Stalingrad est sans doute le tournant capital de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Sa chute aurait livré à Hitler les pétroles du Caucase. Et quel symbole que de prendre la ville qui portait le nom du « petit père des peuples »... De ces enjeux résulta un des plus gigantesques - et des plus atroces - affrontements militaires de l'Histoire. La Wehrmacht en ressortit brisée ; l'Armée rouge y forgea la légende d'un communisme libérateur.
Pour conter cette épopée, où l'héroïsme et la barbarie se côtoient à chaque page, l'historien britannique Antony Beevor a pu accéder, le premier, aux archives soviétiques, jalousement tenues secrètes jusqu'à la chute du régime, qu'il a confrontées aux archives allemandes ainsi qu'à d'innombrables témoignages.
Opérations militaires, relations entre les hauts gradés et le pouvoir politique, souffrances quotidiennes des combattants des deux bords et des civils : à tous les niveaux, ce récit rigoureux et inspiré apporte des révélations et des éclairages nouveaux. Il nous fait revivre au jour le jour une bataille où se joua le sort du monde.
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
''Opportunities multiply as they are seized.'' Written in the 6th century BC, Sun Tzu''s The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise that is still revered today as the ultimate commentary on war and military strategy. Focussing on the principle that one can outsmart your foe mentally by thinking very carefully about strategy before resorting to physical battle, this philosophy continues to be applied to the corporate and business world.
Sun Tzu''s timeless appraisal of the different aspects of warfare are laid out in 13 chapters, including sections on ''Laying Plans'', ''Waging War'' and ''Terrain''. Words that are as resonant today in every aspect of our lives as they were when he wrote them.
Ben Macintyre is the multimillion-copy bestselling author of books including Agent Sonya, SAS: Rogue Heroes, The Spy and the Traitor, Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat and A Spy Among Friends. He is a columnist and Associate Editor at The Times, and has worked as the newspaper''s correspondent in New York, Paris and Washington. Several of his books have been made into films and television series, including Operation Mincemeat, A Spy Among Friends and SAS: Rogue Heroes.>
A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERbr>br>''The best single-volume account of the Barbarossa campaign to date'' Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destinybr>br>''A page-turning descent into Hell and back . . . this fresh and compelling account of Hitler''s failed invasion of the Soviet Union should be on everyone''s reading list for 2021'' Dr Amanda Foreman, author of A World on Firebr>_______________________________br>br>The largest military operation in history. The turning point of the Second World War. The most important year of the twentieth century.br>br>Operation Barbarossa, Hitler''s invasion of Russia in June 1941, aimed at nothing less than a war of extermination to annihilate Soviet communism, liquidate the Jews and create Lebensraum for the German master race. But it led to the destruction of the Third Reich, and was cataclysmic for Germany with millions of men killed, wounded or registered as missing in action. It was this colossal mistake -- rather than any action in Western Europe -- that lost Hitler the Second World War.br>br>Drawing on hitherto unseen archival material, including previously untranslated Russian sources, Jonathan Dimbleby puts Barbarossa in its proper place in history for the first time. From its origins in the ashes of the First World War to its impact on post-war Europe, and covering the military, political and diplomatic story from all sides, he paints a full and vivid picture of this monumental campaign whose full nature and impact has remained unexplored.br>br>Written with authority and humanity, Barbarossa is a masterwork that transforms our understanding of the Second World War and of the twentieth century.br>_______________________________br>br>''Superb. . . stays with you long after you have finished'' Henry Hemming, bestselling author of Our Man in New Yorkbr>br>''A chilling account of war at its worst'' Bear Grylls>
