Le 22 février 1960, à l'âge de dix-neuf ans, Simon Murray pousse les portes du fort de Vincennes pour s'engager dans la Légion étrangère. L'Aventure commence : l'embarquement à Marseille, l'arrivée en Algérie, à Sidi bel-Abbès, les longs mois d'instruction, l'affectation au 2e régiment étranger de parachutistes, la guerre et la traque des fellaghas de la frontière marocaine à la frontière tunisienne, les Aurès, le putsh avorté de 1961, les accords d'Evian, la lente et difficile adaptation au temps de paix...
Durant ses cinq années de service, Murray consigne dans ses carnets de bord son expérience quotidienne de la rude vie de légionnaire, l'entraînement, les marches sans fin et les échaufourées avec les fellaghas dans les montagnes de l'Atlas. La force du récit tient à la personnalité atypique de son auteur. Issu d'un milieu bourgeois, formé dans une vénérable école britannique, il s'enorguellit de servir dans une unité légendaire. Telle est la vertu première de ce journal de guerre unique en son genre : il dit la vérité, toute la vérité et permet de comprendre l'organisation et les motivations de cette troupe à nulle autre pareille.
Un témoignage essentiel sur la guerre d'Algérie comme sur le quotidien des "hommes sans nom" qui composent la Légion étrangère.
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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.
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The incredible story of the greatest female spy in history, from one of Britain''s most acclaimed historians - available for pre-order nowIn a quiet English village in 1942, an elegant housewife emerged from her cottage to go on her usual bike ride. A devoted wife and mother-of-three, the woman known to her neighbours as Mrs Burton seemed to epitomise rural British domesticity.However, rather than pedalling towards the shops with her ration book, she was racing through the Oxfordshire countryside to gather scientific intelligence from one of the country''s most brilliant nuclear physicists. Secrets that she would transmit to Soviet intelligence headquarters via the radio transmitter she was hiding in her outdoor privy.Far from a British housewife, ''Mrs Burton'' - born Ursula Kuczynski, and codenamed ''Sonya'' - was a German Jew, a dedicated communist, a colonel in Russia''s Red Army, and a highly-trained spy. From planning an assassination attempt on Hitler in Switzerland, to spying on the Japanese in Manchuria, and helping the Soviet Union build the atom bomb, Sonya conducted some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the twentieth century. Her story has never been told - until now.Agent Sonya is the exhilarating account of one woman''s life; a life that encompasses the rise and fall of communism itself, and altered the course of history.''Macintyre does true-life espionage better than anyone else'' John Preston>
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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.

This is a fresh, contemporary translation of Sun Tzu''s The Art of War for the 21st century. As well as its historical importance, it is one of the most influential political and business books of our era. This edition rediscovers the essential clarity of the ancient masterpiece, cited by generals from a dozen Chinese dynasties, international business leaders, and modern military field manuals. It also contains a full commentary on Sun Tzu, the man and his ideas, contemporary of Confucius and Buddha; and a critical guide to further reading. This is the perfect introduction to one of the world''s best-known classics. This beautiful Macmillan Collector''s Library edition of The Art of War is translated and edited by author and scriptwriter Jonathan Clements. Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector''s Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector''s Library are books to love and treasure.
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Antony Beevor Stalingrad 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.

On sort de ce bilan magistral abasourdi par l'ampleur et l'horreur des destructions humaines. mais aussi par le temps qu'il a fallu à l'Histoire pour qu'elle reprenne, sur un tel sujet, ses droits. Voilà qui est fait.
Pierre Daix, Le Figaro littéraire.
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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ''John le Carre demystified the intelligence services; Higgins has demystified intelligence gathering itself'' Financial Times ''Uplifting . . . Riveting . . . What will fire people through these pages, gripped, is the focused, and extraordinary, investigations that Bellingcat runs . . . Each runs as if the concluding chapter of a Holmesian whodunit'' Telegraph ''We Are Bellingcat is Higgins''s gripping account of how he reinvented reporting for the internet age . . . A manifesto for optimism in a dark age'' Luke Harding, Observer How did a collective of self-taught internet sleuths end up solving some of the biggest crimes of our time?

