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Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II / the Violent Century: Battle book cover 1
Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II / the Violent Century: Battle book cover 2
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Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II / the Violent Century: Battle
Series · 24
books · 1968-1974

Books in series

D-Day book cover
#1

D-Day

Spearhead of Invasion

1968

Clean pages. Minor wrinkles on cover.
Their Finest Hour book cover
#2

Their Finest Hour

The Story of the Battle of Britain, 1940

1968

the story of the battle of Britain
Stalingrad book cover
#3

Stalingrad

The Turning Point

1968

Stalingrad...Where Hitler threw in entire divisions in suicidal attacks, and the Russians annihilated them in the most vicious battles of the Second World War...When it was all over, the once proud German VI Army, 330,000 strong, had been entirely wiped out. \\\* Stalingrad: The Turning Point is part of Ballantine's Illustrated History of the Violent Century, and is Book #3 in the Battle Book series.
Bastogne book cover
#4

Bastogne

The Road Block

1968

An account of Hitler's plans for a new Blitzkrieg on the Allied forces in France, centering on the battle at Bastogne and its crucial outcome.
The Siege of Leningrad book cover
#5

The Siege of Leningrad

1968

On Christmas day 1941 the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet instituted a medal for the courageous defence of Leningrad. And on that same day three thousand seven hundred Leningraders died of starvation. Yet the city was to suffer not just through that winter, but for nine hundred days.
The Battle for Berlin book cover
#6

The Battle for Berlin

End of the Third Reich

1969

"A sensible German government would have taken the break late summer of 1944 to seek an armistice and to escape the final wave of destruction. They hoped the Allies, even a government like Hitler. Were wrong." This resulted in Battle of Berlin ... one of the most important operations, hardest and most consequential of the entire war
Kursk book cover
#7

Kursk

The Clash of Armour

1969

As the hot weeks of waiting dragged by, time after time the Soviet soldiers rehearsed their tasks. The Germans meanwhile assembled an immense force totalling thirty-five divisions. Now both sides were ready for battle. But neither the German nor the Soviet commanders knew the exact time Citadel would begin. That was still Hitler's secret... Kursk: The greatest armoured battle of all time.
Tarawa book cover
#8

Tarawa

A Legend is Born

1969

Except to the planners in Washington and Tokyo, this small atoll and its main island Betio were virtually unknown. Then in 'seventy-six stark and bitter hours' the island was taken, and in the battle the heroism of both attackers and defenders was worthy to stand beside the most renowned in the history of warfare. \\\* Tarawa: A Legend is Born is part of Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II, and is Book #8 in the Battle Book series.
Airborne Carpet book cover
#9

Airborne Carpet

Operation Market Garden

1969

In the Autumn of 1944 Germany's back is against the wall, but she is still fighting with a bitter courage when 'Market Garden' is launched. The success of this crucial operation seems likely to be jeopardised by conflict within the Allied Command, and certainly there were many who doubted that 'Arnhem...was a decided victory.' \\\* Airborne Carpet: Operation Market Garden is part of Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II, and is Book #9 in the Battle Book series.
Pearl Harbor book cover
#10

Pearl Harbor

1969

Excellent condition paperback; very slight cover wear. Excellent history of Pearl Harbor. Quick shipping!
Leyte Gulf book cover
#11

Leyte Gulf

1970

Vintage WWII paperback
Okinawa book cover
#12

Okinawa

Touchstone to Victory

1970

Battle Book 12
The Defense of Moscow book cover
#13

The Defense of Moscow

1970

In this precise and concise account of the defense of Moscow, an English historian combines his outstanding talent with Marshal Zhukov, obtaining an uncommon result. The work is one of the most authoritative written on one of the greatest and most terrible campaigns of this and any other century.
Raid on St. Nazaire book cover
#14

Raid on St. Nazaire

1970

The operation was a brilliant success. The dock remained out of action for the rest of the war, and the Tirpitz was denied the waters of the Atlantic.
Anzio book cover
#15

