Best of
Military

1992

Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest


Stephen E. Ambrose - 1992
    In "Band of Brothers," Ambrose tells of the men in this brave unit who fought, went hungry, froze & died, a company that took 150% casualties & considered the Purple Heart a badge of office. Drawing on hours of interviews with survivors as well as the soldiers' journals & letters, Stephen Ambrose recounts the stories, often in the men's own words, of these American heroes.Foreword"We wanted those wings"; Camp Toccoa, 7-12/42"Stand up & hook up"; Benning, Mackall, Bragg, Shanks, 12/42-9/43"Duties of the latrine orderly"; Aldbourne, 9/43-3/44"Look out, Hitler! Here we come!"; Slapton Sands, Uppottery, 4/1-6/5/44"Follow me"; Normandy, 6/6/44"Move out!"; Carentan, 6/7-7/12/44Healing wounds & scrubbed missions; Aldbourne, 7/13-9/16/44"Hell's highway"; Holland, 9/17-10/1/44Island; Holland, 10/2-11/25/44Resting, recovering & refitting: Mourmelon-le-Grand, 11/26-12/18/44"They got us surrounded-the poor bastards"; Bastogne, 12/19-31/44Breaking point; Bastogne, 1/1-13/45 Attack; Noville, 1/14-17/45Patrol: Haguenau, 1/18-2/23/45"Best feeling in the world": Mourmelon, 2/25-4/2/45Getting to know the enemy: Germany, 4/2-30/45Drinking Hitler's champagne; Berchtesgaden, 5/1-8/45Soldier's dream life; Austria, 5/8-7/31/45Postwar careers; 1945-91Acknowledgments & SourcesIndex

Low Level Hell: A Scout Pilot In The Big Red One


Hugh L. Mills Jr. - 1992
    Reprint.

Thunder Below!: The USS *Barb* Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II


Eugene B. Fluckey - 1992
      Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely sink ships-she changed forever the way submarines stalk and kill their prey.   This is a gripping adventure chock-full of "you-are-there" moments. Fluckey has drawn on logs, reports, letters, interviews, and a recently discovered illegal diary kept by one of his torpedomen. And in a fascinating twist, he uses archival documents from the Japanese Navy to give its version of events.   The unique story of the Barb begins with its men, who had the confidence to become unbeatable. Each team helped develop innovative ideas, new tactics, and new strategies. All strove for personal excellence, and success became contagious. Instead of lying in wait under the waves, the USS Barb pursued enemy ships on the surface, attacking in the swift and precise style of torpedo boats. She was the first sub to use rocket missiles and to creep up on enemy convoys at night, joining the flank escort line from astern, darting in and out as she sank ships up the column. Surface-cruising, diving only to escape, "Luckey Fluckey" relentlessly patrolled the Pacific, driving his boat and crew to their limits. There can be no greater contrast to modern warfare's long-distance, videogame style of battle than the exploits of the captain and crew of the USS Barb, where they sub, out of ammunition, actually rammed an enemy ship until it sank.  Thunder Below! is a first-rate, true-life, inspirational story of the courage and heroism of ordinary men under fire.

Men in Green Faces: A Novel of U.S. Navy SEALs


Gene Wentz - 1992
    The more I read, the more I wanted to see if I could measure up." —Mark Owen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of No Easy DayBecause it's a novel, the truth can be told. Because it's the truth, you'll never forget it...Gene Wentz's Men in Green Faces is the classic novel of Vietnam that inspired a generation of SEALs. Here is the story of a good soldier trained to be part of an elite team of warriors—and of the killing grounds where he was forever changed.WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY THE AUTHORGene Michaels carries an M-60, eight hundred rounds, and a Bible. The ultimate SEAL, he also carries a murderous grudge against a bloodthirsty colonel who was once one of their own. To bring him in, Michaels and his men will go behind the lines, where they'll take on 5,000 NVA in the fight of their lives.In this stunning novel, former SEAL Gene Wentz brings to life what it was like to be a SEAL in Vietnam, running an endless tour of top-secret, death-defying operations deep in enemy territory. From the camaraderie to the harrowing recons, from brutal interrogations to incredible, toe-to-toe firefights, here are America's most feared warriors as you've never seen them before.

Tornado Down


John Nichol - 1992
    Their capture in the desert, half a mile from their blazing Tornado bomber, began a nightmare seven-week ordeal of torture and interrogation which brought both men close to death. In Tornado Down, John Peters and John Nichol tell the incredible story of their part in the war against Saddam Hussien's regime. It is a brave and shocking and totally honest story: a story about war and its effects on the hearts and minds of men.

