Modern warfare Books

Book SynopsisOn 6 June 1944, 156,000 American, British, and Canadian servicemen fought ashore on beaches along the Normandy coast or landed from the air to begin wresting back Nazi occupied Europe. The D-Day invasion was the largest amphibious landing in history. Although successful, it was only precursor to months of the deadly fighting necessary to dislodge stubborn German defenders from the Norman countryside and eventually liberate France. As a visitor''s guide, Fields of War: Battle of Normandy presents the actual locations of key events in the struggle to free France from German occupation. Each battlefield visit begins with a succinct history of events followed by a description of the intense military action that determined success or failure. Extensive detailed maps illustrate the flow of the battle across the landscape and the units that participated. Detailed driving instructions and GPS co-ordinates direct visitors to each battlefield site. Descriptions of museums, memorials, cemeteries,

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Book SynopsisNew Zealand's war through the lens of those who served. A book of photographs of New Zealand's involvement in the Second World War.Table of ContentsContents Introduction: New Zealand and the Second World War Chapter 1: At War Again Chapter 2: Early Days Chapter 3: Greece and Crete Chapter 4: The Air War over Europe Chapter 5: The War in North Africa Chapter 6: The War at Sea Chapter 7: The Air War over the Pacific Chapter 8: The Ground War in the Pacific Chapter 9: The Italian Campaign Chapter 10: Prisoners of War Chapter 11: The Home Front and Jayforce Chapter 12: Coming Home Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Acknowledgements About the Author Index

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Book SynopsisBetween 1940 and 1945, more than 100,000 airmen were shot down over Europe, a few thousand of whom survived and avoided being arrested. When Men Fell from the Sky is a comparative history of the treatment of these airmen by civilians in France, Germany and Britain. By studying the situation on the ground, Claire Andrieu shows how these encounters reshaped societies at a local level. She reveals how the fall of France in 1940 may have concealed an insurrection nipped in the bud, that the ''People''s War'' in Britain was not merely a myth, and that in Germany, the ''racial community of the people'' had in fact become a social reality with Allied airmen increasingly subjected to lynching from 1943 onwards. By considering why the treatment of these airmen contrasted so strongly in these countries, Andrieu sheds new light on how civilians reacted when confronted with the war ''at home''.Trade Review'This masterful book challenges us to rethink our assumptions about civilian action in France, Germany and Britain during the Second World War. Andrieu mobilises rich sources to craft a penetrating and innovative analysis. Burgeoning with fascinating detail, the book is an inspirational must-read for all those interested in the period.' Hanna Diamond, author of Fleeing Hitler: France 1940'A comparison of the treatment of fallen airmen in Britain, France, and Germany during the Second World War, this prodigiously researched study is a micro-social history of the air war from below, viewing civilians as active participants rather than as victims. It also presents a bold argument about the macro-political and cultural reasons for the different national responses in this 'civilians' war.' All in all, a provocative, and compelling account.' Carol Gluck, Columbia University'Claire Andrieu's magisterial book examines how local civilian populations in the Second World War reacted to the unexpected presence amongst them of pilots who had been shot down: Luftwaffe pilots shot down in France in May-June 1940; RAF pilots in Germany; Luftwaffe pilots in Britain; RAF pilots in Occupied France. Using an impressive range of sources, her book, taking us into the fields and cities of three countries, tells many poignant and moving stories. Written with exemplary clarity, it offers insights into the forms of civilian participation in the war effort; into the relations between the Resistance and the wider population in France; and into the respective political cultures of the three societies. This is comparative history at its best.' Julian Jackson, author of A Certain Idea of France'In answering one of the last unsolved questions of World War 2 - how were downed Allied and German airmen treated when they parachuted into territory controlled by the enemy? - Claire Andrieu has drawn on massive archival research in four countries to give us a magisterial, closely-argued - and moving - work of comparative history.' Andrew Knapp, author of Charles de Gaulle'How do civilians treat downed aviators in wartime? National political culture makes all the difference, argues Claire Andrieu in this pioneering, well-researched, and inspiring book.' Philip Nord, author of After the Deportation: Memory Battles in Postwar France'Claire Andrieu reverses the normal scenario of bombing wars and focusses on those moments after airmen crashed to earth and found themselves isolated and facing angry civilians. In this powerful, probing and engaged analysis, she shows how fundamental the contrasting ideologies of wartime France, Britain and Germany were to what happened next. Vivid and compelling, this is history-writing that puts the politics back into the face-to-face encounters between civilians and airmen, making us ask again who were victims and who were perpetrators.' Nicholas Stargardt, author of The German War: A Nation under Arms, 1939–45Table of ContentsIntroduction: the international in the village; Part I. Blitz-Invasion in France, or Resistance Crushed: 1. Finding the volunteers of the Year 40; 2. The repression of the Republic's 'francs-tireurs'; Part II. 'Imminent invasion!': a very civil war in the United Kingdom: 3. Britain into battle: a people at war; 4. 'British humor' as an agent of civility; Part III. The Origins of the Resistance: Hiding Allies in France: 5. The resistance as mass local dynamic; 6. The Sequences of aid: between family and repression; 7. A civil society against two states; Part IV. Lynching in Germany, 1943–1945: defending the Nazi state: 8. The lynching of Allied airmen, an ordinary practice; 9. A revolutionary dynamic; 10. Lynch mobs: pre-constructed anger and Nazism in action; 11. Race at heart; Conclusion: an archeology of the moment.

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Book SynopsisDuring the Second World War many thousands of women joined the women's auxiliary services to perform important military tasks for the RAF, army and Royal Navy. This book traces the wartime history of these auxiliary services and the integration of women into the British armed forces.Trade Review'Beautifully written, Sisters in Arms braids together policy matters with personal experience in a highly engaging manner. It will become the standard 'go-to' work on the subject, and should be read by absolutely anyone interested in the social or the military aspects of the British wartime experience.' S. P. MacKenzie, author of Bomber Boys on Screen: RAF Bomber Command in Film and Television Drama'Crang's new history of militarised women in Second World War Britain shows us one of the ways that total war entails the remaking of society. Sisters in Arms tells both the stories of the women drawn into the military, and the wider story of how this reshaped wartime Britain.' Lucy Noakes, author of Dying for the Nation: Death, Grief and Bereavement in Second World War Britain'It's easy to forget the thousands of British women who volunteered for military service alongside the men in the Second World War. In this pioneering study, Jeremy Crang reconstructs in telling detail the life of the servicewoman in all three armed forces. This is a remarkably original story, scrupulously researched, and conveyed with humanity and intelligence.' Richard Overy, author of The Bombing War: Europe 1939-1945'Jeremy Crang has produced a clear, wide-ranging and highly readable examination of the auxiliary women's services which draws on fascinating personal testimonies to reconstruct the experiences of members from recruitment through to demobilisation.' Juliette Pattinson, author of Women of War: Gender, Modernity and the First Aid Nursing YeomanryTable of ContentsList of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Prologue; 1. Revival; 2. Organisation and recruitment; 3. Training and selection; 4. Work; 5. Status and discipline; 6. Necessities of life; 7. Medical matters; 8. Off duty; 9. Overseas service; 10. Demobilisation and the creation of the permanent women's services; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

