Today we're sharing the books we're publishing on our general military list between January and June next year.
The Long Range Desert Group: Italy, Greece and the Balkans, 1944–1945
Anthony Rogers
04/02/2027
An account of the Long Range Desert Group's overlooked exploits in the last 18 months of World War II.
Formed in 1940, the LRDG is best known for operating behind the lines during the North African campaign. However, it also saw service elsewhere. After having survived a disastrous British-led effort to secure the Aegean in autumn 1943, the LRDG, significantly smaller in size, deployed in 1944 to southern Europe and the Balkans. In the European Theatre, the LRDG was part of a major Allied effort to support local Partisans, being tasked with coast and road watches, intelligence gathering, ambushing enemy forces and generally disrupting enemy lines of communication.
Drawing on unit war diaries and the narratives of those who were there, this is the previously untold story of the LRDG in the final 18 months of the war in Europe, with detailed accounts of behind-the-lines operations in Italy, Albania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Istria.
The Last Catfight: The F-14 Tomcat's final combat cruise
Tony Holmes
18/02/2027
A lavishly illustrated celebration of the much-loved workhorse of the US Navy – the F-14 Tomcat – and a unique insight into its final operational tour over the skies of Iraq.
The Last Catfight charts the combat experiences of the US Tomcat crews that took the jet into action during Operation Iraqi Freedom, flying hundreds of missions all over strife-torn Iraq to try to ensure the safety of Coalition troops on the ground. The F-14 units played a key part in protecting the polling stations during two vital government elections held in 2005, and were also in the vanguard of Operation Steel Curtain, when the US Marine Corps went head-to-head with al-Qaeda near the Syria/Iraq border. Combat accounts from the men and women flying these missions bring the F-14’s exploits to life as Grumman’s last fighter is put through its paces in the world’s most demanding combat environment. Whether conducting convoy patrols, looking for IEDs, chasing insurgents through the streets of Baghdad, destroying bomb-making factories or strafing and bombing enemy strongholds, the Tomcat was never found wanting thanks to the professionalism of the crews and the new technologies debuted by the iconic naval fighter on its very last cruise.
Fighting Tito's Partisans: The Axis war against the Yugoslav insurgency, 1941–44
Klaus Schmider
04/02/2027
A new history of the rise and fall of the Axis counterinsurgency effort in Yugoslavia during World War II.
In April 1941 German and other Axis forces invaded and rapidly overran the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Following the short campaign, the country was dismembered and divided between Germany, Hungary, Italy and Bulgaria.
Almost immediately, remnants of the Royal Yugoslav Army under Colonel Mihailovic began to organize a resistance to the occupation. When the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito followed suit, and the Yugoslav Partisans were born. What followed was a campaign of incredible complexity and brutality, as over 12 different factions at times fought both against and alongside each other in a conflict that cost the lives of as many as one million out of the 15 million pre-war population of Germany.
In this new study of this complex and bloody conflict – at the same time both a liberation movement and a civil war – respected Sandhurst academic Klaus Schmider uses primary sources, as well as the latest research from the various combatant powers, to provide a comprehensive and authoritative account of this bitter struggle from its origins in April 1941 through to the arrival of the Red Army in 1944.
The Italian Navy of World War II: The definitive history of its rise and fall
Enrico Cernuschi
11/02/2027
Drawing on a lifetime’s scholarship, and featuring hundreds of rare photos, this is a revelatory history of the wartime Regia Marina, the least-known of the major World War II navies.
In 1940, Italy’s Regia Marina had risen to become the world’s fourth-largest navy. Despite financial, strategic, and political challenges in the 1920s and 30s, and despite losing the struggle for its own air power, it had a powerful battle fleet, one of the world’s biggest submarine forces, and an ambitious strategic role.
Yet until now, few books have attempted a comprehensive study of the Italian Navy of World War II, and many of those relied on limited or biased sources. In this book, Dr Enrico Cernuschi, one of Italy’s pre-eminent naval historians, presents a definitive, superbly illustrated and myth-busting history of Italian seapower from Mussolini’s ascent until 1945, drawing upon Italian, British, German, French, and US primary sources, and on high-level papers unique to Dr Cernuschi’s collection, including the recently unearthed 1947 Italian Navy Staff’s technical history of the war. Ranging widely from grand strategy to steel production, it is packed with historical revelations, definitive new information, and little-known episodes of naval history.
