History of War Do check out the latest issue of HoW magazine, which includes my review of Ted Powell's excellent forthcoming Churchill and the Crown.

The Nazi Hunters Coming this November published by Arcturus. The story of how they got away...

Rhineland in Singapore Out in the wild, recently spotted on the shelves in Kinokuniya Singapore. My thanks to @gautamhazarika.bsky.social

Dear fellow Churchillians please do consider preordering Winston Churchill: The Making of a Warlord - your very kind support previously pushed Churchill Master and Commander and Churchill Cold War Warrior rapidly into paperback. www.amazon.co.uk/Winston-Chur...

Italian Project Newly arrived reference material for a forthcoming book project from the good people at @penandswordbooks.bsky.social I am intrigued by Heinz Greiner's memoirs.

Operation Catapult Just in from American author Bill Whiteside published by the US Naval Institute - I am very much looking forward to reading this and will be interested in his conclusions. It looks first class.

Birmingham in the Blitz Recently watched this, set in war-torn Birmingham and Liverpool. Disliked by the PB fans, I enjoyed it, despite the anachronist use of the Sten and MG42 and German commandos running round Liverpool docks!

The Nazi Hunters Just seen the cover design for my forthcoming The Nazi Hunters and looks very good. The publisher obviously went with Adolf Eichmann.

Rhineland 'the author's most outstanding piece of work to date,' Andy Saunders Read the trilogy available from Osprey/Bloomsbury

Research trip Great to visit North Devon Museum researching the Devonshire yeomanry regiments that fought as artillery units in Sicily and Italy during WW2. After Sicily they landed at Salerno and fought at Naples, on the Volturno, Garigliano and Monte Cassino. Note the Bishop SPG.

Volume 3 coming soon!

It was a pleasure to contribute to Brazilian writer Ricardo Sondermann's latest Churchill book. Always great to bring WSC to a new audience.

Make a date in your diary My fellow Churchillians this is out in the UK on 30 May, the US on 30 July and Canada 13 August and is now available to pre-order on Amazon.

Rhineland 'the author's most outstanding piece of work to date,' Andy Saunders Read the trilogy available from Osprey/Bloomsbury

History of War Just finished reading this for review in History of War. It is a brilliant read - out on 4 June and available for pre-order.

Rhineland in Iron Cross My thanks to fellow historian Andy Saunders for this generous review in Iron Cross magazine.

This Week in the Second World War Do catch Peter Caddick-Adams and I doing our thing on YouTube discussing the 1945 Rhine crossing. www.youtube.com/live/pG5eW_t...

Out in the Wild Great to see the Italian version of The Fall of Berlin nestled on the shelves in Rome. My thanks to Salvatore Murtas for spotting it.

Original WW2 Prints Just been going through my massive photo library to see what I have on the Italian campaign. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Images are always great research tools.

Well that didn't take long! Coffee table covered. All prepped for the next project.

Winston Churchill: The Making of a Warlord Now available to pre-order in the US: www.amazon.com/Winston-Chur...

Winston Churchill: The Making of a Warlord Now available to preorder in the UK: www.amazon.co.uk/Winston-Chur...

Making of a Warlord Last week I signed off on the 4th proof for this book - so shortly off to the printers ready for it's UK release date at the end of May. It looks fabulous and was an absolute pleasure curating all the dramatic images.

Light of Day! Well for about the first time in over a year my office coffee table can actually see the light of day. It's now just bracing itself for the next pile.

Nazi Hunters Manuscript just submitted to the publisher, slightly ahead of deadline which is always pleasing. It covers the exploits of amongst others Simon Wiesenthal and Efraim Zuroff. Remarkably the last conviction was in 2022.

Meanwhile in Ukraine Last night Russia launched : 480 drones, 13 ballistic missiles and 16 cruise missiles. Targets were energy infrastructure, residential buildings and civilians. Ukrainian air defence neutralized 453 drones and most of the missiles. Sound familiar.

Nazi Hunters Well the manuscript for this book is nicely on track for delivery to the publisher at the end of March. Just need to find space for this lot ready for the next one!

I can't but help feel we could do with some of that right now...