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Book Synopsis'We request an immediate favour of you, to build a shelter for us women and small children, because we have absolutely no place to take refuge and we are terrified!' This French mother's petition sent to her mayor on the eve of Germany's 1940 invasion of France reveals civilians' security concerns unleashed by the Blitzkrieg fighting tactics of World War II. Unprepared for air warfare's assault on civilian psyches, French planners were among the first in history to respond to civilian security challenges posed by aerial bombardment. France under Fire offers a social, political and military examination of the origins of the French refugee crisis of 1940, a mass displacement of eight million civilians fleeing German combatants. Scattered throughout a divided France, refugees turned to German Occupation officials and Vichy administrators for relief and repatriation. Their solutions raised questions about occupying powers' obligations to civilians and elicited new definitions of refugees' Trade Review'Using dramatic personal testimony, Dombrowski Risser uncovers how the 1940 'Exodus' politicized women, what the longer-term repercussions of mass migration were, and how refugee return policies were used to exclude Jews and other 'undesirables'. France Under Fire significantly enriches historical scholarship on civilian displacement, German-French interplay during the French occupation, and ethnic cleansing during World War Two.' Julia Torrie, St Thomas University'Risser's findings make a real contribution to our knowledge of this historical episode, now remote but still within living memory.' Ian Birchall, European History Quarterly'An ambitious book, [Dombrowski] Risser sets out to examine the intersection of the civilian and military experience under total war by looking at the mass exodus and internal displacement of domestic and foreign refugees in France during World War II.' Lynne Taylor, H-FranceTable of ContentsIntroduction: no more 'behind the lines'; Part I. Civilians in the Line of Fire: 1. Securing the homeland; 2. Mothers move against military and bureaucratic entrenchment; 3. Pulling the plug on the city of lights; 4. Civilian survival on the open road; Part II. Refugees, Rights, and Return in a Divided Land: 5. Provincial towns feed and shelter refugees; 6. Paving the road for refugees' return; 7. German exclusions inaugurate a policy of ethnic cleansing; 8. Disappointment and despair in the occupied zone; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisShould French railwaymen during the Second World War be viewed as great resisters or collaborators in genocide? Ludivine Broch revisits histories of resistance, collaboration and deportation in Vichy France through the prism of the French railwaymen the cheminots. De-sanctifying the idea of railwaymen as heroic saboteurs, Broch reveals the daily life of these workers who accommodated with the Vichy regime, cohabitated with the Germans and stole from their employer. Moreover, by intertwining the history of the working classes with Holocaust history, she highlights unexpected histories under Vichy and sensitive memories of the post-war period. Ultimately, this book bursts the myths of cheminot resistance and collaboration in the Holocaust, and reveals that there is more to their story than this. The cheminots fed both the French nation and the German military apparatus, exemplifying the complexities of personal, professional and political life under occupation.Trade Review'… well researched, well organized and well written, and it establishes thoroughly and clearly several ground-breaking points. The target of the book is to discuss myths, representations regarding the French railway system, and its collaboration with the Nazi, including résistance, strikes, sabotage and the solution finale.' Marie-Noelle Polino, The Journal of Transport History'The cheminots highlight an interesting tension in the dichotomy of resistance and collaboration, and Broch enriches this vein in the historiography with a rich, focused and much-needed reconsideration of France's railway workers. Her book offers a valuable insight into the complex legacy of a group with a strong professional identity and a strongly felt role in the story of France's Occupation.' Andrew W. M. Smith, The English Historical Review'As a study in everyday life under Vichy, this is exceptional. Any historian interested in the Occupation would do well to read this book, which is not only thoroughly well researched but also eminently readable.' David Lees, French HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Cheminots; 2. Vichy; 3. Bahnofs; 4. Theft; 5. Protest; 6. Sabotage; 7. Shoah; 8. Liberation; Epilogue: memory; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis is an innovative account of how the concept of comradeship shaped the actions, emotions and ideas of ordinary German soldiers across the two world wars and during the Holocaust. Using individual soldiers'' diaries, personal letters and memoirs, Kühne reveals the ways in which soldiers'' longing for community, and the practice of male bonding and togetherness, sustained the Third Reich''s pursuit of war and genocide. Comradeship fuelled the soldiers'' fighting morale. It also propelled these soldiers forward into war crimes and acts of mass murders. Yet, by practising comradeship, the soldiers could maintain the myth that they were morally sacrosanct. Post-1945, the notion of kameradschaft as the epitome of humane and egalitarian solidarity allowed Hitler''s soldiers to join the euphoria for peace and democracy in the Federal Republic, finally shaping popular memories of the war through the end of the twentieth century.Trade Review'Probing into the Janus-faced quality of comradeship, Thomas Kühne illuminates the moral world of Nazi Germany on its own terms, a world in which most German soldiers acted as they did, not because they were forced to do so, but because they thought it was right. Obsessed with the 'virtue' of being held in high esteem by their 'masculine' comrades, they had scant concern for their victims. This book makes an essential contribution to understanding the capacity to commit terrible atrocities without remorse in Nazi Germany.' Christopher Browning, University of North Carolina'War is a powerful generator of solidarity. Thomas Kühne explores the rise and decline of the German version of this phenomenon, Kameradschaft. It was a myth that was lived in World War II and came to shape male identity into the late twentieth century. How, why and with what consequences this happened is the subject of this powerful exploration.' Michael Geyer, University of Chicago'An original, comprehensive, and incisive analysis of the concept, myth, reality, and ultimate disintegration of soldiers' comradeship in modern Germany and its profound implications for the manner in which German men imagined war, perpetrated violence, and for long managed to avoid coming to terms with their complicity in the crimes of the Nazi regime. Set within the larger context of European and American ideas and practices of military cohesion, this is an important book that should be read by all students of modern and military history.' Omer Bartov, Brown University, Rhode IslandTable of ContentsAcknowledgements; Introduction: a concept from a different world; Part I. The Myth of Comradeship, 1914–1939: 1. Healing; 2. Coalescence; 3. Steeling; Part II. The Practice of Comradeship, 1939–1945: 4. Assimilation; 5. Megalomania; 6. Nemesis; Part III. The Decline of Comradeship: 7. Privatisation; 8. Integration; 9. Demonisation; Conclusion: protean masculinity and Germany's twentieth century; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis is an in-depth study of the ethnic German minority in the Serbian Banat (Southeast Europe) and its experiences under German occupation in World War II. Mirna ZakiÄ argues that the Banat Germans exercised great agency within the constraints imposed on them by Nazi ideology, with its expectations that ethnic Germans would collaborate with the invading Nazis. The book examines the incentives that the Nazis offered to collaboration and social dynamics within the Banat German community - between their Nazified leadership and the rank and file - as well as the various and ever-more damning forms collaboration took. The Banat Germans provided administrative and economic aid to the Nazi war effort, and took part in Nazi military operations in Yugoslav lands, the Holocaust and Aryanization. They ruled the Banat on the Nazis' behalf between 1941 and 1944, yet their wartime choices led ultimately to their disenfranchisement and persecution following the Nazis' defeat.Trade Review'Zakić's well-argued microhistory shows how Banat Germans used Nazism for local purposes, even as it implicated them in Nazi atrocities. It lays bare how Nazi ideology bent to wartime practicalities in this politically-charged region of Europe.' John Eicher, German Historical Institute, Washington DC'Mirna Zakić's compelling and often surprising account of the ethnic Germans of Yugoslavia proves how much there still is to learn about World War II. Energetically researched and written with verve, this remarkable book reveals the cynical pragmatism and contagious brutality at the heart of Nazi population policies.' Doris L. Bergen, University of Toronto and author of War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust'By reframing the place of Volksdeutsche in the complex Nazi paradigm of Europe and teasing out how collaborative arrangements evolved over time, Zakić's study successfully counters the antiquated German diasporic narrative that sought to vindicate ethnic Germans … an admirable case study, beautifully researched and filled with rich detail.' Emily Greble, Slavic Review'… Zakić has written a fascinating book … broadens our perspective and makes for illuminating reading, not just for specialists of Southeast Europe but for everybody interested in the many faces of German occupation policies.' Gerhard Wolf, The American Historical ReviewTable of Contents1. The Banat Germans from settlement to partial Nazification, 1699–1941; 2. Ethnic Germans and the invasion of Yugoslavia, 1941; 3. Ethnic German administration (1941) and community dynamics; 4. Privileges, economy, and relations with other groups; 5. Police and anti-partisan activity; 6. The Holocaust (1941–2) and Aryanization; 7. Ideology and propaganda; 8. The Waffen-SS division 'Prinz Eugen' and anti-partisan warfare in Yugoslavia, 1942–4.

