War fiction and non-fiction 2Talking Books

The titles in this booklist are just a selection of the titles available for loan from the RNIB National Library Talking Book Service.

Don’t forget you are allowed to have up to 6 books on loan. When you return a title, you will then receive another one.

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Fiction

Great soldiers' tales. 1991. Read by Garard Green, 9 hours 26 minutes. TB 9739.All the heroism, sacrifice and humour of the soldier at war, captured in a superb collection of short stories with a wartime theme. Contributors include C. S. Forester, Leo Tolstoy, Kipling and Monsarrat. TB 9739.

Wave me goodbye: stories of the Second World War. 1988. Read by Carol Marsh, 12 hours 43 minutes. TB 7599.This collection of 28 short stories of the 2nd World War, by leading authors, is a moving evocation of every aspect of life on the home front during wartime. Full of courage and compassionate observation, this compilation focuses on the heroism of the women who "did their bit" for the war effort at home. TB 7599.

Alexander, Peter Ryfka. 1988. Read by Robert Ashby, 9 hours 44 minutes. TB 7617.Based on real-life events during the Second World War, this exciting novel tells a dramatic story of a chase across occupied France to find a high-ranking RAF Officer who has been shot down and who has information which can imperil the planned Allied invasion. The order is to bring back or eliminate, by decree of SOE. TB 7617.

Allbeury, Ted The lonely margins. 1995. Read by David Thorpe, 6 hours 51 minutes. TB 10818.To live in the shadowland of espionage, where the only certainties are death and deceit is to live on the lonely margins. James Harmer and Jane Frazer, brought together by the French Resistance and broken apart by the Gestapo, are haunted by a sense of betrayal and a thirst for revenge. TB 10818.

Andrews, Lucilla Front line 1940. 1993. Read by Gretel Davis, 11 hours 42 minutes. TB 10085.London, September 1940. As the Battle of Britain rages overhead, Ann Marlowe, young staff nurse at St Martha's Hospital, battles to save the lives of wounded airmen, who are being admitted faster than she can hope to treat them. American war correspondent, Josh Adams is caught in St Martha's during London's first daytime bomb raid. What he sees dispels his professional detachment for ever, for nowhere is the indomitable spirit of the people more apparent. As the capital faces the fury of the blitz, Josh's admiration turns to love, but he cannot persuade Ann to leave, even when St Martha's is razed to the ground. TB 10085.

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Auchincloss, LouisWatchfires. 1982. Read by James Tillitt, 10 hours 36 minutes. TB 5147.Political differences and general dissatisfaction with their marriage cause a rift between complacent New York lawyer, Dexter Fairchild and his fiercely abolitionist wife, Rosalie on the eve of the American Civil War - the watchfires of the title are those in the battle hymn of John Brown. The war is to change the lives of both. TB 5147.

Banks, Lynne Reid Casualties. 1986. Read by Pauline Munro, 8 hours 49 minutes. TB 6666.A week's holiday in Holland with an old friend she has not seen for 20 years seems a good idea to Sue McClusky: she senses that Mariolain wants to unburden herself of her marriage problems, and as Sue and her husband, Cal, are on the rocks also, she feels it could be useful. But Mariolain and her husband, Niels, are both unwounded casualties of the Second World War, she from the German occupation of Holland in 1940, whilst he had been in Indonesia when the Japanese invaded... TB 6666.

Barker, PatDouble vision. 2003. Read by Robert Glenister, 8 hours 17 minutes. TB 15378.Stephen Sharkey and Ben Frobisher, journalist and photographer respectively, are regularly faced with the reality of war. After Ben dies on assignment in Afghanistan, Stephen embarks on a book about the images of war - a book that will be based largely on Ben's work. But the demands of the present - recurring nightmares of his time in Sarajevo, an affair with a woman twenty years his junior, and a sudden emergency in the shape of masked intruders - are turning Stephen's life into a war zone and threatening his peace of mind. Contains violence. TB 15378.

Barry, SebastianA long long way. 2005. Read by John Cormack, 9 hours 20 minutes. TB 14367.A long long way evokes the camaraderie and humour of Willie and his regiment, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, but also the cruelty and sadness of war, and the divided loyalties that many Irish soldiers felt. Tracing their experiences through the course of the war, the narrative brilliantly explores and dramatises the events of the Easter Rising within Ireland, and how such a seminal political moment came to affect those boys off fighting for the King of England on foreign fields - the paralysing doubts and divisions it caused them. Contains strong language. TB 14367.

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Bates, H E The purple plain. 1947. Read by Franklin Engelmann, 8 hours 21 minutes. TB 1090.The story of a young British pilot in Burma, and of the Burmese girl whose love inspired him to live. TB 1090.

Bingham, Charlotte The chestnut tree. 2002. Read by Judy Bennett, 10 hours 35 minutes. TB 14819. Bexham; book 1. 1939, and the residents of Bexham are preparing for war. Beautiful Judy Melton, social butterfly Meggie Gore-Stewart, Mathilda Eastcott, and Rusty Todd, tomboy daughter of the local boatyard owner, are all determined to be active while their men are away fighting. But knitting socks and dodging bombs are not what they have in mind. Meeting under the chestnut tree on the green, the women look over the landscape they have helped to alter. They too have changed, and yet, as the men return, they are expected to play "mother", "daughter", "grandmother" once again. TB 14819.

Blake, SarahThe postmistress. 2011. Read by Lorelei King, 9 hours 57 minutes. TB 18622.It is 1940, and bombs fall nightly on London. In the thick of the chaos is young American radio reporter Frankie Bard. She huddles close to terrified strangers in underground shelters, and later broadcasts stories about survivors in rubble-strewn streets. But for her listeners, the war is far from home. Listening to Frankie are Iris James, a Cape Cod postmistress, and Emma Fitch, a doctor's wife. Iris hears the winds stirring and knows that soon the letters she delivers will bear messages of hope or tragedy. Emma is desperate for news of London, where her husband is working - she counts the days until his return. But one night in London the fates of all three women entwine when Frankie finds a letter - a letter she vows to deliver. TB 18622.

Burgh, AnitaClare's war. Read by Jilly Bond, 15 hours 13 minutes. TB 13108.1938: At seventeen Clare Springer is sent to Paris to complete her education. Relishing freedom, she's too busy to notice the onset of war. France is invaded and Clare is trapped, though happy to be so when her French lover Fabien is reported missing. She is determined to find him. Yet despite her wish not to become involved, Clare is sucked into the chaos and suffering around her, for how can she not help this country and people she has come to love? TB 13108.

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Collins, Norman London belongs to me. 1945. Read by Robert Gladwell, 30 hours 45 minutes. TB 1961.A realistic novel of London people in wartime, especially the inhabitants of one particular boarding house. TB 1961.

Cook, Gloria Touch the silence. 2003. Read by Daniel Philpott, 10 hours 33 minutes. TB 14241.It is 1917 and the First World War is casting its shadow over the Harvey family of Ford Farm. One brother has been killed, Tristan is at the Front and Ben is desperate to go but is declared unfit. Tensions mount as he is forced to stay at home with older brother, Alec, who has secrets of his own. TB 14241.

Cornwell, Bernard Sharpe's Christmas: two short stories. 2003. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 3 hours 32 minutes. TB 15016. Sharpe's Christmas contains two short stories, Sharpe's Christmas and Sharpe's Ransom. Sharpe's Christmas is set in 1813, towards the end of the Peninsular War and falls after Sharpe's Regiment (book 17, TB 10728). Sharpe's Ransom comes after Sharpe's Waterloo (book 20, TB 11396), is set in peacetime and provides a glimpse of Sharpe's life in Normandy with Lucille. TB 15016.

Cornwell, BernardAzincourt. 2009. Read by Damien Goodwin, 13 hours 45 minutes. TB 16640.Agincourt, fought on October 25th 1415, on St Crispin's Day, is one of the best known battles, in part through the brilliant depiction of it in Shakespeare's Henry V, in part because it was a brilliant and unexpected English victory and in part because it was the first battle won by the use of the longbow - a weapon developed by the English which enabled them to dominate the European battlefields for the rest of the century. Bernard Cornwell's Azincourt is an account of this momentous battle and its aftermath. From the varying viewpoints of nobles, peasants, archers, and horsemen, Azincourt skilfully brings to life the hours of relentless fighting, the desperation of an army crippled by disease and the exceptional bravery of the English soldiers. TB 16640.

Crisp, N J Yesterday's gone. 1983. Read by Bruce Montague, 12 hours 22 minutes. TB 6443.The log book which belonged to Squadron Leader David Kirby, DSO, DFC, is still in existence, a relic of a forgotten era. There are 29 operations recorded. 28 are against familiar targets; Stettin, Berlin, Hamburg, but the final raid is against a

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target so secret at the time that it is scarcely appears in histories of the air war, its tragedy virtually ignored. TB 6443.

Davies, Peter Ho The Welsh girl. 2007. Read by Charlotte Stevens, 12 hours 2 minutes. TB 15662.It is Wales 1944 and Captain Rotheram, a Jewish refugee working for British Intelligence, arrives to interrogate the infamous captive, Rudolf Hess. In a prison camp near a remote Snowdonian village, a young German soldier wrestles with the shame of his surrender. And among the curious locals is seventeen-year-old Esther Evans, who longs to experience the wider world. When their paths connect, all three will come to question their deepest loyalties, as the war irrevocably alters the course of their lives. Contains strong language. TB 15662.

Delderfield, R FThe Avenue goes to war. 1958. Read by Stephen Jack, 22 hours 30 minutes. TB 118. The Avenue Story; book 2. Sequel to: The dreaming suburb, TB 108. War has overtaken the families in the Avenue, and we see how its privations bring out the best and the worst in them. TB 118.

Deighton, Len Goodbye Mickey Mouse. 1982. Read by Ian Craig, 13 hours 41 minutes. TB 4622.A group of young fighter pilots wait for their orders on an American airbase in East Anglia. It is the penultimate winter of the war and the war is seen through the eyes of Captain James Farebrother, his friend, the tough, ambitious Mickey Mouse and many other equally different characters. TB 4622.

Dobbs, Michael Winston's war. Read by Terry Wale, 19 hours 33 minutes. TB 13840.Winston Churchill; book 1. Saturday 1 October, 1938. Two men meet. One is elderly, the other in his twenties. One will become the most revered man of his time, and the other known as the greatest of traitors. Winston Churchill met BBC journalist Guy Burgess at a moment when the world was about to explode. The encounter was the first of the extraordinary events that propelled Churchill from the lowest point of his career to Downing Street, changing the course of the Second World War. In contrast, the man who played a part in Churchill's return would later be revealed as a Soviet spy. TB 13840.

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Dorfman, ArielWidows. 1983. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 5 hours 19 minutes. TB 5233.The setting for this story is Nazi-occupied Greece in 1941-42, but it could belong equally to El Salvador or Chile or any other oppressive military dictatorship, for it is about the horror of being "disappeared". When the men are taken from a patriarchal society, the women must find strength in each other. Their courage, and their insistence on knowing who is alive and who is dead, is a compelling indictment of the cruelty and indifference of such regimes. TB 5233.

