Now with a new afterword by the author and photographs taken by him during the conflict, this straight-from-the-shoulder account tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert Mason’s astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a "chickenhawk" in constant danger.

    Here renowned historian Stephen Sears draws on a remarkable cache of diaries, dispatches, and letters to recreate the vivid drama of Antietam as experienced not only by its leaders but also by its soldiers, both Union and Confederate, to produce what the New York Times Book Review has called "the best account of the Battle of Antietam."

    This is his story, from the first day of the war to the last, of how he became one of history’s leading fighter aces. Starting out flying Spitfires for 416 (Canadian) Squadron and then for an RAF Eagle Squadron, Goodson transferred over to the Thunderbolts and Mustangs of the Fourth Fighter Group when the U.S. joined the war. Mixing it up with the Luftwaffe’s very best pilots accompanying bombing runs into the heart of Germany, Goodson scored thirty kills. But the “King of the Strafers” finally got shot down trying to attack a Me 163 rocket plane. Captured by the Gestapo and only hours away from execution, he managed to buy himself more time by showing the commandant how to blow smoke rings!—and was moved to Berlin, just as Allied bombers besieged the city… With breathtaking descriptions of aerial dogfights and vivid portraits of the men who fought, Tumult in the Clouds is a dramatic, gripping story of courage and sacrifice—and a stunningly personal account of war.

    However the 18 divisions that went over the top between Arras and St-Quentin on the morning of 1 July 1916, walked into a battle that has gone down in the annals of human conflict as the slaughterhouse of a generation. The author has written other books about the history of World War I, including, They Called it Passchendaele and The Roses of No Man's Land.

    

     Only since the Falklands campaign have the initials SBS become known to the public. Yet this clandestine formation of Britain’s armed forces has been in existence since the Second World War. Barrie Pitt, who himself served with the SBS, describes how the it came into being in 1941. How they fought with distinction in the Aegean, where one of their exploits inspired The Guns of Navarone. How they earned rapport in the Adriatic, in Greece and in Italy. How the SBS was reorganised in 1946 as part of the Royal Marines and has since played a role in Korea, Borneo and the Falklands. Equally interesting is the author’s report of the training and specialized skills required by the boat units, and the essential tasks facing them — infiltration from the sea, reconnaissance, sabotage, survival, resistance to interrogation, escape from captivity — and the expertise and determination to complete them. As Barrie Pitt's superb account of the formative years of this elite force shows, these qualities have been present from the very beginning. Barrie Pitt (1918-2006) was well known as a military historian and editor of Purnell’s History of the Second World War and History of the First World War. His publications include 'Coronel and Falkland', 'Churchill and the Generals' and 'The Crucible of War', a trilogy covering the North African campaign of the Second World War. He was born in Galway and later lived near Ilminster in Somerset.

    seapower. They remain both the most impressive and the most controversial of warships, often criticized for their size but always valued for the image of power they can project throughout the world.This account of U.S. carrier development, based on the internal files of the U.S. Navy, presents a complete evolutionary design history at a level of detail and accuracy never before approached. The author, a recognized authority on U.S. warships, uncovers the reason behind the issues behind the emergence of today's carrier, explaining the reasons for the periodic but always aborted attempts to trim back its dimensions. As a result, U.S. Aircraft Carriers is relevant to both current and future plans for new carrier construction.Norman Friedman points out many features of carrier design that have recurred over the years. For example, he shows how recent interest in the conversion of merchant hulls to limited-capability ASW carriers harks back to a major conversion program of the 1930s and to the escort-carrier program of World War II. Both programs are fully described here, as are those for the proposed VSTOL carrier, the sea-control ship, and the VSTOL support ship.This book treats the reader to detailed information on every U.S. carrier class, from the gigantic warships of the Nimitz class to the "side-wheeler" training carriers that operated on the Great Lakes during World War II. Included in this comprehensive history are flight deck plans, outboard profiles, sketches of major design studies, and descriptions of several unique carrier proposals that never got beyond the designer's table but still had a major influence upon contemporary design thinking.Here, too, is Friedman's lucid explanation of the changing function of U.S. carriers, from their origin as auxiliaries to their present role as the main components of the battle force. The post-World War II controversy over the role of carrier operations is also covered. Extensive appendices provide additional data on the carriers and synopses of developments in the design of their catapults and arresting gear.The talented draftsman A. D. Baker III has drawn carefully detailed scale profiles and plan views for each major class of carrier. Numerous photographs, many before never published, also complement the text.U.S> Aircraft Carriers is essential reading for those concerned with the future of the U.S. Navy. Naval historians and architects alike will find this the most comprehensive reference available on the subject and a fitting companion to Friedman's U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History.

