. . This book [is] one of the best on that war in Korea. . . . A wonderful account of common, decent men in desperate action."--LeatherneckDuring the early, uncertain days of the Korean War, World War II veteran and company lieutenant Joe Owen saw firsthand how the hastily assembled mix of some two hundred regulars and raw reservists hardened into a superb Marine rifle company known as Baker-One-Seven.As comrades fell wounded and dead around them on the frozen slopes above Korea's infamous Chosin Reservoir, Baker-One-Seven's Marines triumphed against the relentless human-wave assaults of Chinese regulars and took part  in the breakout that destroyed six to eight divisions of Chinese regulars. COLDER THAN HELL paints a vivid, frightening portrait of one of the most horrific infantry battles ever waged."Thoroughly gripping . . . The Chosin action is justly called epical; Lieutenant Owen tells the tale of the men who made it so."--Booklist

    In juxtaposing an operational with a cultural theme, the author comes closer than any historian yet to explaining what was behind the often described operations of this famous 1916 battle at Jutland. Although the British fleet was victorious over the Germans, the cost in ships and men was high, and debates have raged within British naval circles ever since about why the Royal Navy was unable to take advantage of the situation. In this book Andrew Gordon focuses on what he calls a fault-line between two incompatible styles of tactical leadership within the Royal Navy and different understandings of the rules of the games.

     Born ‘a ragged-arsed kid from the backstreets of Glasgow’, the son of a violent gangster, McCallion joined the Paras to escape a miserable home life and find the family he longed for. After six tense tours in Ulster, McCallion gave up everything to move to South Africa in the hope of qualifying for the highly elite, highly dangerous South African Special Forces. Having succeeded in joining the Recces, McCallion was involved in plots to assassinate Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo. Back in Britain, McCallion once again put his body and mind through unimaginable pressure during SAS Selection and ended up back in Ulster for two tours with the SAS anti-terrorist team. But must McCallion must continue his personal feud with the IRA as a policeman in Belfast, before a serious car accident led to him retraining as a lawyer. ‘Killing Zone’ is a story of exceptional endurance, told with grim humour and great psychological insight into the minds of those whose lives depend on killing others. “A stun grenade of a book” - Sunday Express “A story of daring and adventure ... few men have lived more perilously than Harry McCallion” - Daily Mail “KILLING ZONE exposes some of the SAS’s most closely guarded secrets” - Sunday Express “McCallion is the hardest man you could encounter” - The Independent “An extraordinary insight into the psychology of a man who has survived despite choosing to live as dangerously as possible” - The Times “A remarkable tale of life on the edge” - Glasgow Herald Harry McCallion served in the British Army in both the Parachute Regiment and in the SAS, as well as spending two years in the South African Special Forces. After six years with the Royal Ulster Constabulary, he retrained as a lawyer and is now a barrister. Harry McCallion is also the author of two novels: ‘Hunter Killer’ and ‘Double Kill. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter atwww.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook viahttp://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

    The account, written by the German historian Karl-Heinz Frieser and edited by American historian John T. Greenwood, provides the definitive explanation for Germany's startling success and the equally surprising military collapse of France and Britain on the European continent in 1940. In a little over a month, Germany defeated the Allies in battle, a task that had not been achieved in four years of brutal fighting during World War I.First published in 1995 as the official German history of the 1940 campaign, this book goes beyond standard explanations to show that the German victory was not inevitable and that French defeat was not preordained. Contrary to most accounts of the campaign, Frieser's illustrates that the military systems of both Germany and France were solid and that their campaign plans were sound. The key to victory or defeat, Frieser argues, was the execution of operational plans--both preplanned and ad hoc--amid the eternal Clausewitzian combat factors of friction and the fog of war. He shows why, on the eve of the campaign, the British and French leaders had good cause to be confident and why many German generals were understandably concerned that disaster was looming for them.This study explodes many of the myths concerning German blitzkrieg warfare and the planning for the 1940 campaign. Frieser's groundbreaking interpretation of the topic has been the subject of discussion since the German edition first appeared. This English translation is published in cooperation with the Association of the United States Army.