Illustrated with hundreds of rare and unpublished photos, this is the essential guide to Italy’s great fleet of World War II, and its actions from the Mediterranean to the Pacific.
Execute, Repeat, Execute: Operation Pocket Money and the End of the Vietnam War
Barrett Tillman
22/04/2027
The first comprehensive account of the 1972 U.S. mining of Haiphong Harbor told through vivid first-hand accounts.
Barrett Tillman’s Execute, Repeat, Execute delivers a long-overdue, deeply researched account of one of the most strategically impactful operations of the entire conflict. With the precision of a seasoned historian and the flair of a novelist, Barrett Tillman revisits Operation Pocket Money: the 1972 U.S. naval mining of Haiphong Harbor, a bold maneuver that sealed North Vietnam’s key maritime lifeline and helped force Hanoi back to the negotiating table.
For fans of aviation and Vietnam War history, this book offers a rare Command Room to cockpit perspective. Uniquely, Tillman incorporates both American and North Vietnamese sources, including translated official Hanoi documents and first-hand Vietnamese accounts – many appearing in English for the first time. This dual narrative deepens our understanding of the conflict’s technological, tactical, and human dimensions. With insights into Cold War geopolitics, aerial tactics, and naval coordination, Execute, Repeat, Execute is an essential read for those with an interest in the history of war.
The Real Rogue Heroes: The wartime SAS in their own words
Gavin Mortimer
04/03/2027
The definitive, myth-busting history of the wartime SAS – the real story behind the global BBC phenomenon Rogue Heroes, told by the only historian trusted by 75 original SAS veterans.
This exciting new history reveals a story far more compelling and real story than the dramatic portrayals popularised in television dramas. Drawing on interviews with 75 veterans and exclusive access to private letters, diaries and regimental archives, The Real Rogue Heroes offers the most authoritative account yet of the men who built the SAS in the North African desert and then saw service throughout wartime Europe.
Central to that story is Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne: not the reckless figure often depicted on screen, but a disciplined, formidable leader respected by those who served beside him. Along with comrades from every corner of Britain and beyond, Mayne helped forge a unit defined by audacity, ingenuity and unshakeable camaraderie.
Gavin Mortimer offers the most intimate and authoritative portrait yet of the men who forged the SAS. They were not outlaws or caricatures, but ordinary young volunteers from every background, united by daring and a hunger for adventure. Told through their own words and the memories of those who fought beside them, The Real Rogue Heroes brings the original SAS back to life – exactly as they were.
Target Schweinfurt: The Eighth Air Force's Darkest Days
Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
04/03/2027
A vivid account of the US Eighth Air Force’s raids on Schweinfurt and Regensburg in August and October 1943, their most difficult and costliest missions of World War II.
Based on the first-hand accounts of those who survived, renowned aviation historian Tom Cleaver tells the story of the Eighth Air Force’s darkest days during the bombing campaign against Germany in the Summer and Fall of 1943. These were the raids carried out to destroy the vital ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt and Regensburg on which the German Army depended – Mission 84 on August 17 and Mission 115 on October 14.
In the face of an unrelenting German anti-aircraft defence, these missions became bitter fights as the B-17 crews of VIII Bomber Command found themselves under attack from nearly every Luftwaffe fighter unit in Western Europe. During Mission 115 alone, 60 B-17s were lost and 600 men died or became prisoners of war. October 14, 1943, was known forever after as “Black Thursday,” the day the Luftwaffe won.
This dramatic narrative takes us through the build-up to the missions before focussing on the desperate struggle for survival in the skies above Germany. The raids were to have profound implications as the Luftwaffe regained air superiority over Germany and the US Air Force conducted no more missions until long-range fighter escorts were available. A new air war had begun.
A History and Atlas of Victoria’s Wars, 1815–1902
Nick Lipscombe
15/04/2027
A lavishly presented atlas covering the many battles and campaigns that defined the reign of Queen Victoria.
