To see in the dark and to hit their target was the challenge Bomber Command faced in the Second World War. To see in the dark and stay hidden only complicated matters more. In Will Iredale latest book, The Pathfinders, he paints a vivid of the force set up to guide Bomber Command’s squadrons to their targets in Occupied Europe. The Pathfinders is a superior narrative history that pays the respect that is due and to the price that was paid.
Read MoreI’m sure the pitch Robert D. Krzykowski, the writer-director of The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot, made for his debut feature hinged a lot on the title. The second half of the pitch, where Krzykowski turned the tables must have been the harder sell. But this film is very much about the titular ‘Man’ and because of it, The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then Bigfoot is an unexpected and utter joy.
Read MoreD-Day can tend to be remembered by the beaches, the bocage and the Tigers. In his new history of the Normandy campaign, James Holland looks at the myths of the campaign and reminds us that without the incredible logistics machine supporting the tip of the spear, the liberation would never have gotten very far inland at all.
Read MoreThe submarine is one of man’s greatest, and most deadly, inventions. In The Deadly Trade: The Complete History of Submarine Warfare from Archimedes to the Present, Iain Ballantyne takes us from the theory of the underwater warship, through Jules Vern to the U-Boot and today’s Intercontinental Ballistic Submarine. Where Ballantyne’s superior work excels is to look at the development of the submarine through the eyes of the men who took them to war and who, mostly, never came home.
Read MoreAfter 60 years languishing in the Russian State Military Archive, Heinrich Gerlach's novel of his experiences in Stalingrad is finally published. Uncompromising and oppressive, Breakout at Stalingrad is a remarkable testament to the horror war and the affect on the men caught up in it.
Read MoreSeptember 1938. The world teeters on the brink of another war. Hitler is eyeing the Sudetenland and is hours away from mobilisation. In London, Chamberlain is doing everything to keep the piece. A summit is arranged in Munich and two men travel there with plans of their own in Robert Harris' fantastic latest novel.
Read MoreClare Mulley's new biography looks at two incredible, yet very different women who were pinoneering Test Pilots for the Third Reich. In The Women Who Flew For Hitler, Mulley looks at what drove these women in a male dominated flying world and the very different directions they chose under a Nazi flag.
Read MoreHeroic failure is something that Britain has always done well. With Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan has crafted an incredible film about an incredible event. With that as his setting, Nolan may have made his best movie yet.
Read MoreThe men and women who resisted Hitler have been cast as heroes and villains of both the left and right. The conspirators and their actions have been remembered in black and white, with the viewer choosing the colours with which to paint them. In Danny Orbach’s new history of the resistance, The Plots Against Hitler, he very convincingly shows us that rather than pure saints or sinners, the complexity and contradictions of the conspirators makes them that most difficult of things to digest, human.
Read MoreTheir Finest does that difficult thing of being funny about a period and reverential about it at the same time. And above it all is Gemma Arterton. Her performance is subtle, humorous, strong and committed. Their Finest is one of those increasingly rare occasions where a film happily sits across generations and manages to please all.
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