Best of
War

1995

Rena's Promise: A Story of Sisters in Auschwitz


Rena Kornreich Gelissen - 1995
    While there she was reunited with her sister Danka. Each day became a struggle to fulfill the promise Rena made to her mother when the family was forced to split apart--a promise to take care of her sister.One of the few Holocaust memoirs about the lives of women in the camps, Rena's Promise is a compelling story of the fleeting human connections that fostered determination and made survival a possibility. From the bonds between mothers, daughters, and sisters, to the links between prisoners, and even prisoners and guards, Rena's Promise reminds us of the humanity and hope that survives inordinate inhumanity.

Auschwitz and After


Charlotte Delbo - 1995
    The French turned them over to the Gestapo, who imprisoned them. Dudach was executed by firing squad in May; Delbo remained in prison until January 1943, when she was deported to Auschwitz and then to Ravensbruck, where she remained until the end of the war. This book - Delbo's vignettes, poems and prose poems of life in the concentration camp and afterwards - is a literary memoir. It is a document by a female resistance leader, a non-Jew and a writer who transforms the experience of the Holocaust into prose.

The Last Lieutenant


John J. Gobbell - 1995
    Truly an inspiring and emotional story of bravery and sacrifice … a must read.” —Nelson DeMille, #1 NYT Bestselling Author The year is 1942.Bataan has fallen to the Japanese. The Philippines seem sure to follow. When a general surrenders the last American outpost in the West Pacific, Navy Lieutenant Todd Ingram refuses to give up the fight.Taking to sea under cover of darkness, he leads his ten man crew to accomplish the impossible....slip through Japanese naval blockades, travel 1900 miles to Australia, and singlehandedly stop a ruthless Nazi spy.There are no reinforcements. There will be no rescue.And if Todd fails, he won’t just lose his crew...he’ll lose the woman he loves, too. In the heart-pounding tradition of Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle comes a thriller brimming with raw courage, non-stop action, and an unforgettable villain. _________________________________ Praise for John J. Gobbell and THE LAST LIEUTENANT: “Epic adventure in the grand tradition—a rip-snorting barnburner by a first-rate storyteller.” —Stephen Coontz “There are no greater tales of epic combat than the fight for Corregidor and the Battle of Midway. John J. Gobbell masterfully combines them into a gripping war story that will be considered a classic in the decades to come.” —Clive Cussler "Gobbell has, for me, personally resurrected the novel of World War II in the Pacific, combining thriller with war novel. [The Last Lieutenant] calls up memories of The Naked and the Dead and James Jones. A first-rate accomplishment." —Thomas Gifford

Patton: A Genius for War


Carlo D'Este - 1995
    Photos.

Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth


Gitta Sereny - 1995
    Now this enigma of a man is unveiled in a monumental biography by a writer who came to know Speer intimately in his final years.Out of hundreds of hours of interviews, Sereny unravels the threads of Speer's personality: the genius that made him indispensable to the German war machine, the conscience that drove him to repent, and the emotional wounds that made him susceptible to Hitler's lethal magnetism. Read as an inside account of the Third Reich, or as a revelatory unsparing yet compassionate study of the human capacity for evil, Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth is a triumph."Fascinating...Not only a major addition to our knowledge of The Third Reich, but a stunning attempt to understand the nature of good and evil."--Newsday"More than a biography...It also constitutes a perceptive re-examination of the mysterious appeal of Adolf Hitler."--San Francisco ChronicleB&W photos.IntroductionPrologueAn Infusion of Stable Stock'I Felt He Was a Human Being'Dizzy with ExcitementA Kind of LoveA Shared Devotion'You've All Gone Completely Insane'A Slight DiscomfortUnleashing MurderA Grey Path IndeedA Moral SoreA Fatal AppointmentAn Irresistable ChallengeA Maelstom of IntriguesA Blinkered CommitmentThe Unbearable Truth'It Was Not Yet My Time'The 20th of JulyScorched Earth'I Stand Unconditionally Behind You'He Is the DreamThe One Interesting PersonA Common ResponsibilitySpandau 1Spandau 2A Twilight of KnowingThe Great LiePostscriptReferencesNotesIndex

Black Cross


Greg Iles - 1995
    To salvage the planned assault, two vastly different but equally determined men are sent to infiltrate the secret concentration camp where the poison gas is being perfected on human subjects. Their only objective: destroy all traces of the gas and the men who created it — no matter how many lives may be lost...including their own.Stunning....From the very first page, Greg Iles takes his readers on an emotional roller-coaster ride, juxtaposing tension-filled action scenes, horrifying depictions of savage cruelty, and heart-stopping descriptions of sacrifice and bravery. A remarkable story from a remarkable writer.” — Booklist

I Will Bear Witness 1933-41: A Diary of the Nazi Years


Victor Klemperer - 1995
    I Will Bear Witness is a work of literature as well as a revelation of the day-by-day horror of the Nazi years.                           A Dresden Jew, a veteran of World War I, a man of letters and historian of great sophistication, Klemperer recognized the danger of Hitler as early as 1933. His diaries, written in secrecy, provide a vivid account of everyday life in Hitler's Germany.                          What makes this book so remarkable, aside from its literary distinction, is Klemperer's preoccupation with the thoughts and actions of ordinary Germans: Berger the greengrocer, who was given Klemperer's house ("anti-Hitlerist, but of course pleased at the good exchange"), the fishmonger, the baker, the much-visited dentist. All offer their thoughts and theories on the progress of the war: Will England hold out? Who listens to Goebbels? How much longer will it last?                          This symphony of voices is ordered by the brilliant, grumbling Klemperer, struggling to complete his work on eighteenth-century France while documenting the ever- tightening Nazi grip. He loses first his professorship and then his car, his phone, his house, even his typewriter, and is forced to move into a Jews' House (the last step before the camps), put his cat to death (Jews may not own pets), and suffer countless other indignities.                           Despite the danger his diaries would pose if discovered, Klemperer sees it as his duty to record events. "I continue to write," he notes in 1941 after a terrifying run-in with the police. "This is my heroics. I want to bear witness, precise witness, until the very end."   When a neighbor remarks that, in his isolation, Klemperer will not be able to cover the main events of the war, he writes: "It's not the big things that are important, but the everyday life of  tyranny, which may be forgotten. A thousand mosquito bites are worse than a blow on the head. I observe, I note, the mosquito bites."

Lights Out Liverpool


Maureen Lee - 1995
    The war touches each of them in a different way: for Annie Poulson, a widow, it means never-ending worry when her twin boys are called up and sent to France; Sheila Reilly's husband, Cal, faces the terror of U-Boat attacks; Eileen Costello is liberated from a bitter, loveless marriage when her husband is sent to Egypt and she goes to work in a munitions factory - and falls in love. And Jessica Fleming, down on her luck, is forced to return to the street she'd hoped never to see again.

Battleground / Line Of Fire / Close Combat


W.E.B. Griffin - 1995
    Griffin's best-selling series. Millions of readers have been swept away by W.E.B. Griffin's remarkable novels of the Marine Corps, a saga filled with crackling realism and adventure, rich characters, real heroes, and a special flair for the military heart and mind. Here, together for the first time, are books IV,V, and VI of that series: Battleground, Line of Fire, and Close Combat. Together, these three novels present an epic tale of the battle between American and Japanese forces for the Solomon Islands in 1942. A general on a ticklish diplomatic mission finds himself in harm's way A first lieutenant, twenty-one years old but already one of only two pilots remaining from the fighter squadron's original sixteen, must learn what it is like to lead men - and to lose them A dare-devil squad attempts to rescue two Island, under the very noses of the Japanese A young private volunteers for a mission for a mission so secret he cannot be told where it is - or what he'll be doing Sweeping in scope but meticulous in detail, the books bring to life the men of the Corps - generals, colonels, and of an elite fraternity united by a tradition of courage and honor. This is The Corps.

Against the Odds: Survival on the Russian Front 1944-1945


John Stieber - 1995
    Caught there by the outbreak of the Second World War, he was unable to return to his parents for seven years. In due course, he was called to serve in an anti-aircraft battery and in the National Labour Service. Just after his eighteenth birthday, he was sent to the Russian Front with the elite Paratrooper and Tank Division, Hermann Göring. He lived through an amazing series of events, escaping death many times and was one of the few survivors of his division when the war ended. In this narrative of his early life, John Stieber describes how he went from a carefree childhood through increasing hardships, until every day of his life became a challenge for survival.

