped from Colditz, headed a secret operation to rescue Allied PoWs, served indictments on leading Nazis at the Nuremberg trials and, in later life, masterminded Thatcher’s bid for the Tory leadership.

From George Monck (1608–1670) to Montgomery (1887–1975), Mark Urban examines the impact on the wider world of ten towering British generals, always bearing in mind each commander’s ultimate responsibility to a political master.

For 60 years, England was dominated by Henry II and his sons Richard the Lionheart and John. Combining biography and political history, this book begins with the dynasty’s turbulent origins in the death of Henry I’s heir William in the White Ship disaster and the ensuing war between Stephen and Matilda. It then follows Henry II’s conflict with Thomas à Beckett, the loss of Normandy, Richard’s crusades, and John’s struggle with the barons that led to Magna Carta.

For 60 years, England was dominated by Henry II and his sons Richard the Lionheart and John. Combining biography and political history, this book begins with the dynasty’s turbulent origins in the death of Henry I’s heir William in the White Ship disaster and the ensuing war between Stephen and Matilda. It then follows Henry II’s conflict with Thomas à Beckett, the loss of Normandy, Richard’s crusades, and John’s struggle with the barons that led to Magna Carta.

The test pilots covered in this first volume include Bill Bedford, who carried out the first tethered hover of the Hawker P.1127 ( precursor to the Harrier and vertical take-off prototype) with his leg in plaster following a car accident.

Thomas Wedgwood, the grandson of the English potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood, joined the 3rd Foot Guards aged 16, and was soon fighting at Waterloo and in the defence of Hougoumont, before continuing to serve until 1837. The author, his descendant, has drawn on his previously unpublished letters and journals for this biography of a Napoleonic era professional soldier.

Rudolf Hess’s flight to Scotland in May 1941 has spawned many theories, both before and after his death in Spandau Prison in 1987. Informed by 30 years’ research and recently declassified material, this book reveals its true reason: Hess had been lured by a faction within MI6 who planned to negotiate an armistice with Germany behind Churchill’s back.

A reorganization of the Gurkha units in the early 1990s resulted in the formation of the Royal Gurkha Rifles. Reviewing the new regiment's first quarter century, this celebration is a highly illustrated account of their deployments in the Balkans, East Timor, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan with additional sections exploring their training and unique traditions, such as the 'kukri' fighting knife. Slightly off-mint.

Pigeons were still in use during the Second World War to carry messages from planes and battlefields but Operation Columba set them to work in a more ambitious project gathering intelligence across Nazi-occupied Europe. BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera tells the recently declassified story of the thousands of birds released over Holland, Belgium and France and assesses the value of the information they brought home. Slightly off-mint. Felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

For those involved, the Manhattan Project was justified by the belief that Nazi Germany was close to developing its own atom bomb. Drawing on recently declassified documents in Britain, the USA, Russia and Germany, this book reveals that British intelligence knew this was untrue, but did not tell the Americans; and suggests that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed not to defeat Japan but to threaten Russia.

This history and analysis of snipers’ equipment and tactics takes an overview of the role and psychology of marksmen from the medieval period onwards, and details the improvements in observation, accuracy and ranging that transformed sniping over the last century. Individual stories include the Finn who amassed 505 kills in less than 100 days of the 1939–40 Winter War, resulting in the USSR training over 2,000 snipers.

‘Human remains are not only one of the most common forms of archaeological evidence, but also arguably the richest in terms of what they can tell us.’ In this accessible introduction to conflict archaeology, Martin Smith examines bones and their injuries as evidence of violence between people ranging from Stone Age aggression to 19th-century warfare with firearms, and demonstrates how bones are our most reliable witnesses to human conflict.

Artillery using gunpowder was first deployed in China during the 11th century; as it spread westwards the new technology quickly rendered existing defences obsolete and prompted the development of larger, more destructive weapons. From early bombards to the atomic cannons of the Cold War, this chronological survey comprises illustrated case studies of the very largest guns, with descriptions of their use in land and sea battles and data on their length, weight, calibre and range.

Sean Davies presents a balanced account of the 13th-century conquest of Wales, giving Welsh and English perspectives on the war, looking at the forces and ambitions of both Edward and Llywelyn Gruffudd, and at the sufferings of the people of Wales. However, Davies places the conquest in the context of Welsh warfare and society since the demise of the Romans, offering an alternative to the common view of Wales overwhelmed by a more sophisticated military culture.

Offering a fresh examination of Caesar’s Commentarii de Bello Civili, the only first-hand account of the civil war by one of the protagonists, Ayelet Peer examines how Caesar viewed his own engagement in the war, his manipulation of events, and the ways in which he presented himself and his interpretation of the conflict.

Bringing together 27 articles, this volume from The International Library of Essays on Military History covers the final two centuries of medieval warfare in sections on military theory and practice; late medieval armies; war and late medieval society; popular rebellions; crusading and the Ottoman threat; changes in military technology; and a final essay by Richard Bean, ‘War and the Birth of the Nation State’ (1973). No jacket.

Jonathan Oates’s account of the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 focuses solely on the North of England and sheds new light on the campaign in support of the Old Pretender. Beginning with the political flashpoints in the north-west following the accession of George I, the study traces the course of the rebellion and presents a detailed narrative of the battle at Preston, the Jacobite surrender and the treatment of prisoners in the aftermath.

Jeremy Black’s study throws new light on both foreign policy and domestic politics during a period in which royal authority was giving way to cabinet government and Britain was becoming a global sea power, but also experiencing the trauma of the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion and fighting Spain as part of the Quadruple Alliance.

Drawing on primary sources, from newspaper reports and novels to legal documents and parliamentary debates, this study explores how piracy was perceived and debated in British society during the ‘Golden Age’ of the pirate, roughly 1680 to 1730.

