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Author: Gerald Pawle
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473819768
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 461
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Book Description
A rare look inside the Department of Miscellaneous Weapon Development, “a fascinating report on the trials—and some tribulations—of a clandestine world” (Kirkus Reviews). Previously published under the title The Secret War 1939-1945, this is a firsthand account of the Admiralty’s Department of Miscellaneous Weapon Development, the so-called “Wheezers and Dodgers,” and the many ingenious weapons and devices it invented, improved or perfected. Gerald Pawle was one of a group of officers with engineering or scientific backgrounds who were charged with the task of winning the struggle for scientific mastery between the Allies and the Germans in what Churchill enthusiastically called “the wizard war.” Their work ranged from early stop-gap weapons like the steam-powered Holman projector, via great success stories like the Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar, to futuristic experiments with rockets, a minefield that could be sown in the sky, and the spectacularly dangerous Great Panjandrum, a giant explosive Catherine-wheel intended to storm enemy beaches. The development of these and many other extraordinary inventions, their triumphs and disasters, is told with panache and humor by Pawle, and a diverse group of highly imaginative and eccentric figures emerge from the pages.
Author: Gerald Pawle
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473819768
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 461
Get Book Here
Book Description
A rare look inside the Department of Miscellaneous Weapon Development, “a fascinating report on the trials—and some tribulations—of a clandestine world” (Kirkus Reviews). Previously published under the title The Secret War 1939-1945, this is a firsthand account of the Admiralty’s Department of Miscellaneous Weapon Development, the so-called “Wheezers and Dodgers,” and the many ingenious weapons and devices it invented, improved or perfected. Gerald Pawle was one of a group of officers with engineering or scientific backgrounds who were charged with the task of winning the struggle for scientific mastery between the Allies and the Germans in what Churchill enthusiastically called “the wizard war.” Their work ranged from early stop-gap weapons like the steam-powered Holman projector, via great success stories like the Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar, to futuristic experiments with rockets, a minefield that could be sown in the sky, and the spectacularly dangerous Great Panjandrum, a giant explosive Catherine-wheel intended to storm enemy beaches. The development of these and many other extraordinary inventions, their triumphs and disasters, is told with panache and humor by Pawle, and a diverse group of highly imaginative and eccentric figures emerge from the pages.
Author: Nicholas Rankin
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199756716
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 490
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Book Description
In February 1942, intelligence officer Victor Jones erected 150 tents behind British lines in North Africa. "Hiding tanks in Bedouin tents was an old British trick," writes Nicholas Rankin. German general Erwin Rommel not only knew of the ploy, but had copied it himself. Jones knew that Rommel knew. In fact, he counted on it--for these tents were empty. With the deception that he was carrying out a deception, Jones made a weak point look like a trap. In A Genius for Deception, Nicholas Rankin offers a lively and comprehensive history of how Britain bluffed, tricked, and spied its way to victory in two world wars. As Rankin shows, a coherent program of strategic deception emerged in World War I, resting on the pillars of camouflage, propaganda, secret intelligence, and special forces. All forms of deception found an avid sponsor in Winston Churchill, who carried his enthusiasm for deceiving the enemy into World War II. Rankin vividly recounts such little-known episodes as the invention of camouflage by two French artist-soldiers, the creation of dummy airfields for the Germans to bomb during the Blitz, and the fabrication of an army that would supposedly invade Greece. Strategic deception would be key to a number of WWII battles, culminating in the massive misdirection that proved critical to the success of the D-Day invasion in 1944. Deeply researched and written with an eye for telling detail, A Genius for Deception shows how the British used craft and cunning to help win the most devastating wars in human history.
Author: Gerald Pawle
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 9781848320260
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This is the fascinating story of the Admiralty's Department of Miscellaneous Weapon Development, the so-called 'Wheezers and Dodgers', and the many ingenious weapons and devices it invented, improved or perfected. The author was one of a group of officers with engineering or scientific backgrounds who were charged with the task of winning the struggle for scientific mastery between the Allies and the Germans in what Churchill enthusiastically called 'the wizard war'. Their work ranged from early stop-gap weapons like the steam-powered Holman projector, via great success stories like the Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar, to futuristic experiments with rockets, a minefield that could be sown in the sky, and the spectacularly dangerous Great Panjandrum, a giant explosive Catherine-wheel intended to storm enemy beaches. The development of these and many other extraordinary inventions, their triumphs and disasters, is told with panache and humour, and a diverse group of highly imaginative and eccentric figures emerge from the pages.
Author: David Long
Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books
ISBN: 1782433775
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 126
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Book Description
From weird buildings to eccentric museums and from mystical superstitions to remnants of magical rites, this is a guide to England like no other.
Author: William B. Breuer
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 0470256524
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251
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Book Description
Critical Acclaim for Secret Weapons of World War II "Breuer has produced yet another collection of rip-roaring tales. . . . A delightful addition to the niche that Breuer has so successfully carved out." -Publishers Weekly "It is Breuer's portrayal of the competition for technological superiority between the Allies and the Nazis that grabs the reader and shows the significance of each wartime discovery and invention." -State Journal-Register, Springfield, Illinois In the fast-paced, suspenseful Secret Weapons of World War II, noted military historian William Breuer chronicles the clandestine battle that occurred between the brilliant scientists and codebreakers of the Allies and the Axis powers. Re-creating the covert missions, hoaxes, spying, conspiracies, and electronic sleuthing, Breuer deftly uncovers the spectacular feats of the fascinating men and women who determined the outcome of the war-providing an unprecedented look at the least-known operations and plots conducted by both sides.
