Volume three (of a four-volume series) reveals the fate of the ninety-two German U-boats that passed through Lorient from August 1942 to August 1943. From October 1942, Type IX U-boats left Lorient for distant seas beyond the South African Cape and succeeded in sinking three times as many ships as those that attacked the North Atlantic convoys! This book also details the terrible effects of the massive Allied bombardments on both the base and town during the following months and discusses Allied progress in anti-U-boat techniques and armaments that forced the U-boats to abandon the North Atlantic at the end of May 1943 and the Allied offensive seeking to destroy German U-boats in transit in the Gulf of Gascony. This work is illustrated with over 600 exceptional war-era photographs as well as maps and plans. A unique color section presents the remains, documents, and memories relating to the presence of the U-boats in Lorient.

Volume two (of a four volume series) reveals the story of the seventy-eight German U-boats that passed through the port of Lorient from July 1941 to July 1942. The book explains the major phases in the Battle of the Atlantic in which U-boats were operating and particularly the surprise attacks on merchant traffic along the American coast. It details the Allied actions against the port of Lorient and their system of defense against the German U-boat arm. Also featured are unedited reminiscences of the U-boat crews' life ashore in Lorient during their patrol arrivals and departures. This work is illustrated with over 500 exceptional war-era photographs as well as maps and plans. A unique color section presents the remains, documents, and memories relating to the presence of the U-boats in Lorient.

November 1943—May 1945—The U.S. Army Air Forces waged an unprecedentedly dogged and violent campaign against Hitler’s vital oil production and industrial plants on the Third Reich’s southern flank. Flying from southern Italy, far from the limelight enjoyed by the Eighth Air Force in England, the Fifteenth Air Force engaged in high-risk missions spanning most of the European continent. The story of the Fifteenth Air Force deserves a prideful place in the annals of American gallantry. In his new book, Forgotten Fifteenth: The Daring Airmen Who Crippled Hitler’s War Machine, Tillman brings into focus a seldom-seen multinational cast of characters, including pilots from Axis nations Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria and many more remarkable individuals. They were the first generation of fliers—few of them professionals—to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against a major industrial nation. They suffered steady attrition and occasionally spectacular losses. In so doing, they contributed to the end of the most destructive war in history. Forgotten Fifteenth is the first-ever detailed account of the Fifteenth Air Force in World War II and the brave men that the history books have abandoned until now. Tillman proves this book is a must-read for military history enthusiasts, veterans, and current servicemen.

This is the first time that Sir Arthur Bomber' Harris's own papers covering his three and a half years at Bomber Command have been published and made available to the general public. The book also contains an introduction by Sebastian Cox, an Air Staff Memorandum written immediately after the war and a revisionist German viewpoint by Horst Boog. It

Battle at Sea looks at every aspect of the story of warfare on, above, and under the sea, including classic naval engagements daring raids carried out on ships in harbor, and landing operations such as D-Day, where control of the sea was essential to transport land forces to new battlefronts. Special features within the book include: graphic and dramatic battle catalogs relating the stories of the men, ships, and organizations behind history’s greatest naval conflicts; spectacular 3D digital artworks following the crucial stages of key battles, step by step; profiles of naval crew — the captain, officers, gunners, quartermaster, surgeon, cooks, and boatswains — exploring their changing roles throughout history; eyewitness accounts recreatingthe experience of the opposing forces in key battles, whether preparing for conflict, in the heat of battle, or dealing with the aftermath of an engagement; photographic tours revealing the intricate details of surviving or reconstructed warships—from an Ancient Greek trireme to a nuclear-powered submarine; features on weapons and technology highlighting developments in naval warfare, from boarding equipment to sonar, cannons to missiles, and propulsion through steam to nuclear power. Battle at Sea is organized into five chapters that are arranged in chronological order. Ancient Wars covers the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the great naval battles between warring Chinese dynasties; Medieval Battles charts the era from the fall of Rome to 1500CE; Gun, Sail, and Empire chronicles the European powers setting out on voyages of exploration and colonization; Iron Wars ends with World War II; Technology and Terrorism outlines how naval forces played a crucial role in the balance of terror during the Cold War and still have avital part to play in the uncertainties of the modern world.