In 1815 the Treaty of Vienna concluded the Napoleonic Wars and provided the basis for a general European peace that lasted for nearly a hundred years. Great Britain’s last European rival for Empire and global domination had been neutralized, and between 1815 and 1901 – Britain’s imperial century – around ten million square miles of territory and roughly 400 million people were added to the British Empire.
British forces were engaged in action somewhere across the world on every day of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837–1901), and these conflicts are explained and illustrated in this definitive atlas. Over this so-called period of Pax Britannica, the British Government awarded some 43 campaign medals with a total of 202 clasps for copious small wars, fought against irregular forces, as well as larger scale conflicts fought against regular armies.
Featuring over 147 newly created maps, all expertly explained and put into context in the accompanying text, this beautifully presented atlas examines the role Victoria’s Army, and to a lesser extent the Royal Navy, in the execution of their role as Soldiers of the Queen in the inspiring victories and dismal defeats of what Rudyard Kipling called the ‘savage wars of peace’.
Set Europe Ablaze: The SOE Agents Who Fought Behind Enemy Lines
Graham Hoyland
15/04/2026
A gripping look at how SOE agents of World War II trained for their work in occupied territories, the tools they used and the paths they took to ensure victory.
At the start of World War II, Winston Churchill commanded the Special Operations Executive to ‘set Europe ablaze’. To do this, extraordinarily brave men and women were selected, trained and parachuted into occupied countries by moonlight. Once there, they caused mayhem by inciting unrest in the population, sabotaging enemy infrastructure, organizing resistance and backing anti-establishment organizations. Trained in sabotage, small arms, radio communication, unarmed combat and silent killing, SOE agents also had to be fluent in multiple languages so they could fit seamlessly into society. If their presence aroused suspicion, their missions – or their lives – could be over before they even began. These dangers were part of what it meant to be an SOE agent.
Armed with the top-secret Special Operations Manual and joined by two ex-SAS soldiers, historian and explorer Graham Hoyland retraces the steps of some of these agents, following their routes across Europe from training in Scotland, through escape routes over the Pyrenees to caves in Crete. With a boots-on-the-ground approach, Hoyland showcases how these agents lived, fought and died, bringing their story to life and honouring their incredible bravery.
Limelight and Shadow: American and Soviet Jet Aces of the Korean War
Bill Yenne
15/04/2026
This fascinating history reveals the Korean War as the birth of modern jet combat, where dogfights forged heroes in the limelight of fame and the shadow of secrecy.
This gripping history of the Korean War’s jet age contrasts the celebrated exploits of American fighter aces with the hidden war waged by their Soviet adversaries. It follows figures such as Joseph McConnell, whose victories in the F-86 Sabre made him a public hero in the United States, and Nikolai Sutyagin, the highest-scoring ace of the war, who flew MiG-15s under false markings before vanishing back behind the Iron Curtain.
Drawing on decades of suppressed history, the book reveals how Soviet pilots were the primary opponents of United Nations airmen in “MiG Alley” – a truth long dismissed as rumor, even as American pilots heard Russian voices over the radio and were ordered to remain silent. The Korean War marked the world’s first jet-on-jet air war and produced more such combat than all later conflicts combined, redefining aerial warfare forever. By placing American and Soviet aces side by side, Limelight and Shadow explores how courage, competition, and ideology collided at supersonic speeds, turning elite pilots into instruments of propaganda and pawns in a global struggle that was anything but cold. Some entered history’s spotlight; others remained in the shadows – and only now can their stories be told together.
Warship 2027
Editor: John Jordan
13/05/2026
The 2027 edition of Warship, the renowned naval annual featuring original research on the history, development, and service of the world's warships.
For half a century, Warship has been providing scholars and enthusiasts with new information on the history of the world's combat ships. Featuring a broad range of articles from a select panel of distinguished international contributors, Warship combines original research, new book reviews, warship notes, an image gallery and much more, maintaining the impressive standards of scholarship and research with which the annual has become synonymous. Detailed and accurate information is the hallmark of all the articles, which are fully supported by plans, data tables, and photographs, many previously unpublished.
This year's annual includes feature articles on the Commonwealth antiaircraft escorts of 1944–45; the reshaping of the Royal Navy between 1919 and 1928; the first part of a feature on French coastal defence battleships; and the next part of Warship’s ground-breaking coverage of early German destroyers.