One Hundred Days: The Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander


Sandy Woodward - 1992
    The British response was swift, some said foolhardy. The mission of the Battle Group under the command of Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward presented a challenge that seemed all but insurmountable, and it was to require men of the highest calibre, professionalism and fortitude to carry it off. It also required exceptional leadership. On that day Admiral Woodward was on Fleet exercises in the Mediterranean; a tentative desire for action expressed in his diary was ironically fulfilled as he was thrown into an experience he could never have wished for, would never repeat, and certainly will not forget. From leaving Gibraltar to his return to Brize Norton, one hundred days elapsed--and, on the way, it had been a very close call. At times reflective and personal, at other times revealing the steely logic of a supreme military tactician, these engrossing memoirs take us south through the vast, lonely waters of the Atlantic as hopes for peace faded and strategies of war evolved, then became reality, victory and aftermath. They tell of the repulse of the Argentinian navy and the defeat of their air forces; of the sinking of the Belgrano; and of the daring amphibious landing at Carlos Water, eight thousand miles from home. One Hundred Days is unique as a dramatic portrayal of the world of modern naval warfare, where equipment is of astonishing sophistication but the margins for human courage and error are as wide as in the days of Nelson; and it is unique, too, in its revelations of the mind of the commander involved in planning one of this century's most audacious ripostes to an unwelcome invader.

Recondo: LRRPs in the 101st Airborne


Larry Chambers - 1992
    Here is an unforgettable account that follows Chambers and the Rangers every step of the way--from joining, going through Recondo, and finally leading his own team on white-knuckle missions through the jungle hell of Vietnam.From the Paperback edition.

The Battle of Okinawa: The Blood and the Bomb


George Feifer - 1992
    A landmark text on the greatest land battle of the Pacific War.

Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath


Michael Norman - 1992
    It ended with the surrender of 76,000 Filipinos and Americans, the single largest defeat in American military history. The defeat, though, was only the beginning, as Michael and Elizabeth M. Norman make dramatically clear in this powerfully original book. From then until the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, the prisoners of war suffered an ordeal of unparalleled cruelty and savagery: forty-one months of captivity, starvation rations, dehydration, hard labor, deadly disease, and torture--far from the machinations of General Douglas MacArthur. The Normans bring to the story remarkable feats of reportage and literary empathy. Their protagonist, Ben Steele, is a figure out of Hemingway: a young cowboy turned sketch artist from Montana who joined the army to see the world. Juxtaposed against Steele's story and the sobering tale of the Death March and its aftermath is the story of a number of Japanese soldiers. The result is an altogether new and original World War II book: it exposes the myths of military heroism as shallow and inadequate; it makes clear, with great literary and human power, that war causes suffering for people on all sides.

Termite Hill


Tom "Bear" Wilson - 1992
    Here is the Vietnam War, in the air and on the ground: gritty, urgent, genuine, a story torn from the hearts and minds of those who served.

This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga


Peter Cozzens - 1992
    A Selection of the History Book Club

Ranger Handbook


U.S. Department of the Army - 1992
    In this handbook you will find tactics and techniques used by Army Rangers. This handbook offers the techniques and tactics that make U.S. Army Rangers the best soldiers in the world. These highly trained, easily deployable, and widely skilled infantrymen specialize in airborne assault, raids, recovery of personnel and equipment, and airfield seizure, among other difficult and dangerous missions. Now, in this recently revised edition of the U.S. Army Ranger Handbook, you can get the latest info on everything from understanding the basics of Army operations and tactics to discovering what makes a soldier with good leadership qualities and character. Although primarily written for Rangers and other light infantry units, it serves as a handy reference for all military units, covering how infantry squad- and platoon-sized elements conduct combat operations in varied terrains. this guide provides modern soldiers with best training possible and effectively combines the lessons of the past with important insights for the future to help make army leaders the absolute best they can be. This handbook provides squad and platoon leaders with the roles, tactics, knowledge, and operational requirements to employ combat multipliers in a combat environment. SH 21-76.

Scorpion in the Sea


P.T. Deutermann - 1992
    Something deadly is hiding in U.S. waters, and the Navy brass would rather bury the truth than face it.It's Montgomery's war now. Brash and unconventional, Mike Montgomery is hardly regulation Navy. At his side, Diane Martinson, the Chief of Staff's wife-smart, tough...and his lover. Under his command, the USS Goldsborough-a WWII-era destroyer thundering toward a showdown of water and fire.With the arrival of P.T. Deutermann-retired Navy captain, former arms control negotiator within the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and ex-commander of at destroyer squadron-today's naval thriller just climbed to a whole new level.

K Company (K Company 1)


Robert Broomall - 1992
    He is assigned to K Company, on the western edge of the Kansas frontier. What he finds there is brutal discipline combined with bad food, monotonous drill, and make-work details. Even worse, he makes an enemy of Link Hayward, toughest soldier in the company, who’s been broken in rank more times than he can count. Link thinks Harry is a coward and urges him to desert. Taunted by Link, not accepted by K Company’s veterans, Harry begins to doubt himself.Then the company is ordered into the field, and in a battle with the Cheyenne, Harry learns what he’s really made of.

