Land

The Sappers

Issue Number: 5098

We call then the Royal Engineers but they began as the Royal Sappers and Miners. And one of their original jobs was to dig ‘saps’ – dark, dangerous tunnels which stretched far under enemy lines. Pack a picked spot with explosives and bang went a target in a spectacular explosion. They were still practising this […]

Singapore Strike!

Issue Number: 5097

With his scrawny, bony frame, people often underestimated Fred Burton. But when two East London thugs took him for an easy target – they got a nasty surprise in the shape of a punch, kick and wallop from a Chinese sailor experienced in the art of Shaolin Kung Fu. After that, Fred became obsessed with […]

And Everywhere That Casey Went…

Issue Number: 5096

…His sworn enemy was sure to go. The military policemen stood ankle-deep in the snow at the cross-roads in the Ardennes. Their uniforms, their slouch, and the constant motion of their jaws as they chewed gum marked them clearly as Americans. And that’s just exactly what who any who saw them were meant to think. […]

Seized at the Somme

Issue Number: 5095

In September 1914, young men in their thousands flocked to army recruitment offices all over Britain, ready to do their bit. Among those answering the call to arms was a builder from Newcastle named Billy Osgood. But when he arrived in France, the conditions were tougher than anything he had ever encountered and the fighting […]

A Tale of Two Wars

Issue Number: 5094

Gallipoli, Western Turkey, 1915 – savage fighting raged as Allied forces tried to advance inland against tough Turkish opposition. Korea, South-East Asia, 1950 – the forces of the United States of America were locked in a bitter struggle with the Chinese-backed communist forces of North Korea. Two battlegrounds separated but thirty-five years and thousand upon […]

Forgotten Hero

Issue Number: 5093

Only the toughest and most tenacious troops could make it in the Commandos – that’s why the training was so formidable… and not everyone survived… So, when former Corporal Jim Main failed his training in 1945, he self-exiled to the Highlands, becoming a gamekeeper. But little did he know that decades later, the faces from […]

Highland Games

Issue Number: 5091

No-one would expect German spies to be out in the Scottish Highlands on a cold night in 1942… but that did not stop Rory MacLean from tightly clutching his BSA standard No. 1 Model air rifle. As an owl’s hoot broke the eerie stillness, Rory tensed then tutted at himself for being so foolish. But […]

Murder in Berlin

Issue Number: 5090

Serving as a detective throughout the war years in London hadn’t been a picnic for Chief Inspector Ernie Hallows. There had been the Blitz to cope with as well as very difficult jobs – like nailing the decorated Commando officer who had turned killer. But now that the war was over, life wasn’t any easier. […]

Trouble in Tibet

Issue Number: 5089

In the thirteenth century, Kublai Khan’s ships were decimated by two typhoons off the coast of Japan. The Japanese deemed these typhoons a ‘kamikaze’ or a ‘divine wind’, which bolstered the nation’s belief that their shores would never be invaded. This belief would cause a German team, led by an SS Major and a team […]