Gavin Mortimer

Gavin Mortimer is a bestselling writer, historian and television consultant. His books include The Long Range Desert Group in World War II (Osprey, 2017)

Recent articles by Gavin Mortimer

Allied troops hide from enemy shelling during the battle of Caen. The town was finally captured after several weeks of intensive fighting. The white markings on their shoulders were later added to the photograph by a censor to hide the name of the battalion. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images)

The battle for Normandy: what happened after D-Day?

A member of a Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) patrol, May 1942

Desert raiders: the Long Range Desert Group in the Second World War

Grave of a fallen soldier in World War I

“Their name liveth for evermore”: the difficult task of locating, identifying and honouring the dead of WW1

Photo of the SAS in North Africa

Second World War

How the early SAS became heroes of the Second World War

War and Conflict, Malaya, pic: 1953, British troops of the Special Air Service (SAS) with a helicopter, having been dropped off in the jungle in search of bandits (Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

In a nutshell The history of the SAS

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David Stirling: SAS hero or fraud? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A drawing depicting a German monoplane dropping bombs on Paris during the First World War

First World War

Creating fake Paris: how one man built a mock city to fool WW1 German bombers

Illustration of Johnny Hopper by Stavros Damos for BBC History Magazine

Johnny Hopper: a nerveless Nazi-killer

Crown Prince Olav on his ice yacht (Getty Images)

From Hollywood to war heroes: 10 Olympians who were more famous outside sport

Once allies, Adolf Hitler and Ernst Röhm (sitting to his left) had a colossal falling out over ideology

The Night of the Long Knives: the bloody purge that secured Hitler’s power

In 1926, 19-year-old New Yorker Gertrude Ederle made history by becoming the first woman to swim the English Channel – and in a faster time than the five men who had already achieved the feat. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Gertrude Ederle: the first woman to swim the English Channel

The US cutter Spencer attacks U-boat U-175

The Battle of the Atlantic: why Britain almost lost to Hitler’s U-boats

Crowds in Piccadilly Circus in London celebrate VE Day

Countdown to VE Day: the week World War 2 ended in Europe

Sir Nicholas Winton

Second World War

The ‘British Schindler’ who saved 669 children from the Nazis

Lauren Bruner and Iyozo Fujita

Pearl Harbor: 5 frontline stories from people who were there