Hackworth presents a vivid and powerful portrait of a life of patriotism.From age fifteen to forty David Hackworth devoted himself to the US Army and fast became a living legend. In 1971, however, he appeared on television to decry the doomed war effort in Vietnam. With About Face, he has written what many Vietnam veterans have called the most important book of their generation.From Korea to Berlin, from the Cuban missile crisis to Vietnam, Hackworth’s story is that of an exemplary patriot, played out against the backdrop of the changing fortunes of America and the American military. It is also a stunning indictment of the Pentagon’s fundamental misunderstanding of the Vietnam conflict and of the bureaucracy of self-interest that fuelled the war.Heavily decorated Colonel Hackworth narrates his life and disillusionment during Vietnam. Orphaned before he was a year old, he found his home at 15 in the Army. In Korea, heroism gave him a battlefield commission at 20. During the Cold War, he commanded at the Berlin wall and the Cuban missile crises. But Vietnam led to disillusionment.

    With novelistic detail, Atkinson tells the story of West Point's Class of 1966 primarily through the experiences of three classmates and the women they loved--from the boisterous cadet years and youthful romances to the fires of Vietnam, where dozens of their classmates died and hundreds more grew disillusioned, to the hard peace and family adjustments that followed. The rich cast of characters includes Douglas MacArthur, William Westmoreland, and a score of other memorable figures. The West Point Class of 1966 straddled a fault line in American history, and Rick Atkinson's masterly book speaks for a generation of American men and women about innocence, patriotism, and the price we pay for our dreams.

    It was a dangerous life as they flew low and slow, always a prime target for enemy small arms fire.

    El Alamein, Kasserine Pass, Poland, Belgium, Normandy on D-Day, the disastrous Russian front--von Luck fought there with some of the best soldiers in the world. German soldiers.Awarded the German Cross in Gold and the Knight's Cross, von Luck writes as an officer and a gentleman. Told with the vivid detail of an impassioned eyewitness, his rare and moving memoir has become a classic in the literature of World War II, a first-person chronicle of the glory--and the inevitable tragedy--of a superb soldier fighting Hitler's war.

    Point man for his platoon. Jason is the favored one: a football hero picked for officer training school who leads his men into a slaughter ground from which most of them will never return. Ty and Jason -- Oklahoma brothers different in character, yet close in soul -- are about to meet in the Battle of Dak To, upon the blood-drenched sides of Hill 875.

     When Libya provokes a world crisis, the 45th Tactical Fighter Wing is relocated to a base in East Anglia to prepare for combat. Colonel Anthony "Muddy" Waters has a mission: to mould a company of poorly trained rogues and misfits into heroes. His assignment is one that no other officer in the United States Air Force would touch. But Waters has a fabled stubbornness and dedication unparalleled in the armed services...and the will to make the impossible possible. This includes turning a superbly talented pilot but loose cannon named Jack Locke into a fighting force to be reckoned with. Because their country could ask them at any time to fly their F-4s into the eye of the firestorm, to face an overwhelming enemy and brave the flames of hell itself without question and with no support. Tomorrow that call will come. And there will be no turning back when the heavens explode. Combining the hard world of power-politics with phenomenal air-war sequences and nail-biting tension, The Warbirds is the flying novel of the decade. Praise for Richard Herman ‘An imaginative action story told to perfection’ Clive Cussler ‘This is the sharp end, with vivid descriptions of air combat, the smell of hot oil and fear’ The Times ‘A really fast-moving air force adventure story, with some superb action scenes which glue you to your seat’ Bookseller ‘Gripping story...service politics, aerial combat and sharply drawn characterisation combine to make a first rate action novel’ Yorkshire Evening Post Richard Herman is a retired Air Force officer who flew C-130s and F-4s. While on active duty, he logged over 240 combat missions. He also taught at the Air Force Academy and served as an operations plans officer. After retiring, he turned to writing about the aircraft he loves, and is the author of fourteen novels – including the critically acclaimed sequel to The Warbirds: Force of Eagles.