    In riveting and revelatory detail, Aftermath documents the ways in which wars have transformed the terrain of the battlefield into landscapes of memory and enduring terror: in France, where millions of acres of farmland are cordoned off to all but a corps of demolition experts responsible for the undetonated bombs and mines of World War I that are now rising up in fields, gardens, and backyards; in a sixty-square-mile area outside Stalingrad that was a cauldron of destruction in 1941 and is today an endless field of bones; in the Nevada deserts, where America waged a hidden nuclear war against itself in the 1950's, the results of which are only now becoming apparent; in Vietnam, where a nation's effort to remove the physical detritus of war has created psychological and genetic devastation; in Kuwait, where terrifyingly sophisticated warfare was followed by the Sisyphean task of making an uninhabitable desert capable of sustaining life.Aftermath excavates our century's darkest history, revealing that the destruction of the past remains deeply, inextricably embedded in the present.

    You couldn't live thirty minutes 'out there' with only six men."                [pg. 13]In 1965 nearly four hundred men were interviewed and only thirty-two selected for the infant LRRP Detachment of the lst Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Old-timers called it the suicide unit. Whether conducting prisoner snatches, search and destroy missions, or hunting for the enemy's secret base camps, LRRPs depended on one another 110 percent. One false step, one small mistake by one man could mean sudden death for all.Author Reynel Martinez, himself a 101st LRRP Detachment veteran, takes us into the lives and battles of the extraordinary men for whom the brotherhood of war was and is an ever-present reality: the courage, the sacrifice, the sense of loss when one of your own dies. In the hills, valleys, and triple-canopy jungles, the ambushes, firefights, and copter crashes, LRRPs were among the best and bravest to fight in Vietnam.

    Three gritty and suspenseful novels from the Badge of Honor series--Men in Blue, Special Operations, and The Victim--appear in an unabridged omnibus edition.

    The war was won, they thought, and to win it they had been pushed to what seemed like the limits of endurance. But ahead lay not only an enemy with no thoughts of surrender, but also appalling battle conditions reminiscent of the legendary miseries of Passchendaele. This much-anticipated sequel to The Guns of Normany picks up where its critically acclaimed predecessor leaves off, and it continues in the same absorbing, startlingly vivid style. After the battle for Normandy, Blackburn’s 4th Field Regiment, with the rest of 1st Canadian Army, is called upon to pursue the enemy through the flooded Low Country, clearing the Scheldt estuary – a task equal to that of D-Day – and opening the port of Antwerp to allow for the huge influx of supplies necessary to press on against the German forces, now fighting with mounting desperation and ferocity. After enduring the worst winter in local memory, and spending yet another Christmas far from home, in the spring of 1945 the Canadians are thrust into the crucial Battle of the Rhineland, which will eventually allow Allied forces to plunge into the heart of the Reich.When victory comes, it is with no sense of triumph over a vanquished foe, but with the profoundest relief that this most terrible conflict in history is finally over.Told with Blackburn’s now trademark sense of drama and eye for detail, this story of the desperate struggle for Europe becomes as large as life. It should fully establish Blackburn as the author of an acknowledged classic on the Second World War.From the Hardcover edition.

    William H. McRaven helped to devise the strategy for how to bring down Osama bin Laden, and commanded the courageous U.S. military unit that carried it out on May 1, 2011, ending one of the greatest manhunts in history. In Spec Ops, a well-organized and deeply researched study, McRaven analyzes eight classic special operations. Six are from WWII: the German commando raid on the Belgian fort Eben Emael (1940); the Italian torpedo attack on the Alexandria harbor (1941); the British commando raid on Nazaire, France (1942); the German glider rescue of Benito Mussolini (1943); the British midget-submarine attack on the Tirpitz (1943); and the U.S. Ranger rescue mission at the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines (1945). The two post-WWII examples are the U.S. Army raid on the Son Tay POW camp in North Vietnam (1970) and the Israeli rescue of the skyjacked hostages in Entebbe, Uganda (1976). McRaven—who commands a U.S. Navy SEAL team—pinpoints six essential principles of “spec ops” success: simplicity, security, repetition, surprise, speed and purpose. For each of the case studies, he provides political and military context, a meticulous reconstruction of the mission itself and an analysis of the operation in relation to his six principles. McRaven deems the Son Tay raid “the best modern example of a successful spec op [which] should be considered textbook material for future missions.” His own book is an instructive textbook that will be closely studied by students of the military arts. Maps, photos.

