Featured battle : Wake Island

Part of Second World War

Date : 08 December 1941 - 23 December 1941

This central Pacific atoll was intended as a US Pacific submarine forward base in 1941 but defences were not completed in December when the Japanese attacked. The force held out for more than 2 weeks before succumbing.

The Irish Guards in the Great War

Rudyard Kipling
Not a lot of military history books could be better than the war diaries and personal correspondence of the First battalion of the Irish Guards written up by Rudyard Kipling with style. Although narrowly focused on this relatively small group of men it is essentially about every soldiers war. This is because it gets down to the minutiae of single men, section and platoon actions. The sweep of strategy and the grand plans are for other places. The text is well supported with illustrations and maps.
I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone seeking a full understanding of the Great war.
Spellmount Ltd., 1997