Search results for ""Casemate Publishers""

A.R. Kingsford flew with 100 Squadron, the unit that dropped the first bomb at night on Germany and, on November 11, 1918, the last one.One of the many who came to Europe from all over the Commonwealth to fight in the First World War, Kingsford had sailed from New Zealand in 1914. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and learned to fly at Northolt, before being posted to 33 Squadron at Lincoln, where he flew against Zeppelins which had been sent from across the North Sea on night bombing raids. Kingsford joined 100 Squadron in France early in 1918. He had an active career with this famous squadron up until the end of the war.Full of incident and adventure, Night Raiders of the Air is a first-person account by this young Commonwealth volunteer on his experiences during the war against Germany.

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U.S. Air Force Pararescue is the most skilful and capable rescue force in the world, taking on some of the most dangerous rescue missions imaginable. PJs (short for para-jumpers), are members of an elite unit whose commando skills are so wide-reaching they often seem like something out of science fiction. They routinely tackle perilous operations that are beyond the capabilities of other rescue organisations, and sometimes dare the seemingly impossible. Since their inception in 1947, PJs have saved more than thirty thousand lives. They can pluck near-frozen climbers off jagged mountaintops as well as recover shot-down jet pilots stranded deep in hostile territory. In the dead of night, the PJs parachute into ominous black waves that loom twenty feet tall to save distressed seamen, and brave the cruellest and most desolate deserts to recover victims. U.S. Air Force pararescuemen have played a prominent role in every armed conflict since the Korean War, rescuing thousands of soldiers from behind enemy lines.Guardian Angel provides a rare glimpse at a PJ’s mind-blowing adventures. You follow Sgt. Sine’s trek across exotic lands and share his encounters with mysterious cultures. Learn what it takes to lower from a helicopter onto the slippery decks of storm-tossed ships to rescue dying sailors. Feel what it’s like to be caught in the middle of a bomb blast so powerful that it tears high-rise buildings in half, and flattens armoured vehicles hundreds of yards away. Soar high above towering jungle trees and experience the danger of swinging on a slim cable below a helicopter while performing a mid-air rescue of a pilot, dangling from his chute a hundred feet above a mountain slope. Go to war in Afghanistan and parachute onto a nocturnal battlefield surrounded by land mines to help a mortally wounded soldier. This is a deadly serious business: when things go wrong, they can go terribly wrong. Aircraft crash into mountainsides, killing all onboard, while some PJs live through horrendous helicopter crashes only to struggle with freezing temperatures, snapped limbs and torn flesh in a desperate fight for survival.This book presents true stories of uncommon courage told from the perspective of the actual men in the arena. PJ’s belong to an exclusive brotherhood and forge unbreakable bonds of loyalty, commitment, and sacrifice. They do these things for their country, to protect their brothers in arms, and to honour their motto: “That Others May Live.”

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After the publication of his best-selling novel, Joseph Heller usually chose to deny that any of his richly drawn characters were based on his actual war mates. However, to those who served with Heller in the 340th Bomb Group the novel’s characters were indeed recognisable; from the hard-drinking, vengeful, and disillusioned Chief White Half Oat; young, sliced-in-half Kid Sampson; shrieking, frenzied Hungry Joe; to Colonel Cathcart, Doc Dreedle, Yossarian and that capitalist supreme, Milo Minderbinder.In this book we finally encounter the real men and combat missions on which the novel was based. Blending fact, fancy and history with full-blown original illustrations and rare, previously unpublished photos of these daring USAAF flyers and their Corsican-based B-25 Marauders, along with descriptions of the 340th’s real wartime events, the work includes twelve men of the Bomb Group relating twelve richly told tales of their own.Now all of the men upon whom Heller based his characters are gone. However, the last survivor, George L. Wells, was an extraordinary combat pilot and the model for Catch-22s Capt. Wren, and he is the common thread who weaves through this book, allowing the reader to truly feel the war and even thumb through George’s well-worn mission book describing attacks on Axis ports, ships, bridges, and the notorious Brenner Pass. Author Patricia Chapman Meder has been a professional artist in both fine and commercial art for the past 35 years,13 of them in Europe. When Catch-22 was published it was quickly apparent that this book was based on the Bomb Group her father commanded in World War II. This true-life parallel book thus begged to be written.

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In 2004 the world was first introduced to The Filthy Thirteen, a book describing the most notorious squad of fighting men in the 101st Airborne Division who were the inspiration for the movie The Dirty Dozen. This is the long awaited work of Jack Womer, one of the squad’s integral members, and probably its best soldier. Womer was originally a member of the 29th Infantry Division and selected to be part of its elite Ranger battalion until, after a year of gruelling training under the eyes of British Commando instructors, they were suddenly dissolved. Bitterly disappointed, Womer asked for transfer to another elite unit, the Screaming Eagles, where room was found for him among the division’s most miscreant squad of brawlers, drunkards and goof-offs. Beginning on June 6, 1944, however, the Filthy Thirteen began proving themselves more a menace to the German Army than they had been to their own officers and the good people of England, embarking on a year of ferocious combat at the very tip of the Allied advance in Europe. In this work, with the help of Steven DeVito, Womer provides an amazingly frank look at close-quarters combat in Europe, as well as the almost surreal experience of dust-bowl-era GI’s entering country after country in their grapple with the Wehrmacht, finally ending up in Hitler’s mountaintop lair in Germany itself. Throughout his fights, Jack Womer credited his Ranger/Commando training for helping him to survive, even though most of the rest of the Filthy Thirteen did not. And in the end he found the reward he had most coveted all along; being able to return to his fiancée Theresa back in the States.

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It is January 1942. Nazi Germany is about to commence an assault along the US East Coast, but this “Atlantic Pearl Harbor” would prove far more devastating than Japan’s attack on Hawaii five weeks earlier. The wolves are closing in, and few Americans realize their beaches and boardwalks will soon witness the worst naval defeat in US history.The United States is already grappling with its unpreparedness for war as the Japanese Empire annihilates US forces in the Far East and the Nazis stand triumphant over vast swaths of Europe. Britain’s survival, meanwhile, depends on cargoes delivered by civilian-manned merchant ships. America’s economic resources and latent military strength represent a light in the darkness—yet Hitler’s favorite admiral also knows this, and he has set in motion a plan of unprecedented boldness.The ensuing fiery months saw German submarines, or “U-boats,” sink hundreds of ships from Maine to Texas. This gambit, which threatened to cripple the Allies, pitted Germans against Americans in a desperate struggle that stained East Coast waters with blood and oil. Plying the seas amid this deadly game of cat-and-mouse was a motley but stalwart contingent of civilian merchant mariners carrying the fuel, food, weapons, and raw materials the Allies needed to crush the Third Reich.Several American states became battlefronts in 1942, but the events that transpired off the Jersey Shore illustrate the savagery and scope of a campaign waged across the Western Hemisphere. Even in the 21st century, shipwrecks still attest to the countless ways to die which friend and foe faced only miles from the Garden State’s most popular summer destinations. These seafarers’ lives were forfeit, but the battle they fought would decide the fate of millions.