Jack and Rochelle: A Holocaust Story of Love and Resistance


Jack Sutin - 1995
    Told through their son Lawrence, the memoir brings to life the reality of months spent hidden in a dank underground bunker unaware of the outside world. However, this is not just an account of stark survival. It is also the tale of an impossible love affair that has lasted more than 50 years, and an eloquent reminder that history is made up of the often deeply moving details of individual lives.

Lavender Road


Helen Carey - 1995
    As war rages, and the evacuation of Dunkirk approaches, the women of south London have their own battles to fight. Helen Carey's LONDON ROAD is a compelling novel perfect for fans of Lilian Harry, Kate Thompson and Annie Murray. September 1939 As the nation braces itself for war, the residents of Lavender Road are dealing with troubles of their own.With her husband in jail, Joyce Carter is never sure where her family's next meal will come from. And her troublesome daughter, Jen, isn't helping matters by refusing to work until she achieves her dream of becoming an actress.Pam Nelson is struggling to deny the distance growing between her and her husband - which isn't helped by her secret attraction to their handsome new lodger. And unfortunately Pam isn't the only one to fall for his seductive charm...As the threat of a German invasion looms, the lives of the women on this south London street are about to change for ever...

Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II


William Blum - 1995
    foreign policy spanning sixty years. For those who want the details on our most famous actions (Chile, Cuba, Vietnam, to name a few), and for those who want to learn about our lesser-known efforts (France, China, Bolivia, Brazil, for example), this book provides a window on what our foreign policy goals really are. This edition is updated through 2003.

One Crowded Hour


Tim Bowden - 1995
    This is the story of Neil Davis, the celebrated combat cameraman in Vietnam.

Children in the Holocaust and World War II: Their Secret Diaries


Laurel Holliday - 1995
    As powerful as The Diary of Anne Frank and Zlata's Diary, children's experiences are written with an unguarded eloquence that belies their years. Some of the diarists include: a Hungarian girl, selected by Mengele to be put in a line of prisoners who were tortured and murdered; a Danish Christian boy executed by the Nazis for his partisan work; and a twelve-year-old Dutch boy who lived through the Blitzkrieg in Rotterdam. And many others. These heartbreaking stories paint a harrowing picture of a genocide that will never be forgotten, and a war that shaped many generations to follow. All of their voices and visions ennoble us all.

The Nightingale's Song


Robert Timberg - 1995
    Casting all five men as metaphors for a legion of well-meaning if ill-starred warriors, Timberg probes the fault line between those who fought the war and those who used money, wit, and connections to avoid battle. A riveting tale that illuminates the flip side of the fabled Vietnam generation -- those who went.

Why the Allies Won


Richard Overy - 1995
    The Soviet Union had lost the heart of its industry, and the United States was not yet armed.The Allied victory in 1945 was not inevitable. Overy shows us exactly how the Allies regained military superiority and why they were able to do it. He recounts the decisive campaigns: the war at sea, the crucial battles on the eastern front, the air war, and the vast amphibious assault on Europe. He then explores the deeper factors affecting military success and failure: industrial strength, fighting ability, the quality of leadership, and the moral dimensions of the war.

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society


Dave Grossman - 1995
    But armies have developed sophisticated ways of overcoming this instinctive aversion. And contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army's conditioning techniques, and, according to Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's thesis, is responsible for our rising rate of murder among the young.Upon its initial publication, On Killing was hailed as a landmark study of the techniques the military uses to overcome the powerful reluctance to kill, of how killing affects soldiers, and of the societal implications of escalating violence. Now, Grossman has updated this classic work to include information on 21st-century military conflicts, recent trends in crime, suicide bombings, school shootings, and more. The result is a work certain to be relevant and important for decades to come.

Highways to a War


Christopher J. Koch - 1995
    In a riveting new novel of wartime Cambodia and Vietnam--part thriller, part mystery, part heroic epic--the author of The Year of Living Dangerously offers the story of a likeable, brave, but ultimately mysterious war photographer who has disappeared into the jungles of Cambodia.

Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa


Joseph H. Alexander - 1995
    Gen. Mike Ryan, USMC (Ret.) Navy Cross recipient Green Beach, TarawaOn November 20, l943, in the first trial by fire of America's fledgling amphibious assault doctrine, five thousand men stormed the beaches of Tarawa, a seemingly invincible Japanese island fortress barely the size of the Pentagon parking lots (three-hundred acres!). Before the first day ended, one third of the Marines who had crossed Tarawa's deadly reef under murderous fire were killed, wounded, or missing. In three days of fighting, four Americans would win the Medal of Honor. And six-thousand combatants would die.Now, Col. Joseph Alexander, a combat Marine himself, presents the full story of Tarawa in all its horror and glory: the extreme risks, the horrific combat, and the heroic breakthroughs. Based on exhaustive research, never-before-published accounts from Marine survivors, and new evidence from Japanese sources, Colonel Alexander captures the grit, guts, and relentless courage of United States Marines overcoming outrageous odds to deliver victory for their country."Without a doubt the best narrative of the struggle ever produced."--Richard B. Frank, Author of GuadalcanalA MAIN SELECTION OF THE MILITARY BOOK CLUB Winner of the 1995 General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Award, awarded to the year's best nonfiction book pertinent to Marine Corps HistoryWinner of the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Outstanding Writer of the Year, presented by the Navy League of the United StatesWinner of the Roosevelt Naval History Prize, awarded by the Naval War College

The Railway Man


Eric Lomax - 1995
    During the second world war Eric Lomax was forced to work on the notorious Burma-Siam Railway and was tortured by the Japanese for making a crude radio.Left emotionally scarred and unable to form normal relationships Lomax suffered for years until, with the help of his wife Patti and the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, he came to terms with what had happened and, fifty years after the terrible events, was able to meet one of his tormentors.The Railway Man is an incredible story of innocence betrayed, and of survival and courage in the face of horror.

Birmingham Rose


Annie Murray - 1995
    But her friendship with Diana, daughter of a vicar from middle-class Moseley, gives her hope. She learns to aspire to a different kind of existence, vowing never to become a child-bearing drudge like her mother. Life, however, never follows the way of dreams. After a childhood marked by tragedy, Rose eventually finds and loses the love for which she has striven so hard. From Italy, where she has travelled during the Second World War, she is forced to return to Birmingham and an unhappy marriage, her hopes and illusions shattered. But Rose will not be defeated and she, too, is determined to rise once again above the devastation of her life . . . Collect the Birmingham set: Birmingham Friends, Birmingham Blitz

River of Time


Jon Swain - 1995
    From the writer immortalized in the Academy Award-winning film The Killing Fields.

The Death of Yugoslavia


Allan Little - 1995
    The Death of Yugoslavia is a survey of the pressures and events that contributed to the break-up of former Yugoslavia, considered from a historical rather than a political or sociological point of view.

Reporting World War II Vol. 1: American Journalism 1938-1944


Samuel Hynes - 1995
    Includes a detailed chronology of the war, historical maps, a glossary of military terms, and photos and illustrations.

Silent Running


James F. Calvert - 1995
    Filled with harrowing details of sinking Japanese vessels, surviving their assaults and capturing downed pilots. Culminates in Calvert's unauthorized visit, with three other officers, to Tokyo just prior to the official surrender--making them the first Americans to reach Japan's capital.

The One That Got Away: My SAS Mission Behind Enemy Lines


Chris Ryan - 1995
    During the Gulf War, deep behind Iraqi lines, an SAS team was compromised. A fierce firefight ensued, and the eight men were forced to run for their lives. Only one, Chris Ryan, escaped capture or death, and he did it by walking nearly 180 miles through the desert for seven days and eight nights. This story features extraordinary courage under fire, narrow escapes, a battle against the most adverse physical conditions, and, above all, of one man's courageous refusal to lie down and die.

