Battles / military campaigns Books
Exisle Publishing Gallipoli: A Ridge Too Far
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£17.95
30 Degrees South Publishers Anglo-Boer War (South African War) 1899–1902: A
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£25.16
Savas Beatie The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the
Book SynopsisThousands of books and articles have been written about Gettysburg, but the operation remains one of the most complex and difficult to understand. Bradley Gottfried’s groundbreaking The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3 – July 13, 1863 is a unique and thorough study of this multifaceted campaign.The Maps of Gettysburg breaks down the entire operation into thirty map sets or “action-sections” enriched with 144 detailed, full-page colour maps comprising the entire campaign. These cartographic originals bore down to the regimental and battery level and include the march to and from the battlefield and virtually every significant event in between. At least two, and as many as twenty, maps accompany each map set. Keyed to each piece of cartography is a full facing page of detailed text describing the units, personalities, movements, and combat (including quotes from eyewitnesses) depicted on the accompanying map, all of which makes the Gettysburg story come alive.About the AuthorBradley M. Gottfried, Ph.D., is the President of the College of Southern Maryland. An avid Civil War historian, Dr. Gottfried is the author of five books.
£26.12
Casemate Publishers To the Bitter End: The Final Battles of Army
Book SynopsisTo the Bitter End is a penetrating and detailed account of the climactic battles of the German forces in Slovakia, the Carpathians, parts of Poland, Silesia and Saxony, from autumn 1944 until the end of the war. These were desperate times for the German forces as they fought frantically against overwhelming odds to prevent Soviet forces bent on revenge penetrating into the heart of the Reich.The author provides excellent detail on the movements and actions of numerous German units, and the text covers all major actions including the battle for the Vistula bridgeheads, the epic siege of Breslau where the troops held out until the day before the official surrender of all German forces, and the final desperate actions around Bautzen which featured the last successful German counteroffensive of the war and also their last tank offensive before Soviet superiority of men and equipment proved to be overwhelming.Appendices include comprehensive orders-of-battle. A 16-page photo section and a large number of detailed battle maps are also included to provide the reader with a sense of the futility and desperation of the position of the German soldiers, ordered to fight to the last man.Trade ReviewI would encourage anyone with a military interest to read this book... it really is morally illuminating in a worthwhile way. * Wargames Recon *... excellent detail... well illustrated... This is a good example of how it should be done. * Miniature Wargames *
£17.35
Casemate Publishers Fortress Ploesti: The Campaign to Destroy
Book SynopsisUnlike previous books on Ploesti, Jay Stout goes well beyond the famous big and bloody raid of August 1943 and depicts the entire 1944 strategic campaign of twenty-plus missions that all but knocked Ploesti out of the war and denied the German war machine the fuel and lubricants it so desperately needed.While Fortress Ploesti is the narrative history of the entire air campaign to deny the Ploesti oil complex to the Axis powers, Stout, who served as a Marine F/A-18 pilot in the First Gulf War, asks questions about the aerial strategy and combat history relating to this crucial campaign. He carries the ball far beyond the goal post set by all other Ploesti historians. He has gone out of his way to describe the defences throughout the campaign, and he brings in the voices of Ploesti's defenders to complement the tales of Allied airmen who brought Ploesti to ruin. He describes the role of the bombers, that of the fighters, and explains the developments in anti-aircraft defences, such as the technique of obscuring the Ploesti complex with smoke, which defined the campaign’s combat strategy. In the end, Stout's narrative describes the entire Ploesti effort for the very first time in print, and, by proxy, guides the reader through the intricacies of the entire Allied strategic bombing campaign in Europe, and all the weapons and techniques the Axis powers used to parry it. His lucid presentation of complex issues at both tactical and strategic levels is impressive.