Although the War of the League of Augsburg was mostly fought in northern Europe it was the Italian front that William of Orange, leader of the Grand Alliance against the French, regarded as crucial. This book explains the political background, profiles the protagonists, and follows the course of the war. Historic portraits, maps and prints are supplemented by eight specially commissioned colour plates illustrating the combatants’ uniforms and flags.

Since the MiG-23 was introduced by the Soviets in the 1970s, it has been exported to five major Arab countries. Illustrated with rare images, this history shows the pivotal role it has played in subsequent conflicts in the region.

This reappraisal of the early battles of the Britons and Saxons casts doubt on the reliability of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, while proposing explanations, tactical overviews and locations for the battles that established the kingdom of Wessex. It starts with an account of the historical situation after the Roman occupation, before focusing on the crucial Battle of Badon Hill, and using detailed maps, military theory and battle plans to analyse subsequent campaigns.

At the outbreak of war with France in 1793, the British Army was significantly understrength and its soldiers lacked expertise in advanced manoeuvres. Britain therefore had to rely on auxiliaries from various German states to pursue Allied campaigns in the Low Countries. This account of their role provides previously unpublished information on the negotiation of treaties with German princes and the organization and experiences of the contingents.

After briefly surveying ancient constructions such as Maiden Castle and Gwalior Fort in India, Jeremy Black goes on to present a history of fortifications based on their depiction on maps and plans. From Norman castles – Pontefract is shown in a plan from 1561 – the book shows how buildings as bases for attack or defence changed as ever more powerful armaments were developed, up to the trenches and defences such as the Maginot and Siegfried Lines in the 20th century.

Challenging the conventional narratives of cotton mills and inspired innovators, Priya Satia argues that the constant state of war and Britain’s thriving gun trade were driving forces in the Industrial Revolution. Discussing the economic impact of war on political and industrial progress, she scrutinizes the claims by Samuel Galton Jnr, the leading gun manufacturer, that his industry was no worse than any other as everyone was participating in war manufacturing, and that guns were instruments of civilization, essential for preserving property. Slightly off-mint and felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

Produced in association with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, this exploration of the service’s campaigns since 1914 also features removable facsimile documents and ephemera including pages from a sketchbook showing the action at the Battle of Jutland, a report from the captain of one of the destroyers involved in the evacuation of Dunkirk and the commanding officer’s ‘design for battle’ notes for the amphibious landing at San Carlos in the Falkland Islands in 1982.

Even before the Second World War, senior German officers were seeking to save their country by overthrowing Hitler. Paddy Ashdown profiles opponents such as Admiral Canaris and draws on newly released files to reveal their repeated efforts to pass military secrets the Allies. He also consider whether half of Europe would have fallen under the Soviet yoke had Britain and the US heeded their attempts to negotiate a peace settlement in 1943. Slightly off-mint.

This new, more extensively illustrated edition of the authoritative 1990 work shows how, in the years after the Battle of Waterloo, British warships developed from sail and wood to steam and iron, culminating in the world’s first iron-hulled, seagoing battleship, HMS Warrior. Written by a naval architect, it progresses from the structural innovations of Robert Seppings (1767–1840) to subsequent refinements of steam and the paddle-fighting ship, metal hulls and screw propulsion, and the evolving role of the Royal Navy.

Based on the photography collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, each book in this series illuminates a facet of 20th-century African American history through 50–60 photographs, with brief captions and curators’ commentaries.Including a panoramic photograph of the entire Machine Gun Company 372nd Infantry in 1919, reproduced on a gatefold, this volume shows African Americans in uniform, serving in conflicts from the American Civil War to Iraq, 2011.

During the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779–83), the longest ever endured by the British, the powerful forces of Spain and France blockaded and assaulted the isle from land and sea. Thousands of civilians and soldiers experienced starvation, disease and deadly bombardment. Including maps and illustrations, this book explores the story of the siege and its impact on life back home, while examining the argument that it ultimately cost the British the American War of Independence.

The bold Allied plan to defeat Germany quickly in September 1944 by capturing the bridges leading to the lower Rhine, was ultimately a failure and led to the complete destruction of Arnhem and cruel reprisals on the Dutch population for the remainder of the war. Antony Beevor’s account describes the airborne assault, its planning and aftermath, drawing on many overlooked and new sources from Dutch, German, Polish, British and American archives. Slightly off-mint.

One of the most inglorious events of Nelson’s career concerned the fate of the short-lived republic established in Naples by revolutionary France. Drawing on accounts by Nelson himself, Lady Hamilton and others, this book tells how, after being offered safe passage, the republicans were handed over to the besieging Royalists, from whom they received no mercy. It also investigates whether Nelson was personally guilty of this betrayal, or whether the orders came from London.

A jet-powered medium bomber, the Canberra was developed by English Electric in response to a 1944 Air Ministry request for a successor to the de Havilland Mosquito. This illustrated book tells its story, using anecdotes from the many pilots and operators who participated in its first test flights and in missions such as the Suez campaign, the Indonesian Confrontation and early British nuclear tests. Slightly off-mint.

Each of the titles in Pen and Sword's Fact File series gives an overview of a class of military equipment. Every model or variation is given a separate entry containing a brief history, technical data table, illustrations and photographs, often of it in use. The four titles included in this set are: German Half-Tracks and Wheeled Vehicles (Read more...) German Artillery (Read more...) Panzers of the Wehrmacht (Read more...) German Heavy Artillery Guns (Read more...)

Modelling English, Scottish and Welsh soldiers of the 14th century, the templates in this book also include a castle, siege engines, camp tents and instructions for wargaming medieval battles. Slightly off-mint.