Biography & Autobiography : Military

A witness who brings remarkable life and color to the Civil War in the East. Robert Hubard was an enlisted man and officer of the 3rd Virginia Cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia (CSA) from 1861 through 1865. He wrote his memoir during an extended convalescence spent at his father’s Virginia plantation after being wounded at the battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865. Hubard served under such Confederate luminaries as Jeb Stuart, Fitz Lee, Wade Hampton, and Thomas L. Rosser. He and his unit fought at the battles of Antietam, on the Chambersburg Raid, in the Shenandoah Valley, at Fredericksburg, Kelly’s Ford, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, and down into Virginia from the Wilderness to nearly the end of the war at Five Forks. Hubard was like many of his class and station a son of privilege and may have felt that his service was an act of noblesse oblige. Unlike many of his contemporaries, however, he was a keen observer and a writer of unusual grace, clarity, humor, and intelligence. The editor has fleshed out his memoir by judicious use of Hubard’s own wartime letters, which not only fill in gaps but permit the reader to see developments in the writer’s thinking after the passage of time. Because he was a participant in events of high drama and endured the quotidian life of a soldier, Hubard’s memoir should be of value to both scholars and avocational readers. Thomas P. Nanzig is an editor with ProQuest in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and author of four other books, including 3rd Virginia Cavalry. more...

Price: $37.20

A celebration of the astounding military achievements of Captain Clive 'Killer' Caldwell, Australia's top scoring fighter pilot during the Second World War. more...

Price: $28.00

For most prisoners of war in Nazi Germany, the experience of captivity was very different from the dramatic and exciting picture still commonly associated with Colditz. Drawing on first-hand accounts by hundreds of British and Commonwealth ex-POWs, along with thousands of official documents, S. P. Mackenzie goes beyond the popular mythology to present a vivid portrait of what it was really like to be a 'Kriegie'. Featuring the voices of the men themselves, The Colditz Myth. explores both the triumphs and the trials and tribulations of POW life inside the Third Reich. - ;Though only one among hundreds of prison camps in which British servicemen were held between 1939 and 1945, Colditz enjoys unparalleled name recognition both in Britain and in other parts of the English-speaking world. Made famous in print, on film, and through television, Colditz remains a potent symbol of key virtues - including ingenuity and perseverance against apparantly overwhelming odds - that form part of the popular mythology surrounding the British war effort in World War. II. Colditz has played a major role in shaping perceptions of the POW experience in Nazi Germany, an experience in which escaping is assumed to be paramount and 'Outwitting the Hun' a universal sport. The story of Colditz has been told often and in a variety of forms but in this book MacKenzie chronicles the development of the Colditz myth and puts what happened inside the castle in the context of British and Commonwealth POW life in Germany as a whole. Being a captive of the Third Reich - from the moment of surrender down to the day of liberation and repatriation - was more complicated and a good deal tougher than the popular myth would suggest. The physical and mental demands of survival. far outweighed escaping activity in order of importance in most camps almost all of the time, and even in Colditz the reality was in some respects very different from the almost Boy's Own caricature that developed d more...

Price: $39.95

For the first time, the inspiring true story of Lucian Truscott, the greatest combat commander of World War II. General Lucian K. Truscott was an American military giant: tough, resourceful, and devoted to the men under his command. Unlike the more flamboyant, high-ranking European field commanders of the time, he was neither arrogant nor in pursuit of personal glory—but rather a loyal, humble man who led his troops from the front and fought every enemy with a tenacity that made him one of the most respected and revered commanders in the U.S. Army. In Command of Honor, author H. Paul Jeffers chronicles the life of this American hero, from his ramshackle childhood in Texas and Oklahoma, to the defeat of Nazi Germany. But this is above all a story of service and sacrifice by a man who lived for duty, honor, and courage—a man who would become a legend in the annals of World War II. more...

Price: $16.00

A gripping chronicle of courage in captivity, of sacrifice and survival, Conduct Under Fire recounts the fierce, bloody battles of Bataan and Corregidor through the eyes of the author’s father and three fellow navy doctors taken prisoner by the Japanese in 1942. During their three and a half years of imprisonment, the doctors struggled daily against disease and starvation, fighting for their own lives as well as the lives of their fellow prisoners. Based on extensive interviews with American, British, Australian, and Japanese veterans, as well as diaries, letters, and war crimes testimony, Conduct Under Fire is an unforgettable account of bravery and ingenuity, one that reveals the long shadow the war cast on the lives of those who fought it. more...

Price: $16.00