Books published by Vaktel Forlag

This is the direct continuation of Volume 4 in the Black Cross/Red Star series. This volume covers the air war on the Eastern Front between March/April 1943 and July 1943, with the focus on the great air battles at Kuban and Kursk.

Regarded as the standard work on the air war over the Eastern Front during World War II, Christer Bergström’s unique Black Cross/Red Star series covers the history of the air war on the Eastern Front in close detail, with the perspectives of both sides. Based on a close study of German and Russian archive material, as well as interviews with a large number of the airmen who participated in this aerial conflict, it has established itself as the main source on the air war on the Eastern Front.Black Cross/Red Star, Volume 4 will cover the air war along the entire Eastern Front during the period winter 1942/1943 through the spring of 1943, in great detail, with a balance between German and Soviet archive sources etc, and with many first-hand accounts. It will be of the same size as the other volumes, and it will also contain aircraft color profiles.Following the publication of Volume 4, new and heavily updated editions of volumes 1, 2 and 3 will follow, and next the subsequent volumes (vols. 5 etc.) will follow.Large format, heavily illustrated, (aircraft color profiles in the British edition)! To be published in April 2019ISBN 978-91-88441-50-8 Size 210 mm x 297 mm (large format)Illustrated throughout, many detailed maps.Retail price: US$49.99  

This is the ultimate book on ”Operation Market Garden”, by internationally highly acclaimed military historian Christer Bergström.The indepth research made by the author has resulted in many myths and misconceptions being convincingly dispelled, backed up by detailed source notes. . In fact, these two volumes form a completely new image of the battle in the Netherlands in the autumn of 1944.It was Cornelius Ryan who in 1974 put ”Market Garden” so to say ”on the map”. However, it is obvious that he had no time to go through his vast collection of first-hand material on ”Market Garden” before he so sadly passed away that same year. This is a mission that Christer Bergström has taken upon himself.A torrent of new books about ”Market Garden” has been published since 1974, and many of its authors – all included – have done meritorious work in producing new research. But it appears quite obvious that nobody has previously tried to go through The Cornelius Ryan Collection in its entirety in order to publish to the public the important pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that Ryan produced but was never able to use in his book. But now it has been done, for the first time, in this book by Christer Bergström.Bergström has made a painstaking research work for several years, interviewing veterans and others who participated or witnessed the battle. He has gone through all relevant documents in all relevant archives in the UK, the USA, Germany and the Netherlands, and that material forms the basis of his book.But even more so: Cross-referencing both sides’ documents is absolutely crucial to form an opinion that is as close to the actual events as possible.The major part of the archive material about the World War II in official collections has now been made accessible, but this has obviously not been enough – for several reasons. To begin with, we have the fact that the German side destroyed most of its remaining military documents at the end of the war. Even if Germany’s Bundesarchiv has an impressive collection of documents from World War II at its disposal, it only constitutes a small part of the German military documents that were produced during the war. This is especially true for the last years of the war. In order to get as good an image as possible from the German side, I have during the last few decades had access to large quantities of first-hand material (documents from the war) from private collections – veterans, veterans’ associations, collectors, etc.

Ahed Tamimi received prominent media coverage internationally when she was arrested by the Israeli Occupation authorities shortly before Christmas 2017. Israeli soldiers forced their way into the Tamimi's home at night time, and arrested Nariman and Bassem Tamimi's 16-year-old daughter, Ahed.The day before, there had been a demonstration to protest against the Occupation Army's use of force when Ahed's 14-year-old cousin Muhammed was shot in the face during another demonstration. In the course of the demonstration, an Israeli soldier hit Ahed, but Ahed defended herself, slapping the soldier in his face. That allegedly was the reason why this young girl was thrown into prison.But Ahed Tamimi has shown defiance towards the Occupation Army on several occasions. Ahed herself says: "We only want to live a peaceful life. We want to play like other children. My dream is to become a football player." But the occupation prevents the children from being children.Ahed lives in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, some 20 kilometres north of Jerusalem. Nabi Saleh is famous for its peaceful resistance against the oppression. Nabi Saleh is a place where Palestinian, Israeli and international women enjoy picnics near a water spring in the park. "Nabi Saleh is where I lost my Zionism", wrote Lisa Goldman in "+972 Magazine".Ahed Tamimi embodies the spirit of Nabi Saleh. This is her story, written by Paul Morris, Paul Heron, Peter Lahti and Ahed Tamimi's aunt, Manal Tamimi.