War Beneath The Sea


Peter Padfield - 1995
    The canvas is broad and deep, from the strategic perspective at the top to the cramped and claustrophobic life of the crews in their submersible steel tubes; from the feats of ‘ace’ commanders to the terrifying experiences of men under attack in this most pitiless form of warfare. Peter Padfield describes the technical and tactical measures by which the Western Allies countered Admiral Karl Dönitz’s U-boat ‘pack’ attacks in the all-important North Atlantic battle; the fanatical zeal with which, even after defeat, Dönitz continued sacrificing his young crews in outmoded boats, dubbed by one veteran ‘iron coffins’; while in the Pacific the superiority of American fleet submarines and radar allowed the U.S. to isolate Japan from her overseas sources of supply. Padfield argues that if this strategic potential had been realised earlier it could have saved thousands of lives in the bloody Pacific island campaigns, and even rendered the use of atomic bombs unnecessary. ‘Peter Padfield is the best British naval historian of his generation…His book…will now become the standard work on the subject.’ John Keegan, The Daily Telegraph‘This looks set to become the definitive work on submarine warfare in the Second World War…’ Paul Hoxton, Military Illustrated‘By far the best and most complete critical history of the submarine operations of all the combatants in the Second World War, at the same time providing vivid narrative accounts of particular actions…’Alan Cameron, Lloyd’s List‘Peter Padfield has written a superb history of a complex and controversial subject. It is a valuable addition to our body of history of World War II, and I recommend it highly.’Vice Admiral James F. Calvert USN Rtd., U.S.N.I Proceedings‘This monument to the submarine arms of the major belligerents tells the story of their triumphs and tragedies and comes from one of our ablest naval historians…’Graham Rhys-Jones, R.U.S.I.Journal‘…the book is very well written and enjoyable to read. The facts and statistics are mixed with well penned character studies and fast-moving descriptive narrative in a way that confirms the author’s stature as a leading military historian…’The Naval Review‘…a near flawless work of history that can be recommended both as a serious study and a compelling read.’The Officer Magazine‘Probably one of the most valuable books ever written on submarine operations and countermeasures for World War II history…in the ‘Bravo’ category.’Canadian Military History Book Review Supplement‘Padfield keeps an unwavering balance between providing the depth of history and maintaining an exciting narrative.’The Times

The Beleaguered City: The Vicksburg Campaign


Shelby Foote - 1995
    The companion volume to Stars in Their Courses, this marvelous account of Grant's siege of the Mississippi port of Vicksburg continues Foote's narrative of the great battles of the Civil War--culled from his massive three-volume history--recounting a campaign which Lincoln called "one of the most brilliant in the world".

Wings Of Morning: The Story Of The Last American Bomber Shot Down Over Germany In World War II


Thomas Childers - 1995
    Ten never came back. This is the story of that crew—where they came from, how they trained, what it was like to fly a B-24 through enemy flak, and who was waiting for them to come home.Historian Thomas Childers, nephew of the Black Cat's radio operator, has reconstructed the lives and tragic deaths of these men through their letters home and through in-depth interviews, both with their families and with German villagers who lived near the crash site. In so doing he unearths confusion about the exact number of crash survivors and ugly rumors of their fate at the hands of the German villagers. His search to determine what really happened leads him to the crash site outside of Regensburg to lay the mystery to rest.In the tradition of Young Men and Fire, Wings of Morning is history as commemoration-an evocation of people and events that brings to life a story of love, loss, and a family's quest for truth.

A Woman in Amber: Healing the Trauma of War and Exile


Agate Nesaule - 1995
    This beautifully written book makes us reckon anew with the deep costs of war."—Eva Hoffman.

Shin's Tricycle


Tatsuharu Kodama - 1995
    Shin's uncle is able to get him the impossible: the tricycle he desperately wants. He is riding the wonderful, brand-new tricycle when the atom bomb is dropped. Shin is found in the rubble, holding on to his treasure. He dies later that day, ten days before his fourth birthday. The tricycle now sits in the Peace Museum in Hiroshima.

In Deadly Combat: A German Soldier's Memoir of the Eastern Front


Gottlob Herbert Bidermann - 1995
    Gottlob Herbert Bidermann served in that lethal theater from 1941 to 1945, and his memoir of those years recaptures the sights, sounds, and smells of the war as it vividly portrays an army marching on the road to ruin.A riveting and reflective account by one of the millions of anonymous soldiers who fought and died in that cruel terrain, In Deadly Combat conveys the brutality and horrors of the Eastern Front in detail never before available in English. It offers a ground soldier's perspective on life and death on the front lines, providing revealing new information concerning day-to-day operations and German army life.Wounded five times and awarded numerous decorations for valor, Bidermann saw action in the Crimea and siege of Sebastopol, participated in the vicious battles in the forests south of Leningrad, and ended the war in the Courland Pocket. He shares his impressions of countless Russian POWs seen at the outset of his service, of peasants struggling to survive the hostilities while caught between two ruthless antagonists, and of corpses littering the landscape. He recalls a Christmas gift of gingerbread from home that overcame the stench of battle, an Easter celebrated with a basket of Russian hand grenades for eggs, and his miraculous survival of machine gun fire at close range. In closing he relives the humiliation of surrender to an enemy whom the Germans had once derided and offers a sobering glimpse into life in the Soviet gulags.Bidermann's account debunks the myth of a highly mechanized German army that rolled over weaker opponents with impunity. Despite the vast expanses of territory captured by the Germans during the early months of Operation Barbarossa, the war with Russia remained tenuous and unforgiving. His story commits that living hell to the annals of World War II and broadens our understanding of its most deadly combat zone.Translator Derek Zumbro has rendered Bidermann's memoir into a compelling narrative that retains the author's powerful style. This English-language edition of Bidermann's dynamic story is based upon a privately published memoir entitled Krim-Kurland Mit Der 132 Infanterie Division. The translator has added important events derived from numerous interviews with Bidermann to provide additional context for American readers.

Once Upon a Distant War: David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan, Peter Arnett--Young War Correspondents and Their Early Vietnam Battles


William Prochnau - 1995
    "Prochnau . . . tells a Vietnam story we haven't heard before. . . . Complex, witty, and humane."--Tobias Wolff. of photos.

Warfare in the Classical World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors, and Warfare in the Ancient Civilizations of Greece and Rome


John Warry - 1995
    and A.D. 800, from the rise of Mycenaean civilization to the fall of Ravenna and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. John Warry tells of an age of great military commanders such as Alexander the Great, Hannibal, and Julius Caesar - men whose feats of generalship still provide material for discussion and admiration in the military academies of the world.The text is complemented by a running chronology, 16 maps, 50 newly researched battle plans and tactical diagrams, and 125 photographs, 65 of them in color.

Warthog: Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War


William L. Smallwood - 1995
    Drawing on interviews with over one hundred A-10 pilots who served in the Persian Gulf during the 1990-91 hostilities, Smallwood (himself an aviator and Korean War vet) offers riveting perspectives on aerial combat. Setting the stage with an informative briefing on how, in the 70's, the Air Force developed the A-10 (a.k.a. ``Warthog'') as a means of supporting ground troops with massive firepower, he moves into anecdotal vignettes detailing the ways in which so-called ``hog drivers'' and their commanders whiled away the weary hours of the calm before the storm in Saudi Arabia's inhospitable clime. At the heart of his narrative, however, are vivid accounts of how A-10s accomplished their tank-busting missions and then some once the battle was joined. Tasked, among other objectives, to take out missile launchers and artillery emplacements far behind the front lines (assignments normally reserved for jet fighters), the slow-moving, heavily armed Warthogs were credited with over half the bomb damage inflicted on Iraqi forces and installations. Employing improvisational tactics, A-10s also flew reconnaissance and assisted in rescues of coalition pilots; they even scored air-to- air kills, downing a couple of enemy choppers. Indeed, the plane's ungainly Gatling-gun platform performed so well that pilots demanded their craft be redesignated ``RFOA-10'' (for ``reconnaissance/fighter/observation/attack'').

The Guns of Normandy: A Soldier's Eye View, France 1944


George Blackburn - 1995
    In what was a relatively small area, both sides bombarded each other relentlessly for three months, each trying to overwhelm the other by sheer fire power.The Guns of Normandy puts the reader in the front lines of this horrific battle. In the most graphic and authentic detail, it brings to life every aspect of a soldier’s existence, from the mortal terror of impending destruction, to the unending fatigue, to the giddy exhilaration at finding oneself still, inexplicably, alive.The story of this crucial battle opens in England, as the 4th Field Regiment receives news that something big is happening in France and that after long years of training they are finally going into action. The troop ships set out from besieged London and arrive at the D-Day beaches in the appalling aftermath of the landing.What follows is the most harrowing and realistic account of what it is like to be in action, as the very lead man in the attack: an artillery observer calling in fire on enemy positions. The story unfolds in the present tense, giving the uncomfortably real sense that “You are here.”The conditions under which the troops had to exist were horrific. There was near-constant terror of being hit by incoming shells; prolonged lack of sleep; boredom; weakness from dysentery; sudden and gruesome deaths of close friends; and severe physical privation and mental anguish. And in the face of all this, men were called upon to perform heroic acts of bravery and they did. Blackburn provides genuine insight to the nature of military service for the average Canadian soldier in the Second World War – something that is all too often lacking in the accounts of armchair historians and television journalists. The result is a classic account of war at the sharp end.From the Hardcover edition.