Voyage of the Devilfish


Michael DiMercurio - 1992
    Now it has put out to sea, lurking beneath the polar ice cap. In command is the most brilliant officer the Soviet fleet has ever produced—Admiral Alexi Novskoyy. And in his fanatical hands is the power to turn back the clock to the Cold War…and begin the countdown to doomsday. Opposing him is the killer chase sub USS Devilfish, captained by Commander Michael Pacino—a dogged veteran of the American fleet. His orders are to hunt down and destroy the Russian vessel. But his personal mission is to settle an old score with Novskoyy—the man who killed his father. The ultimate undersea duel is about to begin…

Sea Harrier Over The Falklands


'Sharkey' Ward - 1992
    It is an outspoken account of inter-Service rivalries, and dangerous ignorance among many senior commanders.

Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864


Albert E. Castel - 1992
    For two hours, Yankees and Rebels mingle, with some of the latter even assisting the former in their grisly work. Newspapers are exchanged. Northern coffee is swapped for Southern tobacco. Yanks crowd around two Rebel generals, soliciting and obtaining autographs.As they part, a Confederate calls to a Yankee, "I hope to miss you, Yank, if I happen to shoot in your direction." "May I, never hit you Johnny if we fight again," comes the reply.The reprieve is short. A couple of months, dozens of battles, and more than 30,000 casualties later, the North takes Atlanta.One of the most dramatic and decisive episodes of the Civil War, the Atlanta Campaign was a military operation carried out on a grand scale across a spectacular landscape that pitted some of the war's best (and worst) general against each other.In Decision in the West, Albert Castel provides the first detailed history of the Campaign published since Jacob D. Cox's version appeared in 1882. Unlike Cox, who was a general in Sherman's army, Castel provides an objective perspective and a comprehensive account based on primary and secondary sources that have become available in the past 110 years.Castel gives a full and balanced treatment to the operations of both the Union and Confederate armies from the perspective of the common soldiers as well as the top generals. He offers new accounts and analyses of many of the major events of the campaign, and, in the process, corrects many long-standing myths, misconceptions, and mistakes. In particular, he challenges the standard view of Sherman's performance.Written in present tense to give a sense of immediacy and greater realism, Decision in the West demonstrates more definitively than any previous book how the capture of Atlanta by Sherman's army occurred and why it assured Northern victory in the Civil War.

On Basilisk Station


David Weber - 1992
    Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station. The aborigines of the system's only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens. Parliament isn't sure it wants to keep the place; the major local industry is smuggling, the merchant cartels want her head; the star-conquering, so-called "Republic" of Haven is Up to Something; and Honor Harrington has a single, over-age light cruiser with an armament that doesn't work to police the entire star system.But the people out to get her have made one mistake.They've made her mad!

Four Hours in My Lai


Michael Bilton - 1992
    Uncovering the secrets behind the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, this is “a brutal, cautionary tale that serves as a painful reminder of the worst that can happen in war.”—Chicago Tribune.

Death and Deliverance


Robert Mason Lee - 1992
    

The Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet


Norman Polmar - 1992
    Navy and gives the history, specifications, and tactical role of naval ships and aircraft.

The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle: Memoir of a WWII Bomber Pilot


Robert K. Morgan - 1992
    A story of war above 20,000 feet is told by the leader of the first bombing crew to survive twenty-five daylight missions over the danger-filled skies of occupied France and Nazi Germany and return to the United States.

The American Warrior: In Combat from World War Two to Desert Storm U.S. Soldiers Tell It as It Was


Chris Morris - 1992
    American soldiers explain in detail how they feel about their experiences in battle, what motivates them, what they think of themselves and their society, how they imagine wars will be fought in the future.

The Right Kind of War


John McCormick - 1992
    Marine Corps' elite Raiders - the men in the vanguard of the island-hopping campaign to wrest control of the Pacific from the Japanese. A veteran of some of the war's bloodiest fighting, he tells the story of a gallant band of young Marines coming of age in a crucible of fire, lead, and steel. For Privates Moe, Cole, Cannon, and the other riflemen of the 3d Squad, 3d Platoon, Dog Company, the war was not all killing or being killed. While camped on islands far from the focus of battle, these free spirits hatched many a plan to foil the officers struggling to rein them in. Their hilarious misadventures provide a dramatic contrast to the sobering accounts of close-quarters combat.

Goose Green


Mark Adkin - 1992
    This detailed account is based on interviews with the men who fought in the battle, and their commanders. It describes the horrors of a vicious, 14-hour infantry struggle.

The Black Rifle: M16 Retrospective (Modern US Military Small Arms Series- Volume Three)


R. Blake Stevens - 1992
    large oversized hardbound with dust cover

From Pusan to Panmunjom: Wartime Memoirs of the Republic of Korea's First Four-Star General


Paik Sun Yup - 1992
    The cover and title page show the spelling of the author's name as Paik Sun Yup; Library of Congress shows Son-yop Paek. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Brown Side Out: More Marine Corps Sea Stories


H.G. Duncan - 1992
    A saying made up by a Marine expressing the frustration of having to make up a pack with blanket roll (camouflaged, with one side predominately green, the other brown). Having followed instructions, he made up his pack with "green side out" only to have the word changed, resulting in having to do it all over again, "brown side out."These are the titles of the sea-stories in four books, stories which accurately reflect the Marine Corps from 1950 to 1979, comical, sad, and stories to bring back memories of the older Marines and paint a vivid picture for the newer ones. You'll meet some real characters -- Monk Monaco, Trash Eleven, Russell Wilcox, and many others who served their Corps proudly -- and with a real sense of honor -- and humor.

