Books published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd

If you want to find out about Lancashires history, and particularly if you have family links to the area and your ancestors lived or worked in the county, then this is the ideal book for you. As well as helping you to trace when and where your ancestors were born, married and died, it gives you an insight into the world they knew and a chance to explore their lives at work and at home.

As the fall of France took place, almost the entire coastline of Western Europe was in German hands. Clandestine sea transport operations provided lines of vital intelligence for wartime Britain. These secret flotillas" landed and picked up agents in and from France

The pursuit and sinking of the Bismarck is one of the classic tales of naval warfare. Written by a leading naval historian and authority. Draws on hitherto unquoted first hand accounts and throws spectacular new light on the legendary story.

Provides a unique photographic portrait of the Royal Air Force during one of the most significant and interesting decades in aviation history. This is the second volume in a major new series that seeks to explore a wide variety of aspects of the Royal Air Force's history over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Possibly the most important battle in Roman history, Actium drew the final curtain on the Roman Republic and ushered in the Roman Empire

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was almost certainly the most versatile Second World War Bomber.

Violette Szabo's inspiring story was turned into a book and film "Carve Her Name with Pride", with Virginia McKenna taking the lead. This story of a true heroine will not only appeal to those interested in the Second World War, but also to a mass audience.

First narrative history and reference work on the development and employment of British Armoured Divisions in WW2. Covers the war in the main Western theatres. Also covers the characters and contribution of these elite divisions' commanders.

The Korean War is enjoying growing popularity and interest after years of neglect. A unique account by a conscript who was uniquely present at two of the key battles of the War. The author records his extraordinary experiences with modest understatement

Throughout the relatively short yet highly distinguished history of the Royal Air Force there has been a tendency for the men and women of the Service to be overshadowed by the glamour of the aircraft.

Illustrated with photographs of the event, this account looks at how the rise of the Nazis affected German sportsmen and women in the early 1930s. It reveals how the rest of the world allowed the Berlin Olympics to go ahead despite the knowledge that Nazi Germany was a police state.

Illustrated with maps, photographs of Walcheren today, and contemporary images from the Dutch archives. Provides a medically informed (but easily understandable) account of the mysterious fever which decimated the expeditionary force and blighted the British army for the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars.

Concise, accessible, authoritative guide to Kent's family and local history sources

It hardly seems credible today that a nineteenyear- old boy, just commissioned into the Seaforth Highlanders, could lead a platoon of men into the carnage of the Battle of the Somme. Or that, as the machine gun bullets whistled past and shells exploded, he could maintain his own morale to lead a platoon, keeping its discipline and cohesion, in spite of desperate losses. Norman Collins, the author of this superb memoir, was this remarkable man.Using Norman's own words, Last Man Standing follows him from his childhood in Hartlepool to his subsequent service in France. The book also covers such shattering events as the German naval assault on Hartlepool in December 1914 when, as a seventeen-year-old, Norman was subjected to as big a bombardment as any occurring on the Western Front at that time. Norman's love for, and devotion to, the men under his command shine out in this book and his stories are gripping and deeply moving. They are illustrated by a rare collection of private photographs taken at or near the front by Norman himself, although the use of a camera was strictly proscribed by the Army. Most of the images have never been published before.

On the night of 14 July, 1976 - Bastille Day - an elderly German was brutally murdered in a little French village where he had taken refuge from the evil shadow which had dogged him for the past thirty-two years. His killers were never brought to justice; indeed, no real attempt was ever made to track them down, the affair being politically embarrassing to both the French and the German governments. The murdered man was Jochen Peiper, once the dashing leader of one of the most renowned units in the German Army. The shadow which hung over him was his alleged complicity in the murder of over seventy unarmed American soldiers during the Ardennes offensive in the winter of 1944/45. It is certain that Peiper was not at the fateful crossroads near Malmedy at the time the men died, but that is not to say that they were not killed on his orders. Guilty or not, Peiper was tried and imprisoned after the war and on his release might have been said to have paid his debt for his supposed part in what had become known as the Malmedy Massacre. But there were those who thought otherwise.After exhaustive research, this classic work sees Charles Whiting tell the story of this enigmatic man, regarded by some as a brilliant and dashing leader of men, by others as a Nazi war criminal, with the vividness and punch which characterized Peiper's military career. All the facts may never be uncovered but all that are known are recorded here. What is certain is that Jochen Peiper remains one of the most controversial miltary figures to emerge from the maelstrom of the Second World War.

Originally published: Great Britain: Allen Lane, 1983.

The trail that an ancestor leaves through the Victorian period and the twentieth century is relatively easy to follow the records are plentiful, accessible and commonly used. But how do you go back further, into the centuries before the central registration of births, marriages and deaths was introduced in 1837, before the first detailed census records of 1841? How can you trace a family line back through the early modern period and perhaps into the Middle Ages? Jonathan Oatess clearly written new handbook gives you all the background knowledge you need in order to go into this engrossing area of family history research.