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Between 1940 and 1945, the Diamond T Motor Car Company supplied just over 50,000 vehicles to the US military, and also to the Allies. Of these, just over 30,000 were heavy 4-ton 6x6 trucks of varying types: cargo, tow truck, pontoon carrier, engineer, and cartographic. The 'Diamond' would serve in all theatres of operations, wherever its robustness and reliability were necessary to complete the mission. Due to its expertise, Diamond T also produced the famous half-track, with more than 10,000 manufactured.All of these models are described in this book by Didier Andres, an expert in the subject. It is illustrated throughout using archival and period photographs and diagrams.

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The battle of the Falaise Pocket, in August 1944, was the turning point in the Normandy campaign. By early August the German Army was in turmoil: while it was managing to hold back the Allies, the defense involved resources that could not be replaced, and the Allies ruled the skies above. In late July, American troops broke through the American lines and pushed south and east, while British and Canadian troops pushed south. Although unable to counter these offensives, Hitler refused to permit the commander Army Group B, Field Marshal von Kluge, to withdraw. Instead he was ordered to launch a counteroffensive at Mortain, the result being that the Germans ended up further into the Allied envelopment. On 8 August Montgomery ordered that the Allied armies converge on the Falaise area—by 21 August the Allies had linked up and sealed the pocket, trapping around 50,000 Germans inside. While many soldiers did eventually escape the encirclement, the losses were catastrophic and by the end of the month Army Group B had retreated across the Seine, ending the battle of Normandy. This illustrated account examines the battle from the failed offensive at Mortain, looking at both German and Allied perspectives, using maps, diagrams and profiles to complete the story.

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When ships under the command of European settlers first sailed into the Delaware Bay in the early 1600s, Pennsylvania’s documented history of strange and macabre events began. Contrary to the growth of other colonies like Massachusetts and Virginia, the Philadelphia area became a melting pot of different cultures and beliefs that all served to shape the way its people related to the supernatural, to the treatment of their dead, and toward each other. While it provided a refuge for those seeking religious liberty and economic prosperity, cultural tensions also shaped the colony in sinister ways, leading to a level of violence in the eighteenth century unseen anywhere else in the world. How, in a place that was eighty percent pacifist, did Chester County, Pennsylvania, outstrip even London in the amount of murders and assaults committed? How did a judicial system hailed at the end of the 1600s as the best and fairest in the world, in which the death penalty only applied in cases of murder and treason, make the decision a century later to hang a man for burglary? Under what circumstances was it considered perfectly reasonable, even expected, to eat the dead?Jennifer L. Green transports readers through three centuries of murder, disease, witchcraft, cannibalism and botched executions in Chester and Delaware counties, using archival evidence and research to explain how such historical oddities and tragedies occurred.

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This second volume of a three-volume set offers concise biographical information for generals and admirals of the Third Reich with surnames between H and O. The set covers all branches of service, providing a brief but scholarly overview of each individual, including personal details and dates for all attachments to unit, and medals awarded, offering a readily accessible go-to reference work for all World War II researchers and historians.In addition to the biographic information, this volume includes detailed appendices on Reichsheer Generals and Reichsmarine Admirals, 1921–35.These books are packed with information on these senior officers of the Third Reich, many of whom are little documented in the English language.

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Although he objected to being characterized as such, Hamilton McWhorter III's service to family and country make him a standout among America's Greatest Generation. A Georgia native whose family roots date from that region's settlement during the 1700s, “Mac” McWhorter was a naval aviation cadet undergoing training when Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941. After earning his Wings of Gold in early 1942, Ensign McWhorter was trained as a fighter pilot in the robust but technologically outmoded F4F Wildcat. Initially assigned to VF-9—a fiercely spirited and hard-playing fighter squadron—he saw first combat in November 1942 against Vichy French forces in North Africa.After returning to the United States, VF-9 became the first unit to convert to the new Grumman F6F Hellcat. This was the fighter the U.S. Navy would use to crush Japanese air power during the long offensive from the Southwest Pacific to the shores of Japan. From mid-1943, Hamilton McWhorter was constantly engaged in the unforgiving and deadly aerial warfare that characterized the battles against Imperial Japan. His fifth aerial victory, in November 1943 off Tarawa Atoll, made him the first ace in the Hellcat, and seven subsequent victories ensured his place in the annals of air-to-air combat.McWhorter's combat service, from the beginning of the war to the last campaign off the shores of Okinawa, makes his story a must-read for the serious student of the Pacific air war. Hamilton McWhorter III retired from the Navy as a commander in 1969. He passed away in 2008.

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A multi-author exploration of leadership and strategy through the lens of classic science fiction.

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The story of how the 11th Armored Cavalry overcame the perception that Vietnam was an infantry war, and demonstrated what armor could do in an insurgency.Finalist, 2020 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing AwardsWhen the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment came ashore at Vung Tau, South Vietnam, in September 1966, it faced a number of challenges. The enemy—Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA)—was, of course, the most critical challenge. But the terrain and weather were also factors that could adversely affect the employment of both armored vehicles and helicopters alike. The dearth of doctrine and tactics for the employment of armored cavalry in a counterinsurgency was equally challenging—especially during the pre-deployment training and initial combat operations.But just as importantly, there was an institutional bias within the Army that an insurgency was an infantryman’s war. Despite the thick jungle and monsoonal rains, despite the lack of doctrinal guidance, Blackhorse leaders found a way to overcome the obstacles and accomplish the mission. Within a year of their arrival in Vietnam, Blackhorse troopers overcame ambushes that featured volleys of anti-tank weapons, multitudes of mines, and coordinated assaults by reinforced enemy regiments against troop-sized positions. They defeated an entire enemy division twice their size. Most importantly, the 11th Cavalry successfully demonstrated the ability to operate on and off the roads, in the jungle, and during both the wet and dry seasons. By the spring of 1967, Army leaders were beginning to realize the value of armored forces in Vietnam. With the Blackhorse Regiment leading the way, armor was considered an essential part of the combat team.This is a history of the Blackhorse Regiment in the Vietnam War, and the stories of some of the 20,000 young Americans who served in its ranks during the war.