Women Pilots Of World War II


Jean Hascall Cole - 1992
    Women Pilots of World War II presents a rare look at the personal experiences of the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) by recording the adventures of one of eighteen classes of women to graduate from the Army Air Forces flight training school during World War II. This unique oral history verifies and shines a long-overdue spotlight on the flying accomplishments of these remarkable women.

Stuart: A History of the American Light Tank, Volume 1


R.P. Hunnicutt - 1992
    

Values for a New Millennium: Activating the Natural Law To: Reduce Violence, Revitelize Our Schools, Promote Cross-Cultural Harmony


Robert L. Humphrey - 1992
    Humphrey was an Iwo Jima veteran, Harvard graduate, and cross cultural conflict resolution specialist during the Cold War. He proposed the "Dual Life Value Theory" of Human Nature. From the experiences of childhood in the Great Depression, trips as a teenager in the Panamanian Merchant Marines, national-class boxing, the awe-inspiring sights of selfless sacrifice on Iwo Jima, and finally, fifteen years in overseas ideological warfare, Humphrey observed that universal values exist and, ultimately control human behavior. Humphrey is a graduate of Wisconsin University, Harvard Law School, and the Fletcher School of Diplomacy. At the beginning of the Cold War, he left a teaching position at MIT to help lead the struggle against Communism. Finding that U.S. education was contributing to, rather than reducing, American overseas problems, he developed a new leadership approach that overcame Ugly American syndrome among hundreds of thousands in crucial Third World areas. More recently, his methodology won commendations for educating the alleged uneducable: Mexican-American street-gang youths in southern California, and Canadian Native teenage dropouts. Until Communism's fall, Humphrey kept his new methods confidential. Those methods are significant: (1) From his experiences with young infantrymen in heavy combat, and with the peasants in many villages of the world, he perceived humankind's basic goodness that philosophers have missed or under-rated. (2) In place of compartmentalized, primarily mental education, Humphrey has developed a human-nature-guided (moral, physical, artistic, mental) approach.

Understanding War: Essays on Clausewitz and the History of Military Power


Peter Paret - 1992
    These essays provide an authoritative introduction to Carl von Clausewitz and enlarge the history of war by joining it to the history of ideas and institutions and linking it with intellectual biography.

Historical and Political Writings


Carl von Clausewitz - 1992
    Clausewitz was also a wide-ranging, innovative historian--his acerbic history of Prussia before 1806 became an underground classic long before it could be published--and a combative political essayist, whose observations on the affairs of Germany and Europe combine social egalitarianism with a nearly Bismarckian Realpolitik. In this companion volume to On War, the editors bring together Clausewitz's political writings and a selection of his historical works--material that is fascinating in its own right, important as a commentary on his theories of war, and a valuable source for understanding European ideas and attitudes during and after the Napoleonic era. None of these works has previously appeared in English, with one exception, which was published in a corrupt, censored text that has now been restored to its original form. The editors have contributed introductions for the historical and for the political parts of the volume, as well as brief introductions to the individual selections. Their analyses and the texts themselves reveal Clausewitz to be an exceptionally independent observer both of the past and of his own times, whose outlook is distinguished by an unideological pragmatism and a keen sense of the possibilities and shortcomings of state power.

Love and Duty: The Remarkable Story of a Courageous MIA Family and the Victory They Won with ...


Ben Purcell - 1992
    Captured by the North Vietnamese in 1968, Col. Ben Purcell defied his interrogators in the face of hunger, torture, and death, fighting back the only way a POW can--through escape. 16 pages of photographs.

No Shining Armor: The Marines at War in Vietnam?an Oral History


Otto J. Lehrack - 1992
    But hard as we tried--with yellow ribbons and We Support Our Troops bumper stickers and Norman Schwarzkopf videos and Olympics-style homecoming celebrations--we couldn't seem to erase the disturbing memory of Vietnam.Perhaps forgetting is not the answer. Perhaps the healing process begins with remembering. Painful, clear-headed remembering.Even those who remember best, the men who fought in Vietnam, aren't anxious to recall their experiences--or recount them to an academician. But in Otto Lehrack they found a sympathetic audience. Lehrack is both a historian and a member of the Third Battalion, Third Marines. He fought alongside the men whose voices he recorded here. Into their accounts, Lehrack has woven a narrative that explains the events they describe and places them into both a historical and a political context.It's a grunt's-eye view of the Vietnam War that emerges in No Shining Armor--the war as seen by the PFC's, sergeants, and platoon leaders in the rivers and jungles and trenches. It's the story of teenagers leading squads of men into the jungle on night missions, the story of boredom, confusion, and equipment shortages, of friends suddenly blown away, of disappointing homecomings. It's also the story of young men placed under unbearable strain and asked to do the impossible, who somehow stretched to meet the demands placed upon them, and the story of the friendships they forged in combat--friendships deeper than any these men would be able to form later in civilian life.

