Весной – летом 1982 года Южная Атлантика стала ареной самого ожесточенного морского сражения со времен Второй Мировой войны. Королевские ВМС и ВВС, десантники и морская пехота Ее Величества вступили в бой с аргентинскими силами, занявшими спорные Мальвинские (Фолклендские) острова. Здесь столкнулись в реальных условиях все накопленные за послевоенные десятилетия достижения военной мысли – высокоточное оружие, средства РЭБ, авиация вертикального взлета и посадки, атомные субмарины, по неподтвержденным слухам британские корабли имели на борту и ядерное оружие. Эта книга – мемуары командующего английским соединением контр-адмирала Джона Форстера («Сэнди» Вудворда) о событиях этой войны. В ней подробно описывается как сам ход боевых действий, так и распределенная система принятия решений между командованием на месте и в Лондоне, раскрыт образ командующего, принимающего быстрые – и, как показал победный для Англии исход, – верные решения в экстремальной обстановке, уделено внимание и курьезам британской военной бюрократии. Книга будет интересна широкому кругу читателей, увлеченных темой современного военного искусства. В формате PDF A4 сохранен издательский макет книги

История 14-й танковой дивизии вермахта написана ее ветераном Рольфом Грамсом, бывшим командиром 64-го мотоциклетного батальона, входившего в состав дивизии. 14-я танковая дивизия была сформирована в Дрездене 15 августа 1940 г. Боевое крещение получила во время похода в Югославию в апреле 1941 г. Затем она была переброшена в Польшу и участвовала во вторжении в Советский Союз. Дивизия с боями прошла от Буга до Дона, завершив кампанию 1941 г. на рубежах знаменитого Миус-фронта. В 1942 г. 14-я танковая дивизия приняла активное участие в летнем наступлении вермахта на южном участке Восточного фронта и в Сталинградской битве. В составе 51-го армейского корпуса 6-й армии она вела ожесточенные бои в Сталинграде, попала в окружение и в январе 1943 г. прекратила свое существование вместе со всеми войсками фельдмаршала Паулюса. Командир 14-й танковой дивизии генерал-майор Латтман и большинство его подчиненных попали в плен. Летом 1943 г. во Франции дивизия была сформирована вторично. В нее были включены и те подразделения «старой» 14-й танковой дивизии, которые сумели избежать гибели в Сталинградском котле. Соединение вскоре снова перебросили на Украину, где оно вело бои в районе Кривого Рога, Кировограда и Черкасс. Неся тяжелые потери, дивизия отступила в Молдавию, а затем в Румынию. Последовательно вырвавшись из нескольких советских котлов, летом 1944 г. дивизия была переброшена в Курляндию на помощь группе армий «Север». Она приняла самое активное участие во всех шести Курляндских сражениях, получив заслуженное прозвище «Курляндская пожарная команда». Весной 1945 г. некоторые подразделения дивизии были эвакуированы морем в Германию, но главные ее силы попали в советский плен. На этом закончилась история одной из наиболее боеспособных танковых дивизий вермахта. Книга основана на широком документальном материале и воспоминаниях бывших сослуживцев автора

В книге доктора исторических наук Н. А. Троицкого «1812. Великий год России» впервые предпринят критический пересмотр официозно-советской историографии «Двенадцатого года» с ее псевдопатриотическими штампами, конъюнктурными домыслами, предвзятым истолкованием причин, событий и даже цифири «в нашу пользу». Тщательно воспроизведенная хроника событий, поверенная множественными авторитетными источниками, делает эту книгу особенно ценным пособием по истории Отечественной войны 1812 года

На это исследование будут ссылаться и через 100, и через 200 лет — как сейчас цитируют основополагающие труды Михайловского-Данилевского, Богдановича, Тарле. Именно о работах такого уровня говорят, что они «закрывают тему». Издательство «Яуза» с гордостью представляет вам новую книгу ведущего военного историка, которая достойна стать украшением любой библиотеки. Энциклопедическая по охвату материала, беспрецедентная по глубине анализа, эта выдающаяся работа исчерпывающе описывает структуру и вооружение, организацию и выучку, тактические приемы и боевое применение русской пехоты во всех сражениях 1812 года

