Modern warfare Books

Book SynopsisThe combatants in the three Vietnam wars from 1945 to 1975 employed widely contrasting supply methods. This fascinating book reveals that basic traditional techniques proved superior to expensive state of the art systems. During the Indochina or French' war, France's initial use of wheeled transport and finally air supply proved vulnerable given the terrain, climate and communist adaptability . The colonial power gave up the unequal struggle after the catastrophic defeat at Dien Bien Phu. To stem the advance of Communism throughout the region, the Americans stepped in to support the pro-Western South Vietnam regime and threw vast quantities of manpower and money at the problem. The cost became increasingly unpopular at home. General Giap's and Ho Chi Minh's ruthless use of coolies most famously on the Ho Chi Minh Trail proved resistant to carpet-bombing and Agent Orange defoliation. The outcome of the final war between the Communist North Vietnam and the corrupt Southern leadership, now with minimal US support, was almost a forgone conclusion. The Author is superbly qualified to examine these three wars from the logistic perspective. His conclusions make for compelling reading and will be instructive to acting practitioners and enquiring minds.

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Book SynopsisCovert operations and ingenious weapons for irregular warfare were developed rapidly, and with great success, by the British during the Second World War, and the story of the most famous organizations involved like SOE, the SAS and Section D of SIS is now well known, but Military Intelligence (Research), the smallest but one of the most influential of these units is relatively unknown. Malcolm Atkin's intriguing and meticulously researched account describes their role at the heart of the War Office in trying to develop a 'respectable' arm of irregular warfare and their innovations ranging from the early Commandos, sticky bombs, limpet mines, booby traps, and even helicopters to the creation of the MI9 escape organization. They were an 'ideas factory' rather than an operational body but the book describes their worldwide operations including Finland, Norway, Romania, the Middle East and Central Africa. This is also a story of conflicting personalities between Jo Holland, the visionary but self-effacing head of MI(R) and his ambitious deputy, Colin Gubbins (later head of SOE), and the latter's private war with SIS.

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Book SynopsisOn 15 March 1945, a force of sixteen Avro Lancasters from RAF Bomber Command's Nos 9 and 617 Squadrons was despatched to attack a viaduct at Arnsberg. The fourteen aircraft from 9 Squadron carried Tallboys, whilst the two remaining Lancasters, from 617 Squadron, were loaded with Grand Slams. During the mission, which failed to cut the viaduct, three crew members from one of the 9 Squadron Lancasters baled out from their badly-damaged aircraft over the eastern Ruhr. The author of this book, Flying Officer Squire Tim Scott, the Lancaster's navigator, was one of those men. All three airmen soon found themselves in quiet countryside but were quickly captured and imprisoned in a village jail. After a short time, they were moved to a prisoner of war camp in what was one of the strangest journeys of the Second World War. Two German guards led the little group more than 120 miles across the crumbling Third Reich. With the German transport system in chaos, the party had to hitch rides on a variety of farm and commercial vehicles, though they did travel part of the way on one of the few trains still running in Germany. Conditions on the journey were hash and the nights were bitterly cold. There was also the threat of danger, for the RAF was rife with tales of horrific violence when downed Allied bomber crews fell into civilian hands. But the two guards were sympathetic, and the small party was amazed by the civility of the local people. At one stage their guards fell asleep and escape was considered, but eventually rejected and the trio was eventually handed over to the staff at a transit PoW camp. Before they were rescued by Allied forces, twenty days after baling out, the three had only spent fifteen days as prisoners and just thirty-six hours behind barbed wire.

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Book SynopsisLocated in an Observer Corps post on the top of a Martello tower on the seafront at Dymchurch in Kent, Mr E.E. Woodland and Mr A.M. Wraight were on duty on the morning of 13 June 1944. Shortly after 04.00 hours they spotted the approach of an object spurting red flames from its rear end and making a noise like a Model-T-Ford going up a hill'. What they were watching was the first V1 flying bomb heading towards the South Coast. A new battle of Britain was about to begin. The flying bomb that the two men had observed crossed the shoreline and continued northwards. Some ten minutes later it fell to earth with a loud explosion at Swanscombe, near Gravesend. It was the first of more than 10,000 flying bombs launched against Britain that summer, most of which were targeted at London. At its peak, Hitler's flying bomb campaign saw more than 100 V1s a day being fired. Much of the UK suddenly found itself back in the frontline of the war. In the weeks and months that followed, thousands of people were killed, many more injured. In this book the author takes the reader through the day by day battle. Accounts from some of those who survived the buzz bomb attacks bring the story to life as people tell about their fears and experiences. To combat the threat, RAF fighter pilots flew round the clock patrols, desperately trying to shoot the robot rockets down and stop them from reaching their targets, whilst anti-aircraft gunners played their part on the ground. So successful was this joint effort that by the end of March 1945, the combined British defences were accounting for 72.8% of all the reported V1s that were directed at the United Kingdom. This is the story of how that success was achieved.

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Book SynopsisThe Marines of First Battalion, Ninth Marines earned their macabre moniker 'The Walking Dead' in the Vietnam War. _Into Helmand with the Walking Dead_ follows the experiences of two Marine infantrymen from 1/9 fighting in Afghanistan. Following the 11 September attacks in 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom catalysed the longest war in United States history. The lives of thousands of Afghans, Americans, and many others were forever altered due to the ensuing war. The book is a brutally honest portrayal of life and death in the Marine infantry both at war in Afghanistan and upon returning to the home front, where issues of reintegration and suicide become a reality. This is the tale of the young Americans who became infantrymen and conducted America's foreign policy in its most ruthless and straight-forward manner. But war, in and of itself, is only playing a small part. The culture and environment from which they re-entered civil society would leave them uncertain, and confused as to the cataclysm they had just left. This book is a testimony to their experience and the legacy of war on their generation.