A masterpiece. It puts all previous single-volume works of the conflict in the shade'' Saul David, The Timesbr>br> ''This book is Richard Overy''s magnum opus ... It would be difficult to overstate the brilliance with which argument and insight are interwoven in a fast-paced narrative'' John Darwin, Times Literary Supplementbr>br> A bold new approach to the Second World War from one of Britain''s foremost military historiansbr>br> Richard Overy sets out in Blood and Ruins to recast the way in which we view the Second World War and its origins and aftermath. He argues that this was the ''great imperial war'', a violent end to almost a century of global imperial expansion which reached its peak in the ambitions of Italy, Germany and Japan in the 1930s and early 1940s, before descending into the largest and costliest war in human history and the end, after 1945, of all territorial empires.br>br> How war on a huge scale was fought, supplied, paid for, supported by mass mobilization and morally justified forms the heart of this new account. Above all, Overy explains the bitter cost for those involved in fighting, and the exceptional level of crime and atrocity that marked these imperial projects, the war and its aftermath. This war was as deadly for civilians as it was for the military, a war to the death over the future of the global order.br>br> Blood and Ruins is a masterpiece from of one of the most renowned historians of the Second World War, which will compel us to view the war in novel and unfamiliar ways. Thought-provoking, original and challenging, Blood and Ruins sets out to understand the war anew.>
The Normandy Landings that took place on D-Day involved by far the largest invasion fleet ever known. The scale of the undertaking was simply awesome. What followed them was some of the most cunning and ferocious fighting of the war, at times as savage as anything seen on the Eastern Front.
Peter Caddick-Adams is a writer and broadcaster who specialises in military history, defence and security issues. His previous works include Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives (2011), Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell (2012),
The Sunday Times #1 Bestseller The great airborne battle for the bridges in 1944 by Britain's Number One bestselling historian and author of the classic Stalingrad ' Our greatest chronicler of the Second World War . . . his fans will love it ' - Robert Fox, Evening Standard 'The eye for telling detail which we have come to expect from Antony Beevor. . . this time, though, he turns his brilliance as a military historian to a subject not just of defeat, but dunderhead stupidity' Daily Mail On 17 September 1944, General Kurt Student, the founder of Nazi Germany's parachute forces, heard the growing roar of aeroplane engines. He went out on to his balcony above the flat landscape of southern Holland to watch the air armada of Dakotas and gliders carrying the British 1st Airborne and the American 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions. He gazed up in envy at this massive demonstration of paratroop power. Operation Market Garden, the plan to end the war by capturing the bridges leading to the Lower Rhine and beyond, was a bold concept: the Americans thought it unusually bold for Field Marshal Montgomery. But could it ever have worked? The cost of failure was horrendous, above all for the Dutch, who risked everything to help. German reprisals were pitiless and cruel, and lasted until the end of the war. The British fascination with heroic failure has clouded the story of Arnhem in myths. Antony Beevor, using often overlooked sources from Dutch, British, American, Polish and German archives, has reconstructed the terrible reality of the fighting, which General Student himself called 'The Last German Victory'. Yet this book, written in Beevor's inimitable and gripping narrative style, is about much more than a single, dramatic battle. It looks into the very heart of war. ' In Beevor's hands, Arnhem becomes a study of national character ' - Ben Macintyre, The Times ' Superb book, tirelessly researched and beautifully written ' - Saul David, Daily Telegraph ' Complete mastery of both the story and the sources ' - Keith Lowe, Literary Review ' Another masterwork from the most feted military historian of our time ' - Jay Elwes, Prospect Magazine ' The analysis he has produced of the disaster is forensic ' - Giles Milton, Sunday Times ' He is a master of his craft . . . we have here a definitive account ' - Piers Paul Read, The Tablet
A magisterial, single-volume history of the greatest conflict the world has ever known by our foremost military historian.
Reconstructs the experiences of millions caught up in the nightmare of the Third Reich's final collapse, telling a terrible story of pride, stupidity, fanatacism, revenge and savagery, and also of endurance, self-sacrifice and survival against all odds.
A concise introduction to the history and methods of espionage, illustrated by spy stories from antiquity to todays high-tech world.