Книга Мари-Пьер Рэй «Царь в Париже» рассказывает о французской кампании Александра I и о пребывании русской армии в Париже в 1814 году. Она является логическим продолжением книги «Страшная трагедия. Новый взгляд на 1812 год», опубликованной в издательстве РОССПЭН в 2015 году. Эти две книги позволяют сопоставить поведение французской и русской армий на неприятельской территории и восприятие двух народов, долго находившихся в противостоянии, иноземного вторжения. Как и в истории войны 1812 года, Рэй обращает внимание главным образом на человеческое измерение войны — тяготы, которые выпадали равно на долю солдат и мирных жителей. Автор цитирует множество самых разных свидетельств: высокообразованных русских офицеров и простых солдат, Гортензии Богарне и восторженной шестнадцатилетней девушки, выдающихся представителей французской культуры и язвительного учителя, всей душой ненавидящего русских захватчиков. Еще одно достоинство новой книги заключается в том, что, в отличие от войны 1812 года, заграничные походы русской армии и тем более пребывание русской армии в Париже в 1814 году практически не привлекали к себе особого внимания отечественных исследователей. Другими словами, перед нами совершенно уникальное произведение, которое вызовет огромный интерес у всех, кто увлекается историей. Исследование выполнено М.-П. Рей, профессором университета Париж-1 (Пантеон-Сорбонна), научным руководителем Лаборатории эдиционной археографии УрФУ при поддержке гранта Правительства РФ, договор № 14.А 12.310004 от 26.06.2013 г

Книга была напечатана издательством «Наука» в 1965 году тиражом в 50 тысяч экземпляров. В книге, на основе ранее неиспользованных документальных источников, была дана концепция начала войны Германии против СССР в июне 1941, не совпадающая с официально-принятой на государственном уровне концепцией начала и причин Великой Отечественной войны. Книга была раскуплена в течение нескольких дней и сразу же стала раритетом в среде историков. В официальной государственной исторической науке вокруг неё завязалась острая полемика. Полемика закончилась запрещением книги, частичным уничтожением экземпляров, хранившихся в библиотеках и исключением автора из рядов КПСС

Эти ожесточенные бои стали «ПОСЛЕДНИМ ПАРАДОМ» мехкорпусов Красной Армии летом 1941 года. Это контрнаступление должно было закрыть огромную брешь, образовавшуюся на Минском направлении после приграничной катастрофы, и восстановить положение Западного фронта. Эта великая танковая битва, в которой с обеих сторон участвовали свыше 2000 единиц бронетехники (гораздо больше, чем под Прохоровкой!), осталась «в тени», т. к. документация советских частей была почти полностью утеряна. Почему же контрудар 5-го и 7-го мехкорпусов РККА в районе Сенно — Лепель не увенчался успехом? По чьей вине не удалось реализовать наше превосходство в бронетехнике? Как были потеряны новейшие КВ и Т-34? Почему наши танковые армады сгорели за считанные дни, так и не добившись перелома в боевых действиях и не остановив немцев?.. НОВАЯ КНИГА ведущего военного историка, основанная на материалах не только отечественных, но и зарубежных архивов, отвечает на все эти вопросы

К началу 1945 года, несмотря на все поражения на Восточном фронте, ни руководство III Рейха, ни командование Вермахта не считали войну проигранной — немецкая армия и войска СС готовы были сражаться за Фатерланд bis zum letzten Blutstropfen (до последней капли крови) и, сократив фронт и закрепившись на удобных оборонительных рубежах, всерьез рассчитывали перевести войну в позиционную фазу — по примеру Первой мировой. Однако Красная Армия сорвала все эти планы. 12 января 1945 года советские войска перешли в решающее наступление, сокрушили вражескую оборону, разгромили группу армий «А» и всего за три недели продвинулись на запад на полтысячи километров, превзойдя по темпам наступления Вермахт образца 1941 года. Это был «блицкриг наоборот», расплата за катастрофу начального периода войны — с той разницей, что, в отличие от Вермахта, РККА наносила удар по полностью боеготовому и ожидающему нападения противнику. Висло-Одерская операция по праву считается образцом наступательных действий. Эта книга воздает должное одной из величайших, самых блистательных и «чистых» побед не только в отечественной, но и во всемирной истории