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Book SynopsisAs one of many artists confined in Stalag Luft III, Carl Holmstrom's superb artwork depicts life as a Kriegie created with the perspective only a prisoner of war could draw upon as an eyewitness to history. He spent the majority of his captivity in that camp made famous by The Great Escape, later made into an award-winning film. While a POW, he sketched his fellow prisoners and encouraged others to take up drawing as hobby, thus breaking the boredom of camp life. But his artistic ability proved to be even more important. Carl forged invaluable official German documents for escape purposes for other prisoners-work that was tedious and painstaking. Remarkably, he saved over 200 examples of his work by carrying them on the appallingly-arduous 1945 winter march through Germany when the camp was evacuated as the Russians closed in from the east Post war, Carl Holmstrom said, 'The drawings were made during imprisonment and represent a sincere effort to portray to the American people and especially to the relatives of the prisoners, intimate glimpses of Kriegie life.' His words proved to be prophetic. His daughter, Susan Holmstrom Kohnowich, spent five years working on an expansion of Carl's earlier self-published Kriegie Life book. Extensive research went into the write-ups under the drawings and the biographies of the men in the portraits. This superb book honours Carl's exceptional artistic gift. Indeed, it has strong claim to contain the finest collection of POW art to emerge from Nazi-occupied Europe.

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Book SynopsisFrom the summer of 1940 until May 1941, nearly twenty German Abwehr agents were dropped by boat or parachute into England during what was known as Operation Lena, all in preparation for Hitler's planned invasion of England. The invasion itself would never happen and in fact, after the war, one of the Abwehr commanders declared that the operation was doomed to failure. There is no doubt that the operation did indeed become a fiasco, with almost all of the officers being arrested within a very brief period of time. Some of the men were executed, while others became double agents and spied for Britain against Germany. Only one man managed to stay at large for five months before eventually committing suicide: Jan Willem Ter Braak. Amazingly, his background and objectives had always remained unclear, and none of the other Lena spies had ever even heard of him. Even after the opening of the secret service files in England and the Netherlands over 50 years later, Jan Willem Ter Braak remained a 'mystery man', as the military historian Ladislas Farago famously described him. In this book, the author - his near-namesake - examines the short and tragic life of Jan Willem Ter Braak for the first time. Using in-depth research, he investigates the possibility that Ter Braak was sent to kill the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and discovers why his fate has remained largely unknown for so long.

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Book SynopsisThe success of German submarines during the First World War in almost cutting off Britain's vital imports had not been forgotten by Adolf Hitler and when, in March 1935, he repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, Britain, magnanimously, signed up to an Anglo-German Naval Agreement. This allowed the Germans to build their submarine strength up to one third of the British Royal Navy's tonnage. When war broke out in 1939, German U-boats went quickly into action, but with only four years of production and development, the main armament of these submarines was considerably weaker than equivalent boats in other navies and many of the other main features, such as living and the fighting conditions, were also significantly inferior. Nevertheless, the German U-boat onslaught against British merchant ships during the autumn of 1940 was highly successful because the attacks were made on the surface at night and from such close range that a single torpedo would sink a ship. Soon, though, Allied technology was able to detect U-boats at night, and new convoy techniques, combined with powerfully-armed, fast modern aircraft searching the seas, meant that by 1941 it was clear that Germany was losing the war at sea. Something had to be done. The new generation of attack U-boats that had been introduced since Hitler came to power needed urgent improvement. This is the story of the Types II, VII and IX that had already become the workhorse' of the Kriegsmarine's submarine fleet and continued to put out to sea to attack Allied shipping right up to the end of the war. The Type II was a small coastal boat that struggled to reach the Atlantic; the Type VII was perfectly at home there, but lacked the technology to tackle well protected convoys; whilst the Type IX was a long-range variety that was modified so that it could operate in the Indian Ocean. In this latest book by the renowned Kriegsmarine historian Jak Mallmann Showell, these attack U-boats are explored at length. This includes details of their armament, capabilities, crew facilities, and just what is was like to operate such a vessel, and of course the story of their development and operational history.

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Book SynopsisOn Wednesday, 27 September 1944, a force of 283 Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers from the USAAF’s 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing, took off from their bases in Britain and headed out across the North Sea escorted by 198 P-51 Mustang fighters. The bombers’ target was the industrial city of Kassel in northern Germany. Among the bombers assigned to the raid were the aircraft of the 445th Heavy Bombardment Group. Thirty-five of the 445th’s Liberators, along with the 336 men who made up their crews, took off from their base near the village of Tibenham in Norfolk. Their specific target that day was the engineering works of Henschel & Sohn which built Tiger and Panther tanks. Kassel had been bombed by the Allied air forces in the past, most notably in October 1943 when more than 500 bombers had dropped 1,800 tons of bombs creating a firestorm that had ravaged the city. The raid on 28 September 1944, however, would have a far different result. Due to a navigational error, the lead Liberator of the 445th Heavy Bombardment Group turned due east instead of east-south-east and the following thirty-five bombers missed Kassel altogether, attacking an alternative target. But the worst was to come. The change of direction meant that the bombers lost their escorting Mustangs and on the return flight they were pounced on by 150 enemy fighters – and massacred. Within just six minutes, the 445th experienced the greatest single-day losses suffered by any group from one airfield in the history of aviation warfare. Twenty-five of the Liberators were shot down inside Germany itself; three crashed en route to the coast (two in France and one in Belgium); two made forced landings at an emergency airfield in England; and the last came to grief within sight of home. Just four of the original thirty-five B-24s landed safely back at Tibenham. The human cost was equally high. In the course of just a few minutes, 117 airmen lost their lives, including eleven who were murdered after parachuting safely to the ground. A further 121 men were taken prisoner; only ninety-eight returned to duty. In this highly moving account of the Kassel raid, the author, who lives close to the Tibenham airfield, uncovers the painful details of those terrible moments in September 1944 through the stories of those who survived one of the Second World War’s most disastrous operations in the USAAF’s battle against the Luftwaffe.

