Search results for ""Casemate Publishers""

“This book is essential reading; a must-have in your military library” - Military ModelcraftAfter Hitler conquered Poland, the British began to exert control of the neutral Norwegian coast, an action that threatened to cut off Germany’s iron-ore conduit to Sweden and outflank from the start its hegemony on the Continent. Germany quickly responded with a dizzying series of assaults, using every tool of modern warfare developed. Airlifted infantry, mountain troops and paratroopers were dispatched to the Scandinavian nation, seizing Norwegian strong points while forestalling larger but more cumbersome Allied units.The German Navy also set sail, taking a brutal beating at the hands of Britannia, while ensuring with its sacrifice that key harbours could be held open for resupply. As dive bombers soared overhead, small but elite German units traversed forbidding terrain to ambush Allies trying to forge inland. At Narvik, 6,000 German troops battled 20,000 French and British, until the Allies were finally forced to withdraw by the great disaster in France, leaving Norway to the wolves.As a veritable coda to the campaign, the aircraft carrier Glorious, while trying to sail back to Britain, was hammered under the waves by the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst. The air, airborne, sea, amphibious, infantry, armour and commando aspects of this brief but violent campaign are here covered in meticulous detail.

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The images of soldiers and marines coming ashore on hostile beaches are embedded in our collective memory of World War II. But what of the sailors who manned the landing craft, going back and forth under fire with nowhere to take cover?In this book, Ken Wiley, a coast guardsman on an attack-transport ship in the Pacific, relates the extraordinary story of how the United States projected its power across 6,000 miles of ocean, despite fierce Japanese resistance. The author describes each invasion, detailing a swirl of moving parts, from frogmen to fire support, transport mother ships to attack-transports, the smaller Higgins boats (LCVPs) and, during the last terrifying stage, the courageous men who stormed the beaches.The author participated in the campaigns for the Marshall Islands, the Marianas, the Philippines and Okinawa, and, with a precise eye for detail, he relates numerous aspects of landing-craft operations, such as ferrying wounded, that are often discounted. He conveys the terror and horror of war, without neglecting the humour and cameraderie of wartime life.D-Days in the Pacific is an exciting book, full of harrowing combat action, which also provides a valuable service in explaining exactly how World War II’s massive amphibious operations were undertaken.

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History’s greatest military operation and the commanders who nearly led it to success . . .This book not only tells the story of Operation Barbarossa but describes the expertise, skills, and decision-making powers of the men who directed it. The result is an illuminating look at the personalities behind the carnage, as summer triumph turned to winter crisis, including new insights into the invasion’s many tactical successes, as well as its ultimate failure. This objective is massive in scope, because Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, was massive in scale, arguably the largest military operation of all time. The campaign also changed the world forever. Before Barbarossa, Hitler’s Wehrmacht seemed invincible, like an unstoppable force of nature. No one, it seemed, could check the Führer’s ambitions, much less defeat him. Barbarossa changed all of that. Pitting Germany in total war against the Soviet Union on a 1,000-mile front, Operation Barbarossa was truly staggering in its magnitude. Wars, however, are not fought by numbers, they are fought by men. Very often, writers stereotype German officers into two categories: Prussian gentlemen or Nazi monsters. There were, of course, both—but there were also varying shades of gray. In this book we learn of the famous commanders and undersung leaders, about those who were willing to stand up to the Führer and those who subordinated themselves to his will. The result casts a fresh perspective on one of history’s most crucial campaigns.About the AuthorSamuel W. Mitcham Jr., is an internationally recognized authority on Nazi Germany and the Second World War and is the author of over thirty books on the subject, including The Desert Fox in Normandy (Praeger, 1997).

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This book is built around two recently discovered war diaries—one by a member of the 23rd Panzer Division which served under Manstein in Russia, and the other by a member of Rommel’s AfrikaKorps. Together, along with detailed timelines and brief overviews, they comprise a fascinating “ground level” look at the German side of World War II. The assignment of keeping the first diary was given to a soldier in the 2nd Battalion, 201st Panzer Regiment by a commanding officers and the author never saw fit to include his own name. This diary covers the period from April 1942 to March 1943, the momentous year when the tide of battle turned in the East. It first details the unit’s combat in the great German victory at Charkov, then the advance to the Caucasus, and finally the brutal winter of 1942–43. The second diary’s author was a soldier named Rolf Krengel. It starts with the beginning of the war and ends shortly after the occupation. Serving primarily in North Africa, Krengel recounts with keen insight and flashes of humour the day-to-day challenges of the AfrikaKorps. During one of the swirling battles in the desert, Krengel found himself sharing a tent with Rommel at a forward outpost. The Field Marshal read parts of the diary with interest and signed it. Evacuated due to illness, Krengel then records service in Berlin beneath the relentless Allied bomber streams and other occurrences on the German homefront. Neither of the diarists was famous, nor of especially high rank. However, these are the brutally honest accounts written at the time by men of the Wehrmacht who participated in two of history’s most crucial campaigns. About the Authors The authors previously collaborated on Mr. Gehlen’s childhood memoir, Jungvolk: The Story of a Boy Defending Hitler’s Third Reich (Casemate, 2008).

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Max Immelmann was born in Dresden, the son of a paper board container factory owner. When World War I started, Immelmann was recalled to active service, transferred to the Luftstreitkräfte and was sent for pilot training in November 1914. He was initially stationed in northern France as a reconnaissance aviator. On June 3, 1915 he was shot down by a French pilot but managed to land safely behind German lines. He was decorated with the Iron Cross, Second Class for preserving his aircraft. Later in 1915, he became one of the first German fighter pilots, quickly building an impressive score of air victories. He became known as “The Eagle of Lille” (Der Adler von Lille) due to Lille being one of his favourite scouting areas.Immelmann was the first pilot to be awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military honour. The medal became colloquially known as the "Blue Max" in the German Air Service in honor of Immelmann. His medal was presented by Kaiser Wilhelm II in January 1916. Oswald Boelcke received his medal at the same ceremony. Immelmann was credited with 15 victories. His final victory was on 30 March 1916.Immelmann will forever be associated with the Fokker Eindecker, Germany's first fighter aircraft, and the first to be armed with a machine gun synchronised to fire forward, through the propeller arc. Along with Oswald Boelcke and other pilots, Immelmann was one of the main instigators of the Fokker Scourge which inflicted heavy loses upon British and French aircrews during 1915. This new edition has been entirely reoriginated. Not a word has been changed, but the original type and page layout have been reworked, as has been the format in which the book is presented, to give a beautiful new treatment for this classic of aviation literature.

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A rarely frank account of the U.S. infantry experience in northern Europe, A Foot Soldier 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 (“Red Diamond”division), 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. Also a combat lifeguard, he played a key role in successive river crossings. 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 humor 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.

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Since World War II, the US 101st Airborne Division has achieved legendary status. But within the ranks of the 101st there existed a rougher, tougher and more ruthless unit whose formidable reputation has persisted over the decades to this day: the Filthy Thirteen.Never ones to salute an officer, or take a bath, the men of this squad became singular within the ‘Screaming Eagles’ for their hard drinking and savage fighting skills . . . and that was only in training. Just prior to the invasion of Normandy, a Stars and Stripes photographer caught US paratroopers with heads shaved into mohawks, applying war paint to their faces. Unknown to the American public at the time, these men were the Filthy Thirteen. After parachuting behind enemy lines in the dark hours before D-Day, the Germans got a taste of the reckless courage of this unit, except now the men were fighting with Tommy guns and explosives, not just bare knuckles.In its spearhead role, the unit suffered heavy casualties, with some men wounded and others blown to bits. By the end of the war thirty men had passed through the squad. However, the heart and soul of the Filthy Thirteen remained in a survivor named Jake McNiece, a half-breed Indian from Oklahoma: the toughest man in the squad and the one who formed its character. McNiece made four combat jumps, was in the forefront of every fight in northern Europe, yet somehow never made the rank of Private First Class. The survivors of the Filthy Thirteen stayed intact as a unit until the Allies conquered Nazi Germany.Hugely popular on first publication, this books tells of a brawling bunch of no-goodniks whose only saving grace was that they inflicted more damage on the Germans than on MPs, the English countryside and their own officers. Still, the Filthy Thirteen remain a legend within the ranks of the 101st Airborne.