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Book SynopsisThis anthology is the first sustained examination of American involvement in World War II through an environmental lens. World War II was a total and global war that involved the extraction, processing, and use of vast quantities of natural resources. The wartime military-industrial complex, the ''Arsenal of Democracy,'' experienced tremendous economic growth and technological development, employing resources at a higher intensity than ever before. The war years witnessed transformations in American agriculture; the proliferation of militarized landscapes; the popularization of chemical and pharmaceutical products; a rapid increase in energy consumption and the development of nuclear energy; a remaking of the nation''s transportation networks; a shift in population toward the Sunbelt and the West Coast; a vast expansion in the federal government, in conjunction with industrial firms; and the emergence of environmentalism. World War II represented a quantitative and qualitative leap in Trade Review'Featuring renowned scholars of military and environmental history, Nature at War shows how the mid-century clash between Allied and Axis forces revolutionized every aspect of American life - from the food we eat, to the smoke we breath, to the clothes we wear and the chemicals and drugs that pour through our veins. This impressive volume is long overdue and should be essential reading for anyone interested in the ecological history of the world's 'darkest hour'.' Bart Elmore, The Ohio State University'Nature at War reveals how World War II was literally a War on the World. While claiming 60 million lives and devastating land, air, and water, WWII also transformed the US by promoting industrial agriculture, chemical pesticides, out-of-control military spending, rampant consumerism, nicotine addiction, and urban smog. A remarkable accounting.' Gar Smith, co-founder of Environmentalists Against War and author of Nuclear Roulette and The War and Environment Reader'The necessity and even glory of World War II is unquestionable in US culture, and even in this book. Yet this book makes clear that the world could never survive another similar disaster, not only because of the nuclear danger, but also because of the environmental destruction created and unleashed by that war. In fact, the earth-attacking practices of extraction and consumption that grew out of WWII may yet doom us all if not undone and corrected.' David Swanson, author of War Is A Lie'Nature at War offers the first book length analysis of the environmental developments during World War II in the United States, and raises questions of thunderous importance for the rest of the world as well.' Simo Laakkonen, University of TurkuTable of ContentsPreface: American environments and the Second World War Peter Mansoor; Acknowledgments; Introduction: total war and American nature Thomas Robertson and Richard P. Tucker; Part I. New Weapons, New Spaces: 1. A war of mobility: transportation, American productive power, and the environment during World War II Thomas Robertson and Christopher W. Wells; 2. For land's sake: World War II military land acquisition and alteration Jean Mansavage; Part II. Military Materials I (Inorganic): 3. 'Tanks Are Born Underground': mining and World War II Kent Curtis; 4. Fueling the 'American Century': establishing the US petroleum imperative Brian Black; Part III. Military Materials II (Organic): 5. Soldiers of the soil: labor, nature, and American agriculture during World War II Kendra Smith-Howard; 6. When meals became weapons: American food in World War II Kellen Backer; 7. From field to foxhole: cigarettes and soldiers in World War II Joel R. Bius; Part IV. New Landscapes: Cities and Coasts: 8. A watery grave?: World War II and the environment on the American Gulf Coast Christopher M. Rein; 9. World War II and the urban environment: redirecting American politics in Los Angeles and beyond Sarah S. Elkind; Part V. New Frontiers: Microbes, Molecules, and Atoms: 10. Battling insects and infection: American chemical and pharmaceutical expansion during World War II Martha N. Gardner; 11. Shattered worlds: place, environment, and militarized landscapes at the dawn of atomic America Ryan H. Edgington; Part VI. Conservation: 12. Total war and the total environment: World War II and the shift from conservation to environmentalism Thomas Robertson; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis anthology is the first sustained examination of American involvement in World War II through an environmental lens. World War II was a total and global war that involved the extraction, processing, and use of vast quantities of natural resources. The wartime military-industrial complex, the ''Arsenal of Democracy,'' experienced tremendous economic growth and technological development, employing resources at a higher intensity than ever before. The war years witnessed transformations in American agriculture; the proliferation of militarized landscapes; the popularization of chemical and pharmaceutical products; a rapid increase in energy consumption and the development of nuclear energy; a remaking of the nation''s transportation networks; a shift in population toward the Sunbelt and the West Coast; a vast expansion in the federal government, in conjunction with industrial firms; and the emergence of environmentalism. World War II represented a quantitative and qualitative leap in Trade Review'Featuring renowned scholars of military and environmental history, Nature at War shows how the mid-century clash between Allied and Axis forces revolutionized every aspect of American life - from the food we eat, to the smoke we breath, to the clothes we wear and the chemicals and drugs that pour through our veins. This impressive volume is long overdue and should be essential reading for anyone interested in the ecological history of the world's 'darkest hour'.' Bart Elmore, The Ohio State University'Nature at War reveals how World War II was literally a War on the World. While claiming 60 million lives and devastating land, air, and water, WWII also transformed the US by promoting industrial agriculture, chemical pesticides, out-of-control military spending, rampant consumerism, nicotine addiction, and urban smog. A remarkable accounting.' Gar Smith, co-founder of Environmentalists Against War and author of Nuclear Roulette and The War and Environment Reader'The necessity and even glory of World War II is unquestionable in US culture, and even in this book. Yet this book makes clear that the world could never survive another similar disaster, not only because of the nuclear danger, but also because of the environmental destruction created and unleashed by that war. In fact, the earth-attacking practices of extraction and consumption that grew out of WWII may yet doom us all if not undone and corrected.' David Swanson, author of War Is A Lie'Nature at War offers the first book length analysis of the environmental developments during World War II in the United States, and raises questions of thunderous importance for the rest of the world as well.' Simo Laakkonen, University of TurkuTable of ContentsPreface: American environments and the Second World War Peter Mansoor; Acknowledgments; Introduction: total war and American nature Thomas Robertson and Richard P. Tucker; Part I. New Weapons, New Spaces: 1. A war of mobility: transportation, American productive power, and the environment during World War II Thomas Robertson and Christopher W. Wells; 2. For land's sake: World War II military land acquisition and alteration Jean Mansavage; Part II. Military Materials I (Inorganic): 3. 'Tanks Are Born Underground': mining and World War II Kent Curtis; 4. Fueling the 'American Century': establishing the US petroleum imperative Brian Black; Part III. Military Materials II (Organic): 5. Soldiers of the soil: labor, nature, and American agriculture during World War II Kendra Smith-Howard; 6. When meals became weapons: American food in World War II Kellen Backer; 7. From field to foxhole: cigarettes and soldiers in World War II Joel R. Bius; Part IV. New Landscapes: Cities and Coasts: 8. A watery grave?: World War II and the environment on the American Gulf Coast Christopher M. Rein; 9. World War II and the urban environment: redirecting American politics in Los Angeles and beyond Sarah S. Elkind; Part V. New Frontiers: Microbes, Molecules, and Atoms: 10. Battling insects and infection: American chemical and pharmaceutical expansion during World War II Martha N. Gardner; 11. Shattered worlds: place, environment, and militarized landscapes at the dawn of atomic America Ryan H. Edgington; Part VI. Conservation: 12. Total war and the total environment: World War II and the shift from conservation to environmentalism Thomas Robertson; Index.

