Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan was an English military historian, lecturer, writer and journalist. He wrote many published works on the nature of combat between prehistory and the 21st century, covering land, air, maritime, intelligence warfare and the psychology of battle.
The Canadian Corps was a World War I corps formed from the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1915 after the arrival of the 2nd Canadian Division in France. The corps was expanded by the addition of the 3rd Canadian Division in December 1915 and the 4th Canadian Division in August 1916. The organization of a 5th Canadian Division began in February 1917 but it was still not fully formed when it was broken up in February 1918 and its men used to reinforce the other four divisions.
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a pair of mirrored letter Bs back to back. The firm's early editors were Stanley Kauffmann and Bernard Shir-Cliff.
Lieutenant General Sir Henry Royds Pownall, was a senior British Army officer who held several important command and staff appointments during the Second World War. In particular, he was chief of staff to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France and Belgium until the fall of France in May 1940. He was later chief of staff to General Archibald Wavell until the Battle of Singapore in 1942, and chief of staff to Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1943–44.
The Hundred Days Offensive was a series of massive Allied offensives which ended the First World War. Beginning with the Battle of Amiens on the Western Front, the Allies pushed the Central Powers back, undoing their gains from the German spring offensive. The Germans retreated to the Hindenburg Line, but the Allies broke through the line with a series of victories, starting with the Battle of St Quentin Canal on 29 September. The offensive, together with a revolution breaking out in Germany, led to the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended the war with an Allied victory. The term "Hundred Days Offensive" does not refer to a battle or strategy, but rather the rapid series of Allied victories against which the German Army had no reply.
Sir Hew Francis Anthony Strachan, is a British military historian, well known for his leadership in scholarly studies of the British Army and the history of the First World War. He is currently Professor of International Relations at the University of St Andrews. Before that Strachan was the Chichele Professor of the History of War at All Souls College, Oxford.
Ian Keith Ballantine was a pioneering American publisher who founded and published the paperback line of Ballantine Books from 1952 to 1974 with his wife, Betty Ballantine. The Ballantines were both inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2008, with a shared citation.
Jeremy Black is a British historian, writer, and former professor of history at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, US.
Australia in the War of 1939–1945 is a 22-volume official history series covering Australian involvement in the Second World War. The series was published by the Australian War Memorial between 1952 and 1977, most of the volumes being edited by Gavin Long, who also wrote three volumes and the summary volume The Six Year War.
Bill Gunston was a British aviation and military author. He flew with Britain's Royal Air Force from 1943 to 1948, and was a flying instructor. He spent most of his adult life doing research and writing on aircraft and aviation. He was the author of over 350 books and articles. His work included many books published by Salamander Books.
Major General Daniel Hermanus Pienaar was a South African World War II military commander.
Bernard W. Shir-Cliff was an editor for Ballantine Books, Contemporary Books, Warner Books and other publishers, who also translated books and later became a well-known literary agent. As a senior editor at Warner Books, he was responsible for the huge publishing success of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, which she writes about in her autobiography, All in a Lifetime (2001).
Ian Vernon Hogg was a British author of books on firearms, artillery, ammunition, and fortification, as well as biographies of several famous general officers. During his career he wrote, co-wrote, edited, or co-edited about 150 books and sold well over 1 million copies.
Anthony Noble Frankland CB, CBE, DFC was a British historian who served as Director General of the Imperial War Museum.
Digby Smith is a British military historian. The son of a British career soldier, he was born in Hampshire, England, but spent several years in India and Pakistan as a child and youth. As a "boy soldier," he entered training in the British Army at the age of 16. He was later commissioned in the Royal Corps of Signals, and held several postings with the British Army of the Rhine.
Purnell's History of the Second World War was a hugely successful weekly anthology or 'partwork' publication covering all aspects of World War II that was distributed throughout the English-speaking world. Produced shortly after the similarly accomplished 8-volume series on WW1, it was first published in 1966, being reprinted several times during the 1970s.
Rear Admiral William Reynolds Purnell was an officer in the United States Navy who served in World War I and World War II. A 1908 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he captained destroyers during World War I. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his role in protecting convoys against German submarines as commander of the USS Lamson.
Jeffrey Guy Grey was an Australian military historian. He wrote two volumes of The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975, and several other high-profile works on Australia's military history. He was the first non-American to become the president of the Society for Military History, but is perhaps best known as the author of A Military History of Australia.
David T. Zabecki is an American military historian, author and editor. Zabecki served in the U.S. Army both in the Vietnam War and in United States Army Europe in Germany attaining the rank of major general. Zabecki holds PhDs in engineering and in military science. He is the author, editor and translator of several books on the military history of Germany, including World War I and World War II.
Clifford Arthur Kinvig was senior lecturer in war studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, director of education of the British Army, and a noted military author who debunked some of the myths about the bridge over the River Kwai and the construction of the Burma Railway.