Elgin, Elizabeth Whisper on the wind. 1992. Read by Diana Bishop, 20 hours 1 minute. TB 10117.World War Two. Against the express wishes of her absent husband Barney, Kath joins up as a land girl and moves from Birmingham to work on Mat Ramsden's farm in the Yorkshire countryside. Next door the Fairchild estate has been harnessed for the war effort. Roz, exempted from call-up to work on the land, has something to hide from her grandmother, who has secrets of her own. A moving story of women caught in the emotional crossfire of war. TB 10117.

Fallada, HansAlone in Berlin. 2009. Read by Steve Hodson, 25 hours 46 minutes. TB 17820.Berlin, 1940, and the city is filled with fear. At the house on 55 Jablonski Strasse, its various occupants try to live under Nazi rule in their different ways: the nervous Frau Rosenthal, the bullying Hitler loyalists the Persickes, the retired judge Fromm and the unassuming working-class couple Otto and Anna Quangel. Then the Quangels receive the devastating news that their beloved son has been killed fighting in France. Shocked out of his quiet existence, the usually taciturn factory foreman Otto is provoked into an action that will endanger both his and Anna's life. TB 17820.

Farrell, J G The siege of Krishnapur: a novel. 1973. Read by Garard Green, 15 hours 45 minutes. TB 2503.Boredom at Krishnapur, a remote town on the vast plains of Northern India, gives way to panic and violence when the spring of 1857 finds India on the brink of mutiny. This book was the Booker Prize winner in 1973. TB 2503.

Faulks, Sebastian Charlotte Gray. 1998. Read by Jamie Glover, 16 hours 47 minutes. TB 12560.A young woman travels to occupied France in 1942, both to carry out a mission for British Intelligence and to search for her lover, an English airman who is missing in action. Once there she witnesses the horror of French collusion with the Nazis and also the tremendous courage of the Resistance. TB 12560.

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Follett, JamesA cage of eagles. 1990. Read by Richard Owens, 7 hours 14 minutes. TB 8311.The locals call it "Hush, Hush Hall". The British Army calls it No. 1 POW Camp (Officers), Grizedale Hall. British intelligence calls it the Cage of Eagles. The Hall is the biggest concentration of German prisoner-of-war talent in wartime Britain. U-boat ace Otto Kruger, the senior German officer, turns the camp into a clearing house for sending vital intelligence back to the Fatherland. TB 8311.

Follett, Ken Jackdaws. Read by Jilly Bond, 12 hours 50 minutes. TB 13907.Two weeks before D-Day, the French Resistance attack a chateau containing a telephone exchange vital to German communications but the building is heavily guarded and the attack fails disastrously. Flick Clairet, a young British secret agent, proposes a daring new plan: she will parachute into France with an all-woman team known as the Jackdaws and they will penetrate the chateau in disguise. But, unknown to Flick, Rommel has assigned a brilliant, ruthless Intelligence colonel, Dieter Franck, and he's on Flicks trail. Contains strong language. TB 13907.

Forbes, Colin Tramp in armour. 1969. Read by Sean Barrett, 9 hours 40 minutes. TB 9448.It is May 1940 and the invading German forces are pouring through Northern France. Only the British Expeditionary Force stands between the enemy and the coast. TB 9448.

Forester, C SGold from Crete: short stories. 1971. Read by Michael de Morgan, 7 hours 12 minutes. TB 1642.Collected stories about the war at sea against the German navy. TB 1642.

Frizell, Bernard Timetable for the general. 1972. Read by Robert Gladwell, 10 hours 45 minutes. TB 2093.A fictional account of an actual escape by a top French general from the fortress where he was imprisoned in the Second World War. TB 2093.

Francis, Clare Night sky. 1983. Read by Judy Franklin, 24 hours 48 minutes. TB 5090.This wartime story binds the fate of three characters: Julie Lescaux, a young Englishwoman exiled in France who helps smuggle Allied servicemen out of occupied France across the Channel; the collaborator Paul Vasson, flourishing in war as he never did in peace; and the scientist David Freymann, caught up in the

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Holocaust and losing everything except his faith in his own discovery and the will to survive. TB 5090.

Furst, Alan Dark voyage. 2005. Read by Stephen Thorne, 9 hours 18 minutes. TB 14508.Tangier, 1941 - for Eric DeHaan, captain of the Dutch tramp freighter Noordenam, life at sea has always been his great, but not his only, love affair. Recruited by Dutch navel intelligence while in the port of Tangier, DeHaan steers his ship, disguised as a neutral Spanish freighter, through a series of secret missions for British naval interests. TB 14508.

Gale, Iain Alamein. 2010. Read by Eamonn Riley, 11 hours 18 minutes. TB 18317.In October 1942, Britain and its allies were in difficulties: Germany and its partners seemed to be triumphant everywhere - in Europe, in Russia, in the Atlantic and were now poised to take the Suez Canal. It was in North Africa that the stand was made. It was a battle of strong characters: the famous battle commander Rommel and the relatively untested new British commander, Montgomery, leading men who fought through an extraordinary eleven day battle, in an unforgiving terrain, amid the swirling sandstorms and the desert winds. TB 18317.

Gilbert, Michael Death in captivity. 1952. Read by Garard Green, 7 hours 30 minutes. TB 254.Allied prisoners in an Italian P.O.W. camp trying various methods of escape suspect that there is a traitor in their midst. TB 254.

Harry, Lilian Goodbye sweetheart. 1995. Read by Rachel Atkins, 13 hours 24 minutes. TB 11619. April grove series; book 1. From the outbreak of World War II to the evacuation of Dunkirk, this book follows the fortunes of the people who live in a working class street in Portsmouth. The joys, sorrows and friendships of April Grove are played out against the backdrop of a seaport arming for war. TB 11619.

Hassel, Sven Legion of the damned. 2004. Read by Daniel Philpott, 9 hours 10 minutes. TB 17621.This novel is based on the author's experiences in the Germany army. Convicted of deserting the Germany army, Sven Hassel is sent to a punishment regiment on the Russian front. He and his comrades are regarded as expendable, cannon fodder for Hitler's war. Outnumbered and outgunned on the frozen steppe, they fight for survival against the implacable Red Army. TB 17621.

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Hemingway, Ernest A farewell to arms. 1929. Read by Peter Reynolds, 11 hours. TB 413.Set in Italy in 1917, this story portrays the love of an English Nurse and an American soldier and their desperate attempt to find happiness in spite of the war. TB 413.

Henriques, RobertThe Commander: an autobiographical novel of 1940-1941. 1967. Read by David Broomfield, 11 hours 5 minutes. TB 392.Portrait of ex-regular officer, recalled to duty at the outbreak of the war, who is beset by inner uncertainty, but equal to rising to great heights of courage. TB 392.

Hewison, William Mindfire. 1973. Read by Robert Gladwell, 7 hours 45 minutes. TB 2393.The theme of this novel is war, and the reactions of its characters to the violence and futility of it. TB 2393.

Higgins, Jack Flight of Eagles. 1998. Read by Patrick Romer, 10 hours 50 minutes. TB 11830.Cold Harbour is a tiny Cornish fishing port, a place which was home to the Allies' most daring undercover operations during the Second World War. In 1997, a wealthy novelist, his wife and their pilot are forced to ditch in the English Channel. Saved by an alert lifeboat crew, they are returned to land at Cold Harbour. But it is the rediscovery of a fighter pilot's lucky mascot - unseen for half a century - that excites the greatest interest at the disused airbase. TB 11830.

Hill, Reginald The collaborators. 2006. Read by Michael Tudor Barnes, 15 hours 41 minutes. TB 14896.Paris, 1945. Janine Simonian stands accused of supplying information to the Nazi occupying forces that led to the arrest and torture of several members of the French Resistance - and the brutal murder of her own husband. Contains strong language. TB 14896.

Hislop, VictoriaThe return. 2009. Read by Ginita Jimenez, 16 hours 5 minutes. TB 16653.Beneath the majestic towers of the Alhambra, Granada's cobbled streets resonate with music and secrets. Sonia Cameron knows nothing of the city's shocking past; she is here to dance. But in a quiet cafe, a chance conversation and an intriguing collection of old photographs draw her into the extraordinary tale of Spain's devastating civil war. Seventy years earlier, the cafe is home to the close-knit

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Ramirez family. In 1936, an army coup led by Franco shatters the country's fragile peace, and in the heart of Granada the family witnesses the worst atrocities of conflict. Divided by politics and tragedy, everyone must take a side, fighting a personal battle as Spain rips itself apart. Contains strong language. TB 16653.

Hitchcock, Raymond The tunnellers. 1986. Read by Robin Browne, 8 hours 36 minutes. TB 6570.It is 1917 and 90 feet below the German trenches on the Messines Ridge two young sappers are guarding 60,000 pounds of ammonal destined to blow the Hun sky high. In foul darkness Clem and Will talk about their life in their Somerset village and especially about Alice, the auburn-haired maid at the Hall. A giant explosion wrecks their tunnel leaving the two men on opposite sides of the blockage - a story that spares none of the obscene horrors of war. TB 6570.

Holt, Tim Lucia in wartime. 1985. Read by Gwen Cherrell, 8 hours 15 minutes. TB 6773.It is 1939. War threatens Europe and although troops are stationed near Tilling and rationing leads to queues in the High Street, it has to be admitted that the hostilities that occupy the attention of Lucia and Georgie are with Elizabeth Mapp-Flint rather than with the enemy across the channel. Faced with Elizabeth's elevation to the head of the Tilling Red Cross and Major Benjy's leadership of the Home Guard, Lucia feels her star has fallen. But not for long. TB 6773.

Holtby, Winifred The land of green ginger. 1983. Read by Elizabeth Proud, 10 hours 24 minutes. TB 5570. Virago modern classics. Joanna Burton, a missionary's daughter, grows up dreaming of the far-off lands she will visit. Her romantic love of adventure matches a golden man on his way to the trenches of the First World War, but life on a Yorkshire farm in wartime makes harsh reality of the magic lands of the green ginger. TB 5570.

Jackson, RobertDesert commando. 1986. Read by Robert Gladwell, 7 hours 20 minutes. TB 7692.It is the autumn of 1942. At El Alamein, General Montgomery's Eighth Army is preparing for the big push that will drive Rommel's Africa Corps back through the Libyan Desert. But a vital initial task has to be undertaken: the destruction of Rommel's communications and supply dumps far behind the enemy lines. The mission is entrusted to two elite forces, the Long Range Desert Group and the Special Air Service. But the route to Tunis is hampered by betrayal ... TB 7692.

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James, HaroldTales of the Gurkhas. 1991. Read by Garard Green, 5 hours 2 minutes. TB 9178.A series of stories about a fictitious Gurkha regiment ranging from the nineteenth century to the Second World War. TB 9178.

Jones, Tristan Dutch treat: a novel of World War II. 1980. Read by Andrew Timothy, 10 hours 49 minutes. TB 4437.May 1940 and the German Panzers are tearing across Europe. Plans are made to evacuate the Dutch Royal family - and their diamonds - to set up a government in exile. The team carrying out this dangerous mission arrive in Amsterdam as the first German tanks roll in. TB 4437.

