An eminent writer has said that regiments great in history have this in common with mortals- through old in glory and honour, they have yet the vigour of youth. To none may the remark be more truthful applied then the Grenadier Guards...' Thus wrote Chichester and Burges-Short in 1900 and, judging by the Regiment's history over the last fifty years, the words ring as true as ever. For this history of Grenadier Guards is indeed a microcosm of all the proud endeavours of the British Army. There are few places of significance where the Regiment has not served: after the round-up of Nazis in 1945 in Germany and Austria, Grenadiers saw action in Palestine and in the jungles of Malaya, and subsequently served during emergencies in Cyprus, the Cameroons, British Guiana, Belize, Northern Ireland, the Gulf and with the United Nations, to indicate but some of the over seas postings which included the Falklands and Hong Kong. Grenadier have also been responsible for the protection of British Sovereigns and the great ceremonial events in London, including the funerals of King George VI and Winston Churchill. Oliver Lindsay has produced a rigorous work of history-his fourth book- rich in quotation after interviewing Grenadiers, serving and retired, of all generations. Drawing on their accounts as well as his own experiences - for he was a regular soldier for thirty-five years- he has written a book of extraordinary interest. Unique among such historians, he tells of the experiences of wives in such places as war-torn Germany in 1945. Tripoli and Cyprus. The story of Grenadiers who served with the Guards parachute Company and in the SAS is included. Five years in the writing, this comprehensive record included coverage of training, tactics, the pronounced changes in the armed forces and the views and anecdotes of the Non Commissioned Officers and Guardsmen. Profusely illustrated and with 14 detailed maps, this is a dedicated history of the senior infantry Regiment in the British Army and what is probably the most famous Regiment in the world.

'An eminent writer has said that regiments great in history have this in common with mortals- through old in glory and honour, they have yet the vigour of youth. To none may the remark be more truthful applied then the Grenadier Guards...' Thus wrote Chichester and Burges-Short in 1900 and, judging by the Regiment's history over the last fifty years, the words ring as true as ever. For this history of Grenadier Guards is indeed a microcosm of all the proud endeavours of the British Army. There are few places of significance where the Regiment has not served: after the round-up of Nazis in 1945 in Germany and Austria, Grenadiers saw action in Palestine and in the jungles of Malaya, and subsequently served during emergencies in Cyprus, the Cameroons, British Guiana, Belize, Northern Ireland, the Gulf and with the United Nations, to indicate but some of the over seas postings which included the Falklands and Hong Kong. Grenadier have also been responsible for the protection of British Sovereigns and the great ceremonial events in London, including the funerals of King George VI and Winston Churchill. Oliver Lindsay has produced a rigorous work of history-his fourth book- rich in quotation after interviewing Grenadiers, serving and retired, of all generations. Drawing on their accounts as well as his own experiences - for he was a regular soldier for thirty-five years- he has written a book of extraordinary interest. Unique among such historians, he tells of the experiences of wives in such places as war-torn Germany in 1945. Tripoli and Cyprus. The story of Grenadiers who served with the Guards parachute Company and in the SAS is included. Five years in the writing, this comprehensive record included coverage of training, tactics, the pronounced changes in the armed forces and the views and anecdotes of the Non Commissioned Officers and Guardsmen. Profusely illustrated and with 14 detailed maps, this is a dedicated history of the senior infantry Regiment in the British Army and what is probably the most famous Regiment in the world.

As the Allies were approaching the German frontier at the beginning of September 1944, the German Armed Forces responded with a variety of initiatives designed to regain the strategic initiative. While the "Wonder Weapons" such as the V-1 flying bomb, the V-2 missile and the Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighter are widely recognized as being the most prominent of these initiatives upon which Germany pinned so much hope, the Volks-Grenadier Divisions (VGDs) are practically unknown. Often confused with the Volkssturm, the Home Guard militia, VGDs have suffered an undeserved reputation as second-rate formations, filled with young boys and old men suited to serve only as cannon fodder. This groundbreaking book, now reappearing as a new edition, shows that VGDs were actually conceived as a new, elite corps loyal to the National Socialist Party composed of men from all branches of Hitler's Wehrmacht and equipped with the finest ground combat weapons available. Whether fighting from defensive positions or spearheading offensives such as the Battle of the Bulge, VGDs initially gave a good account of themselves in battle. Using previously unpublished unit records, Allied intelligence and interrogation reports and above all interviews with survivors, the author has crafted an in-depth look at a late-war German infantry company, including many photographs from the veterans themselves. In this book we follow along with the men of the 272nd VGD's Fusilier Company from their first battles in the Huertgen Forest to their final defeat in the Harz Mountains. Along the way we learn the enormous potential of VGDs . . . and feel their soldiers' heartbreak at their failure. Among Douglas NashÕs previous works is HellÕs Gate: The Battle for the Cherkassy Pocket, January-February 1944, a work unsurpassed for insight into the other side of the hill in WWII.