Murder Abroad: Death in Berlin, Death in Cyprus, Death in Kenya


M.M. Kaye - 1992
    Death in Kenya: Although the Mau Mau terrorist uprising is now over, when Victoria Caryll joins her family in ther beautiful Rift Valley estate, she finds the horrors continue.

Horse Soldier, 1851–1880: The Frontier, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Indian Wars


Randy Steffen - 1992
    In Volume I the author delineated the uniforms, arms, accouterments, and equipment of the period from 1776 to 1850. In this volume he addresses himself to the eventful, bloody tragic mid-nineteenth century. Here he describes the dress and equipment of the horse soldier of the early frontier, the Mexican War, the Civil War, and the wars with the Indians. The uniforms, insignia, decorations, arms, and horse gear are described and profusely illustrated in three color plates and 126 black-and-white drawings. For his models the author used actual uniforms and equipment, supported by official government documents.Among the subjects covered in this volume are the dress and equipment manufactured to meet the needs of cavalrymen at the early outposts east of the Missouri and in the brief War with Mexico that was a testing ground for the Civil War to come. (Ironically, much of the equipment and arms used by the United States Cavalry was designed by officers and government employees who later joined the Confederates.)After the war came a new duty for the horse soldier—pacification of the hostile Indians of the West. As the needs of this harsh and demanding duty became clear, radical modifications were made to meet them. All these changes are described and minutely illustrated in this, the second volume of an indispensable reference work for American historians.

Those Ragged Bloody Heroes: From The Kokoda Trail To Gona Beach 1942


Peter Brune - 1992
    Peter Brune presents the definitive account of Australian soldiers on the Kokoda Trail, a story told through the eyes of the Australians who fought there.

Test Pilots: Riding the Dragon (Bantam Air & Space No. 21)


Martin Strasser Caidin - 1992
    Later, every advance in power, safety, and reliability was won by pilots who tested again and again the limits of the envelope. (Planes)

Boyhood to War: History and Anecdotes of the 442nd Regimantal Combat Team


Dorothy Matuso - 1992
    

General Smedley Darlington Butler: The Letters of a Leatherneck, 1898-1931


Smedley D. Butler - 1992
    He was a high school dropout who became a major general; a Quaker and a devout family man who was one of the toughest of the Marines; an aristocrat who championed the common man; a leader who thought of himself as striving to help the oppressed of the countries he occupied as the commander of an imperial fighting force. This work is an annotated edition of his letters covering the period from Butler's commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps to his retirement as a Major General.This is the first time the majority of these letters have been made public, and the book offers the reader a first-hand look at the motivations and attitudes of the American military as it implemented U.S. foreign policy at the turn of the century. There is extensive coverage of U.S. interventions in Nicaragua, Haiti, and China from a man on the scene, offering an immediate perspective to those events. General Butler won two Congressional Medals of Honor, as well as numerous other U.S. and foreign medals, including two Umbrellas of Ten Thousand Blessings from two Chinese cities--honors never before given to a non-Chinese. Military and diplomatic historians, as well as Marine and Navy enthusiasts, will find this superbly edited and annotated collection of interest and value.

Fighter Country: The F 14 Tomcats Of Nas Oceana


Dave Parsons - 1992
    

With 3 Para To The Falklands


Graham Colbeck - 1992
    Three months later it, after a short but brutal campaign, it had successfully completed its mission of ejecting the Argentinean occupying forces from the islands. With 3 Para to the Falklands, released to mark the twentieth anniversary of the campaign, is the full story of that dramatic campaign from the point of view of a sergeant in 3 Para.3 Para played a significant part in the sharp, bloody campaign, marching from Port San Carlos to Port Stanley and fighting one of the crucial battles of the campaign -- the night assault on Mount Longdon. Graham Colbeck was there every step of the way and his account reveals the realities of fighting in this stubbornly-contested conflict. His narrative brings to the fore the chilling nature of the fighting, the challenge of the harsh conditions met on the Falklands, the training and techniques of an elite force, and the comradeship of troops in battle.With 3 Para to the Falklands is one man's story of living through this vivid and intense period and a gripping insight into the experience of modern battle.

