Soviet bombers played a vital role in defeating the Germans on the Eastern Front, yet their contribution is often forgotten. This graphic memoir should help to set the record straight. The author, a leading Soviet bomber pilot who flew throughout the conflict, tells his story from the desperate days of the German assault in 1941 to the point where Germany was invaded and the Nazis were destroyed. He gives a vivid account of his experiences during over 300 bombing missions in the dangerous skies over Russia, the Ukraine, Poland and Germany. His story is compelling reading.

Ultra was the code word for the method by which the Allies intercepted the German radio transmissions and broke their coded contents during World War II. The author, himself a former field artilery officer with the Eighth Army from Alamein to Tunisia and then from Normandy to the end of the war in Germany, was the first historian to utilize Ultra intercepts to show how the information was used in combat. He was also the first historian to have interviewed the men, both British and American, who produced and used Ultra intercepts in the key positions of leadership throughout the war. The book highlights how Ultra helped to win the Battle of Britain and how its proper use might have prevented the Battle of the Bulge and the Allied defeat at Arnhem. Included too is a documented account of the destruction of Coventry, the reason for the American defeat at the Kasserine Pass and an account of how convoys carrying strategic war supplies to our Allies were decimated because the Germans had broken the Admiralty codes. Other works by Ronald Lewin include "Slim the Standard-Bearer", "The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps" and "Churchill as Warlord".

In Spring 1945, the outcome of the war was ritually certain but the mighty River Rhine still stood in the way of the Allies. Eisenhower's strategy was to guarantee a crossing in the Ruhr area by allocating the main effort to Montgomery's 21st Army Group. Monty's task was to envelope and take out the last German war production and open the way onto the North German Plain. On the morning of 24 March 1945, the Normandy veterans of 6th British Airborne Division were to land just three to six miles in front of XII Corps, within supporting distance of their artillery, with the aim of linking up with the ground forces on day one. First in were the two parachute brigades, who benefited from the numbing effect of the Allied bombardment but by the time 6th Airlanding Brigade came in aboard their gliders, the German anti-aircraft gunners were recovering and, on the DZs, resisting and even counter-attacking the British and Canadian paratroopers. Casualties were heavy, not least because the Airlanding Brigade were gliding in amidst an armoured kampfgruppe.

This book is a chronology of the "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and the famous victory drive of the Seventh Army. It starts at the Worms' Rhine bridgehead and moves quickly onto Aschaffenburg, before describing the Hammelburg Raid to release US POWs. Driving South through Karlstadt, the Army seized crossing of the River Mainz at Wurzburg (which has a fine castle). The seizure of Nuremberg was hugely symbolic and this beautiful city was the scene both of the infamous Nazi Rallies and of course the War Crimes Tribunals. The road to Munich, always worth visiting (bierfest or no bierfest!) is via the Danube crossings and the book takes in the liberation of the appalling Dachau Concentration Camp and the battle at the SS Barracks. Munich was the centre of Hitler's early life and represented his powerbase. He was imprisoned here and wrote "Mein Kampf". The book climaxes with the approach to the Alps and the superb Eagle's Nest, so popular with tourists.