Joseph, Michael KennedyA soldier's tale. 1976. Read by George Hagan, 4 hours 26 minutes. TB 2989.During the war Saul comes across an isolated farmhouse in Normandy. Belle, its sole occupant, is frightened, but slowly they build up an intense relationship that ends in tragedy as the three Frenchmen on guard claim their victim. TB 2989.

Keneally, Thomas Confederates. 1979. Read by Marvin Kane, 18 hours 52 minutes. TB 3744.The Confederates fight, during the American Civil War, in defence of the Southern secession and the right to own slaves. Through the stories of ordinary people, abandoning their peacetime occupations, the vast fabric of the Civil War comes alive. TB 3744.

Kennedy, A LDay. 2007. Read by Nick Underwood, 10 hours 55 minutes. TB 15099.Before Hitler and the bombs Aldred Day was a boy in Staffordshire, helpless to defend his mother, to resist his abusive father. The RAF taught him how to burn through lifetimes on night ops and brief, sweet leaves, surviving the unsurvivable. But it didn't prepare him for capture, for the prison camp and the chaos as the war wound down. Now it's 1949 and Alfred is doing the impossible again, winding back time to see where he lost himself. He has taken the role of an extra in a Pow film. Shipped out to Germany and an ersatz camp, he picks his way through the cliches that will become all that's left of his war and begins to do what he's never dared - to remember. TB 15099.

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Kennedy, LenaDown our street. 1986. Read by Marlene Sidaway, 7 hours 43 minutes. TB 8099.The Flanagan family was the biggest in the small East End street. Their cosy world was shattered with the outbreak of World War II and the evacuation of children from London. Bereavement and the destruction of her home broke Annie's spirit and Amy had to take over as family provider. TB 8099.

Kuniczak, W SValedictory. 1984. Read by Antony Higginson, 15 hours 12 minutes. TB 5512.The story of 303 Squadron of the RAF, a unit of valiant Polish airmen who helped to win the Battle of Britain but who were destined to be betrayed by political expediency. TB 5512.

Langsford, A EHMS Marathon. 1990. Read by Arthur Blake, 9 hours 44 minutes. TB 9163. Book 1. There were times when he felt he was going mad, the black moments when it would have been better if he had died in the turret ... A Royal Navy convoy is fighting its way to the besieged island of Malta in 1942, and the cruiser Marathon is commanded by Captain Robert Thurston. Guilty at the loss of his previous command, stretched to the limit by battle and violent death, he has yet to face the most deadly threat of all. TB 9163.

Lee, MaureenQueen of the Mersey. 2006. Read by Maggie Ollerenshaw, 17 hours 40 minutes. TB 16037.Liverpool, 1939. The Second World War is about to start when pretty Laura Oliver meets Queenie Todd. Laura is 21 and happily married. At 14, Queenie lacks Laura's confidence, and has been deserted by her good-time mother. The two become friends, but when the air raids begin Queenie is trusted to look after two young children, and the three of them are evacuated to a small town on the coast of Wales. At first it is a haven of peace and quiet. The girls have a wonderful time - and then something happens, so terrifying that it will haunt them for the rest of their lives. TB 16037.

Lefebure, Molly Blitz! 1988. Read by Di Langford, 14 hours 54 minutes. TB 7686.Four families whose lives are intertwined as the Second World War begins, are all faced with personal conflicts as the home front is threatened and the world torn apart around them. Families are fragmented and love is found, or lost, and the young are forced to look at life through older eyes, defiant and united against the upheaval of war. TB 7686.

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MacLean, Alistair Where eagles dare. 1967. Read by David Broomfield, 8 hours 45 minutes. TB 184.Seven men and a girl are parachuted into Germany to rescue a crashed American general from an inaccessible castle, headquarters of the Gestapo. TB 184.

Manning, Frederic The middle parts of fortune: Somme and Ancre, 1916. 1929. Read by Robert Gladwell, 12 hours 11 minutes. TB 3288.A chapter in the lives of a group of men during the First World War - fighting, drilling, waiting and womanising - held together by a strong feeling of comradeship. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 3288.

Manning, OliviaThe great fortune. 1960. Read by Robin Holmes, 13 hours 25 minutes. TB 213. The Balkan trilogy; book 1. An English lecturer and his bride are forced to adjust their lives in tension-ridden Bucharest at the beginning of the war. TB 213.

Marlantes, Karl Matterhorn: a novel of the Vietnam war. 2010. Read by Christopher Ragland, 20 hours 12 minutes. TB 18056.Young marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company have been dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam, combatants in an increasingly desperate war. Standing in their way are the North Vietnamese, the monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, and disease and malnutrition. As racial tension and competing ambition build, the group threatens to crack at any moment. When the company is surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the Marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever. Contains strong language and violence. TB 18056.

Marston, EdwardSoldier of fortune. 2008. Read by Christopher Oxford, 9 hours 18 minutes. TB 16610. Captain Rawson; book 1. Captain Rawson is the quintessential career soldier who never knows when his life will come to a brutal and bloody end and therefore lives each day to the full. While still young, Rawson had seen war destroy his father and seen his Dutch mother almost raped. Shortly afterwards the pair leave England for the Netherlands. Three years later Rawson returns as a soldier in the Dutch army, come to support William of Orange in his bid to replace James II on the English throne. TB 16610.

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Masters, JohnNow, God be thanked: a novel. 1979. Read by John Atterbury, 31 hours 23 minutes. TB 7148.Loss of Eden; book 1. It is July 1914: the storm clouds of the Great War are gathering, but in the seemingly endless English summer the assassination in Sarajevo is not considered an event of great importance. The rich and powerful Rowlands are at the centre of society, but they are blind to the changes that the war will bring. For the younger Rowlands, the excitement of war is to become bloody reality in the mud-filled trenches of Flanders. Contains strong language. TB 7148.

Maugham, W Somerset Ashenden. 1928. Read by John Richmond, 9 hours 45 minutes. TB 640.A collection of stories based on the author's personal experiences in Secret Service affairs. TB 640.

Michaels, AnneFugitive pieces. 1996. Read by Peter Marinker, 9 hours 14 minutes. TB 11625.Jakob Beer is rescued from the mud of a buried Polish city during World War II and taken to a Greek island by the humanist Athos Roussos. They spend the last years of the Occupation in Athos' house, a precarious refuge made lavish with art. After the War, Athos accepts an invitation to the University of Toronto's new Geography department, and Jakob learns the terrain of this city, just as he discovers the insistent nature of the layered past. His loss surfaces in all its complexity as does the haunting question of his sister's fate. TB 11625.

Monsarrat, Nicholas The cruel sea. 1955. Read by Franklin Engelmann, 19 hours. TB 949.A dramatic story of naval warfare in which the men are the heroes; the ships the heroines; and the villain is the cruel sea. TB 949.

Nemirovsky, Irene Suite Francaise. 2007. Read by Carole Boyd, 13 hours 44 minutes. TB 15426.Set during a year that begins with France's fall to the Nazis in June 1940 and ends with Germany turning its attention to Russia, "Suite Francaise" falls into two parts. The first is the depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion, and make their way through the chaos of France; the second follows the inhabitants of a small rural community under occupation, who find themselves thrown together in ways they never expected. The novel is full of a variety of characters – haughty aristocrats, bourgeois bankers and snobbish aesthetes, rub shoulders with uncouth workers and bolshy farmers. Irene Nemirovsky conceived "Suite Francaise" as a four or five part novel. It was to be a symphony - her War and Peace. However, she only completed two sections before her tragic death in Auschwitz in 1942. TB 15426.

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Nichol, John Stinger. Read by Martyn Read, 11 hours. TB 13116.RAF pilot Sean Riever heads for the mountains of Afghanistan. His work with mine-clearance takes him as close to war as he wants to get. But when a passenger plane is shot down by a stinger missile, the ghosts of the past return to haunt him. Contains violence. TB 13116.

Pargeter, Edith She goes to war. 1989. Read by Di Langford and Raymond Sawyer, 9 hours. TB 10115.It is 1940 and Catherine Saxon is on her way to join the WRNS at Devonport, still unsure why she has joined up. As she trains as a teleprinter operator, she grows to enjoy service life and soon adjusts to a posting in war-torn Liverpool. Then, one spring day, she meets Tom Lyddon, a Spanish civil war veteran, whose political views strike an immediate chord with her. After an idyllic holiday in the North Wales countryside, Tom is recalled to active service abroad and all she can do is wait and hope for his return. TB 10115.

Price, Anthony The '44 vintage. 1978. Read by Robert Gladwell, 12 hours. TB 3311. Dr David Audley; book 1. A few weeks after D-day, Major O'Connor leads his hand-picked team of ruthless fighters behind the crumbling German lines on a startling mission unknown to all except himself. TB 3311.

Radcliffe, Robert Under an English heaven. Read by Peter Wickham, 12 hours 30 minutes. TB 13513.Suffolk, 1943: Each dawn, thousands of American airmen take off to strike Germany's industrial war machine. Each dusk, hundreds fail to return. The American base in Bedenham brings upheaval, uncertainty and unease. For Billy Street, a fourteen-year-old streetwise evacuee, it's a time of unlimited opportunity and acceptance in a community he loves. For Billy's schoolteacher, Heather Garrett, awaiting word of her missing husband, it's an inward spiral of fear and isolation. For Lt. John Hooper, a brilliant but traumatised US pilot coming to terms with the death of his entire crew, it's the start of a desperate struggle for sanity and redemption. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 13513.

Reeman, DouglasWinged escort. 2008. Read by David Rintoul, 9 hours 20 minutes. TB 15627.July, 1943. As the grim years of the Second World War go by, the destruction of Allied shipping mounts. Out of the terrible loss of men and ships, the escort carrier is born. At twenty-six, fighter pilot Tim Rowan, RNVR, is already a veteran of many

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campaigns. Now he joins the escort carrier, Growler, a posting which takes him first to the bitter waters of the Arctic, and then later to the Indian Ocean - and the new terror of the Japanese Kamikaze. TB 15627.

Reeman, DouglasIn danger's hour. 1988. Read by Robert Gladwell, 13 hours 22 minutes. TB 7884.Set in the desperate and dangerous period of the 2nd World War from April 1943 until June 1944, the mine-sweeper Rob Roy is thrust into her toughest challenge when the Allies mount their invasion of Italy. A master story-teller of the sea, Douglas Reeman graphically and grippingly relates the heroism and human drama of the "little ships" role in the blazing conflict. Contains strong language. TB 7884.

Rivers, Carol East End angel. 2010. Read by Helen Dickens, 12 hours 34 minutes. TB 18156.June 1941, Isle of Dogs, London. In the dark days following the Blitz, happiness visits young Pearl Jenkins as she celebrates her marriage to Jim Nesbitt. Increasingly uneasy at staying at home when other men are off fighting for their country, Jim enlists, leaving Pearl at home. Together, Pearl and Ruby must bring up baby Cynthia while struggling to make ends meet and dodge the doodlebugs. And all the time, Pearl must hide the dark secret she harbours, one which would tear the two sisters apart as well as her marriage. Then tragedy strikes both on the home front and in the trenches and Pearl is forced to fight like never before to keep her family safe. TB 18156.