The Rickover Effect: How One Man Made a Difference


Theodore Rockwell - 1992
    Hyman G. Rickover made nuclear power a reality. Building on the scientific breakthroughs of the atomic bomb project, he created the nuclear Navy almost overnight, when nearly everyone else thought it was a pipe dream, and built the world's first commercial atomic power station. He did most of this in a single decade.Rickover's incredible ability to get things done won his program wide public acclaim and personal honors that included presidential citations, honorary doctoral degrees, and congressional gold medals. Despite all this, Rickover was the subject of bitter controversy and was twice passed over for promotions. In 1953 he was saved from involuntary retirement only through congressional intervention. Nearly forty years later, when he was fired as a four-star admiral, all three living American ex-presidents attended his post-retirement party.Now, for the first time, one of Rickover's close associates tells what it was like to be with this remarkable man day and night as he accomplished his miracles, and why he was bitterly opposed by so many powerful people. Theodore Rockwell, the admiral's long time technical director, takes the reader behind the zirconium curtain that protected the program to give an inside account of those turbulent times. Using on-the-spot anecdotes and little-known documents, he explores Rickover's methods and relationships with others to help us understand his strengths and weaknesses.The author describes Rickover's successes beginning right after World War II in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. His account includes the first submarine voyage from Pearl Harbor to England to the North Pole, the continuously submerged round-the-world journey of the USS Triton, and the buildup of the U.S. nuclear fleet and the civilian nuclear power industry.This candid, insightful portrait could only have been written by a key player. The Rickover Effect makes and important contribution to the understanding to one of this century's most elusive personalities.

The Achaemenid Persian Army


Duncan Head - 1992
    

Persuasive Images: Posters of War and Revolution from the Hoover Archives


Peter Paret - 1992
    These works reveal their meaning most clearly when we do not relegate them to the function of illustrating a text or see them merely as specimens of the applied arts, but take them seriously as unique combinations of historical witness and aesthetic object. Drawn from Russia, Central and Western Europe, and the United States, from the turn of the century to the aftermath of the Second World War, the posters form a bridge between the claims of ideology and the state on the one hand and the support or submission of millions of men and women on the other. How can men be persuaded to fight for their party or country, and how can women be convinced to enter the workforce in wartime and retreat to the home when their men return? How can women be brought to believe that losing their husbands and sons is a noble sacrifice? Where can money be found to pay for the costs of the war and of reconstruction? Are guilt, compassion, and fear sufficient to bind the homefront to the fighting men? What is the most effective way to dehumanize the enemy, whether foreign or domestic? These are some of the issues that the posters in this volume lay bare and begin to explain. Together text and image open fresh perspectives on half a century of war, revolution, and renewed war, and point toward a new kind of integrative history. Except for seven posters, the images in this book are from the archives of the Hoover Institution on War, Peace and Revolution at Stanford University. Soon after the outbreak of the First World War, Herbert Hoover began to collect documents, including posters, from the warring powers. He laid the foundation for one of the world's great poster collections, now consisting of some 75,000 posters as well as of nearly 40,000 proclamations and other purely typographical announcements.

Secrets of the Viet Cong


James W. McCoy - 1992
    Book by McCoy, James W.

An American Profession of Arms: The Army Officer Corps, 1784-1861


William B. Skelton - 1992
    Few officers were making a long-term commitment to military service.But by 1860, a professional army career was becoming a way of life. In that year, 41.5 percent of officers had served 30 years, compared to only 2.6 percent in 1797.Historians, while recognizing the emergence of a pre-Civil War professional army, have generally placed the solid foundation of military professionalism in the post-Civil War era. William Skelton maintains, however, that the early national and antebellum eras were crucial to the rise of the American profession of arms.Although tiny by today's standards, the early officer corps nevertheless maintained strong institutional support and internal cohesion through a regular system of recruitment, professional training and education, and a high degree of leadership continuity. Through socialization and lengthening career commitments, officers came to share a common vision of their collective role with respect to warfare, foreign policy, Indian affairs, domestic politics, and civilian life.The result, Skelton shows, was the formation of a distinctive military subculture rooted in tightly knit garrison communities across the frontier and along the seaboard, from which prominent Civil War leaders would emerge and whose essential character would persist well into the twentieth century.

Masters of War


Michael I. Handel - 1992
    Brushing stereotypes aside, the author takes a fresh look at what these strategic thinkers actually said--not what they are widely believed to have said. He finds that despite their apparent differences in terms of time, place, cultural background, and level of material/technological development, all had much more in common than previously supposed. In fact, the central conclusion of this book is that the logic of waging war and of strategic thinking is as universal and timeless as human nature itself.This third, revised and expanded edition includes five new chapters and some new charts and diagrams.

The Horse Soldier, 1776-1943: The United States Cavalryman : His Uniforms, Arms, Accoutrements, and Equipments : The Last of the Indian Wars, the Sp


Randy Steffen - 1992
    In this volume the author addresses the period of the cavalry’s decisive conquest of the Indians and the securing of the western frontier, the Spanish-American War and the glory of “Teddy Roosevelt’s boys,” and the years when the thunder of the Great War in Europe was echoing ominously across the Atlantic to America. Each era made its demands upon the horse soldier and his mount, and the author shows how the government dressed, armed, and supplied them to meet those demands. Volume III, like the earlier volumes, is lavishly illustrated with two color plates and 168 black-and-white drawing, meticulously detailed. This book and the two earlier volumes in the series are indispensable reference works for researchers and historians of America’s military past.