Stopping the Panzers: Breaking the Back of Germany’s Armoured Force, 1943–44
Ben Wheatley
10/06/2026
A revolutionary study of the attrition of the German armoured force during the later years of World War II.
Following the near-annihilation of the German armoured force in the winter of 1942/43 and the fall of Stalingrad in February 1943, the Panzertruppen were radically reorganized and modernized to face the challenges to come. This new study uses original methodologies to approach the subject in a new and innovative way.
This, the first volume of a two-part series, covers the Tunisian campaign, battle for Italy, and the major campaigns on the Eastern Front, including Kharkov and Kursk, through to the collapse of the southern portions of the front in the spring of 1944. Historian Ben Wheatley argues that the heavy losses suffered by Germany in this period led to the strategic decision to reinforce the East and neglect the West, a decision that saw the German armoured formations wasted on the battlefields of Normandy.
Using primary sources including contemporary aerial photography, mapping and detailed inventories of tank strengths, this book will advance our understanding of some of the most famous battles in military history.
Blade of a Sword: Ernst Jünger and the 73rd Fusilier Regiment on the Western Front, 1914–18
Matthias Strohn
10/06/2026
The enthralling story of the German 73rd Fusilier Regiment as it fought through the major campaigns of World War I’s Western Front.
Combining traditional military history with a trench-level soldier’s view of the Great War, Dr Matthias Strohn tracks the experiences of an elite German regiment throughout the conflict, following the men who fought and died in the service of what would ultimately prove to be a futile cause.
The German 73rd Fusilier Regiment spent the whole of World War I on the Western Front and was one of the Imperial German Army’s most elite units. Starting with the occupation of Liège, it took part in nearly every major campaign in the West, including the Champagne offensives, the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele and the Operation Michael offensives. Using the personal accounts of the soldiers themselves, including Ernst Jünger, author of Storm of Steel, this engrossing story of a regiment at war presents the horror of trench warfare on a human scale, through the eyes of ordinary men-at-arms, as they fought for honour and survival in military history’s most brutal theatre of combat.
The Year of the Galleys: The Medieval English and the Sea
Ian Friel
10/06/2026
A unique portrait of the English working people in the Middle Ages and their relationship with the sea
In November 1294, Edward I wrote to 26 English ports and told each of them to build, or help others to build, ‘a good and beautiful galley of 120 oars’. Galleys were among the most powerful naval vessels of their day, and Edward wanted them for his wars with France and Scotland. Twenty galleys were actually ordered, and in the end only ten were delivered along with seven smaller oared vessels called barges.
What makes these galleys more than just a piece of obscure naval history is that financial accounts and other records survive for them. They tell us about war and about medieval technology operating at its limits, but crucially they also make it possible to explore life and work on the English coast and its two greatest cities, London and York. The galley accounts offer a way of discovering what made England tick in the late 13th century, just as the English population was reaching its medieval peak, before the famines and plagues of the 14th century that devastated the country.
The book builds on Ian Friel’s many years of research into medieval maritime history. The abundant information in these documents is combined with evidence from other historical sources, as well as insights from terrestrial and maritime archaeology, studies of human remains, placenames and topography.
Fighting Retreat: Burma 1942
Jack Bowsher
10/06/2026
An enthralling new study of the brutal British retreat from Burma, the beginning of World War II in the Far East.
Using eyewitness accounts and based on meticulous research, World War II historian Jack Bowsher examines the pivotal Burma campaign of 1942. In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan invaded Burma in an effort to cut China off from American supplies, and chased the disoriented British and Indian forces out of the country: the longest fighting retreat by British forces in its entire history.
Fighting Retreat is a story of human drama featuring narrow escapes, heroism, near-misses, mistakes, failures, victories, tactical flair, ingenuity, and tragedy. It follows the initial Japanese invasion, the disaster at the Sittang Bridge, the parallel battles up the Sittang and Irrawaddy valleys, the fighting in central Burma, and the final retreat into India. From commanders at the top down to the lowliest foot solider, this is a compelling account (of the outbreak of World War II in Burma.
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