    P. Willmott's three-volume history of the war in the Pacific, this work tells how Japan arrived at a situation in which war with the United States was the only means of ensuring long-term security and resolving her immediate problems of access to raw materials and of an unwinnable war in China.

    He used his first-hand experience of combat conditions fighting with 65 Squadron at the height of the Battle of Britain to help turn this elegant flying machine into a deadly fighter airplane.

    They are exhilarating, masculine, terrified, pathetic and criminal. It is rare for a group of photographs to drag the viewer so violently into the middle of someone else's life.' - American Photographer

    The Falklands conflict was supremely an "other ranks" war. Here, then, is their side of the story, recorded at the time by two front line journalists. In their own words, often profane, usually funny, always to the point, the men of the Falklands Task Force and those who accompanied them describe what it was actually like to fight an underdog's battle in an icy wilderness 8000 miles from home. Funny, moving, incisive, occasionally bitter, always humorously resigned, this is the story of one war which could be any war, a portrait of the British soldier, in all his mud-stained glory. Here's to him, wha's like him? Gey few, and a lot of them dead.

    Free of ideological bias, profound in its undertsanding, and compassionate in its human portrayals, it is filled with fresh revelations drawn from secret documents and from exclusive interviews with participants-French, American, Vietnamese, Chinese: diplomats, military commanders, high government officials, journalists, nurses, workers, and soldiers. Originally published a companion to the Emmy-winning PBS series, Karnow’s defining book is a precursor to Ken Burns’s ten-part forthcoming documentary series, The Vietnam War. Vietnam: A History puts events and decisions into such sharp focus that we come to understand – and make peace with – a convulsive epoch of our recent history.

    Ideal for battlefield tours, the 43 two-color, full page maps highlight the critical military positions and communicate the changing nature of the war. The description accompanying each map enables the reader to relive the action of battle and sense the drama it held for the troops that fought in the world's first total war.The author exploreres the personalities of the commanders on each side and explains the rationale behind the battlefield decisions. In addition, each narrative details the strength of each side, the losses suffered, and the strategic consequences of the battles.The maps are divided into four groups, each of which constitute a chapter in the history of the war: the Amatuer War saw civilian volunteer armies slug it out at Bull Run and Shiloh; the Organized War saw the emergence of managers of war like George B. McClellan (who could administer, but who was loath to fight) as well as the rise of Robert E. Lee; the period of Confederate High Tide in 1863 saw Southern hopes crest only to collapse again after Gettysburg and Vicksburg; and ultimately the era of Total War witnessed the complete metamorphosis of the war from its chivalric beginnings to it emergence as the world's first unlimited war under the leadership of Grant and Sherman. A short introductory essay precedes each section, accompanied by contemporary photographs and drawings that portray America's greatest military conflict.

    Like his first two books, it uses photographs taken during the campaign and analyzes them, comparing modern photos of the same sites.

    The author's objective is to enlighten Americans on "the history of weapons systems and tactics, with special reference to the influence that these have had on political life and the stability of political arrangements"

    The Emden sank two warships and sixteen merchantmen, captured four colliers, shelled the harbor at Madras and raided Penang. In the end seventy-eight British ships were required to run her down. Even being captured left the gallant crew undaunted.

    Maltby writes the most enjoyable biography of one of the most relevant men of Spanish history, the soldier-statesman 3rd Duke of Alba, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo.

    The story of the line-of-battle ship is described in terms of individual vessels and classes, highlighting the factors influencing specific changes in design.

    Volume 2 covers the detailed course of operational and tactical fighting in virtually every combat sector.

    Navy, Marine Corps and in the British Fleet Air Arm.

    In this distinguished, highly readable, and richly detailed narrative history, William M. Dwyer reveals as vivid a picture as we are likely to see of a critical period in the American Revolution. He lets the participants--from American, British, and Hessian soldiers to myriad fearful and ambivalent citizens--tell the story in their own words. "Telling the story from the perspective, and often the words, of men in the ranks, Dwyer has written a dramatic account of this turning point in the American Revolution." --James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom "[Dwyer] has cast his net wide, taking advantage of newly found or long-obscure accounts published during the celebration of the Revolution's bicentennial. We learn exactly how it was in that momentous time, from letters, diaries and recollections of officers and men on both sides and civilians caught in the middle." --New York Times Book Review "Dwyer has put together a wonderful, lively account that reflects a reporter's respect for quotes from eyewitnesses . . . He presents the facts and lets history speak for itself. The result is enthralling." --The Philadelphia Inquirer "The courage of the common soldier who stayed and fought when the sunshine patriots had all gone home is a story that deserves to be told--and Mr. Dwyer has told it well." --The Wall Street Journal

    The dramatic battle on the Plains of Abraham not only set the course for the future of Canada; it opened the door to the independence of the American colonies some 20 years later. Stacey's account is regarded as the best ever written. This new edition contains all the text and the pictures of the previous edition, in a smart and generous new format.

