H. P. Willmott has written extensively on warfare in general and the Second World War in particular. Among his books are Empires in the Balance; The Barrier and the Javelin; The Great Crusade (a military reinterpretation of the Second World War); Grave of a Dozen Schemes: British Naval Planning and the War against Japan, 1943--1945; and When Men Lost Faith in Reason: Reflections on Warfare in the Twentieth Century. He is a native of Engelfield Green, Egham, Surrey.