With the international success of the classic film Das Boot, U-96 is arguably the most famous of all German U-boats. Here is the true story of U-96, and its legendary commander Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock. In continuous combat from September 1940 to March 1945, follow the crew of U-96 from their bases in Kiel, Germany, as well as Lorient and St. Nazaire on the west coast of France, to intense combat against Allied shipping. During eleven combat patrols in the North Atlantic under Lehmann-Willenbrock, U-96 sank twenty-four Allied ships, eventually earning its commander the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. One of their patrols was documented by war correspondent Lothar-Günther Buchheim, which was later novelized and made into the film Das Boot. This biography of Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, and history of U-96 is based on the WWII captain's log as well as the recollections of crewmembers.

The ultimate history of the Blitz and bombing in the Second World War, from Wolfson Prize-winning historian and author Richard Overy The use of massive fleets of bombers to kill and terrorize civilians was an aspect of the Second World War which continues to challenge the idea that Allies specifically fought a 'moral' war. For Britain, bombing became perhaps its principal contribution to the fighting as, night after night, exceptionally brave men flew over occupied Europe destroying its cities. The Bombing War radically overhauls our understanding of the War. It is the first book to examine seriously not just the most well-known parts of the campaign, but the significance of bombing on many other fronts - the German use of bombers on the Eastern Front for example (as well as much newly discovered material on the more familiar 'Blitz' on Britain), or the Allied campaigns against Italian cities. The result is the author's masterpiece - a rich, gripping, picture of the Second World War and the terrible military, technological and ethical issues that relentlessly drove all its participants into an abyss. Reviews: 'Magnificent ... must now be regarded as the standard work on the bombing war ... It is probably the most important book published on the history of he second world war this century' Richard J Evans, Guardian 'Monumental ... this is a major contribution to one of the most controversial aspects of the Second World War ... full of new detail and perspectives ... hugely impressive' James Holland, Literary Review 'This tremendous book does what the war it describes signally failed to do. With a well-thought-out strategy and precision, it delivers maximum force on its objectives ... The result is a masterpiece of the historian's art' The Times 'It is unlikely that a work of this scale, scope and merit will be surpassed' Times Higher Education 'What distinguishes Mr Overy's account of the bombing war from lesser efforts is the wealth of narrative detail and analytical rigour that he brings to bear' Economist 'Excellent ... Overy is never less than an erudite and clear-eyed guide whose research is impeccable and whose conclusions appear sensible and convincing even when they run against the established trends' Financial Times 'Hard to surpass. If you want to know how bombing worked, what it did and what it meant, this is the book to read' Times Literary Supplement About the author: Richard Overy is the author of a series of remarkable books on the Second World War and the wider disasters of the twentieth century. The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia won both the Wolfson Prize for History and the Hessell-Tiltman Prize. He is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. Penguin publishes 1939: Countdown to War, The Morbid Age, Russia's War, Interrogations, The Battle of Britain and The Dictators. He lives in London.

In 1943, the navy destroyer, USS Borie, and a German U-boat, were engaged in a fierce battle north of the Azores Islands. This personal account from a crew member of the Borie follows the action, as well as illustrating the determination and courage shown by servicemen during the war as a whole.

Childress reveals numerous secrets of the Black Sun in this final volume in his series about the Fourth Reich. David Childress, popular author and star of the History Channel show Ancient Aliens, unveils the amazing story of the German flying disks, designed and built during WWII. It was not until 1989 that a German researcher named Ralf Ettl, living in London, received an anonymous packet of photographs and documents concerning the planning and development of at least three types of unusual craft—including the Vril, Haunebu and Andromeda. Ettl went on to make several television documentaries based on the material in the packet and released most of the documents and photos to researchers in Austria and other parts of Europe. What the Ralf Ettl document dump shows us is what many have suspected for a long time: that WWII did not end in the manner in which we have been told, and a remnant of the Nazi military—particularly the SS—continued to operate aircraft and submarines around the world in the decades after the end of the war. This volume closes with how the SS operates today in the Ukraine and how the Wagner second in command, Dimitry Utkin, killed in the fiery crash of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private jet between Moscow and St. Petersburg in August of 2023, had SS tattoos on his shoulders and often signed his name with the SS runes. Chapters include: Secrets of the Black Sun; The Extra-Territorial Reich; The Rise of the SS; The SS Never Surrendered; Secret Submarines, Antarctica & Argentina; Secret of the Vril; The Marconi Connection; Spectre, the SS, and 007; Yellow Submarine; Ukraine and the Battalion of the Black Sun; more. Includes an 8-page color section. Over 120 photographs and diagrams.