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Book SynopsisIn the spring of 1940, Stalin's NKVD executed 22,000 Polish officers, ensigns and state officials near the Russian village of Katyn and other places. When Wehrmacht soldiers discovered some of the graves three years later, the Soviets succeeded in convincing US President Roosevelt of the German perpetration. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had no clear picture of the crime, and therefore made no public comments. Using thousands of recently released US documents, this book refutes the popular thesis that the Western Allies deliberately lied about the Katyn case in order not to endanger the alliance with Stalin. As well as consulting Polish and Russian documentation on this war crime, for the first time, the diaries of the Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, who wrote a great deal about Katyn, have been examined. Completely new for research is the role that Hitler's opponents in the Wehrmacht played in solving the crime: at the Nuremberg trial they convinced the US delegation that the executors were not from the SS, but from the NKVD. Nevertheless, it took until 1990 for Kremlin chief Gorbachev to admit Soviet responsibility. Today in Putin's Russia, however, there is a tendency once more to keep quiet about the crime or even to blame the Germans.

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Book SynopsisThey were volunteers to a man. These were the airborne troops who dropped into enemy territory ahead of any others, pinpointing the Drop Zone by means of a radio marker. They would then prepare the ground for the main forces that would follow. Once they had marked out the Drop Zones, they then had to defend them, whatever the odds. The volunteers had to pass exacting physical and psychological tests before they could join this elite force. These were the men of the 21st Independent Parachute Company, which was part of the Parachute Regiment, and this is their story, told by one of that unique band, then Sergeant, Ron Kent. The 21st Independent Parachute Company operated in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Norway, France, as well as the largest airborne operation ever mounted, Market Garden. In compiling this account of the Pathfinders, Ron Kent contacted survivors of his company to provide the first comprehensive history of a unit that General Browning told its commanding officer, Major Wilson, was unsurpassed by any other in the world.

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Book SynopsisThere are many myths and legends surrounding the advanced German aeronautical technology of the Second World War. There are also facts and proven events. Yet within these stories and behind these facts lie conspiracy theories, mistaken assumptions and denials that seem to contradict the evidence. So what really happened? How far ahead were the German scientists? And, of even greater interest, why and how? There have been other books about advanced German wartime aeronautics, yet few authors have fully examined the detail of the designs and their relevance to the fighter and bomber legends of the 1950s and '60s, let alone the current crop of military and civil all-wing or blended-wing aircraft. This book charts the story from it origins, through present-day innovations and beyond, into the all-wing future of tomorrow.

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Book SynopsisFrom the mountains of Italy to the beaches of Normandy, and from the deserts of North Africa to the ruined cities of Germany, experience the history of the Second World War in Western Europe from 1939-1945 in an entirely different way. Using unpublished letters and diaries, follow the journeys of some fifty Allied soldiers (American, British, French, Canadian...) as they liberate the continent from Nazi rule, sometimes at the cost of their own lives. Arranged in chronological order and placed in historical context, their stories and letters are illustrated with many personal photographs, war memorabilia and original uniforms. Having miraculously escaped wartime censorship, these new first-hand testimonies are transcribed as is, whether they come from an elite soldier, a combat medic or a USO dancer. These poignant writings, completed in the mud of the European battlefields, reveal the hopes, doubts and fears of these young people sent to hell, making _Till Victory_ first and foremost a book about peace.

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Book SynopsisThis book describes how the United States Air Force tactical reconnaissance units operated from the end of World War II until the 1970s. This was an immensely active period that also included major conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. It was also a period of rapid technological development in aircraft and photographic techniques. The book includes the following: Introduction: The post war period in Europe and the East. The Korean Conflict and the role of the 67th TRW from 1950 to 1954\. The role of the highly secret RF-86 missions over Red China and the Soviet Far East in the early to mid '50s. Also the RB-57A missions out of Bitburg and Yokota flying clandestinely over the Soviet Union and the RF-100A missions that were flown over the Soviet Union from Turkey, Rhine Maine and Yokota. United States Air Forces in Europe. The Cuban Missile Crisis and the role of the RF-101 Voodoos and RB-66s. Colour Profiles done by Robbie Robinson.

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Book SynopsisWhen a proud Adolf Hitler revealed his new Luftwaffe to the world in March 1935, it was the largest, most modern military air arm the world had seen. Equipped with the latest monoplane fighter and bomber aircraft manned by well-trained and motivated crews, it soon became evident that the Luftwaffe also possessed a high degree of technical superiority over Germany's future enemies. Yet within just nine years the once-mightiest air force in the world had reached total collapse, destroyed in part by the very people responsible for creating it. By 1944, the Luftwaffe, wearied by aerial battles on multiple fronts combined with tactical mismanagement from the highest levels of command, were unable to match their enemies in both production and manpower. By this time the Luftwaffe was fighting for its survival, and for the survival of Germany itself, above the burning cities of the Third Reich, facing odds sometimes as high as ten-to-one in the air. Told through the eyes of the fighter and bomber crews themselves, this book explores previously unpublished first-hand accounts of the rise and fall of one of the most formidable air forces in twentieth-century military history. It paints a haunting picture of the excitement, fear, romance intertwined with the brutality, futility and wastefulness that is war.

