mhm134

MHM Book of the Year 2023 – The Winners

The ballots have been cast, the votes have been counted, and we are delighted to announce the winners of the MHM Book Awards.

Military history crossword #134

Test your military history knowledge with our crossword!

MHM competition: win a copy of Anthony Tucker-Jones’ ‘Churchill: Master and Commander’

Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition!

The Armchair General: can you defeat the Nazis?

REVIEW BY TOBY CLARK Here is a history of the Second World War with a twist. John Buckley is a professor of military history at the University of Wolverhampton and a writer with both academic and popular histories to his…

Left The Battle of Gettysburg. A 19th century print shows Major General Winfield S Hancock riding along the Union lines during the Confederate bombardment prior to Pickett’s Charge.

Gettysburg: the five key myths

The greatest battle in American history took place 160 years ago this summer, in July 1863. Fred Chiaventone identifies some common misunderstandings about this crucial engagement.

Above The three British warships that played the leading role in the Battle of Cape Matapan. In the foreground, firing a broadside, is HMS Valiant, with HMS Barham and HMS Warspite behind.

Cape Matapan, 27-29 March 1941

Graham Goodlad analyses Cunningham’s masterpiece, the battle which broke the power of fascist Italy in the Mediterranean.

Cunningham & Cape Matapan: taking on Mussolini’s battle fleet

For our special this issue, Graham Goodlad analyses the achievements of Admiral Andrew Browne Cunningham, universally known to his peers as ‘ABC’. In this first part, he looks at Cunningham’s life and career, while in the second he offers a detailed commentary on the battle that is widely regarded as his masterpiece.

MHM 134 Letters – May

Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.

LefT A member of the dive team exploring an amtrac (amphibious tractor), one of the few known underwater relics from the 1944 US invasion of Guam. The island was occupied by the Japanese for two and a half years.

Survey explores underwater battlefield in western Pacific

The survey, conducted by a team of scientists from the US National Park Service, is the first of a two-part project.

Military history exhibitions and events: what to see in 2023

A look at some of the best military history events and exhibitions to check out.

Back to the drawing board: the Avro Manchester

David Porter on Military History's doomed inventions.

The Coalitions Against Napoleon

REVIEW BY ANDRÉ VAN LOON The subject of The Coalitions Against Napoleon is fascinating and rich in potential. Moving beyond the well-trodden path of personality-based writing (such as Napoleon versus Wellington, biographies of Napoleon’s marshals, or the career of Horatio…

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Reviewing the best military history exhibitions with Christopher Warner.

Right Surveying work being carried out at the site of Carleith Farm, where the remains of the Roman fortlet were recently found.

Roman fortlet rediscovered on Scotland’s Antonine Wall

The discovery is only the tenth known fortlet to have been found along the wall.

Film Review – Apocalypse Now Redux

When they arrived on set, they held a feast that included dancing and chanting that lasted nearly two days. It also included the ritual slaughter of a water buffalo

The Second World War in living colour

Most books about the Second World War include only black-and-white photographs, and these are often sketchy or blurred. Some are even staged pieces of propaganda. Colour photography was not unknown at the time, of course, but it was immensely expensive…

Opposite An early portrait of Vlad Dracula, known as Vlad the Impaler, the 15th century prince of Wallachia whose cruel methods of punishment made him notorious across Europe. right Wallachia, as depicted in the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle. The historical region north of the Lower Danube and south of the Carpathian mountains, it is now part of Romania.

The real Vlad Dracula: in search of a 15th-century warlord

The fanciful character of Dracula the vampire evolved from a real-life figure who was just as terrifying as any fiction. Tim Newark explores the myth and reality of a deadly medieval warrior.

Below The interior and exterior of the pillbox uncovered on Blackdog Beach, Aberdeenshire. The structure had tumbled upside down and was buried by sand.

Long-lost pillbox found buried in sand on a beach near Aberdeen

Some 28,000 pillboxes were constructed around Britain on the outbreak of the war, in anticipation of an invasion by Axis forces.

Left A 1919 caricature entitled ‘World peace in Ukraine!’ shows Ukrainians in the centre, under attack from a Bolshevik (to the north), a Russian White Army soldier (to the east), and (to the west and south west) a Polish soldier, a Hungarian (in pink uniform), and two Romanian soldiers.

Battlefield Ukraine: lessons from history

The roots of the current war in Ukraine are deeply entwined with the nation’s turbulent military history. Here, David Porter examines some of the most important episodes and events.

Right The sword belonging to General Everard Bouverie, pictured [far right] in 1860. Some 45 years earlier, he had used it during the Battle of Waterloo.

Rare sword used at Waterloo acquired by Northamptonshire Abbey

The weapon belonged to General Everard Bouverie, of the Royal Horse Guards.

Opposite Children at Birmingham’s Moor Street railway station, September 1939. Millions of British city children were evacuated to safer locations during World War II. above The series was narrated by Laurence Olivier, recorded between productions at the National Theatre, at which he was then Director. He hated the work.

Fifty years of The World at War

Half a century on, the most comprehensive series ever made about the Second World War is still being shown on television channels around the globe. Taylor Downing takes a critical look.

War Classics: ‘The Face of Battle’

The Vietnam War and associated public distaste for military intervention also provided a challenge as to how the study of warfare was conducted and presented.

Marengo’s makeover: conserving Napoleon’s favourite war horse

In this picture, a conservator at the National Army Museum in London holds the skull of Marengo, the most famous of the horses that belonged to French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Named after Napoleon’s victory over the Austrian Empire at the…

The Great Defiance: How the world took on the British Empire

REVIEW BY ANDREW MULHOLLAND This is a provocative book which will ruffle feathers, perhaps among some MHM readers. But it is also an important one. While the heart of The Great Defiance is historic, presenting an alternative narrative of what…

War of words – ‘revolver’

‘There are probably in Texas about as many revolvers as male adults,’ wrote one correspondent for The New York Times in 1854.

Above Christian with her husband John in 1943 [left] and in 2021 [right]. below An Allied tanker sinks after being hit by a torpedo fired from a U boat during the Battle of the Atlantic.

102-year-old WREN recalls the vital role she played in the Battle of the Atlantic

Christian Lamb – who is now 102 years old – was involved in plotting the course of ONS-5, a slow trade convoy from Britain to North America that saw off a vicious attack from the Kriegsmarine in early May 1943.

The Women Behind the Few: the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and British Intelligence during the Second World War

REVIEW BY COLIN POMEROY With The Women Behind the Few, Sarah-Louise Miller has produced a truly excellent book telling the story of women in multiple roles during the Second World War. The book actually begins with the Great War, with…

Hitler’s Panzer Generals: Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt, and Schmidt unguarded

REVIEW BY CALUM HENDERSON ‘The longer the war lasts the lesser my opinion of the generals.’ These were the words in April 1943 of Ulrich von Hassell, a German diplomat who was executed for his role in the 20 July…