    Frank Kermode, in The New York Times Book Review, hailed it as "an important contribution to our understanding of how we came to make World War I part of our minds," and Lionel Trilling called it simply "one of the most deeply moving books I have read in a long time." In its panaramic scope and poetic intensity, it illuminated a war that changed a generation and revolutionized the way we see the world.Now, in Wartime, Fussell turns to the Second World War, the conflict he himself fought in, to weave a narrative that is both more intensely personal and more wide-ranging. Whereas his former book focused primarily on literary figures, on the image of the Great War in literature, here Fussell examines the immediate impact of the war on common soldiers and civilians. He describes the psychological and emotional atmosphere of World War II. He analyzes the euphemisms people needed to deal with unacceptable reality (the early belief, for instance, that the war could be won by "precision bombing," that is, by long distance); he describes the abnormally intense frustration of desire and some of the means by which desire was satisfied; and, most important, he emphasizes the damage the war did to intellect, discrimination, honesty, individuality, complexity, ambiguity and wit. Of course, no Fussell book would be complete without some serious discussion of the literature of the time. He examines, for instance, how the great privations of wartime (when oranges would be raffled off as valued prizes) resulted in roccoco prose styles that dwelt longingly on lavish dinners, and how the "high-mindedness" of the era and the almost pathological need to "accentuate the positive" led to the downfall of the acerbic H.L. Mencken and the ascent of E.B. White. He also offers astute commentary on Edmund Wilson's argument with Archibald MacLeish, Cyril Connolly's Horizon magazine, the war poetry of Randall Jarrell and Louis Simpson, and many other aspects of the wartime literary world. Fussell conveys the essence of that wartime as no other writer before him. For the past fifty years, the Allied War has been sanitized and romanticized almost beyond recognition by "the sentimental, the loony patriotic, the ignorant, and the bloodthirsty." Americans, he says, have never understood what the Second World War was really like. In this stunning volume, he offers such an understanding.

    Surrounded by two divisions of North Vietnamese soldiers and resupplied entirely by air, hungry and thirsty U.S. Marines engaged in some of the most savage hand-to-hand combat of the entire war. The vividly detailed recollections of key participants place readers at the heart of the action, as mortars fall continuously and Marines struggle to cut down the enemy. A gripping narrative that illustrates the harrowing nature of a battle in which superior American fire and air power proved decisive, but at a terrible cost.

    Compiled by a decorated ex-Royal Marine surgeon, it contains often-hilarious examples of common usage, useful cross-references, and comic illustrations by Tugg, the popular cartoonist from the service newspaper Navy News. Jackspeak is essential for anyone with an interest in the Royal Navy--or who just enjoys fun wordplay!

    Martin Middlebrook has produced a genuine 'first' with this unique work.Martin Middlebrook is the only British historian to have been granted open access to the Argentines who planned and fought the Falklands War. It ranks with Liddel Hart's The Other side of the Hill in analyzing and understanding the military thinking and strategies of Britain's sometime enemy, and is essential reading for all who wish to understand the workings of military minds.The book provides new light on the way Argentine forces were organized for war, the plans and reactions of the commanders, the sufferings of the soldiers and the shame and disillusionment of defeat.

    It outlines lessons on sniping, care and cleaning of the M40A1 sniper rifle and equipment, sights, camouflage, the effects of weather, range-estimation techniques, target detection and selection, offensive and defensive employment, construction and occupation of hides, mental conditioning and more. Samples score cards, observation logs and range estimation score sheets.

    It covers areas previously left unexplored: the German Infantry's tactical heritage, the squad's evolution as a tactical unit, the use of new weapons for close combat, the role of the elite assault units in the development of new tactics, and detailed descriptions of offensive battles that provided the inspiration and testing ground for this new way of fighting. Both a historical investigation and a standard of excellence in infantry tactics, Stormtroop Tactics is required reading for professional military officers and historians as well as enthusiasts.Contrary to previous studies, Stormtroop Tactics proposes that the German Infantry adaption to modern warfare was not a straightforward process resulting from the top down intervention of reformers but instead a bottom up phenomenon. It was an accumulation of improvisations and ways of dealing with pressing situations that were later sewn together to form what we now call Blitzkrieg. Focusing on action at the company, platoon, and squad level, Stormtroop Tactics provides a detailed description of the evolution of German defensive tactics during World War I--tactics that were the direct forbears of those used in World War II.