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After decades in the Royal Marines, Andrew Canning spent four years working for coalition forces in Afghanistan as a civilian. During his time there, he met extraordinarily committed and brave civilians, not only on the program he was delivering but involved in supporting military forces in many other areas of the conflict. Coming to Afghanistan from across the globe, these civilians were making varied, crucial contributions to the conflict, much of it unseen to external observers.Canning brings his unique perspective to examine the part of civilians in supporting modern military operations, especially in campaigns of long duration. He was particularly impressed by the fortitude and resilience of those ensconced in some of the most remote forward operating bases in Taliban bandit-country and under repeated attack isolated and utterly reliant on ISAF protection. He also explains some of the trials and tribulations of daily life for those living in a war zone, especially for civilians t

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Why did Axis countries go to war against America? Given America's industrial base, what was the rationale that underpinned their decision? This new analysis by a seasoned intelligence officer, based mainly on German, Italian, and Japanese sources, offers a red team exercise, taking the viewpoint of the leaders of the Axis powers, looking at the build up to their war against America, and the course of the war itself. It identifies the moments when their leaders realized America and its American-supplied Allies were going to beat them.It covers Japanese thinking about America and its other strategic rivals from the time of the Russo-Japanese war, because the Imperial Japanese Navy picked the US Navy as its notional enemy in 1907. It devotes serious attention to Japan's war in China, because its inability to beat the Nationalists was the reason the Japanese made decisions that led to war against the United States. Ironically, fear of bombing from bases in China completely hijacked strateg

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An all-round account of the actions of Company G of the 163rd Infantry Regiment, 41st Division, U.S. Army, during World War II in the Pacific. The narrative follows the company from training in the Pacific Northwest, to Australia, New Guinea, the Philippines, and onto Japan. Each of the actions in which Company G participated is described at every leveldivisional, regimental, battalion, company, and individualto show how strategies and decisions made at the highest levels were experienced by individual soldiers.At the heart of the book are the stories of some of the men of Company G, including Jack Anderson, who had been with the 163rd as a National Guardsman before the war and served through the occupation of Japan; Doyle Bruce, a draftee from Texas who joined the U.S. Army in the weeks before Pearl Harbor and served through Company G's last combat mission; Bruce Baird, a draftee from Ogden, Utah whose injuries at Biak resulted in rotation home in 1945; and Hargis Westerfield, who joi

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“DAMN THE VALLEY” was a phrase regularly uttered by the men that spent any amount of time in the Arghandab River Valley during the deployment of 2 Fury to Afghanistan in 2009–2010. The valley has claimed bodies from the troops of Alexander the Great, the British Empire, and more recently, the Russian Army. Operating in the valley was like nothing the men could have envisaged, they called it the “meat grinder.”It was a deployment that the media didn’t talk about, and the government doesn’t acknowledge. Three of the company were KIA, more than a dozen suffered life-changing injuries, and half the company had Purple Hearts – not many modern-day deployments have a 52% casualty rate. At one point, the entire prosthetics ward at Walter Reed was full of the men who patrolled that deadly area of the world. Since their return, many of the survivors have struggled to move on with their lives, and the unit has been declared at "extraordinary risk" by the Department of Veteran Affairs.This book shares the perspective of the men that were on the ground for that deployment during the fighting season of 2010face=Calibri>.

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Courage Under Fire is the first book published about Operation Lamar Plain. After 50 years, the story of the renowned 101st Airborne's major offensive near Tam Ky, South Vietnam remains largely unknown. Fighting at Tam Ky by the 1st Brigade began 15 May 1969 while the 101st's 3rd Brigade battled on Hamburger Hill. The political consequences of Hamburger Hill's high casualties caused Lamar Plain and its high casualties to remain classified and undisclosed. Decades later, the fighting at Tam Ky is mostly forgotten except by those who fought there.Sherwood's superb research of now declassified records uncovers how such a large battle could remain hidden and undisclosed. But that is not the heart of his story. His focus is on the courage and commitment of the young infantry soldiers who fought. Many were sons of WWII and Korean War veterans. They had a legacy to uphold - to honour their families, the 101st Airborne, and their nation. Most of all in the crux of battle, they would not let their fellow soldiers down.Courage Under Fire uses actual battle records and eyewitness accounts to follow "Never Quit" Delta Company and its sister companies through 28 days of continuous combat at Tam Ky. Delta Company's young infantry soldiers live up to their motto despite increasing casualties, a tough enemy, harsh battlefield conditions, and loss of leaders. For all who fought at Tam Ky, their bravery and devotion to duty in an increasingly unpopular war is worthy to be remembered. With veterans of Tam Ky now growing older and fewer in number, it is past time to tell their story.

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The 597th Field Artillery Battalion, 92nd Division, was the first, last, and only all-black officered direct support field artillery battalion committed to combat in the history of the U.S. Army. It was the first all-black unit in a combat division and, together with the 600th Field Artillery Battalion, constituted the only all-black units in any combat division. Alongside impressive achievements on the battlefield in Italy in 1944–45, the unit provided more key command and staff positions exclusively for black field artillery officers than any other U.S. Army unit in combat, giving combat training and experience to more senior black field artillery officers than any of the other 16 black field artillery battalions during World War II.Colonel Wendell Derricks worked to shelter his troops from the worst of the racism exhibited during the war and, due to his ability to envision an integrated post-war army, he provided unique leadership opportunities for his senior officers. The alumni of the 597th Field Artillery Battalion have an impressive record of success; many of them were inducted into the Field Artillery Hall of Fame, some served at the Pentagon, including Lieutenant Colonel Clark, and others forged successful career in the civilian world.

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On November 4, 1791, a coalition of warriors determined to set the Ohio River as a permanent boundary between tribal lands and white settlements faced an army led by Arthur St. Clair – the resulting horrific struggle ended in the greatest defeat of an American army at the hands of Native Americans.The road to the battle of the Wabash began when Arthur St. Clair was appointed to lead an army into the heart of the Ohio Indian Confederacy while building a string of fortifications along the way. He would face difficulties in recruiting, training, feeding, and arming volunteer soldiers. From the moment St. Clair’s shattered force began its retreat from the Wabash the men blamed the officers, and the officers in turn blamed their men. For over two centuries most historians have blamed either the officer corps, enlisted soldiers, an entangled logistical supply line, poor communications, or equipment. The destruction of the army resulted in a stunned Congress authorising a regular army in 1792.This book, the result of 30 years’ research, puts the battle into the context of the last quarter of the 18th century, exploring how the central importance of land ownership to Europeans arriving in North America resulted in unrelenting demographic pressure on indigenous tribes, as well as the enormous obstacles standing in the way of the fledgling American Republic in paying off its enormous war debts.This is the story of how a small band of determined indigenous peoples defended their homeland, destroyed an invading American army, and forced a fundamental shift in the way in which the United States waged war.