Anzio

Bid For Rome

1970

1940s (1) 1943 (1) 1944 (1) 1945 (1) Anzio (4) Ballantine (1) Ballantine Books (1) Ballantine's - Battles (1) British Army (1) England (1) Europe (1) Germany (1) history (5) Italy (5) Mediterranean (1) military (2) military history (2) MTO (1) Rome (1) science (1) US Army (1) USA (1) war (1) Wehrmacht (1) Western Front (1) WO II (1) WWII
Cassino book cover
#16

Cassino

1971

in great shape
Kasserine book cover
#18

Kasserine

Baptism of Fire

1970

Trade Paperback. Ballantine Books
Battle of the Reichwald book cover
#19

Battle of the Reichwald

1970

Where is the confidently predicted conquering thrust across the German frontier? Allied tanks immobilized by mud, sunk sometimes turret-deep, sitting ducks for the magnificent German 88mm gun, provide the answer. Or part of the answer. The fantastic energy of the defense - and certain familiar difficulties in the highest ranks of the Allied command - provide the rest. \\\* Battle of the Reichswald is part of Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II.
Battle of the Ruhr pocket book cover
#21

Battle of the Ruhr pocket

1971

Battle Book No. 21 of Ballantine's Illustrated History of the Violent Century.
Beda Fomm book cover
#22

Beda Fomm

The Classic Victory

1971

One of the many Ballentine War Series, this one deals with Beda Fomm.
Armoured Onslaught book cover
#25

Armoured Onslaught

8th August 1918

1972

The tanks moved up, causing terror and confusion. Through German eyes: 'everything was affected by the fearful impression that the fire-vomiting iron dragons had made...panic had seized on everything...where any dark shapes moved, men saw the black monster.' A new era was beginning. \\\* Armoured Onslaught: 8th August 1918 is part of Ballantine's Illustrated History of the Violent Century, and is Book #25 in the Battle Book series.
Vimy Ridge book cover
#26

Vimy Ridge

1914-18

1972

The western front during the Great War.
Iwo Jima book cover
#32

Iwo Jima

1974

Illustrated story of U.S. Marines capture of tiny island during World War II.
Dien Bien Phu book cover
#33

Dien Bien Phu

1974

VIETNAM. Here is the true story, full of heroism and endurance against impossible odds, a chilling tale of French forces hopelessly maneuvering tanks in the age of Guerilla Warfare.

Authors

Peter Elstob
Peter Elstob
Author · 5 books

Peter Frederick Egerton Elstob was a British soldier, adventurer, novelist, military historian and entrepreneur. In his writing he is best known for his lightly-fictionalized novel Warriors For the Working Day (1960) and his military history of the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's Last Offensive (1971). He joined the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War, and later served in the Royal Tank Regiment in World War II, in which service he was promoted to sergeant and was Mentioned in Despatches. He joined International PEN in 1962 and served first as general secretary and later as vice-president for seven years during the 1970s, rescuing the organisation from financial failure; he also secured the future of the Arts Theatre Club in London in 1946. He prospered as an entrepreneur with a facial product called Yeast Pac, with several partners. In his obituary in The Guardian newspaper, Elstob was said to be: ...one of those people born in the wrong century. With his charm and audacity, his passion for travel, and his love of risk-taking and financial gambles, he would have been more at home in the reign of Elizabeth I.