£18.04
Casemate Publishers Kamikazes, Corsairs & Picket Ships: Okinawa 1945
Book SynopsisThis is the previously untold story of one of the most ferocious and prolonged air/naval battles in history: the battle at the radar picket stations during the American assault on Okinawa in spring 1945. It weaves together the experiences of the ships and their crews, Navy, Army, and Marine Corps pilots, and Japanese kamikazes in an account which provides the complete story of this infamous battle. The US fleet and its accompanying airpower that took station off Okinawa was of gigantic proportions, such that the Japanese could only rely on suicide attacks to inflict critical damage. While losses in the main fleet have been well covered in the literature, less well known has been the terrific battle waged on the picket line, the fleet’s outer defence against the swarms of Japanese marauders. Of the 206 ships that served on radar picket duty, twenty-nine percent were sunk or damaged by Japanese air attacks, making theirs the most hazardous naval surface duty in World War II. The great losses were due in large part to the relentless nature of the kamikaze attacks, but also to the improper use of support gunboats, failure to establish land-based radar at the earliest possible time, the assignment of ships ill-equipped for picket duty, and, as the battle went on, crew fatigue. The intricate nature of the US air cover is also described in full. Toward the end of the battle, the radar picket ships became the prime kamikaze target as Japanese pilots despaired of getting through the “big blue blanket” of American fighter planes to reach larger prey at Okinawa. About the AuthorRobin L. Rielly, the author of seven previous books, has written an engrossing narrative of air/naval combat. Combining firsthand action with astute tactical and strategic analysis, he has gone far toward completing our understanding of one of World War II’s epic campaigns.Trade Review…related a thrilling but harrowing chapter in the Pacific War and is able to bring events to life with consummate, startling ease. * Scale Plastic and Rail *A highly detailed yet accessible account on the Pacific War. * Airfix Model World *Rielly has completed an admirable tour de force in compiling the information and presenting it in a chronological way. * Aviation News *I challenge anyone not to glean something new from this important and detailed new account of the closing days of the Pacific War. * Navy News *The subject matter of this book is actually very simple…however, this is not a simple book, it is a masterpiece of research and dedication … made it very easy for a novice to understand and properly appreciate this fascinating and in someways unknown aspect of WW2 naval operations. I cannot recommend it too highly. * www.wargamer.com *Packed with detail, this book shows thorough research... The bibliography is impressive ... For those with an interest in the Pacific war, this overlooked topic would be a valuable addition to their library * Toni Wiltshire *
£20.25
Casemate Publishers Eastern Inferno: The Journals of a German
Book SynopsisThis book presents the remarkable personal journals of a German soldier who participated in Operation Barbarossa and subsequent battles on the Eastern Front, revealing the combat experience of the German-Russian War as seldom seen before.Hans Roth was a member of the anti-tank (Panzerjäger) battalion, 299th Infantry Division, attached to Sixth Army, as the invasion of Russia began. Writing as events transpired, he recorded the mystery and tension as the Germans deployed on the Soviet frontier in 1941. Then a firestorm broke loose as the Wehrmacht broke across the front. During the Kiev encirclement, Roth’s unit was under constant attack as the Soviets desperately tried to break through the German ring. At one point, a friend serving with the SS led him to a site where he witnessed civilians being massacred (which may well have been Babi Yar). After suffering through a horrible winter against apparently endless Russian reserves, his division went on the offensive again, this time on the northern wing of“Case Gelb,” the German drive toward Stalingrad In these journals, attacks and counterattacks are described in “you are there” detail, as if to keep himself sane, knowing that his honest accounts of the horrors in the East could never pass through Wehrmacht censors. When the Soviet counteroffensive of winter 1942 commences, his unit is stationed alongside the Italian 8th Army, and his observations of its collapse, as opposed to the reaction of the German troops sent to stiffen its front, are of special fascination.These journals, including original maps, some of which Roth himself helped compose, were recently discovered by his descendants, who arranged for the translation of their long-lost grandfather’s journals. Roth was able to bring three of them back to his wife during the war, and after she emigrated to America she kept them but never spoke of them. Roth never brought back a fourth journal, as his fate after the summer of 1943 in Russia is still unknown. What he did leave behind, now finally revealed, is an incredible first-hand account of the horrific war the Germans waged in Russia.Trade ReviewThe almost daily entries in the first two journals give a fresh and authentic account of events, untouched by the censor and not