History/Politics > military

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

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

NZSAS: The First Fifty Years by Ron Crosby is the first and only official history of New Zealand's elite Special Forces, the New Zealand Special Air Service. From their first ever engagements in the jungles of Malaya in 1956, through to the Vietnam War and on to modern conflicts in Iraq, East Timor and Afghanistan, this book traces the history and development of 1 NZSAS Group. Illustrated with maps and never-before-seen photographs, and told by the men who were there - in most cases in their own words - the book provides a rare and... 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

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

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.

In the late 1990s Bill Leadley's granddaughter, Jan Chamberlin, spent many months researching her family archives in order to be able to put her grandfather's diary covering the ANZAC landing on Gallipoli in context. Shrapnel & Semaphore is the result and it is an amazing story of courage, faith and service based on a series of diary entries written by Lance-Corporal Walter Edmund (Bill) Leadley covering the period 25 April 1915 through to 8 December, and from 25 March 1916 to 9 September prior to serving at The Somme where he ... read more

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

This book is a military collectors dream. An extensive photographic reference of equipment used by the New Zealand Army from 1910-1945. Equipment from operational deployments in Samoa, Gallipoli, France, Belgium, Palestine, Home Service, Egypt, Pacific, North Africa and Italy. Over 500 photos! Specials included will be never before published photos and information on: 1911 Pattern great coat carrier; 1911 Pattern ammunition pouches; Special binoculars; WWI machine gunners equipment. The aim of this book is to: a) Fill a void in re... 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

Spectacular aircraft and military equipment showcased in one of the world's largest and most important historical air shows. Enthusiasts and historic aircraft come from all over the world to turn quiet Wanaka from a small tourist destination in the lower South Island to the centre of the Warbird world for 4 days every second Easter. Amazing aerial displays from some of the world's best known and rarest historical aircraft are a highlight of the event. From fragile and slow moving World War One biplanes to modern day supersonic jets... read more

The Gallipoli campaign looms large in New Zealand's cultural memory. For the first time in this book, historian Glyn Harper tells the story of the campaign in the words of the New Zealand soldiers who were there.Having worked through archives in New Zealand and overseas, combed newspapers, and conducted a national call-out to descendents of Gallipoli soldiers, Harper has assembled over 500 letters home, of which 150 will be included in this book, most of them never previously published. After a thorough introduction to New Zealand'... read more

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

In 1968, at the age of 22 Karl Marlantes abandoned his Oxford University scholarship to sign up for active service with the US Marine Corps in Vietnam. Pitched into a war that had no defined military objective other than kill ratios and body counts, what he experienced over the next thirteen months in the jungles of South East Asia shook him to the core. But what happened when he came home covered with medals was almost worse. It took Karl four decades to come to terms with what had really happened, during the course of which he pa... read more

"Talk about the charge of the Light Brigade. The infantry said we were mad, and by Jove we were! We charged over barbed wire entanglements, over trenches..." The Troopers' Tale tells for the first time the exciting stories of the Otago mounted Rifles during their many overseas campaigns. It features compelling personal histories of the soldiers involved; all neatly placed alongside the provincial history of New Zealand. The Troopers' Tale features nearly 400 photographs, illustrations and maps - most of which have never been publ... 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

When the Second World War broke out, Philipp von Boeselager fought enthusiastically for his country, leading a cavalry unit first in France and later on the Russian Front. However, when he discovered what the SS were doing to Jews and Gypsies in the summer of 1942 his enthusiasm quickly turned to disgust. Along with his brother Georg, he joined a group of conspirators in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler. After several abortive assassination attempts, including one in which von Boeselager was supposed to shoot the F... read more

From the author of The Perfect Storm, a gripping book about Sebastian Junger's almost fatal year with the 2nd battalion of the American Army. For 15 months, Sebastian Junger accompanied a single platoon of thirty men from the celebrated 2nd battalion of the U.S. Army, as they fought their way through a remote valley in Eastern Afghanistan. Over the course of five trips, Junger was in more firefights than he could count, men he knew were killed or wounded, and he himself was almost killed. His relationship with these soldiers grew ... read more

December 2011 sees the premier of Steven Spielberg's much anticipated film, "War Horse", which is the most popular piece of fiction ever written about horses in war. "My Horse Warrior", first published in 1934 is equally wondrous fact. It is told by Winston Churchill's great heroic friend, Jack Seely, about the thoroughbred horse he took to France in 1914 surviving five years of bombs and bullets to lead a cavalry charge in 1918 before returning home where they rode on together until 1938, their combined ages (70+30) totalling 100.... read more