    The most comprehensive review and analysis available of the modern Soviet fleet -- its ships, aircraft, weapons, electronics, bases, shipyards, personnel, and leadership.

    Marines gave birth to a legend in the halls of Montezuma in the nineteenth century, they added glorious luster to it with their heroism and victories against the Japanese in World War II. For this vivid, foxhole view of the Marines' war, Richard Wheeler draws extensively on frontline eyewitness accounts of Marines and combat journalists and backs up their stories with official U.S. action reports and captured Japanese materials. First published in 1983, the book has earned praise as a popular, one-volume history of all the battles fought by the Marine Corps in the Pacific campaign. The book describes in fascinating and exciting detail the heroic defense of Wake Island against an overwhelming enemy assault force. It traces the long bloody battle for Guadalcanal that brought the Marines their first victory and gave America and its allies control of the strategically important Soloman Islands. It follows the painful, island-by-island counterattack toward the Japanese homeland when the Marines created new legends at such places as Bougainville, Saipan, Tarawa, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Here are the remarkable exploits of the Marines holding off Japanese assault waves at Heartbreak Ridge, storming across coral reefs, and struggling up the slopes of Mount Suribachi to raise the Stars and Stripes. Some sixty-five photographs enhance the book, which is now available in paperback for the first time.

    Photographs of the battleground now and then are revealed, as is the grave of the most famous panzer commander.

    First published in 1983 and now revised to reflect information recently uncovered, the book is the product of years of research. Taken from widely dispersed sources, the information offers a detailed compilation of submarine successes and claims against Allied and neutral ships in every theater of the war at sea.

    The ground rules for this assessment were that only pilot-in-command flights should count, and that marks or variants of a basic type of aircraft were not included. This remarkable record is reflected in the fact that Captain Brown is both the most decorated Fleet Air Arm and British test pilot. The variety of aircraft he has flown is incredible, and though his test and naval flying writings are already internationally known, he now has opened up pages of his Flying Log Books to reveal some of the more unusual types in his unique experience, and to relate their virtues or vices. From the infamous Mitsubishi Zero-Sen and U.S. Navy s piston-engine Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat to the post-war swept-wing de Havilland Swallow. From the North American Savage designed to take off from an aircraft carrier with a nuclear bomb to the Supermarine Attacker, Eric Winkle Brown has tested their qualities and takes the reader into the cockpits of those exciting aircraft to thrill to the joys and hazards of flying both weird and wonderful aircraft with one of the greatest of all pilots.

    

    

    Stan Cohen takes you back to America's first major strike against Japan since Pearl Harbor, 4 months earlier. What an incredible event! On April 18, 1942, after being spotted by a Japanese boat, Jimmy Doolittle and his 16 air crews took off from the USS Hornet to bomb Tokyo and other cities. It was a full 24 hours earlier than they had planned to launch, as well as hundreds of miles away from the intended launch point. Before they left, they all knew that with this sudden change in plans, they did not have enough fuel to fly all the way to friendly areas in China to land safely. They chose to go anyway. After hitting their intended targets, every single plane went down either in the water or in occupied China (except one which managed to land in Russia where the crew was promptly interned). Eight men were captured by the Japanese and only 4 of them survived the 3 1/2 year imprisonment. Japan was shocked and mortified that someone was actually able to hit them on their homeland so unexpectedly. It was a major morale booster for the USA at a time when the Japanese were winning in the Pacific. Mr. Cohen includes some fantastic photos and at the end of the book he includes a follow-up about the surviving crewmembers today. There are also accounts of expeditions that went back to the crash sites and talked to the Chinese people who helped the Raiders make it back home safely

    

    

    

    For almost ten years he worked closely with other senior Vietnamese officers and civilian leaders and dealt with U.S. military and civilian representatives in Saigon. General Vien is therefore particularly well qualified to give an account of the final years from a South Vietnamese standpoint.

    "Authoritative and thorough . . . an interesting and thought provoking book of real value to historians and military thinkers."--RUSI Journal.

    

    Air Force --- which was forged in fire over Brest, Schweinfurt, and Berlin."