Robinson, Derek Goshawk Squadron. 1971. Read by Robert Gladwell, 9 hours 30 minutes. TB 1979.In the last year of the First War, Woolley, a scruffy cold-blooded C.O., trains the Goshawk Squadron with an approach far removed from the romance of "chivalry in the clouds" to face death in planes that are patched and worn out. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 1979.

Robinson, PatrickU.S.S. Seawolf. 2000. Read by Garrick Hagon, 17 hours 37 minutes. TB 16917.Silent and lethal, USS Seawolf, the US Navy's state-of-the art stealth submarine, is on an ultra secret mission - to spy on China's brand new ICBM Zia-Class submarine. Contains strong language. TB 16917.

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Ross, Catherine Battle dress. 1961. Read by Anne White, 9 hours 45 minutes. TB 4897.Set in the heavily-garrisoned Orkneys in November 1942 this story tells of the WAAF personnel posted to this isolated yet vital place: their fears and loves, mistakes and tragedies. TB 4897.

Rowe, AlickVoices of danger. 1990. Read by Rosalind Shanks, 8 hours 14 minutes. TB 8302.Alex Davies and Seb Carpenter are 16-year-old Cathedral choristers when the Great War is about to become the horror of the Somme. The boys enlist under age, and are sent to the Somme, the target of a terrifying surprise German raid on Pave. In this story of a teenager's war love and hate, betrayal and loyalty are seen against the background of one of the most terrifying eras of the modern world. TB 8302.

Ryan, RobertEarly one morning. 2006. Read by Steven Pacey, 10 hours 36 minutes. TB 16471. Morning, noon and night; book 1. In the Roaring Twenties an Englishman and a Frenchman were fierce rivals not only on the European race circuits but also for the sensuous Eve Aubicq. When war breaks out both sign up for missions in Occupied France. They cause havoc to the Nazis until their cover is blown and they are captured and tortured. TB 16471.

Sansom, C JWinter in Madrid. 2006. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 22 hours 56 minutes. TB 16071.The year is 1940: The Spanish Civil War is over, and Madrid lies ruined, its people starving, while the Germans continue their relentless march through Europe. Britain now stands alone, as General Franco considers whether to abandon neutrality and enter the war. Into this uncertain world comes Harry Brett: ex-public schoolboy, traumatised veteran of Dunkirk and, now, reluctant spy for the British Secret Service. Sent to gain the confidence of Sandy Forsyth, an old school friend turned shady Madrid businessman, he finds himself involved in a dangerous game - and surrounded by memories. TB 16071.

Schlink, Bernhard The reader. 1997. Read by Peter Wickham, 4 hours 37 minutes. TB 11546.A schoolboy in post-war Germany, Michael begins a secret affair with Hanna, a woman in her thirties, until she suddenly disappears. Some years later, as a law student, Michael is in court to follow a case. To his amazement one of the defendants is Hanna. Her attitude is bizarre as she mishandles her defence. But

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suddenly Michael understands that her behaviour, both now and in the past, conceals a secret buried deeper even than her terrible crimes. TB 11546.

Sheers, Owen Resistance. 2008. Read by Richard Coyle, 11 hours. TB 16280.In an imagined alternative 1944, after the fall of Russia and the failed D-Day landings, half of Britain is occupied. Young farmer's wife Sarah Lewis wakes to find her husband has disappeared, along with all of the men from her remote Welsh village. A German patrol arrives in the valley, the purpose of their mission a mystery. Sarah begins a faltering acquaintance with the patrol's commanding officer, Albrecht, and it is to her that he reveals the purpose of his mission - to claim an extraordinary medieval art treasure that lies hidden in the valley. But as the pressure of the war beyond presses in on his isolated community, this fragile state of harmony is increasingly threatened. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 16280.

Shute, NevilMost secret. 1991. Read by Arthur Blake, 11 hours 24 minutes. TB 8776.Three men, all driven by private pasts, plan to make a death defying attack on Nazi ships with a devastating home-made weapon. TB 8776.

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr August 1914. 1972. Read by Stanley Pritchard, 26 hours 50 minutes. TB 2394.An account of the fated campaign of 1914, in which the Russian army, large but ill-equipped, was destroyed by the Germans at Tannenberg. TB 2394.

Stevens, Gordon And all the king's men. 1990. Read by George Hagan, 21 hours 38 minutes. TB 8959.The outbreak of war in 1939 makes little difference to the quiet Kent village of Ardley - at first - but when the invasion becomes a reality, the villagers are thrown into the front line. TB 8959.

Stevenson, D E Sarah Morris remembers. 1967. Read by Carol Marsh, 13 hours. TB 726. Sarah Morris; book 1. The story of a family forced to face the turmoil of a world war. TB 726.

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Thomas, Leslie Waiting for the day. 2003. Read by Michael Tudor Barnes, 13 hours 18 minutes. TB 13661.Set midwinter 1943, this novel explores the build-up to D Day through the eyes of servicemen from both the UK and the USA. Each one is heading inexorably towards the beaches of Normandy but none of them knows it. Contains strong language. TB 13661.

Thomas, LeslieOther times. 1999. Read by Gregory York, 15 hours 20 minutes. TB 12452.As the story opens in autumn 1939, James Bevan is a junior officer, attached to a small anti-aircraft unit amid the retirement bungalows of the English south coast. Separated from his wife, the soldiers he commands are his only family. TB 12452.

Tolstoi, L NWar and peace. 1872. Read by Garard Green, 79 hours. TB 1374.An epic tale of the Napoleonic invasion of Russia, contrasting the life of the nobility and the hard life of the soldiers and people. TB 1374.

Trollope, JoannaLeaves from the Valley. 1980. Read by Ann Kenton-Barker, 9 hours 58 minutes. TB 10132.Captain Edgar Drummond invites his two sisters Blanche and Sarah to accompany him to the Crimea. It is, after all, likely to be "only the smallest of skirmishes", and Constantinople could prove a most refreshing change of scene. Also on board the ship transporting the regiment is a young war correspondent Robert Chiltern, who is far more aware of the dangers. In the Crimea, Edgar soon finds his beloved reason and order are ineffectual amidst the chaos of war, and Blanche discovers that her beauty and frivolity have no place. Only Sarah finds the courage to take an active role. TB 10132.

Waters, Sarah The night watch. 2006. Read by Elaine Caxton, 17 hours 21 minutes. TB 14772.This is the story of four Londoners - three women and a young man with a past. Kay, who drove an ambulance during the war and lived life at full throttle, now dresses in mannish clothes and wanders the streets with a restless hunger, searching. Helen, clever, sweet, much-loved, harbours a painful secret. Viv, glamour girl, is stubbornly, even foolishly loyal, to her soldier lover. Duncan, an apparent innocent, has had his own demons to fight during the war. Their lives and their secrets connect in sometimes startling ways. Contains strong language. TB 14772.

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Waugh, Evelyn Scoop: a novel about journalists. 1938. Read by Gabriel Woolf, 6 hours 45 minutes. TB 4467.A story very much of the thirties when it was written. Foreign correspondents were famous figures and the centre of interest on board, was beginning to shift from Abyssinia to Spain. Here, Boot of the Beast reports on the war in Ishmaelia. TB 4467.

West, MorrisThe tower of Babel. 1968. Read by Marvin Kane, 12 hours 15 minutes. TB 489.Set in the Middle East on the brink of war, this novel portrays the Arab-Jewish confrontation. The successful terrorist becomes a statesman and a national hero. The unsuccessful one is branded a criminal. But they all know themselves to be heroes. TB 489.

Wharton, William A midnight clear. 1982. Read by Joe Dunlop, 8 hours 15 minutes. TB 4915.Will Knott (known to his friends as 'Wont'), is a sergeant at nineteen and in charge of his remnant of a squad - death brings early promotion. The order comes to occupy a chateau deep in the woods of the Saar valley – an unexpected World War II story about why not to have a war. TB 4915.

Woodruff, WilliamVessel of sadness. 2005. Read by Sam Kelly, 4 hours 27 minutes. TB 17134.The invasion of Anzio and the four month battle for Rome are viewed through the minds and struggles of British, American, and German soldiers. TB 17134.

Wouk, HermanThe 'Caine' mutiny. 1951. Read by Marvin Kane, 21 hours 30 minutes. TB 2747.The story of a curious episode of near mutiny in a destroyer-minesweeper engaged on escort duty in the Pacific in 1944. TB 2747.

Yeates, Victor MWinged victory. 1934. Read by Duncan Carse, 13 hours. TB 1317.The author was one of the most experienced pilots of the First World War, and died of tuberculosis, due to war strain, when he had barely finished this account of flying on the Western Front; combat loneliness, fatigue, excitement, fear, comradeship, women, nerves, death. Yet it is a book full of humour. TB 1317.

War – non-fiction

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Boiler suits, bofors and bullets. 1999. Read by multiple narrators, 1 hour 49 minutes. TB 12334.This is a collection of personal reminiscences from people who worked at the Collaro Factory during World War II. Bombed out of its London Factory for a second time in 1939, Collaro moved to Langley Mill in Derbyshire. The reality of working in an ammunition factory is only part of the story. Waving goodbye to sweethearts, dancing the night away at the town hall, 'sanding' their legs to make them look tanned and singing along to Joe Loss and Glenn Miller is the other side of the fascinating story. Never previously documented, this is an opportunity to visit a world you might never have known existed. TB 12334.

Submarine: an anthology of first-hand accounts of the war under the sea, 1939-1945. 2007. Read by Jon Cartwright, 21 hours 42 minutes. TB 16770.In this oral history collection, submariners of almost all the participating nations recall their service. There are chapters on how submarines were worked, on life aboard and on the particular perils of the service - depth charges, being rammed, staying submerged for many hours. There is also a chapter for each year of the war, with tales from the submariner's perspective. Among the best are: one Royal Navy stoker who remembers hearing that his boat had been sunk and he'd been counted as dead; a U-Boat commander who describes swimming for 49 hours; and an American submariner who recalls returning to Pearl Harbour after the attack. TB 16770.

We, also, were there: a collection of recollections of wartime women of Bomber Command. 1985. Read by Elizabeth de Silva and David Banks, 8 hours 16 minutes. TB 7529.

Ackerman, DianeThe zoo-keeper's wife. 2008. Read by Suzanne Toren, 10 hours 58 minutes. TB 17016.A true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. When Germany invaded Poland, stuka bombers devastated Warsaw - and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants - otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes. TB 17016.

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Allen, Charles The savage wars of peace: soldiers' voices 1945-1989. 1990. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 13 hours 12 minutes. TB 8561."The Savage Wars of Peace" is a fighting soldiers' view of military campaigns, as recounted in their own words to historian Charles Allen. Drawing on the spoken recollection of over 70 military figures of all ranks, these unique first hand accounts give a rare insight into the closed ranks of the British Army, its hierarchies and rituals and the bonds that unite fighting men. TB 8561.

Allison, William The monocled mutineer. 1978. Read by Raymond Sawyer, 7 hours 8 minutes. TB 6575.As the British Army became locked in the terrible carnage of Passchendaele in 1917, a huge body of troops mutinied at the main base camp of Etaples, a small French Channel fishing town. With the crucial phase of the battle about to begin, the command gave in and the revolt ended. At the centre of the trouble, two extraordinary characters were in conflict: a private with a record, Percy Toplis, and Brigadier-General Thomson, both equally mad in their own ways. TB 6575.

