Operation manna

In 1942, the German war machine was at the height of its power. France, the ‘hereditary enemy’, was defeated and occupied. In the Soviet Union, Army Group South was marching inexorably toward the Cauc

This fantastic plan, which led the then Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS), Air Vice-Marshal Arthur T Harris, to remark ‘the story, that appears too fantastic for words, might have a fortunate outco

When Buckingham Palace was hit by bombs on 15 September 1940, it brought the war to the very front door of King George VI and his wife Elizabeth, the Queen consort. Just over two weeks later, the war

In the event of a Nazi invasion, Britain would have deployed a network of deadly defences to impede the enemy at every turn

During the early days Operation Barbarossa, Army Group Centre’s rapid advance surrounded hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers in the Białystok-Minsk area. What ensued was a catastrophic defeat for the Soviet defenders

Since 1940 Japan had been devoid of civilian politicians as the parties had been dissolved by the militaristic Imperial Rule Assistance Association, led by Lt General Hideki Tojo. Over the intervening