Espionage is one of the most secret of human activities. It is also, as the popularity of spy stories suggests, one of the most intriguing. This book pulls the veil back on the real world of espionage, revealing how spying actually works. In a refreshingly clear, concise manner, Kristie Macrakis guides readers through the shadowy world of espionage, from the language and practice of spycraft to its role in international politics, its bureaucratic underpinnings, and its transformation in light of modern technology. Espionage is a mirror of society and human foibles with the added cloak of secrecy and deception. Accordingly,
'A superb, unique, and unforgettable story of war and death, fear and cruelty, above all the horrors and allure of combat' Simon Sebag Montefiore 'One of the most profound books I have ever read about the real nature of war and the abstract allure of the ideas and the bloodshed that fuels it' Jon Lee Anderson, author of The Fall of Baghdad An astonishing account of the nature of war from acclaimed novelist and decorated former US marine Elliot Ackerman In a refugee camp in southern Turkey, Elliot Ackerman sits across the table from Abu Hassar, who fought for Al Qaeda in Iraq and has murky connections to the Islamic State. At first, Ackerman pretends to have been a journalist during the Iraq War, but after he establishes a rapport with Abu Hassar, he reveals that in fact he was a Marine. The two men then compare their fighting experiences in the Middle East, discovering they had shadowed each other for some time: a realisation that brings them to a strange kind of intimacy. Elliot Ackerman's extraordinary memoir explores the events that led him to come to this refugee camp and what, unable to forget his time in battle, he hoped to find there. Moving between his recent time on the ground as a journalist in Syria and his Marine deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, he creates a work of astonishing atmospheric pressure, one which blends the American experience with the perspectives and stories of the Arab world, and draws a line between them. At once an intensely personal book about the terrible lure of combat and a brilliant meditation on the meaning of the past two decades of strife for the region and the world, Places and Names bids to take its place among our greatest books about modern war.
B>A powerful and revelatory eyewitness account of the American collapse in Afghanistan, its desperate endgame, and the wars echoing legacy/b>br>br>Elliot Ackerman left the American military ten years ago, but his time in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Marines and, later, as a CIA paramilitary officer marked him indelibly.;When the Taliban began to close in on Kabul in August of 2021 and the Afghan regime began its death spiral, he found himself pulled back into the conflict. Afghan nationals who had, for years, worked closely with the American military and intelligence communities now faced brutal reprisal and sought frantically to flee the country with their families. The official US government evacuation process was a bureaucratic failure that led to a humanitarian catastrophe. With his former colleagues and friends, protecting the airport in Kabul, Ackerman was drawn into an impromptu effort alongside a group of journalists and other veterans to arrange flights and negotiate with both Taliban and American forces to secure the safe evacuation of hundreds.;These were desperate measures taken during a desperate end to America''s longest war, but the success the group achieved afforded a degree of redemption. And, for Ackerman, a chance to reconcile his past with his present.br>;br>The Fifth Act is an astonishing human document that brings the weight of twenty years of war to bear on a single week, at the conflict''s bitter end. Using the dramatic rescue efforts in Kabul as his lattice, Ackerman weaves in a personal history of the war''s long progress, beginning with the initial invasion in the months after 9/11. It is a play in five acts, the fifth act being the storys tragic denouement, a prelude to Afghanistan''s dark future.;Any reader who wants to understand what went wrong with the wars trajectory will find a trenchant accounting here. And yet The Fifth Act is not an exercise in;finger-pointing: it brings readers into close contact with a remarkable group of characters, American and Afghan, who fought the war with courage and dedication, in good faith and at great personal cost.;Understanding combatants experiences and sacrifices while reckoning with the complex bottom line of the post-9/11 wars is not an easy balance; it demands reservoirs of wisdom and the gifts of an extraordinary storyteller. It asks for an author willing to grapple with certain hard-earned truths. In Elliot Ackerman, this story has found that author. The Fifth Act is a first draft of history that feels like a timeless classic.;br>;
