Destination D-Day. Preparations for the Invasion of North-West Europe 1944 by David Rogers provides rich and fascinating detail on the thorough and surprisingly early preparations in the UK for D-Day and the battle for Normandy. PLUTO ('Pipe Line Under The Ocean') and the Mulberry Harbours are just two of the preparations that the author describes. Softcover. 326pp

Death in the Air. The War Diary and Photographs of a Flying Corps Pilot by Wesley D Archer. From the publisher: 'The typewritten script of a First World War pilot s diary with a large number of photographs was submitted to the publishers William Heinemann and published by them in 1933. Heinemann stated on the book s jacket that the diary contained no names, dates, or anything that could reveal the identity of the writer or the squadron in which he served. The publishers understood that the diarist was killed in action in 1918 and that it was in deference to the wishes of those who were close to him that his diary should be published. So remarkable were the photographs that their veracity was immediately questioned, but no proof of their authenticity or otherwise could be ascertained. It was not until 1983 that a collection of documents, photographs and artefacts was presented to the Smithsonian s National Air and Space Museum. Some of the photographs were recognised as being those of the mystery diarist and the truth was soon revealed. The author was Wesley Archer, an American with Canadian parents who served with the RFC in the First World War, and the photographs and diary had been faked.' Softcover. Illustrated. 166pp.

Kitchener. Comprising The Road to Omdurman and Saviour of the Nation by John Pollock. A superb double volume biography that will transform our view of Kitchener and the First World War. In Part I, (previously published alone as The Road to Omdurman) we see a youngster of integrity and kindness, whose shyness meant he was often misunderstood. At miraculously low cost in both lives and money, he leads the reconquest of the Sudan, and lays down the principles, which for nearly 60 years, made it one of the best governed lands in the British Empire. The new Part II, Saviour of the Nation, opens with Kitchener arriving in the Indian Empire as Commander-in-Chief and his posting to Egypt as proconsul. When the Great War broke out he said it would last at least three years and that he must raise a New Army of three million men.Pollock argues that despite his untimely death, Kitchener was the architect of allied victory, and that his planning was masterly. The aftermath of Mons, the Munitions Crisis, Gallipoli, the Kut disaster, the stalemate on the Western Front and Kitchener's vision of a peace of reconciliation are all recreated in a dramatic narrative history. Illustrated. Hardcover. 598pp.