Featuring rare photos, detailed colour illustrations and insignia tables, this study explores the contribution made by Czech and Slovak troops fighting alongside Allied forces during World War II. Following the Anglo-French failure at the Munich Conference in March 1938 to prevent a Nazi take-over of Bohemia-Moravia (modern Czech Republic/Czechia), many frustrated Czech and Slovak soldiers sided with Allied forces and fought alongside their armies – first in Poland, then in France, and finally from Britain. Using depictions of relevant uniforms and equipment plus photos of the troops in action, military uniformology expert Nigel Thomas explains how the Czech Army was organized and how it fought alongside Allied forces in the Middle East and at Normandy. He describes the involvement of free Czech agents operating from Britain in Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Nazi governor Reinhard Heydrich in occupied Bohemia-Moravia, and the part Czech soldiers played in mutinies in both Italy and Prague against German occupation which ultimately helped to secure a final Allied victory.
Nigel Thomas Book order
Nigel Thomas is a distinguished literary figure whose work explores profound themes with a unique voice. His career, which included a decade as an educator, has led him to a professorship in literature, demonstrating a deep engagement with the written word. His published works span compelling fiction and evocative poetry, showcasing a versatile talent. Thomas's contributions to literature have been recognized, with his novel being a finalist for a prestigious award.







- 2024
- 2024
Featuring an introduction by Kaie Kellough and a new afterword by the author. First published in Canada in 1993, Spirits in the Dark is a pioneering intersectional novel of the LGBTQ+ and Caribbean-Canadian experience that was far ahead of its times. In his powerful debut novel, H. Nigel Thomas writes with compelling honesty about the confusing maze of societal pressures that paralyze Jerome Quashee while growing up in the Caribbean, and later on in his adult life. Jerome's intelligence at first promises him a gateway out of the poverty his parents have known, but he must compete with privileged White boys for scholarships in a racist, classist culture. He represses his emerging homosexuality, fearing that it will bring his family disgrace, as he wrestles with the guilt of knowing so little about his African heritage and the pressure to let go his ties to Black culture. Under the spiritual guidance of Pointer Francis, he undergoes a religious ritual to block all sensory links to the outside world in order to see clearly into his past and face his demons.
- 2022
"This volume describes, lists, and illustrates the several combatant forces raised in Yugoslavia during World War II. In March 1941, an anti-German coup in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia prompted Hitler to order an invasion using allied Italian, Hungarian, Bulgarian. and Romanian forces. Operation Marita was an invasion of Yugoslavia and simultaneously Greece. At the same time, the constituent region of Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia and joined the Axis powers. Royal Yugoslav armed forces, despite advancing against the Italians in Albania were forced to surrender after 11 days' fighting and some 1,000 soldiers, airmen, and sailors escaped to British-occupied Egypt to form Free Yugoslav units. From there, guerrilla resistance to the Axis occupiers broke out and continued with increasing strength until the end of the war under Mihailovic's royalist 'Chetniks' and Tito's Communist 'Partisans' (both supported by Britain). However, hostilities between the two movements eventually led to the Chetniks entering into local agreements with Italian occupation forces and Britain switching its support entirely to the Partisans. The advance of the Red Army increased Partisan strength and, during 1944-45, they created what could be described as a lightly equipped conventional army." --Publisher description
- 2020
This illustrated study details the organization, battle orders, combat history, uniforms, and insignia of the World War II units recruited by Nazi Germany from ethnic minorities in the USSR.
- 2019
Armies of the Baltic Independence Wars 1918-20
- 64 pages
- 3 hours of reading
This fascinating book concisely tells the story of the birth of three Baltic nation Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.Immediately following the end of World War I, amid the collapse of the German, Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires, bitter fighting broke out in the Baltic region as Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania struggled for their independence, and Red and White Russian armies began their civil war. There were also German forces still active in what had been the northern end of Germany's Eastern Front. This book offers a concise but detailed introduction to this whole theater of war, focusing on the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and relevant German and Russian forces, plus Finnish, Danish, and Swedish contingents. For each region there is a detailed map as well as meticulous orders-of-battle and insignia charts. Detailed for the first time in the English language, this fascinating book concisely tells the story of the birth of these Baltic nation states.
- 2018
Polish Legions 1914-19
- 48 pages
- 2 hours of reading
"Due to its partitions and dissolution in the late eighteenth century, hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers enlisted in distinct units in the armies of many countries - primarily those of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires, but also that of the German Reich and the French Republic. All these forces were uniformed and equipped by the parent armies, though often with explicitly Polish features. The collapse of Tsarist Russia in 1917 and of the Central Powers in 1918 allowed these diverse forces to unite in a re-created Polish Army under the new-born Second Polish Republic in November 1918. With full colour illustrations of their unique and colourful uniforms as well as contemporary photographs, this is the fascinating story of the Poles who fought on both sides of the trenches in World War I and then united to fight for their freedom in the Russian Civil War."--Publisher description
- 2017
World War II German Motorized Infantry & Panzergrenadiers
- 64 pages
- 3 hours of reading
A detailed study of the German Army s elite motorized branch of infantry, crucial to the blitzkrieg, designed to be inseparable from the Panzers in every front of World War II.
- 2015
Hitler's Russian & Cossack Allies 1941-45
- 48 pages
- 2 hours of reading
Given the merciless way in which the war on the Eastern Front of World War II was conducted, it is difficult to envisage anyone changing sides during the conflict. This book guides you through the appearance, formation and equipment of the myriad Russian and Soviet units that fought for the Germans.
- 2014
Armies of the Russo-Polish War 1919-21
- 48 pages
- 2 hours of reading
In 1917 Poland was recognised as a state by Russia, but the Bolshevik coup threatened this. This book explains and illustrates the armies that fought in the epic struggle for the rebirth of the independent Polish nation, in the bitter aftermath of World War I.
- 2014
The armies of Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium bore the first crushing impact of Hitler's mighty Blitzkrieg war machine in Western Europe, in a campaign that astonished and terrified the world. This book deals with this topic