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Michael Crescenz grew up in one of Philadelphia’s booming post-war Catholic neighbourhoods, distinguishing himself early on as a leader, brother and friend who fearlessly rose to the defense of others in need. The second of six sons born to a World War II veteran, Michael was known for his big smile, athletic abilities, toughness and fierce competitive spirit. Growing up, Michael’s world revolved around his family, parish, local playgrounds, and the bustling Catholic schools he attended from first grade through high school graduation. All these influences shaped the man he would become – the one who felt a sense of duty to serve his country and enlisted in the U.S. Army to do his part during the Vietnam War.He was in Vietnam barely two months when his unit, the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry, was sent into battle against deeply entrenched enemy forces on Nui Chom Mountain, the fortress in the clouds tucked away in the far northwest corner of South Vietnam near the borders with North Vietnam and Laos. Commanders knew they were in for a fight, but didn’t know the enemy had more than 250 machine gun bunkers deployed along the mountain’s slopes. On November 20, 1968, Alpha Company was ambushed on the wet jungle mountainside, the NVA taking down the two men up front and pinning down the rest with relentless fire.Thinking first of the danger to those around him, Private First Class Michael J. Crescenz picked up an M60 machine gun and charged the enemy bunkers. He did not survive but his actions saved the lives of his fellow soldiers and allowed them to advance and ultimately prevail. For his valour and sacrifice, Michael was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.No Greater Love tells this story from the perspective of those who loved Michael Crescenz most, close friends, family, Michael’s commanding officer in Vietnam, retired Lieutenant General Sam Wetzel, and medic William 'Doc' Stafford, the soldier closest to Michael when he was cut down by enemy fire, and who believes to this day that he survived Nui Chom only because of the selfless actions of Private First Class Crescenz.

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Antietam. For generations of Americans this word - the name of a bucolic stream in western Maryland - held the same sense of horror and carnage that the simple date 9/11 does for modern America. Even today, Antietam eclipses only this modern tragedy as America's single bloodiest day, on which 22,000 Americans became casualties in a war to determine our nation’s future. Antietam is forever burned into the American psyche, a battle bathed in blood alone that served no military purpose, brought no decisive victory. This much Americans know. What they didn't know is why this is so face=Calibri>– until now.The Cornfield: Antietam’s Bloody Turning Point for the first time tells the full story of the exciting struggle to control “the Cornfield,” the action on which the costly battle of Antietam turned, in a thorough yet readable narrative. It explains what happened in Antietam’s Cornfield and why. Because Federal and Confederate forces repeatedly traded control of the spot, the fight for the Cornfield is a story of human struggle against fearful odds, of men seeking to do their duty, of simply trying to survive. Many of the included first-hand accounts have never been revealed to modern readers and never have they been assembled in such a comprehensive, readable form.At the same time, The Cornfield offers fresh perspectives about the battle of Antietam, arguing that the battle turned on events in the Cornfield because of two central facts - that Union General George McClellan’s linear thinking demanded that the Cornfield must be taken and that because of this, the repeated failure by the generals McClellan charged with fulfilling this task created a self-reinforcing cycle of disaster that doomed the Union's prospects for success - at the cost of thousands of lives.The Cornfield offers new perspectives that may be controversial - particularly to those who accept unchallenged the views of the battle's first historians and its generals, who too often sought to shape our understanding for their own purposes - but which certain to change modern understanding of how the battle of Antietam was fought and its role in American history.

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A Mighty Fortress is the personal account of the Captain and crew of a lead bomber in the enormous formation raids made by the 8th Airforce during the last few months of World War II. It is an extraordinary tale of heroism and bravery on the part of the whole crew of just one B17 amongst hundreds – but the one B17 that meant most to them. Flying a total of 27 missions before the war came to an end, Alling tells, with great restraint, the story of what it was like to be there, over the skies of enemy territory, constantly on the lookout for enemy fighters.

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In World War II, the U.S. Army not only supplied its soldiers with the most modern equipment and uniforms, suitable for any combat situation, but went as far as providing them with their favourite drinks or candy bars, and seemingly anything else they might require.This comprehensive reference book brings together all the equipment issued to American soldiers in the European Theater of Operations, 1943–45. Each item is presented with its catalog numbers, described in detail and fully depicted in photographs, including close-ups of the labels to aid identification of items. Graphics and diagrams offer additional information and context. This second volume of the G.I. Collector's Guide is fully revised with the addition of sections including personal equipment, trophies and souvenirs, the wartime draft and Stateside training, and the life of POWs in German camps. More than one thousand new artifacts with detailed captions are featured in this completely revised new work.Expert Henri-Paul Enjames describes all variations of uniform, insignia, badges, weapons, and equipment in detail. As a complete catalogue with high-quality photographs, this book is invaluable to both family historians researching grandpa's kit found in the attic and to assist collectors in their quest to find authentic items among the reproductions that flood the modern market.

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At a dusty intersection in Baghdad, Sergeant Thomas Kirkland is seconds away from unleashing a hail of bullets on a possible suicide bomber when he's stopped by the unexpected — the piercing dark eyes of a young girl sitting on her mother's lap in the passenger seat. For a split second he'd held the life of this child and her family in his hands. Plagued by fear and anxiety, Sergeant K struggles with his own inner demons as he confronts a population around him that wishes him dead. But he confronts more than just an external enemy, as he discovers the darkness that exists not just within himself, but in his fellow soldiers.A starkly honest and gut-wrenching account of the Iraq war from the perspective of an infantry soldier patrolling the dusty and lethal roads of south-west Baghdad. The threat of IEDs and ambushes are ever-present, but as Sergeant K and his comrades soon learn, modern war can take many shapes and forms. Grappling with a myriad of emotions — fear, anger, confusion, and anxiety — they face many external threats, but they begin to discover that the enemy within themselves can often be more challenging and dangerous than the one they were sent to fight.

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A month after her 24th birthday, Lt. Mary Elizabeth Balster collapses among the rubble of a shelled supply room. Has the young nurse finally succumbed to the mounting emotional toll caused from months of caring for the sick and wounded just behind the front lines of General Patton’s Third Army? On the night of November 30, 1944, holed up in the Heinrich Himmler Barracks in Morhange, France, Lt. Balster’s evac receives a typical patient load (over 200 soldiers, including wounded enemy), but this time one of the admissions is a 19-year-old tanker she’d nursed back to health five months before in Normandy. The charge nurse on Surgical gently informs the lieutenant that the private is critical, admitted with two gunshot wounds and almost half his body consumed by burns. Rising determined to save him, Balster limps toward the shelled supply room determined to search for any blood plasma bottles still intact after Luftwaffe strafing.Recaptured from her mother’s reminiscences and letters home, N. C. R. Davis takes the reader through every heat-of-battle harrowing moment as Balster lived it, achieving a rare glimpse of one nurse’s point of view during the latter part of the European conflict.The book mixes Lt. Balster’s observations, memories, and dreams to re-tell the true story of a richly rebellious and intense woman trying to navigate her life and nurture her sanity while nursing the wounded and dying frontline soldiers of the Third Army. Her strong-willed, beguiling personality fosters the grit necessary for her success as a combat nurse, but these same characteristics cause two men to fall in love with her. And the personal cost of war comes to a heartrending conclusion, as she must choose one man over the other to save herself.