Author: John Frayn Turner
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 147383497X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314
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Book Description
In the pre-dawn darkness of 6 June 1944, the greatest armada the world has ever seen began to disembark an Allied invasion force on the beaches of France's Normandy peninsula. Invasion '44 tells the story of that assault from the day over four years earlier, and only a few short weeks after the British disaster at Dunkirk, when a few individuals in the High Command began to turn their thoughts to the possibilities of an eventual return to the mainland, and the story continues up to the time when the Allied beach-head was firmly established on French soil. As the battle progresses, the reader is allowed to view each successive wave as it lands, follow the developing battle line inland, and keep an eye on the vital battles also developing on and beneath the seas off the Normandy peninsula and in the skies above it.
Author: James Moore
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752466763
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 236
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Book Description
During the Second World War, an American behavioural psychologist working with pigeons discovered that the birds could be trained to recognise an object and to peck at an image of it; when loaded into the nose-cone of a missile, these pecks could be translated into adjustments to the guidance fins, steering the projectile to its target. Pigeon-Guided Missiles reveals this and other fascinating tales of daring plans from history destined to change the world we live in, yet which ended in failure, or even disaster. Some became the victims of the eccentric figures behind them, others succumbed to financial and political misfortune, and a few were just too far ahead of their time. Discover why the great groundnut scheme cost British taxpayers £49 million, why the bid to build Minerva, a whole new country in the Pacific Ocean, sank, and why the first Channel Tunnel (started in 1881, over a century before the one we know today) hit a dead end.
Author: Julia Jones
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147298708X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321
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Book Description
'An extraordinary account of heroism and sacrifice. An unexpected and important story, rivetingly told. Rip roaring stuff. Get this into the paws of the sea dog in your life.' - Griff Rhys Jones 'A book that had to be written' - Let's Talk 'People ashore don't realise what a grim war we are waging at sea with the Germans. A cold-blooded war, in a way I think requiring the maximum of bravery from the men of both sides in the long run, as it is so ceaseless and intangible. You just don't know whether the next moment will be your last.' Robert Hichens, RNVSR Several years ago, Julia Jones was searching through long-forgotten items stored at her house and discovered some suitcases of old written material, which turned out to be accounts by her father of his experiences in the RNVSR (Royal Naval Volunteer Supplementary Reserve). She realised that as a child she'd met some of the people mentioned, and although she was too young to truly know them, these youthful impressions spurred her on to rediscovery and understanding. In this absorbing book Julia tells the compelling stories of the yachtsmen. Some were famous (such as Sir Peter Scott), others were wealthy (such as August Courtauld, who returned his pay to help with the war effort) but the majority were just 'ordinary' professionals such as publishers, lawyers and advertising agents, who signed up because they loved sailing. Few could ever have dreamed that they would end up acting in areas that were so far beyond their normal lives, as they found themselves commanding destroyers and submarines, and undertaking covert missions of sabotage. Some undertook the dangerous daily drudgery of minesweeping; others tackled unexploded bombs, engaged the enemy in high-speed attacks or played key roles in Ian Fleming's famous intelligence commandos. This varied crew of men were given tasks vital to the war effort, requiring endurance, extraordinary bravery, resourcefulness and quick thinking. Some died in the process, but for the ones who survived, Julia asks how their experiences changed them. Could their love of sailing and the sea survive the harsh realities of war?
Author: William B. Breuer
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1118045602
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 287
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Book Description
A rare treat for World War II history buffs and fans of the strange, absurd, and unexplained Acclaimed military historian William Breuer takes readers on a trip through the looking glass to acquaint them with the weirder side of World War II. Featuring a cast of characters including double- and triple-agents, femme fatales, fearless leaders, and men at arms, The Spy who Spent the War In Bed is a collection of seventy concise, vividly rendered tales of war, ranging from laugh-out-loud funny, to inspiring, to just-plain-bizarre. For instance, there's the one about how reputed Irish Republican Army members in New York conned Nazi intelligence out of a small fortune. There's also a thrilling account of how four American newsmen bagged an entire German platoon. And there's the haunting tale of the "Mystery Plane," an experimental aircraft that took off on a short test flight over England one sunny afternoon in 1938 and simply vanished into a cloudless summer sky. This book draws on personal interviews, official archives, and declassified documents, as well as the vast literature on World War II.
Author: Hugh Popham
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 1473849373
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 217
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Book Description
Hugh Popham joined the Fleet Air Arm in the summer of 1940 and was soon in training as a pilot at HMS Vincent and then Yeovilton; thereafter his wartime career as a naval pilot took him to the far corners of the world, notably to the Indian Ocean where he had to contend against the Japanese.His story is one of a naval fighter pilot having to do his best with hopelessly inadequate planes. First the Sea Hurricanes, and then the Supermarine Seafires, proved to be less than brilliant machines, the Seafire proving far too fragile for the rigours of carrier operations. But it is this story, incorporating the kind of detail that is missing from many wartime memoirs, that makes this book so fascinating.