modified to suit modern sensibilities. * Military Modelcraft International *Put simply....this is one of the best accounts of war by an ordinary soldier I have ever read, made all the more poignant by the fact that Hans Roth never made it home to see his beloved Rosel again. You will constantly have to remind yourself that the author of these journals was a man our fathers considered a mortal enemy. He was...but he was so much more. Do yourself a favour....read this. * www.modelarmour.com *Roth's journals provide a fascinating insight into the thought processes and views of a normal soldier in the German army on the Eastern Front. * History of War *This is a harrowing yet poignant story of an ordinary soldier caught up in the worst that war can bring. * Miniature Wargames *The whole thing is an enlightening window into what it was like to cope with all the elements that war can throw at you, clearly not a nice experience. * www.militarymodelling.com *…a very interesting book which gives you the human side of a man reluctantly sucked into a war…gives a glimpse into both the subtle influences of the Nazi State on its soldiers and attitudes… * Wargames *..without a doubt a unique account that offers many new insights and details which the author himself may have suppressed has he survived. It shows why the Eastern Front was totally different, the horrors kept from those at home… * Military Modelcraft International *His dedication in keeping these journals, and that they did survive, is very rare. * www.militarymodelling.com *
£31.49
Casemate Publishers Korsun Pocket: The Encirclement and Breakout of a
Book SynopsisDuring the second half of 1943, after the failure at Kursk, Germany’s Army Group South fell back from Russia under repeated hammerblows from the Red Army. Under Erich von Manstein, however, the Germans were able to avoid serious defeats, while at the same time fending off Hitler’s insane orders to hold on to useless territory. Then, in January 1944, a disaster happened. Six divisions of Army Group South became surrounded after sudden attacks by the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts under command of generals Nikolai Vatutin and Ivan Konev around the village of Korsun (near the larger town of Cherkassy on the Dnieper). The Germans’ greatest fear was the prospect of another Stalingrad, the catastrophe that had occurred precisely one year before. This time, though, von Manstein was in control from the start, and he immediately rearranged his Army Group to rescue his trapped divisions. A major panzer drive got underway, led by General der Panzertruppen Hans Hube, a survivor from Stalingrad pocket, which promptly ran up against several soviet tank armies. Leading the break-in was Franz Baeke with his Tiger and Panther-tanks. Due to both weather and ferocious resistance, the German drive stalled. Ju-52s still flew into Korsun’s airfield, delivering supplies and taking out the wounded, but it soon became apparent that only one option remained for the beleaguered defenders: breakout. Without consulting Hitler, on the night of February 16 von Manstein ordered the breakout to begin. When dawn broke, the Soviets realized their prey was escaping. Although the Germans within the pocket lost nearly all of their heavy weapons and left many wounded behind, their escape was effected. Stalin, having anticipated another Stalingrad, was left with little but an empty bag, as Army Group South, this time, had pulled off a rescue. In The Korsun Pocket, Niklas Zetterling, a researcher at the Swedish Defense College since 1995 and Anders Frankson, have provided a highly detailed and often breathtaking account of one of the most dramatic battles of World War II.Trade ReviewThis is a meticulously researched and very readable account drawing from many sources. ... the big strength is that is has been sprinkled with many maps so that you can follow the incredibly fluid action as it unfolded day by day. Highly recommended. * Military Model Aircraft International *Zetterling and Frankson are able to not only amply educate a reader interested in all of the battle's elements listed above, but also do so in a highly detailed and interesting manner. * www.theglobeatwar.com *Certainly its a highly readable account and brings out the drama of the two trapped German corps and the desperate attempts to free them. The grim nature of combat on the Eastern Front at its height is well handled...surely an inspiring book for the Eastern Front gamer looking for a big battle. * Wargames Soldiers and Strategy *
£18.34
Doppelhouse Press Critical Conditions
£18.99
Histoire & Collections Waterloo Relics
Book SynopsisWaterloo, the plain where Napoleon’s Empire was dealt its final blow after a titanic fight, is not only a name on the map. La Haye-Sainte, Hougoumont, Plancenoit, are real places where men struggled, suffered and died. In this book, the authors retrace the phases of the famous battle. But moreover, they lead the reader deep into history by showing the artifacts, weapons, uniforms and pieces of equipment that have survived after more than two centuries. From Napoleon’s hat to Wellington’s pad, from a simple uniform button to a rusted bayonet found on the very ground of the battlefield, these fabulous relics help us revisit the day of June 18th 1815. Packed with dozens of color images of uniforms and equipment.