27 ноября 2005 г. исполнилось 300 лет морской пехоте России. Этот род войск, основанный Петром Великим, за три века участвовал во всех войнах, которые вела Российская империя и СССР. На абордажах, десантах и полях сражений морские пехотинцы сталкивались с турками и шведами, французами и поляками, англичанами и немцами, китайцами и японцами. Они поднимали свои флаги и знамена над Берлином и Веной, над Парижем и Римом, над Будапештом и Варшавой, над Пекином и Бейрутом. Боевая карта морской пехоты простирается от фьордов Норвегии до африканских джунглей. В соответствии с Планом основных мероприятий подготовки и проведения трехсотлетия морской пехоты, утвержденным Главнокомандующим ВМФ, на основе архивных документов и редких печатных источников коллектив авторов составил историческое описание развития и боевой службы морской пехоты. В первом томе юбилейного издания хронологически прослеживаются события от зарождения морской пехоты при Петре I и Азовского похода до эпохи Николая I и героической обороны Севастополя включительно. Отдельная глава посвящена частям-преемникам морских полков, история которых доведена до I мировой и Гражданской войн. Большинство опубликованных в книге данных вводится в научный оборот впервые. Книга содержит более 400 иллюстраций — картины и рисунки лучших художников-баталистов, цветные репродукции, выполненные методом компьютерной графики, старинные фотографии, изображения предметов из музейных и частных коллекций, многие из которых также публикуются впервые. Книга снабжена научно-справочным аппаратом, в том числе именным указателем более чем на 1500 фамилий. Книга адресована широкому кругу читателей, интересующихся военной историей, боевыми традициями русской армии и флота, а также всем, кто неравнодушен к ратному прошлому Отечества

27 ноября 2005 г. исполнилось 300 лет морской пехоте России. Этот род войск, основанный Петром Великим, за три века участвовал во всех войнах, которые вела Российская империя и СССР. На абордажах, десантах и полях сражений морские пехотинцы сталкивались с турками и шведами, французами и поляками, англичанами и немцами, китайцами и японцами. Они поднимали свои флаги и знамена над Берлином и Веной, над Парижем и Римом, над Будапештом и Варшавой, над Пекином и Бейрутом. Боевая карта морской пехоты простирается от фьордов Норвегии до африканских джунглей. В соответствии с Планом основных мероприятий подготовки и проведения трехсотлетия морской пехоты, утвержденным Главнокомандующим ВМФ, на основе архивных документов и редких печатных источников коллектив авторов составил историческое описание развития и боевой службы морской пехоты. В первом томе юбилейного издания хронологически прослеживаются события от зарождения морской пехоты при Петре I и Азовского похода до эпохи Николая I и героической обороны Севастополя включительно. Отдельная глава посвящена частям-преемникам морских полков, история которых доведена до I мировой и Гражданской войн. Большинство опубликованных в книге данных вводится в научный оборот впервые. Книга содержит более 400 иллюстраций — картины и рисунки лучших художников-баталистов, цветные репродукции, выполненные методом компьютерной графики, старинные фотографии, изображения предметов из музейных и частных коллекций, многие из которых также публикуются впервые. Книга снабжена научно-справочным аппаратом, в том числе именным указателем более чем на 1500 фамилий. Книга адресована широкому кругу читателей, интересующихся военной историей, боевыми традициями русской армии и флота, а также всем, кто неравнодушен к ратному прошлому Отечества