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Book SynopsisWhy did Britain and Argentina go to war over a wintry archipelago that was home to an unprofitable colony? Could the Falklands War, in fact, have been a last-ditch revival of Britain''s imperial past? Despite widespread conjecture about the imperial dimensions of the Falklands War, this is the first history of the conflict from the transnational perspective of the British world. Taking Britain''s painful process of decolonisation as his starting point, Ezequiel Mercau shows how the Falklands lobby helped revive the idea of a ''British world'', transforming a minor squabble into a full-blown war. Boasting original perspectives on the Falklanders, the Four Nations and the Anglo-Argentines, and based on a wealth of unseen material, he sheds new light on the British world, Thatcher''s Britain, devolution, immigration and political culture. His findings show that neither the dispute, the war, nor its aftermath can be divorced from the ongoing legacies of empire.Trade Review'This thoughtful and timely book will be read with interest by those wanting to understand the Falklands War and the legacies of Empire in Britain. Mercau shows the importance of an idea of a Greater Britain and how the 1982 Falklands War signalled its unravelling, opening questions about Britain's national identity that still persist.' Helen Parr, Keele University'In this accomplished and engaging book, Mercau provides a penetrating analysis of the association between the Falkland Islands and empire. It is a skilful illumination of the continued purchase and contradictions of the idea of Greater Britain in the later twentieth century.' Sarah Stockwell, King's College London'This is a deeply researched and highly original work which casts valuable new light on Britain's post-imperial condition in general and the Falklands War in particular. Essential reading.' Richard Toye, University of Exeter'Mercau gives readers a valuable study of the power of obsolete ideas to drive current policies.' R. A. Callahan, Choice'I found The Falklands War to be a comprehensive, well-researched contribution to military literature. This is a book that is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of that conflict.' Mike Kennedy, eVeritas'… a groundbreaking study of the Falklands War through the lens of British political culture. Mercau's book is a must-read for scholars and advanced students interested in the Falklands dispute and the complex history of British decolonization.' Paula O'Donnell, H-Net Reviews'… the text is a groundbreaking study of the Falklands War through the lens of British political culture. Mercau's book is a must-read for scholars and advanced students interested in the Falklands dispute and the complex history of British decolonization.' Paula O'Donnell, H-WarTable of ContentsFigures; Maps; Acknowledgements; Note on terminology; Abbreviations; Introduction: the Falklands and the legacies of empire; 1. Adrift in the South Atlantic: the Falklands amid the turmoil of decolonisation; 2. 'Dream island': the long prelude to war; 3. 'Goodbye and the best of British': echoes of Greater Britain at the onset of war; 4. 'The ghost of imperial Britain': militarism and the memory of empire; 5. War of the British worlds: the Anglo-Argentines and the Falklands; 6. 'Beyond the quieting of the guns': the Falklands factor and the after-effects of war; Conclusion: the legacies of Greater Britain; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThomas Leahy investigates whether British intelligence and their informers forced the IRA into peace by 1998. The book is ideal for those who want to know more about the IRA, explore why peace emerged in Northern Ireland, and understand British intelligence's role against the IRA.Trade Review'An important and difficult subject, explored with skill and in very impressive, well-researched detail.' Richard English, author of Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA'Informers and agents are central to insurgencies. They can be devastatingly effective, yet inflict terrible suffering. Meticulously dissecting the intelligence war in different regions, Leahy's analysis of how informers and agents affected the strategic interaction between republicanism and the British state is a major contribution to scholarship on the Northern Ireland conflict.' Huw Bennett, author of Fighting the Mau Mau: The British Army and Counter-Insurgency in the Kenya Emergency'Thomas Leahy's study of the Intelligence War in Northern Ireland draws on rich new evidence from the archives to provide a well-paced, thought-provoking and richly-textured account of the impact of British Intelligence measures during the conflict. The author makes a compelling case for analysing both military and political intelligence together and offers a fresh new perspective on why it took so long to bring an end to the violence through a negotiated peace settlement.' Niall Ó Dochartaigh, author of From Civil Rights to Armalites: Derry and the Birth of the Irish Troubles'… sheds new light on how British intelligence used agents, informers, special-forces and surveillance in the city during the recent conflict.' Kevin Mullan, Derry Journal'… this is a well-informed, competent, accessible and engaging assessment of the role of intelligence in the periods before the IRA ceasefires. It will be useful for scholars not just of the 'Troubles' but of the role that terrorist groups and their leadership, state political actors, the security forces and intelligence can play in progress towards peace.' Samantha Newbery, Intelligence and National Security'… an easy read … this work should be recognised as a valuable contribution to our understanding of the Northern Ireland conflict and a timely disruption of a potentially dangerous consensus.' Patrick Mulroe, History Ireland'Thomas Leahy's The Intelligence War Against the IRA is an important new contribution to the growing, and changing, interpretations of The Troubles … a great addition to The Troubles canon. It is a well-researched study with a diverse range of secondary material, a wealth of archival evidence and interviews with significant figures on all sides of the conflict.' Nick Clifton, History@Kingston'This well-researched and argued study will interest students of Northern Ireland, political violence, and counterinsurgency.' A. H. Plunkett, ChoiceTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. The Intelligence War, August 1969 to July 1972: 1. British political, military and intelligence strategy towards the IRA, August 1969 to July 1972; 2. The Intelligence War part I, August 1969 to July 1972; 3. The IRA's ceasefire, 26 June to 9 July 1972; Part II. On the Verge of Defeat?: the Intelligence War Part II, July 1972 to December 1975: 4. British political, military and intelligence strategy towards the IRA, July 1972 to December 1975; 5. The Intelligence War part II: July 1972 to December 1975; 6. 'Everything is compromisable after the British Declaration of Intent': the IRA returns to ceasefire, December 1974 and December 1975; Part III. The Struggle to Contain the IRA, January 1976 to April 1998: 7. British political, military and intelligence strategy towards the IRA, 1976 to 1998; 8. The Intelligence War part III: Belfast and Derry city, January 1976 to August 1994; 9. The Intelligence War part III: the IRA in rural areas, England and the IRA leadership, January 1976 to August 1994; 10. 'It's the primacy of politics that's important': alternative reasons for the IRA's ceasefires in August 1994 and July 1997; Conclusion; Appendix 1. IRA 'intended target' killings by year in various geographical areas where the IRA operated, 1969 to 1994; Appendix 2. Seats won by Sinn Féin and the SDLP in district council elections between 1985 and 1997; Appendix 3. Other alleged agents and informers killed by the IRA.