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Book SynopsisSince it was first published in 1989, Men of the Battle of Britain, the complete third edition of which was published in 2015, has become a standard reference book for academics and researchers interested in the Battle of Britain. This remarkable publication records the service details of every airman who took part in the Battle of Britain, and who earned the Battle of Britain Clasp, in considerable detail. Where known, an individual's various postings and their dates are included, as are promotions, decorations, and successes claimed whilst flying against the enemy. There is also much personal detail, often including dates and places of birth, civilian occupations, dates of death and place of burial or, for those with no known grave, place of commemoration. There are many wartime head-and-shoulders photographs. Inevitably, the passage of time ensures that there is a constant re-evaluation of the wealth of information contained within _Men of the Battle of Britain_. At the same time, since the 2015 edition it has been possible to expand many individual entries, some 330 in total, to give some idea of the wider social context around the aircrew who earned the Battle of Britain Clasp. This has been achieved by reference to existing sources, including information supplied by The Few themselves and their relatives over many years, as well as new research. This invaluable supplement to the 2015 edition ensures that these additions and revisions are available to all researchers, historians, enthusiasts and general readers.

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Book SynopsisIf there was ever a man who was born to fly, it is John M. Billings. He took his first plane ride in 1926, began taking piloting lessons in 1938, and joined the US Army Air Force in July 1942\. After training he was assigned to fly Consolidated B-24 Liberator long-range bombers. He joined the 825th Bombardment Squadron of the 484th Bombardment Group. After flying fifteen daylight strategic bombing missions, Billings was selected for assignment to the 885th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) (Special). As its designation suggests, the 885th was no regular bombing unit. The 885th specialized in flying top secret, low-altitude missions at night in support of the clandestine operations of the OSS and the Special Operations Executive. The unit's covert missions included parachuting OSS and SOE agents and supplies deep inside German territory. The most eventful and dangerous of Billings' thirty-nine secret missions with the 885th was his assignment in February 1945 to clandestinely insert a three-man OSS team, code-named _Greenup_, into Austria. The drop zone selected for the _Greenup_ insertion was located on a glacier in a valley surrounded by mountains in the middle of the snow-covered Alps. Billings and his crew finally found the weather in the Alps clear enough to spot the drop zone, slip their unwieldy B-24 between the mountain peaks and descend to an altitude just a few hundred feet above the moonlit snow. On Billings' signal, the OSS agents parachuted right on target. The insertion of this OSS team was the inspiration for the feature film _Inglorious Bastards_. However, Brad Pitt's vengeful character was far removed from the leader of the _Greenup_ team, Fred Mayer, who achieved success by infiltrating enemy ranks to gain vital intelligence. After the war, John Billings flew with Trans World Airlines and Eastern Airlines. He also flew more than 300 'Angel Flight' airlift missions which involve the specialized aerial transportation of critically ill medical patients. This is one man's story of a remarkable lifetime of flying, both in peace and in war.

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Book SynopsisFrom the year 1066 the English Channel has provided Great Britain with a natural defensive barrier, but never more than in the early days of World War Two. This book relates how the Royal Navy defended that vital seaway throughout the war. From the early days of the Dover Patrols, through the traumas of the Dunkirk evacuation, the battles of the Channel convoys; the war against the E-boats and U-boats; the tragic raids at Dieppe and St Nazaire; the escape of the German battle-fleet; coastal convoys; the Normandy landings and the final liberation of the Channel Islands. Many wartime photographs, charts and tables add to this superb account of this bitterly contested narrow sea.

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Book SynopsisRobert V. Brulle, who flew seventy ground support missions with the 366th Fighter Group, links his daily experiences in the cockpit not only with the battles in which he participated but also with events in the wider European theater. Combining anecdotes from his personal diary, research in US and German records, and interviews with participants from both sides, Brulle details a combat career that began just after D-Day, when he flew column cover for Allied troops as they chased the German military out of France. He then describes the brutal, six-week Hürtgen Forest campaign, during which his fighter group lost 15 pilots and 18 aircraft. He also tells how the otherwise bitterly fought Battle of the Bulge provided the 366th with an opportunity to successfully engage 60 Luftwaffe airplanes in a dogfight directly over their airfield.Angels Zero combines both personal and historical detail to vividly re-create a lesser-known aspect of the air war in Europe.

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Book SynopsisAmerican Soldier of World War II provides a detailed look at the lives, weapons, and equipment of the soldiers who fought in the European Theater through a collection of artifacts and exacting reproductions. While other books examine World War II from a political, tactical, or military perspective, this book focuses on the day-to-day life and the human experience of the American men who fought and often gave their lives to defeat fascism. Illustrated with full-color photographs and historical documents, engagingly written and thoroughly explained, this book is the perfect addition to children’s and adults’ library collections, school libraries, and the personal libraries of history buffs of all ages.