     A well-researched, highly readable account of a B-17 combat crew's experience In 1943, when the outcome of World War II hung in the balance, B-17 crews of the Eighth Air Force flew harrowing, unescorted daylight bombing missions deep into Occupied Europe and Germany. These devastating raids have long been storied in film and fiction, but here is a firsthand, blow-by-blow account of these perilous missions as they really happened. In these pages, you'll see the events unfold as they were recorded and recalled by one crew's officers and enlisted men (pilot, copilot, navigator, radioman, and gunners), corroborated by other crews they flew with, and painstakingly correlated with the official records of the men's 303rd Hell's Angels Bomb Group.The publication of Half a Wing, Three Engines, and a Prayer in 1989 prompted a flood of fresh recollections, correspondence, and personal records from other veterans of the 303rd. This Special Revised Edition incorporates that wealth of new material into a vivid, thorough recreation -- complete with actual combat photographs -- of one of the most dramatic chapters in military aviation history.New in this Special Revised Edition: * New veteran interviews* Expanded coverage * Revised data * 90 photographs & illustrations* Epilogue: crewmen's post-war careersA well-researched, highly readable account of a B-17 combat crew's experience...excellent. -- Roger A. Freeman, author of The Mighty EighthThe best collection of stories about a B-17 Bomb Group that has ever been published. -- Harry D. Gobrecht, President, 303rd Bomb Group Association and author of Might in Flight: Daily Diary of the Eighth Air Force's 'Hell's Angels' Bomb Group

    Instead of ambush, skirmish, maneuver, or combat between individual heroes, the Greeks of the fifth century b.c. devised a ferocious, brief, and destructive head-on clash between armed men of all ages. In this bold, original study, Victor Davis Hanson shows how this brutal enterprise was dedicated to the same outcome as consensual government--an unequivocal, instant resolution to dispute.The Western Way of War draws from an extraordinary range of sources--Greek poetry, drama, and vase painting, as well as historical records--to describe what actually took place on the battlefield. It is the first study to explore the actual mechanics of classical Greek battle from the vantage point of the infantryman--the brutal spear-thrusting, the difficulty of fighting in heavy bronze armor which made it hard to see, hear and move, and the fear. Hanson also discusses the physical condition and age of the men, weaponry, wounds, and morale.This compelling account of what happened on the killing fields of the ancient Greeks ultimately shows that their style of armament and battle was contrived to minimize time and life lost by making the battle experience as decisive and appalling as possible. Linking this new style of fighting to the rise of constitutional government, Hanson raises new issues and questions old assumptions about the history of war.

    Photos.

    Simon gives his own account of his war experiences, and his subsequent struggle to rebuild his life despite physical and emotional scars.

    Joining their ranks is proud and beautiful Rook Caldwell, a woman who audaciously breaks her way into a close-knit, all-male preserve that jealously guards its privileges against all intruders.Rook hopes to make the Coast Guard her future as well as her family. Soon, however, she must not only fight to win the respect of her fellow flyers, but come to grips with her unexpected feelings for Jim Barton, a wealthy businessman whose brilliant smile disarms her and makes her fear for her heart. To allow their growing intimacy to triumph as it should, to realize all she has sought so hard to achieve as a pilot, Rook will need both a woman's strength--and a woman's tenderness.

    A one-volume popular history of the three years before America entered World War II--those years when England, France, Poland, and Finland fought and we borrowed against the bank of history.

    A remarkable anthology, including many largely unknown poems from the trenches, in which Martin Taylor illustrates the extraordinary range of emotions generated by the horror of the First World War and the experience of trench warfare.

    The crossbow, probably introduced to England by the Norman invaders in 1066, was once considered so barbarous that it was prohibited as a "weapon hateful to God and unfit for Christians." Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, an accomplished engineer, here describes military and sporting crossbows and their dimensions, components, and ranges; provides hard-to-find information on crossbow construction; gives details about modern crossbows such as bullet-shooting crossbows and bolt-shooting crossbows; and peeks at unusual crossbows like the Chinese repeating crossbow. Comprehensively illustrated with original drawings and selections from historical manuscripts, this is a necessary reference book for anyone who hunts with a crossbow or collects or studies weapons of the past.

    The Special Air Service (SAS) operated deep behind enemy lines, conducting surveillance at close range, poised to spring into action at a moment's notice. This Australian military classic tells the story of the formation of the military known to the Viet Cong as “phantoms of the jungle,” its secret role in Borneo during confrontation with Indonesia, and its operations in Vietnam. After its involvement in Vietnam, the SAS formed a crack counter-terrorist force that saw action in Somalia, Kuwait, and East Timor and in the security of the 2000 Olympic Games.

    Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Europe, this atlas contains hundreds of full-color maps and photos of every aspect of World War II in Europe, the Pacific, and on the Soviet front.