Elliot Ackerman is a former White House Fellow and Marine, serving five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor and the Purple Heart. He has written five novels including 203
Jeremy Black is emeritus professor of history at the University of Exeter. Black has published widely in military history, including War and the World and Air Power. His other works include Maps and History and <
''I have always been fascinated by that charismatic hero of the Resistance, Josephine Baker, but it turns out I didn''t know the half of it. Lewis'' story-telling blew my mind. Again.'' - Dan Snow ''A story of incredible bravery in the face of tyrants who invaded a free and democratic nation, this will have powerful resonance today.'' - Tim Spicer ''An eye-opening, pulse-quickening history. Josephine Baker led a wartime double life of extraordinary jeopardy and Damien Lewis''s needle-sharp narrative is jagged with suspense. Yet he also writes with great warmth and sensitivity, creating a powerfully moving portrait of a woman who fought prejudice and hate in all its forms.'' - Sinclair McKay ''A gripping true story of a remarkable heroine. The details of Josephine Baker''s espionage for the Deuxieme Bureau, the French military intelligence agency during the war, make for a fascinating read in Damien Lewis''s meticulously researched account'' - Deborah Cadbury During WW2, Josephine Baker, the world''s richest and most glamorous entertainer, was an Allied spy in Occupied France. This is the story of her heroic personal resistance to Nazi Germany. Prior to World War II, Josephine Baker was a music hall diva renowned for her singing and exotic dancing, her beauty and sexuality; she was the most highly-paid female performer in Europe. When the Nazis seized her adopted city, Paris, she was banned from the stage, along with all ''negroes and Jews''. Yet, instead of returning to America, she vowed to stay and to fight the Nazi evil. Overnight she went from performer to Resistance spy. In The Flame of Resistance best-selling author Damien Lewis uncovers this little known history of the famous singer''s life. During the years of the war, as a member of the French Nurse paratroopers - a cover for her spying work-- she participated in numerous clandestine activities and emerged as formidable spy. In turn, she was a hero of the three countries in whose name she served: the US, the nation of her birth; France, the land that embraced her during her adult career; and Britain, the country from which she took her orders, as one of London''s most closely-guarded special agents. Baker''s secret war embodies a tale of unbounded courage, passion, devotion and sacrifice, and of deep and bitter tragedy, fueled by her own desire to combat the rise of Nazism, and to fight for all that is good and right in the world. Drawing on a plethora of new historical material and rigorous research, including previously undisclosed letters and journals, Lewis upends the conventional story of Josephine Baker, revealing that her mark on history went far beyond the confines of the stage.
In February 1945 the Allies obliterated Dresden, the 'Florence of the Elbe'. Explosive bombs weighing over 1,000 lbs fell every seven and a half seconds and an estimated 25,000 people were killed. Was Dresden a legitimate military target or was the bombing a last act of atavistic mass murder in a war already won? From the history of the city to the attack itself, conveyed in a minute-by-minute account from the first of the flares to the flames reaching almost a mile high - the wind so searingly hot that the lungs of those in its path were instantly scorched - through the eerie period of reconstruction, bestselling author Sinclair McKay creates a vast canvas and brings it alive with touching human detail. Along the way we encounter, among many others across the city, a Jewish woman who thought the English bombs had been sent from heaven, novelist Kurt Vonnegut who wrote that the smouldering landscape was like walking on the surface of the moon, and 15-year-old Winfried Bielss, who, having spent the evening ushering refugees, wanted to get home to his stamp collection. He was not to know that there was not enough time. Impeccably researched and deeply moving, McKay uses never-before-seen sources to relate the untold stories of civilians and vividly conveys the texture of contemporary life. Dresden is invoked as a byword for the illimitable cruelties of war, but with the distance of time, it is now possible to approach this subject with a much clearer gaze, and with a keener interest in the sorts of lives that ordinary people lived and lost, or tried to rebuild. Writing with warmth and colour about morality in war, the instinct for survival, the gravity of mass destruction and the manipulation of memory, this is a master historian at work. 