Mosul: Inside Australia's Secret War Against ISIS by Ben Mckelvey

$34.99 AUD

Category: Military

 From the best-selling author of The Commando and Born to Fight comes a fascinating investigation of modern warfare that combines methodical research and the fast-paced action of battle with the personal stories of the combatants on both sides of the line. Taking us from the suburbs of western Sy dney and Australia's military army bases, to the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, this is a remarkable book that reveals the as-yet untold story of the battle for Mosul and the secret involvement of Australians on both sides of the war - both our Commandos and Australian ISIS fighters. Mosul details the rise of ISIS influence in Australia, the Iran and Australia allegiance to fight Daesh and shows what led up to the battle and the ramifications that are still being felt at home - by our soldiers and the victims of that war. Ben Mckelvey has extraordinary access to SOOCOMD/2COMMANDO units - the most decorated modern Australian fighting unit; ISOF - Iraq's premier fighters; Yazidis women who had been slaves of ISIS; returned Commandos and their devastated families, and explains how petty criminals in Western Sydney became some of our worst jihadists who took their families to Iraq to fight for ISIS. Focusing on the stories of key figures like 2 Commando's Ian Turner and one of Australia's most infamous Jihadist, Khaled Sharrouf, Mckelvey takes us the heart of this brutal battle and brings history to life in an honest, thoughtful and compelling examination of modern warfare. A must-read for anyone interested in modern military history. ...Show more

Red Lead: The Legendary Australian Ship's Cat Who Survived the Sinking of HMAS Perth and the Thai-Burma Railway by Roland Perry

$29.99 AUD

Category: Military

The legendary Australian ship's cat who survived the sinking of HMAS Perth and the Thai-Burma Railway. Just after midnight on the 1st March 1942, Australia's most celebrated cruiser, HMAS Perth, was sunk by Japanese naval forces in the Sunda Strait off the coast of Java. Of the 681 men aboard, 328 survived the sinking and made it to shore - and one cat. Her name was Red Lead, and she was the ship's cat, beloved by the crew and by HMAS Perth's legendary captain Hec Waller. But surviving shell fire, torpedoes and the fierce currents of the Sunda Strait was only the start of the terrible trials Red Lead and the surviving crew were to face over the next three and a half years. From Java to Changi and then on the Thai-Burma Railway, Red Lead was to act as a companion, mascot and occasional hunter of food for a small group of sailors who made it their mission to keep her alive in some of the most hellish prison camps on earth.Red Lead's extraordinary story is one of courage, loyalty and love amidst battle, imprisonment and death, brought vividly to life by bestselling author Roland Perry.   ...Show more

On Our Doorstep: When Australia Faced the Threat of Invasion by the Japanese by Craig Collie

$27.99 AUD

Category: Military

In 1942 Australia faced the threat of invasion by the Japanese. This is what happened.  

The Commando Way by Bram Connolly

$32.99 AUD

Category: Military

Clear-headed, frank, witty and surprising, a top Australian soldier shares his secrets of success in life and work learnt in combat and adversity.

Agent Sonya: Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy by Ben Macintyre

$35.00 AUD

Category: Military

In the quiet Cotswolds village of Great Rollright in 1944, a thin, and unusually elegant, housewife emerged from her cottage to go on her usual bike ride. A devoted mother-of-three, attentive wife and friendly neighbour, Sonya Burton seemed to epitomise rural British domesticity. However, rather than pe dalling towards the shops with her ration book, Sonya was heading for the Oxfordshire countryside to gather scientific secrets from a nuclear physicist. Secrets that would enable the Soviet Union to build the atomic bomb. Far from an obedient homemaker, Sonya Burton was a dedicated communist, a decorated colonel and a veteran spy who risked her life to keep the Soviet Union in the nuclear arms race. In Mrs Burton, Ben Macintyre reveals the astonishing story behind the most important female spy in history. ...Show more

Special Forces in Action by Alexander Stilwell

$19.99 AUD

Category: Military

In 1991 Coalition forces liberated Kuwait after its brief occupation by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. In 2011, US Navy SEALs flew covertly into Pakistan and assassinated Osama bin Laden at his hideaway. In 2014, special forces fought ISIS in Syria in an effort to rescue journalist James Foley and other hostage s. In 25 years, elite military formations have played an increasingly important role in the policing of the modern world. Special Forces in Action is a detailed account of the operations of the world's special forces over the past 25 years. From the First Gulf War to the covert operations of special forces in Somalia, Sierra Leon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria today, this book brings the reader full details of the often clandestine activities of the world's most elite soldiers. The invasion of Iraq, the search for war criminals in the Balkans, drug baron hunting in South America, hostage rescues in Africa, and the counterterrorist initiatives since 9/11 the special forces role is always expanding. With an authoritative text and rare photographs, the book is a highly illustrated guide to the recent operations of these most secretive - and successful - soldiers. ...Show more

Australia's Greatest Escape Stories from Two World Wars (PB) by Colin Burgess

$35.00 AUD

Category: Military

A collection of stories about the most dangerous aspect of the Australian prisoner of war experience - escape. Here is all the adventure, suspense and courage of ordinary Australians who defied their captors; men who tunnelled to freedom, crawled by night through stinking drains, rappelled down stone wa lls using knotted bedsheets or clawed a passage beneath barbed wire in a desperate bid to flee their captors. They were willing to risk death in order to overcome almost impossible odds in the loneliest war of all - the fight for the right to be free. And they represent in spades the noble qualities of boldness, resourcefulness, cunning, determination and mateship we have come to know, expect and appreciate about our Australian service men and women under adversity. ...Show more

Operations in North Africa and the Middle East - 1939-1942 by Martin Mace (Compiled by, Introduction by); John Grehan (Introduction by, Compiled by)

$75.00 AUD

Category: Military | Series: Despatches from the Front Ser.