    

    As captain of PT 105, the author was in the same battle as John F. Kennedy when Kennedy's PT 109 was rammed and sunk. The famous incident, Keresey says, has often been described inaccurately and the PT boat depicted as unreliable and ineffective. This book helps set the record straight by presenting an authentic picture of PT boats that draws on the author's experience at Guadalcanal, New Georgia, Bougainville, and Choiseul Island. Action-filled, his account describes evading night bombers, rescuing coast watchers and downed airmen, setting down Marine scouts behind Japanese lines, engaging in vicious gun battles with Japanese barges and small freighters, and contending with heat, disease, and loneliness. First published in 1996, the book has been hailed for telling an exciting yet fully accurate story.

    This well-written, technically accurate, and even exciting account captures the urgency of the race to win World War II, the people behind the magnetrons, screens and antennae, and the use of radar in the cold war.

    Beginning aerodynamics, each step of the process is fully illustrated and thoroughly explained—from the physics advanced operations to helicopter design and performance—providing helicopter pilots with a sound to base their in-flight decisions. Containing discussions on the NOTAR (no tail rotor) system, strakes, principles of airspeed and high-altitude operations, this revised edition also includes the latest procedures Federal Aviation Administration.

    Delgado, a noted marine archaeologist with the National Park Service, visited Bikini in the late 1980s to explore and document the condition of the sunken ships. His work is more than an archaeological study; it is the history of the nuclear age. This book chronicles the development of the bomb, its deployment in Japan, the preparations for the tests, the attempted clean-up afterward, and the beginning of the Cold War.

    In this revelatory portrayal of the lives of the regular infantrymen who struggled to contain the Japanese advance, Eric Bergerud has given us a compelling and chilling record of the incredible hardships endured by these soldiers, and the heroic efforts that resulted in the reversal of the course of the war. Bergerud spent hundreds of hours interviewing the last surviving veterans of this remarkable campaign, and he has placed their personal experiences at the center of his analysis of military strategy."Aspires to do for the ground war in the South Pacific what Keegan achieved in Six Armies in Normandy."--Los Angeles Times

    The U.S. needs more highly trained Light Infantrymen that possess the skill sets identified in H.J. Poole's books.

    Spanning the years of Machiavelli's adult life, from 1497 until his death in 1527, this correspondence between Machiavelli and his friends, colleagues and compatriots— some of whom were the most influential thinkers of the day—presents a panorama of life, people and critical events in Renaissance Italy.

    Marines attacking the hill. In this emotionally compelling account of the fierce fight, James H. Hallas chronicles the extraordinary courage and tactical skills of the 6th Marine Division's junior officers and enlisted men as they captured a network of sophisticated Japanese defenses on Sugar Loaf while under heavy artillery fire from surrounding hills. To give human dimensions to the story, the author draws on his many interviews with participants and skillfully weaves together their individual stories of the sustained close-quarter fighting that claimed more than 2,000 Marine casualties. Pushed to their physical and moral limits during eleven attempts to capture the fifty-foot-high 300-yard-long hill, the Marines' proved their uncommon valor to be a common virtue, and this detailed record of their courage and commitment assures them a permanent place in history.

    Taking issue with revisionist historians, Samuels argues that German success in battle can be explained by their superior tactical philosophy. The book provides a fascinating insight into the development of infantry tactics at a seminal point in the history of warfare.

    Now he gives readers a candid and acutely observant account of that life in all its historic and personal richness. Uniquely qualified to put a human face on history, Herzog provides insights into the people with whom he has played a part in the creation of that history. b&w photos.

    From being a defence of Portugal and those parts of Spain not under French control, it became an effort by the British, Spanish and Portuguese forces to drive the French out completely. Operations at the end of 1812 included the unsuccessful British siege of Burgos and the subsequent retreat; renewed campaigning on the east coast of Spain, including Murray's actions around Tarragona; and the beginning of the final offensive against the French, including the epic battles of Roncesvalles, Maya and Sorauren.

    Author Cecil B. Currey makes one primary reason clear: North Viet Nam's Senior Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap. Victory at Any Cost tells the full story of the man who fought three of the world's great powers—and beat them all.

    French successes in Spain continued but the army under Massena was forced finally to retreat from Portugal. The Allied offensive began to gather momentum, although their attempt to recapture Badajoz was unsuccessful. Beresford's campaign on the southern frontier of Portugal included one of the hardest-fought actions of the era, the Battle of Albuera, and Graham's victory at Barrosa aided the long-running defence of Cadiz against the French siege. Wellington saw victory at Fuentes de Onoro, and smaller scale successes for the British Army also occurred at E1 Bodon, Sabugal and Arroyo dos Molinos.