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It is the height of the Troubles and Northern Ireland lies under a shadow…When Neil Fitzpatrick, a rogue Green Beret soldier, is recruited by the Irish Republican Army to help prepare a terrorist attack, Paul Stavros, his former teammate, is sent to stop him and bring him home alive. Fitzpatrick, the American son of an Irish rebel who was forced to flee his birthplace, is a Special Forces demolitions expert. Fitzpatrick knows his trade and has a personal agenda with the IRA.Alarm bells erupt when the US government learns that Fitzpatrick has gone over to the IRA. The American public can't find out that one of its elite soldiers is involved in terrorism and the US government won't rely on the British to find him. They need someone who knows Fitzpatrick and how he operates. Who better than one of his former teammates?Paul Stavros is also a Special Forces veteran. He knows little of the Irish Troubles but is about to learn. What he does know is how to fix problems and Neil has just become his biggest headache. But before Stavros can go operational, he must endure an arduous and hazardous selection process to be accepted by the joint SAS-intelligence cell that will back him up. The British aren't happy with Stavros on their turf; they'd rather do the job themselves face=Calibri>– quickly, cleanly, and terminally.Once, Fitzpatrick and Stavros were comrades and friends. Now they are pawns on opposite sides of an ugly war where all is fair and no one is innocent. The British want to kill one, the IRA wants to kill the other. It's a race to see who will be first.

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Courage Under Fire is the first book published about Operation Lamar Plain. After 50 years, the story of the renowned 101st Airborne's major offensive near Tam Ky, South Vietnam remains largely unknown. Fighting at Tam Ky by the 1st Brigade began 15 May 1969 while the 101st's 3rd Brigade battled on Hamburger Hill. The political consequences of Hamburger Hill's high casualties caused Lamar Plain and its high casualties to remain classified and undisclosed. Decades later, the fighting at Tam Ky is mostly forgotten except by those who fought there.Sherwood's superb research of now declassified records uncovers how such a large battle could remain hidden and undisclosed. But that is not the heart of his story. His focus is on the courage and commitment of the young infantry soldiers who fought. Many were sons of WWII and Korean War veterans. They had a legacy to uphold - to honor their families, the 101st Airborne, and their nation. Most of all in the crux of battle, they would not let their fellow soldiers down.Courage Under Fire uses actual battle records and eyewitness accounts to follow "Never Quit" Delta Company and its sister companies through 28 days of continuous combat at Tam Ky. Delta Company's young infantry soldiers live up to their motto despite increasing casualties, a tough enemy, harsh battlefield conditions, and loss of leaders. For all who fought at Tam Ky, their bravery and devotion to duty in an increasingly unpopular war is worthy to be remembered. With veterans of Tam Ky now growing older and fewer in number, it is past time to tell their story.

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The official document Amphibious Warfare Handbook No. 10a: The Organisation, Employment and Training of Commandos is a unique piece of post-war Royal Marines Commando doctrine, never before published, or quoted at length.Prepared in 1951 at the height of the Korean War by the Chief of Amphibious Warfare and the Commandant General Royal Marines, this seventy-page aide memoir is, in essence, the distillation of major lessons learned by the British wartime Combined Operations Headquarters regarding amphibious warfare, raiding, cliff assaults, sabotage, intelligence-gathering, specialized infantry work, guerrilla warfare and Commando tactics. In addition, it offers its readership a delineation of the characteristics, skills and qualities required of a Royal Marines Commando.Published to mark the seventieth anniversary of its official issue, this rare example of bespoke Commando doctrine is a timely and highly relevant addition to a growing body of work on The Corps of Royal Marines. Currently undergoing significant institutional changes by means of the Future Commando Force (FCF) program, the Royal Marines are having to challenge their existing operating concept, force structures, doctrine, and organizational design to meet the emerging defense challenges of the 21st century. It serves to remind those currently evolving the FCF concept of General Sir John Hackett’s advice, namely, "To see where we are going, we must know where we are, and to know where we are, we need to discover how we got here."

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Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein, the U.S. government embarked upon a reconstruction effort which included rebuilding an Iraqi National Police. Retired and former American Police Officers were contracted to travel to Iraq to train this new police force. Dependent on their experience and ingenuity to make life bearable under very austere conditions, and relying on the ‘gallows sense of humor’ they had acquired during their time in law enforcement back in the States, the instructors persevered in their task, often under trying and difficult circumstances, as well as hostile fire from insurgents determined to prevent the Iraqi police from regaining control of the streets of Baghdad. Life at the Police Academy varied from sheer boredom to moments of terror as mortars and rockets rained in. Leaving the academy to travel through the streets of Baghdad to the Green Zone for meetings could easily result in being ambushed. D. W. Wilber recounts his experiences as part of this effort, and the unique personalities who came to Baghdad to serve as instructors to the Iraqi Police Cadets attending the Baghdad Police Academy.

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The Freedom Shield brings together stories of veterans of the 191st Assault Helicopter Company, tasked with carrying troops into battle, attacking enemy positions and evacuating the wounded in their UH-1 Iroquois "Huey" helicopters. The unit was assembled from a hodgepodge selection of hand-me-down aircraft, used equipment and overlooked personnel—its appearance belied the invaluable work the crews of the 191st would undertake during the Vietnam War. This narrative of the Company, told through collected stories of veterans, defines a breed of soldier newly minted in Vietnam: the combat assault-helicopter crewman.The 191st pilots, crews, and support personnel vividly share the details of what it was like to be at war, forced to rely on your fellow crewmembers for your own survival. Their accounts of helicopter combat at the height of the Vietnam conflict accurately recreate the sights and sounds of the battlefields, the fear and horror of watching close friends torn to pieces, their feelings on returning to base. Their message is infinitely clear: 'The price of freedom is painful.'Endorsements“The story of the 191st Assault Helicopter Company’s combat actions in Vietnam is one of heroism and dedication to duty. It is a vivid picture of young American soldiers full of P and V and the ‘want to’ needed to get the job done with bullets flying in all directions. An adrenaline rush is the order of the day. Read this book to gain new respect and admiration for the Vietnam-era veterans who fought in this unpopular war—they were truly magnificent!”—Brigadier General John C. “Doc” Bahnsen, Author of American Warrior: A Combat Memoir of Vietnam“An amazing story of perseverance and will. The author accurately chronicles how the 191st Assault Helicopter Company was assembled, during the haste of the Vietnam buildup, with secondhand equipment and filler personnel to become a crown jewel among aviation units in battle. A true testament of American mettle that we all still admire and envy.”—COL Alan B. Renshaw“This is a refreshing new perspective of the men inside the Hueys, who played such an important role in the conduct of the Vietnam War. How frequently the victorious accounts of combat units in Vietnam failed to credit the pilots and crews who risked everything so ground forces could do their job. Countless narratives mention these warriors only as inanimate objects. . . . This book speaks of the flesh and blood of those who flew those missions.”—COL Paul Patton Winkel Jr.“A riveting firsthand account of a combat assault-helicopter company in Vietnam. The book provides an invaluable number of Vietnam lessons learned, which flared up again in the more recent desert wars. A must read for aviators and commanders of combat units.”—COL FrancisW. Matthews“The author brings you up close and personal to the human side of helicopter warfare and the heart-wrenching fears and pains felt by the pilots and crews. A well-written account of how the tactical employment of airmobile assets can provide battlefield solutions as well as failures. Honest rendition of some intelligence and communications failures that resulted in extensive collateral damage on assaulting forces. Provides an extraordinary insight for ground commanders preparing for airmobile combat.”—COL John J. McGinn“Climb into the cockpit with 191st Assault Helicopter Company Huey pilots and experience combat assaults firsthand. Feel what it was like . . . flying into the Vietnamese jungle, never sure what might be waiting. Imagine yourself being one of the several sitting-duck ground targets receiving incoming small-arms fire while waiting for troops to load or unload. Nobody leaves the LZ till the last ship is ready. Listen to the clatter of the M60 door guns and the music of the lumbering Charlie-model gunships close overhead, pouring welcomed suppressive fire into the hostile tree lines, allowing the slicks to escape once more . . . usually.”—COL Dennis L. Butler

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Told from the point of view of the men in the foxholes and tanks, outposts and command posts, this is the definitive account of the epic retreat under fire of the 1st Marine Division from the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.The author first sketches in the errors and miscalculations on the part of the American high command that caused the Marines to be strung out at the end of a narrow road scores of miles from the sea. He then plunges right into the action: the massing of Chinese forces in about ten-to-one strength; the Marines' command problems due to the climate and terrain and high-level over confidence; and the onset of the overwhelming Chinese assault.With a wealth of tactical detail and small-unit action, Eric Hammel's masterful account of Chosin offers invaluable perspective on war at the gut level.