£19.95
Editions Heimdal Omaha Beach
Book SynopsisJune 6, 1944. In the gray light of dawn the landing craft carrying the assault wave of two US divisions as well as the Engineers and the Rangers, advanced toward the beach that was their assigned objective, code-named Omaha. Exhausted by the crossing and suffering from sea sicknesses, the assault units were convinced, however, that the German defenses had been crushed by the aerial and naval bombardment. In fact, sheltering in their coastal fortifications which they had been working to improve up until the very evening before, the Germany infantry waited until the Americans reached the shoreline before opening fire. 0630 hours. The landing craft of the first wave beached and lowered their ramps. That was the moment the enemy had been waiting for, and on the beach soon called Bloody Omaha, all hell broke loose. This volume brings to life that page of history. The first part introduces the forces on both sides, presents the American plan and explains in detail the German defensive positions. The second part details the landing of the successive waves followed by a blow-by-blow account of the GIs on the beach under a hail of fire in the middle of the anti-invasion obstacles. Overall, it explores through words and images all the violence and horror of the fighting on Omaha Beach.
£16.14
Editions Heimdal Invasion Journal Pictorial
Book Synopsis• A newly updated edition of this highly regarded volume on the Normandy landings and battles in English and French Heimdal’s first Album Mémorial appeared in July 1983, complete with over 1000 photographs, and proved to be a tremendous success. With all the information in both French and English, during a period when similar works were scarce, it sold close to 50,000 copies during the following decade. The times may have changed, but this album has taken on a mythical quality and is still fulfilling the need for a detailed description of the landing and Normandy battle. Twenty-seven years later, here is a newly updated account of this dramatic period from history in all its splendour.
£80.26
Editions Heimdal Operation Dynamo: Dunkirk 1940
Book SynopsisFour years before the Normandy landings, the French coast was the scene of another major episode in the Second World War. This was Operation Dynamo, much less well known than D-Day. And yet you only have to look at the statistics to see how important this part of the story of the Campaign of France was: between 27 May and 4 June, almost 340 000 French and British troops were evacuated from the Dunkirk pocket by a miscellaneous fleet of 850 boats, among which hundreds of fishing vessels, pleasure boats, lifeboats or Merchant Navy vessels. Thanks to the sailors’ courage but also the RAF pilots’ skill, this operation without precedent was a success which enabled the British to continue to fight the Germans, even though they had to leave behind most of their equipment and weapons. Replaced in its context, Operation Dynamo is here narrated in detail with numerous period photos, maps, aircraft profiles and uniform plates. This military operation and human adventure without precedent breathes again, 77 years later thanks to the film director Christopher Nolan, the author of the Batman trilogy and Interstellar which, with Dunkirk, has become an international blockbuster, to which a chapter of this book is devoted
£13.30
Editions Heimdal The Carentan Heroes
Book SynopsisThe liberation of Carentan is not well-known even though it wasn’t just an anecdote in the Battle of Normandy. It was in fact the object of ferocious fighting from 9 to 13 June 1944 with two elite units confronting each other: the American paratroopers from the 101st Airborne and the Fallschirmjäger of the FJR 6. General Maxwell Taylor, commanding the 101st Airborne used the whole of his division with its four airborne regiments but also all the supporting units, its four airborne artillery batteries, its medical units and its logistics to encircle the town and to chase out the German paratroopers under Major Freiherr von der Heydte; they left after fierce fighting during the night of 11-12 June only to return the next day with the 17. SS-Pz-Gren-Div. “Goetz von Berlinchingen”. The German losses as well as those of the Americans were very heavy, as were those of the civilians (the town centre still bears the signs). This book gives a detailed account of the Battle of Carentan. The accounts given by the participants in the battle enable the feats of arms to be recorded; they are always poignant, moving even. Each story is a personal epic in itself. This book modestly gathers together some of these individual adventures, throwing a profoundly human light on the complexity and the violence of the fighting for the liberation of this region in the Cotentin Peninsula. For example, Edward David Shames, one of the last heroes of Carentan still alive. Born 13 June, he thought his last hour had come on… 13 June 1944. For these reasons, Carentan holds a special place in his memories. It was also where he landed at 01h40 on D-Day. Also Don Rich who was wounded in the legs by machine gun fire in G-Company’s charge, during the attack on the town. Let’s mention also the Californian Staff Sergeant Thomas M. Rice (C/501st) who experienced a Dantesque experience in the Barquette Locks sector, his battalion’s objective. An obvious must-have for all Battle of Normandy buffs, or for readers sensitive to the human aspects of the war.