    This book traces the parallel development of night bombing within the RAF and that of the Luftwaffe's Night Fighter Force, culminating in the strategic bombing offensive and the German aerial defense against that offensive.

    These letters, diary entries and drawings are quite simply riveting. Whether your interest is Israel, the development of a sensitive young mind, Judaism or God, you will never forget Alex: Building A Life. Read it and laugh and cry. In other words, read it and live a remarkable life that was cut short.

    This 2nd edition brings more than 100 new photographs of these historic rifles and the wars in which they were carried. Every detail is presented, from the length and weight of the rifle to the manufacturer's markings. This book shows collectors precisely how to identify every model from 1871 to 1945 and provides production figures and the relative rarity of each model. Because Mauser rifles were produced under contract in so many different nations, the book is organised alphabetically by country and the year of production.

    The essential guide to the world's aircraft Over 500 color photographs Civilian and military aircraft Technical data Recognition silhouettes Aircraft markings identification guide

    This companion volume presents how the Panzertruppen fought during their defensive struggle with details on the units, organizations, types of Panzers, and tactics.

    Turbine engines, ancillary systems such as hydraulics, and peculiarities of the helicopter are explained in detail with diagrams to aid in comprehension. This manual takes a structured approach to helicopter flying in the areas of aerodynamics, performance, flight techniques, and engine failures, and has both beginners and advanced sections in each of these areas. The division of the book into two parts, for beginners and for advanced pilots, makes it an easy-to-read reference. While performance is covered briefly in the beginners section to permit understanding of how it affects the flight of the machine, it is described in much more detail in the advanced section. Students of both civil and military helicopter flight training and maintenance will benefit from this manual. Numerous examples as well as practical tips for both instructors and students enhance this text and make it a critical addition to any flight training classroom.

    

    Allegations have emerged of incompetence, cowardice and murder by British soldiers. This account of what happened on Longdon is based on eyewitness interviews and primary sources.

    A unique Civil War history with clear, lucid and eminently readable text by a 2-time Pulitzer Prize nominee.An examination of the American Civil War which looks at thirteen of the most important battles of the war between July 1861 and 1864, with details on the key figures of both sides and description of the experiences of common soldiers whilst in camp, during training, on the march and in battle, with anecdotes and personal accounts.The American Civil War remains the nation's central national epic, having changed the fledgling Union into the United States. The scars of that devastating internecine conflict of a century and a quarter ago have long since disappeared, but there remains a seemingly insatiabledesire to learn more of the circumstances and the detail of the war. This beautifully illustrated book provides that detail in respect of the tactical deployment of forces in the field and the fighting methods employed by the infantry, artillery and cavalry forces.

    Graham provides a detailed look at the entire SR-71 story beginning with his application to be an SR pilot through commanding an entire wing.

    Illustrated with hundreds of archive photographs and line drawings, Cruisers of World War Two is large-format, comprehensive reference on the subject.Within one volume, it describes all the cruisers extant, completed or laid down during the period 1939-1945 by the nations of the World.Each class is featured with full coverage of its design, construction and subsequent modifications, together with tabulated details of builder, dates, specification data notes on the fate of each ship.In format with the author's earlier work Destroyers of World War Two this book is a major contribution to naval literature, which will enable naval historians, modellers and veterans to study the subject with an extra thoroughness and accuracy.

    Hugh Elton discusses the practice of warfare in Europe, from both Roman and barbarian perspectives, in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. He analyzes the military practices and capabilities of the Romans and their northern enemies at political, strategic, operational, and tactical levels, and covers civil wars, sieges, and naval warfare.