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Book SynopsisIn brisk and engaging prose, this comprehensive introductory textbook traverses the broad sweep of US history since 1945. Winds of Hope, Storms of Discord explores how Americans from all walks of life political leaders, businesspeople, public intellectuals, workers, students, activists, migrants, and others struggled to define the nation''s political, economic, geopolitical, demographic, and social character. It chronicles the nation''s ceaseless ferment, from the rocky conversion to peacetime in the early aftermath of World War II; to the frightening emergence of the Cold War and repeated US military adventures abroad; to the struggles of African Americans and other minorities to claim a share of the American Dream; to the striking transformations in social attitudes catalyzed by the women''s movement and struggles for gay and lesbian liberation; to the dynamic force of political, economic, and social conservatism. Carrying the story to the spring of 2022, Winds of Hope also shows hTrade Review'Salim Yaqub has mastered the most recent scholarship on such diverse topics as social justice movements, modern conservatism, and the impact of technology, and woven it seamlessly into a deeply engaging narrative of the United States from 1945 to the 2020s. It is not just the wide sweep that impresses, but also the sharp eye for compelling, poignant detail. Personal yet authoritative, trenchant but even-handed, humane and witty, this is historical writing at its very best.' Hugh Wilford, California State University, Long Beach'A sweeping synthesis of US history since World War II. Winds of Change, Storms of Discord shows the author's mastery of the most recent scholarship on foreign policy, social change, and domestic conflict, yet it remains accessible and engaging. Highly recommended for students at all levels as well as general readers.' Kathryn Olmsted, University of California, Davis'Yaqub has set the new standard for histories of post-1945 America. Incredibly complete and up to the minute, Winds of Hope, Storms of Discord is wonderfully readable and filled with careful judgments. Yaqub's writing is marvelously clear and his account is lively as well as precise and authoritative. Students and teachers rejoice!' Doug Rossinow, Metropolitan State University'This is the post-1945 US history textbook you have been waiting for. Comprehensive, concise, and highly readable, Salim Yaqub brilliantly distills the diversity of the American experience from the end of World War II to US support of Ukraine in 2022. Winds of Hope, Storms of Discord is the new standard-bearer for how to write multifaceted US history.' Kathryn Statler, University of San Diego'Filled with twists and turns, Winds of Hope, Storms of Discord sends readers racing through its pages to discover how the world they thought they knew is actually far more interesting - and surprising - than they had previously understood. Salim Yaqub writes with the compassion, objectivity, and fresh curiosity of a master scholar who listens to every voice.' Elizabeth Cobbs, Texas A&M University'Winds of Hope, Storms of Discord by Salim Yaqub is a masterful exploration of US history since 1945. Useful for students in a variety of courses as well as beginning researchers, the book chronicles the often rapid and dramatic changes in US society, culture, politics, technology, economics, and foreign relations during the tumultuous years from the end of World War II through the present. The fact that it ends in 2022 is novel and useful. Despite its ambitious scope, the book has a clear narrative and singular point of view that make it compelling and highly readable. The author deftly weaves together multiple themes to tell a story that is a must-read for anyone who wants to know why the United States today is the way it is.' Kelly J. Shannon, Florida Atlantic UniversityTable of ContentsPreface; Introduction; 1. Wake up Willie: from war to postwar, 1945–1948; 2. We may not now relax our guard: hot war abroad and cold war at home, 1949–1954; 3. It's like turning over a rock: America in the fifties; 4. Listen, Yankee: the transformation of America's Cold War, 1956–1963; 5. Is this America?: civil rights and the liberal movement, 1960–1965; 6. Berkeley Cong: fighting abroad and unraveling at home, 1963–1968; 7. Expletive deleted: the presidency of Richard Nixon, 1969–1974; 8. Great blinding lightbulb: women's rights, gay and lesbian rights, and new understandings of gender, sexuality, and family, 1960–1975; 9. Soylent Green is people: America in the seventies; 10. The picture always overrides: America in the Reagan years, 1981–1989; 11. To look over the horizon: from New Cold War to New World Order, 1981–1991; 12. Triangulation: the nineties and Bill Clinton; 13. Freedom fries: George W. Bush, 9/11, and the Iraq war, 2001–2008; 14. Yes we can't: American politics, 2009–2015; 15. Crossfire hurricane: the Trump years, 2015–2021; Epilogue; Index.

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Book SynopsisReveals how veteran memoirs serve as rich repositories of information about the ways in which former servicemen remembered, understood, and recounted the Second World War, shedding new light on experiences of battle and the veteran's sense of wartime self, as well as the emotional meanings war memoirists attached to their narratives.Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Motive and the veteran-memoirist; 2. Penning and publishing the veteran's tale; 3. Landscape, nature, and battlefields; 4. Machines, weapons, and protagonists; 5. 'Distance', killing, and the enemy; 6. Comradeship, leadership, and martial fraternity; 7. Selfhood and coming of age in veteran memoir; 8. History, cultural memory, and the veteran-memoirist; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisLove between Enemies explores the forbidden relationships which formed between foreign prisoners of war and German women during the Second World War. From the desire to have fun to deep love commitments, this study examines the range of motivations which lay behind these relationships, tapping into new documents and drawing on thousands of court cases to offer a transnational analysis of personal relations between enemies. Highlighting gender roles, the contradictory reactions of the communities surrounding the couples, and the diplomatic tensions resulting from the severe punishments, this is a history of everyday life which throws light on this subversive aspect of intimacy in wartime Nazi Germany. Comparing the ''transgressing'' couples to other groups persecuted for their cultural or private choices, Scheck demonstrates how the relationships were silenced or justified in the post-war memory of prisoners, while the German women, who had been publicly shamed, continued to live with tTrade Review'A scholarly masterpiece. It tackles one of the most fascinating problems and most flaunted prohibitions of the Nazi racial state, the love affairs between prisoners of war from the western Allies and German women. Drawing on an unparalleled range of sources from all sides, Raffael Scheck has written the definitive account. A must read.' Nicholas Stargardt, University of Oxford'Scheck's meticulous investigation of the military prosecution of illicit relationships reveals the contradictions and absurdity of the Nazi faith in 'the healthy feeling of the Volk' as a means of enforcing racial consciousness. His juxtaposition of surprising tolerance and harsh punishments demonstrates the power of the human need for connection in face of the hatreds of war.' Annette Timm, University of Calgary'Based on wonderfully rich archival sources, this important addition to scholarship takes seriously intimate relationships between prisoners of war and civilians in twentieth-century Europe. Raffael Scheck is to be commended for his on-going insistence that narratives of 'everyday' women and men in wartime deserve to be highlighted.' Lisa Todd, University of New Brunswick'This ground-breaking work brings to light the many intimate relationships between Western POWs and local women in Nazi Germany. Resisting simple narratives of guilt, innocence or heroism under duress, Scheck underlines the complexities of relationships 'between enemies'. With consummate skill, he connects these moving individual stories to much broader questions about wartime justice, ground-level war experiences, and international relations.' Julia Torrie, St. Thomas University'… fascinating … Scheck is to be congratulated, not only for the sheer amount of legwork he has put into archival research in several different countries, but also for his careful, nuanced interpretations.' Matthew Stibbe, European History Quarterly'Built from a rich collection of archival material across six countries, Scheck's rigour and insightful analysis is due wide applause. This is much more than a study of the policing of illicit relationships on the German home front. Love Between Enemies will be of great interest and influence to those studying everyday lives and emotions during wartime.' Alan Malpass, International Journal of Military History and Historiography'… a fascinating insight into everyday life on the German home front, the wartime politicisation of the private sphere, and the gap between propaganda and lived experience.' Fionnuala Walsh, Family & Community HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgements, List of abbreviations; Current place names; Introduction; 1. The prisoners of war and the German women; 2. The legal framework, 3. The relations; 4. Discovery; 5. The trials; 6. Behind bars; 7. Case studies; 8. Memory; Conclusion. Resistance, dissent, opposition?; Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisOperation Seven Alpha was a daring yet little-known operation that took place during the early days of the Burma Campaign. This is the story of the men and the aircraft that took part.

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Book SynopsisThe poignant, deeply moving diary of a British officer who served in the trenches right through the First World WarTrade ReviewAn excellent and provocative book -- A.J.P. TaylorBrilliant ... One of the most fascinating books yet to appear on the First World War -- Asa Briggs

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Book SynopsisFrom the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917 until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Britain enjoyed an ambiguous relationship with the USSR and its people. All inter-war governments were concerned about the communist ideals of the new state and the threat they presented to British interests at home and abroad, and this was inevitably reflected amongst the general population. However there was a well-established British Communist Party whose fortunes were tied to the Soviet Union's successes and failures. The wartime alliance offered the Communists an opportunity to extend their influence and win electoral support. Or did it? There were influences at work stemming from both sides that sought to put the importance of allied victory above competing ideology, with agreement over the need for a strong and unconditional anti-Fascist alliance. Compromises were made and relationships formed that would have seemed strange indeed to the pre-war observer. There were, however, tensions throughout the period of the war. By mid-1945, the alliance was threatened by differences that reflected original ideologies that had been glossed over for the duration of the conflict: these led to a Cold War for the next 45 years. This book, using both contemporary sources as well as post-war analyses, examines these matters alongside images that take us back to the period and help us understand its intricacies. It will start with a look at Britain's opposition to the Bolshevik Revolution and the consolidation of the Soviet State under Lenin and then Stalin. The main body of the book goes on to give detail of the Wartime Alliance and the various forms through which it was expressed - from Government led Lend-Lease of equipment, to voluntary 'Aid for Russia. t ends with the War's aftermath and the division of the world between the influences of capitalism on the one hand, and the "really existing socialism" of the Soviet Union and its satellites on the other. Tensions and expectations resulted, amongst other great social events, in the launch of the Welfare State, the demise of the British Empire, the nuclear arms race and, ultimately, the end of the Soviet Union in 1991.