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Book SynopsisAs the dreadful reality of the coalition's defeat in Iraq begins to sink in, one question dominates Washington and London: Why? In this controversial new book, Jonathan Steele provides a stark and arresting answer: Bush and Blair were defeated from the day they decided to occupy the country. Steele describes the centuries of humiliation that have scarred the Iraqi national psyche, creating a powerful and deeply felt nationalism and spreading cultural landmines along the road to winning Baghdad. Steele shows for the first time how the invasion and occupation were perceived by ordinary Iraqis, whose feelings and experiences were completely ignored by Western policymakers. The result of such arrogance, Steele demonstrates, was a failure that will forever resonate with such dark chapters of American and British history as the Vietnam War and the Suez Canal crisis. Blending vivid reportage, informed analysis, and sweeping historical narrative, Defeat is the definitive post-mortem on this pivotal catastrophe.

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Book SynopsisMilitary memoirs abound, but few prove to be trustworthy accounts free of spin, bravura, or military glitter. John Merson’s War Lessons takes a rare reflective approach to this pressing issue of our time. In vivid, unadorned prose, he interweaves his own experiences in war with thoughtful assessments of how to prevent it. He highlights the daily experience of combat from the perspective of both the foot soldier and the villager in whose home the war is being fought. When he leaves Vietnam, Merson begins an odyssey that brings him back eight times. The book limns this process as a poignant personal voyage and the author struggles to understand why young people are drawn to war, how it changes those who fight it, why its destructive effects persist on both sides, how former enemies reconcile, and how soldiers wanted to be treated and remembered by the citizens who send them to war. War Lessons also offers hope, suggesting strategies for young people to help the world reclaim its humanity through healing actions such as participating in UN peacekeeping programs, working to prosecute war crimes, and protecting refugees.

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Book SynopsisAuschwitz-Birkenau is the site of the largest mass murder in human history. Yet its story is not fully known. In Auschwitz, Laurence Rees reveals new insights from more than 100 original interviews with Auschwitz survivors and Nazi perpetrators who speak on the record for the first time. Their testimonies provide a portrait of the inner workings of the camp in unrivalled detail--from the techniques of mass murder, to the politics and gossip mill that turned between guards and prisoners, to the on-camp brothel in which the lines between those guards and prisoners became surprisingly blurred. Rees examines the strategic decisions that led the Nazi leadership to prescribe Auschwitz as its primary site for the extinction of Europe's Jews--their "Final Solution." He concludes that many of the horrors that were perpetrated in Auschwitz were driven not just by ideological inevitability but as a "practical" response to a war in the East that had begun to go wrong for Germany. A terrible immoral pragmatism characterizes many of the decisions that determined what happened at Auschwitz. Thus the story of the camp becomes a morality tale, too, in which evil is shown to proceed in a series of deft, almost noiseless incremental steps until it produces the overwhelming horror of the industrial scale slaughter that was inflicted in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

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Book SynopsisOn August 1, 1944, Miron Białoszewski, later to gain renown as one of Poland’s most innovative poets, went out to run an errand for his mother and ran into history. With Soviet forces on the outskirts of Warsaw, the Polish capital revolted against five years of Nazi occupation, an uprising that began in a spirit of heroic optimism. Sixty-three days later it came to a tragic end. The Nazis suppressed the insurgents ruthlessly, reducing Warsaw to rubble while slaughtering some 200,000 people, mostly through mass executions. The Red Army simply looked on.Białoszewski’s blow-by-blow account of the uprising brings it alive in all its desperate urgency. Here we are in the shoes of a young man slipping back and forth under German fire, dodging sniper bullets, collapsing with exhaustion, rescuing the wounded, burying the dead. An indispensable and unforgettable act of witness, A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising is also a major work of literature. Białoszewski writes in short, stabbing, splintered, breathless sentences attuned to “the glaring identity of ‘now.’” His pages are full of a white-knuckled poetry that resists the very destruction it records.Madeline G. Levine has extensively revised her 1977 translation, and passages that were unpublishable in Communist Poland have been restored.

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Book SynopsisOne of WWII’s pivotal events was the capture of U-505 on June 4, 1944. The top secret seizure of this massive Type IX submarine provided the Allies with priceless information on German technology and innovation. After the war, U-505 was transported to Chicago, where today several hundred thousand visitors a year pass through its well-preserved hull at the Museum of Science and Industry. Now in paperback, Hunt and Kill offers the first definitive study of U-505. Chapters include her construction, crew and commanders, combat history, an assessment of Type IX operations, naval intelligence, the eight fatal German mistakes that doomed the ill-fated boat, her capture, and final transportation and restoration for posterity. The contributors to this fascinating volume - a Who’s Who of U-boat historians - include: Erich Topp (U-552, Odyssey of a U-boat Commander); Eric Rust (Naval Officers Under Hitler); Timothy Mulligan (Neither Sharks Nor Wolves); Jak Mallmann Showell (Hitler’s U-boat Bases); Jordan Vause (Wolf); Lawrence Patterson (First U-boat Flotilla); Mark Wise (Enigma and the Battle of the Atlantic); Keith R. Gill (former Curator, U-505, Museum of Science and Industry), and Theodore P. Savas (editor, Silent Hunters: German U-boat Commanders of World War II; author, Nazi Millionaires).