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The decision to not deploy reoriented, trained Iraqi divisions and other allied forces in numbers significant enough to adequately stabilize the situation in Iraq in 2003–04 resulted in significant shortages of manpower and equipment that eventually led to a less-than-satisfactory ending to the campaign, and significantly challenged the entire Coalition effort in the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The roles and missions assumed by allies were vitally important in the under-resourced effort to bring order to the chaos of Iraq but would remain relatively unheralded throughout most of the campaign.Colonel Tiso’s account of this time offers unique insights into the challenges of planning the Iraqi campaign and the intricacies and challenges of multinational service through the lens of his assignments as a war planner at U.S. Central Command, Senior Military Adviser of the Arab Peninsula Shield Force and the Polish-led Multinational Division (Central-South), and Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (C-3) of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team tasked to develop the New Iraqi Army. His observations cast significant light on the missions these units undertook and the challenges they confronted.His firsthand account of operational planning for war in Iraq captures the concerns of the military planners and senior commanders to liberate and stabilize the country, enabling the reader to better understand the challenges of operational war planning, coalition warfare, the difficulty of stabilizing Iraq after the fall of Baghdad, the development of the New Iraqi Army, and ultimately a deeper understanding of America’s “long war” in Iraq.

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A naive patriotic teenage German boy is willingly drafted into the Wehrmacht and posted to Yugoslavia where he is immersed in a bloody civil and world war.

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Plying through the darkness at the very limit of the earth's atmosphere, the U-2's extrasensory intelligence-gathering sensors quietly intercept and redistribute mountains of information to a highly classified ground site, located at Osan Air Base, Korea. From there, the top-secret intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) products are distributed to the highest levels of command authority within the United States. Although the Dragon Lady has been in continuous service for nearly 70 years, she has always been considered a "National Asset," with technology so sophisticated that she outlasted her "replacement" – the SR-71 – decades ago.Lt. Col. (Ret.) Rick Bishop, a former U-2 pilot, takes the reader deep into the Black World of non-satellite ISR to reveal how a small detachment of 100 hand-selected personnel with only eight pilots and two aircraft became the most reliable and productive air force unit to ever utilise the Dragon Lady, to this day. As second-in-command of Detachment 2 (Det 2) of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing during the mid-1980s, Rick kept a detailed journal of the daily operations that routinely launched pilots on high-altitude solo missions lasting at least nine hours. Wearing full-pressure suits, these missions took a physiological toll on each pilot who upon return had to coax the Lady, universally known for her treacherous landing characteristics, safely back on to the ground along with the often-priceless intelligence-gathering sensors.Although the pilots were the pointy end of the spear, this is also the story of the missions that could not be accomplished without the dedicated effort from enlisted personnel and civilian company tech reps to keep the maintenance-intensive platform in the air. Along with Physiological Support Division personnel, responsible for keeping the pilot alive in their pressure suit environment during emergency situations, as well as numerous other support troops required for logistical and supply support, the unparalleled success of Det 2 can only be attributed to the professional pride of the close-knit brotherhood known as the Black Cats of Osan.face=Calibri>

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Black Tulip is the dramatic story of history's top fighter ace, Luftwaffe pilot Erich Hartmann. It's also the story of how his service under Hitler was simplified and elevated to Western mythology during the Cold War. Over 1,404 wartime missions, Hartmann claimed a staggering 352 airborne kills, and his career contains all the dramas you would expect. There were the frostbitten fighter sweeps over the Eastern Front, drunken forays to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, a decade of imprisonment in the wretched Soviet POW camps, and further military service during the Cold War that ended with conflict and angst. Just when Hartmann’s second career was faltering, he was adopted by a network of writers and commentators personally invested in his welfare and reputation. These men, mostly Americans, published elaborate, celebratory stories about Hartmann and his elite fraternity of Luftwaffe pilots. With each dogfight tale put into print, Hartmann’s legacy became loftier and more secure, and his complicated service in support of Nazism faded away. A simplified, one-dimensional account of his life – devoid of the harder questions about allegiance and service under Hitler – has gone unchallenged for almost a generation. Black Tulip locates the ambiguous truth about Hartmann and so much of the German Wehrmacht in general: that many of these men were neither full-blown Nazis nor impeccable knights. They were complex, contradictory, and elusive. This book portrays a complex human rather than the heroic caricature we’re used to, and it argues that the tidy, polished hero stories we’ve inherited about men like Hartmann say as much about those who've crafted them as they do about the heroes themselves.

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Richard Edward Carey came from a broken home. Enlisting in the Corps in 1945 he later earned a commission, fighting at Inchon and Chosin in Korea before becoming a pilot – flying every aircraft in the Marine arsenal. During his 38-year military career, he witnessed and participated in major historical events, though a high school wrestling injury would eliminate him from the Mercury-7 space program.As a second lieutenant, he tackled General Douglas MacArthur on the way to Seoul in 1950. Carey would provide critical intelligence decisions enabling the successful defense of the Chinese attack on Hagaru-ri at the Chosin Reservoir. In 189 days of combat, he escaped death seven times, and was awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star Medals. In Vietnam he flew 204 combat sorties, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and 16 Air Medals. In 1975, from Saigon, Carey led history’s largest helicopter evacuation of refugees.Subordinates praised his leadership and courage. Never afraid to stand up for his principles, Carey faced down an Air Force general in Vietnam, and organized air defense for supply helicopters at Khe Sahn; he countermanded a senior Naval officer’s order during the 1975 Saigon evacuation, refusing to cease air operations and forcing a reluctant ambassador onto a flight.In retirement, Carey served as a cabinet member for the governor of Ohio and ran the airport in his native home of Columbus. When the Careys moved to Texas, Carey continued supporting veterans, advocating for veterans’ health care, aiding the drive to build accommodation for families of hospitalised veterans, and was a leader in the effort to build a veterans’ cemetery in Dallas. He would lead the drive to build two Chosin Few memorials even as he cared for his ailing wife.This biography is based upon hours of interviews with the general, capturing an exceptional and inspiring life.

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Pickett's charge has just ended, the battle of Gettysburg is over. The Confederate army is defeated and must retreat to the Potomac River forty miles away with thousands of wagons full of wounded soldiers, provisions and tens of thousands of animals.Asa Helms, a private in the Twenty-Sixth North Carolina Infantry, joined the army to oppose the Yankee's invasion of his "country." He is torn between serving his country with honor and going home to take care of his wife who is in great need. He faces a long, seemingly impossible march with little food, little hope and the Yankees on his heels.Captain Louis Young, aide-to-camp to Confederate General James Pettigrew, is fighting to preserve a culture and a lifestyle and possible domination by the despicable Yankees. The defeat at Gettysburg, the horrendous condition of the army and the endless resources of the enemy are causing him to doubt the ability of the Confederacy to gain another major victory and thus independence. His objective is to get the rebel army across the Potomac River to preserve it to fight another day.Colonel George Gray, an Irishman, is colonel of the Sixth Michigan Cavalry. He is hell-bent on putting down the rebellion before it divides the country that has been so good to him. He is neither a soldier, nor an accomplished equestrian, and has gotten on the wrong side of his superior, General George Custer, with whom he is in constant conflict. He sees a chance to cut off the Confederate army and end the war before it reaches the Potomac River.The journey ends at the Potomac River where each soldier must face the bitter realities of this unnatural war. Asa must choose between escaping across the river or remaining with his wounded friend and facing certain captivity.