'Churchill said that if bombing cities was justified, it was always repugnant. Sinclair McKay has written a shrewd, humane and balanced account of this most controversial target of the Anglo-American strategic bombing campaign, the ferocious consequence of the scourge of Nazism' Allan Mallinson, author of Fight to the Finish 'Beautifully-crafted, elegiac, compelling - Dresden delivers with a dark intensity and incisive compassion rarely equalled. Authentic and authoritative, a masterpiece of its genre' Damien Lewis, author of Zero Six Bravo 'Compelling . . . Sinclair McKay brings a dark subject vividly to life' Keith Lowe, author of Savage Continent 'This is a brilliantly clear, and fair, account of one of the most notorious and destructive raids in the history aerial warfare. From planning to execution, the story is told by crucial participants - and the victims who suffered so cruelly on the ground from the attack itself and its aftermath' Robert Fox, author of We Were There
________________ 'A superb account of the invasion that deserves immense praise. To convey the human drama of Normandy requires great knowledge and sensitivity. Holland has both in spades' THE TIMES 'A devastating new account..Holland knows his stuff when it comes to military matters. The reader is in safe hands navigating each aspect of this complex campaign' DAILY MAIL Book of the Week Renowned World War Two historian James Holland presents an entirely new perspective on one of the most important moments in recent history, unflinchingly examining the brutality and violence that characterised the campaign.
______________ D-Day and the 76 days of bitter fighting in Normandy that followed have come to be seen as a defining episode in the Second World War. Its story has been endlessly retold, and yet it remains a narrative burdened by both myth and assumed knowledge.
In this reexamined history, James Holland presents a broader overview, one that challenges much of what we think we know about D-Day and the Normandy campaign. The sheer size and scale of the Allies' war machine ultimately dominates the strategic, operational and tactical limitations of the German forces.
This was a brutal campaign. In terms of daily casualties, the numbers were worse than for any one battle during the First World War.
_________________ Drawing on unseen archives and testimonies from around the world Introducing a cast of eye-witnesses that includes foot soldiers, tank men, fighter pilots and bomber crews, sailors, civilians, resistance fighters and those directing the action An epic telling that will profoundly recalibrate our understanding of its true place in the tide of human history
The most prestigious and influential book on strategy and dealing with conflict, beautifully translated for clear, accessible reading. In the words of Sun Tzu, "To win without fighting is best." This timeless Chinese classic captures the essence of military strategy used in ancient East Asia, with lessons on how to handle conflict confidently, efficiently, and successfully. The techniques and instructions discussed in The Art of War apply to competition and conflict on every level, from the interpersonal to the international. Its aim is invincibility, victory without battle, and unassailable strength through an understanding of the physics, politics, and psychology of conflict. Thomas Cleary's translation is a breakthrough achievement that has been a gold standard among translations for three decades, offering the complete text in eminently readable prose with short commentaries by other ancient Chinese strategists and philosophers interwoven throughout.
Throughout history, the concept of command -- as both a way to achieve objectives and as an assertion of authority -- has been essential to military action and leadership. But, as Sir Lawrence Freedman argues, it is also deeply political. Command has been reconstructed and revolutionized since the Second World War by nuclear warfare, small-scale guerrilla land operations and cyber interference. Freedman here takes a global perspective, systematically investigating the practice and politics of command since 1945 through a wide range of conflicts from the French Colonial Wars, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bangladesh Liberation War to North Vietnam''s Easter Offensive of 1972, the Falklands War, the First Chechen War and the Iraq War. By highlighting the political nature of strategy, Freedman shows that military decision-making cannot be separated from civilian life and that commanders must now have the sensibility to navigate politics as well as warfare.>