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Inherent in “A Navy Flyer’s Creed” is the power of inspiration: “My country built the best airplane in the world and entrusted it to me. They trained me to fly it. I will use it to the absolute limit of my power. With my fellow pilots, aircrew and deck crews, my plane and I will do anything necessary to carry out our tremendous responsibilities. When the going is fast and rough, I will not falter. I will be uncompromising in every blow I strike. I will be humble in victory. I am a United States Navy Flyer.” In Vietnam, barely a month after the start of the Tet Offensive in 1968, one such proud United States Navy flyer applied the fundamental but sometimes forgotten maxims expressed in this creed. And he dared to risk not only his naval career, but the lives of his fellow aircrewmen in rescuing a wounded U.S. Army advisor whose time had nearly run out and whose loss of blood meant that he was only moments away from certain battlefield death. The pilot, Lieutenant Commander Allen E. “Wes” Weseleskey, had been assigned to the Navy’s Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron Three, the “Seawolves” at the Vinh Long Army Airfield. His controversial mission took place on March 9, 1968 on the outskirts of Sadec, in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. Two ARVN companies were being overwhelmed and despite coming under heavy fire, Weseleskey decided to go in and rescue as many survivors as possible. The accompanying Seawolf is forced to turn back after taking hits, but Weseleskey with the agreement of his crew persisted in the attempt, flying so low under the treeline that the VC rocket launchers were unable to reach it. On reaching base, it was observed that the overladen helicopter "looked like it had been used as a battering ram." Allen Weseleskey was awarded the Bronze Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Navy Cross during his service. This is his story, from early assignments, clashes with superior officers, missions and rescues during the Tet Offensive, to homecoming. It is the story of a quintessential flyer, an American hero who was prepared to speak his mind and take risks. It also encapsulates the vital role of the Seawolves in the Vietnam War.

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Featuring modern portraits and first-hand accounts, this book offers a unique perspective on the Vietnam War, bringing together the stories of American Vietnam war veterans, southern Vietnamese war veterans and civilians.The surreal imagery of Thomas Sanders' vivid portraits encourages the viewer to take a closer look at those who experienced the war, giving them a chance to read the haunting, inspirational, and sometimes comical stories of the individuals of the Vietnam War. Set in a surreal jungle environment, the portraits evoke the sense of darkness and uncertainty felt by those who experienced the war. Some of the portraits hold objects that relate to their role or experience during their time in the service. The objects tell a deeper story of a dark and confusing war: the common cigarette pack smoked by the vets while in the jungle; a homemade grenade made by the northern Vietnamese; and a “order to report” document – a piece of paper that changed many a life.Vietnam Portraits serves as a form of catharsis for the many people involved in the Vietnam War and honours them by giving them an opportunity to tell their story, bearing witness to their service, their experiences and the aftermath.

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The vital role of the military all-source intelligence in the eastern theater of operations during the U.S. Civil War is told through the biography of its creator, George H. Sharpe. Renowned historian Peter Tsouras contends that this creation under Sharpe’s leadership was the combat multiplier that ultimately allowed the Union to be victorious. Sharpe is celebrated as one of the most remarkable Americans of the 19th century. He built an intelligence organization (The Bureau of Military Information – BMI) from a standing start beginning in February 1863. He was the first man in military history to create a professional all-source intelligence operation, defined by the U.S. Army as “the intelligence products, organizations, and activities that incorporates all sources of information, in the production of intelligence.” By early 1863, in the two and half months before the Chancellorsville Campaign, Sharpe had conducted a breath-taking Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) effort. His reports identified every brigade and its location in Lee’s army, provided an accurate order-of-battle down to the regiment level and a complete analysis of the railroad. The eventual failure of the campaign was outside of the control of Sharpe, who had assembled a staff of 30-50 scouts and support personnel to run the military intelligence operation of the Army of the Potomac. He later supported Grant’s Armies Operating Against Richmond (AOAR) during the Siege of Petersburg, where the BMI played a fundamental role in the victory. His career did not end in 1865. Sharpe crossed paths with almost everyone prominent in America after the Civil War. He became one of the most powerful Republican politicians in New York State, had close friendships with Presidents Grant and Arthur, and was a champion of African-American Civil rights. With the discovery of the day-by-day journal of John C. Babcock, Sharpe’s civilian deputy and order-of-battle analyst in late 1963, and the unpublished Hooker papers, the military correspondence of Joseph Hooker during his time as a commander of the Army of the Potomac, Tsouras has discovered a unique window into the flow of intelligence reporting which gives a new perspective in the study of military operations in the U.S. Civil War.

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During the final days of World War II, German SS officers crammed trains, cars, and trucks full of gold, currency, and jewels, and headed for the mountains of Austria. Fearful of arrest and determined to keep the stolen loot out of Allied hands, they concealed their treasures and fled. Most of these men were eventually apprehended, but many managed to evade capture. The intensive postwar Allied investigation that followed recovered only a sliver of this mountain of gold. What happened to the rest of it, and what fate befell these men?Authors Alford and Savas answer these questions and many more in this fast-paced and well-written new book. Their groundbreaking study is based upon thousands of pages of previously unpublished and recently declassified documents. The result is a fresh and absolutely original reading experience that offers insights into the minds and methods of these SS thieves, the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) within which they labored, how they achieved their positions of near-absolute power, the complex Allied investigation into their activities, and what happened to the vast sums of wealth they looted from Europe's Jews.Nazi Millionaires deftly captures the high drama surrounding these men and women and the secrets they carried with them during the closing days of World War II--and in some cases, to the grave. It is a remarkable tale of greed, lust, fraud, deceit, treachery, and murder. And it is one you will long remember.

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The First Jihad tells the story of Muhammad Ahmad, a Muslim religious leader in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and the uprising he led against British and Egyptian forces in the late nineteenth century. In 1881, Ahmad declared himself the Mahdi– the ‘Expected One’ – and travelled through Sudan, gathering support for his jihad. Initially, the Egyptian-Ottoman authorities did not take the rebellion seriously. However, in 1883, Ahmad’s army, armed only with spears and swords, overwhelmed an Egyptian force of more than 8,000 men at El Obied, and went on to defeat an even larger relief force at Sheikan. The Mahdi’s army swelled to 30,000 men, and cut off the retreating British forces at Khartoum. The British attempted to break the siege, but were eventually defeated. Charles George Gordon, the British Governor General of Sudan, was beheaded on the steps of the palace, and his head was paraded through the streets of the city. The Mahdi died shortly afterwards, yet his revolt had succeeded. The British vacated the territory for almost 15 years, and it was not until 1899 that the British returned, wishing to end the encroachment of other European powers in the region. The Mahdist forces were crushed at the Battle of Omdurman, and the great jihad was brought to an end.