Fulcrum: A Top Gun Pilot's Escape from the Soviet Empire


Alexander Zuyev - 1992
    8-page insert.

The Mighty Eighth In Color


Roger A. Freeman - 1992
    Eighth Air Force base operational in Britain in WWII. The author is a leading historian.

Segregated Skies: All-Black Combat Squadrons of WW II (Smithsonian History Of Aviation And Spaceflight Series)


Stanley Sandler - 1992
    He provides a good look at this lesser known aspect of (World War II).--"Retired Officer". 38 photos.

Memories of a Revolution: Egypt 1952


Khaled Mohi El Din - 1992
    He describes the activities and formation of the Free Officers from the early days, their philosophy and influences, their nationalism and desire for reform, and the pressures and obstacles they encountered as they plotted and planned against the Palace, the British, and internal rivals. Mohi El Din then narrates the events of the revolution itself, providing a rare eyewitness account of the workings of Gamal 'Abd al-Nasser's inner circle and the sequence of events leading up to July 23, 1952. Reflecting on the feelings of simultaneous triumph and uncertainty that followed, he discusses the decisions and deliberations of the new Revolutionary Command Council during its protracted struggle for legitimacy and power. His memories of the angry arguments and bitter rivalries among members of the RCC over the holding of elections, the role of Egypt's first president, Muhammad Nagib, and the future of Egypt's fragile revolutionary government make fascinating reading. A liberal and outspoken member of the Council and a firm believer in parliamentary democracy, Mohi El Din recounts the political maneuvering and the private and public dilemmas of the revolution's leadership. He recalls his personal and painful struggle to uphold democratic ideals in the face of a tendency toward military dictatorship, and shares his impressions of Nasser and the other actors in the revolution, including Anwar al-Sadat and Muhammad Nagib, both during the revolution and in the subsequent period of internal division that led eventually to Mohi El Din's exile from Egypt in 1954.

Warbirds of the Sea: A History of Aircraft Carriers & Carrier-Based Aircraft


Walter A. Musciano - 1992
    Covers the history and combat career of aircraft carriers and shipboard aircraft from their conception into the future.

Uniforms of the SS: Sicherheitsdienst and Sicherheitspolizei


Andrew Mollo - 1992
    Part of a selection of titles that look at the uniforms and insignia of the SS, this book is a source for the complex organization and history of the SS Security Service, the Gestapo, the infamous Action Groups and local auxiliaries raised in occupied territories.

The Last of the Cockleshell Heroes


William Sparks - 1992
    This mission was the work of Royal Marine Commandos, who placed greater emphasis on boating and diving skills than Army Commandos who specialized in amphibious landings.Commando training involved mental ingenuity as well as physical toughness, with trainees occasionally turned loose in the English countryside to make their way back to camp as best they could, dodging British troops and police along the way. In December, 1942, the Commandos attempted to row up the Gironde River at night in canoes (Cockleshells to the Royal Marines) and attach explosives to German ships at dock in Bordeaux. Inflicting some damage, only William Sparks and a Marine officer, Blondie Hasler, managed to escape. The other commandos were missing, and are now thought to have been shot. Sparks and Hasler's ordeal had just begun, however, for there followed a lengthy chase across southern France before the two men eventually made their way to neutral Spain.

Strategy


Alexander Svechin - 1992
    Svechin (1878-1938) was an outstanding Russian military theoretician and widely recognized as the “Soviet Clausewitz.” This book, strongly influenced by the writings and analyses of the contemporary and classic European figures of Svechin’s day, represents his concept of the best approach to national security for the Soviet state.In addition to the translation of Svechin’s work, Strategy includes a foreword, three introductory essays, three book reviews of Svechin’s original text from the Red Army’s Voina i revoliutsiia [War and Revolution], and a bibliography of Svechin’s published works.

Bloody Shambles Volume One: First Comprehensive Account of Air Operations Over South-East Asia, December 1941-April 1942


Christopher Shores - 1992
    It documents the Allied underestimation of Japanese ability, which led to the destruction of 50% of the British bomber force in two days.

Going Places With Children In Washington, D.C


Green Acres School - 1992
    

Instruments of Statecraft: U.S. Guerrilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and Counterterrorism 1940-1990


Michael McClintock - 1992
    

The Battle of Cape Esperance: Encounter at Guadalcanal


Charles Orson Cook - 1992
    This book brings to life an important but little-known battle that broke the stalemate in the long and bloody campaign for Guadalcanal.

Onward to Malta


Tom Neil - 1992
    (Malta was key to Britain's hopes of staying in the war and defeating the Axis Powers in North Africa.)Neil shows himself to be a skilled writer and conveys well the dangers and perils he faced while flying an obsolescent fighter (the Hawker Hurricane) against overwhelming enemy forces. He also brings alive to the reader what everyday life in Malta was like at that time as its people endured daily bombing raids and faced near starvation. Remarkably, Neil survived a number of close calls and by the time of his departure from the island, was one of the few survivors from his squadron (who had come out to Malta in May 1941) to return to Britain.