Ambrose, Stephen E Band of brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. 2010. Read by Tim Jerome, 12 hours 40 minutes. TB 18335.A description of life in the Easy Company, 101st Airborne Division, US Army, from the time of their rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to D-Day and victory. Drawing on interviews, journals and letters, the author tells - often in their own words - the story of these American heroes. Contains strong language and passages of a sexual nature. TB 18335.

Andrews, Kenneth RaymondDrake's voyages: a re-assessment of their place in Elizabethan maritime expansion. 1967. Read by David Broomfield, 6 hours 36 minutes. TB 405.

Asbridge, Thomas S The Crusades: the war of the Holy Land. 2010. Read by Alistair Maydon, 31 hours 11 minutes. TB 17326.In the eleventh century, a vast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the pope, rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a city revered by both faiths. Over the two hundred years that followed this First Crusade, Islam and the West fought for dominion of the Holy Land, clashing in a succession of chillingly brutal wars, both firm in the belief that they were at God's work. This book tells the story of this epic struggle from the

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perspective of both Christians and Muslims, reconstructing the experiences and attitudes of those on either side of the conflict. TB 17326.

Ashcroft, Michael Special Forces heroes: extraordinary true stories of daring and valour. 2008. Read by Jon Cartwright, 10 hours 30 minutes. TB 16660.This book tells the stories of forty heroes, all awarded bravery medals for their conduct during Special Forces missions over the last 150 years. These are men who would die for their country, no questions asked. With many incredible stories from particularly the Second World War, including the Cockleshell Heroes and other conflicts from the twentieth century, such as the Iranian Embassy siege, this collection of real action adventure brings Britain's wars to life. Contains strong language. TB 16660.

Barker, RalphThat eternal summer: unknown stories from the Battle of Britain. 1990. Read by Ronald Markham, 7 hours 48 minutes. TB 8414.In the summer of 1940, the most critical battle of the Second World War was fought over the fields and towns of southern England. In this book Ralph Barker has unearthed 12 untold but unforgettable stories of men without whose selfless tenacity Britain would not have survived. This is a book full of tragedy and courage. TB 8414.

Beevor, Antony Berlin: the downfall, 1945. 2002. Read by Sean Barrett, 17 hours 25 minutes. TB 12768.This is the story of those caught up in the nightmare crescendo of the Third Reich's final defeat - encompassing sufferings inflicted through folly, cruelty, and the exercise of naked power. The battle for Berlin is revealed as a terrifying example of violence, mass rape, and murder. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 12768.

Bennett, Geoffrey Coronel and the Falklands. 1962. Read by David Broomfield, 7 hours 10 minutes. TB 1332. British battle series. How the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau defeated Admiral Cradock's cruisers off Coronel but were themselves destroyed at the Falklands by Admiral Sturdee's Invincible and Inflexible. TB 1332.

Bierman, John Righteous gentile: the story of Raoul Wallenberg, missing hero of the holocaust. 1981. Read by Gabriel Woolf, 8 hours 29 minutes. TB 4232.The story of the man who has been called the greatest unsung hero of World War II - a man who risked his life daily as he provided the Swedish passports and papers

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that made escape possible for thousands of Jews. His only reward: to be arrested by the Russian liberators in 1945 as a spy and sent to the Gulag Archipelago. His final destiny is still unknown. TB 4232.

Bingley, Xandra Bertie, May and Mrs Fish: a wartime country memoir. Read by Jilly Bond, 5 hours 3 minutes. TB 14564.A wartime memoir about life on a farm in the Cotswolds, seen through the eyes of a child. Bingley's mother is left to farm the land whilst her husband is away at war, isolated in the landscape. With its eccentric cast of characters, this book captures both the essence of a country childhood and the remarkable courage and resilience displayed by ordinary people during the war. TB 14564.

Bowlby, Alex Recollections of Rifleman Bowlby: Italy 1944. 1989. Read by Alexander John, 7 hours 26 minutes. TB 10114.The battalion in which Bowlby served was renowned throughout the Eighth army, but luck deserted it after the North African campaign. Stripped of its hard core of regulars it was sent as heavy infantry to Italy, instead of the specialised role for which it had been trained, and lost its first and second battles. The battalion's struggle to regain its reputation ended on the jagged teeth of the Gothic line. Bowlby describes exactly how men behave when the heat is on, and his account of life in an infantry platoon in Italy 1944 is realistic. TB 10114.

Braddon, Russell The naked island. 1981. Read by Robert Gladwell, 13 hours 58 minutes. TB 6519.The author describes the brief but disastrous Malayan campaign of 1942 and the long, appalling captivity that followed. For almost four years his Japanese captors - believing that only death could redeem those who had "dishonoured" themselves by surrender - subjected their 40,000 prisoners to a pitiless regime of starvation and slavery. They, in return, drew on all their resources of hatred, humour and defiance in order to survive. TB 6519.

Brickhill, PaulReach for the sky: the story of Douglas Bader. 1954. Read by Corbett Woodall, 15 hours 15 minutes. TB 1176.The exploits of Douglas Bader, an amputee who is famous as a fighter pilot of the RAF. TB 1176.

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Brown, MikeChristmas on the home front. 2004. Read by multiple narrators. 5 hours 55 minutes. TB 15041.Drawing upon personal recollections, contemporary Mass Observation reports, newspaper articles and advertisements, personal and archive photographs, the author looks at each wartime Christmas on the British Home Front, from 1939 to 1944. Life in Britain changed dramatically as the war progressed; the annual celebration of Christmas provides fascinating yearly 'snapshots', illuminating the changes over six years of conflict. TB 15041.

Bryant, Arthur The years of endurance, 1793-1802. 1942. Read by Duncan Carse, 18 hours 5 minutes. TB 2148.The history of the Napoleonic Wars from 1793 to 1802. TB 2148.

Burt, Kendal The one that got away. 1958. Read by Robert Gladwell, 10 hours 17 minutes. TB 1000.A grim story of war-time adventure, telling how a young German fighter pilot escaped from P.O.W. camps in England and later made a daring and successful breakaway in Canada. TB 1000.

Carew, Tim The vanished army: the British Expeditionary Force, 1914-15. 1964. Read by David Geary, 8 hours 46 minutes. TB 373.The exploits of the British Regular Army at Mons, the Marne, Aisne and 1st battle of Ypres, drawn from the recollections of men and officers who were there. TB 373.

Carver, Michael Carver Dilemmas of the desert war: a new look at the Libyan campaign 1940-1942. 1986. Read by Garard Green, 7 hours. TB 6875.Field Marshal Lord Carver examines in detail the North African campaign waged by the British during the summer of 1942 when the Eighth Army was driven back to El Alamein from Tobruk by Rommel. His portrayal of General Ritchie and his fellow commanders, and of their efforts to defeat the German army with the "machine" at their disposal, brings a new assessment of men like Auchinleck, Messervy, Norris and Gott as well as Ritchie himself. TB 6875.

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Casey, William The secret war against Hitler. 1989. Read by George Hagan, 12 hours 47 minutes. TB 9140.Reveals the critical role of allied intelligence and covert operations, and the tragic blunders and international clashes that marred the record from Normandy to Hiroshima. TB 9140.

Connell, John Wavell, scholar and soldier: to June 1941. 1964. Read by Alvar Lidell, 24 hours 30 minutes. TB 48.The career of a great General who, as Commander in the Middle East from 1939 to 1941, won the early desert victories, but whose personality eventually clashed with Churchill's. TB 48.

Deedes, W F At war with Waugh. 2004. Read by W F Deedes, 4 hours 35 minutes. TB 13766.A delightful book of memoir from one of Britain's most beloved journalists One of Evelyn Waugh's most popular novels is SCOOP. It is an exuberant, hilarious comedy of mistaken identity and a brilliant satire on Fleet Street and its relentless and hectic pursuit of hot news set during the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1936. It tells the story of William Boot, a nature journalist mistakenly dispatched to cover a foreign war, and finding himself deep in the middle of danger and political absurdity. Unknown to many, the story is based on the true exploits of one Bill Deedes, upon whom Waugh based Boot, and here for the first time Deedes tells the real story of his adventures in Abyssinia in the 1930s, in his own unique and hilarious way. It is a story of amateurish bungles and almost Pythonesque incongruities. TB 13766.

Deighton, Len Fighter: the true story of the Battle of Britain. 1977. Read by Andrew Timothy, 10 hours 4 minutes. TB 3707.The true story of the Battle of Britain, described as much from the German as from the British point of view. TB 3707.

De Souza, Ken Escape from Ascoli: story of evasion and escape. 1989. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 7 hours 48 minutes. TB 8695.We were never heroes, Hal and I, just two men separated from their loved ones by war. By the time we became POWs, we had developed a mutual trust which made our escape possible. What we had in common was our determination to get to our wives. TB 8695.

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Dickison, Arthur Crash dive: in action with HMS Safari, 1942-43. 2003. Read by Robbie MacNab, 12 hours 1 minute. TB 15414.This record of life on board HMS Safari is based on original first-hand accounts. As the boat's leading telegraphist, Arthur Dickison had a privileged position in the crew, with access to all signals traffic and the navigation officer as his boss who gave him an insight into why they were doing what they did. Over 18 months of war patrols he kept a personal diary of life aboard Safari. In it he records daily events ranging from the tedium of long sea passages to stalking enemy convoys, crash dives and fighting it out on the surface. TB 15414.

Dorrian, James Storming St Nazaire: the gripping story of the dock-busting raid, March, 1942. 1998. Read by Alexander John, 13 hours 23 minutes. TB 12374.The author tells the story of the raid to destroy the docks at St Nazaire so as to deny a berth to the German battleship TIRPITZ. He describes the strategic situation, outlines the plan, and gives some background on the primary individuals involved before providing a highly-detailed account of the raid itself. TB 12374.

Evans, Richard J The Third Reich at war: how the Nazis led Germany from conquest to disaster. 2009. Read by Jon Cartwright, 33 hours 45 minutes. TB 17608.Third Reich; book 3. Sequel to: The Third Reich in power, 1933-1939, TB 17053. In 1939 Hitler mobilized Germany into all-out war. Richard Evans's astonishing, acclaimed history conjures up a whole society plunged into conflict - from generals and front-line soldiers to Hitler Youth activists and middle-class housewives - tracing events from the invasion of Poland and the Battle of Stalingrad to Hitler's plans for genocide and his eventual suicide. Contains strong language. TB 17608.

Farwell, Byron The great Boer War. 1977. Read by Stanley Pritchard, 25 hours 49 minutes. TB 3289.A definitive history of the great conflict that raged from 1899 to 1902 between the British Empire, at its peak of power and arrogance, and a tiny nation, stubbornly fighting to maintain its independence. TB 3289.

Fenby, Jonathan Alliance: the inside story of how Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill won one war and began another. 2008. Read by Steve Hodson, 20 hours 57 minutes. TB 15933.Throughout the war the 'Big Three' - Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin - met in various permutations and locations to thrash out ways to defeat Nazi Germany - and, just as importantly, to decide the way Europe would look after the war. This was the

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political rather than military struggle: a battle of wills and diplomacy between three men with vastly differing backgrounds, characters - and agendas. Focusing on the riveting interplay between these three extraordinary personalities, Jonathan Fenby re-creates the major Allied conferences including Casablanca, Potsdam and Yalta to show exactly who bullied whom, who was really in control, and how the key decisions were taken. Contains strong language. TB 15933.