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This book offers a unique perspective on the decisive early weeks of the invasion in 1944, written by a German Army Corps Intelligence officer stationed in Normandy at the time of the Allied invasion, who during the invasion was the department head for enemy messages processing (Ic) in the staff of the LXXXIV AK. It discusses in detail the events leading up to the creation of Falaise Pocket, described by the author as "tragic turning point of an entire front." It also offers illuminating insights to the conditions in the American landing section and explains how the German troops based there came to be defeated.Normandy: From Cotentin to Falaise, June-July 1944 is the first full length English translation of the original edition published in German in 1954, ten years after D-Day.

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George VI's biographer, Sir John Wheeler Bennett wrote "The actual turning of the tide in the 2nd World War may be accurately determined as the first week of July 1942." This book argues that it is possible to be even more exact: the tide turned at about 21.00 hrs on 2 July 1942, when Rommel's tanks withdrew for the first time since the fall of Tobruk on 20 June, or arguably since 14 January 1942 at El Agheila.At dusk on Wednesday 1 July 1942, Rommel broke through the centre of the British defences at Alamein. His tanks had overwhelmed the gallant defence of the 18th Indian Infantry Brigade in the Deir el Shein at the foot of the Ruweisat Ridge. At that moment, and for the next twelve hours, there was no further organised defence between the spearhead of the Afrika Korps and Alexandria. Throughout the next day, only a handful of men and guns stood between Rommel and his prize. In Cairo, black clouds of smoke from burning files showed that many people believed Rommel would not stop short of the Suez Canal, his stated objective.But, on Friday 3 July at 22.56 hrs, only 48 hours later, Rommel called off his attack and ordered his troops to dig in where they stood. The Delta was saved.Just a few weeks earlier, the 18th Indian Infantry Brigade, which took the brunt of the initial attack on 1 July, and the guns of the small column known as Robcol that stopped Rommel on 2 and 3 of July, had been in northern Iraq. General Auchinleck's desperate measure, pulling them 1,500 miles from Iraq into the Western desert, just succeeded but it greatly increased the price of failure. If Robcol had failed, it is doubtful that Rommel would have stopped at the canal; it does not require much imagination to see his forces threatening to link up with Barbarossa in the Ukraine. This vivid account of the battle of Ruweisat Ridge, the beginning of the battle of Alamein, was written by an officer who was part of Robcol on the fateful day.

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Citizen-soldier Strong Vincent was many things: Harvard graduate, lawyer, political speaker, descendent of pilgrims and religious refugees, husband, father, brother. But his greatest contribution to history is as the saviour of the Federal left on the second day at Gettysburg, when he and his men held Little Round Top against overwhelming Confederate numbers. Forgotten by history in favour of his subordinate, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Vincent faded into relative obscurity in the decades following his death. This book restores Vincent to his rightful place among the heroes of the battle of Gettysburg: presenting his life story using new, never-before-published sources and archival material to bring the story of one of the most forgotten officers of the American Civil War back to the attention of readers and historians.

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This book provides an overview of the victory markings painted on the fins and rudders of the planes of the German day fighter and night fighter aircraft between 1939 and 1945, and demonstrates how these were applied in reality through the profiles of nineteen pilots, including some of the most emblematic pilots of the Luftwaffe: Hans Troitzsch, Johannes Gentzen, Frank Liesendahl, Wilhelm Balthasar, Otto Bertram, Joachim Müncheberg, Karl-Heinz Koch, Kurt “Kuddel” Ubben, Felix-Maria Brandis, "Fiffi" Stahlschmidt, Franz-Josef Beerenbrock, Heinrich Setz, Walter "Gulle" Oesau, Max-Hellmuth Ostermann, Heinrich Bartels, "Fritz" Dinger, Martin Drewes, Egmont zur Lippe-Weissenfeld and Ludwig Meister.

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Written by a proven leader and leadership expert, this book is an invaluable guide to anyone wanting to improve their leadership skills. Immersive, interactive, and memorable, it will empower you to raise your leadership awareness and help you on your journey to become a winning leader. Concise, focused chapters and an interactive format mean even the most time-strapped can benefit from John Antal's decades of experience.If you are an emerging leader, this book will provide you with a mind-map and internal compass to maintain a bearing during your leadership journey. This mind-map will outline the contours of the leadership topography; the compass you create in your heart and your mind will provide direction; and your purpose will generate a destination.If you are an experienced leader, this book is also for you. You will find in it reinforcement, confirmation, and a series of knowledge points to add to your existing cognitive map and compass and to help you develop other leaders at every level of skill and awareness.

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World War I ushered in a renewed scramble for Africa. At its helm, Jan Smuts grabbed the opportunity to realise his ambition of a Greater South Africa. He set his sights upon the vast German colonies of South-West Africa and East Africa - the demise of which would end the Kaiser's grandiose schemes for Mittelafrika. As part of his strategy to shift South Africa's borders inexorably northward, Smuts even cast an eye toward Portuguese and Belgian African possessions.Smuts, his abilities as a general much denigrated by both his contemporary and then later modern historians, was no armchair soldier. This cabinet minister and statesman donned a uniform and led his men into battle. He learned his soldiery craft under General Koos De la Rey's tutelage, and another soldier-statesman, General Louis Botha during the South African War 1899-1902. He emerged from that war, immersed in the Boer manoeuvre doctrine he devastatingly waged in the guerrilla phase of that conflict. His daring and epic invasion of the Cape at the head of his commando remains legendary. The first phase of the German South West African campaign and the Afrikaner Rebellion in 1914 placed his abilities as a sound strategic thinker and a bold operational planner on display. Champing at the bit, he finally had the opportunity to command the Southern Forces in the second phase of the German South West African campaign.Placed in command of the Allied forces in East Africa in 1916, he led a mixed bag of South Africans and Imperial troops against the legendary Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and his Shutztruppe. Using his penchant for Boer manoeuvre warfare together with mounted infantry led and manned by Boer Republican veterans, he proceeded to free the vast German territory from Lettow-Vorbeck's grip. Often leading from the front, his operational concepts were an enigma to the British under his command, remaining so to modern-day historians. Although unable to bring the elusive and wily Lettow-Vorbeck to a final decisive battle, Smuts conquered most of the territory by the end of his tenure in February 1917.General Jan Smuts and his Great War in Africa makes use of multiple archival sources and the official accounts of all the participants to provide a long-overdue reassessment of Smuts's generalship and his role in furthering the strategic aims of South Africa and the British Empire in Africa during World War I.