    For a period of nearly six years, the German U-boat force attempted to blockade and isolate the British Isles in hopes of forcing the British out of the war, thereby thwarting both the Allied strategic air assault on German cities and Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Occupied France. Fortunately for the Allies, the U-boat force failed to achieve either of these objectives, but in the attempt they sank 2,800 Allied merchant ships, while the Allies sank nearly 800 U-boats. On both sides, tens of thousands of sailors perished.     For decades, an authoritative and definitive history of the Battle of the Atlantic could not be attempted, since London and Washington agreed to withhold all official code-breaking and U-boat records in order to safeguard the secrets of code breaking in the postwar years. The accounts that did appear were incomplete and full of false conclusions and errors of fact, often leaving the entirely wrong impression that the German U-boats came within a whisker of defeating the Allies, a myth that is finally laid to rest in this account.     Clay Blair, acclaimed author of the bestselling naval classic Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan, has drawn from the official records as well as the work of German, British, American, and Canadian naval scholars. Never before has Hitler's U-boat war been chronicled with such authority, fidelity, objectivity, and detail. The result is this magnificent and monumental work, crammed with vivid and dramatic scenes of naval actions and dispassionate but startling new revelations, interpretations, and conclusions about all aspects of the Battle of the Atlantic.

    naval aviation. Vulture\s Row is an area dubbed by naval flyers, on the island structure of an aircraft carrier where pilots who aren\t flying can overlook carrier launchings and recoveries on the deck below. \nThis new book by acclaimed author Paul Gillcrist is a series of true stories about the U.S. Navy carrier aviation from the perspective of a Navy pilot who spent thirty-three years directly involved in that exciting profession. The book begins with a series of vignettes in the period of the mid-1950s when the U.S. Navy introduced swept wing, jet-powered fighters into the aircraft carrier navy, flying from straight-deck carriers whose flight decks were made of teak wood.\nThe thread of stories follows the author\s career in chronological sequence, in various venues throughout the Navy. There are accounts from his first carrier deployment to the western Pacific, followed by events as a weapons delivery instructor at the predecessor to TOPGUN in El Centro, California. Some of his experiences as a Navy pilot are recorded in a section about Patuxent River, Maryland, the Navy\s test center. Additional episodes include an unforgettable wing-walking flight. flying Japanese Zeros in the movie TORA!TORA!TORA! and the author\s subsequent tour of duty in Pentagon conducting proficiency flights from our nation\s capital.\nThere are also accounts of combat missions over Vietnam and the author\s experiences in both wing commander jobs, flying the F-4 Phantom II and the F-14 Tomcat. The last story is about his two flights, as a fifty-two year old Admiral, in the controversial F-20 Tigershark. These vignettes combine humor, hair-raising excitement and tragedy.\nRear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist, a U.S. Navy fighter pilot, served also as a test pilot and weapons delivery instructor, and actively flew from sixteen aircraft carriers for over twenty-seven years. The author writes with authority as a former fighter squadron commanding officer who recorded 167 combat missions over Vietnam flying the F-8 Crusader. Subsequently, he commanded a carrier air wing and finally served, the rank of Rear Admiral, as the wing commander for all pacific Fleet fighter squadrons. His pilot\s logbook includes over 6,000 hours, in seventy-one different types of aircraft from 1952 to 1981. He retired in 1985 as Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations(air Warfare). He is also the author of TOMCAT!The Grumman F-14 Story, and CRUSADER! Last of the Gunfighters(both titles are available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.).

    Fully updated since the 1996 edition, it is organized in a new way that makes it easier to look up ship types in service with more than one navy. Now you can directly compare how different fleets have armed and equipped warships from the same class. A comprehensive index has been added.Over 200 classes of warship are covered with:Class and ship namesWeapon systems and radarsFull page photographs of every warshipDetailed line diagramsKey recognition features

    It lists over 8,200 Boeing B-17s from the World War II era on which some sort of name identification was obtained, showing name and where available, group, squadron, and serial number. The photos in this book are black and white.

    Germany challenged the Royal Navy's global dominance, the U.S. and Japan established themselves as major naval powers. The revolutionary "HMS Dreadnought" was succeeded by even larger and more powerful warships that clashed spectacularly at the battle of Jutland in 1916. Plans for a new generation of 'super dreadnoughts' were delayed by international treaties, but Japanese ambitions eventually led to a new arms race with the U.S.. This naval race produced the world's largest and most heavily-armed battleships, like the "Yamoto" and "Owa." Combat experience in World War II soon revealed that submarines and aircraft posed a lethal threat to even the greatest battleship. Only the U.S. Navy had the resources to maintain a battleship force after 1945, and these mighty warships have attached enemy coasts from Vietnam and the Lebanon to the 1991 Gulf War. Acclaimed naval illustrator Tony Gibbons has painted all classes of twentieth century battleship for "Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century." Every major battleship is shown in profile, with the 25 greatest battleships illustrated across the full width of the page, with accompanying plan and bow views. Naval historian Bernard Ireland reveals the fascinating background to each class of battleship. Each entry includes comprehensive technical data. Special features investigate what happened when battleships opened fire: Why British battle cruisers were so vulnerable to German shellfire, how American radar helped "USS Washington" sink the "Kirishima" off Guadalcanal and when was the "Bismarck" doomed to die.

