Book picks similar to
ANZAC A Retrospect by Cecil Malthus
military-history
small-room-window-shelf
wwi
granny
Sniping in France: Winning the Sniping War in the Trenches
H. Hesketh-Prichard - 1920
However, the passion of Major Hesketh-Prichard – hunter and excellent marksman – for the promotion and advancement of sniping practices led to the implementation of brand new sniping methods by the British Army. These new practices contributed to the reversal of fortune of the Allied forces, tipping the balance in their favour towards victory in the sniping war. This excellent book, as told in the inimitable style of Major Hesketh-Prichard, recounts the genesis, development, and advancement of sniping style and practice, intermingled with a charming autobiographical style. Truly a classic account of war, this is a must read for avid military enthusiasts. Major Hesketh-Prichard, born in India in 1876, led a vibrant life as an explorer and adventurer, big-game hunter turned animal rights activist, novelist and travel writer, excellent cricket player, and marksman. He contributed significantly to the advancement of sniping practice in the British Army during the First World War, and the measures he introduced are credited as saving the lives of thousands of Allied soldiers. Albion Press is an imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.
The Friendless Sky: The Great Saga of War in the Air, 1914-1918
Alexander McKee - 1962
It was to be their first major war since Waterloo. Having already won international wars with Denmark and France, Britain was ready. Or so they thought … For the first time in history, the British Expeditionary Force set out to cross the Channel under the air cover. With aviation still in its infancy when the war began, with it only being five years since the first flimsy French aeroplane cross the Channel at 45 mph, the air cover provided was rather primitive. Up above the mud-soaked soldiers who fought over the devastated, trench-scarred landscape that was northern France, a new kind of war was being born. Flimsy biplanes and triplanes wheeled and spun, engines roaring, wires screaming and guns chattering. In the skies above the poppy-fields, men became aces and were cut down in their prime: Albert Ball, Jean Navarre. Max Immelmann and Manfred von Richtofen, the ‘Red Baron’. They were the legendary heroes of a whole new age. Alexander McKee was selling aviation articles to flying magazines by the age of eighteen. During the Second World War he wrote for a succession of army newspapers and later became a writer/producer for the British Forces Network. Since 1956 he has been researching and writing books on all branches of naval, military and aviation history. He instigated the excavation of the Tudor ship Mary Rose in the seabed off Portsmouth, which he describes in King Henry VIII’s Mary Rose. In all he has written nineteen books, two of his most recent successes being the books Into the Blue and Dresden 1945. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.
Tinder Street
Nick Russell - 2020
Following Rachel McNally to the big city, he had no idea how much his life and the world around him would change.Chronicling the days leading up to World War I and the events that followed, Tinder Street is the first book in a saga that will take readers from rural farms to a major industrial city in the Midwest, across an ocean where German U-boats lurk waiting for a target to come within range of their deadly torpedoes, to the bloody trench warfare of France, and home again. And of how, back at home, the soldiers of a victorious Army try to put their experiences behind them and pick up the pieces of the lives they once had, to look toward a future bright with promise. Lucas was one of those soldiers, a man who hated the thought of killing, but did his duty. A duty that would haunt him long after the last shots were fired.This is also the story of the simple working class people who built America. Farmers, factory workers, streetcar conductors, midwives, and public servants. Their joys and sorrows, their wins and losses, and how these people who struggled together to build a better life for themselves and their children changed a place named Tinder Street to Tender Street, a reflection of one family’s devotion to their neighbors.
The Enemy: A Novel of Life Aboard a U.S. Navy Destroyer in World War II
Wirt Williams - 1951
Navy destroyer, the USS Dee (based on the author's experiences while serving aboard the USS Decatur in the North Atlantic). The ships' mission is to locate and destroy German submarines while protecting an aircraft carrier. The book details life aboard the destroyer and the inevitable conflicts that arise between men at sea for long periods. The ship also encounters and engages enemy submarines, receiving slight damage. Following author Wirt Williams' service aboard the USS Decatur, he was transferred to the Pacific theater where he captained a Landing Ship. After the war, Williams worked as a reporter, then became an English professor in California. He continued to write and published six novels, and was nominated for three Pulitzer Prizes, once for his reporting and twice for his novels. The Enemy was his first novel. Williams passed away in 1986 at the age of 64.
The Gunny: A Vietnam Story
Raymond Hunter Pyle - 2001
Then, if he makes it, life doesn’t get easier—he gets tougher. He may get to do the toughest job around: combat infantry. And in 1966, he will almost certainly end up in Vietnam. Frank Evans is a Navy sailor willing to do whatever is necessary to become a Marine. He’s tough enough—and he has a General interested in his success. But success is measured in many ways. Frank finds out combat and the Marine Corps’ definition of success change a man. Some of the changes are a matter of pride. Others—well, you learn to live with them.
