Osprey Campaign Series SC (1990-2011 OSPREY) comic books 2000

Revised Edition - Volume 13B - 1st printing. "Hastings 1066 (Revised Edition)!" By Christopher Gravett. Fought on 14th October 1066 between Duke William of Normandy and Harold Godwinson, king of England, the Battle of Hastings irrevocably changed the course of English history. William's victory ensured his accession to the English throne. Hastings was also decisive in another way: the horrendous casualties suffered by the English nobility both there and at the two earlier battles of Fulford and Stamford Bridge resulted in there being very few men influential enough to lead an English resistance once William had been crowned. William would survive long enough to successfully found a Norman dynasty of English kings. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 37 - 2nd and later printings. " Boston 1775!" By Brendan Morrissey. The British assault on Breed's Hill and the burning of Charlestown were the first major battles of the American Revolution; after the events at Boston there was no turning back. This detailed text by Brendan Morrissey explores the opposing commanders and forces involved, whilst describing how the sparks at Lexington and Concord ignited the smouldering resentment of the Colonists into the flame of a rebellion. Colonist militia were pitted against British Redcoats in a series of struggles which led the British to evacuate Boston and to George Washington taking command of the fledgling American army. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 49 - 2nd and later printings. " Mons 1914!" Written by David Lomas. Art by Ed Dovey. When the First World War broke out in August 1914 the Imperial German Army mistakenly assumed that the BEF - 'that contemptible little army' - would be easily defeated. They were stopped in their tracks by the numerically inferior British force, whose excellent marksmanship cost the closed packed German ranks dear. Eventually forced to fall back by overwhelming German numbers, the British carried out a masterful fighting retreat across Belgium and northern France. At Mons, nine and a half British battalions held four German divisions at bay for an entire day. This book examines not just the battle of Mons itself but also the ensuing British retreat including the actions at Le Cateau and Villers-Cotterêts. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 67 - 1st printing. " Saratoga 1777!" Written by Brendan Morrissey. Art by Adam Hook. The Saratoga campaign was a watershed, and is widely believed to have been the turning point of the American War of Independence. For the first time British regulars were beaten in open battle by equal numbers of Americans. The Continentals bore the brunt of the fighting, supported by 'hordes' of militia who proved adept at attacking detachments or lines of communication.The after-shock in America (on both sides) and Europe transformed a civil war into a global struggle against the two colonial superpowers of the day, France and Spain, and eventually lost George III his American colonies. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 69 - 1st printing. " Nagashino 1575!" Written by Stephen Turnbull. Art by Howard Gerrard. When Portuguese traders took advantage of the constant violence in Japan to sell the Japanese their first firearms, one of the quickest to take advantage of this new technology was the powerful daimyo Oda Nobunaga. In 1575 the impetuous Takeda Katsuyori laid siege to Nagashino castle, a possession of Nobunaga's ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu. An army was despatched to relieve the siege, and the two sides faced each other across the Shidarahara. The Takeda samurai were brave, loyal and renowned for their cavalry charges, but Nobunaga, counting on Katsuyori's impetuosity, had 3,000 musketeers waiting behind prepared defences for their assault. The outcome of this clash of tactics and technologies was to change the face of Japanese warfare forever. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 70 - 1st printing. " Marengo 1800!" Written by David Hollins. Art by Christa Hook. Having returned from Egypt and seized power as First Consul, Napoleon led the Army of the Reserve against the Austrian Army besieging Genoa. After a period of skirmishing and manoeuvring, Melas, the Austrian commander, launched a surprise attack on the morning of 14 June. The attack initially drove the French back to Marengo village and, despite committing the Consular Guard, by 3pm the French were retreating. Believing he had won, the wounded Melas left the field to his Chief-of-Staff, Zach. The timely arrival of Desaix's Division led by Kellerman's cavalry and the 9e Légère threw the Austrians into confusion, turned the battle in Napoleon's favour, thus securing his position as First Consul. It could have been very different. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 71 - 1st printing. "Crécy 1346!" Written by David Nicolle. Art by Graham Turner. The Battle of Crecy was the first major land battle of the Hundred Years War. It pitted the French army, then considered the best in Europe, and their miscellaneous allies against the English under King Edward III and the 'Black Prince', who as yet had no great military reputation; this was the battle where he 'won his spurs'. The Genoese crossbowmen were outshot by the English longbows and the pattern was set for the rest of the day: the French cavalry were committed piecemeal in fruitless charges against strong English positions, losing perhaps 10,000 men in the course of the fighting. After almost a millennium in which cavalry had dominated the field of battle, the infantryman, and particularly the longbowman, now ruled supreme. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 72 - 1st printing. "Jutland 1916!" Written by Charles London. Art by Howard Gerrard. The only major fleet engagement of World War I, the Battle of Jutland has been surrounded by controversy ever since. The British public felt Admiral Jellicoe had failed - a reaction rooted in a hundred years of the 'Nelson cult', a conviction that anything short of a Trafalgar-style annihilation was letting the side down. True, the German Fleet had sunk more ships and suffered fewer casualties, but the British had forced them to disengage and run for port and were still cruising off Denmark spoiling for a fight. This title recounts in detail how on an early summer's evening in 1916, the two fleets clashed head to head: the events that followed would spark a polemic that still rages today. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 73 - 1st printing. "Operation Compass 1940!" Written by Jon Latimer. Art by Jim Laurier. The first battle of the desert war, Operation Compass was originally envisaged as a spoiling attack, combined with a reconnaissance in force to disrupt the Italian forces that had advanced into Egypt in September 1940. Lt Gen. Richard O'Connor launched what amounted to a British 'Blitzkrieg'. In less than two months the British forces swept 500 miles along the coast of North Africa. 7th Armoured Division raced across the desert to cut off the retreating Italians, and O'Connor's men destroyed 9 Italian divisions, and took 130,000 prisoners. In March 1941 General Rommel and the Afrikakorps landed at Tripoli. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 74 - 1st printing. "The Rhineland 1945!" Written by Ken Ford. Art by Tony Bryan. Known as the last great 'stand-up fight' of the Second World War the battle for the Rhineland was brutal in the extreme. Eisenhower's 'broad front' policy called for the whole of the Rhineland to be taken before pushing his troops across the Rhine and into Germany itself. The Germans opened the Roer dams in a vain bid to temper this massive Allied offensive and this called for a drastic change in tactics. The ensuing battle was characterised by amphibious assaults on the fortified villages of the flooded Rhine lowlands, frontal assaults on the much vaunted Siegfried Line and the grim fighting for the Reichswald Forest. It was to be 'the last great killing ground in the west'. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 75 - 1st printing. "Lorraine 1944!" Written by Steven J Zaloga. Art by Tony Bryan. In the wake of the defeat in Normandy in the summer of 1944, Hitler planned to stymie the Allied advance by cutting off Patton's Third Army in the Lorraine with a great Panzer offensive. But Patton's aggressive tactics continued to thwart German plans and led to a series of violent armored battles. The battle-hardened Wehrmacht confronted the better-equipped and better-trained US Army. The Germans managed to re-establish a fragile defensive line but could not stop the US Army from establishing bridgeheads over the Moselle along Germany's western frontier. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 76 - 1st printing. "Ticonderoga 1758!" Written by René Chartrand. Art by Patrice Courcelle. On 5 July 1758 General Abercromby's expedition against Fort Carillon set off from its camp. Within hours, tragedy struck. Some rangers ran into a French scouting party and in the fierce skirmish that followed Lord Howe, the darling of the army, was shot through the heart. The army was shattered at the loss, but Abercromby went to pieces. He decided to attack Montcalm's completed breastworks head-on. Battalion after battalion was sacrificed, the most famous of these hopeless assaults being that of the Black Watch. With the failure of his plan and the exhaustion of his army Abercromby retreated to the foot of Lake George - Montcalm had saved Canada, with Abercromby's help. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 77 - 1st printing. "Tarawa 1943!" Written by Derrick Wright. Art by Howard Gerrard. The island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll was defended by the elite troops of the Special Naval Landing Force, whose commander, Admiral Shibasaki, boasted that the Americans could not take Tarawa with a million men in a hundred years. In a pioneering amphibious invasion, the Marines of the 2nd Division set out to prove him wrong, overcoming serious planning errors to fight a 76-hour battle of unprecedented savagery. The cost would be more than 3000 Marine casualties at the hands of a garrison of some 3700. The lessons learned would dispel forever any illusions that Americans had about the fighting quality of the Japanese. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 78 - 1st printing. "Constantinople 1453!" Written by David Nicolle. Art by Christa Hook. This title details the epic four-month siege of the city of Constantinople, last vestige of the once mighty Roman and Byzantine Empires. Mehmet 'The Conqueror' led an army of 80,000 men with a massive siege train against the city. Defending were a mere 10,000 men under the Emperor Constantine XI. The Turkish artillery battered the ancient city walls mercilessly, levelling a large section. A gallant defence held off the massive Turkish assault for several hours. Refusing appeals to flee, Constantine returned to the breaches and fought until overwhelmed and killed. Thus died the last Emperor of the Byzantines, and with him his once glorious empire. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.

Volume 79 - 1st printing. "Louisbourg 1758!" Written by René Chartrand. Art by Patrice Courcelle. Louisbourg represented a major threat to Anglo-American plans to invade Canada. Bypassing it would leave an immensely powerful enemy base astride the Anglo-American lines of communication - Louisbourg had to be taken. Faced with strong beach defences and rough weather, it took six days to land the troops, and it was only due to a stroke of daring on the part of a young brigadier named James Wolfe, who managed to turn the French beach position, that this was achieved. The story is largely based on firsthand accounts from the journals of several participants, including French Governor Drucour's, whose excellent account has never been published. Softcover, 96 pages, PC/PB&W. Cover price $19.95.