Marching Orders: The Untold Story of How the American Breaking of the Japanese Secret Codes Led to the Defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan


Bruce Lee - 1995
    With unprecedented access to over one million pages of US Army documents and thousands of pages of top-secret messages dispatched to Tokyo from the Japanese embassy in Berlin, author Bruce Lee offers a series of fascinating revelations about pivotal moments in the war.   Challenging conventional wisdom, Marching Orders demonstrates how an American invasion of Japan would have resulted in massive casualties for both forces. Lee presents a thrilling day-by-day chronicle of the difficult choices faced by the American military brain trust and how, aware of Japan’s adamant refusal to surrender, the United States made the fateful decision to drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.   Hailed as “one of the most important books ever published on World War II” by Robert T. Crowley, an intelligence officer who later became a senior executive at the CIA, Marching Orders unveils the untold stories behind some of the Second World War’s most critical events, bringing them to vivid life. With this book, “many of the mysteries that have eluded historians since the end of the war are much clarified: the Pearl Harbor fiasco, D-Day, why the Americans let the Russians capture Berlin, and why the decision to drop the atomic bomb was made. This is the most significant publication about World War II since the recent series of books on the Ultra revelations” (Library Journal). It’s a story that, as historian Robin W. Winks said, “no one with the slightest interest in World War II or in the origins of the Cold War can afford to ignore.”

Prodigal Soldiers: How the Generation of Officers Born of Vietnam Revolutionized the American Style of War


James Kitfield - 1995
    military from Vietnam to the Gulf War, a history of a generation of officers examines changing ideas about war, ending the draft, reducing racial tensions, and integrating women into the ranks.

Shallow Graves in Siberia


Michael Krupa - 1995
    He ran away before taking his final vows and joined the army. Soon afterwards, the German tanks rolled into Poland and easily defeated her antiquated forces - the Polish cavalry were armed with sabres. Krupa survived Hitler's invasion, but was arrested in Soviet-occupied eastern Poland and accused of spying. After enduring torture in Moscow's notorious Lubianka prison, he was sentenced to ten years' corrective labour and deported to the Pechora Gulag. Most prisoners there were worked and starved to death within a year. But Krupa managed again to escape, and in the chaos following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union made one of the most extraordinary journeys of the war - from Siberia to safety in Afghanistan. Krupa's Jesuit training had given him an inner strength and resilience which enabled him to survive in the face of appalling brutality and cruelty. Luck and the kindness of strangers helped him complete his epic journey to freedom. The story of the suffering inflicted on millions in Stalin's camps has been told before - but Krupa's story is remarkable and uni

The Oxford Companion to World War II


Ian Dear - 1995
    Indeed, there has been nothing like it in human history: a single war that spanned three continents--a war which saw more men and women under arms, moredeaths, and more destruction than any other. Now Oxford University Press provides the definitive one-volume reference to this cataclysmic event. The Oxford Companion to World War II brings together an international team of 140 experts to cover every aspect of the conduct and experience of the conflict, from grand strategic decisionmaking to the struggles of daily life. More than 1,700 entries--ranging from brief identifications to in-deptharticles on complex subjects--bring the far-flung elements and events of the war into focus. Here are essays on overarching themes and broad topics, such as the origins of the war, diplomacy, the Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere, and the Final Solution. Military campaigns and battles, ofcourse, receive extensive attention: entries include the Fall of France, Operation Barbarossa, and the Battle of Midway, as well as such smaller events as the sinking of the Scharnhorst and the fall of Wake Island. Scores of analytical biographies range from the national leaders--Hitler, Stalin, Tojo, Roosevelt, Churchill--to an array of military and political figures, from Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Ho Chi Minh, from Marshal Timoshenko to General von Manstein. World War II was also an era of technological leaps, covert exploits, and horrific atrocities--and the Companion gives thoroughcoverage to each, with articles on weapons ranging from tanks to E-boats to rockets, on intelligence organizations (ranging from the O.S.S. to Smersh), and on the German Einstatzgruppen and Todt organization. The Companion also provides exceptional coverage beyond the military and political spheres, revealing the war as it affected the millions of noncombatants. In addition to exploring the economics and social policies of belligerent states, the Companion addresses such topics as children--explaininghow hundreds of thousands were evacuated from threatened cities, thrown into combat, killed by bombing raids, or made into orphans. Indeed, the Companion's emphasis on the social history and daily experience of the war makes it the most complete one-volume reference on this critical chapter inhistory. In addition to thousands of entries, conveniently arranged in an a-to-z format, the book also features hundreds of maps, charts, tables, and evocative photographs. There is no finer resource on the war that shaped the modern world.Features * More than 1,750 entries ranging from brief identifications to in-depth articles * More than 140 leading international experts have contributed, including David Kennedy, Martin Gilbert, Robert Dallek, Yogi Akashi, Ben-Ami Shillony, Heinz-Dietrich Lowe, Norman Davies, Wilhelm Diest, and many more * Massively illustrated with more than 100 evocative photographs and supplemented by 100 maps, thirty diagrams, and over 170 tables, charts and graphs * Articles on every aspect of the war, including: --surveys of countries, from economics to politics to military structure --portraits of wartime leaders, including generals, admirals, political figures, and heads of state--military campaigns and battles, from the Doolittle Raid to Operation Overlord, from Kassarine Pass to the Warsaw Uprising --intelligence organizations and exploits, from the Abwehr to Smersh, from codebreaking to commando raids --military technology, ranging from submarines to aircraft carriers, from fighter planes to V-1 and V-2 missiles, from the Enigma machine to radar * In-depth coverage of the social aspects of the war, such as the role of women, children, war production, and life under occupation

Phase Line Green


Nicholas Warr - 1995
    Marines against an entrenched North Vietnamese Army force. By official accounts it was a tactical and moral victory for the Marines and the United States. But here survivor Nicholas Warr describes with urgency and outrage the Marines' savage house-to-house fighting--ordered without air, naval, or artillery support by officers with no experience in that type of combat.Sparing few in the telling, Warr's firsthand narrative tells of desperate Marine suicide charges and of the Marines' selfless devotion to their comrades. His riveting account of the most vicious urban combat since World War II offers an unparalleled view of how a small-unit commander copes with the conflicting demands and responsibilities thrust upon him by the enemy, his men, and the chain of command.

Offerings at the Wall: Artifacts from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection


Thomas B. Allen - 1995
    This selection of the objects is a recognition of the importance of this memorial as marking the beginning of our nation's recovery from its longest war. Includes a complete list of the names inscribed on the Wall. 300 color photos.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms


Zhizhong Cai - 1995
    Set in the turbulent Three Kingdoms Period, the novel relates the clever political manoeuvres and brilliant battle strategies used by the ambitious rulers as they fought one another for supremacy.

Never the Last Journey


Felix Zandman - 1995
    But few are aware of Zandman's incredible personal story: as a teenager he spent a year-and-a-half in Nazi occupied Poland, and that harrowing experience gave him the drive, discipline, and generosity of spirit that made his later success possible.Taught by his grandmother Tema that the only measure of wealth is what you give away, Zandman lost his entire world in 1943 when the ghetto in his native city of Grodno was destroyed. Jammed with four others into a tiny pit beneath the cottage of a poor Polish peasant, he was left with nothing but his inner resources of imagination, intellect, and will to fend off insanity and find a reason to go on living.Lying next to him in the hole, his uncle taught him higher mathematics, lessons he later turned to good use in winning a doctorate in physics from the Sorbonne. In 1966 he came to the United States, where one of his breakthrough discoveries became the basis for a company he named for his grandmother's shtetl. Vishay revolutionized an industry and today employs sixteen thousand people worldwide, among them the grandson of the woman who saved him.