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Book SynopsisA nation at war wants nothing less than complete information of her enemy. It is hard for the mind to conceive exactly what "complete information" means, for it includes every fact which may contain the lightest indication of the enemy strength, her use of that strength, and her intention. The nation which sets out to obtain complete information of her enemy must pry into every neglected corner, fish every innocent pool, and collect a mass of matter concerning the industrial, social and military organisation of the enemy which when correlated, appraises her strengt -- and her weakness. Nothing less than full information will satisfy the mathematical maker of war.

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Book SynopsisThis memoir of the Vietnam War is structured as a series of short stories that convey the emotional and physical landscape of the Vietnam War. It is a window into the war from the perspective of the author, who served in a rapid response assault force, as 'the Marine'.The reader shares the Marine's experience through a year of combat that tested his character and shaped his destiny. Small joined the Marine Corps in 1969 at 19 years old, coming from a small Vermont farming community. After boot camp and speciality training he landed in Da Nang as a private first class. With three battlefield promotions in 8 months, he soon became a platoon sergeant.Small did not talk of his experiences in Vietnam over the next forty years, but has now written this book, for veterans' families, including his own, to understand what their loved ones experienced. It is a unique and powerful text that is that it is written in such a way it brings you inside the marine; you see what he sees, feel what he feels. You know him; his back story; what he is thinking; why he made the decisions he needed to make. No names are mentioned throughout the book.Memories Unleashed is an assemblage of memories, consisting of stories that stand alone to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. It addresses the warrior, the lives of innocent people caught up in the war, and the American and Vietnamese families impacted by those who fought.Trade ReviewA great read, one I’m sure I will read again. 5 stars all day long. * Army Rumour Service 28/05/2019 *A fascinating read and I think it is worth saying thank you to author Carl Small for finally feeling able to write down his experiences and share them with the rest of us at last. * Military Model Scene 07/05/2019 *

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Book SynopsisLittle has been written about the Acadians who served in Canada's armed forces during the Second World War. In fact, the prevailing notion suggested that Acadians refused to support the war effort. Bombs and Barbed Wire provides an alternative point of view, revealing the commitment and bravery displayed by the approximately 24,000 Acadians who voluntarily joined the war effort. Battling both language barriers and a culture of exclusion, they overcame frustrations and prejudice to fight for the freedom of the country they loved. Based on extensive, in-depth interviews Cormier conducted in 1990 with eleven surviving Acadian veterans, Bombs & Barbed Wire brings to life the experience of Acadian soldiers for English-language readers for the first time. Bombs and Barbed Wire is volume 29 of the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series.

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Book SynopsisIrene Kelleher lived all her life in the shadow of her inheritance. Her local community in British Columbias Fraser Valley all too often treated her as if she was invisible. The combination of white and Indigenous descent that Irene embodied was beyond the bounds of acceptability by a dominant white society. To be mixed was to not belong. Attracted to the future British Columbia by a gold rush beginning in 1858, Irenes white grandfathers had families with Indigenous women. Theirs was not an uncommon story. Some of the earliest newcomers to do so were in the employ of the fur trading Hudsons Bay Company at Fort Langley. And yet, more than one hundred and fifty years later, the descendants of these early pioneers are still waiting for their stories to be heard. Through meticulous research, family records and a personal connection to Irene, Governor General award-winning historian Jean Barman explores this aspect of British Columbias history and the deeply rooted prejudice faced by families who helped to build Canada. Invisible Generations evokes the Catholic residential school that Irenes parents and so many other mixed blood children attended. Among Irenes family and friends we meet Josephine, who was separated as a child from her beloved upwardly mobile politician father. When her presence in his socially charged household became untenable, Josephine was dispatched to the same Fraser Valley boarding school. The transition from genteel Victoria to St. Marys Mission was horrendous, she wrote. Yet individuals and families survived as best they could, building good lives for themselves and those around them. Irene was determined to be a schoolteacher and taught across the farthest reaches of the province, including Doukhobor children at a time when the community was vehemently opposed to their offspring attending school. Stories like that of Irene and of her family and friends have been largely forgotten, but in Invisible Generations Barman brings this important conversation into focus, shedding light on a common history across British Columbia and Canada. It is, in Irenes words, time to tell the story.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the history of the German Army which, for the best part of two centuries, influenced the course of events in Continental Europe. It was an army that studied the conduct of war at the highest levels, planning for the destruction of its opponents during the early stages of a war. On some occasions, this principle succeeded brilliantly. On others, its details were flawed and the results were disastrous. This new and exciting publication from seasoned historian and author Bryan Perrett charts the ups and downs of the German army from the days of Frederick the Great to the dying days of World War Two. It passes through the Napoleonic period, takes in the growth of war machinery under the leadership of Clausewitz and Moltke and acquaints the reader with the various victories won against Austria in 1866 and France in 1870. It then moves forwards into the twentieth century, following the course of the Imperial German army, its successes and ultimate failure in the Great War, its recovery in the inter-war years and its final destruction under the leadership of Hitler. The book is written for the professional and the general reader alike in the easy, readable style that has ensured Bryan Perrett's international popularity as a military and naval historian.

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Book Synopsis On 18 July 1943, one-hundred and twenty Jews were transported from the concentration camp at Drancy to the Lévitan furniture store building in the middle of Paris. These were the first detainees of three satellite camps (Lévitan, Austerlitz, Bassano) in Paris. Between July 1943 and August 1944, nearly eight hundred prisoners spent a few weeks to a year in one of these buildings, previously been used to store furniture, and were subjected to forced labor. Although the history of the persecution and deportation of France’s Jews is well known, the three Parisian satellite camps have been subjected to the silence of both memory and history. This lack of attention by the most authoritative voices on the subject can perhaps be explained by the absence of a collective memory or by the marginal status of the Parisian detainees - the spouses of Aryans, wives of prisoners of war, half-Jews. Still, the Parisian camps did, and continue to this day, lack simple and straightforward descriptions. This book is a much needed study of these camps and is witness to how, sixty years after the events, expressing this memory remains a complex, sometimes painful process, and speaking about it a struggle.Trade Review “…[an] important, …well-documented and instructive monograph.” • H-France “In this well-written and expertly organized book, Jean-Marc Dreyfus and Sarah Gensburger skillfully chart the trajectories of three forced labor camps for Jewish prisoners in Occupied Paris… Because of the interest that it will have for scholars working on the difficulty of defining a Jew during the period of National Socialism and on memory studies, this book deserves to be read by a larger audience. Fortunately, the book’s excellent translation from the original French and its lucid and concise style makes it very readable. It will provide food for thought for the professional historian and a stimulating read for the non-specialist.” • French Politics, Culture & Society “Full of fascinating detail and admirably connecting the story of the Paris camps to larger developments in Nazi Europe, this important book could easily gain a wide audience, including university students, because it is well organized, ably translated, and easy to read. Moreover, its core chapters take the reader smoothly from why and how the camps were established, to what life was like for the inmates, and to a final section on the dismantling of the camps and their slide into obscurity (until recently).” • The Historian “An association of the camps’ survivors was created in the mid-1990s, after newspaper articles drew attention to the existence of a concentration camp near the site of the new French National Library. The association, whose goal is to retrace the history of these camps, invited Dreyfus and Gensburger to write an academically rigorous study. The result is a well-researched analysis that has helped bring Möbel Aktionand its labor camps into the public eye.” • German Studies Review “Given that the Germans destroyed virtually all records of [the camps] as they withdrew, the authors have done a remarkable job reconstituting the story. They also have explained the complicated story of how the memory of these events was almost lost, ignored by historians, distorted in commemorative plaques, and inaccurately recounted in fiction. Fortunately it is now available in this sophisticated, thoughtful, and authoritative account.” • Holocaust and Genocide StudiesTable of Contents List of Illustrations Foreword Denise Weill Introduction Chapter 1. ‘Operation Furniture’ Chapter 2. The Implementation of ‘Operation Furniture’ Chapter 3. The Creation of the Parisian Camps Chapter 4. Forced labour in Paris Chapter 5. A place of fragile safety Chapter 6. Everyday life Chapter 7. The end of the Parisian camps Chapter 8. The Silence of History Conclusion: Around a Memory Hole Appendix References