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When the U.S. Army went to war in South Vietnam in 1965, the general consensus was that counterinsurgency was an infantryman's war; if there was any role at all for armored forces, it would be strictly to support the infantry. However, from the time the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment arrived in country in September 1966, troopers of the Blackhorse Regiment demonstrated the fallacy of this assumption. By the time of Tet '68, the Army's leadership began to understand that the Regiment's mobility, firepower, flexibility, and leadership made a difference on the battlefield well beyond its numbers.Over the course of the 11th Cavalry's five-and-a-half years in combat in South Vietnam and Cambodia, over 25,000 young men served in the Regiment. Their stories - and those of their families - represent the Vietnam generation in graphic, sometimes humorous, often heart-wrenching detail. Collected by the author through hundreds of in-person, telephone, and electronic interviews over a period of 25-plus years, these "war stories" provide context for the companion volume, The Blackhorse in Vietnam.Amongst the stories of the Blackhorse troopers and their families are the tales of the wide variety of animals they encountered during their time in combat, as well as the variable landscape, from jungle to rice paddies, and weather. Blackhorse Tales concludes with a look at how the troopers have dealt with their combat experiences since returning from Vietnam. Between the chapters are combat narratives, one from each year of the Regiment's five-and-a-half years in Southeast Asia. These combat vignettes begin on 2 December 1966, when a small column of 1st Squadron vehicles and troopers were ambushed on Highway 1 and emerged victorious despite being outnumbered. They go on to describe the one-of-a-kind crossing of the Dong Nai River on 25 April 1968, as the Blackhorse Regiment rode to the rescue during Mini-Tet 1968, and the 2nd Squadron's fight to clear the Boi Loi Woods in late April 1971.

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During Hank Zeybel's first tour in Vietnam he flew 772 C130 sorties as a navigator. He volunteered for a second tour, requesting assignment to B26s so he could "shoot back." When B26s were removed from the inventory, he accepted a Spectre gunship crew slot, flying truck-busting missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He describes the terror of flying through heavy AA fire over the trail, and the heroics of the pilots in bringing their crews through.Away from the war he recalls leave back in the US, his elderly father bewildered by his war-hardened attitude and black sense of humor. Contextualising his time with Spectre gunships, he compares his experiences with those of other airmen, like Phil Combies and Robin Olds, and his broader Air Force career - he joined upon graduating university in 1955 and his first operational assignment was as a B47 Stratojet navigator-bomber at Strategic Air Command - trained to drop thermonuclear bombs with precision. From 1957 to 1963, he logged over two thousand hours as a radar-bombardier in B47 Stratojets and B52 C-models. In this memoir of Vietnam, his Air Force career and his second career as a journalist and writer, Zeybel's admiration of the skill and bravery of pilots - many of whom who he depended on for his very survival - shines through his desciptions of combat missions and being "along for the ride."

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It is the summer of 1945, the last and very dangerous days of World War II. The Office of Strategic Services is in close, cooperative contact with Ho Chi Minh and the fighting cadre of the Viet Minh, working against the Japanese. In the closing months of the war, the OSS parachute a team of special operations soldiers into Tonkin, northern Viet Nam. Led by Major John Guthrie and his second-in-command, Captain Edouard Parnell, both experienced officers from their earlier assignments in occupied France and Belgium, the team are tasked with working with Ho Chi Minh against the Japanese in the midst of various groups vying for control of Indochina. Guthrie and his team have to adapt to the entirely different context of Vietnamese politics in order to encourage communist operations against the Japanese. Guthrie in particular, struggles with both his personal and professional conflicts. The relationship that Guthrie and the rest of the OSS team develops with the Viet Minh leadership is of distinct annoyance to French ambitions to regain control of their colony, Indochina. Based on the little-known true story of American and Viet Minh collaboration in 1945, this novel challenges the later-accepted dogma of both those supporting and those opposing the American role in the Viet Nam conflict. This novel notes how what is seen at a later time is often inadequate to understand what actually went on. Its contemporary relevance is simply a mirror of what is always the case in international affairs: today's enemies can and may be tomorrow's friends - and most importantly, the reverse is true also.

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By late January of 1863, the 9th Massachusetts Battery of Light Artillery has been stationed within the Washington, D.C. defenses the entirety of its five-month existence. The soldiers are badly demoralized, inadequately trained and poorly disciplined. When the inept captain of the battery believes that he's about to be fired, he hastily resigns, and the governor of Massachusetts promptly selects a twenty-three-year-old artillery officer with battlefield experience to take command. Captain John Bigelow institutes strict discipline and rigorous training which causes the men, including Chief Bugler Charles Wellington Reed, to consider him to be a heartless tyrant. However, Captain Bigelow's methods rapidly improve their capabilities and Reed reluctantly gains respect for the new captain. Nevertheless, subtle conflict between captain and bugler remains in a manner only constrained by military protocol. In late June of 1863 the battery is collected by the Army of the Potomac as it passes the Washington defenses to thwart an invasion by Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. After days of hard marching, Bigelow's Battery arrives on the Gettysburg battlefield in the forenoon of July 2, 1863. Within hours they are immersed in violent combat during which the officers and men of the battery fight like veterans against the Confederates. Unbeknownst to Charlie, he will twice disobey a direct order from Captain Bigelow before the day is out. When furious fighting reaches a crescendo, the inexperienced light artillery battery is ordered to hold its position at all hazards, meaning until it's overrun. Without hesitation the batterymen stand to their guns and sacrifice their life's blood to gain the time necessary for a second line of artillery to be formed behind them, thus helping to prevent a disastrous defeat for the Federal Army on Northern soil. Charlie saves his captain's life and is later awarded the Medal of Honor.

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This second of two volumes recounts the WWII history of B Company, 756th Tank Battalion in vivid detail. The outfit, since upgraded from M5 light tanks to M4 'Sherman' mediums, claws through some of the toughest battles of WWII – from a horrific stalemate at Cassino in February 1944, through the bloody Operation Diadem May breakout, to the stunning capture of Rome on 4th June 1944. This unique multi-volume history covers the full spectrum of experiences of the men in one tank company from inception in June 1941 through the occupation of Germany in 1945. An American tank company in WWII consisted of only five officers and approximately 100 enlisted men – all living, travelling and fighting in seventeen tanks, two jeeps, one truck, one half-track and one tank retriever. Uniting the official record with the rich, personal accounts of the participants, this volume sweeps the reader along a highly detailed and shocking journey chronicling the evolution of American armour doctrine and tank design from June 1941 through to VE Day. The B Company tankers often fought at a disadvantage – struggling to survive a myriad of battlefield challenges and triumph against enemy armour better armed and better protected. What was once envisioned as a warfare of sweeping armoured formations managed by West Point lieutenant colonels and ROTC captains quickly devolved into small unit street fights relying more and more on the initiative, resourcefulness and cunning of lowly OCS lieutenants and combat-seasoned sergeants. The journey is long, unforgiving and brutal, and 47 tankers would be lost along the way.