The Mortarmen
Michael Connelly - 2005
The book details the fighting history of the men of the 87th Chemical Mortar Battalion. The battalion was armed with the powerful 4.2 mortars and following its landing on Utah Beach on D-Day fought in every major engagement in France, Belgium, and Germany. The 4.2 mortar battalions were the most sought after fire support units in Europe. The 87th was in combat for 326 days and the book follows each of the four companies as they participate in the Battle for Normandy, the fight for Cherbourg, the battles of Aachen and the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, and finally the crossing of the Rhine and the final victory in Germany. The book contains excepts of diaries and quotations from the men who fought in the unit and from some of the German soldiers who opposed them. It is a story of heroism, tragedy, and the triumph of soldiers fighting for freedom.
Linebacker: The Untold Story of the Air Raids over North Vietnam
Karl J. Eschmann - 1989
The beginning of the end. By the end of Day 9, the bombing of North Vietnam had taken an enormous toll. The planners were running out of suitable targets because the damage inflicted on most targets was higher than initially predicted. It became questionable whether those few targets remaining in the high threat areas were even of sufficient worth to continue attacking. The commander of the air force in the Pacific even suggested that it was time to look for targets in lower threat areas. As on previous days, the TACAIR support effectively countered the enemy defenses. The few MiGs which had managed to get airborne were driven away by the American fighter patrols. Although up to 70 SAMs had been fired at the B-52’s, the accuracy was noticeably poorer. The last desperate attempts to defend Hanoi were being made and it appeared the offensive was rapidly coming to a conclusion. In late 1972, the Vietnam peace talks were stalled, with the war at perhaps its most crucial point. The United States was searching for a way to strangle North Vietnam’s war-waging capabilities by shutting down its supply pipelines in order to force it back to the negotiating table. The solution: Linebacker II, a massive, intricately coordinated twelve-day assault by over 700 combat aircraft against vital targets around Hanoi and Haiphong, enemy cities heavily guarded by MiGs, SAM missiles, and radar-guided antiaircraft. Here is an unprecedented look at one of the most critical campaigns of modern air warfare, a previously untold story, documented in rich, fascinating detail. It is told in the vividly personal words of the pilots and crews who flew the missions — men who dramatically helped to end the American role in the Vietnam conflict and to bring the POWs home. Praise for Linebacker “Military buffs will appreciate this minutely detailed report of the American bombing raids over North Vietnam and the daring helicopter rescues.” –
Publishers Weekly
Karl J Eschmann graduated from Texas A&M University in 1971 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering, and a Master’s Degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology in Logistics Management in 1989. As a Second Lieutenant in 1972-73, he was a flight line maintenance officer responsible for two squadrons of F-4E Phantom IIs during the Linebacker I & II air offensives, as well as the Cambodian and Laotian campaigns. Since then he has had a distinguished air force career. He retired as a Full Colonel in 1998.
Triple Sticks: Tales of a Few Young Men in the 1960s
Bernie Fipp - 2010
The author assures us it is not!Three years before they came together, four young American men left their fraternities and college campuses for an adventure exceeding their imaginations. Wanting something more than the draft and unknown to each other, they chose Naval Aviation as the next step in their lives. Generally, they were better than their navy peers, all qualifying for high performance aircraft to be flown from steel decks over foreign seas. They would become the pointy end of the stick in aerial battles over North Vietnam, the most heavily defended patch of real estate in the history of aerial warfare. They were to do this in 1967, the year in which Naval Aviation experienced its greatest losses.These four young men, now Lieutenants Junior Grade, United States Navy, were ordered to Attack Squadron 34 to fly A4 Skyhawks into combat. They were assigned Junior Officer's stateroom 0111 aboard USS Intrepid, a venerable aircraft carrier with a distinguished history. This "bunkroom" better known to them as Triple Sticks was the repository for a log (in navy terms) or journal written by these four young aviators. Forty years later this log was the genesis of this memoir.In the lethal environment over the northern reaches of North Vietnam or ashore in the Officer's clubs and bars of Asia, the writing brings to life wonderful humor, bizarre behavior, vivid aerial battles, uncommon loyalty, anger, frustration and respect. One survived or did not according to his skill and luck.
The Phantom Flotilla: The most exciting true story from the Royal Navy's history
Peter Shankland - 1968
The Lake formed the boundary between German East Africa (now Tanzania) and the Belgian Congo, and no Allied vessel could be brought against the gunboat because the only completed railway to the Lake was in German territory. No British or Belgian forces could advance into German territory because the Germans could always land troops behind them to cut their lines of communication. Breaking that hold was a military necessity and an incredibly difficult and dangerous task. Not only did the crew have to outwit the Germans but also navigate 3,000 miles of the world’s most hazardous and disease-ridden country. For Lieutenant-Commander Spicer-Simson the dilemma facing the Allied High Command was simply the chance for an incredible adventure. So the sailor turned explorer. Thus began the most astounding voyage in naval history, as ‘Spicer’ led an expedition of two motor-boats through hundreds of miles of bush and mountains to reach the Lake, through a wilderness laid waste by sleeping-sickness and uncharted by roads or communications of any kind. Here is one of the strangest, most exciting passages in the history of the Royal Navy – the true-life adventure which inspired C. S. Forester’s The African Queen. Praise for Phantom Flotilla… ‘A wonderful adventure yarn made all the more absorbing because it really did happen’ - The Evening News Peter Shankland was a military historian whose books include Byron of the Wager, The Phantom Flotilla and Dardanelles Patrol, a story of the submarine operation against Turkey in World War I.
