Donitz's Crews: Germany U-Boat Sailors in World War II French L. Maclean, author

Schiffer Books produces high quality cloth books with a particular focus on both World War I as well as World War IU that are always very rich in photos and content.  This particular volume  presents a comprehensive history of U-boat crews and the undersea war and shows how those with an interest in the U-boat war can find U-boat-related artifacts and how they can trace many to specific U-boats - and then research what those boats and crews accomplished. Includes dozens of historical documents and over 400 photographs.  288 pages. Donitz's Crews: Germany's U-boat Sailors in World War II

T-Force : The Forgotten Heros of 1945 Sean Longden, author

The cloth edition of this new World War II book was released in the U.K. last Fall under the title T-Force : The Race for Nazi War Secrets 1945 which frankly is a better subtitle. This is paperback edition which has just been released in the U.S. but  this book is regarding the forgotten Secret Elite Unit whose work inspired Ian Fleming's Moonraker. When Ian Fleming wrote Moonraker, he was not working solely from his imagination. In 1945 he had been involved in the formation of T Force, a secret unit of British soldiers who were thrown into a deadly race to uncover Nazi Secrets before they fell in to the hands of Stalin’s advancing troops. The force included infantrymen, many of them only just recovered from the ordeal of D-Day, engineers, bomb disposal experts, commandos and teams of expert scientists. In a breakneck pursuit – often entering locations before other allied troops – they uncovered underground factories and nuclear testing sites, as well as defying the ceasefire and carrying out the final advance of the war to capture the Nazi submarine research facilities at Kiel, overpowering 12,000 fully-armed Germans with only 500 men and a handful of jeeps. In the aftermath of war, T-Force were also involved in the treacherous transportation of scientists out of the the Soviet zone. With exclusive access to previously unseen documents and extensive interviews with the key figures, Sean Longden reveals the story of T Force for the first time - and uncovers Ian Fleming’s last Second World War Secret. 448 pages. T-Force: The Forgotten Heroes of 1945

BBC History Magazine

BBC History Magazine American Heritage was my original history monthly of choice but then their content changed; it became more like People Magazine light (History Edition).  Publication stopped and although it has been restarted I find this monthly far more satisfying.  BBC History includes great articles, book reviews - especially for history and military books published in the U.K. which may not arrive in the U.S. for more than a year, and editorial content.  BBC History podcasts also make for great listening.  A subscription for U.S. delivery is expensive; however, I have found it in larger Barnes and Noble stores. For a preview, please visit www.bbchistorymagazine.com/ .

ENIGMA U-BOATS : Breaking the Code Jak P. Mallmann Showell, author

Enigma U-Boats: Breaking the Code

The naval side of the Enigma story and breaking the seemingly impregnable German codes during World War II is the focus of this book. Although cryptanalysts managed to unlock the codes of the German army and the Luftwaffe, they needed U-boat Enigma machines and code books to solve the more complicated naval version. This book analyzes the development of Enigma, its role during U-boat operations, and the subsequent codebreaking work at Bletchley Park. The author examines all U-boats known to have been boarded by the Allies during the war from which Enigma machines could have been captured. Softcover. 30 illustrations. 224 pages.

SYDNEY,CIPHER AND SEARCH: Solving the Last Great Naval Mystery of the Second World War

Sydney, Cipher and Search: Solving the Last Great Naval Mystery of the Second World War

In November 1941 the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney, with a crew of 645, disappeared off the coast of Western Australia. When German sailors picked up from lifeboats claimed that their ship, the Kormoran—a lightly armed merchant raider—had sunk the pride of the Australian navy theories sprang up to explain the loss. Had a second German warship been involved, or a Japanese submarine, even though Japan was not yet in the war? Based on the German coded accounts and interviews with German survivors, this book pieces together what really happened in the desperate fight between the two ships, whose wrecks were finally located 10,000 feet down on the floor of the Indian Ocean in March 2008. Sofcover. 50 illustrations. 320 pages.

THE QUIET WARRIOR: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance Thomas B. Buell, author

The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance (Classics of Naval Literature) Regarded as the standard biography of World War II naval hero Adm. Raymond A. Spruance, this work is now available in trade paperback for the first time. Spruance, victor of the battles of Midway and the Philippine Sea and commander of the Fifth Fleet in the invasions of the Gilberts, the Marshalls, the Marianas, and Okinawa, is one of the towering figures in American naval history. Yet his reserved, cerebral personality did not make "good copy" for correspondents, and until the publication of The Quiet Warrior he remained an elusive figure. Thomas Buell has succeeded in evoking the nature of the man as well as recording the achievements of the admiral in this brilliant biography, which won the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement the year of its publication. Softcover. 54 illustrations, 560 pages.

U.S. MARINE CORPS AVIATION SINCE 1912 Peter B. Mersky, author

U.S. Marine Corps Aviation Since 1912

This heavily illustrated work is the only book to describe the entire history of the U.S. Marine Corps' air arm. With hundreds of rare photographs, this fourth edition represents a major redesign and update of the last edition, published more than a decade ago. Chapters include descriptions of early development and training, as well as combat deployments during World War I and in Central America. World War II and Korea, Vietnam, the Balkans, and Southwest Asia campaigns are also well covered. The text includes first-person accounts and comments from many participants—aviators and crewmen alike. 278 photos, 320 pages.

THE BATTTLE OF THE NARROW SEAS : The History of the Light Coastal Forces in the Channel & North Sea, 1939-1945 Peter Scott, author

The Battle of the Narrow Seas: The History of the Light Coastal Forces in the Channel & North Sea, 1939-1945

Classic account of the fight for control of the English Channel and the southern North Sea is told by Peter Scott, a MTB (Motor Torpedo Boat) commander, who saw action throughout World War II. More than a memoir, his book tells the whole story of the small ships and their legendary crews during fierce encounters with the Germans. The bravery of the crews of these small ships became legendary and the casualties that were suffered during brief and fierce encounters were horrific. As the war dragged on, MTB's became household words, and their daring exploits helped to raise the morale of the British in much the same way that the RAF fighter aircraft had done in the Battle of Britain in September 1940. 120 illustrations. 234 pages.