The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
The soldier that graces the cover of Immortal Valor, Sergeant Edward A Carter, epitomized the courageous warrior. His look of iron-willed determination was not forged during the battles of the Second World War but from an early age. Little did he know when he returned...
There are many published books about Winston Churchill, but this is not yet another one. It is a quite remarkable analysis of, and insight into, Churchill’s personality traits and experiences, as a young soldier and journalist during the late 19th and early 20th...
Anthony Tucker-Jones, it seems early on in his life Churchill had big ideas. His paper on invading Russia impressed his school master at Harrow. Did he always have grand strategic plans? To start with no, he struggled to apply himself and was unhappy at Harrow. It was...
While researching my latest book Churchill Master and Commander, one of the more bizarre things I discovered was Churchill’s undying enthusiasm for the use of mustard gas. Britain at the start of the Second World War had 500 tons of the stuff, by the end Churchill had...
The Reckoning is an engaging contribution to scholarship on the Second World War. Pivotally, Buttar rejects the Western-centric view of the ‘Eastern Front’ being a sub-event to the exploits of the Allies in seeking control over the West. Indeed, Buttar insists that...
Prit Buttar, you’ve written about the defeat of Army Group South (AGS) in 1944. Why write about this theatre, and this stage of the Eastern Front? This was the year when the Red Army completed its evolution from the ‘stumbling colossus’ of 1941 to the war machine...
It is a widely held point of view that history is usually written – or at least distorted – by the victors. The history of the war on the Eastern Front between the Red Army and Wehrmacht, in the English speaking world is almost unique in that it does not conform to...
Harald Hardrada is one of the characters from history who has always fascinated me. I mean, anyone who goes by the moniker ‘Hard Ruler’ must have something about them, right? For the purposes of full transparency, though, I should point out that he has an...
Don Hollway, Harald plays an all too brief part in the history of these isles but there is so much more to the man. What led you to want to write about him? I first read Hardrada’s story as a boy and thought, “Wow, what a life that guy led!” I always wanted to tell...
King Harald Sigurdsson of Norway, called Hardrada, the Hard Ruler, was a Viking hero straight out of fantasy: an outcast prince who won a fortune, romanced empresses, married a queen, and carved a kingdom for himself with his own blade. He launched the last great...