    Army during World War II. No other single source provides so much accurate and authentic detail on weapons, vehicles, ammunition and other combat equipment, together with an authoritative explanation of the development and introduction processes. The facts and figures are profusely illustrated with over 700 photographs and drawings, and set in context in the Introduction by military equipment expert Ian V. Hogg. During World War II, various military agencies produced catalogues to fill in the gaps left by the official U.S. War Department manuals. This led to inconsistent technical data appearing in different sources. In order to standardise the information and properly catalogue all the equipment, the U.S. Ordnance Department began putting together the master guide now published as The American Arsenal, covering every piece of equipment in use and being produced. Every figure, date, specification and description was authenticated by reference to Ordnance Committee Minutes and similar authorities. The vast amount of technical information included makes this an invaluable reference work.

    272pp. 60 illus. 13 maps/diags. 16x24c. Hardback in D.J. all fine

    After planning for years and succeeding in escaping with five companions, Ralph Churches decided he had better go back and get the rest of his mates; which he did, all ninety of them, then got them airlifted from behind German lines to Italy without loss

    It argues against the widespread spirit of disengagement, with its preoccupation with domestic problems. Joshua Muravchik is the author of Exporting Democracy: Fulfilling America's Destiny.

    In the theatre of war, how important is costume? And in peacetime, what purpose does military spectacle serve? This book goes behind the scenes of the British military at its height to show how dress and discipline helped mould the military man while serving to intimidate civil rioters in peacetime.

    

    Picking up from where The Great Tank Scandal left off, in the winter of 1942/43, The Universal Tank carries the story of British and Commonwealth Armoured Fighting Vehicles forward to 1945 and notes their place in during WWII.

    Fuller wrote this essay in 1927 and mounts an attack on the insensible polarity of progression and repression as he explores the magic and esoteric ideas of the Middle Ages.

    What Sch�nbohm discovered and recorded in a diary was almost incredible: plans to conquer West Germany's major cities; blueprints for a surprise attack on West Berlin through the city's subways and sewer systems; papers documenting the planned use of chemical weapons. But there were also the more mundane problems of what to do with those 100,000 men whom the end of the Cold War had made superfluous. It is through accounts like this one that we are reminded of how dangerous a world we all lived in between 1945 and the fall of Communism.

    Army Signal Corps from its beginnings on the eve of the American Civil War through its participation in the Persian Gulf conflict during the early 1990s. Over the course of its 135 years of existence, the Signal Corps has often been at the forefront of the revolutionary changes that have taken place in communications technology. It contributed significantly, for example, to the development of radar and the transistor. In today's information age, the Signal Corps continues its tradition of leadership and innovation on the digitized battlefields of the twenty-first century. While accounts of the branch's service during the Civil War, World War II, and Vietnam have been published, little has been written about the rest of the Signal Corps' accomplishments. This book fills out the picture. It shows today's signal soldiers where their branch has been and points the way to where it is going. The reader, whether military or civilian, can follow the growth and development of one of the Army's most sophisticated technical branches. By telling the Signal Corps' story in a comprehensive manner, this volume makes a significant contribution to the history of the Army. Douglas D. Buchholz John W. Mountcastle Major General, USABrigadier General, USA Chief of SignalChief of Military History