Figes, OrlandoCrimea: the last crusade. 2010. Read by Richard Burnip, 21 hours 57 minutes. TB 18251.The terrible conflict that dominated the mid 19th century, the Crimean War killed at least 800,000 men and pitted Russia against a formidable coalition of Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire. Drawing on a range of sources, Figes gives the lived experience of the war, from that of the ordinary British soldier in his snow-filled trench, to the haunted, gloomy, narrow figure of Tsar Nicholas himself as he vows to take on the whole world in his hunt for religious salvation. TB 18251.

Francia, Paul Mortar fire: Normandy to Germany 1944-45. Read by John Hosken, 3 hours 1 minute. TB 10018.This is the story of "D" company, 1st Middlesex Regiment, during the liberation of Europe. Paul Francia traced and interviewed his former company comrades and compiled a rare and vivid military history, as experienced by the rank and file who actually faced the enemy. The author is himself blind as a result of service with "D" company in the push to the Rhine. John Hosken, the narrator, has for many years described the Cenotaph service on Remembrance Sunday for radio listeners. TB 10018.

Fraser, DavidAlanbrooke. 1982. Read by Derek Chandler, 28 hours 5 minutes. TB 4402.From November 1941, when Churchill made him Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Alanbrooke was working at the un-newsworthy task of welding it into the most efficient machinery for running a war that any country had ever known, while others won a more public glory on the battlefields of Africa and Europe. An elegant corrective of a (probably) underestimated soldier, by a fellow soldier. TB 4402.

Fraser, George Macdonald Quartered safe out here: a recollection of the war in Burma. 1992. Read by Joe Dunlop, 10 hours 53 minutes. TB 9399.A factual, and highly personal account of the war in Burma, describing life and death in Nine Section, a small group of hard-bitten and eccentric Cumbrians. The author, then aged nineteen, served in the last great land campaign of the war, when the 17th Black Cat division captured a strong point deep in Japanese territory and

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held it, spearheading the final assault in which the Japanese armies were torn apart. Fearsome, sometimes appalling, often funny and always a disturbing reminder of how the world and its attitudes to soldiers and soldiering have changed. TB 9399.

Fraser-Smith, Charles Secret warriors: hidden heroes of MI6, OSS, MI9, SOE and SAS. 1984. Read by Richard Earthy, 5 hours 3 minutes. TB 5545.During the Second World War Charles Fraser-Smith's government department supplied the Special Operations Executive with ingenious gadgets that meant life and freedom for many special agents and prisoners of war in Occupied Europe. This is the story of those hidden heroes and their brave deeds. TB 5545.

Gibson, DonaldHaul taut and belay: the memoirs of a flying sailor. 1992. Read by George Hagan, 8 hours 19 minutes. TB 9849. Into battle series. Donald Gibson had neither the qualifications, nor the influence to enter the Royal Navy, which he was determined to do. So he joined the Merchant fleet, and when war broke out, entered the Navy through the back door. Becoming a naval aviator, he flew dive bombers and fighters from carriers, and managed to see the funny side of some appalling situations, including being pulled out of the cockpit of his Sea Fury by his parachute, and court-martialled when captain of Ark Royal. The last chapter chronicles the Defence Review's effect on the Fleet Air Arm and the Argentine conflict. TB 9849.

Gissing, VeraPearls of childhood. 2007. Read by Vera Gissing, 7 hours 50 minutes. TB 15462.In June 1939, shortly before her eleventh birthday, Vera Gissing escaped from occupied Czechoslovakia, leaving behind her parents, family and friends, to spend six years in Britain. Throughout the war years she kept a diary, recording her day-to-day experiences, her longing for her parents, her hopes and prayers for the freedom of her country. TB 15462.

Gordon, Ernest Miracle on the River Kwai. 1995. Read by Gordon Reid, 9 hours 1 minute. TB 11406.The author was twenty-four when he was captured and marched, with other British prisoners, into the jungle to build the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai. Amid the inhumane treatment, unrelenting labour, inadequate food and disease, a miracle began in the death camp: a miracle of Christ-like love that made men forgive their enemies. Contains violence. TB 11406.

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Halter, Roman Roman's journey. 2008. Read by Bill Wallis, 10 hours 1 minute. TB 15670.Roman Halter is an optimistic, boisterous schoolboy in 1939 when he and his family gather behind net curtains to watch the Volksdeutsch neighbours of their small town in western Poland greeting the arrival of Hitler's armies with kisses and swastika flags. This begins a six-year journey through some of the darkest caverns of Nazi Europe, and the loss of every other member of his family and the 800-strong community of his boyhood. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 15670.

Hamilton, NigelMonty: the making of a general 1887-1942. 1981. Read by Garard Green, 35 hours 28 minutes. TB 4328. Monty; book 1. Nigel Hamilton had access to "Monty's" secret diaries, letters and documents and also interviewed many people who had known Montgomery at various times of his life. Thus the private man is shown as well as the general, and some new light cast on the early years of the Second World War. TB 4328.

Hart, Basil Henry LiddellHistory of the Second World War. 1970. Read by John Richmond, 38 hours. TB 4083.This is a military history of the war. Trenchant and thought-provoking, it is a study in realism and objectivity. TB 4083.

Hastings, Max Overlord: D-Day and the battle for Normandy. 1984. Read by David Rider, 14 hours 55 minutes. TB 5411.On 6 June 1944, the British and American armies staged the greatest amphibious landing in history to begin operation Overland, the battle for the liberation of Europe. Forty years later with the wealth of untapped sources and documents now available, Max Hastings offers a new study of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy which overturns a host of traditional legends. TB 5411.

Hastings, Max Nemesis: the battle for Japan, 1944-45. 2008. Read by John Rayment, 28 hours 15 minutes. TB 17185.A masterly narrative history of the climactic battles of the Second World War. The battle for Japan that ended many months after the battle for Europe involved enormous naval, military and air operations from the borders of India to the most distant regions of China. The great naval battle of Leyte Gulf; the war in China; the re-conquest of Burma by the British Army under General Slim; the Marines on Iwojima and Okinawa; LeMay's Super-fortress assaults on Japan; the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the kamikaze pilots of Japan; the Soviet

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blitzkrieg in Manchuria in the last days of the war; and the terrible final acts across Japanese-occupied Asia. Contains strong language. TB 17185.

Hayward, Victor HMS 'Tiger' at bay: a sailor's memoir, 1914-1918. 1977. Read by John Richmond, 8 hours 7 minutes. TB 3393.The author, an ex-seaman, describes life in the Navy during the First World War. TB 3393.

Hector, JohnPoplar memories. 2002. Read by Peter Barker, 3 hours 48 minutes. TB 13729.This book explores Cockney London before and during the Second World War. The author's account of his early life in the 1920s and 1930s talks of pavement buskers, Saturday night knees-ups round the piano, eel and pie stalls, chimneysweeps, Clarnico's toffees and a little shop called Woolworth's selling 'nothing over sixpence' - unless it's a shilling. All this was to disappear forever in the horrors of the Blitz. TB 13729.

Hetherington, BridUnder the shadow: letters of love and war 1911-1917: the poignant testimony and story of Captain Hugh Wallace Mann 7th & 5th Battalions The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and Jessie Reid. 1999. Read by multiple narrators, 6 hours 41 minutes. TB 13494.This work tells the true story of young minister Hugh Wallace Mann and his one and only love Jessie, from the earliest days of their friendship in 1911, to a military hospital bed on the Normandy coast after the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. Hugh evokes the strenuous routine of army camps, the relative calm of billets, the horror, brutality and excitement of trenches and battle, and in writing, he immortalises his love for Jessie. TB 13494.

Hibbert, Christopher Nelson: a personal history. 1994. Read by Christopher Oxford, 16 hours 26 minutes. TB 14098.In this tale of Nelson's life on and off the high seas, the author illuminates the admiral's personality, his personal and political friendships, and his passionate love affair with Sir William Hamilton's wife, the beautiful Lady Emma, daughter of a blacksmith and once a London prostitute. TB 14098.

Hillen, ErnestThe way of a boy: a memoir of Java. 1994. Read by Garard Green, 6 hours 15 minutes. TB 11873.Brought up on a tea plantation in Java in the 1930s, Ernest Hillen and his brother Jerry had a magical and exotic boyhood, until the Japanese invasion of the Dutch

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East Indies in 1942. The following three and a half years were spent in Japanese prisoner of war camps, where Ernest experienced hunger, squalor, cruelty, despair and sickness. TB 11873.

Horne, Alistair The price of glory: Verdum: 1916. 1962. Read by Alvar Lidell, 18 hours 30 minutes. TB 133.The absorbing story of the incredible and tragic struggle, with due attention to the German as well as the French point of view. TB 133.

Horne, AlistairTo lose a battle: France 1940. 1969. Read by Robert Gladwell, 24 hours. TB 1036.The author presents the day-to-day course of the battle for France in May 1940, when Hitler's armoured divisions crushed the French in the most savagely brilliant campaign in history, and analyses the social, political and economic forces which created victory for the Germans. TB 1036.

Hutton, JohnKitchener's men: the King's Own Royal Lancasters on the Western Front, 1915-1918. 2008. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 5 hours 18 minutes. TB 16145.This text provides an account of the raising, training and fighting experiences of the Service and Territorial battalions of the King's Own Royal Lancasters in France during the Great War. It gives a graphic insight into the daily routine and grim reality of warfare on the Western Front. TB 16145.

James, LawrenceThe golden warrior: the life and legend of Lawrence of Arabia. 1990. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 18 hours 33 minutes. TB 9121.Controversial and provocative, this biography penetrates and overturns the mythology which surrounds T.E. Lawrence. The author does not accept everything that Lawrence wrote as true; instead, he probes motives and asks questions. His book is bound to reopen debate and interest in one of the most remarkable men of this century. TB 9121.

Joll, James The origins of the First World War. 1984. Read by Crawford Logan, 9 hours 38 minutes. TB 5842.James Joll re-examines the events of that fateful summer of 1914. His themes include strategic planning and the arms race, the pressures of domestic politics, and the cultural and psychological atmosphere of 1914. He relates these factors to the decisions taken at the time, and shows how each affected the policies of the belligerent powers. TB 5842.

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Junger, SebastianWar. 2010. Read by Jeff Harding, 8 hours 30 minutes. TB 17755.For one year, in 2007-2008, Sebastian Junger accompanied a single platoon of thirty men from the storied 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 can count, men he knew were killed or wounded, and he himself was almost killed. War is a narrative about combat: the fear of dying, the trauma of killing and the love between platoon-mates who would rather die than let each other down. Contains strong language. TB 17755.

Kennedy, Ludovic Pursuit: the chase and sinking of the Bismarck. 1974. Read by Michael Stirrup, 9 hours 34 minutes. TB 5738.In May 1941 the German battleship "Bismarck" escaped into the Atlantic, posing a deadly threat to the convoys that were keeping Britain alive. She had to be sunk. The search for and destruction of the most formidable fighting ship afloat, is one of the great sea sagas of all time. TB 5738.

