Available now

Brothers in Arms: A Legendary Tank Regiment’s Bloody War from D-Day to VE Day

This is the story of the biggest seaborne landing in history.

Codenamed Operation HUSKY, the Allied assault on Sicily on 10 July 1943 remains the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted in world history, landing more men in a single day than at any other time. That day, over 160,000 British, American and Canadian troops were dropped from the sky or came ashore, more than on D-Day just under a year later. It was also preceded by an air campaign that marked a new direction and dominance of the skies by Allies.

“Mr. Holland debunks many myths about the period that still linger in popular writing . . . Exceptional”

Wall Street Journal

“This book stands apart and for all the right reasons: Holland has something new to say.  Every page is alive with a level of excitement and enthusiasm. Here is a perspective that turns on its head what I thought I understood about those astonishing years – filled with insight and detail.”

Neil Oliver

“In The Rise of Germany, James Holland weds his typically deft writing to years of research and thought about the early years of World War II. He seeks—and finds—that elusive middle ground between the high politics of Hitler, Churchill, and Roosevelt and the personal experience of the soldier in the field.  Holland writes on the operational level as well as any historian working today.  I am already making room on my shelf for volumes two and three. I would read anything Holland writes.”

Robert M. Citinoauthor of The German Way of War and The Wehrmacht Retreats

WE HAVE WAYS OF MAKING YOU TALK

Achtung! Achtung! Comedian Al Murray and historian James Holland are creating a new podcast all about the Second World War.

We Have Ways of Making You Talk will be a weekly show exploring the war in close up. The two men will tell battlefield tales and bring forgotten events back into sharp focus. If you’re looking for a comprehensive history, marching through events date by date, forget it.

We Have Ways of Making You Talk will roam down forgotten front lines, cast new villains and make the case for unlikely heroes.

Each week will also see Al and James bring along a World War Two artifact which will be poked, prodded and examined, before having its full story told.

Battle stations!

Produced by Goalhanger Films

My latest show reel showing TV and Film work

Television is a great medium because you can reach so many more people than one could ever hope to with a book.

Articles & News

BROTHERS IN ARMS

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My latest book is BROTHERS IN ARMS about the Sherwood Rangers…

On the Road with Brothers in Arms

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When Sicily 43 came out last autumn, we were still in the grip…

WORLD WAR II TV DOCUMENTARIES

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A few years ago, I was having lunch with Richard Lake, a…

SICILY ’43: The Assault on Fortress Europe

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  In terms of men landed in a single day, Operation…

The Triumph of the Dams Raid

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Such was the secrecy in which Operation CHASTISE was mounted,…

Limited Collectors Edition

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

The Battle of Britain tells this most epic of stories from a 360’ perspective, drawing on extensive new research from around the world that challenges some of the long-held myths about the battle. Holland paints a complete picture of that extraordinary summer – a time in which the fate of the world truly hung by a thread.

NOW YOU CAN OWN ONE OF 250 SPECIAL LIMITED COLLECTOR’S EDITIONS, EACH DELIVERED IN A BLUE CLOTH-BOUND SLEEVE WITH ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY ACCLAIMED ARTIST NICOLAS TRUDGIAN AND EACH WITH TWELVE SIGNATURES OF THOSE WHO FLEW IN THE BATTLE OF BRTIAN: SIX RAF AND SIX LUFTWAFFE.  THE COLLECTOR’S EDITION ALSO CONTAINS BIOGRAPHIES OF EACH.