Known affectionately as 'Dad's Army', the Home Guard was Britain's very serious attempt to protect our shores from invasion by Nazi Germany in the Second World War. In the 'Spitfire summer' of 1940, all that the 1 million unpaid, untrained part-timers of the Local Defence Volunteers (as the organisation was originally called) wanted was a service rifle for each man, but even that was too much for a country threatened by defeat to provide. Britain's Final Defence is the first book to explore the efforts made to arm the home defence force between 1940 and 1944 and describe the full range of weaponry available for Britain's last stand against invading Axis forces.

This text provides a concise thematic introduction to the evolution of British defence policy since the end of the second world war

This is the second volume of the classified history of air defence in Great Britain. Written while World War II was still being fought, the account has an analysis of the defensive tactics of Fighter Command, and attempts a day-by-day analysis of the action as it took place.

The first in the 18-volume Official History of the Second World War covers the defence of the British Isles on land, sea, and in the air. Beginning with disarmament after the Great War in 1918, Basil Collier traces Britain s gradual rearmarment in the face of the renewed threat from Germany. There are chapters on the Phoney war of 1939-40; and on the effects of the disastrous Norway campaign and the Dunkirk evacuation. The Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 is extensively covered, as is Operation Sealion , Hitler s abortive plan for a seaborne invasion of southern England. Collier describes the Luftwaffe s switch from daytime raids on RAF fiighter stations to night bombing of the cities in the darkest days of the 1940-41 Blitz. He recounts the German bids to blockade Britain, and the energetic measures for home defence - including the formation of the Home Guard - taken by Churchill s government. Finally, the book tells of the terrifying threat from the V1 Flying Bomb or Doodle Bugs ; and Hitler s secret weapons - the V2 rockets launched in the last stages of the war in Europe. Profusely illustrated with 32 maps and 29 photographs, and accompanied by 50 appendices on specialised aspects of the war on the home front.

This new work examines how the European states, the United Kingdom and the United States will approach the defence and Security of Europe in the medium and long-term. It is often assumed that Brexit, the United Kingdom’s departure from the political and commercial European Union, would affect defence and security profoundly, but the basis of that assumption is rarely analysed. Bringing together a panel of specialists from Europe, the UK, the EU, and the United States, this volume evaluates the relative position they play in Europe’s defence in the era of Brexit. It examines the arguments, challenges, and problems in European defence, and tests them against the residual commitment, cohesion, and capabilities of the states concerned, including Anglo-French military co-operation, the silent Anglo-German partnership, the US-UK Special Relationship, and the emergent Northern Group.