Bellingcat, the home-grown investigative unit, is redefining the way we think about news, politics and the digital future. Here, their founder - a high-school dropout on a kitchen laptop - tells the story of how they created a whole new category of information-gathering, galvanising citizen journalists across the globe to expose war crimes and pick apart disinformation, using just their computers.

From the downing of Malaysia Flight 17 over the Ukraine to the sourcing of weapons in the Syrian Civil War and the identification of the Salisbury poisoners, We Are Bellingcat digs deep into some of Bellingcat''s most successful investigations. It explores the most cutting-edge tools for analysing data, from virtual-reality software that can build photorealistic 3D models of a crime scene, to apps that can identify exactly what time of day a photograph was taken.

In our age of uncertain truths, Bellingcat is what the world needs right now - an intelligence agency by the people, for the people.>
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FROM THE AUTHOR OF BRIDGE OF SPIES: A dramatic and colourful new account of the most daring British commando raid of World War Twobr>br>In the darkest months of the Second World War, Churchill approved what seemed to many like a suicide mission. Under orders to attack the St Nazaire U-boat base on the Atlantic seaboard, British commandos undertook "the greatest raid of all", turning an old destroyer into a live bomb and using it to ram the gates of a Nazi stronghold. Five Victoria Crosses were awarded -- more than in any similar operation.br>br>Drawing on official documents, interviews, unknown accounts and the astonished reactions of French civilians and German forces, The Greatest Raid recreates in cinematic detail the hours in which the "Charioteers" fought and died, from Lt Gerard Brett, the curator at the V & A, to "Bertie" Burtinshaw, who went into battle humming There''ll Always be an England, and from Lt Stuart Chant, who set the fuses with 90 seconds to escape, to the epic solo reconnaissance of the legendary Times journalist Capt Micky Burn.br>br>Unearthing the untold human stories of Operation Chariot, Bridge of Spies author Giles Whittell reveals it to be a fundamentally misconceived raid whose impact and legacy was secured by astonishing bravery.> Lire la suite Fermer

'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. Lire la suite Fermer

For the first time ever, New York Times bestselling author and former CIA operative Robert Baer tells the explosive story of how insiders believe a KGB mole rose to the highest ranks of the CIA. In the aftermath of the Cold War, US intelligence caught three high-profile Russian spies. However, these arrests left major questions unanswered, and rumours have long swirled of another mole, often referred to as the Fourth Man. Three pioneering female veterans of counterintelligence were tasked with unearthing him. With steadfast determination and expertise, they came to a shocking conclusion, one which had, and continues to harbour, dramatic consequences for American security. In this gripping insider account, Baer tells a thrilling story of Russian espionage and American intelligence. With profound implications for the rise of Vladimir Putin and international relations with Russia, The Fourth Man is a real-life spy thriller with echoes of John Le Carre. Lire la suite Fermer

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.

*Shortlisted for the 2018 Ballie Gifford Prize* 'THE BEST TRUE SPY STORY I HAVE EVER READ' JOHN LE CARR e A thrilling Cold War story about a KGB double agent, by one of Britain's greatest historians On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket. The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying. Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever...
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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.
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Giles Milton never disappoints. The man who helped to turn narrative history into one of the most popular genres in modern publishing, this latest is up there with his best. Milton paints characters so vividly, and his writing has the momentum of a novel, only better, because it''s all true.

A gobsmacking book detailing the rise of wannabe James Bonds . . . an enjoyable romp through the stranger-than-fiction world of private intelligence agencies... Meier is a Pulitzer-winning former New York Times reporter, and he stirs an incredible amount of well-researched material into this book . . . a mad whirl of double-cross, Machiavellian machinations and, of course, money.>

________________ '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
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David Omand was the first UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, responsible to the Prime Minister for the professional health of the intelligence community, national counter-terrorism strategy and "homeland security". He served for seven years on the Joint Intelligence Committee. He was Permanent Secretary of the Home Office from 1997 to 2000, and before that Director of GCHQ.>

A magisterial, single-volume history of the greatest conflict the world has ever known by our foremost military historian.