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Book SynopsisDespatches in this volume include that on the Far East between October 1940 and December 1941, by Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham; the despatch on operations in Hong Kong between 8 and 25 December 1941, by Major-General C.M. Maltby, General Officer Commanding British Troops in China; the report on the air operations during the campaigns in Malaya and Netherland East Indies between December 1941 and March 1942; and the important despatch by Percival detailing the fall of Malaya and Fortress Singapore. This unique collection of original documents will prove to be an invaluable resource for historians, students and all those interested in what was one of the most significant periods in British military history.

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Book SynopsisDespatches in this volume include the Despatch on air operations by the Allied Expeditionary Air Force in North West Europe between November 1943 and September 1944, the despatch on the assault phase of the Normandy landings June 1944, despatch on operations of Coastal Command, Royal Air Force in Operation Overlord - the invasion of Europe 1944, the despatch on operations in North West Europe between 6 June 1944 and 5 May 1945, by Field Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Commander 21st Army Group, the despatch on the final stages of the naval war in North West Europe, and, as an addition, the despatch on the Dieppe Raid in 1942. This unique collection of original documents will prove to be an invaluable resource for historians, students and all those interested in what was one of the most significant periods in British military history.

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Book SynopsisDespatches in this volume include that on the first and second battles of Narvik in 1940; the despatch on operations in central Norway 1940, by Lieutenant General H.R.S. Massy, Commander-in-Chief, North West Expeditionary Force; Despatch on operations in Northern Norway between April and June 1940; the despatch on carrier-borne aircraft attacks on Kirkenes (Norway) and Petsamo (Finland) in 1941, by Admiral Sir John C. Tovey; the despatch on the raid on military and economic objectives in the Lofoten Islands (Norway) in March 1941, by Admiral Sir John C. Tovey, Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet; and the despatch on the raid on military and economic objectives in the vicinity of Vaagso Island (Norway) in December 1941, by Admiral Sir John C. Tovey. This unique collection of original documents will prove to be an invaluable resource for historians, students and all those interested in what was one of the most significant periods in British military history.

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Book SynopsisOperation Swallow is the true story of how a small group of American soldiers, inspired by a charismatic but reluctant leader named Hans Kasten, worked to save hundreds of fellow servicemen from a Nazi plan to turn Jewish prisoners of war into concentration camp slaves.It begins in the snowy forests of the Ardennes during Christmas 1944 and ends at the charnel house of Buchenwald concentration camp in spring 1945. It is a remarkable battle of wills between a young GI thrust into a leadership position he didn't want and an SS officer who will stop at nothing to complete his orders.Written from personal testimonies and official documents, it is an escape story replete with courage, sacrifice, torture, despair and salvation. Even more remarkably, it is a story that has barely been told before, a chapter of US military history that the American government tried to suppress for decades - and an uplifting story that deserves to be widely known.

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Book SynopsisIn the second instalment of his Roosevelt trilogy, Nigel Hamilton tells the astonishing story of FDR's year-long, defining battle with Churchill, as the war raged in Africa and Italy. Commander in Chief reveals the astonishing truth - suppressed by Winston Churchill in his memoirs - of how Roosevelt battled with Churchill to maintain the Allied strategy that would win the war. Roosevelt knew that the Allies should take Sicily but avoid a wider battle in southern Europe, building experience but saving strength to invade France in early 1944. Churchill seemed to agree at Casablanca - only to undermine his own generals and the Allied command, testing Roosevelt's patience to the limit. Churchill was afraid of the invasion planned for Normandy, and pushed instead for disastrous fighting in Italy, thereby almost losing the war for the Allies. In a dramatic showdown, FDR finally set the ultimate course for victory by making the ultimate threat. This volume of Nigel Hamilton's FDR War trilogy shows FDR in top form at a crucial time in the modern history of the West.Trade Review"Masterly." Wall Street Journal

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Book SynopsisDuring World War I, German U-boats had been the most effective naval weapon against the Allies and without America''s entry into the war in 1917 Britain would have been starved into surrender. Hitler''s accession to power led to the rapid development of numerous military projects, including provision for submarines. Interestingly, the German navy was the branch of the German armed forces with the highest proportion of Nazis and Nazi sympathizers. And this is the story of their part in the war, focusing in particular on the role of the wolf pack of U-boats in the Atlantic, whose stealthy presence beneath the waves ensured that British merchant ships were dicing with death every time they put out to sea.

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Book SynopsisAmerica deployed a diverse group of special operations forces (SOF) throughout World War II and in Korea. These elite units quickly earned a redoubtable reputation and proved themselves adept at hit-and-run raids, gathering intelligence in long-range patrols, rescuing PoWs and living and fighting in hostile environments. This valuable, fully illustrated guide includes more than 100 rare and unusual photographs of the men, uniforms, special equipment and insignia of these elite troops. Units covered include the Marine Raider regiments and Paramarines; Ranger battalions; 'Merill's Marauders'; the Special Service Force, OSS teams; Naval CDUs; and ski and mountain troops.

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Book SynopsisIn this compelling new study of the disastrous 1940 campaign in France and Flanders, Matthew Richardson reconstructs in vivid detail the British army's defeat as it was experienced by the soldiers of a single battalion, the 2nd/5th Leicesters. These men typified the ill-equipped, under-trained British battalions that faced the blitzkrieg and the might of Hitler's legions. They were thrown into a series of desperate, one-sided engagements that resulted in a humiliating retreat, then evacuation from Dunkirk. This is their story.Matthew Richardson is curator of social history at Manx National Heritage and was formerly assistant keeper of the Liddle Collection at the University of Leeds. He has a long-term interest in military history and research, focusing in particular on the First and Second World Wars and on the history of the Leicestershire Regiment. In addition to writing many magazine articles on military history, he has published the following books: The Tigers and Fighting Tigers. He is currently working on 1914: Clash of Empires.

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Book SynopsisThey could arrest and imprison anyone at any time. They murdered civilians. They wore a strange mixture of dark green tunics, khaki rousers, black belts and odd headgear, including civilian felt hats. The Irish named them after a famous pack of wild dogs on County Limerick - The Black and Tans.Although they were only a small proportion of British forces in Ireland, they were the toughest, the wildest and the most feared. They knew nothing and they cared nothing about Ireland. They were sent there in March 1920 by Lloyd George's coalition cabinet to make Ireland 'a hell for rebels to live in'.Richard Bennett's book is an accurate and authoritative account of an ugly and harrowing period in Anglo-Irish history - a period that the English have struggled to forget and the Irish cannot help but remember.

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Book SynopsisIt follows the earliest struggle for liberty from slavery,when some 200,000 African American slaves and freemen fought on both sides in return for the promise of freedom. Some, but pitifully few, did achieve their freedom, though most returned to the lot that had been dealt to them by their owners and the abolition of slavery did not give them equality. The Spanish American War was followed twenty years later by the "GreatWar" - the war to endall wars, where over three hundred African American soldiers were awarded the Croix deGuerre, France's highest award for valor, yet only one was awarded the Medal of Honor by the United States - seventy-three years after his death on the battlefield. World War II brought the first-ever all-black-crewed fighter squadron, the 99th, followed by the 332nd Fighter Group, the most highly decorated group of men in their theaters of war. These men were also the catalyst of political action to bring desegregation to the Armed Forces, by means of President Harry Truman's Executive Order 9981, which preceded the Civil Rights Act by twenty years. Since President Lyndon Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Act into law, we have seen sometimes great, but faltering, steps forward. African Americans have finally risen to the top in their chosen careers - four-star generals, astronauts and ultimatelyan African American President. This book is that story.