Motivated by anti-communist zeal and a burning desire for Flemish self-rule, the men of the SS Langemarck answered Himmler's call to arms and earned a reputation for steadfastness in battle from friend and foe alike, right through to their eventual destruction by the Soviets in 1945. the exploits of key figures such as the famous Flemish Knight's Cross winner Remy Schrijnen are covered in detail. Written by a former captain in the British Army, this is the second in Spellmount's new series on Hitler's foreign Legions, following the best-selling Hitler's Gauls.

Reprint of the classic World War II memoir German General Kurt "Panzer" Meyer's autobiography is a fascinating insight into the mind of one of Germany's most highly decorated and successful soldiers of World War II. If you love small-unit actions, this is the book for you. Follow Meyer with the 1st SS-Panzer Division "Leibstandarte" and the 12th SS-Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend," from the first day of the war in Poland, through service in France, Russia, and Greece, up until his capture in Normandy in 1944 and his postwar trials and tribulations.

The story of a German boy drafted into military service during WWII is vividly recounted in this memoir of combat and survival. On January 7, 1943, the German Government ordered that boys as young as fifteen be drafted into anti-aircraft service, the Reich Labor Service, and the armed forces. Throughout the war, about 200,000 boys became Flakhelfer and served in batteries of light and heavy flak. Drafted at fifteen, Karl Heinz Schlesier served in regions that suffered some of the heaviest air raids of the war. His memoir is a coming of age story in a world gone mad, where working beside Russian POWs, protecting industries with slave labor, courting a girl among bombed-out ruins was unremarkable. As the war approached its bitter end, Schlesier was thrown into a disintegrating frontline only fifty kilometers from his childhood home. Basing his memoir solely on his diary notes and memories of that period, Schlesier has consciously avoided including what he learned after the war. Flakhelfer to Grenadier gives a voice to the silent generation of boys born in Germany in 1926 and 1927. This generation has been silent because the horror it knew pales in comparison to the horror of the war machine it was conscripted into.

In May 1945, as the triumphant Red Army crushed the last pockets of German resistance in central Berlin, French soldiers fought back. They were the last surviving members of SS Charlemagne, the Waffen SS division made up of French volunteers. They were among the final defenders of the city and of Hitlers bunker. Their extraordinary story gives a compelling insight into the dreadful climax of the Battle for Berlin and into the conflicts of loyalty faced by the French in the Second World War. Yet, whatever their motivation, the performance of these soldiers as they confronted the Soviet onslaught was unwavering, and their fate after the German defeat was grim. Once captured, they were shot out of hand by their French compatriots or imprisoned. SS Charlemagne is a gripping, fluently written study of one of the most revealing side stories of the war.

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On April 23, 1943, the seventy-man crew of the USS Grenadier scrambled to save their submarine—and themselves—after a Japanese aerial torpedo sent it crashing to the ocean floor. Miraculously, the men were able to bring the sub back to the surface, only to be captured by the Japanese. No Ordinary Joes tells the harrowing story of four of the Grenadier’s crew: Bob Palmer of Medford, Oregon; Chuck Vervalin of Dundee, New York; Tim McCoy of Dallas, Texas; and Gordy Cox of Yakima, Washington. All were enlistees from families that struggled through the Great Depression. The lure of service and duty to country were not their primary motivations—they were more compelled by the promise of a job that provided “three hots and a cot” and a steady paycheck. On the day they were captured, all four were still teenagers. Together, the men faced unimaginable brutality at the hands of their captors in a prisoner of war camp. With no training in how to respond in the face of relentless interrogations and with less than a cup of rice per day for sustenance, each man created his own strategy for survival. When the liberation finally came, all four anticipated a triumphant homecoming to waiting families, loved ones, and wives, but instead were forced to find a new kind of strength as they struggled to resume their lives in a world that had given them up for dead, and with the aftershocks of an experience that haunted and colored the rest of their days. Author Larry Colton brings the lives of these four “ordinary” heroes into brilliant focus. Theirs is a story of tragedy and courage, romance and war, loss and endurance, failure and redemption. With a scope both panoramic and disarmingly intimate, No Ordinary Joes is a powerful look at the atrocities of war, the reality of its aftermath, and the restorative power of love.