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South of the Norman city of Caen, the twin features of the Verrières and Bourguebus ridges were key stepping stones for the British Second Army in late July 1944 - taking them was crucial if it was to be successful in its attempt to break out of the Normandy bridgehead. To capture this vital ground, Allied forces would have to defeat arguably the strongest German armoured formation in Normandy: the I. SS-Panzerkorps "Leibstandarte." The resulting battles of late July and early August 1944 saw powerful German defensive counterattacks south of Caen inflict tremendous casualties, regain lost ground and at times defeat Anglo-Canadian operations in detail.Viewed by the German leadership as militarily critical, the majority of its armored assets were deployed to dominate this excellent tank country east of the Orne river. These defeats and the experience of meeting an enemy with near-equal resources exposed a flawed Anglo-Canadian offensive tactical doctrine that was overly dependent on the supremacy of its artillery forces. Furthermore, weaknesses in Allied tank technology inhibited their armored forces from fighting a decisive armored battle, forcing Anglo-Canadian infantry and artillery forces to further rely on First World War "Bite and Hold" tactics, massively supported by artillery. Confronted with the full force of the Panzerwaffe, Anglo-Canadian doctrine at times floundered. In response, the Royal Artillery and Royal Canadian Artillery units pummelled the German tankers and grenadiers, but despite their best efforts, ground could not be captured by concentrated artillery fire alone.This is a detailed account of the success of I. SS-Panzerkorps' defensive operations, aimed at holding the Vèrrieres-Bourgebus ridges in late July 1944.

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Imagine how many lives would have been saved had the war in Europe finished in December 1944 instead of five months later... David Colley analyses critical mistakes made by the Allied supreme commander, General Dwight Eisenhower, in the last nine months of the war. He argues that had Eisenhower been more adept at taking advantage of several potential breakthroughs in the Siegfried Line in the fall of 1944 the war in the European Theatre of Operations might have ended sooner. The book details the American penetration of the Siegfried Line in mid-September and their advance into Germany at Wallendorf before the troops were called back. It also examines in detail operations in the Stolberg Corridor and the actions of General Lucian Truscott. It compares the battles at Wallendorf and Stolberg with Operation Market Garden, and assesses the effectiveness of these operations and the use of the troops. Eisenhower later called off another operation in November 1944, already in progress, to cross the Rhine and destroy the German 1st Army north of Strasbourg. American and German generals believe this operation would have shortened the war. The Folly of Generals explores these potential breakthroughs – along with other strategic and tactical mistakes in the ETO and in Italy, some never before revealed – that might have shortened the war by a considerable margin.

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"...Ray Davis was a hardened combat veteran. This was brought home to me one day while visiting a remote Army firebase in the jungle south of Khe Sanh. As the two of us strode along the jungle pathway, Davis suddenly stopped and peered intently into the thick green foliage. I suspected danger, brought my rifle up, and slipped off the safety. After a few moments, the general turned and casually remarked, “Dick, this reminds me of a command post I had on Guadalcanal.” I mumbled, “Yes, sir,” and surreptitiously fingered the safety to the “on” position. “Christ,” I thought in awe, “I was only two years old at the time of Guadalcanal. This is the old man’s third war!” — Dick Camp, introduction to book"A well-crafted biography of an important Marine commander. It illustrates well through Davis' career the Marine Corps of the mid-Twentieth century." – Paul Westermeyer, HistorianA native of Georgia, Raymond Davis joined the Marine Corps after university and would go on to serve in three wars and be decorated for gallantry several times including the Medal of Honor for his actions at Chosin where his leadership saved countless American lives. He retired as a four-star general after 33 years in the corps.Dick Camp, Marine veteran and historian, weaves memoirs, first-hand accounts, and his own personal memories of General Davis in this first biography of this archetypal "Old Breed" Marine.

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In 1941, military operations were conducted by large formations along the northern coast of Scandinavia – for the first time in history of warfare. A modern army suddenly swept into that isolated and inhospitable region that was yet to possess the level of importance it would later assume in Cold War polar strategy.The Arctic Front was the northernmost theatre in the war waged by Germany against Russia. For a period of four years, German troops from all branches of the Wehrmacht fought side by side with Finnish border guard units. The high point of the war on the Arctic Front was the assembly and advance of Germany’s Mountain Corps Norway in the summer and autumn of 1941. Commanded by general of the mountain troops, Eduard Dietl, and composed of the 2nd and 3rd Mountain Divisions, the Mountain Corps advanced out of occupied North Norway, assembled in the Petsamo Corridor in North Finland, and struck into Russian territory in an attempt to seize Murmansk. It did not reach its objective.This account of the operation was written by Wilhelm Hess, quartermaster of the Mountain Corps Norway. He draws upon his personal experience of the conditions and actions on the Arctic Front in order to describe and analyse the environment, the sequence of events, and the reasons behind certain decisions. In addition to describing how operations conducted by the Mountain Corps unfolded, Hess provides insight as to how the terrain, the flow of supplies, and the war at sea impacted those operations.

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“Few people are as uniquely well equipped as Anthony Wells to write an account of these close and special relationships. His penetrating and informed analysis offers us all hope for the continuance of an alliance which makes the world a safer place." - VICE ADMIRAL SIR JEREMY BLACKHAM, Knight Commander of the Bath, editor, The Naval Review UK-US intelligence and the wider Five Eyes community of Canada, Australia and New Zealand is primarily about one main thing, relationships. In this remarkable book, Anthony Wells charts fifty years of change, turmoil, intense challenges, successes and failures, and never-ending abiding UK-US and Five Eyes relationships. He traces the development of institutions that he firmly believes have sustained and indeed may have saved the free world, Western democracies and their allies from those ill disposed to the value system and culture of our nations. More than a chronology of the UK-US intelligence community during this fifty-year period, it is also a personal insight into key relationships and how the abiding strengthof the United States and the United Kingdom and its Five Eyes allies relationships. The author has relied on his own extensive unclassified collection of papers, personal notes, diaries, as well as his family library for source material to create this book.

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As part of the massive Allied invasion of Normandy, three airborne divisions were dropped behind enemy lines to sow confusion in the German rear and prevent panzer reinforcements from reaching the beaches. In the dark early hours of D-Day, this confusion was achieved well enough, as nearly every airborne unit missed its drop zone, creating a kaleidoscope of small-unit combat.Fortunately for the Allies, the 505th Regimental Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division hit on or near its drop zone. Its task was to seize the vital crossroads of Ste Mère Eglise, and to hold the bridge over the Merderet River at nearby La Fière. Benefiting from dynamic battlefield leadership, the paratroopers reached the bridge, only to be met by wave after wave of German tanks and infantry desperate to force the crossing.Reinforced by glider troops, who suffered terribly in their landings from the now-alert Germans, the 505th not only held the vital bridge for three days but launched a counterattack in the teeth of enemy fire to secure their objective once and for all, albeit at gruesome cost. In No Better Place to Die, Robert M. Murphy provides an objective narrative of countless acts of heroism, almost breathtaking in its 'you are there' detail.Robert M. (Bob) Murphy, a Pathfinder and member of A Company, 505th PIR, was wounded three times in action, and made all four combat jumps with his regiment, fighting in Sicily, Normandy, and Holland. He was decorated for valor for his role at La Fière, and is a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. After the war, he was instrumental in establishing the 505th RCT Association.