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Book SynopsisThis is a testimony of intricate detail that describes a young girl''s survival in ghettos and concentration camps between 1942 and 1945. Readers follow her heart-breaking journey from Vienna to the Theresienstadt Ghetto to Auzchwitz to a labour camp near Breslau, followed by the alienation she feels upon returning to Vienna, her subsequent journey to Prague, and finally the realization of her dream to immigrate to Palestine. Chava Kohavi Pines was born Eva Hirsch in 1927 in Vienna, Austria, to a middle-class Jewish family. Since immigrating to Palestine in 1946, the author has resided in Kibbutz Dorot in the northern Negev where she worked as a teacher and counsellor for years. Only with forty years'' distance from the trauma of her youth has she been able to write an account of some of her experiences under Hitler.

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Book SynopsisIn 1939 a group of artists, designers, architects, scientists and military experts met in Sydney, Australia, to discuss the impending war. Convinced that the need for regional innovations in the military science of concealment and deception was urgent, they nominated a zoologist to lead a campaign to camouflage Australia.Camouflage Australia tells a once secret and little known story of how the Australian government accepted the advice of zoologist William John Dakin and seconded the country's leading artists and designers, including Max Dupain and Frank Hinder, to deploy optical tricks and visual illusions for civilian and military protection. Their work was an array of ingenious constructions for the purpose of disguise and subterfuge. Drawing on previously unpublished photographs and documents, Camouflage Australia exposes the story of fraught collaborations between civilian and military personnel who disagreed over camouflage's value to wartime operations and the usefulness of artists to warfare. In this engrossing book, Ann Elias provides international context for the historical circumstances and events of the organisation of camouflage in World War II in Australia and the Pacific region. She elaborates on the parallel involvement of British and American artists in the field of concealment and deception, and reveals the widespread interest shown by western naturalists and scientists in the application to warfare of the behaviours and aesthetics of animals.Camouflage Australia, by redressing the near invisible contribution of Australian artists and designers to defence in World War II, makes a major contribution to the history of art and to the history of Australia. Importantly, by discussing how citizens dutifully transformed themselves into servants of the war enterprise as camouflage labourers, camouflage designers and camouflage field officers, the author provides a valuable historical perspective for the 21st century, when ethical conflicts and moral struggles dominate debates on war participation. And camouflage itself, even in an age of nuclear warfare, retains many of its historical methods and controversies.Trade Review'Elias's cross-disciplinary approach of bringing together art, science and psychology in the pursuit of disguise and concealment in the military context is refreshing.' -- Catherine Speck * Australian Historical Studies *'Camouflage Australia is an eloquent work. But Ann Elias gives us much more than a hidden history of artists, scientists and soldiers. She tells us about the contest of knowledge in modern Australia, and provides an insight into the contested domain of civil–military relations.' -- Ben Wadham * Journal of Sociology *Table of ContentsPreface Roy R. Behrens Acknowledgements Abbreviations IntroductionPart 1: the art community 1. Darwin 2. Sydney 3. Sydney experimentsPart 2: the science community 4. William Dakin 5. Animal camouflagePart 3: the military context 6. Policy and status 7. Image 8. ConsciencePart 4: the field – New Guinea and Papua 9. Jungle 10. Goodenough Island Part 5: the edge of modernism 11. Max Dupain 12. Frank HinderConclusion Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDan Davin was the author of the only substantial body of war fiction written by a New Zealand soldier during any of the wars of the 20th century in which the nation was engaged. The General and the Nightingale brings together Davins 20 war stories, some drawn from his war diaries and loosely based on his experiences as a wartime scholar-soldier and those of his fellow soldiers in the British and New Zealand armies. They yield an unparalleled insight into the Kiwi or Anzac soldier at war during the Mediterranean and African desert campaigns of World War II. Editor Janet Wilson notes they can be read as fictionalised accounts rather than imaginative fictions. Born and raised in a working-class Catholic family in Southland, Davin was a Rhodes Scholar and had recently completed a degree at Oxford when he enlisted in the British Army in 1939. After receiving a commission in 1940 he successfully applied to be transferred to the New Zealand forces. He saw active service in Greece and North Africa, was wounded in Crete, and rose to become General Freybergs intelligence officer in the Italian campaign. The General and the Nightingale updates an earlier collection of Davins war stories published in 1986 as The Salamander in the Fire and long out of print. This new publication features comprehensive notes, a glossary, a chronology, a map of story locations, a bibliography and an extensive introduction by Janet Wilson. It is a companion volume to The Gorse Blooms Pale: Dan Davins Southland short stories (OUP, 2007), which is also being reissued.

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Book SynopsisFrom summer 1941 onwards, Romania actively pursued at its own initiative the mass killing of Jews in the territories it controlled. 1941 saw 13,000 Jewish residents of the Romanian city of Iaşi killed, the extermination of thousands of Jews in Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia by Romanian armed forces and local people, large-scale deportations of Jews to the camps and ghettos of Transnistria, and massacres in and around Odessa. Overall, over 300,000 Jews of Romanian and Soviet or Ukrainian origin were murdered in Romanian- controlled territories during the Second World War. In this volume, a number of renowned experts shed light on the events, the contexts, and the aftermath of this under-researched and lesser-known dimension of the Holocaust. 75 years on, this book gives much-needed impetus to research on the Holocaust in Romania and Romanian-controlled territories.Trade ReviewWe desperately need to know more about the Holocaust in Romania and the territories occupied and administered by Romanians during World War II. For too long this subject has not gotten the prominence it deserves. This volume gathers together many of the best scholars on the subject and promises to yield important new knowledge and insights. -- Jeffrey Kopstein, University of California, IrvineTable of ContentsIntroduction, by Simon Geissbuhler Jewish-Communist Gangs in Czernowitz? The Origin and Impact of a Constructed Enemy Stereotype, by Mariana Hausleitner The Story Created Afterward: Iasi 1941, by Henry L. Eaton A Village Massacre: The Particular and the Context, by Alti Rodal Anti-Jewish Violence in the Summer of 1941 in Eastern Galicia and Beyond, by Kai Struve The Pogroms in the Former Soviet Occupation Areas in the Summer of 1941, by Witold Medykowski The Djurin Ghetto in Transnistria through the Lens of Kunstadt's Diary, by Sarah Rosen Two-Front Battle: Opposition in the Ghettos of the Mogilev District in Transnistria 1941-44, by Gali Tibon Challenging Stalinist Justice: A Review of Holocaust Crimes after 1953, by Diana Dumitru The International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania: A Personal "Behind the Scenes" Perspective, by Tuvia Friling Public Discourse and Remembrance: Official and Unofficial Narratives, by Michael Shafir What We Now Know about Romania and the Holocaust-and Why It Matters, by Simon Geissbuhler Contributors

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Book SynopsisThe exhibition 'ART IN BATTLE' deals with battles over art initiated by Nazi policies and European conquests on several arenas. Expounding the problems of the overfamiliar dichotomy of Degenerate versus Great German art, it examines propaganda exhibitions in occupied Norway as well as hitherto unseen art by soldiers stationed in Norway. This exceptional catalogue both documents this ground-breaking show and assembles leading experts on the history and ideology of Nazi cultural campaigns in both Germany and Norway to initiate a fresh discussion of the relationships between centre and periphery within the artworlds of the Third Reich. Beyond historical re-assessment, this project also asks more pressingly: How do we encounter these battles over art today?

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