The Vicksburg Campaign: Vicksburg is the Key Vol. 1


Edwin C. Bearss - 1995
    

The Forgotten Few: The Polish Air Force in the Second World War


Adam Zamoyski - 1995
    But very few people have any idea of the extent of their involvement, or how they came to be in Britain. In this brilliant history, Adam Zamoyski explores the unwavering courage of Polish fighters and how they helped to defeat the Nazis. By the beginning of 1941, there was a fully fledged Polish Air Force operating alongside the RAF. With 14 squadrons and support services, it was larger than the air forces of the Free French, Dutch, Belgians and all the other European Allies operating from Britain put together. Some 17,000 men and women passed through its ranks while it was stationed on British soil. They not only played a crucial part in the Battle of Britain, they also contributed significantly to the Allied war effort in the air and took part in virtually every type of RAF operation, including the bombing of Germany, the Battle of the Atlantic and Special Operations. This book is not intended as a full history of the Polish Air Force. Nor does it pretend to assess the exact contribution of these men and women to the Allied cause. The intention is to give a picture of who they were, where they came from, how they got here and what they did. It also looks at their, at times, strained but ultimately successful collaboration with the RAF and their sometimes difficult, often notorious, but ultimately happy relationship with the British people. Count Adam Stefan Zamoyski is a historian and a member of the ancient Zamoyski family of Polish nobility. His books include ‘The Last King of Poland’, ‘Holy Madness: Romantics, Patriots and Revolutionaries’, and ‘Paderewski’. Praise for Adam Zamoyski: ‘So brilliant that it is impossible to put the book aside … A master craftsman at work.’ Sunday Times. ‘Zamoyski’s book is a brilliant piece of narrative history, full of sparkling set-pieces, a wholly fascinating account of what must be reckoned one of the greatest military disasters of all time.’ Sunday Telegraph. ‘An utterly admirable book. It combines clarity of thought and prose with a strong narrative drive.’ Daily Telegraph ‘A gripping tale.’ Economist Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

Stand Firm Ye Boys from Maine: The 20th Maine and the Gettysburg Campaign


Thomas A. Desjardin - 1995
     In this powerfully narrated history, Maine historian Tom Desjardin tells the story of the 20th Maine Regiment, the soldiers who fought and won the battle of Little Round Top. This engaging work is the culmination of years of detailed research on the experiences of the soldiers in that regiment, telling the complete story of the unit in the Gettysburg Campaign, from June 21 through July 10, 1863. Desjardin uses more than seventy first-hand accounts to tell the story of this campaign in critical detail. He brings the personal experiences of the soldiers to life, relating the story from both sides and revealing the actions and feelings of the men from Alabama who tried, in vain, to seize Little Round Top. Indeed, ranging from the lowest ranking private to the highest officers, this book explores the terrible experiences of war and their tragic effect. Following the regiment through the campaign enables readers to understand fully the soldiers' feelings towards the enemy, towards citizens of both North and South, and towards the commanders of the two armies. In addition, this book traces the development of the legend of Gettysburg, as veterans of the fight struggle to remember, grasp, and memorialize their part in the largest battle ever fought on the continent. With a new preface and updated maps and illustrations, Stand Firm Ye Boys of Maine offers a compelling account of one of the most crucial small engagements of the Civil War.

Germany's Panther Tank: The Quest for Combat Supremacy, Development Modifications, Rare Variants, Characteristics, Combat Accounts (Schiffer Military/Aviation History)


Thomas L. Jentz - 1995
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Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II


John Prados - 1995
    It examines every aspect of the secret war of intelligence -- from radio dispatches and espionage to vital information from prisoners and document translation -- showing how U.S. intelligence outsmarted Japan nearly every step of the way. The resulting assessment is a virtual rewriting of history that challenges previous conceptions about the Pacific conflict.John Prados relates the growing intelligence knowledge on both sides to the progress and outcome of naval actions. Along the way he offers a wealth of revelations that include data on how the United States caught the superbattleship Yamato and the impact of intelligence on the initial campaigns in the Philippines and Netherlands East Indies and the escape of American codebreakers from Corregidor. He also provides colorful vignettes of personalities who shaped the secret intelligence war. This ambitious work is not simply a rundown of code-breaking successes, but an astonishing demonstration of how the day-to-day accumulation of knowledge can produce extraordinary results. Its accounting of Japanese intelligence is unprecedented in detail. Its reassessment of battles and campaigns is presented not just in terms of troops or ships but in how the secret war actually played out. Lauded as a major new study when published in hardcover in 1995, the book remains the most comprehensive study written. For sheer drama and gut-level operational practicality, it ranks with the very best.

Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence


John Hockenberry - 1995
    It is a story of obstacles--physical, emotional, and psychic--overcome again, and again, and again. Whether riding a mule up a hillside in Iraq surrounded by mud-stained Kurdish refugees, navigating his wheelchair through intractable stretches of Middle Eastern sand, or auditioning to be the first journalist in space, John Hockenberry, ace reporter, is determined not only to bring back the story, but also to prove that nothing can hold him back from death-defying exploits. However, he will never be a poster boy for a Jerry Lewis telethon. A paraplegic since an auto accident at age nineteen, Hockenberry holds nothing back in this achingly honest, often hilarious chronicle that ranges from the Ayatollah's funeral (where his wheelchair is pushed by a friendly Iranian chanting "Death to all Americans"), to the problems of crip sex and the inaccessibility of the New York City subway system. In this immensely moving chronicle--so filled with marvelous storytelling that it reads like a novel--John Hockenberry finds that the most difficult journey is the one that begins at home, as he confronts the memories of his beloved one-armed grandfather, and finally meets his institutionalized Uncle Peter, whose very existence was long a secret buried in the family history.Moving Violations is a sometimes harrowing but ultimately joyful ride.

A History of the Peninsular War, Volume III: September 1809 to December 1810: Ocana, Cadiz, Bussaco, Torres Vedras


Charles William Chadwick Oman - 1995
    However, they could not wholly defeat their opponents. The forces of the Spanish Regency Council, with British and Portuguese aid, held out against the siege of Cadiz. Wellington's Allied army fought a model defensive battle at Bussaco, stalling the French drive into Portugal and enabling the British and Portuguese forces to retire to the shelter of the Torres Vedras fortifications. Here the Allies' defence led to a strategic victory, blunting the French offensive, and ultimately forcing the French to abandon their invasion.

Hiroshima in America


Robert Jay Lifton - 1995
    A study of the events surrounding the Hiroshima bombing focuses on its affects in America, considering the cover-up efforts by the government and linking the bombing to current insensitivities toward violence.

MIA Rescue


Kregg P.J. Jorgenson - 1995
    Night was coming, the skies were dark, and so were the men's thoughts--they'd just found freshly dug NVA bunkers inside a scrub-brush tree line and their position was not secure. As they carefully searched for better night lager, they learned the hard way that they had walked into an ambush kill zone: NVA fire quickly downed two men and wounded two others. In minutes, Team 5-2 had been transformed from the hunters to the hunted. They had no radio comms with their headquarters and had just two rifles and fifteen magazines of ammunition.Two men were down, but the team was not out. MIA RESCUE is the story of Team 5-2 and the heroic and ultimately successful attempts to rescue them despite extraordinarily bad weather and an angry and aware enemy. "Seldom can an author stimulate emotions, from the taste of fear to sweaty palms to the feeling of relief when the mission is over, but Jorgenson does and much more. If the reader was never in combat, he will feel like a Nam vet when he finishes this book."--Jerry Boyle Author of Apache SunriseFrom the Paperback edition.

No Survivors


Mike Sutton - 1995
    Technology allowed Vietnam to become America's first TV war and the images beamed across the nation further warped our understanding of the hostilities half a world away. But, before there was any major build-up of American forces; before the war became a proving ground for various weapons systems; before the prime-time coverage and the public outcry, there were infantry advisors. Although their role was quickly eclipsed by the larger, all U.S. operations, their efforts continued throughout the war. First sent by President Eisenhower in the late fifties, the advisors were America's initial Vietnam ante. Their mission: to train the South Vietnamese in self-defense, weapons systems, and tactics; accompany them on combat operations against the communists to provide tactical guidance, and, once contact with the enemy was established, provide the primary communications link to coordinate air strikes, artillery fire missions and medical evacuations. This is their story. While every aspect of the Vietnam War deserves special attention, No Survivors may help those who weren't in Vietnam -- and many of those who were -- better understand a relatively little-known aspect of the conflict, in what is now a mostly forgotten war (see http://warzonewear.com/about/about-mi... ).

La Grande Armee


Georges Blond - 1995
    Early in his career, the author actually interviewed aging veterans and survivors of the Napoleonic wars. Retrace each step of the Emperor's Grande Armee. Rare combat prints, drawings, and sketches accurately depict military apparel and weaponry, while charts, theater of operations, maps, casualty lists and statistics add to this chronicle's clarity and value. 560 pages, 47 b/w illus., 6 1/4 x 9 1/4.