£20.25
Editions Heimdal Bonaparte Et La Campagne D'Egypte: 1798
Book SynopsisIt seemed that 1798 was a year like any other. In appearance only. Indeed, the year seemed to finish off the infernal ten-year period which started in 1789. France had quietened down and consolidated its borders. It was a bigger country which saw out the 18th Century, but a country in which the ashes from the fires lit earlier still glowed red, flaring up with the slightest breath of air… Starting in peace, 1798 ended with the clash of fighting. With this book by Lionel Marquis, a journalist and renowned historian, discover this turning point when the Egyptian Campaign under the young General Bonaparte took up centre stage.
£41.65
Bohlau Verlag Reformation und Bauernkrieg
Book SynopsisDer Bauernkrieg ist untrennbar mit der Reformation verbunden. Der vom Sudwesten des Reiches ausgehende Aufstand breitete sich wie ein Flachenbrand aus und erreichte in Thuringen mit der Schlacht bei Frankenhausen im Mai 1525 seinen Hohepunkt. Die Ursachen der Revolte sind regional und standespezifisch sehr unterschiedlich. Unzweifelhaft ist jedoch, dass die mittels Flugschriften kursierenden Vorstellungen von einer ''besseren Welt'' immer starkeren Anklang in den landlichen und stadtischen Milieus fanden. Vielfaltig waren die offentlich gefuhrten Kontroversen zu Fragen von sozialer Gerechtigkeit, religioser Erneuerung und autonomer Selbstbestimmung. Diese Aspekte werden im vorliegenden Band thematisiert. Zugleich problematisiert er die sozialen, okonomischen und politischen Verhaltnisse im thuringisch-mitteldeutschen Raum zur Zeit des Bauernkrieges.
£74.39
V&R Unipress Internationale Beziehungen. Theorie und
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£53.14
Volker Ruff Der Tiger: Schwere Panzerabteilung 502: Volume 2
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£25.49
PeKo Publishing Kft. With Raupenschlepper Ost on the Eastern Front:
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£22.09
Pentagon Press India's Battlefields: From Kurukshetra to Balakot
Book SynopsisAn account of 42 of India's battles, right from the epic battle of Kurukshetra fought over 3000 years ago, down to the present day. Virtually every battle of India’s vast history has been depicted in its pages. Each battle comes alive as an individual story, complete with maps and pictures. The battles have been cross-referenced so as to establish the thread in the canvas of Indian history. Human interest stories and vignettes are sprinkled to provide unknown insights of these battles. Visit these battlefields and discover the stories they tell.
£41.75
TROYA
Book Synopsis
£21.31
The American University in Cairo Press El Alamein and the Struggle for North Africa:
Book SynopsisThis new collection of studies presents fresh insights into a war fought over unusually difficult terrain and with exceptional supply demands. From the ongoing Italian geomorphic study of the Alamein arena to individual memories of non-combatant Alexandrians, from the Free French to the seasoned colonial forces of Australia, India, New Zealand, and South Africa, and from vital naval engagements and the siege of Malta to the study of Rommel’s leadership and the Churchill–Montgomery duo, this book presents the reader with a detailed yet broad reassessment of the complexities of the war in North Africa between 1941 and 1943, its technology, philosophy, military doctrine, strategy, tactics, logistics, and the associated local and international politics. Writing from the perspectives of some of the many nations whose armies were involved in the conflict, fifteen historians bring to their work the precision of their national historical archival sources in clear and spritely narratives.Table of ContentsForeword William Roger LouisIntroduction Jill Edwards1. The War in North Africa, 1940–43: An Overview of the Role of the Union of South Africa James Jacobs2. Training the Troops: The Indian Army in Egypt, Eritrea, and Libya, 1940–42 Alan Jeffreys3. “The Part We Played in This Show”: Australians and El Alamein Peter Stanley4. “No Model Campaign”: the Second New Zealand Division and the Battle of El Alamein, October–December 1942 Glyn Harper5. 1942, The Free French in the Battle for North Africa: Military Action and Its Political Presentation Rémy Porte6. Between History and Geography: The El Alamein Project: Research, Findings, and Results Aldino Bondesan7. Silent Service: The Royal Navy and the Desert Victory Nick Hewitt8. Feeding the Fortress: Malta, Summer 1942 Thomas Scheben9. “The Highest Rule”: Rommel as Military Genius Antulio J. Echevarria II10. High Command in the Desert Niall Barr11. Alexandrians Tell Their Story: Oral Narratives of the War in North Africa 1940–43 Sahar Hamouda and Mohamed Awad12. The Battle of El Alamein: Impressions of a Young Schoolboy in Alexandria Harry Tzalas
£26.27
