Germany’s u-boat blockade-busters

Dr Paul Brown reveals Britain’s role in patrolling the seas during the height of Cold War tensions with the USSR

Leading historians share the texts that have inspired and informed their work

By spring 1941, the Afrika Korps was advancing across eastern Libya towards Egypt and the Suez Canal. But a dusty port town lay in their path

Europe’s frozen northeast became a new sacred frontier of holy war, forced conversion and occupation against Europe’s last pagans

The Germans possessed two monstrous M-Gerät howitzer guns nicknamed ‘Big Bertha’ – but they were barely finished and had undergone no testing when the First World War broke out. Even so, on 2 August 1

Fitting-out time is here again. Because I winter up in the Baltic where the sea still sometimes freezes, my season doesn’t really start until May. It was different when I berthed my 22ft wooden sloop