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How would you clear a stoppage on a Bren Gun while in action? What is the most effective way to clear a wood of enemy forces? How best could you counter a landing by enemy airborne forces in your area? What measure can you take to help ensure accurate rifle fire at night? What qualities should you look for when selecting a patrol commander?Just a few of the practical questions posed – and answered – in the selection of publications included in The Home Guard Training Pocket Manual. A number of manuals and training pamphlets were privately published during World War II to supplement the slim official Home Guard manual produced by the War Office. Covering everything from patrolling, night fighting, drill and small arms proficiency to the legal powers of the Home Guard, these manuals were welcomed by the men of local Home Guard units keen to do everything possible to prepare for possible invasion – when they would be the first line of defence. This pocket manual collates a selection of material from these fascinating publications, often written by serving soldiers and reprinted multiple times due to demand.

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Left for Dead at Nijmegen recalls the larger-than-life experiences of an American paratrooper, Gene Metcalfe, who served in the 82nd Airborne during WWII. From his recruitment into the military at Camp Grant to his training with the 501st Paratroop Infantry Regiment at Camp Toccoa, it wasn't until D-Day itself that he first arrived in England to join the 508th PIR. Nannini records Gene's memories of being dropped during Operation Market Garden in Nijmegen, Holland. Gene was listed as KIA and left for dead by his patrol, who presumed the worst when they saw his injuries from a shell explosion.In the climax of the story, Gene is captured by German SS soldiers and, with absolutely no protection, found himself standing before a senior officer, whom Gene recognized as Heinrich Himmler himself, behind enemy lines in a 16th century castle. Gene's subsequent interrogation is fully recounted, from the questioning of his mission to the bizarre appearance of sausages, mustard, marmalade and bread for his "dinner." This would be his last proper meal for eight months.The rest of his story is equally gripping, as he became a POW held outside Munich, being moved between various camps ridden with disease and a severely undernourished population. Eventually, after making an escape attempt and being captured within sight of the snow-capped Swiss mountains, his camp was liberated by American troops in April 1945.Gene's story is both remarkable for his highly unusual encounter, and his subsequent experiences.

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This book tells the story of the various Allied operations and schemes instigated to keep Spain and Portugal out of WWII, which included the widespread bribery of high ranking Spanish officials and the duplicity of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr.Ian Fleming and Alan Hillgarth were the architects of Operation Golden Eye, the sabotage and disruption scheme that would be put in place had Germany invaded Spain. Fleming visited the Iberian Peninsula and Tangiers several times during the war, arguably his greatest achievement in WWII and the closest he came to being a real secret agent. It was these visits which supplied much of the background material for his fiction - Fleming even called his home on Jamaica where he created 007 'Goldeneye'.The book begins with Hitler's dilemma about which way to move, and his meeting with Francisco Franco at Hendaye in October 1940, a major turning point in the war when an alliance between Germany and Spain seemed possible. Simmons explores the British reaction to this, with Operation Tracer being created by Admiral Godfrey, head of Naval Intelligence. This was a plan to leave a listening and observation post buried in the Rock of Gibraltar should it have fallen to the Germans. A chapter is also devoted to Portugal – the SIS and SOE operations there and the vital Wolfram wars. Operation Golden Eye was eventually put on standby in 1943 as the risk of the Nazis occupying Spain was much reduced. Simmons consulted Foreign Office, SOE, CIA and OKW files when writing this book.

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The path from Moscow to Stalingrad was littered with successes and losses for both the Red Army and the Wehrmacht, with tensions remaining high and culminating in one of the harshest battles of the Second World War. Part of the Casemate Illustrated series, this volume outlines how it was that, less than a year after their defeat at Moscow, the German army had found a way to make the Soviet troops waver in their defence, with their persistence eventually leading to the Battle of Stalingrad.The successful expulsion of the German troops from Moscow in the winter of 1941 came at a cost for the Red Army. Weaknesses in the Soviet camp inspired the Wehrmacht, under Adolf Hitler’s close supervision, to make preparations for offensives along the Eastern Front to push the Russians further and further back into their territory. With a complex set of new tactics and the crucial aid of the Luftwaffe, the German army began to formulate a deadly two-pronged attack on Stalingrad to reduce the city to rubble.Initially only on the periphery of operations, bit by bit German ambitions focused on Stalingrad. In the lead up to this, Timoshenko’s failed attack on Kharkov followed by the Battle of Sebastopol in June 1942 prompted Operation Blue, the German campaign to advance east on their prized objective. This volume includes numerous photographs of the ships, planes, tanks, trucks, and weaponry used by both sides in battle, alongside detailed maps and text outlining the constantly changing strategies of the armies as events unfolded.

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A hell-bent-for-leather fighter pilot, Elwyn G. Righetti remains one of the most elusive, yet compelling, colorful and controversial commanders of World War II. Arriving late to the war, he led the England-based 55th Fighter Group against the Nazis during the closing months of the fight with a no-holds-barred aggressiveness that transformed the group from a middling organization of no reputation into a headline-grabbing team that had to make excuses to no one. Indeed, Righetti’s boldness paid off as he quickly achieved ace status and additionally scored more strafing victoriesface=Calibri>–27–than any other Eighth Air Force pilot.However, success came at a high cost in men and machines. Some of Righetti’s pilots resented him as a Johnny-come-lately intent on winning a sack of medals at their expense. But most lauded their spirited new commander and his sledgehammer audacity. Indeed, he made his men most famous for 'loco busting', as they put more than six hundred enemy locomotives out of commissionface=Calibri>–170 in just two days!Ultimately, Righetti’s calculated recklessness ran full speed into the odds. His aircraft was hit while strafing an enemy airfield only four days before the 55th flew its last mission. Almost farcically aggressive to the end, he coaxed his crippled fighter through one more firing pass before making a successful crash landing. Immediately, he radioed his men that he was fine and asked that they reassure his family.Righetti was never heard from again.Vanished Hero tells the story of this remarkable man and the air war that he and his comrades fought, while examining his possible fate.