Vietnam 1945: The Quest For Power


David G. Marr - 1995
    One thousand years of dynastic politics and monarchist ideology came to an end. Eight decades of French rule lay shattered. Five years of Japanese military occupation ceased. Allied leaders determined that Chinese troops in the north of Indochina and British troops in the South would receive the Japanese surrender. Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, with himself as president.Drawing on extensive archival research, interviews, and an examination of published memoirs and documents, David G. Marr has written a richly detailed and descriptive analysis of this crucial moment in Vietnamese history. He shows how Vietnam became a vortex of intense international and domestic competition for power, and how actions in Washington and Paris, as well as Saigon, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh's mountain headquarters, interacted and clashed, often with surprising results. Marr's book probes the ways in which war and revolution sustain each other, tracing a process that will interest political scientists and sociologists as well as historians and Southeast Asia specialists.

Hitler's Uranium Club: The Secret Recordings at Farm Hall


Jeremy Bernstein - 1995
    The physicists knew the Reich had failed to develop an atomic bomb, and they soon learned, from a BBC radio report on August 6, that the Allies had succeeded in their own efforts to create such a weapon. But what they did not know was that many of their meetings and private conversations were being monitored and recorded by British agents. This book contains the complete collection of transcripts that were made from these secret recordings, providing an unprecedented view of how the German scientists, including two Nobel Laureates, thought and spoke about their roles during the war.

The Last Dance


Carmen Agra Deedy - 1995
    Sometimes on milk-moon nights, Ninny throws buttons at Bessie's window. When Bessie peeps outside, Ninny sings: "Bessie, oh Bessie! Come dance with me! For I hate to dance alone..."Down the drainpipe Bessie slides to visit Ninny, and off they go. Most nights, they visit the grave of Ninny's grandfather, Oppa. It was Oppa who taught them three things that they will never forget: to dance, to sing, and to tell stories. Oppa's wisdom ultimately inspires a pact between the two young friends--a pact that binds them together through love and marriage, war and separation, birth and death.In this simple but extraordinary story, New York Times best-selling author Carmen Agra Deedy speaks to readers about the value of promises and the limitless power of love even in the face of death.

Army Life: A Private's Reminiscences of the Civil War


Theodore Gerrish - 1995
     Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Spottslyvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg...Theodore Gerrish was at them all with the Twentieth Maine Regiment. His vivid, compassionate, and often humorous telling is from the spot on the field where the minie-balls are thickest and the cannonading is deafening. This is one of the best private-soldier memoirs of the American Civil War in its scope and its minute details. The views Gerrish provides at the end of famous officers as seen from the private soldier's point of view include Grant, Meade, Hooker, Josuah Lawrence Chamberlain, and others with whom he came in contact. Some of the humor: “Chaplain, will you be kind enough to tell me what the two capital letters, B.C., stand for, when they are printed together upon anything?” “O, yes. It means before the birth of our Saviour, previous to the beginning of the Christian era.” He proceeded to give quite a profound theological exposition of the matter, and then inquired, “Why did you ask so unusual a question?” “O, nothin’,” answered the innocent Dick, “only we have seen it stamped on these sheets of hard-tack, and were curious to know why it was there.” Of the African-Americans who fought, Gerrish says: "As these two races march beside each other in the struggle of life, we only ask and demand that those who, in their poverty, did all they could to save the nation and assist its defenders, shall not be deprived of their sacred rights." Front-line letters and diaries of the Civil War bring an immediacy to a long-ago event and connect us to these everyday men and women who lived it. For less than you'd spend on gas going to the library, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.

White Flash/Black Rain: Women of Japan Relive the Bomb


Lequita Vance-Watkins - 1995
    Their words echo the refrain that the ravages of war live on in the body and soul, in victim and victor.

Under the Guns of the Red Baron: The Complete Record of Von Richthofen's Victories and Victims Fully Illustrated


Norman L.R. Franks - 1995
    Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen was the most feared and celebrated of all German pilots in World War I, and has become one of the iconic figures of history. This book, by three respected historians, has researched in detail the lives of all of his 123 victims (over 100 of whom are depicted), and provides a blow-by-blow account of their encounter with the great man – a unique compilation of material.

Shooting At The Moon: The Story of America's Clandestine War in Laos


Roger Warner - 1995
    For a few years in the early 1960s the CIA seemed to be running a perfect covert war in Laos - quiet, inexpensive, just enough arms to help Meo tribesmen defend their home territory from the Communist Pathet Lao. Then the big American war next door in Vietnam spilled across the border. How the perfect covert war ballooned into sorrow and disaster is the story Roger Warner tell in Shooting at the Moon, awarded the Cornelius Ryan Award for 1995's Best Book on Foreign Affairs by the Overseas Press Club.Warner describes his characters with a novelist's touch - soldiers and diplomats busy with war-making; CIA field officers from bareknuckle warriors to the quiet men pulling strings in the shadows; and above all the Meo as they realized they had been led down the garden path.This is a book about war, about secrecy, and its illusions, about the cruel sacrifice of small countries for the convenience of large ones. Nothing better has been written about the CIA in the years when it thought a handful of Americans in sunglasses could do anything with planeloads of arms and money to burn.

We Pulled Together-- And Won!


Deb Mulvey - 1995
    Filled with stirring accounts from those who served overseas, humorous memories of boot camp blunders and touching tales of those who boosted morale stateside, this compilation will take you back to a patriotic era...whether you lived through it or are simply moved by the devotion and can-do spirit of those who did.

Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper Under Siege


Tom Gjelten - 1995
    Includes three pages of maps and 15 photos.

Courage and Air Warfare: The Allied Aircrew Experience in the Second World War


Mark K. Wells - 1995
    The book analyzes aircrew selection, reaction to combat, adaptability to stress, morale, leadership and combat effectiveness, and compares the efforts of the US Eighth Air Force and RAF Bomber Command.

Action before Westport, 1864: Revised Edition


Howard N. Monnett - 1995
    The climax of a last-ditch Confederate invasion of Missouri, the battle ended forever the bitter fighting that had devastated the Missouri-Kansas border. First published more than thirty years ago and now available with a new introduction and notes that update the text, Action Before Westport presents the only full account of that most unusual and daring Civil War battle.In addition to incorporating official records, newspaper accounts, letters, diaries, journals, and privately printed records, Monnett consulted several previously undiscovered manuscripts, two of them the work of key Confederate generals in the raid. The result is a classic work that is both immensely readable and impressive in its documentation.

Escape to Liechtenstein


Ed Dunlop - 1995
    Theme: salvation, forgiving others

Shadow of the Moon


Douglas C. Jones - 1995
    Jones has been honored with the Golden Spur Award three times for best western historical novel. In this dramatic work, he gives readers a heroic saga of the founding of our nation, from the American Revolution to the tremors of pre-Civil War discontent.

Last Great Victory: 2the End of World War II, July/August 1945


Stanley Weintraub - 1995
    From the inner councils of the Japanese to the fateful decisions to atom-bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Weintraub brings to life the cross-currents of this watershed month, in which empires fell, old orders passed away, and a new age began. Photos.

The Keepers of Echowah


Sonny Sammons - 1995
    

Germany and the Second World War: Volume III: The Mediterranean, South-East Europe, and North Africa, 1939-1941


Gerhard Schreiber - 1995
    The volumes so far published have achieved international acclaim as a major contribution to historical study. Under the auspices of the Militargeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Research Institute for Military History), a team of renowned historians has combined a full synthesis of existing material with the latest research to produce what will be the definitive history of the Second World War.Volume 3 explores the conduct of the war in the Mediterranean region and examines the dramatic military events of this period. It shows how German policy in this area was largely determined by the attitude of the German leadership, especially Hitler, towards Mussolini's Italy, and the volume thus sheds important new light on the alliance policy of theThird Reich. The comprehensive analysis, based on detailed scholarly research, is underpinned by a full apparatus of maps, diagrams, and tables.Intensively researched and documented, Germany and the Second World War is an undertaking of unparalleled scope and authority. It will prove indispensable to all historians of the twentieth century.

The Model Occupation: The Channel Islands Under German Rule 1940-1945


Madeleine Bunting - 1995
    Every islander was faced with uncomfortable choices: where did patriotism end and self-preservation begin? What moral obligation did they have to the thousands of emaciated and ill-treated slave laborers the Nazis brought among them to build an impregnable ring of defences around the islands?