Happy World Book Day 2026 Happy World Book Day - here's just a little sample from the pen of your humble scribe! Read on dear friends! #worldbookday2026

Iron Curtain Speech Anniversary Today marks the 80th anniversary of Churchill's famous Sinews of Peace or Iron Curtain speech in Fulton, Missouri. If you are interested in how it came about and why it received such an adverse international reaction at the time do check out.

Iran War Almost makes me feel nostalgic for the early 1990s when I was swanning around Baghdad and Manama without a care in the world. How times change!

Closing Hormuz With energy markets teetering on the brink we have such short memories. Back in the 1980s the Tanker War saw shipping in the Gulf running the gauntlet. Between 1981-88 547 ships were attacked of which 340 were tankers with predicable results.

What Fate Iran's Kurds It's worth remembering that the Kurds fought against the Iraqis with Iranian backing in the 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s. In 2017 Iraq's Kurds declared independence and were crushed by the Iraqi military. Iran responded by closing the border.

What Fate Iran's Kurds Today their are around 40 million Kurds spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria & Turkey. In the 1920s they were promised an independent homeland - the Republic of Kurdistan, it never materialized. Today they are the largest ethnic group denied statehood.

A Hormuz Bridgehead? Is the US looking secure the Iranian islands of Hormuz, Larak and Qeshm to safeguard shipping through the vulnerable Strait of Hormuz or indeed a larger bridgehead around Bandar Abbas? Certainly targeting Iranian anti-shipping missile sites will be a priority.

Joys of 2nd Hand Bookshops On the subject of international secondhand bookshops if in New York City do find time to wander around the Strand Bookstore - it's absolutely enormous and I have lugged some very heavy books back to the UK from there!

Fundamentalist Backlash Are we facing an Iranian Shia Fundamentalist backlash, the like of which we have not seen since the 1980s. This book is a bit long in the tooth but still timely background reading.

Partition for Iran? With the senior Iranian leadership down and the conflict widening where next for Iran. With only 60% of the population Persian will the other minorities, most notably the Arabs, Azeris, Balochis and Kurds, rebel against Tehran?

The 1944 Trilogy If you are interested in Ops Overlord, Dragoon and Bagration you can find out what happened in Normandy, the Riviera and Byelorussia in my summer campaigns of 1944 trilogy.

Joys of 2nd Hand Bookshops Here is another welcome haunt from my past - I used to frequent this shop when I was at college and still have stuff I bought there. It continues trading all these years on which is marvelous.

US-Israel Attack Tehran Let's not forget Iran fought a futile 8 year war with Iraq that dragged on until they had fought each other to a bloody standstill and resulted in several million casualties.

US-Israel Attack Tehran To facilitate regime change in Iran will require the Iranian Army to act against the Iranian government and Revolutionary Guard Corps in support of demonstrators. A coup seems the only way ahead.

US-Israel Attack Tehran Is this a historic moment? For almost 50 years Iran sought to destabilize Afghanistan, Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen by backing its proxies - most notably Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi. Is it finally now time for regime change.

Joys of 2nd Hand Bookshops Well dear friends this is where it all started - Laurence Oxley's in Alresford. I went to school in Alresford and spent many a happy hour browsing in Oxley's. I even have at least one book I bought there still on my shelves!

Nazi Hunters Phew, just finished editing the first draft of my Nazi Hunters manuscript. As you can imagine a huge amount of research went into this in order to paint a coherent and up to date picture. Now to input the corrections.

The 1944-45 Trilogy If you are interested in how the Germans won at Arnhem, why they conducted the Battle of the Bulge and how they defended the Rhine then do check out my trilogy from @ospreypublishing.bsky.social

Joys of 2nd Hand Bookshops Yours truly outside Boom Cat Books, Camden, near the canal, a few years back when the weather was decidedly better! It's small but always well worth a rummage.

Joys of 2nd Hand Bookshops When I worked in Whitehall in London this used to be one of my favourite lunchtime haunts on Charing Cross Road. I seem to remember I sold them quite a lot of stuff as well as buying a lot.

Joys of 2nd Hand Bookshops Another nice secondhand bookshop is Tarka Books in Barnstaple - good military and British history sections. Again very old school - books stacked everywhere. Ideal for browsing on a rainy day!

Latest Reference Material Just in my latest batch of research material for my next book project, nice mix of new and secondhand books. Just have to finish my current manuscript...