Books published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd

During a twenty-five year flying career in the RAF, Jerry Pook has flown Hunter Fighter/Ground Attack aircraft in the Gulf, Harriers in West Germany, the supersonic Starfighter with the Dutch Air Force, the Harrier in Belize, Central America and the Tornado bomber at the Tri-national Tornado Training Establishment.

This book is designed for the battlefield visitor as much as the armchair reader. A thorough account of each VC action is set within the wider strategic and tactical context.

The Gallery aims to provide a flavor of what the railways of South Wales had to offer and enlighten the reader as to its major part in the national network.

As the last flames of the Second World War flickered and died, Germany emerged into an apocalyptic wasteland, where the Hitler Youth generation would be cursed with the running sore of National Socialism.

Based on over a dozen firsthand interviews that cover genre-defining games and the titles that inspired them, this book shines a flashlight into the shadowy corners of game development history, uncovering the untold stories behind these formative titles.

Military and political history of the conflict between the Anglo-Saxons and Danes.

Aimed at the new or returning modeller featuring easy to copy building, painting, weathering and detailing techniques to help bring the model to life.

Women's history at its best, shining a light on lives often overlooked.

Life at sea as it was experienced by naval and merchant seamen during the Second World War.

This book on the Brecon & Merthyr, deals with the section from Bargoed to Pontsticill Junction, covering the line built by the B&M to join onto the section running north from Bargoed built by the Rhymney Railway, much dominated at the time by nearby Dowlais Ironworks.

This book looks at Henry V's life from a different point of view, concentrating on places that were important in his life and can still be visited by those interested in getting a better feel for the man and understanding how his character was shaped by his environment.

These are the memoirs of one of the most remarkable fighting figures of the Second World War, who was involved in some its more exciting and dangerous operations.

Sir Nick Young's memoir is a fascinating and candid account of his thirteen years as chief executive of the British Red Cross (2001-2014).

This book paints an uncompromising portrait of Tendi Sherpa, who has successfully climbed twenty-one mountains over 8,000m, including fourteen ascents of Everest.

A key section of this book displays available model kits and aftermarket products, complemented by a gallery of beautifully constructed and painted models in various scales.

Blenheim, Ramilles, Oudenarde, Malplaquet much has been written about the brilliant victories of the Duke of Marlborough's Anglo-Dutch army over the armies of Louis XIV of France during the War of the Spanish Succession.

Blood, Bilge and Iron Balls is a set of wargame rules for naval battles in the age of sail. With them you can recreate the triumphs of Nelson or Hawke or tackle pirates on the Spanish Main. The rules themselves are very simple and easy to learn.

Lucius Cornelius Sulla is one of the central figures of the late Roman Republic. Indeed, he is often considered a major catalyst in the death of the republican system. the ambitious general whose feud with a rival (Marius) led to his marching on Rome with an army at his back, leading to civil war and the terrible internecine bloodletting of the proscriptions. In these things, and in his appropriation of the title of dictator with absolute power, he set a dangerous precedent to be followed by Julius Caesar a generation later. **Lynda Telford believes Sulla's portrayal as a monstrous, brutal tyrant is unjustified. While accepting that he was responsible for much bloodshed, she contends that he was no more brutal than many of his contemporaries who have received a kinder press. Moreover, even his harshest measures were motivated not by selfish ambition but by genuine desire to do what he believed best for Rome. The author believes the bias of the surviving sources, and modern biographers, has exaggerated the ill-feeling towards Sulla in his lifetime. After all, he voluntarily laid aside dictatorial power and enjoyed a peaceful retirement without fear of assassination. The contrast to Caesar is obvious. **Lynda Telford gives a long overdue reappraisal of this significant personality, considering such factors as the effect of his disfiguring illness. The portrait that emerges is a subtle and nuanced one; her Sulla is very much a human, not a monster.

Many thousands of men died during the Great War. They came from every place and class. The very cream of the Nation joined up thinking it a great adventure but, all too often, never returned. This book is dedicated to the memory of an elite few of such men - the Rugby Internationals who fell in The Great War. Among the hundreds of thousands who served and died for their country were one hundred and thirty Rugby Internationals.**To place the loss of these men in perspective, it is important to appreciate that Rugby Union was, arguably, bigger in its day than soccer is today. It attracted men from every walk of life. Many became national icons just as David Beckham and Wayne Rooney are now. These were men whose names were common currency in almost every household in Britain; men who were widely admired and emulated.**Yet their physical strength, fitness, prowess and courage made these heroes no less vulnerable to enemy bullets, shells and mines than their less celebrated comrades-in-arms. One hundred years on, the Author decided that any player who perished, whether he had won a single cap for his country or a hundred, would be included within this book.**Into Touch encapsulated the magnitude of a generation's sacrifice. Thanks to the Author's research into these players' service for their country, both on the playing field and battlefield, it will fascinate all with an interest in The Great War and, most particularly, those with a love for The Glorious Game and its history.**As featured in the Cardiff Times and Derby Telegraph.

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 the women (or, where appropriate, their children), the book tells the women’s personal accounts of what their lives were like and what particular experiences they had while serving.They were all ordinary British women, and tell here in their own words their experiences on active service.Their accounts cover the whole spectrum, from famous battles, such as Monte Cassino, to being shipwrecked by a tornado, to simple acts of kindness, which in themselves seem nothing, but at the same time meant something very special to those young women, and were fondly remembered, even sixty years afterwards. The huge variety of services and experiences featured in the book reflect how widely spread the women’s contribution to the war effort was, from tilling the soil below, to servicing the engines of aircraft about to take off to the sky above, and everything in between.

An excellent introduction to the shadowy world of espionage, how the superpowers went about it and how it impacted on the wider Cold War.

Describes the outstanding contribution made by the Hurricane.

This interesting volume is easily accessible to those with little or no knowledge of the building and uses of boats, whether ancient or modern.

This is the shocking true story behind the botched introduction of Automatic Half-Barrier level-crossings into Britain.January 1968 saw the convening of the first Parliamentary Court of Inquiry into a railway accident in Britain since the Tay Bridge Disaster nearly a century before. Why was this? Because Britain's 'Railway Detectives', the Railway Inspectorate, who would normally investigate all aspects of railway safety, were also in charge of the introduction of automatic Continental-style, level-crossings into this country. At Hixon in Staffordshire, one of these newly installed 'robot' crossings on British Rail's flagship Euston to Glasgow mainline, was the scene of a fatal high-speed collision between a packed express train and an enormous, heavily laden low-loader. For once, the 'Railway Detectives' were the ones having to explain their actions, in the full glare of media attention, to an expectant and increasingly worried nation. (There was another awful, fatal collision at an automatic crossing at Beckingham, Lincolnshire, in April of 1968).Using previously undisclosed information, the author has been able to cast fresh light on to not only the Hixon Disaster, but also the extraordinary story of the largely successful attempts, by British Railways and the Railway Inspectorate of the time, to hide the truth of just how close we came to having dozens of 'Hixons' right across the rail network.

This book displays available model kits and aftermarket products, complemented by a gallery of beautifully constructed and painted models in various scales.

In the early 1880s Muhammad Ahmed, the self-styled Mahdi, unleashed a spectacularly successful jihadist uprising against Egyptian colonial rule in the Sudan. The Egyptian military met with a series of disasters, including the rout of major expeditions led by hired-in British colonels, William 'Hicks Pasha' and Valentine 'Baker Pasha'.