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Book SynopsisThe Marine Corps Way of War examines the evolving doctrine, weapons, and capability of the United States Marine Corps during the four decades since our last great conflict in Asia. As author Anthony Piscitelli demonstrates, the USMC has maintained its position as the nation’s foremost striking force while shifting its thrust from a reliance upon attrition to a return to maneuver warfare. In Indochina, for example, the Marines not only held territory but engaged in now-legendary confrontational battles at Hue, Khe Sanh. As a percentage of those engaged, the Marines suffered higher casualties than any other branch of the service. In the post-Vietnam assessment, however, the USMC ingrained aspects of Asian warfare as offered by Sun Tzu, and returned to its historical DNA in fighting “small wars” to evolve a superior alternative to the battlefield. The institutionalization of maneuver philosophy began with the Marine Corps’ educational system, analyzing the actual battle-space of warfare—be it humanitarian assistance, regular set-piece battles, or irregular guerrilla war—and the role that the leadership cadre of the Marine Corps played in this evolutionary transition from attrition to maneuver. Author Piscatelli explains the evolution by using traditional and first-person accounts by the prime movers of this paradigm shift. This change has sometimes been misportrayed, including by the Congressional Military Reform Caucus, as a disruptive or forced evolution. This is simply not the case, as the analyses by individuals from high-level commanders to junior officers on the ground in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, demonstrate. The ability of the Marines to impact the battlefield—and help achieve our strategic goals—has only increased during the post-Cold War era. Throughout The Marine Corps Way of War: The Evolution of the U.S. Marine Corps from Attrition to Maneuver Warfare in the Post-Vietnam Era, one thing remains clear: the voices of the Marines themselves, in action or through analysis, describing how “the few, the proud” will continue to be America’s cutting-edge in the future as we move through the 21st Century. This new work is must-reading for not only every Marine, but for everyone interested in the evolution of the world’s finest military force.

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Book SynopsisThe fall of Vicksburg in July 1863 fundamentally changed the strategic picture of the American Civil War, though its outcome had been anything but certain. Union general Ulysses S. Grant tried for months to capture the Confederate Mississippi River bastion, to no avail. A bold running of the river batteries, followed by a daring river crossing and audacious overland campaign, finally allowed Grant to pen the Southern army inside the entrenched city. The long and gritty siege that followed led to the fall of the city, the opening of the Mississippi to Union traffic, and a severance of Confederacy in two. In middle Tennessee, meanwhile, the Union Army of the Cumberland brilliantly recaptured thousands of square miles of territory while sustaining fewer than 600 casualties. Commander William S. Rosecrans worried the North would "overlook so great an event because it is not written in letters of blood"—and history proved him right. The Tullahoma Campaign has stood nearly forgotten compared to events along the Mississippi and in south-central Pennsylvania, yet all three major Union armies scored significant victories that helped bring the war closer to an end. The public historians writing for the popular Emerging Civil War blog, speaking on its podcast, or delivering talks at its annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge in Virginia always present their work in ways that engage and animate audiences. Their efforts entertain, challenge, and sometimes provoke readers with fresh perspectives and insights born from years of working at battlefields, guiding tours, presenting talks, and writing for the wider Civil War community. The Summer of '63: Vicksburg and Tullahoma: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War is a compilation of some of their favorites, anthologized, revised, and updated, together with several original pieces. Each entry includes helpful illustrations. This important study, when read with its companion volume The Summer of '63: Gettysburg, contextualizes the major 1863 campaigns in what arguably was Civil War's turning-point summer.

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Book SynopsisAlthough it is known that Allied airborne forces landed into a German buzzsaw on D-Day, far less is known about the troops they encountered in the dark night of June 6, 1944. One of the formations they encountered was a similarly elite group of paratroopers, who fought on the defensive instead of dropping from the skies, giving their Allied counterparts a tremendous challenge in achieving their objectives.This is the first complete wartime history of the 6th Fallschirmjäger, with numerous firsthand accounts from key members describing the events of 1943–45 vividly and without compromise for the first time. These accounts reveal previously unknown details about important operations in Italy, Russia, on the Normandy Front, Belgium, Holland, the last German Parachute drop in the Ardennes, and the final battle to the end in Germany.With over 220 original photographs, many from private collections and never before published, this book fully illustrates the men, their uniforms, equipment and weapons. Also included is an appendix with maps, battle calendar, staffing plans, a list of field and post-MOB-numbers, and the Knight's Cross recipients of the regiment. Having earned the respect of the Allied forces who fought against them during World War II, this work will inform current readers of the full record of Fallschirmjäger Regiment 6, and why the Allied advance into German-held Europe was so painstaking to achieve.Trade ReviewI found this an interesting insight into the combat history of this group of elite troops who earned much respect from their enemies as well for their actions. * www.militarymodelling.com *This is a good insight into the later Fallschirmjager - not as well trained as the original formations but with a fighting spirit that made up for their critical logistic shortcomings. The book is chock full of little titbits, such as squad and platoon composition and the fact that ‘drop’ training was only abandoned in early 1944. * Wargames Soldiers and Strategy *…wonderfully documented book…Within each chapter are numerous detailed and insightful personal accounts of combat, troop movements and war experiences… provides an excellent account of what it was like fighting in WWII from the German soldier’s perspective. It was an enjoyable and informative read. The many photographs complimented the text nicely, but were also interesting to view as a photo album. * IPMS *

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Book SynopsisMany professional historians have recorded the actions of D-Day but here is an account of the airborne actions as described by the actual men themselves in eyewitness detail. Participants range from division command personnel to regimental, battalion, company and battery commanders to chaplains, surgeons, enlisted medics, platoon sergeants, squad leaders and the rough, tough troopers who adapted quickly to fighting in mixed, unfamiliar groups after a badly scattered drop – and yet managed to gain the objectives set for them in the hedgerow country of Normandy. George Koskimaki was part of the 101st Airborne’s daring parachute landing into occupied France that day. Now, drawing on more than five hundred firsthand accounts, including the never-before-published experiences of the trailblazing pathfinders and glider men, Koskimaki re-creates those critical hours in all their ferocity and terror. Told by those who ultimately prevailed, ordinary Americans who faced an extraordinary challenge, D-Day with the Screaming Eagles is the real history of that climactic struggle beyond the beachhead.

