The Capture of Le Havre

The capture of Le Havre was a classic example of a successful set-piece battle. After the German defences had been 'softened up' by colossal aerial, and naval bombardment and artillery shelling, a 'seige-train' of specialised armour broke through the outer crust of the German defensive perimeter and allowed two British infantry divisions to push through the gap and methodically reduce the enemy strongholds before driving into the heart of the city. Karel Margry tells this fascinating story. The Plessey Tunnel Factory Andrew Emmerson tells us how in November 1940, the London-based Plessey Company, a major electrical firm and manufacturer of aircraft components set up an underground factory in five miles of newly-constructed but still unused tunnels of the London Underground in north-east London. The Carpatho-Dukla Operation - Pavel Nater explains how on August 29, 1944, the Slovak national army and partisan forces in the republic of Slovakia (the eastern half of former Czechoslovakia and a vassal state of Nazi Germany since March 1939) rose in rebellion in response to a German invasion of their territory. The fighting lasted for two months and ended in defeat of the insurgents, their last stronghold — the town of Banska Bystrica — falling on October 27.