Dispatches in this volume include that on operations in the Middle East August 1939 to November 1940 by General Sir Archibald P. Wavell, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East; the dispatch on operations in the Middle East February 1941 to July 1941, by General Sir Archibald P. Wavell, Commander-in-Chief, Midd le East; operations in the Middle East July 1941 to October 1941, by General Sir Claude J. E. Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East; operations in the Middle East November 1941 to August 1942, by General Sir Claude J.E. Auchinleck; Operations in Middle East 16 February 1943 to 8 January 1944 by General Maitland Wilson.This unique collection of original documents will prove to be an invaluable resource for historians, students and all those interested in what was one of the most significant periods in British military history.REVIEWS Grehan and Mace present for the first time a collection of unabridged despatches from operations covering Tobruk, Crete, Syria, and East Africa. The Middle East Command was formed in August 1939, under General Sir Archibald Wavell, who assembled a multinational force when Italy declared war on France and Britain in 1940. Wavell s mixed force faced over 200,000 Italian troops in Libya and over 200,000 in Italian East Africa. Outnumbered, he went on the offensive. His first and second dispatches describe his operations in the Western Desert. The third covers British support for Greece and the defence and withdrawal from Crete. The last two are from General Auchinleck and provide a detailed account of the operations in Libya. Grehan and Mace reproduce the despatches as they first appeared some 70 years ago, unedited and unmodified. Protoview" ...Show more

Missions Impossible - Extraordinary Stories of Daring and Courage by Hazel Flynn

$19.99 AUD

Category: Military

110 incredible true stories torn from the pages of history. From Ancient Greece to the hunt and killing of Bin Laden, here are incredible acts of bravery, courage and derring-do that have in one fell swoop changed the world. Missions Impossible: Extraordinary Stories of Daring and Courage is a fascina ting encyclopedia of 110 such stories from around the world. More than 300 photographs and illustrations highlight the brief text, which describes the events chronologically. A summary list notes the Date, Location, Objective, and Forces or People involved. A timeline and maps together show the events step by step. These are the stories burned in our memory, but do we know what really happened? And the incredible courage they took? The stories include: Age of Heroism Hannibal crossing the Alps Battle of Agincourt Siege of Tenochtitlan Defeat of the Spanish Armada   Age of Subterfuge Gunpowder Plot Escape of Charles II Captain Morgan's raid on Panama Burning of the White House   Age of Derring- Do The Alamo Charge of the Light Brigade Battle of Maiwand, Afghanistan Seige of Khartoum   Age of Dirty Tricks Pancho Villa's raid on USA Raid on Glenwitz radio station Assassination of Trotsky Human Torpedo attack: Alexandria   Special Operations Attempted assassination of Rommel Rescue of Mussolini "The Wooden Horse": POW camp Clandestine navigation for D- Day   Cold Wars Enola Gay The Berlin Airlift U-2 Incident: Gary Powers Battle of Dien Bien Phu   The Age of Terror Attempted rescue: US hostages, Iran Black Hawk Down: Mogadishu 9/11 attacks Russian submarine: Kamchatkha Tracking down Bin Laden.   This is an exciting book for readers of war, history, and espionage. ...Show more

The World at War by Gerard Cheshire; Caroline Icke

$14.99 AUD

Category: Military | Series: Discovery Collection Extra FB

The Diggers of Colditz: The Classic Australian POW Story about Escape from the Impossible by Jack Champ; Colin Burgess

$22.99 AUD

Category: Military

Colditz Castle was Nazi Germany's infamous 'escape-proof' wartime prison, where hundreds of the most determined and resourceful Allied prisoners were sent. Despite having more guards than inmates, Australian Lieutenant Jack Champ and other prisoners tirelessly carried out their campaign to escape from t he massive floodlit stronghold . . . by any means necessary.   In this riveting account - by turns humorous, heartfelt and tragic - historian Colin Burgess and Lieutenant Jack Champ, from the point of view of the prisoners themselves, tells the story of the twenty Australians who made this castle their 'home', and the plans they made that were so crazy that some even achieved the seemingly impossible - escape!   'A stirring testimony of mateship . . . We are often on tenterhooks, always impressed by their determination, industry and courage' Australian Book Review ...Show more

The World's Greatest:Small Arms by PHILIP Craig

$24.99 AUD

Category: Military | Series: The\World's Greatest Ser.

Small arms have developed hugely since the introduction of the machine gun in the 1870s. Magazine-fed rifles, submachine guns, automatic pistols and, later, assault rifles and personal defence weapons have changed the face of infantry warfare, offering a range of weaponry designed for both the specialis t and novice. The World's Greatest Small Arms features 52 weapons from the late 19th century to the present day. The book includes the best-known weapons from throughout the modern era, from the Gatling gun, SMLE rifle and Luger pistol, to the Uzi, FN MAG and the M110 sniper rifle. Great iconic weapons, such as the Colt M1911 pistol, Bren Gun, MP5 submachine gun, and Steyr AUG rifle are featured, as well as timeless classics still in use today: the M2 Browning 50 cal, AK-47 and M16 rifle. Each weapon is illustrated with a color profile artwork and photographs, along with a description of the weapon's development and history, key features and a full specifications box. Including more than 200 artworks and photographs, The World's Greatest Small Arms is a colorful guide for the military historian. ...Show more