Books – Robert Lyman

Operation Jericho
Published May 2022 by Osprey
In 2022 Osprey are publishing Robert’s new book, ‘Operation Jericho’, which tells the story of the remarkable Mosquito raid on Amiens Prison on 28 February 1944. Early 1944 was a time of massive intelligence activity across northern France in advance of D-Day, and in pursuit of the launching sites of the new German secret weapon, the V1. Large numbers of résistants were been captured by the Germans and imprisoned in gaols across northern France. Among these was Amiens. The raid was mounted as a debt of honour by both MI6 and the RAF to try to release...
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Operation Jericho
A War of Empires
Published Nov 2021 by Osprey
A War of Empires is an exciting new military history of the war between Japan and the British Empire in Burma and India between 1942 and 1945.
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A War of Empires
The Rise of the Third Reich
Published Dec 2018 by Amberley Publishing
The Rise of the Third Reich is a poignant and powerful portrait of the years 1939 to 1941, which witnessed the march towards the greatest manmade catastrophe the world has ever experienced. The narrative follows events from 3 September 1939, when Britain and France declared war on Germany, to Pearl Harbor and America’s declaration of war in December 1941. It is told from the fresh perspective of expatriate Americans caught up in the exploding conflict. Uniquely, the book uses their contemporary accounts, to record a time when British and other nationalities were barred from Nazi-occupied territory, but US...
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The Rise of the Third Reich
Under a Darkening Sky
Published Dec 2018 by Pegasus
A poignant and powerful portrait of Europe in the years between 1939 and 1941--as the Nazi menace marches toward the greatest man-made catastrophe the world has ever experienced--Under A Darkening Sky focuses on a diverse group of expatriate Americans. Told through the eyes and observations of these characters caught up in these seismic events, the story unfolds alongside a war that slowly drags a reluctant United States into its violent embrace.
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Under a Darkening Sky
Among the Headhunters
Published Jun 2016 by Da Capo Press
Flying the notorious "Hump" route between India and China in 1943, a twin-engine plane suffered mechanical failure and crashed in a dense mountain jungle, deep within Japanese-held territory. Among the passengers and crew were celebrated CBS journalist Eric Sevareid, an OSS operative who was also a Soviet double agent, and General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell's personal political adviser. Against the odds, all but one of the twenty-one people aboard the doomed aircraft survived- it remains the largest civilian evacuation of an aircraft by parachute. But they fell from the frying pan into the fire.Disentangling themselves...
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Among the Headhunters
The Real X-Men
Published Sep 2015 by Quercus
The thrilling and true story of the development and operational deployment of human torpedoes - 'Chariots' - and 'X-craft' midget submarines in British naval service during WWII, and of the extraordinary men who crewed these dangerous vessels. The commando frogmen who rode the Chariots and operated as divers from the X-craft were the forerunners of today's Special Boat Service, the SBS.
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The Real X-Men
The Jail Busters
Published Jul 2014 by Quercus
In the new year of 1944 the French Resistance in northern France was on its knees. Relentless attacks on its diverse and disorganised networks by the Gestapo and the Abwehr had put many of its best operatives in prison, or worse. But in the lead up to Operation Overlord, 'D Day', the Resistance had never been more important to the Allied war effort, and many groups were in the pay of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. One such was organised by a patriot called Dominic Ponchardier. For months he had watched helplessly as his friends and colleagues had been...
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The Jail Busters
Into the Jaws of Death
Published Jul 2013 by Quercus
It is the night of 28 March 1942. Royal Navy and British commandos are poised to assault the German-held port of Saint-Nazaire in what will be one of the most audacious and daring raids of the Second World War. The plan is simple: to drive an old destroyer, packed with three tons of explosive, at full speed into the outer gate of the Normandie dock.
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Into the Jaws of Death
Operation Suicide
Published Feb 2012 by Quercus
At nightfall on December 7 1942, twelve British canoeists arrived by submarine off the coast of France, tasked with infiltrating the dockyards of Bordeaux, and wreaking havoc with the German shipping they found there.
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Operation Suicide
Japan's Last Bid for Victory
Published Sep 2011 by Pen & Sword Military
Robert Lyman’s deep knowledge and understanding of the war in Burma, and the great battles at Kohima and Imphal in 1944, are well known. In this book he uses original documents, published works and personal accounts to weave together an enthralling account of some of the bitterest fighting of WWII. Not only does he use British sources for his research but he has also included material from the Naga tribes of north-east India, on whose land these battles were fought, and from Japanese accounts, including interviews with Japanese veterans of the fighting. Thus he has been able to...