The Lonely Margins


Ted Allbeury - 1995
    The French Resistance brought James Harmer and Jane Frazer together. The Gestapo broke them apart. But it was something else that shattered their love and left them haunted by a sense of betrayal and a thirst for revenge.

To Die in Chicago: Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65


George Levy - 1995
    T. B. Clore, Camp Douglas survivorThe Chicago doctors who inspected the prison in 1863 called Camp Douglas an “extermination camp.” It quickly became the largest Confederate burial ground outside of the South.What George Levy’s meticulous research, including newly discovered hospital records, has uncovered is not a pretty picture. The story of Camp Douglas is one of brutal guards, deliberate starvation of prisoners, neglect of the sick, sadistic torture, murder, corruption at all levels, and a beef scandal reaching into the White House.As a result of the overcrowding and substandard provisions, disease ran rampant and the mortality rate soared. By the thousands, prisoners needlessly died of pneumonia, smallpox, and other maladies. Most were buried in unmarked mass graves. The exact number of those who died is impossible to discern because of the Union's haphazard recordkeeping and general disregard for the deceased.Among the most shocking revelations are such forms of torture as hanging prisoners by their thumbs, hanging them by their heels and then whipping them, and forcing prisoners to sit with their exposed buttocks in the ice and snow.The Confederate Camp Andersonville never saw such gratuitous barbarity.

Force Recon Command: 3rd Force Recon Company in Vietnam, 1969-70


Alex Lee - 1995
    . . In order to prevent surprise attacks on U.S. forces as they were pulling out of Vietnam, someone had to be able to pinpoint the NVA's movements. That dangerous job was the assignment of then-major Alex Lee and the Marines of the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company when he assumed command in late 1969. They became the tip of the spear for Lt. Gen. Herman Nickerson's III MAF. And each time one of Lee's small, well-motivated, well-led, and wildly outnumbered teams was airlifted into the field, the men never knew if the day would end violently.But whether tracking NVA movements, recovering downed air crews, or making bomb-damage assessments after B-52 strikes, Major Lee's Few Good Men never forgot who they were: Each of them was in Vietnam to live like a Marine, win like a Marine, and, if need be, die like a Marine.Forthright and unabashed, Lieutenant Colonel Lee leaves no controversy untouched and no awe-inspiring tale untold in this gripping account of 3rd Force Recon's self-sacrifice and heroic achievement in the face of overwhelming odds.

The Fabricated Luther: Refuting Nazi Connections and Other Modern Myths


Uwe Siemon-Netto - 1995
    Uwe Siemon-Netto exposes the myth that Luther had a connection to Hitler and the Holocaust.

Military Readiness: Concepts, Choices, Consequences


Richard K. Betts - 1995
    military forces proved unready for the wars that were thrust upon them and suffered costly reverses in early battles. During the Cold War, for the first time, U.S. defense policy tried to maintain high readiness in peacetime. But now, with the Cold War over and defense budgets falling, what will happen to U.S. military forces? Will they revert to a state of unpreparedness or find a new balance?Politicians and military planners alike have found this crucial issue especially difficult to deal with because they have often misunderstood what readiness really means. In this book, security expert Richard Betts surveys problems in developing and measuring combat readiness before, during, and after the Cold War. He analyzes why attempts to maximize it often have counterproductive effects, and how confusions in technical concepts cause political controversy.The book explores conflicts between two objectives that are both vital but work against each other because they compete for resources: operational readiness to fight immediately, and structural readiness—the number of organized units that increase military power, but require time during a crisis to gear up for combat. Betts also discusses the problem brought on by the Cold War and plunging defense budgets: mobilization readiness—the plans and arrangements needed to shorten the time for recreating a large military if it once again becomes necessary. Betts offers new ideas for understanding the dilemmas and tradeoffs that underlie debates on how readiness should be maintained in peacetime, and he explores the strategic consequences of different choices.

War of Numbers: An Intelligence Memoir


Sam Adams - 1995
    His career was dominated by an epic struggle over Vietnam -- over military attempts to hide the true size of the enemy forces there, and over the integrity of the intelligence process. Adams's insistence on telling the truth caused an ungodly ruckus in both Washington and Saigon at the time, and years later, after the CIA had threatened to fire him (on thirteen occasions!) and he had quit the agency in disgust, Adams brought his story back up to the surface more loudly than ever in a CBS television documentary which eventually resulted in a notorious trial on libel charges brought by General William Westmoreland. After leaving the CIA, Adams sat down to write an account of his life at the agency. There is nothing else quite like the story he tells.

Does Conquest Pay?: The Exploitation of Occupied Industrial Societies


Peter Liberman - 1995
    The resurgence of nationalism has led many policymakers and scholars to doubt that conquest still pays. But, until now, the cumulativity of industrial resources has never been subjected to systematic analysis. Does Conquest Pay? demonstrates that expansion can, in fact, provide rewards to aggressor nations. Peter Liberman argues that invaders can exploit industrial societies for short periods of time and can maintain control and economic performance over the long term. This is because modern societies are uniquely vulnerable to coercion and repression. Hence, by wielding a gun in one hand and offering food with the other, determined conquerors can compel collaboration and suppress resistance. Liberman's argument is supported by several historical case studies: Germany's capture of Belgium and Luxembourg during World War I and of nearly all of Europe during World War II; France's seizure of the Ruhr in 1923-24; the Japanese Empire during 1910-45; and Soviet hegemony over Eastern Europe in 1945-89. Does Conquest Pay? suggests that the international system is more war-prone than many optimists claim. Liberman's findings also contribute to debates about the stability of empires and other authoritarian regimes, the effectiveness of national resistance strategies, and the sources of rebellious collective action.

Fieldwork Under Fire: Contemporary Studies of Violence and Culture


Carolyn Nordstrom - 1995
    These essays combine theoretical, ethnographic, and methodological points of view to illuminate the processes and solutions that characterize life in dangerous places. They describe the first, often harrowing, experience of violence, the personal and professional problems that arise as troubles escalate, and the often surprising creative strategies people use to survive.In "writing violence," the authors give voice to all those affected by the conditions of violence: perpetrators as well as victims, civilians and specialists, black marketeers and heroes, jackals and researchers. Focusing on everyday experiences, these essays bring to light the puzzling contradictions of lives disturbed by violence: the simultaneous existence of laughter and suffering, of fear and hope. By doing so, they challenge the narrow conceptualization that associates violence with death and war, arguing that instead it must be considered a dimension of living.

Dust Clouds in the Middle East (Reprinted): Air War for East Africa, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Madagascar, 1940-42


Christopher Shores - 1995
    It deals with a variety of engagements between Britain and her Commonwealth forces and the Germans, Italians and Vichy French across many borders and differing terrains. It covers from the Italian threat and Ababa, the air battles over Lebanon, the breaking of Vichy air strength and culminates in the occupation of Madagascar in 1942.

West Point Atlas of War: World War I


Vincent J. Esposito - 1995
    From Europe in 1914 to the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, detailed maps delineate the course of the many, sometimes confusing, conflicts that defined World War I. They also create a fascinating visual tribute to the ingenuity of troop movements by detailing the progress of forces from day to day (and sometimes from hour to hour). The accompanying text provides insight into the many twists and turns of the war, as well as the motivation of the leaders directing the troops who carried them out.Considered a classic of military history, the original volumes were prepared by distinguished members of the Department of Military Art and Engineering at the U.S. Military Academy and used as instructional tools for cadets. This mammoth and invaluable work was created under the direction of Brigadier General Vincent J. Esposito, a faculty member at West Point for more than twenty years. His highly respected endeavor allows readers to easily follow the entire course of a campaign or battle in detail while gaining a greater understanding of World War I.

