Next week (30th), Pen & Sword Books will publish four of Mark Adkin‘s history books in eBook. Here are the details…
Pictured above, let’s start with THE BATTLE FOR GOOSE GREEN (originally published in 1992)…
Goose Green was the first land battle of the Falklands War. It was also the longest, the hardest-fought, the most controversial and the most important to win. What began as a raid became a vicious, 14-hour infantry struggle, in which 2 Para — outnumbered, exhausted, forced to attack across open ground in full daylight, and with inadequate fire support — lost their commanding officer, and almost lost the action.
This is the only full-length, detailed account of this crucial battle. Drawing on the eye-witness accounts of both British and Argentinian soldiers who fought at Goose Green, and their commanders’ narratives, it has become the definitive account of most important and controversial land battle of the Falklands War.
A compelling story of men engaged in a battle that hung in the balance for hours, in which Colonel ‘H’ Jones’ solo charge against an entrenched enemy won him a posthumous V.C., and which for both sides was a gruelling and often terrifying encounter.
THE CHARGE (originally published in 1996)…
The Real Reason the Light Brigade was Lost
The charge of the Light Brigade is one of Britain’s best-known glorious military disasters. On 25 October 1854, during the siege of Sebastopol, the Light Brigade attacked Russian gun positions at Balaclava. The charge lasted 7 minutes; of 673 officers and men who went into action, 247 men and 497 horses were lost. This book shatters many long-held conceptions of how and why it happened, and who was to blame.
Mark Adkin, a former professional soldier, has combined military expertise and detailed research of participants’ accounts with a careful examination of the actual ground. His story switches carefully from the strategic and tactical problems of the battlefield to what it was like for the trooper riding down the valley or a Russian gunner serving his cannon. Through the novel use of sketches the reader can, at every stage, look down on the battlefield from the same position as that used by the British commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan. He sees the situation as Raglan saw it when he gave his order that launched the Brigade down the valley of death. Raglan gave the order, Captain Nolan delivered it, Lord Lucan received it, and the Earl of Cardigan executed it.
History has disagreed over the share of the blame. This book makes a masterly analysis of the probabilities and discusses factors previously overlooked. There is a cogent argument, never made before, that the blunder was deliberate. The result is a gripping and definitive study of a debacle that has never ceased to enthral the imagination.
THE WESTERN FRONT COMPANION (originally published in 2013)…
The Complete Guide to How the Armies Fought for Four Devastating Years, 1914-18
To comprehend and chronicle the sheer scale of the conflict on the Western Front demands a book of similar scope. Now, published for the centenary of the start of World War I in August 2014, here is that book. More than merely a chronological account of the fighting, “The Western Front Companion” is an astonishingly comprehensive and forensic anatomy of how and why the armies fought, of their weapons, equipment, and tactics, for over four long and bloody years, on a battlefield stretching from the Belgian coast to the Swiss frontier — a distance of 450 miles.
Comprehensive coverage of World War I’s Western Front
Breaks down the battles that took place in France and Belgium from 1914 to 1918 in trenches and fields, on muddy river plains, and against forts
Covers the uniforms, equipment, and weaponry, as well as the strategy, tactics, and orders of battle of all sides
Impressively illustrated with color maps, diagrams, charts, drawings, and period photos
Includes modern-day photos overlaid with markings to show troop movements
Required reference for scholars and military history buffs as the war’s 100th anniversary approaches
THE BATTLE FOR AFGHANISTAN (with Mohammad Yousaf, originally published in 2007)…
The Soviets versus the Mujahideen during the 1980s
This is the story of the defeat of Soviet Russia’s forces in Afghanistan by a guerrilla force known as the Mujahideen, heavily backed by Pakistan and the USA. The Mujahideen paved the way for the Taliban regime, to exist having all but defeated the Russian Army in the late 80’s. The author, Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf, was head of the Afghan Bureau of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence and as such was effectively the Mujahideen’s commander-in-chief. He controlled the flow of thousands of tons of arms across Pakistan and into its occupied neighbor, arms that were bought with CIA and Saudi Arabian funds from the USA. One of the Mujahideen’s close allies was none other than Osama Bin Laden. This compelling book was put together with great skill the by military historian, Mark Adkin in conjunction with Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf and is essential reading for anyone interested in the truth behind the Afghanistan War which led to the conditions that exist there today.
