Showing results by narrator "Sam Devereaux" in All Categories

On 27th January 1944, Stalin declares that Leningrad has been liberated. After a siege lasting two and a half years, German forces retreat with the Red Army in hot pursuit. Encouraged by the victory, Soviet general Govorov decides to liberate Estonia, but in the battle of Narva, the Germans upset his plans, and the front comes to a temporary halt. Hitler's forces are feeling the pressure on all sides, however.

It is 03:14 on 22nd June 1941. Along a 1,800-kilometre front line that stretches from the Baltic Sea in the north, to Romania in the South, German soldiers are ready for battle. A minute later, all hell breaks loose. The Luftwaffe begins attacking targets behind the Red Army’s front line, and the artillery opens fire. Germany’s dreaded Panzer tanks follow - the spearhead of Operation "Barbarossa", Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union. With 3.7 million soldiers, it’s the largest invasion to date.

On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. The country needed to be subjugated quickly before Britain and France could intervene. Germany’s Panzer divisions proved unstoppable. Backed by the Luftwaffe, they smashed through Poland’s defences, destroying roads, bridges, and radio stations. The Polish defended valiantly, but were eventually forced to surrender. By 6th of October, Poland was in German hands.

With Europe overrun by Hitler’s thundering war machine, Churchill is the only head of state with the courage to stand up to the Führer. The British Prime Minister’s iron will makes him a role model in Great Britain and across the continent. Churchill and his V-sign become a symbol of resistance against Nazi Germany. In Germany in February 1942, armaments minister Albert Speer has the job of making sure that there’s a steady supply of prisoners of war to man the plants and factories -at the same time as the SS are on a killing spree.

Luftwaffe pilots fear one weapon more than any other: British Spitfires. Powerful Rolls Royce engines and an ingenious design make the plane fast and manoeuvrable. In 1940, Spitfires and their fearless pilots resist Hitler’s attempts to bomb Britain to submission. The fighter’s success forces Germany’s leaders to develop even more powerful weapons. London is targeted by V-1 and V-2 bombs, forerunners of the Saturn V moon rocket. Meanwhile, on the Eastern Front the supergun Schwerer Gustav fires shells at targets 47 kilometres away.

The battle is won, the enemy driven out, and everyone can breathe again. Many field generals thought this - but generals often make mistakes. Throughout World War II, specially trained soldiers made sure that the enemy never rested in peace. Command units struck anywhere and at any time: a German general was kidnapped in the middle of Crete, while commandos liberated Benito Mussolini from his prison on a mountain top. And British units blew up factories in a Norwegian town to deprive Germany of important raw materials.

German tanks rolled unimpeded across the Russian steppes at the start of Hitler’s campaign against the Soviet Union. But in 1943, the so-called Slavic "untermensch" (subhumans) gain the initiative and transform the country into a hell for Hitler’s invasion forces. Nearly 100,000 Germans are captured after the Battle of Stalingrad at the beginning of the year. Ahead lies cold, hunger and ill-treatment, and only five percent of prisoners will return to Germany after the war.

In 1933 Adolf Hitler seizes power after seducing the German people with lavish promises of restoring order, prosperity and the Greater German Reich to its former glories. He then goes to on exploit other Western European powers’ fear of confrontation to rearm the country in direct defiance of the restrictive terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Before his neighbours can react, Hitler has transformed Germany’s armed forces into the most modern war machine of the day. And Hitler is not alone.

In a series of complex double-crosses a menacing mystery builds: Who is the "Sardine" behind the killing? "The Sardine Deception" is Leif Davidsen's author debut book from 1984. The novel takes place in the Basque Country, where a young Danish woman has been killed during an ETA attack. Her husband, Poul, travels to Spain to retrieve the coffin and is involuntarily drawn into political intrigues involving Basque freedom fighters, the Spanish government, civil guards and fascist infiltrated police.

Join Sergeant Frank Hardy and Mette Hardy in three more gripping mysteries set in late-19th-century New Zealand: Dead Shot, Lying Under Water, and Come to Grief.

Dave Pigeon and his trusty sidekick, Skipper, are minding their own business in the garden shed when they see Mean Cat behaving very strangely... And why is she multiplying? The arrival of some very cute kittens is disastrous news! More cats? Ugh. But then the kittens come under threat... Are Dave and Skipper coldhearted enough to leave them defenseless? Especially when one looks a teeny, tiny little bit like Dave?

The rise of populist movements in various parts of the world is widely perceived as a significant challenge to policymaking, mainstream political parties, and even to liberal democracy. Yet we know very little about the impact of populism on business, beyond the fact that the anti-elite challenge of populism frequently targets business with policies to restrict globalization, outsourcing, and labor migration while at the same time embracing capitalism, low taxes, and deregulated markets.

Dave Pigeon is BACK! And so is his side-kick Skipper. But trouble is afoot. When their Human Lady leaves to go on a 'holiday' (whatever that is), Dave and Skipper are horrified to find that their food supply quickly runs dry. With delicious biscuits on their minds, they set off in search of a new owner—but is Reginald Grimster all he seems? Why is he so keen on feeding them? And why does he have so many books about cooking . . .?

Dave Pigeon and his best friend Skipper are traveling in a box to Pawsville Vets . . . maybe Dave will finally get his broken wing fixed. The pet shop is full of new friends . . . Jet the dog, Cricket Ball Face the hamster . . . and with friendship comes a bit of healthy competition, and what could be better than a race for a racing pigeon? But the only animal who thinks Dave is capable of going up against the infamous Mickey Lightning is Dave himself.

If you're a cat and you've learnt Pigeonese . . . (HA HA HA! As if a cat would be smart enough to learn Pigeonese). This must mean if you are a cat and you are able to read this, you have taken a pigeon hostage so that you can trick them into translating the Pigeonese words into Meow. I demand you release the hostage pigeon now. My book contains TOP SECRET ideas that are NONE of a cat's business.

Dave Pigeon and his best friend Skipper are taking in the sights of London. Whilst pecking around the gates of the Royal Palace, looking for high-brow snacks to feast on, they meet Prince Raju Pigeon, one of the Queen's personal birds from the Royal Lofts. Raju is tired of royal life and longs to see life beyond the palace gates. Dave suggests they swap places for a short while! Raju will get to see how normal pigeon lives and Dave will be pampered in the Royal Lofts. Of course, this all goes to Dave's head and as he laps up the royal treatment becoming more unbearable than ever.

The Germans and their Japanese allies have gone from victory to victory since the start of the war, but in the autumn of 1942, that begins to change. On the small Pacific island of Guadalcanal, US forces drive back the Japanese to capture a key airfield. Meanwhile, on the Eastern Front, Hitler’s blitzkrieg slams to a halt at Stalingrad, stopped by the Russian winter and a Red Army determined to defend every street. As the war enters its fourth year, the conflict becomes ever more brutal.

In 1841, a quiet, curious boy who stuttered when nervous committed to becoming a surgeon—a profession then more feared than respected. Through study, persistence, and careful research, Joseph Lister proved that unsanitary conditions contribute to infections. Despite others scoffing at his ideas, Lister slowly changed the way all surgeons work, saving countless lives.

A body plunging off a cliff, a new craze for pedestrianism or race-walking with gambling, a constable willing to make a gruelling 90 miles through the tree-covered ranges without a break, and a testing undercover assignment for Mr. Hardy.