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Book SynopsisSeptember 17, 1944; thousands of 101st Airborne Division paratroopers, known as the Screaming Eagles, descend from the sky over Holland, dropping deep behind German lines in a daring daylight mission to seize and secure the road leading north to Arnhem and the Rhine. Their success would allow the Allied army to advance swiftly into Germany. The Screaming Eagles accomplish their initial objectives within hours, but keeping their sections of “Hell’s Highway” open takes another 72 days of fierce round-the-clock fighting against crack German troops and tank divisions. Hell's Highway is the dramatic name given to the vital stretch of road that the British 3rd Guards Armoured Division had to advance down rapidly on their route to relieve the American Paras (82nd Airborne) at Nijmegen and the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem. Drawing on interviews with more than 600 paratroopers, George E. Koskimaki chronicles, with vivid firsthand accounts, the dramatic, never-before-told story of the Screaming Eagles’valiant struggle. Hell’s Highway also tells of the Dutch citizens and members of the underground who were liberated after five years of Nazi oppression and who never forgot America’s airborne heroes. This renowned force risked their lives for the freedom of a small country . . . and the world. About the Author George Koskimaki is a noted historian of the 101st Airborne Division. His other books include D-Day With The Screaming Eagles and The Battered Bastards of Bastogne. He lives in Northville, MI, USA.

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Book SynopsisThe Battered Bastards of Bastogne is the product of contributions by 530 soldiers who were on the ground or in the air over Bastogne. They lived and made this history and much of it is told in their own words.The material contributed by these men of the 101st Airborne Division, the Armour, Tank Destroyer, Army Air Force, and others is tailored meticulously by the author and placed on the historical framework known to most students of the Battle of the Bulge.Pieces of a jigsaw puzzle nearly 60 years old come together in this book, when memories related by one soldier fit with those of another unit or group pursuing the battle from another nearby piece of terrain.

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Book Synopsis“...essential background and new historical insights make otherwise inexplicable elements of the Bismarck story much clearer, without diminishing the drama of the epic sea chase and its vivid, human details.” – World War II MagazineThe sinking of the German battleship Bismarck – a masterpiece of engineering, well-armoured with a main artillery of eight 15-inch guns – was one of the most dramatic events of World War II. She left the port of Gotenhafen for her first operation on the night of 18 May 1941, yet was almost immediately discovered by Norwegian resistance and Allied air reconnaissance. British battle cruiser Hood was quickly dispatched from Scapa Flow to intercept the Bismarck, together with new battleship Prince of Wales. They were ordered to find the ship quickly because, on their way from the USA, several large convoys were heading for Britain.On 24 May, Bismarck was found off the coast of Greenland, but the ensuing battle was disastrous for the British. The Hood was totally destroyed within minutes (only 3 crewmen surviving), and Prince of Wales was badly damaged. The chase resumed until the German behemoth was finally caught, this time by four British capital ships supported by torpedo-bombers from the carrier Ark Royal. The icy North Atlantic roiled from the crash of shellfire and bursting explosions until finally the Bismarck collapsed, sending nearly 2,000 German sailors to a watery grave.Zetterling and Tamelander’s work rests on stories from survivors and the latest historical discoveries. The book starts with a thorough account of maritime developments from 1871 up to the era of the giant battleship, and ends with a vivid account, hour by hour, of the dramatic and fateful hunt for the mighty Bismarck, Nazi-Germany’s last hope to pose a powerful surface threat to Allied convoys.Trade Review…a thorough treatment, including material from interviews with survivors of their sinkings and the impact they had on the naval war in the Atlantic. * SEAPOWER *A fresh look at the life and death of the most famous German warship of World War II. * NYMAS *outstanding book about naval warfare…real time, you are there style that conveys all of the anxiety of actual combat at sea. * WWII HISTORY MAGAZINE *essential background and new historical insights make otherwise inexplicable elements of the Bismarck story much clearer, without diminishing the drama of the epic sea chase and its vivid, human details. * WORLD WAR II MAGAZINE *…unable to put it down…I highly recommend this book for anyone that likes the study of naval battles or just wants to read about an action-packed sea battle. * IPMS *... a very interesting and useful history …once you start… you will be very hard pressed to stop until the smoke has cleared and the ship is sunk. * INTERNET MODELER *Beautifully written, exhaustively researched and a mine of thought provoking insight...this is not just the best military history book I’ve read for a many a year but the best book full-stop. Essential. Buy it. * ModelArmour November *…a thorough treatment, including material from interviews with survivors of their sinkings and the impact they had on the naval war in the Atlantic. * Seapower *A fresh look at the life and death of the most famous German warship of World War II…a very good read… * STRATEGY PAGE *