Kershaw, AlexThe Bedford boys: one small town's D-Day sacrifice. 2008. Read by William Dufris, 8 hours 21 minutes. TB 17476."The Bedford Boys" is an account of the D-Day landings in World War Two, and their impact on the small American community of Bedford, Virginia, which lost 22 of its young men in the first hours of the landings at Omaha Beach. Contains strong language and passages of violence. TB 17476.

Kershaw, AlexThe longest winter. 2009. Read by Grover Gardner, 9 hours 44 minutes. TB 18268.In the Ardennes Forest, 1944, Hitler launches his last and most audacious attack on the unprepared allies. A small band of eighteen American soldiers repulsed the German attack three times, inflicting severe casualties and defending a strategically vital hill despite being vastly outnumbered. This account draws on the words of the decorated men who fought this heroic action, bringing to life their struggle on the battlefield and later off it as POWs. Contains strong language and passages of violence. TB 18268.

Kershaw, Robert JTank men: the human story of tanks at war. 2009. Read by Jonathan Oliver, 18 hours 48 minutes. TB 16771.Ex-soldier and military historian Robert Kershaw brings to life the grime, the grease and the fury of a tank battle through the voices of ordinary men and women who

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lived and fought in those fearsome machines. This text draws on newly researched personal testimony from the crucial battles of the First and Second World Wars. TB 16771.

Kramer, ClaraClara's war. 2009. Read by Rula Lenska, 13 hours 2 minutes. TB 17760.In the small town of Zolkiew 15-year-old Clara Kramer and her family hid perilously in a hand-dug cellar. Living above and protecting them were the Becks. Life with Mr Beck was far from predictable. From the house catching fire, to Beck's affair with Clara's cousin, to the nightly SS drinking sessions in the room just above. Sixty years later, Clara Kramer has created a memoir that is lyrical, dramatic and heartbreakingly compelling. TB 17760.

Last, NellaNella Last's war: the Second World War diaries of Housewife, 49. 2006. Read by Lesia Melnyk, 13 hours 55 minutes. TB 16772.In September 1939, housewife and mother Nella Last began a diary. When war broke out, Nella's younger son joined the army while the rest of the family tried to adapt to civilian life. Writing each day for the "Mass Observation" project, Nella, a middle-aged housewife from the bombed town of Barrow, shows what people really felt during this time. This was the period in which she turned 50, saw her children leave home, and reviewed her life and her marriage - which she eventually compares to slavery. TB 16772.

Lawrence, T E Seven pillars of wisdom: a triumph. 1935. Read by Alvar Lidell, 31 hours 25 minutes. TB 2101.Round this account of the revolt of Arabia against the Turks, Lawrence hung a fabric of portraits, adventures and dreams. TB 2101.

Lewis, Cecil Sagittarius rising. 1982. Read by Alistair Maydon, 10 hours 20 minutes. TB 4804.Recollections of flying in the First World War and afterwards as a pilot in China that give a penetrating glimpse into the minds of these very young fliers who went straight from their school playing fields into the front lines. Sagittarius, the Archer, is the ninth sign of the Zodiac and governs voyages, weapons, and all swift things. TB 4804.

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Lewis, Norman Naples '44: an intelligence officer in the Italian labyrinth. 2002. Read by Daniel Philpott, 7 hours 16 minutes. TB 16135.Norman Lewis arrived in Naples as an Intelligence Officer attached to the American Fifth Army. By 1944 the city’s inhabitants were so destitute that all the tropical fish in the aquarium had been devoured, and numbers of respectable women had been driven to prostitution. The mafia gradually became so indispensable to the occupying forces that it succeeded in regaining its former power. Despite the cruelty and suffering he encountered, Lewis writes in the diary, "A year among Italians has converted me to such an admiration for their humanity and culture that were I given the chance to be born again, Italy would be the country of my choice." Contains strong language. TB 16135.

Longmate, Norman How we lived then: a history of everyday life during the Second World War. 1971. Read by David Broomfield, 29 hours 19 minutes. TB 1750.A picture of everyday life in England from September 1939 to August 1945. TB 1750.

Lyme, Edward Soldier in the circus: how to survive five years as a prisoner of war. 1997. Read by Robert Gladwell, 9 hours 43 minutes. TB 11394.Edward Lyme, captured in 1940, spent five years in the Stalags of Germany and Poland. He made several escapes, and contributed to the war effort by becoming one of the most incompetent workers in captivity. Laced with the humour and sense of comradeship that sustained so many POWs during World War Two, this is the story of an ordinary soldier's survival. TB 11394.

Lynn, VeraSome sunny day: my autobiography. 2009. Read by Diana Bishop, 7 hours 38 minutes. TB 16787.Born Vera Welch on 20 March, 1917 in the East End of London, Dame Vera Lynn's career was set from an early age - along with her father, who also did a 'turn', she sang in Working Men's Clubs from just seven years old. She had a successful radio career with Joe Loss and Charlie Kunz in the 1920s and '30s, but it was with World War II that she became the iconic figure that captured the imagination of the national public. TB 16787.

Macintyre, Ben Agent Zigzag: the true wartime story of Eddie Chapman: lover, betrayer, hero, spy. 2007. Read by Steve Hodson, 12 hours 58 minutes. TB 15429.On a chill December night in 1942, a Nazi parachutist landed in a Cambridgeshire field. His mission: to sabotage the British war effort. His German masters called him

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Fritz, or Fritzchen. The British police knew him as Eddie Chapman. Within weeks Chapman was in the hands of MI5 and operating as Agent Zigzag. Here is his story, weaved together through diaries, letters, photographs and memories. TB 15429.

Macintyre, BenOperation Mincemeat: the true spy story that changed the course of World War II. 2010. Read by Geoffrey Drew, 13 hours 3 minutes. TB 17582.Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted, and certainly the strangest. It hoodwinked the Nazi espionage chiefs, sent German troops hurtling in the wrong direction, and saved thousands of lives by deploying a secret agent who was different, in one crucial respect, from any spy before or since: he was dead. Ben Macintyre weaves together private documents, photographs, memories, letters and diaries, as well as newly released material from the intelligence files of MI5 and Naval Intelligence, to tell for the first time the full story. TB 17582.

Macy, EdApache. 2008. Read by James Hutchinson. 10 hours 36 minutes, TB 17181.Taking the reader right to the heart of the war in Afghanistan, 'Apache' is a story of courage, comradeship, technology and tragedy, from the cockpit of the most sophisticated fighting helicopter the world has ever known. Contains strong language and violence. TB 17181.

McKay, SinclairThe secret life of Bletchley Park: the history of the wartime codebreaking centre and the men and women who were there. 2010. Read by Sinclair McKay, 10 hours 51 minutes. TB 18005.Bletchley Park was where one of the war's most famous and crucial achievements was made: the cracking of Germany's Enigma code in which its most important military communications were couched. This book is the history of life at Bletchley Park, and an amazing compendium of memories from people now in their eighties of skating on the frozen lake in the grounds of a youthful Roy Jenkins, useless at codebreaking, of the high jinks at nearby accommodation hostels and of the implacable secrecy that meant girlfriend and boyfriend working in adjacent huts knew nothing about each other's work. TB 18005.

McLaughlin, Steven Squaddie: a soldier's story. 2007. Read by Glen McCready, 12 hours 11 minutes. TB 15494.Squaddie is a snapshot of infantry soldiering in the twenty-first century. It takes us into the heart of an ancient institution that is struggling to retain its tough traditions in a rapidly changing world. All of the fears and anxieties of the modern soldier are

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laid bare, as well as the occasional joys and triumphs that can make him feel like he is doing he best job in the world. This is an account of army life by someone who has been there and done it. Contains strong language. TB 15494.

Manvell, RogerThe July Plot: the attempt in 1944 on Hitler's life and the men behind it. 1964. Read by Andrew Gemmill, 8 hours 39 minutes. TB 366.In 1944, men of the German Resistance planned to kill Hitler, but he survived the bomb which exploded in the conference room. TB 366.

Markham, Felix Napoleon. 1963. Read by Peter Snow, 11 hours. TB 375.Expounds Napoleon's military genius and showed how increasing despotism led to his downfall. TB 375.

Masters, JohnBugles and a tiger. 1986. Read by Garard Green, 11 hours 32 minutes. TB 10193. Autobiography; book 1. Beginning with the author's 18 months at Sandhurst, the book describes his return to India in 1934 to join the Gurkhas and his service with them until the outbreak of war. A chronicle of adventure which recaptures the true flavour of life in British India, of vicious fighting on the North-west frontier and of the young officer's privilege in serving with the Gurkhas. TB 10193.

Meyer, Christopher DC confidential: the controversial memoirs of Britain's ambassador to the U.S. at the time of 9/11 and the run-up to the Iraq War. 2006. Read by Christopher Oxford, 12 hours 18 minutes. TB 16130.Christopher Meyer was Ambassador to the United States from 1997 to 2003, during which time he was an eyewitness to and participant in the events following 9/11 and the preparations for the Iraq war. Meyer presents an account of what he saw, what he heard and how he felt. Those featured in this book includes Margaret Thatcher, Bob Hope, the Clintons, Steven Spielberg, Condoleeza Rice, Alastair Campbell and Jack Straw. The book reveals close encounters with Tony Blair, Robin Cook and Peter Mandelson; KGB honey traps in Russia; a major row with Bill Clinton; inside stories on Number 10 and the Foreign Office; and life behind the scenes with Blair and George W. Bush. Contains strong language. TB 16130.

Middlebrook, Martin Arnhem 1944: the airborne battle, 17-26 September. 1994. Read by Robert Gladwell, 22 hours 48 minutes. TB 10098.Arnhem was to end the war in Europe; three airborne divisions would capture and hold the bridges over the great rivers of Holland and unleash allied forces in

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Germany. Had it worked, the war might have been over by Christmas 1944. In fact it all went wrong. The initial operation succeeded, but troops did not reach Arnhem in time and military intelligence had not discerned the real strength of German units around the town. Here original documents and the experiences of over 500 participants are blended to describe the British Army last major defeat in battle. TB 10098.

Moffat, John I sank the Bismarck. 2010. Read by Gareth Armstrong, 8 hours 46 minutes. TB 18314.Reminiscence. In the early hours of the 27th of May, 1941, the German warship Bismarck was sailing towards a fateful encounter. Two days previously Winston Churchill had issued the order to 'Sink the Bismarck'. Along with 12 other pilots, John Moffat took down the warship that had destroyed the famed HMS Hood within minutes. These men, in their Swordfish, managed to avoid the fearful anti-aircraft fire and launched their torpedoes. One of them hit, holing the German warship. As the only surviving member of his fellow pilots, John Moffat tells of everything that led him to be able to say, 'I sank the Bismarck'. TB 18314.

Murray, William Atlantic rendezvous. 1970. Read by Michael de Morgan, 11 hours 20 minutes. TB 1834.The author's personal story beginning with the sinking in 1940 of the ship on which he served, and recounting his experiences in prison ships and attempts to escape. TB 1834.