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‘The million British dead have left no books behind. What they felt as they died hour by hour in the mud, or were choked horribly with gas, or relinquished their reluctant lives on stretchers, no witness tells. But here is a book that almost tells it……Mr Gristwood has had the relentless simplicity to recall things as they were; he was as nearly dead as he could be without dying, and he has smelt the stench of his own corruption. This is the story of millions of men – of millions.’ – H. G. Wells, from the prefaceIn The Somme and its companion The Coward, first published in 1927, the heroics of war and noble self-sacrifice are completely absent; replaced by the gritty realism of life in WWI for the ordinary soldier, and the unflinching portrayal of the horrors of war. Written under the guidance of the master storyteller H. G. Wells, they are classics of the genre.The Somme revolves around a futile attack in 1916 during the Somme campaign. Everitt, the central protagonist is wounded and moved back through a series of dressing stations to the General Hospital at Rouen. Both in and out of the line he behaves selfishly and unheroically, but despite this his circumstances and the conditions around him make his actions easy to understand. Based on A D Gristwood’s own wartime experiences, critics have said that few other accounts of the war give such an accurate picture of trench life.The Coward concerns a man who shoots himself in the hand to escape the war, during the March 1918 retreat – an offence punishable by death. He gets away with it, but is haunted by fear of discovery and self-loathing.

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There are few names in the annals of military history that evoke such emotion, and in some cases controversy, as the small Belgian town of Bastogne. The 101st Airborne are the best known defenders of Bastogne, but they only constituted one third of the eventual force that saved the city from total annihilation.This book digs deeper into the defense of Bastogne, revealing more details about those indomitable “Screaming Eagles” and the other units that stood with them during that punishingly bitter cold winter of 1944/45. It also presents the perspective of the German soldiers trying desperately to re-take Bastogne that desperate winter. It is a story of sacrifice, dedication to duty, and honor in the face of terrible adversity, but more importantly it’s a human story, one that encapsulates the finest attributes of humankind in the absolute direst of circumstances.

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An accurate, exciting diary-like chronicle of the day-to-day machinations of the German generals as they struggle to prepare to meet the enemy in the West.

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On December 7, 1941, an imperial Japanese carrier strike force attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, taking advantage of what was one of the most profound intelligence failures in US history. Galvanised into action, the branches of the U.S. military subsequently developed one of the greatest, albeit imperfect, intelligence-gathering and analysis networks of the combatant nations, opening an invaluable window onto the intentions of their enemies. The picture of U.S. military intelligence during World War II is a complex one. It was divided between the fields of signal intelligence (SIGINT) and human intelligence (HUMINT), combat intelligence and War Department intelligence, and between numerous different organisations, including the Military Intelligence Division (MID), Military Intelligence Service (MIS), the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the many intelligence units organic to Army, Navy, Army Air Forces, and Marine Corps.The documents collected in this book reveal the theoretical and practical principles behind wartime intelligence gathering and analysis, from the frontline intelligence officer to the Washington-based code-breaker. They explain fundamentals such as how to observe and record enemy activity and intercept enemy radio traffic, through to specialist activities such as cryptanalysis, photo-reconnaissance, prisoner interrogation, and undercover agent operations.The painstaking work of an intelligence operator required a sharp, attentive mind, whether working behind a desk or under fire on the frontlines. The outputs from these men and women could ultimately make the difference between victory and defeat in battle.

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The nature of war is constant change. We live in an era of exponential technological acceleration which is transforming how wars are waged. Today, the battlespace is transparent; multi-domain sensors can see anything, and long-range precision fire can target everything that is observed. Autonomous weapons can be unleashed into the battlespace and attack any target from above, hitting the weakest point of tanks and armoured vehicles. War now develops at hyper-speed, risking operational, informational, and organisational paralysis induced by the rapid convergence of key disrupters in the battlespace. Hit with too many attacks in multiple domains, all occurring simultaneously, the force is paralysed.Imagine a peer fight against Communist China, a new war in Europe against a resurgent Russia, or a conflict against Iran in the Middle East. How can our forces survive an enemy-first strike in these circumstances? Can we adapt to the ever-accelerating tempo of war? Will our forces be able to mask from enemy sensors? How will leaders execute command and control in a degraded communications environment? Will our command posts survive, and will our commanders see and understand what is happening in order to plan, decide, and act in real time? Written by military strategy and leadership expert, John Antal, this book addresses these tough questions and more.

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Formed in 1943 with the express purpose of blocking the forthcoming Allied invasion in the West, the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend carved out a reputation as one of the Wehrmacht’s foremost panzer divisions, as witnessed by its tenacious defense of Caen following the Allied invasion of Normandy.The British Operation Goodwood against Caen in July 1944 was followed by Totalize in August, which bypassed Caen and attacked the Hitlerjugend positions. Within a week thousands of German troops were encircled in the Falaise Pocket. Around ten thousand Hitlerjugend soldiers escaped piecemeal, regrouping to fight in the battles along the Maas and the ill-fated Ardennes offensive of December 1944. Deployed to Hungary in 1945 to stem the Red Army advance, the division fought against overwhelming odds until the final battles in Austria, on Reich soil, in late April 1945. There the soldiers of the Hitlerjugend, despite the desperate situation and the superiority of the enemy, managed to achieve local success and launch desperate counterattacks even into the last weeks of the war. Packed with photographs, maps and profiles, this Casemate Illustrated title follows the actions of the 12th SS Panzer Division throughout its existence.

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The monumental struggle fought against Imperial Japan in the Asia/Pacific theater during World War II is primarily viewed as an American affair. While the United States did play a dominant role, the British and Commonwealth forces also made major contributions – on land, at sea and in the air – eventually involving over a million men and vast armadas of ships and aircraft. It was a difficult and often desperate conflict fought against a skilled and ruthless enemy that initially saw the British suffer the worst series of defeats ever to befall their armed forces. Still, the British persevered and slowly turned the tables on their Japanese antagonists. Fighting over an immense area that stretched from India in the west to the Solomon Islands in the east and Australia in the south to the waters off Japan in the north, British and Commonwealth forces eventually scored a string of stirring victories that avenged their earlier defeats and helped facilitate the demise of the Japanese Empire.Often overlooked by history, this substantial war effort is fully explored in Forgotten War. Meticulously researched, the book provides a complete, balanced and detailed account of the role that British and Commonwealth forces played on land, sea and in the air during this crucial struggle. It also provides unique analysis regarding the effectiveness and relevance of this collective effort and the contributions it made to the overall Allied victory.

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The Dragoon offensive in August 1944 was preceded by bombings and sabotage that hit hard the German forces located in the South of France – damaging communications, railroads and bridges. The landings were then overwhelmingly successful, despite localised German resistance.The following morning a German force the size of around four infantry battalions was able to launch a counterattack, but by the end of the day von Schwerin ordered a retreat under cover of night. What ensued was a race to retreat to the Burgundian Gate, or Belfort Gap, before they were cut off by the advancing Allied troops. The Allies had all the means for a successful pursuit, while most of the German troops, with the notable exception of the 11th Panzer Division, were largely incapable of undertaking an orderly retreat. Some units, including the LXII Corps headquarters, were surrounded and captured. This account, by Jörg Staiger, recounts the German retreat and explains how the 19th Army sacrificed divisions to enable its retreat through the Rhone Valley.

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