Charles Whiting
Charles Whiting
Author · 36 books

Charles Whiting was a British writer and military historian and with some 350 books of fiction and non-fiction to his credit, under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms including Ian Harding, Duncan Harding, K.N. Kostov, John Kerrigan, Klaus Konrad, and Leo Kessler. Born in the Bootham area of York, England, he was a pupil at the prestigious Nunthorpe Grammar School, leaving at the age of 16 to join the British Army by lying about his age. Keen to be in on the wartime action, Whiting was attached to the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment and by the age of 18 saw duty as a sergeant in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany in the latter stages of World War II. While still a soldier, he observed conflicts between the highest-ranking British and American generals which he would write about extensively in later years. After the war, he stayed on in Germany completing his A-levels via correspondence course and teaching English before being enrolled at Leeds University reading History and German Language. As an undergraduate he was afforded opportunities for study at several European universities and, after gaining his degree, would go on to become an assistant professor of history. Elsewhere, Whiting held a variety of jobs which included working as a translator for a German chemical factory and spells as a publicist, a correspondent for The Times and feature writer for such diverse magazines as International Review of Linguistics, Soldier and Playboy. His first novel was written while still an undergraduate, was published in 1954 and by 1958 had been followed by three wartime thrillers. Between 1960 and 2007 Charles went on to write over 350 titles, including 70 non-fiction titles covering varied topics from the Nazi intelligence service to British Regiments during World War II. One of his publishers, Easingwold-based Rupert Smith of GH Smith & Son said he was a quiet man and prolific writer. "He's one of a band of forgotten authors because he sold millions of copies and still, up to his death was doing publishing deals.He was the kind of man who was very self-effacing, one of Britain's forgotten authors, still working at 80 years of age, with his nose down and kicking out books." Charles Henry Whiting, author and military historian died on July 24 2007, leaving his wife and son.

Christopher Hibbert
Christopher Hibbert
Author · 47 books

Christopher Hibbert, MC, FRSL, FRGS (5 March 1924 - 21 December 2008) was an English writer, historian and biographer. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the author of many books, including Disraeli, Edward VII, George IV, The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, and Cavaliers and Roundheads. Described by Professor Sir John Plumb as "a writer of the highest ability and in the New Statesman as "a pearl of biographers," he established himself as a leading popular historian/biographer whose works reflected meticulous scholarship.

A.J. Barker
Author · 5 books
Lieutenant Colonel Arthur James Barker
Kenneth John Macksey
Kenneth John Macksey
Author · 16 books

British author and historian who specialized in military history and military biography, particularly of the Second World War. Macksey was commissioned in the Royal Armoured Corps and served during the Second World War (earning the Military Cross under the command of Percy Hobart). Macksey later wrote the (authoritative) biography of Hobart.Macksey gained a permanent commission in 1946, was transferred to the Royal Tank Regiment in 1947, reached the rank of major in 1957 and retired from the Army in 1968. Amongst many other books, Macksey wrote two volumes of alternate history, one, entitled Invasion, dealt with a successful invasion of England by Germany in 1940 and the other describing a NATO–Warsaw Pact clash in the late 1980s. The latter book was done under contract to the Canadian Forces and focuses on the Canadian role in such a conflict. He was an editor and contributor to Greenhill's Alternate Decisions series since 1995. In Macksey's Guderian – Panzer General, he refuted the view of historian Sir Basil Liddell-Hart regarding Hart's influence on the development of German Tank Theory in the years leading up to 1939.

Douglas Orgill
Author · 3 books
UK author, mostly of thrillers, from the early 1960s; of sf interest are his two novels with John R Gribbin.
Geoffrey Jukes
Author · 8 books
A former civil servant and scholar in international relations, Geoffrey Jukes spent 14 years in the UK Ministry of Defence and Foreign and Colonial Office, specialising in Russian/Soviet military history, strategy and arms control. He was a Senior Fellow in International Relations at ANU from 1967 to 1993, and an Associate of the Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies (the Middle East & Central Asia) until his death in 2010.
Anthony Farrar-Hockley
Author · 4 books
General Sir Anthony Heritage Farrar-Hockley GBE, KCB, DSO & Bar, MC, nicknamed Farrar the Para, was a British Army officer and a military historian who fought in a number of British conflicts. He held a number of senior commands, ending his career as Commander-in-Chief of NATO's Allied Forces Northern Europe.
Earl F. Ziemke
Author · 5 books
Earl Frederick Ziemke was an American military historian who specialized in German operations on the Eastern Front in World War II. After service in the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific during the war, Ziemke earned a Ph.D. in history at the University of Wisconsin. From 1951 until 1955, he worked at the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University, after which he spent twelve years as an historian for the United States Army’s Office of the Chief of Military History in Washington, D.C. In 1967, he moved to the University of Georgia, where he was a full professor form 1967 until 1977, and research professor from 1977 until his retirement in 1993.
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Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II / the Violent Century: Battle