History/Politics - military

New Zealand's Vietnam War provides a comprehensive and authoritative account of New Zealand's involvement in the Vietnam War, one that will remain the standard reference work on the subject for decades. Its publication will complete the programme of official war history production that began in 1945. This work focuses on what New Zealand did in South Vietnam, as the reasons for this country's involvement and opposition to it have already been covered in book form. It traces in detail the operations carried out by New Zealand forces... read more

Citizen soldiering has been part of our history since the first years of colonial settlement. From the early militias set up in the 1830s, primarily for internal security, right up to the current day, everyday men and women have been trained and ready to serve in the Boer War, the Great War, World War II and many other military engagements. The shape and purpose of the volunteer and territorial armies has changed over the years, but is marked throughout by bravery, adventure and initiative. This extensive and authoritative history ... read more

Infantryman Bruce Robertson had a long war. A volunteer with the First Echelon, he entered Trentham Military Camp in October 1939, sailed for the Middle East in January 1940 and entered Maadi Camp near Cairo late the following month. While other early volunteers returned home on furlough in 1943 - many permanently - Bruce found himself overseas for the duration after being captured by Rommel's troops during the first Battle of El Alamein in July 1942. He would see out the rest of the war behind barbed wire in Italy and Germa... read more

As a first-hand account of life in the firestorm of World War One, The Devil's Own War is hard to beat.

The New Zealand Division earned a high reputation as an Allied strike formation on the Western Front in 1916-1918. It fought at First Somme, and the Battles of Messines, Broodseinde, and First Passchendaele. It responded effectively in plugging a gap in the British line at Second Somme during the sudden German advance in March 1918. It held its new line, and then was in the vanguard of the Advance to Victory through the Hindenburg Line, before its celebrated Relief of Le Quesnoy, at wars end. It pioneered the fielding by the New Ze... read more

Dop October 2008, Auckland 336pp 234mmx153mm cased with jacket Published in conjunction with the Defence Force these diaries are widely regarded as one of the most important personal sources related to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Hart was a much decorated brigadair general and from the time he left Carterton in 1914 to the time he returned in 1918 he kept extensive personal diaries that cover huge campaigns such as Somme, Passchendale and Gallipoi.

It is the most famous military installation in the world. And no credible insider has ever divulged the truth about his time inside of it. Until now. This is the first book based on interviews with scientists, pilots, and engineers - 58 in total - who provide an unprecedented look into the mysterious activities of a top-secret base, from the Cold War to today. With a jaw-dropping ending, it proves that facts are often more fantastic than fiction, especially when the distinction is almost impossible to make.

Major General Sir Andrew Russell commanded the NZ Mounted Rifles Brigade at Gallipoli. He then went on to serve as commander of the New Zealand Division on the Western Front. He has been called 'the one military commander of genius that New Zealand produced in the twentieth century'. Yet his story remains all but unknown in this country. The Forgotten General sets out to change that. The Forgotten General traces Russell's life from his early days on the family farm in the Hawke's Bay, his education at those most British of institut... read more

The seminal narrative history of the Second World War from one of our finest historians. A book which depicts what the war was like to live through -- whether you were a starving child in Leningrad, a soldier in North Africa, or a civilian in Dresden. With its battlefields dispersed across the globe, the vastness of the Second World War was unparalleled. This was a time when nearly everything which civilised people took for granted in peace time was destroyed. Between 1939 and 1945, around 27,000 people died, every single day -- m... read more

Anzacs on the Western Front: The Australian War Memorial Battlefield Guide is the definitive guide to the Western Front battlefields. Meticulously researched and written by the Head of Research at the Australian War Memorial, Dr. Peter Pedersen, this landmark publication guides readers chronologically through the battles in which Australians and new Zealanders fought on the Western Front from 1916-1918. Lavishly illustrated in vibrant colour, with fascinating images from the Australian War Memorial archive as well as new panoramic... read more

The Great War: four devastating years told by twenty eyewitnesses. There are many books on the First World War, but award-winning and bestselling historian Peter Englund takes a daring and stunning new approach. Describing the experiences of twenty ordinary people from around the world, all now unknown, he explores the everyday aspects of war: not only the tragedy and horror, but also the absurdity, monotony and even beauty. Two of these twenty will perish, two will become prisoners of war, two will become celebrated heroes and two... read more

Signaller Ellis Silas of the 16th Battalion, Australian Imperial force, was the only artist to paint and sketch actual battle scenes showing Australian soldiers in action at Gallipoli. With his mates he went ashore at Anzac Cove in April 1915 and for the next month he witnessed the terrible carnage at Gallipoli whilst performing his duties as signaller in the thick of the fighting, until he was wounded and had to be taken by hospital ship back to Egypt. The words and sketches of Ellis Silas give us a brilliant and moving eyewitness... read more

This moving and timely book explores the way the First World War has been thought about and commemorated, and how it has affected its own, and later, generations. On 11 November 1920, huge crowds lined the streets of London for the funeral of the Unknown Warrior. As the coffin was drawn on a gun carriage from the Cenotaph to Westminster Abbey, the King and Ministers of State followed silently behind. The modern world had tilted on its axis, but it had been saved. Armistice Day was born, the acknowledgement of the great sacrifice m... read more

The story of the New Zealand Navy as it unfolded told through the collections of the Royal New Zealand Navy Museum. From the arrival of Captain Cook, an RN Officer, in 1840, through war and peace, the Navy has played a major role in our history. Service from the Sea tells this dramatic story through letters, official documents, photographs, oral histories, diaries, telegrams and ephemera.

While others dived for cover - the bravest of the brave went in. Brendan O'Carroll's new book pays tribute to the courageous 'Khaki Angels': stretcher-bearers and other Kiwi frontline medical people who put others before self in two world wars, serving in Gallipoli, Europe, North Africa, Greece, Italy and the Pacific. Khaki Angels also looks at general wartime medical matters: field organisation, what caused death and injuries, what the injuries were like and how they were treated. And we meet some heroes.

In the first-ever account of New Zealand's role in Spain's civil war of 1936-39, Mark Derby presents the personal stories of some extraordinary individuals who became involved. For example: A fighter pilot from Wellington who landed his plane with a shattered shoulder, then left for Hollywood to make movies with Errol Flynn; A Cromwell surgeon who operated as close as possible to the firing line, and was described as 'the most important volunteer to come from the British Commonwealth'; A tough young wharfie from Napier who buried 8... read more

This significant volume will see the completion of over ten years' writing and research by esteemed military historian Glyn Harper. The book will include the revision and reissuing of his two earlier detailed histories of the New Zealand Division's major Western Front battles of World War One: Massacre at Passchendaele (2000) Spring Offensive (2003) combined with an unpublished account of the third major battle of the Somme, at Bapaume, during which several VCs were awarded to New Zealand troops. Dark Journey presents the first co... read more

Between 1941 and 1945 a fair number of young Kiwi combatants found themselves loose behind enemy lines in occupied southern Europe - mostly Greece, Yugoslavia and Italy. Most were escaped prisoners of war, trying to reach friendly territory. A few brave souls such as John Mulgan and Dudley Perkins took even riskier routes, actually landing in occupied territory to bolster the resistance and carry the fight to the enemy. When need arose, the escapees fought, often as members of partisan bands. 'We decided that if it was too late to ... read more