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Japan's Last Bid for Victory
Bill Slim
Published Jul 2011 by Osprey Publishing
Bill Slim was one of the greatest British generals of World War II. In a career that stretched from 1914 until 1958, Bill Slim's greatest triumphs came in India and Burma in the long war against the Japanese. Thrust into a desperate situation, he orchestrated the longest retreat in British Army history in the withdrawal from Burma. He then turned on the Japanese in India, shattered their army, and pursued them to destruction. Apart from his great military victories, Slim also left a legacy of training and morale building that endures in the British Army to this day. This...
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Bill Slim
Leading from the Front
Published May 2011 by Corgi
In 2010 Robert helped Lord Dannatt write his autobiography.
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Leading from the Front
Kohima 1944
Published Oct 2010 by Osprey Publishing
In March 1944 the Japanese Army launched Operation U-Go, an attack on Assam in India intended to inspire a rising against British rule. A month earlier the Japanese had launched Operation Ha-Go, which was intended as a feint to draw British attention away from the Imphal area. But British forces employed new defensive techniques to counter the Japanese infiltration tactics. These tactics were again employed on a larger scale when Imphal and Kohima were surrounded during Operation U-Go. Kohima took place in two stages. From 3 to 16 April the Japanese attempted to capture Kohima Ridge. As...
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Kohima 1944
The Longest Siege
Published May 2009 by Macmillan
Beginning on 10th April 1941, and lasting for 240 days, the siege of Tobruk is a mesmerising tale of human endurance and heroism. It is an epic story of extraordinary resilience as the Libyan port’s 24,000 defenders met increasingly desperate attempts by Rommel’s Panzer divisions to break through the hurriedly thrown-up defences. It was a battle of bayonets and grenades against tanks, of David versus Goliath.
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The Longest Siege
The Generals
Published Jun 2008 by Constable
From General Yamashitas blistering capture of Singapore in early 1942 to the final decisive victory by General Slim at Rangoon four years later, this scintillating account of war in Asia analyses the effectiveness of the Japanese, British and American commanders who lead their forces in defeat and victory during the longest continuous campaign of the Second World War. In The Generals, Robert Lyman looks at the role of the generals on both sides of the conflict and analyses their influence on the desperate struggle between both sides in what the British describe as the Forgotten War. The ability of...
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The Generals
First Victory
Published May 2006 by Constable
It is commonly held that Montgomery's 1942 victory at El Alamein was the turning point in Britain's fortunes during the Second World War - that it was 'the end of the beginning' (Churchill). However, Robert Lyman reveals here how in the summer of 1941, beleaguered British forces put together a series of largely forgotten victories in Iraq, Syria and Iran that secured crucial supplies of oil and curbed dangerous German expansion in the region.
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First Victory
Iraq 1941
Published Feb 2006 by Osprey Publishing
The events in Iraq in 1941 had crucial strategic consequences. The country's oil reserves were a highly coveted prize for the Axis powers, and its location provided a corridor in the defence of Palestine and the Suez Canal. Had Iraq fallen to the Axis powers, Britain could have lost its foothold in the Middle East and the Mediterranean and risked losing World War II. This book examines the strategy and tactics of the Iraq campaign, the role of the Indian Army and the Arab Legion, the nature of expeditionary warfare and the complementary roles of air and land power...
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Iraq 1941
Stilwell the Patriot
Published Jul 2005 by Greenhill Books
David Rooney – Foreword by Robert Lyman
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Stilwell the Patriot
Slim, Master of War
Published Jun 2005 by Robinson
General W J Slim achieved something no one believed possible. Appointed to lead what was soon to become the famous 'forgotten' 14th Army in 1943, at a time when British units in the Far East were defeated and demoralised, within six months he had dealt the first death blow to the Japanese Army. This - the battle of Kohima and Imphal - was the largest single defeat of the Japanese on land in the Second World War and led to their complete destruction in Burma by August 1945. So, how did he do it? And why is he not better known? Slim...
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Slim, Master of War
The Challenges of High Command
Published Dec 2003 by Palgrave Macmillan
Chapter 7: 'The Art of Manoeuvre at the Operational Level of War' by Robert Lyman
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The Challenges of High Command
Possibilities of 'Humanitarian War'
Published Jan 1997 by Strategic and Combat Services Institute (SCSI)
Possibilities of 'Humanitarian War' by the International Community in Bosnia-Herzegovina Between 1992 and 1995
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Possibilities of 'Humanitarian War'