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Erwin Rommel was a complex man: a born leader, brilliant soldier, a devoted husband and proud father; intelligent, instinctive, brave, compassionate, vain, egotistical, and arrogant. In France in 1940, then for two years in North Africa, then finally back in France again, in Normandy in 1944, he proved himself a master of armored warfare, running rings around a succession of Allied generals who never got his measure and could only resort to overwhelming numbers to bring about his defeat.And yet for all his military genius, Rommel was also naive, a man who could admire Adolf Hitler at the same time that he despised the Nazis, dazzled by a Führer whose successes blinded him to the true nature of the Third Reich. Above all, he was the quintessential German patriot, who ultimately would refuse to abandon his moral compass, so that on one pivotal day in June 1944 he came to understand that he had mistakenly served an evil man and evil cause. He would still fight for Germany even as he abandoned his oath of allegiance to the Führer, when he came to realize that Hitler had morphed into nothing more than an agent of death and destruction. In the end Erwin Rommel was forced to die by his own hand, not because, as some would claim, he had dabbled in a tyrannicidal conspiracy, but because he had committed a far greater crime - he dared to tell Adolf Hitler the truth.In Field Marshal historian Daniel Allen Butler not only describes the swirling, innovative campaigns in which Rommel won his military reputation, but assesses the temper of the man who in the final reckoning fought only for his country, with no dark depths beyond.

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No commander during the Civil War is more closely identified with the "cavalier mystique” as Major General J.E.B. (Jeb) Stuart. And none played a more prominent role during the brief period when the hopes of the nascent Confederacy were at their apex, when it appeared as though the Army of Northern Virginia could not be restrained from establishing Southern nationhood. Jeb Stuart was not only successful in leading Robert E. Lee's cavalry in dozens of campaigns and raids, but for riding magnificent horses, dressing outlandishly, and participating in balls and parties that epitomized the "moonlight and magnolia” image of the Old South. Longstreet reported that at the height of the Battle of Second Manasses, Stuart rode off singing, "If you want to have good time, jine the cavalry . . .” Porter Alexander remembered him singing, in the midst of the miraculous victory at Chancellorsville, "Old Joe Hooker, won't you come out of the Wilderness?” Stuart was blessed with an unusually positive personality—always upbeat, charming, boisterous, and humorous, remembered as the only man who could make Stonewall Jackson laugh, reciting poetry when not engaged in battle, and yet never using alcohol or other stimulants. Year of Glory focuses on the twelve months in which Stuart's reputation was made, following his career on an almost day-to-day basis from June 1862, when Lee took command of the army, to June 1863, when Stuart turned north to regain a glory slightly tarnished at Brandy Station, but found Gettysburg instead. It is told through the eyes of the men who rode with him, as well as Jeb's letters, reports, and anecdotes handed down over 150 years. It was a year like no other, filled with exhilaration at the imminent creation of a new country. This was a period when it could hardly be imagined that the cause, and Stuart himself, could dissolve into grief, Jeb ultimately separated from the people he cherished most.

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The Frantic operations were conceived in late 1943 as Soviet advances made Soviet airfields accessible to Allied long-range aircraft. American aircraft could hit targets in central Europe, refuel and rearm at Soviet bases, then fly back to bomb additional targets. In addition to hitting Nazi war industries, the political objectives of Frantic were to build closer cooperation with the Red Army as the end of the war drew nearer. For the first two weeks of the Warsaw Uprising, Soviet forces stood outside the city, and Stalin refused to let the RAF land at Soviet bases after dropping supplies to the Polish freedom fighters. But eventually the United States persuaded him to let them use Frantic to supply the Poles. On 18 September 1944, American B-17 Flying Fortresses dropped arms, ammunition, medical supplies, and food over the city of Warsaw. The assistance came too late for the Polish freedom fighters. For many, Frantic 7 remains a mere gesture to placate Western public opinion, but the events of that day, and the courage of 1,220 airmen who risked their lives to bring them aid, are still remembered by the Poles of Warsaw. This book gives a full narrative of Frantic 7, using the first-hand accounts of those on the ground in Warsaw to tell the stories of the young aircrew. It puts Frantic 7 in context, and explains how the diplomatic wrangling set the stage for the breakdown in relations between the Soviet Union and the United States.

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Although he missed combat in World War II and Korea, Donn Starry became one of the most influential commanders of the Vietnam War, and after Vietnam was one of the “intellectual giants” who reshaped the US Army and its doctrines. Throughout his career he worked to improve training, leadership and conditions for the men who served under him. Starry was a leading advocate for tank warfare in Vietnam and his recommendations helped shape the contours for American armor in Southeast Asia—and paved the way for his success as commander of 11th Armored Cavalry during the invasion of Cambodia. When commander of Fort Knox and the Armor Center and School in the 1970s, Starry redeveloped armor tactics and doctrine and improved training. In his 16 months as commander of V Corps, he thoroughly tested the doctrine of “Active Defense,” then used his observations to create a new doctrine "AirLand Battle," which paved the way for overwhelming victory in the Gulf War. Like most battlefield commanders from the Vietnam era, Starry’s legacy is often overshadowed by the controversy of the war itself and the turmoil of the immediate postwar Army. However, with the invasion of Cambodia and the development of AirLand Battle, it is hard to imagine anyone who has had a greater impact on modern maneuver warfare. In this new biography of General Donn Starry, armor officer Mike Guardia examines the life and work of this pioneering, crusading officer using extracts from interviews with veterans and family, and from Starry’s personal papers.

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Winner of the 2014 John Carroll Award, presented annually by The Little Big Horn Associates, as their Literary Award for the best book/monograph during the preceding year.Winner 2014 G. Joseph Sills Jr. Book AwardThis remarkable book synthesizes a lifetime of in-depth research into one of America’s most storied disasters, the defeat of Custer’s 7th Cavalry at Little Horn at the hands of the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians, as well as the complete annihilation of that part of the cavalry led by Custer himself.The author, Gordon Harper, spent countless hours on the battlefield itself as well as researching every iota of evidence of the fight from both sides, white and Indian. He was thus able to recreate every step of the battle as authoritatively as anyone could, dispelling myths and falsehoods along the way.One of his first observations is that the fight of June 25–26, 1876 took place along the Little Horn River—its junction with the Big Horn was several miles away so that the term for the battle, “Little Big Horn” has always been a misnomer. He precisely traces the mysterious activities of Benteen’s battalion on that fateful day, and why it could never come to Custer’s reinforcement. He describes Reno’s desperate fight in unprecedented depth, as well as how that unnerved officer benefited from the unexpected heroism of many of his men.Indian accounts, ever-present throughout this book, come to the fore especially during Custer’s part of the fight, because no white soldier survived it. However, analysis of the forensic evidence—tracking cartridges, bullets, etc., discovered on the battlefield—plus the locations of bodies assist in drawing an accurate scenario of how the final scene unfolded. It may indeed be clearer now than it was to the doomed 7th Cavalrymen at the time, who through the dust and smoke and Indians seeming to rise by hundreds from the ground, only gradually realized the extent of the disaster. Of additional interest is the narrative of the battlefield after the fight, when successive burial teams had to be dispatched for the gruesome task, because prior ones invariably did a poor job.Harper himself passed away in 2009, leaving behind nearly two million words of original research and writing. In this book his work has been condensed by historians Gordon RIchard and Monte Akers to present his key findings and the crux of his narrative on the exact course of the battle.