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Book SynopsisA frank account of the U.S. infantry experience in northern Europe, A Footsoldier for Patton takes the reader from the beaches of Normandy through the giddy drive across France, to the brutal battles on the Westwall, in the Ardennes, and finally to the conquest of Germany itself.Patton’s army is best known for dashing armoured attacks, its commander combining the firepower of tanks with their historic lineage as cavalry. But when the Germans stood firm the greatest fighting was done by Patton’s long undersung infantry; the foot sloggers who were called upon to reduce enemy strongpoints, and who took the brunt of German counterattacks.Michael Bilder, a member of the 5th Infantry, played a unique role in the Third Army’s onslaught. A rifleman foremost, he was also a German-speaker, called upon for interrogations and special duties. An astute observer, he relates dozens of fascinating insights into the campaign, from dealing with German snipers to intoxicated Frenchwomen, as well as relaying the often morbid humour of combat. Laughter, for example, erupts among Bilder’s unit when a hated Graves Registration officer, known for robbing the pockets of the dead, gets his hand blown off by a German booby trap.When the 5th Infantry comes up against the fortress of Metz, the battle is detailed in all its horror, as is the sudden drive into the flank of the Bulge, where the Americans face their first winter battle against enemy veterans of Russia. Incidents common to the ordinary GI, but which seldom see the light of day in histories, are routinely related in this book, enriching the reader’s sense of the true reality of World War II combat.Trade ReviewAltogether, this is a fascinating insight into a rifleman’s everyday life during the later stages of the War in Europe. * Classic Military Vehicle *One of the best memoirs I have ever read about WWII service. * Military Magazine *...a fine book that I would recommend to anyone who has anything to do with the infantryman’s war. It should be compulsory reading for snout-in-trough politicians who thoughtlessly commit better men than themselves to that very experience. * Tank *...a damn good read...a roller coaster of a story filled with the highs and lows of war. * Raider *

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Book SynopsisIn July 1944, the 9,000-man Japanese garrison on the island of Tinian listened warily as the thunder of the United States Navy and Marine Corps, Army and Air Corps, descended on their neighbouring island, Saipan, just three miles away. There were 20,000 Japanese troops on Saipan, but the US obliterated the opposition after a horrific all-arms campaign. The sudden silence only indicated it was now Tinian’s turn.When the battle for Tinian finally took place the US acted with great skill. Nevertheless, the Japanese resisted with their usual stubbornness, and the already decimated US Marines suffered hundreds of casualties.During the battle Japanese shore batteries were able to riddle the battleship Colorado, killing scores, plus make multiple hits on a destroyer, killing its captain. On the island itself the US used napalm for the first time, paving the way for Marines painstakingly rooting out strongpoints. One last Banzai attack signalled the end to enemy resistance, as Marines fought toe-to-toe with their antagonists in the dark.In the end some 8,000 Japanese were killed, with only 300 surrenders, plus some others who hid out for years after the war. But those Japanese who resisted perhaps performed a greater service than they knew. After Tinian was secured, the US proceeded to build the biggest airport in the world on that island, home to hundreds of B-29 Superfortresses. Among these, just over a year later, were the Enola Gay and Boxcar, which with their atomic bombs would quickly bring the Japanese homeland itself to its knees.

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Book SynopsisValor in Vietnam focuses on 19 stories of Vietnam, stories of celebrated characters in the veteran community, compelling war narratives, vignettes of battles, and the emotional impact on the combatants. It is replete with leadership lessons as well as valuable insights that are just as applicable today as they were 40 years ago. This is an anecdotal history of America’s war in Vietnam composed of firsthand narratives by Vietnam War veterans presented in chronological order. They are intense, emotional, and highly personal stories. Connecting each of them is a brief historical commentary of that period of the war, the geography of the story, and the contemporary strategy written by Dr. Lewis“Bob” Sorley, West Point class of 1956, and author of A Better War. Valor in Vietnam presents an historical overview of the war through the eyes of participants in each branch of service and throughout the entire course of the war. Simply put, their stories serve to reflect the commitment, honour and dedication with which America’s veterans performed their service. About the Author Allen B. Clark graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1963. Two years later, in 1965, he volunteered for service in Vietnam and was assigned to the Fifth Special Forces Group. He was wounded in an early-morning mortar attack on the Dak To Special Forces camp on June 17, 1967, that necessitated the amputation of both legs below his knees. He lives outside Dallas in Plano, Texas, and is the author of Wounded Soldier, Healing Warrior.Trade Review…an interesting read and potentially a source book for some gaming scenarios. * Wargames, Soldiers, and Strategy *

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Book SynopsisU.S. Army Captain Kimberly N. Hampton was living her dream, flying armed helicopters in combat and commanding D Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry, the armed reconnaissance aviation squadron of the 82nd Airborne Division, when in January 2, 2004, whilst flying above Fallujah, Iraq, searching for an illusive sniper on the rooftops of the city, the helicopter crashed, killing her. A little past noon her helicopter was wracked by an explosion; a heat-seeking air-to-ground missile had gone into the exhaust and knocked off the helicopter’s tail boom. Kimberly’s Flight is the story of Captain Hampton’s exemplary life. This story is told through nearly fifty interviews and her own e-mails to family and friends, and is entwined with Ann Hampton’s narrative of loving and losing a child. About the Authors Award-winning journalist Anna Simon has been a reporter with The Greenville News in South Carolina since 1990. She received the South Carolina Press Association’s first place award for Reporting in Depth in 2009, and is a past recipient of multiple awards in education reporting, the press association’s Judson Chapman Award for Community Service, and other news and feature writing awards. Kimberly’s mother, Ann Hampton, first met Anna Simon immediately following her daughter’s death, when Ms. Simon wrote a series of stories for The Greenville News about Kimberly. Ann has travelled twice to Iraq, most recently in November 2010 as a Gold Star Mom in a“Hugs for Healing” program where American and Iraqi mothers grieving the deaths of their children worked side-by-side on humanitarian projects.

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