Ride of the Second Horseman: The Birth and Death of War


Robert L. O'Connell - 1995
    But in this sweeping overview of the rise of civilization, Robert O'Connell finds that war is indeed an invention--an institution that arose due to very specific historical circumstances, an institution that now verges on extinction. In Ride of the Second Horseman, O'Connell probes the distant human past to show how and why war arose. He begins with a definition that distinguishes between war and mere feuding: war involves group rather than individual issues, political or economic goals, and direction by some governmental structure, carried out with the intention of lasting results. With this definition, he finds that ants are the only other creatures that conduct it--battling other colonies for territory and slaves. But ants, unlike humans, are driven by their genes; in humans, changes in our culture and subsistence patterns, not our genetic hardware, brought the rise of organized warfare. O'Connell draws on anthropology and archeology to locate the rise of war sometime after the human transition from nomadic hunting and gathering to agriculture, when society split between farmers and pastoralists. Around 5500 BC, these pastoralists initiated the birth of war with raids on Middle Eastern agricultural settlements. The farmers responded by ringing their villages with walls, setting off a process of further social development, intensified combat, and ultimately the rise of complex urban societies dependent upon warfare to help stabilize what amounted to highly volatile population structures, beset by frequent bouts of famine and epidemic disease. In times of overpopulation, the armies either conquered new lands or self-destructed, leaving fewer mouths to feed. In times of underpopulation, slaves were taken to provide labor. O'Connell explores the histories of the civilizations of ancient Sumeria, Egypt, Assyria, China, and the New World, showing how war came to each and how it adapted to varying circumstances. On the other hand, societies based on trade employed war much more selectively and pragmatically. Thus, Minoan Crete, long protected from marauding pastoralists, developed a wealthy mercantile society marked by unmilitaristic attitudes, equality between men and women, and a relative absence of class distinctions. In Assyria, by contrast, war came to be an end in itself, in a culture dominated by male warriors. Despite the violence in the world today, O'Connell finds reason for hope. The industrial revolution broke the old patterns of subsistence: war no longer serves the demographic purpose it once did. Fascinating and provocative, Ride of the Second Horseman offers a far-reaching tour of human history that suggests the age-old cycle of war may now be near its end.

The De Soto Chronicles Vol 1 2: The Expedition of Hernando de Soto to North America in 1539-1543


Lawrence ClaytonFrances G. Crowley - 1995
    De Soto and his army of over 600 men, including 200 cavalry, spent four years traveling through what is now Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. For anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians the surviving De Soto chronicles are valued for the unique ethnological information they contain. These documents, available here in a two volume set, are the only detailed eyewitness records of the most advanced native civilization in North America—the Mississippian culture—a culture that vanished in the wake of European contact.

Photographing the Second Gold Rush: Dorothea Lange and the Bay Area at War 1941-1945


Dorothea Lange - 1995
    Sixty full-page photographs, many never before published, of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II


Robert Leckie - 1995
    Leckie is a skilled military historian, mixing battle strategy and analysis with portraits of the men who fought on both sides to give the reader a complete account of the invasion. Lasting 83 days and surpassing D-Day in both troops and material used, the Battle of Okinawa was a decisive victory for the Allies, and a huge blow to Japan. In this stirring and readable account, Leckie provides a complete picture of the battle and its context in the larger war.

Secret Soldier


Moshe Betser - 1995
    Photos.

Weapon of Denial: Air Power and the Battle for New Guinea


Gary Null - 1995
    Douglas MacArthur, commander of Pacific forces in World War II, viewed the Battle of the Bismarck Sea as a disaster for the Japanese and a triumph for the Allies. In that great air-sea confrontation, U.S. and Australian air forces proved that air power could be decisive in preventing the resupply of ground troops by sea. Months of torturous warfare in the jungles of New Guinea had left Japanese troops vulnerable to disease and starvation. In the end, Allied airmen were able to break Japan’s grip on New Guinea and end its threat to Australia through the innovative and aggressive use of air power. MacArthur’s strength lay in a dedicated and courageous band of airmen who could attack enemy ships from all directions at any time.

The Victory Cookbook: Celebratory Food on Rations!


Marguerite Patten - 1995
    This follow-on to "We'll Eat Again" contains a selection of original recipes from VE Day celebrations and the years up until the end of rationing in 1954, demonstrating how British cooks coped with the limitations imposed on them.

Ghosts of the Skies: Aviation in the Second World War


Philip Makanna - 1995
    IP.

White Tigers: My Secret War in North Korea


Ben S. Malcom - 1995
    Ben Malcom coordinated the intelligence activities of eleven partisan battalions, including the famous White Tigers. With Malcom’s experiences as its focus, White Tigers examines all aspects of guerrilla activities in Korea. This exciting memoir makes an important contribution to the history of special operations.

Blood On The Sea: American Destroyers Lost In World War Ii


Robert Sinclair Parkin - 1995
    destroyers that were lost in the war against Germany and Japan.

My War


Andy Rooney - 1995
    A first-hand account of one man's role in history, My War is a memoir from one of America's personalities. As a naive, young correspondent for The Stars and Stripes during World War II, Andy Rooney flew bomber missions, arrived in France during the D-Day invasion and crossed the Rhine with the Allied forces, traveled to Paris for the Liberation, and, as one of the first reporters into Buchenwald, witnessed the discovery of Hitler's concentration camps. Like so many of his generation, Rooney's life was changed forever by the war. Tom Brokaw featured Rooney's experiences in The Greatest Generation. Now, for the readers who would like to know the whole story, Rooney's own memoir, illustrated throughout with black-and-white photographs, is now available again in a hardcover edition.

On the Wings of Peace: Writers and Illustrators Speak Out for Peace, in Memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki


Sheila Hamanaka - 1995
    "An important and powerful book, filled with stunning and varied artistic visions and provocative voices." -- School Library Journal

Te Hokowhitu A Tu =The Maori Pioneer Battalion In The First World War


Christopher Pugsley - 1995
    

Collected Poems


Alun Lewis - 1995
    Widely considered the last works in the Romantic style, the poetry is characterized by a vivid realism and emotional power. The poems spans the length of its artist's late adolescence and early adulthood, tracing the developing mastery of the poet and serving as a tragic testament to the lost potential of a literary figure whose accidental death at the age of 28 prevented him from reaching the full height of his artisitic power. Alun Lewis (1915-1944) was one of the few great British writers of the Second World War. His early death at the age of twenty-eight robbed Wales of its most promising poet and story writer. Born and brought up near Aberdare in south Wales, the son of a teacher, he read history at Aberystwyth and Manchester. After a period of unemployment he became a teacher in south Wales, before enlisting in the Royal Engineers in 1940. Although he had been writing since an early age, becoming a soldier had a stimulating effect on Lewis's writing: his first book of poems, Raiders' Dawn, was published in 1942, and The Last Inspection, a collection of stories, appeared in the same year, alerting critics and editors to the arrival of a new war writer. Both books are characterised by vivid realism and emotional power. Later in 1942 Lewis's new regiment, the South Wales Borderers, travelled to India. His experiences there are recreated in the beautiful poems of Ha! Ha! Among the Trumpets and the stories and letters of In the Green Tree. On the reputation of these four books Alun Lewis is widely seen, with Keith Douglas, as the outstanding writer of World War Two. Collected Stories reprints the war stories in their entirety for the first time. It also collects stories published in student magazines and newspapers such as The Guardian, together with several previously unseen. In bringing together all this material, editor Cary Archard shows Lewis's development from remarkable schoolboy writer to mature and established author whose stories appeared in magazines such as Horizon and Lilliput.

Nagasaki Journey: Photographs of Yosuke Yamahata


Independent Documentary Group - 1995
    Published on the 50th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it shows the horrendous aftermath of the bombing through reprints of digitally restored negatives from pictures taken just a few days after the critical juncture in history. The photos are accompanied by bilingual text in Japanese and English, including an interview with the photographer, a work of fiction, and extensive biographical and chronological materials. The graphic contents may not be suitable for certain readers.

Healing the Children of War: A Handbook for Ministry to Children Who Have Suffered Deep Traumas


Phyllis Kilbourn - 1995
    Many children are forced to take part in the killing themselves. This volume gives you practical advice on how to be an agent of God s healing to these hurting children.

Frederick the Great: A Military History


Dennis E. Showalter - 1995
    Famed for his military successes and domestic reforms, his campaigns were a watershed in the history of Europe - securing Prussia's place as a continental power and inaugurating a new pattern of total war that was to endure until 1916. However, much myth surrounds this enigmatic man - his personality and his role as politician, warrior and king. Showalter's cleverly written book provides a refreshing, multidimensional depiction of Frederick the Great and an objective, detailed reappraisal of his military, political and social achievements.Early chapters set the scene with an excellent summary of 18th century Europe - The Age of Reason; an analysis of the character, composition and operating procedures of the Prussian army; and explore Frederick's personality as a young man. Later chapters examine his stunning victories at Rossbach and Leuthen, his defeats at Prague and Kolin and Prussia's emergence as a key European power.Written with style and pace, this book offers brilliant insights into the political and military history of the 18th century, and one of history's most famous rulers.