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Reviews for the Hardback Edition: “If you have any interest in the Vietnam War or military history in general I can thoroughly recommend Marine Corps Tank Battles in Vietnam as a great read that's very hard to put down once you have started.” Model Military International“The Marine tankers found themselves in the forefront of this fierce fight and endured some of the heaviest fighting of the war, but throughout it all they demonstrated versatility, dedication and courage despite the harsh conditions and this excellent book tells the story of these men in a no-holds barred account of life of a US Marine Tanker.” Military Machines International“A fascinating read that takes you through the mind numbing daily routine of the M48 crews, their frightening actions and what happened to them afterwards.” Tankette“...an interesting book, giving us a very down-to-earth account of the war in Vietnam...” Tank“... an effective picture of the War from a Marine Corps tankers point of view” Classic Military Vehicle“This is an enthralling account of tank combat in Vietnam from the Marine perspective based largely on first hand accounts from veterans.” AFV Modeller UK“…does a fine job of combining the personal stories (of which there are many) of Marine tankers with well-documented descriptions of both tactical and strategic situations as they developed throughout the war….near the top of my must read military history list.” Military

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On September 15, 1944, the U.S. First Marine Division landed on a small island in the Central Pacific called Peleliu as a prelude to the liberation of the Philippines. Among the first wave of Marines that hit the beach that day was 22-year-old George Peto.Growing up on a farm in Ohio, George always preferred being outdoors and exploring. This made school a challenge, but his hunting, fishing and trapping skills helped put food on his family’s table. As a poor teenager living in a rough area, he got into regular brawls, and he found holding down a job hard because of his wanderlust. After working out West with the CCC, he decided that joining the Marines offered him the opportunity for adventure plus three square meals a day; so he and his brother joined the Corps in 1941, just a few months before Pearl Harbor.Following boot camp and training, he was initially assigned to various guard units, until he was shipped out to the Pacific and assigned to the 1st Marines. His first combat experience was the landing at Finschhaven, followed by Cape Gloucester. Then as a Forward Observer, he went ashore in one of the lead amtracs at Peleliu and saw fierce fighting for a week before the regiment was relieved due to massive casualties. Six months later, his division became the immediate reserve for the initial landing on Okinawa. They encountered no resistance when they came ashore on D+1, but would go on to fight on Okinawa for over six months.This is the wild and remarkable story of an "Old Breed" Marine, from his youth in the Great Depression, his training and combat in the Pacific, to his life after the war, told in his own words.

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“Retreat, hell! We just got here!” The words of Captain Lloyd Williams at Belleau Wood in June 1918 entered United States Marine Corps legend, and the Marine Brigade’s actions there—along with the censor’s failure to take out the name of the Brigade in the battle reports—made the Corps famous. The Marines went to war as part of the American Expeditionary Force, bitterly resented by the Army and General Pershing. The Army tried to use them solely as labor troops and replacements, but the German spring offensive of 1918 forced the issue. The French begged Pershing to commit his partially trained men, and two untested American divisions, supported by British and French units, were thrown into the path of five German divisions. Three horrific weeks later, the Marines held the entirety of Belleau Wood. The Marines then fought in the almost forgotten Blanc Mont Ridge Offensive in October, as well as in every well-known AEF action until the end of the war. This book will look at all the operations of the Marine Corps in World War I, cover the activities of both ground and air units, and consider the units that supported the Marine Brigade. It will examine how, during the war years, the Marine Corps changed from a small organization of naval security detachments to an elite land combat force.

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In 1943 The West Point basketball team, the Cadets, had only managed a 5-10 record, and for the 1944 season coach Ed Kelleher’s hopes in reversing Army’s fortunes rested on his five starters. They consisted of three seniors – team captain “Big Ed” Christl, John “Three Star” Hennessey, and class president Bobby Faas – and two juniors, Dale Hall and Doug Kenna. At the academy, Kelleher molded his cadets into a new kind of team, and, as the new season opened in January of 1944, Kelleher’s strategy paid handsome dividends. By the end of January, West Point was 6-0; by the end of February, the team boasted a 13-0 record. Of course, during those weeks, it only took a glance at the newspaper headlines to be reminded that there were far bigger contests than intercollegiate basketball afoot in the winter of 1944. The cadets would not be able to play in the NIT or NCAA national tournaments for a likely national championship. The world was at war, and the U.S. Army needed its finest on the front line more than on the court. Just after their incredible basketball battles ended, the three seniors were about to enter other battles. Hennessey endured months of front-line fighting, battling from the waist-deep snow of Alsatian forests to the bombed-out rubble of German cities. Christl, a fearless forward observer for his field artillery battalion, made it all the way to Austria, where he would lose his life in the final week of the war in Europe. Three months later, Faas was shot down over Japan and forced to bail out over the Pacific Ocean. Coach Kelleher would die overseas on his own special assignment with the Army. In the years that followed, the Army's basketball team would never again have a chance to again play in the NCAA tournament and, in the modern era, few remember West Point's perfect 1944 season. Although West Point's home basketball court is named the Edward C. Christl Arena, and the National Invitational Tournament's trophy is named after his coach, Edward A. Kelleher, too few people fully appreciate why. But after reading Their Greatest Season, they will.

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The Angolan Civil War lasted over a quarter of a century, from 1975 to 2002. Beginning as a power struggle between two former liberation movements, the MPLA and UNITA, it became a Cold War struggle with involvement from the Soviet Union, Cuba, South Africa and the USA. This book examines the height of the Cuban-South African fighting in Angola in 1987–88, when 3,000 South African soldiers and about 8,000 UNITA guerrilla fighters fought in alliance against the Cubans and the armed forces of the Marxist MPLA government, a force of over 50,000 men. Bridgland pieced together the course of the war, fought in one of the world’s most remote and wild terrains, by interviewing the South Africans who fought it, and many of their accounts are woven into the narrative. This classic account of a Cold War struggle and its momentous consequences for the participants and across the continent, is released in a new edition with a new preface and epilogue.

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On The Frontlines of the Television War is the story of Yasutsune "Tony" Hirashiki's ten years in Vietnam—beginning when he arrived in 1966 as a young freelancer with a 16mm camera but without a job or the slightest grasp of English and ending in the hectic fall of Saigon in 1975 when he was literally thrown on one of the last flights out.His memoir has all the exciting tales of peril, hardship, and close calls as the best of battle memoirs but it is primarily a story of very real and yet remarkable people: the soldiers who fought, bled, and died, and the reporters and photographers who went right to the frontlines to record their stories and memorialize their sacrifice. The great books about Vietnam journalism have been about print reporters, still photographers, and television correspondents but if this was truly the first “television war,” then it is time to hear the story of the cameramen who shot the pictures and the reporters who wrote the stories that the average American witnessed daily in their living rooms.An award-winning sensation when it was released in Japan in 2008, this book been completely re-created for an international audience. In 2008, the Japanese edition was published by Kodansha in two hardback volumes and titled "I Wanted to Be Capa." It won the 2009 Oya Soichi Nonfiction Award-a prize usually reserved for much younger writers—and Kodansha almost doubled their initial print run to meet the demand. In that period, he was interviewed extensively, a documentary was filmed in which he returned to the people and places of his wartime experience, and a dramatization of his book was written and presented on NHK Radio. A Kodansha paperback was published in 2010 with an initial printing of 17,000 copies and continues to sell at a respectable pace."Tony Hirashiki is an essential piece of the foundation on which ABC was built. From the day he approached the Bureau Chief in Saigon with a note pinned to his shirt saying he could shoot pictures to the anxious afternoon of 9/11 when we lost him in the collapse of the Twin Towers (and he emerged covered in dust clutching his precious beta tapes,) Tony reported the news with his camera and in doing so, he brought the truth about the important events of our day to millions of Americans." David Westin, Former President of ABC News