    I could touch the tears on page after page."—Wallace Terry

    A significant, full-color volume, it originally sold 31,000 copies in South Africa alone and has been out of print for decades.This version is the first reissue of the original, written by Willem Steenkamp. Almost all the photos were taken by Al J. Venter who covered that conflict intermittently for almost two decades.Both Steenkamp and Venter have gone on to produce other works on that bitter conflict, but neither they nor anybody else has been able to match this beautiful coffee-table volume. Both agree that the book should be regarded as a tribute to a generation of fighting men, where sons often followed in the footsteps of their fathers, serving in the same units a generation apart.Though South Africa's 'Border War' started slowly with the first major clash of the conflict taking place on South West African soil at Omugulugwombashe in August 1966, hostilities escalated steadily, to the point where Moscow provided the Marxist Luanda government with all the military hardware it needed. Tens of thousands of Cuban troops were drafted into Angola after Portugal had abandoned its African territories.The conflict then entered several conventional phases that involved long-range South African armored strikes into Angola's interior and several major tank battles that eventually brought hostilities to an end. Luanda by then had already used chemical weapons on a limited scale and Pretoria was considering deploying its newly developed nuclear arsenal.Willem Steenkamp, a seasoned war correspondent, covers all these historical issues in South Africa's Border War, as well as ancillary military strikes in several other black African countries that included Zambia and Mozambique.The book is exceptionally well illustrated, with hundreds of color as well as black-and-white photos; truly a valuable addition to recent African military history.

    

    He has a telling eye for detail and a crisp style that moves us through forced desert marches and perilous parachute jumps. He creates a context to understand both the native-born Israeli and the immigrant, as well as the plight of the Palestinians pressed to serve in the Intifada. This is not an account of high-level Middle East diplomacy, done so well in Thomas Friedman's From Beirut to Jerusalem but one of individuals caught in the troubling context of Middle East politics.

    300 full-color illustrations, 50 drawings.

    

    Lists and describes the weapons systems of all the world's navies, including surface, antiaircraft, antisubmarine, and mine warfare.

    Traces the development of the M-1 tank, discusses the criticism of opponents, and explains how it has affected battle strategy.

    Matthews' Ammianus is a man very much in touch with his times, engaged in many of the exciting events that he describes, and a commentator motivated by a passionate devotion to justice. The empire that he depicts in The Roman Empire of Ammianus is undergoing a profoundly important intellectual transition as Christians and non-Christians dealt with each other in new ways, and a profoundly important political transition as Rome's ability to control its frontiers was severely challenged. This new edition of the volume offers a new Introduction by the author, and corrections to the original text. In Matthews' brilliantly researched and compellingly written pages we encounter brigands, philosophers, bishops, barbarians and one of the most extraordinary figures in all of Roman history: the Emperor Julian, who occupies for Matthews - as he did for Ammianus - a central place in the history of these times. Ammianus has been recognized for centuries as the last great historian of the Classical Latin tradition. It is thanks to Matthews that we can at last begin to appreciate the brilliance and complexity of the tapestry he wove with his words. Praise for this volume: "It is a book that can emphatically be read by the non-specialist... but can be digested at length by the specialist as well. Tacitus without the cattiness? Thucydides without the cynicism? Ammianus has no such vices, and the range and humane curiosity that make him a fit companion for a scholar like Matthews. They work well together." - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

    Unjacketed.

    Prepared by the Library of Congress, Federal Research Division. Edited by Thomas Collelo. Research completed Dec. 1987. Describes and analyzes the historical, social, political, economic, and military systems of Lebanon.

    The Royal Signals remain close to the front line in most conflicts; they played an important role in the Falklands co-ordinating air, land and sea operations.

    Held together with bailing wire and borrowed parts, they crash through the jungle on a mission they couldn't win but couldn't afford to lose.

    Sherman led his large army group of 98,000 men into Georgia against Joe Johnston's significantly smaller Confederate Army of Tennessee. Sherman's goal was the capture of Atlanta 100 miles to the south. After a series of sharp engagements and timely maneuvers, he ran up against his enemy along the Kennesaw Mountain line just north of the Chattahoochee River.The roadblock confounded Sherman, who grew frustrated with the rainy weather and stalemate. A Confederate attack at Kolb's Farm on June 22 was thrown back. Five days later on June 27, Sherman launched his own large head-on assault that would prove to be his bloodiest mistake of the entire campaign.Originally published in 1990 and long out of print, Dennis Kelly's heralded Kennesaw Mountain and the Atlanta Campaign is perfect for the armchair historian or battlefield stomper. In addition to plentiful photos, includes nearly two dozen helpful maps and a clear and concise account of the entire campaign, including a tour.

    The author focuses on the third of these levels, studying the attitudes and behavioural patterns developed by leaders during their political careers, their willingness to consider information and ideas contrary to their own, their ability to admit mistakes and change course in the implementation of a failing policy and their capacity to cooperate.