    By the time I was to reenter in the fall for the second year, war activities were [under way] on a large scale. Men were going into some branch of the service on all sides. I felt that my family should do their bit in uniform, and my age designated me as the most appropriate one." This Texas A&M College student was Carl Andrew Brannen; these are his memoirs of a time when boys became men and your country became your life. Over There: A Marine in the Great War takes the reader on an almost two-year journey through his world as a young soldier in the war. Based on Brannen's memoirs recorded in the 1930s and photographs he took with a German camera as a soldier, this book describes day-to-day obstacles he and his fellow soldiers faced during Marine Corps training, movement to France, and mortal combat. "As I jumped for protection into a ditch nearby, a fusillade of bullets caught me below the heart on the left side, through one lens of the field glasses, and against my bandoleer of ammunition. The best I remember, ten bullets in my own belt exploded, but they had deflected the enemy bullets, saving my life."Brannen, though wounded in battle and in the hospital for three weeks, went on with 80th Company through the Meuse-Argonne campaign to the armistice on November 11. He pulled his months of duty in the occupation of the Rhineland and, at its end, earned a place in the Composite Regiment of men selected to represent the American Expeditionary Forces in the many ceremonial events of 1919. Complemented with a unique set of photographs by the author's son that retrace his father's military campaigns, Over There is a highly personal account, presented from an enlisted man's perspective of the battle fronts of Belleau Woods in the Château-Thierry sector, Soissons, Pont-a-Mousson, St. Mihiel, Blanc Mont Ridge, and the Meuse-Argonne battle.As a first hand commentary and a social document of life in the trenches during World War I, it is a useful contribution to military history. Brannen's personal accounts will touch and fascinate all those interested in World War I.

    It documents the circumstances behind training and employment, the equipment chosen for use, the transition from the M700 sniping rifle to the M40A1 and the extreme effectiveness of the Vietnam-era sniping effort overall.

    They used the enemy's booby-trapped trails and grenade-in-you-backpack tactics in a sprawling mass of jungle.James C. Donahue, a member of Operation Blackjack-31, chronicles the treacherous trek through War Zone D by thirteen handpicked Green Berets who infiltrated the VC's "secret zone" and proved just how far determination can go.

    Victory in the Cold War, moreover, seems to have increased the attractiveness of this potentially dangerous model. In fact, NATO's attempts to replace conventional armies with nuclear technology represented a misreading of history inasmuch as war has always been more of a social than technological phenomenon. From his succinct survey of the growth and operations of field armies from medieval times to the Gulf War, English concludes that the legitimately constituted conventional army of the nation-state still remains the best instrument for bringing some semblance of order to the destructive chaos of war.The development of field armies has involved much more sophistication than generally supposed. In both practice and theory, army operations have been as knowledge-based and intellectually rigorous as any academic discipline, ensuring them an enduring place as a practical means of applying massive force. Fortunately, the NATO attempt to replace conventional armies with nuclear technology was never tested in a real war. But English suggests that the likelihood of deterrence continuing in war, because of its transmutability, also offers hope that it can be controlled in the future, as it was in the past, by social forces. This book offers a longer, more realistic view of war than that normally embraced by technocrats in search of better weapons and peacemakers in search of utopia.This book also addresses in detail the questions of why armies became so large and why war itself transmutated. The technological transformation of war that occurred after 1815 is discussed, in turn, for the effect it exerted upon the future operations of armies. A novel perspective on the tactical and operational progression of warfighting up to the end of World War II is also provided through an examination of modern defensive theory. On a more elevated plane, the book critically assesses the ways in which nuclear deterrence ultimately affected NATO's defensive posture in central Europe. Also subjected to detailed scrutiny are the theoretical and practical dimensions of ground force concepts for the defense of the NATO central front. Finally, English evaluates ground force operations in the Gulf War with a view to drawing relevant conclusions and lessons for the future.

    Visiting the islands where his father saw action, Richmond seeks to understand the man he knew so briefly--Tom Richmond died in 1960 when son Peter was only six--and wonders what it means to be ready to die for one's country.

    250 and Sd.Kfz. 251 half-tracks of World War II. Used throughout the war, these vehicles functioned as personnel carriers and scout cars. Supplemented by contemporary photos, color illustrations, and five-view scale drawings, the book covers most of the more than two dozen variants of the Sd.Kfz. 250 and 251.

    In all 12 walks are presented, each including sketch maps, notes on transport connections and suggestions for further exploration. Famous myths, mysteries and legends associated with the battles are recounted.

    These insurgencies failed, having been successfully contained by their governments. How did the world's strongest power - America - fail where Third World governments have succeeded?

    Shown are Soviet armored trains as used during the Russian Revolution, the Russian Civil War, and World War II.

    Its 800 entries. extend beyond standard categories such as battles, campaigns, biographies, and weapons, and encompass the structures of various parts of the defense force organization and their evolution, military language and customs, literature dealing with military themes and treaties, alliances and acts of parliament that have had a significant impact on the military. Complete with 100 photographs and 32 maps, the result is a comprehensive work of reference, analysis and interest that will come to be regarded as the authoritative work in the field.