Harry’s War
Harry Drinkwater - 2013
I ran for about 70 yards carrying with me all the Lewis gun things I had brought up and dropped breathless into a shell hole headlong onto a German who had been dead for months.’Harold Drinkwater was not supposed to go to war. He was told he was half an inch too short. But, determined to fight for king and country, he found a battalion that would take him and was soon on his way to the trenches of the Somme. As the war dragged on, Harry saw most of the men he joined up with killed around him. But, somehow, he survived.Soldiers were forbidden from keeping a diary so Harry wrote his in secret, recording the horrendous conditions and constant fear, as well as his pleasure at receiving his officer's commission, the joy of his men when they escaped the trenches for the Italian Front and the trench raid for which he was awarded the Military Cross. Harry writes with such immediacy it is easy to forget that a hundred years have passed. He is by turns wry, exhausted, annoyed, resigned and often amazed to be alive. Never before published, Harry's War is a moving testament to one man's struggle to keep his humanity in the face of unimaginable violence.
Subaltern on the Somme
Max Plowman - 1927
Subaltern on the Somme is a record of his daily life, and ranges across different aspects of his war in the trenches - including fear, shellfire, drunkenness, mud, frustration and his views about his fellow officers and British army commanders. Subaltern on the Somme is for anybody who wonders what trench warfare was like for a junior officer.
Red Flight, Break!: Gripping Fighter Action Over Europe in World War II
Roger Maxim - 2017
Tom's story, told in his own words, let's us share in his transformation from a college boy to a skilled fighter pilot, taking on the best the Luftwaffe has to offer. Excitement and surprises abound! Tom experiences the best—and the worst—of not only the skilled and ruthless enemy, but of our own military as well. Ranging from patient flight instructors to a psycho in the back seat, you can face it along with Tom. Join in the shocking realization of what the war means—REALLY means—as he and his mates witness devastation and heartbreak such as they never dreamed possible. Providing high altitude, high speed fighter escort for the growing numbers of Eighth Air Force bombers puts him in the midst of the most transformative period of the air war, including the famed "Big Week". Drawn from authorized Eighth Air Force mission descriptions, and supported by extensive historical research, "Red Flight, Break!" takes you on the long journey to victory. The story is fiction, but the history is real! Fasten your seat belt and come along!
Combat Ineffective
William Peter Grasso - 2018
The complacent American ground forces are ill equipped, badly trained, poorly led, and painfully unaware of just how combat ineffective they’ve become. That ineffectiveness becomes shockingly clear when they’re quickly overwhelmed by the North Korean People’s Army as it swarms across the 38th parallel to invade South Korea.American units and their equally weak South Korean allies are forced into a headlong retreat that promises to end only after they’ve been pushed off the Korean peninsula and into the sea. It will take hardened WW2 veterans—proven, combat-effective leaders like infantrymen Jock Miles and “Top” Patchett, tanker Sean Moon, and his brother, fighter pilot Tommy Moon—to stem the rout and turn back the North Korean red wave.
The 84th Infantry Division In The Battle Of Germany: November 1944-May 1945
Theodore Draper - 2009
Through the course of the next six months it would see some of the most ferocious fighting of the entire war. As soon as they landed they drove quickly into the Netherlands to prepare for an offensive into Nazi Germany. Their movements were dramatically altered as the German forces attempted to launch a momentous counter-offensive against the allies. The 84th division was sent to Belgium to plug a gap in the Allied line and fought back against the last ditch effort of Nazi forces. Draper takes the reader through every engagement that the division took part in from the first shots fired in anger through to crossing the Rhine into Germany and finally taking Hannover and making contact with Soviet forces in May 1945. Lt. Theodore Draper’s book is a unique account of the allied invasion of Germany. Rather relying on secondhand stories of the division’s actions months after the events had occurred, Draper was encouraged to go direct to the source, to the men themselves, from the commanding general to any private, for the most complete, firsthand information on every action. This book is largely based on hundreds of pages of such interviews, most of them within 48 hours of the unit’s relief and many of them while the unit was still fighting. “Though ostensibly a divisional history, Draper’s well-informed and interesting account is useful for an understanding of the war on the western front in general.” Robert Gale Woolbert, Foreign Affairs “This is the whole operation of the battle of Germany on the broad and individual level, the Siegfried Line, the fight to the Rhine, the Ardennes, the mad race to the Elbo, with credit attributed to men, companies, battalions where it is due.” Kirkus Reviews Theodore Draper was an American historian and political writer. He wrote many notable books during his career on a variety of subjects. During the Second World War he was inducted into the U. S. Army and worked in the historical section of the 84th Infantry Division. His book The 84th Infantry Division In The Battle Of Germany : November 1944-May 1945 was first published in 1946 and he passed away in 2006.
Maisie Dobbs
Jacqueline Winspear - 2010
It is #25 in their Mysterious Profiles" series. In this book, Jacqueline Winspear tells about the "origins" of Maisie Dobbs, the heroine of her popular mystery series. This booklet is NOT to be confused with her full-length mystery with the same title.