Satellite Surveillance


Harold Hough - 1992
    now revealed for you to use. Now you can find out anything you want to know about anyone you want to know about Satisfy your need to know with these revealing professional manuals on investigation, crime and police sciences."A fascinating book. Excellent it's essential reference for satellite and space buffs. Amazing " -- Popular CommunicationsOnce the exclusive tools of governments, satellite technology is now available to anyone. Using actual satellite photos, this book shows you where to buy satellite images, how to enhance and interpret them, and how to hide from "the eye in the sky". This book is an essential reference for anyone concerned with the uses and abuses of satellite technology.

Secret Forces of World War II


Philip Warner - 1992
    At the time many soldiers, often of high rank regarded these units as nothing short of ill-disciplined cowboys or worse! However desperate times called for desperate measures and there were those in high places who were prepared to take risks. As specially recruited units such as the LRDG, SAS and SBS earned their spurs and scored significant victories, at high cost both to the enemy and themselves, so faith in the concept grew.Philip Warner's book takes a highly informed look at the broad spectrum of secret forces, of all sides, describing their origins and training, the key personalities and their actions and achievements.

The Wild Weasels: History of Us Air Force Sam Killers, 1965 to Today


Hans Halberstadt - 1992
    

First Call: The Making Of The Modern U.S. Military, 1945-1953


Thomas D. Boettcher - 1992
    A dramatic history of American military structure after World War II features such actors as Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, and James Forrestal and tells how they rushed into unprecedented policies to meet the demands of the Korean War.

A History Of Military Medicine


Richard A. Gabriel - 1992
    Gabriel and Karen S. Metz have completed this unique two-volume work: the first published comprehensive history of military medicine in the Western world. This first volume deals with the period starting with Sumer (4000 B.C.), and continues with analyses of military medicine in Ancient Egypt (3500 B.C.-350 B.C.), Assyria (911 B.C.-612 B.C.), Israel, Persia, and India (1300 B.C.-100 B.C.), Greece (500 B.C.-147 B.C.), and Rome (753 B.C.-478 A.D.). Also included is a chapter on barbarians, Byzantines, and Islam--ending the first volume with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.Since the transfer of information or practices relevant to military medicine were rare in ancient civilizations, this volume examines each civilization as an individual detailed case study. Volume I ends with an overview of military medicine in the ancient world, a bibliography, and a general subject index. Both of these volumes are of considerable value to students and scholars in the disciplines of world history, military studies, and medical history. The Gabriel-Metz undertaking promises to stimulate an intensive re-examination of military medical history.

U.S. Intelligence: Evolution and Anatomy (The Washington Papers)


Mark M. Lowenthal - 1992
    A major debate has now opened over the future structure, size, and role of U.S. intelligence in the aftermath of the cold war. This unique and fully updated book is a history of the U.S. intelligence community--as well as a detailed description of the organization and function of the major components of the community as they existed at the beginning of 1992. A welcome and timely update of one of the most concise and objective guides to the history and structure of U.S. intelligence. "Representative Dave McCurdy, Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, U.S. House of Representatives"The history of the intelligence community can be divided into three distinct periods. From its creation in 1947 until the revelations and investigations of 1974-1975, the intelligence community operated under fairly broad grants of authority based on trust. After the Nixon administration, a previously dormant Congress was galvanized to write new oversight provisions and also took on a greater role as a shaper and consumer of intelligence. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war in 1991, the intelligence community found its role and even its necessity questioned due to the sudden absence of its major target. Lowenthal emphasizes that a competent and challenged intelligence capability is an essential part of the U.S. national security structure, despite the status of external events or threats. The major requirement of this structure, he says, is providing timely, objective, and pointed analysis to policymakers across a wide range of issues.

No Risk Involved: The Ken McGinley Story Survivor of a Nuclear Experiment


Ken McGinley - 1992
    

Go Spy the Land: Military Intelligence In History


Keith Neilson - 1992
    As a result, many people do not realize that military intelligence has played a significant role in history. However, intelligence gathering, evaluation, and analysis has always been part of war. Lack of knowledge of how intelligence has been utilized in wars makes for an incomplete and inaccurate picture of historical events. While many are aware of such things as the Allied code-breaking efforts in World War II, few know that similar activities were undertaken as early as the beginning of recorded history. By examining a number of case studies from Roman times to the present, Go Spy the Land reveals the essential continuity in military intelligence, the fact that many of the problems involved in military intelligence have remained constant, and the nature of the problems themselves. According to the authors, military intelligence has always been an important aspect of military planning and campaigns. Furthermore, military intelligence in its essentials has not changed over time: while technology and society have affected the ways in which this essential activity has been carried out, the problems inherent in the task have remained constant. The latter conclusion is something not generally appreciated in the intelligence field, which has been dominated by historians studying the twentieth century. This collection not only provides important case studies, but also shows that much of what is claimed as exclusively a product of the twentieth century has its roots as far back in time as the Roman Empire.