Upcoming: "The Best of After the Battle Then and Now"

[Edward]

With the publication of the final issue of After the Battle (no. 195 c. May/ June 2022) an era in WWII history publishing is ending.

Pen & Sword Books Ltd. / ATB will soon be releasing a hardcover collection of ATB articles. I expect that dates of availability will vary depending on international book sellers. I include the breakdown of chapter below from the RZM page. Many of the articles cover battles in western Europe. I hope that additional collections may be in published in the near future with volumes covering WWI, Mediterranean & North Africa and Pacific theaters.

The Best of After The Battle Then and Now
(After the Battle - 31 May 2022 - UK / 31 July 2022 - USA)
Winston G. Ramsey editor
264 pages w/ over 750 color and B&W photos + some maps - hardcover
8.5" x 12"
£37.50
$79.95

"It was nearly half a century ago that After the Battle first began visiting the battlefields of the Second World War, matching up photographs of the period with their present-day comparisons. Our ‘then and now’ theme caught on with like-minded readers around the world, all interested to know what the places looked like today — as we say ‘keeping history alive’. Searching for the locations where the wartime captions were imprecise, took much time, and there were occasions when a whole day might be spent in pin-pointing where a particular photograph had been taken. No stone was left unturned if a particular comparison was important to illustrate the story, even if it meant a special visit to take one photo. Most of the battlefields have changed over the years so it has been our intention where possible to illustrate many of the places with new color comparisons rather than use those in the original story, many of which were taken in the old black and white days. Since we launched our first edition in August 1973, After the Battle has travelled around the globe and has covered hundreds of battles — over 750 at the last count – and taken thousands of photographs, covering major operations down to individual exploits. Selecting a cross-section of just a few from the stories that we have covered has not been easy, but we hope that you will find some of your favorites within the pages of this volume, covering the Best of After the Battle."

Contents
Introduction - page 6-9

SOME EARLY D-DAY MEMORIES
The Capture of Pegasus Bridge (pages 12 -17)
Searching for General Eisenhower’s D-Day Command Post (pages 18 - 21)
Battlefields in Normandy (pages 22 - 27)
Salvaging the D-Day Beaches (pages 28 - 31)
D-Day Sequel at Graye-sur-Mer (pages 32 - 37)

INTRODUCING JEAN PAUL PALLUD
Michael Wittmann’s Last Battle (pages 42 - 49)

SURMOUNTING THE DIFFICULTIES
The Island of Iwo Jima (pages 52 - 53)
Exploring the Eastern Front (pages 54 - 57)

ONE OF THE WAR’S GREATEST MYSTERIES
The Last Flight of the B-24 Liberator "Lady be Good" (pages 60-71)

MOST DARING EXPLOITS
Operation ‘Gunnerside’, February 27/28, 1943 (pages 74 - 79)
The Rescue of Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini, September 12, 1943 (pages 80 - 93)

OUR GREATEST REVELATIONS
Discovering the Name of the ‘Man Who Never Was’ (pages 96 - 99)
Who Downed Douglas Bader? (pages 100-123)
The Suicide of Heinrich Himmler (pages 124 - 141)

FILMING THE SECOND WORLD WAR
The Making of "Theirs is the Glory" (pages 144 - 153)

THE WAR CRIMES
The Massacre of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment, at Le Paradis (pages 156-165)
Stalag Luft 3 and the Great Escape (pages 166 - 185)

EDITOR’S CHOICE
The Hammelburg Raid, March 27, 1945 (pages 188 - 225)

HOW IT ALL STARTED . . . AND HOW IT FINALLY ENDED
The Third Reich Martyrs (pages 228-235)
The First Shots of the Second World War (pages 236-239)
The Surrenders (pages 240-257)

Index

https://rzm.com/collections/coming-s...ter-the-battle

[edwest2]

After the Battle issue no. 195 will be the Final Issue.

https://rzm.com/collections/coming-s...e-issue-no-195

[mars]

Originally Posted by edwest2

After the Battle issue no. 195 will be the Final Issue.

https://rzm.com/collections/coming-s...e-issue-no-195

I am devastating

[Larry deZeng]

Originally Posted by edwest2 View Post
After the Battle issue no. 195 will be the Final Issue.

Absolutely amazing that it lasted this long given the demise of so many WWII-related magazines since the 1960's. IMO, AB was the best of the best.

L.

[Bombphoon]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

Absolutely amazing that it lasted this long given the demise of so many WWII-related magazines since the 1960's. IMO, AB was the best of the best.

L.

...even more amazing was that it was one of the few mags that was not chock full of adverts - in fact, it had none at all - and after WH Smith tried to shaft After The Battle, it still survived via mail order only.

[Edward]

From a post today at the ATB page on facebook

A statement from Rob Green:
"I have worked alongside Winston and Karel for over 34 years and I am now running After the Battle as an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd. The decision taken to cease publication of the magazine was not made lightly. Having worked on the magazine for so many years I know how it has been put together, as this was a major part of my job. As I have in the past visited many of the battlefields with Winston for magazine articles, and more so for books, I know it is a very expensive and time-consuming thing to do. Having Karel in Europe certainly made things easier, and the fact that both he and Winston shared a passion for the subjects meant it was also a labour of love for both of them, along with Jean Paul Pallud, who has been a major contributor to the magazine over the years. However, we felt that without Winston and Karel we could not produce the same publication and particularly as the cost to do so would make it commercially impossible.

I am very proud to have been a part of this unique publication and very happy that Pen & Sword have very kindly asked me to continue with the company, and to carry on publishing books with After the Battle for many years to come. We will continue to publish some exciting new book titles as an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd, who have made it very clear that they intend to keep the good name of the company very much alive and will keep many of the books in print that have already been published. In my opinion they are the perfect fit to take After the Battle forward.

I hope this helps readers to understand how the decision was made, and to see that this publication was so unique because of the people who produced it. I am honoured to have worked with Winston, Gail, Karel, Jean Paul and all of the fantastic contributors, authors and friends we have made over many years.

We hope you will continue to enjoy many of the book titles we will publish in the future and thank you very much for your interest in our publications."

Rob Green
Publisher
After the Battle
An Imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd.

[edwest2]

Edward,

Thank you for posting this.

Best,
Ed