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‘I never saw the man again, alive or dead. One will say that I saw him only for a moment, that it was misty at the time, and that even I did not recognise the features, covered as they were with grime and stubble. Yet I am sure that the taller of the two ragged civilians I saw in the chalk quarry that misty March morning of 1918 was that Lieutenant Peter Rawley, R. F.A., who the official records stated was killed near Arras the previous autumn.’Behind the Lines is a thriller that follows on from the success of W. F. Morris’s first novel, Bretherton: Khaki or Field-Grey? Morris is again concerned with questions of identity, allegiance, chance, concealment and self-discovery. A subaltern is forced to flee when he accidentally kills an overbearing, taunting fellow officer: appearances are all against him and he does not trust to trench justice. He becomes a fugitive and has to join forces with other deserters, lost soldiers and outlaws in a hand-to-mouth existence in the no man’s land between opposing forces. A series of adventures and disasters ensue, including capture by the Germans and near death by firing squad. Only his own bravery and the devotion of his fiancé can rescue him from his plight.A contemporary commentator noted that ‘in spite of the flood of war books’, Morris was able to achieve ‘a quite different viewpoint from all the others’, and his book was ‘an outstanding success’.

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iOperation Barbarossa was the largest military campaign in history. Springing from Hitler’s fanatical desire to conquer the Soviet territories, defeat Bolshevism and create ‘Lebensraum’ for the German people, it pitted two diametrically opposed armed forces against one another.The invasion began with 4.5 million troops attacking 2.3 million defenders. On one side was the Wehrmacht, without any doubt the world’s most advanced military force. On the other were the Soviet armed forces, downtrodden, humiliated, decapitated and terrorized by an autocratic and crude dictator with no military education whatsoever.Based on decades of research work in both German and Russian archives, as well as interviews with a large number of key figures and veterans, Operation Barbarossa brings our knowledge on the war on the Eastern Front several big steps forward. It reveals and dispels many myths and misconceptions including: the myth of mass surrenders by Soviet soldiers; the myth about the vast differences in troop casualties between the two sides; the myth of the Soviet partisans and the myth that it was the Arctic cold that halted the German offensive. It also does not shy away from difficult truths such as the true nature of Finland’s participation in Operation Barbarossa, and the massive scale of rapes committed by German troops.Illustrated with over 250 photos, many never previously published, and several clear and detailed maps, this is an objective, balanced account, published in time for the 75th anniversary of the start of Operation Barbarossa on 22nd June 2016. Christer Bergström has once again produced what will be the definitive account of this monumental campaign.”Even readers with a great knowledge on the subject will have much to learn from this book. Bergström presents several totally new aspects. For anyone who wants to understand Operation Barbarossa from the perspective of both sides, this is a must-have book.”- Niclas Sennerteg, military historian and author of several books on World War II.

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In May 1943 a self-described “really young, green, ignorant lieutenant” assumed command of a new Marine Corps company. His even younger enlisted Marines were learning to use an untested weapon, the M4A2 “Sherman” medium tank. His sole combat veteran was the company bugler, who had salvaged his dress cap and battered horn from a sinking aircraft carrier. Just six months later the company would be thrown into one of the ghastliest battles of World War II.On 20 November 1943 the Second Marine Division launched the first amphibious assault of the Pacific War, directly into the teeth of powerful Japanese defenses on Tarawa. In that blood-soaked invasion, a single company of Sherman tanks, of which only two survived, played a pivotal role in turning the tide from looming disaster to legendary victory. In this unique study Oscar Gilbert and Romain Cansiere use official documents, memoirs, interviews with veterans, as well as personal and aerial photographs to follow Charlie Company from its formation, and trace the movement, action—and loss—of individual tanks in this horrific four-day struggle. The authors have used official documents and interviews with veterans to follow the company from training through the brutal 76-hour struggle for Tarawa. Survivor accounts and air photo analysis document the movements –and destruction – of the company’s individual tanks. It is a story of escapes from drowning tanks, and even more harrowing escapes from tanks knocked out behind Japanese lines. It is a story of men doing whatever needed to be done, from burying the dead to hand-carrying heavy cannon ammunition forward under fire. It is the story of how the two surviving tanks and their crews expanded a perilously thin beachhead, and cleared the way for critical reinforcements to come ashore. But most of all it is a story of how a few unsung Marines helped turn near disaster into epic victory.

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The Duke of Wellington described the Battle of Waterloo as ‘the most desperate business I ever was in. I was never so near being beat’. The courage of British troops that day has been rightly praised ever since, but the fact that one-third of the forces which gave him his narrow victory were subjects, not of George III, but of the King of the Netherlands, has been almost completely ignored. This book seeks to correct a grave injustice through the study of Dutch sources – both primary and secondary – the majority of which have never been used by English-speaking historians.The Dutch-Belgians have been variously described as inexperienced, incompetent and cowardly, a rogue element in the otherwise disciplined Allied Army. It is only now being tentatively acknowledged that they alone saved Wellington from disaster at Quatre Bras.He had committed a strategic error in that, as Napoleon advanced, his own troops were scattered over a hundred kilometres of southern Belgium. Outnumbered three to one, the Netherlanders gave him time to concentrate his forces, and save Brussels from French occupation. At Waterloo itself, on at least three occasions when the fate of the battle ‘hung upon the cusp’ their engagement with the enemy aided British recovery. Their commander – the Prince of Orange – is viciously described as an arrogant fool, ‘a disaster waiting to happen’ and even a dangerous lunatic. According to the assessment of the Duke himself, he was a reliable and courageous subordinate.The Dutch material in this book reveals a new dimension for familiar events in the Campaign, and includes many unseen illustrations. For the first time, a full assessment is made of the challenge which Willem I faced as King of a country hastily cobbled together by the Congress of Vienna, and of his achievement in assembling, equipping and training thirty thousand men from scratch in eighteen months. This is a timely reassessment in the two hundredth anniversary year of the battle of Waterloo. The veneration which the Duke of Wellington justifiably enjoyed after the Waterloo Campaign should not be allowed to forgive his lifelong lack of acknowledgment of the debt he owed the Netherlanders. As he once said himself, ‘there should be glory enough for all’, and it is high time that they are allowed to claim their share.

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In the aftermath of Vietnam a new generation of U.S. Marines was determined to wage a smarter kind of war. The tank, the very symbol of power and violence, would play a key role in a new concept of mobile warfare, not seen since the dashes of World War II. The emphasis would be not on brutal battles of attrition, but on paralyzing the enemy by rapid manoeuvre and overwhelming but judicious use of firepower. Yet in two wars with Iraq, the tankers, as well as the crews of the new Light Armoured Vehicles, quickly found themselves in a familiar role—battering through some of the strongest defenses in the world by frontal assault, fighting their way through towns and cities.In America’s longest continual conflict, armoured Marines became entangled in further guerilla war, this time amid the broiling deserts, ancient cities, and rich farmlands of Iraq, and in the high, bleak wastes of Afghanistan. It was a familiar kind of war against a fanatical foe who brutalised civilians, planted sophisticated roadside bombs, and seized control of entire cities. It has been a maddening war of clearing roads, escorting convoys, endless sweep operations to locate and destroy insurgent strongholds, protecting voting sites for free elections, and recapturing and rebuilding urban centers. It’s been a war in which the tanks repeatedly provided the outnumbered infantry with precise and decisive firepower. The tankers even added a new trick to their repertoire—long-range surveillance.Our fights against Iraq in 1991 and in the post-9/11 years have seen further wars that demanded a particular combination of courage, tenacity, professionalism, and versatility fully described herein.

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