Nichol, JohnMedic: saving lives - from Dunkirk to Afghanistan. 2009. Read by Peter Wickham, 16 hours 15 minutes. TB 17276.Doctors, nurses, medics and stretcher bearers go where the bullets are thickest, through bomb alleys and mine fields, ducking mortars and rockets, wherever someone is hit and the shout goes up - 'Medic! This is the story of those brave men and women who go to war armed with bandages not bombs, scalpels not swords, and put saving life above taking life. Contains strong language. TB 17276.

Nolan, Liam Small man of Nanataki. 1966. Read by David Broomfield, 5 hours 24 minutes. TB 1115.Uncle John, as he was called by the British prisoners, was an interpreter at a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp who was revolted by the cruelty and suffering he saw. He risked his life to smuggle in medical supplies, became a Christian and demonstrated a superb and lonely courage. TB 1115.

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O'Neill, Gilda Our street: East End life in the Second World War. 2006. Read by Carole Boyd, 9 hours 1 minute. TB 16490.Focuses on the lives of Londoners in the East End during the Second World War. Showing the concerns, hopes and fears of these so-called 'ordinary people'. Our Street illustrates these times by looking at the every day rituals which marked the patterns of daily life during WWII. It is a affectionate record of an often fondly remembered, more communal, way of life that has all but disappeared. TB 16490.

Orwell, George Homage to Catalonia. 2000. Read by David Thorpe, 9 hours 4 minutes. TB 16646.When George Orwell joined up to fight in the Spanish Civil War, it seemed like the beginning of 'an era of equality and freedom'. The text chronicles his experiences: the revolutionary euphoria of Barcelona, the courage of the ordinary Spanish men and women he fought alongside, the terror and confusion of the front, his near-fatal bullet wound and the cynical betrayal of his allies. TB 16646.

Passmore, RichardBlenheim boy. 1981. Read by Ronald Markham, 9 hours 10 minutes. TB 8944.As the result of instructions given to British aircraft manufacturers, the R.A.F. took delivery of a passenger aircraft which was to prove to be the prototype of the successful Blenheim bomber. This book describes the raids undertaken by these planes during the second world war, from the gunner's point of view. The book begins with the startling assertion that 'only fools and birds fly'. TB 8944.

Patch, Harry The last fighting Tommy: the life of Harry Patch, the oldest surviving veteran of the trenches. 2008. Read by Bill Wallis, 7 hours 58 minutes. TB 15886.Harry Patch, the last British soldier alive to have fought in the trenches of the First World War, is now 108 years old and one of very few people who can directly recall the horror of that conflict. Fighting in the mud and trenches during the Battle of Passchendaele, he saw a great many of his comrades die. In vivid detail he describes daily life in the trenches, the terror of being under intense artillery fire, and the fear of going over the top. The Second World War saw Harry in action on the home front as a fire-fighter during the bombing of Bath. He also warmly describes his friendship with American GIs preparing to go to France, and, years later, his tears when he saw their graves. TB 15886.

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Phillips, C L Lucas Cockleshell heroes. 2000. Read by Geoffrey Drew, 9 hours. TB 17903. In December 1942, 10 Royal Marines launched a daring canoe attack on German ships lying in Bordeaux harbour - a hazardous and successful offensive, in which only two survived. This book tells the story of those "cockleshell heroes". TB 17903.

Rappaport, HelenNo place for ladies: the untold story of women in the Crimean War. 2008. Read by Eunice Roberts, 11 hours 58 minutes. TB 15754.It is usually assumed that women did not become involved in international conflict until the First World War. But Helen Rappaport proves otherwise: numerous women were actively involved in the Crimean war in a variety of ways. Four wives would be chosen to accompany each regiment of 100 men, enduring the vermin ridden troop ships and then left to fend for themselves in the barren Crimean terrain, before combing the battlefields in search of their men. Yet the suffering of the soldiers' wives left behind was more terrible. At home, vast numbers of women - including Queen Victoria herself - knitted socks to cheer the soldiers stranded in freezing Sevastopol. TB 15754.

Reid, FredIn search of Willie Patterson: a Scottish Soldier in the Age of Imperialism. 2002. Read by Jonathan Hackett, 6 hours 4 minutes. TB 12652.The author was curious about his grandfather, Corporal Willie Patterson. Knowing him only from his mother's stories of the 'black sheep of the family', he wondered if there was a better side to the man. When he discovered that Willie had won the Military Medal in the First World War, he decided to research his life. This book is more than the story of a man who struggled to rise from a semi-literate background in Calton, Glasgow to be a war hero and a white-collar worker. The author, who is blind, also tells of his own confrontation with the archives and of his safari over seven thousand miles of East Africa to find the grandfather he had never known. TB 12652.

Reynolds, L C Dog boats at war: a history of the operations of the Royal Navy D Class Fairmile motor torpedo boats and motor gunboats 1939-1945. 1998. Read by Graham Padden, 12 hours 49 minutes. TB 12020.An account of the operations carried out by the Royal Navy's D Class MGBs and MTBs in the 2nd World War. It covers actions in Home, Mediterranean and Norwegian waters. As well as drawing on both British and German official records, the author has contacted several hundred Dog Boat veterans. TB 12020.

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Rose, Michael Fighting for peace: lessons from Bosnia. 1999. Read by Jon Cartwright, 14 hours 31 minutes. TB 13541.Known for his role as a commander in the Falklands war, and for directing operations at the Iranian Embassy siege, General Sir Michael Rose tells the story of his role as Commander of the UN Protection Force in Bosnia in 1994. TB 13541.

Roskill, Stephen Wentworth The Navy at war 1939-1945. 1998. Read by Bob Rollett, 21 hours 27 minutes. TB 16835. Wordsworth Military Library. Roskill describes the major sea battles such as River Plate and Matapan as well as the characteristic convoy actions of the Battle of the Atlantic, Murmansk and Malta. He covers the contribution made by British technology, in the shape of Asdic (or Sonar) and Radar systems, and also shows the courage and skill of the officers and men who made the victory possible. TB 16835.

Schindler, Emilie Where light and shadow meet: a memoir. 1997. Read by Norma West, 4 hours 29 minutes. TB 11365.The author, who was married to Oskar Schindler, tells the story of their life together. On realizing the costs of the Nazi takeover, they worked to save the Jews employed in their two factories during the Second World War - leading to "Schindler's list". It is the story of one woman's daily acts of bravery, of a marriage and of survival. TB 11365.

Sereny, GittaInto that darkness: from mercy killing to mass murder. 1995. Read by Elizabeth Proud, 17 hours 38 minutes. TB 17785.Franz Stangl was one of only four men to command Nazi extermination (as opposed to concentration) camps. This text is an investigation into this man's mind and the influences which shaped him. Stangl was found guilty of co-responsibility for the slaughter of at least 900,000 people. Contains strong language. TB 17785.

Stern, Robert CecilDestroyer battles: epics of naval close combat. 2008. Read by Hayward Morse, 9 hours 37 minutes. TB 16921.This book recounts some of the most significant, spectacular or unusual actions in the history of destroyer warfare, from the first employment of torpedo craft during the Russo-Japanese War to the recent terrorist attack on USS Cole. With individual chapters devoted to each incident, each reflects a development in the tactics or technology, so taken as a whole the book amounts to an outline history of the destroyer. TB 16921.

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Street, Robert The siege of Kohima, the battle for Burma: once upon a wartime XIII. 2003. Read by Steve Hodson, 6 hours 34 minutes. TB 15358.This book tell the story of the Siege of Kohima where the battle of Burma was fought and the Japanese advance to India was halted. It is told through the eyes of Raymond Street who was part of the everyday life in Burma at this time. TB 15358.

Sun, TzuThe art of war. 2010. Read by Eamonn Riley, 1 hour 23 minutes. TB 17354.Twenty-Five Hundred years ago, Sun Tzu wrote this classic book of military strategy based on Chinese warfare and military thought. Since that time, all levels of military have used the teachings of Sun Tzu on warfare and civilization and have adapted these teachings for use in politics, business and everyday life. TB 17354.

Tinker, David A message from the Falklands: the life and gallant death of David Tinker: from his letters and poems. 1983. Read by Richard Earthy, 8 hours 35 minutes. TB 4569.Lieutenant Tinker was killed in the Falklands action. This collection of his letters home begins before his Falklands service days, but it is his clear perception of what is happening and how his views on war are changing that gives the book its relevance - and its poignancy. TB 4569.

Tout, KenBy tank: D to VE Days. 2007. Read by Geoffrey Newland, 11 hours 11 minutes. TB 16777.Follow the very ordinary young lads of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry through the massive enemy defences on Bourguebus Ridge, to the snows of the Ardennes, the night crossing of the River Rhine, when Sherman tanks were traded in for amphibious Buffaloes, and final roll-call in Zwolle's Grote Kerkl, where they celebrated with liberated Dutch citizens. The author graphically describes the total experience inside the Sherman tank, nicknamed by their enemy the 'Tommy Cooker'. This text recalls the whole experience of battle. Contains strong language. TB 16777.

Townsend, Peter Duel of eagles. 1991. Read by George Hagan, 21 hours 14 minutes. TB 9293.The Battle of Britain was the collision towards which aviation developments on both sides had been heading for more than twenty years. Group Captain Townsend traces the background, of two air forces with a common past of rivalry and respect. This dramatic account vividly recalls the days when Britain's fate hung in the

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balance until allied airmen, the author among them, secured a victory which saved Britain from invasion and paved the way for Hitler's final defeat. TB 9293.

Van Der Vat, Dan The last corsair: the story of the Emden. 1983. Read by David Rider, 8 hours 10 minutes. TB 5330.The author relates perhaps one of the best sea stories of the First World War: the lone campaign of the German light cruiser SMS "Emden" against the British Empire in the Indian Ocean. TB 5330.

Vaughan, Edwin CampionSome desperate glory: the diary of a young officer, 1917. 1981. Read by Patrick Romer, 9 hours 19 minutes. TB 4322.Written by a young man who marched into battle with Palgrave in his pocket, this is a moving account of life on the Western Front during the first eight months of 1917. Of his group of ninety men, only fifteen returned. TB 4322.

Whicker, Alan Whicker's war. 2006. Read by Peter Wickham, 6 hours 35 minutes. TB 15067.Alan Whicker joined the Army Film and Photo Unit as an 18-year-old army officer, following the Allied advance through Italy, from Sicily to Venice. He filmed the troops on the front line, met Montgomery, and other military luminaries, filmed the battered body of Mussolini after his execution and accepted the surrender of the SS in Milan. This is an account of the Italian campaign of 1943 and 1944, as he retraces his steps over sixty years later. Contains strong language. TB 15067.

Wright, Lawrence The looming tower: Al-Qaeda's road to 9/11. 2006. Read by Harrick Hagon, 17 hours 52 minutes. TB 14887.This book tells the full story of Al Qaeda from its roots up to 9/11. Drawing on interviews and first-hand sources, it investigates the extraordinary group of ideologues behind this organization - and those who tried to stop them. Interweaving this story with events including the Israeli-Palestine conflict, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the first attack on the World Trade Center, Lawrence Wright takes us into training camps, mountain hideouts and top secret meetings to explore how it all fed into the planning and execution of 9/11 - and reveals the complex origins of Al Qaeda's hatred of the West. Contains strong language. TB 14887.

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