27 ноября 2005 г. исполнилось 300 лет морской пехоте России. Этот род войск, основанный Петром Великим, за три века участвовал во всех войнах, которые вела Российская империя и СССР. На абордажах, десантах и полях сражений морские пехотинцы сталкивались с турками и шведами, французами и поляками, англичанами и немцами, китайцами и японцами. Они поднимали свои флаги и знамена над Берлином и Веной, над Парижем и Римом, над Будапештом и Варшавой, над Пекином и Бейрутом. Боевая карта морской пехоты простирается от фьордов Норвегии до африканских джунглей. В соответствии с Планом основных мероприятий подготовки и проведения трехсотлетия морской пехоты, утвержденным Главнокомандующим ВМФ, на основе архивных документов и редких печатных источников коллектив авторов составил историческое описание развития и боевой службы морской пехоты. В первом томе юбилейного издания хронологически прослеживаются события от зарождения морской пехоты при Петре I и Азовского похода до эпохи Николая I и героической обороны Севастополя включительно. Отдельная глава посвящена частям-преемникам морских полков, история которых доведена до I мировой и Гражданской войн. Большинство опубликованных в книге данных вводится в научный оборот впервые. Книга содержит более 400 иллюстраций — картины и рисунки лучших художников-баталистов, цветные репродукции, выполненные методом компьютерной графики, старинные фотографии, изображения предметов из музейных и частных коллекций, многие из которых также публикуются впервые. Книга снабжена научно-справочным аппаратом, в том числе именным указателем более чем на 1500 фамилий. Книга адресована широкому кругу читателей, интересующихся военной историей, боевыми традициями русской армии и флота, а также всем, кто неравнодушен к ратному прошлому Отечества

В книге на обширной архивной базе, материалах периодической печати, воспоминаниях и других источниках раскрываются обстоятельства формирования 56-й армии и ее участие в боевых действиях на ростовском направлении в самый сложный и трагический период Великой Отечественной войны — осенью и зимой 1941 г. Авторы анализируют обстоятельства оставления Ростова советскими войсками 20 ноября 1941 г. и последующее освобождение города, ставшее первой крупной победой РККА с начала Великой Отечественной войны. Наряду с анализом боевых действий, немало внимания уделяется фронтовой повседневности — вопросам обеспечения бойцов и командиров всеми видами довольствия, политико-моральному состоянию личного состава. Большое внимание в работе уделено судьбе первого командующего 56-й армией генерала Ф.Н. Ремезова. Предназначается специалистам, преподавателям, студентам, аспирантам и всем читателям, интересующимся вопросами истории Великой Отечественной войны

In 1939, tiny Finland waged war—the kind of war that spawns legends—against the mighty Soviet Union, and yet their epic struggle has been largely ignored. Guerrillas on skis, heroic single-handed attacks on tanks, unfathomable endurance, and the charismatic leadership of one of this century's true military geniuses-these are the elements of both the Finnish victory and a gripping tale of war

Ernst Jünger, one of twentieth-century Germany’s most important and controversial writers, faithfully kept a journal during the Second World War in occupied Paris, on the eastern front, and in Germany until its defeat-writings that are of major historical and literary significance. These wartime journals appear here in English for the first time. Ernst Jünger was one of twentieth-century Germany’s most important—and most controversial—writers. Decorated for bravery in World War I and the author of the acclaimed western front memoir Storm of Steel, he frankly depicted war’s horrors even as he extolled its glories. As a Wehrmacht captain during World War II, Jünger faithfully kept a journal in occupied Paris and continued to write on the eastern front and in Germany until its defeat—writings that are of major historical and literary significance. Jünger’s Paris journals document his Francophile excitement, romantic affairs, and fascination with botany and entomology, alongside mystical and religious ruminations and trenchant observations on the occupation and the politics of collaboration. While working as a mail censor, he led the privileged life of an officer, encountering artists such as Céline, Cocteau, Braque, and Picasso. His notes from the Caucasus depict the chaos after Stalingrad and atrocities on the eastern front. Upon returning to Paris, Jünger observed the French resistance and was close to the German military conspirators who plotted to assassinate Hitler in 1944. After fleeing France, he reunited with his family as Germany’s capitulation approached. Both participant and commentator, close to the horrors of history but often distancing himself from them, Jünger turned his life and experiences into a work of art. These wartime journals appear here in English for the first time, giving fresh insights into the quandaries of the twentieth century from the keen pen of a paradoxical observer. Ernst Jünger (1895–1998) was a major figure in twentieth-century German literature and intellectual life. He was a young leader of right-wing nationalism in the Weimar Republic. Among his many works is the novel On the Marble Cliffs, a symbolic criticism of totalitarianism written under the Third Reich. Elliot Neaman is professor of history at the University of San Francisco and the author of A Dubious Past: Ernst Jünger and the Politics of Literature after Nazism (1999). Thomas Hansen, a longtime member of the Wellesley College German Department, is a translator from the German. Abby Hansen is a translator of German literary and nonfiction texts

The proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is the greatest threat the world faces today. Far easier to make than nuclear bombs, their effects are scarcely less devastating. And many of the world’s most dangerous regimes – Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and North Korea – either possess them, or are trying to get hold of them. In the hands of terrorists, they could kill thousands, or even millions. Updated in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, this classic account of the history of chemical and biological warfare, by two of Britain’s leading journalists, spans almost a century of horror, from the mustard gas of the First World War to the germ weapons built up by Saddam Hussein

‘I could see that still no one had been able to get out from the cockpit. It must have been at this moment that I thought I was going to die because I became remarkably calm.’ Trapped inside a burning Lancaster bomber, 20,000 feet above Berlin, airman John Martin consigned himself to his fate and turned his thoughts to his fiancée back home. In a miraculous turn of events, however, the twenty-one year old was thrown clear of his disintegrating aeroplane and found himself parachuting into the heart of Nazi Germany. He was soon to be captured and began his period as a prisoner of war. This engaging and compulsively readable true-life account of a Second World War airman, who cheated death in the sky, only to face interrogation and the prospect of being shot by the Gestapo, before having to endure months of hardship as a prisoner of war

More than 70 years after it was first published, this book is still one of the all-time classics on the art of military marksmanship, and is required reading at the U.S. Marine Corps Sniper School. The author grew up learning to shoot in the backwoods of Indiana, and went on to compete nationally as a sharpshooter. When World War I broke out in Europe, he was so eager to fight that he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Wounded seven times and finally invalided home after nearly two years on the front lines, he was an enthusiastic soldier and a superb sniper, with over 100 confirmed kills. His story of his time in the trenches includes frequent lessons on the mindset, the tactics, and the weapons of sniping, and has much hard-won advice about personal survival on the battlefield. It stands out as one of the best first-person accounts of World War I

A Stranger to Myself: The Inhumanity of War, Russia 1941-44 is the haunting memoir of a young German soldier on the Russian front during World War II. Willy Peter Reese was only twenty years old when he found himself marching through Russia with orders to take no prisoners. Three years later he was dead. Bearing witness to—and participating in—the atrocities of war, Reese recorded his reflections in his diary, leaving behind an intelligent, touching, and illuminating perspective on life on the eastern front. He documented the carnage perpetrated by both sides, the destruction which was exacerbated by the young soldiers’ hunger, frostbite, exhaustion, and their daily struggle to survive. And he wrestled with his own sins, with the realization that what he and his fellow soldiers had done to civilians and enemies alike was unforgivable, with his growing awareness of the Nazi policies toward Jews, and with his deep disillusionment with himself and his fellow men. An international sensation, A Stranger to Myself is an unforgettable account of men at war

In 1968, a small, dilapidated American spy ship set out on a dangerous mission: to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Packed with advanced electronic-surveillance equipment and classified intelligence documents, the USS Pueblo was poorly armed and lacked backup by air or sea. Its crew, led by a charismatic, hard-drinking ex-submarine officer named Pete Bucher, was made up mostly of untested sailors in their teens and twenties. On a frigid January morning while eavesdropping near the port of Wonsan, the Pueblo was challenged by a North Korean gunboat. When Bucher tried to escape, his ship was quickly surrounded by more patrol boats, shelled and machine-gunned, and forced to surrender. One American was killed and ten wounded, and Bucher and his young crew were taken prisoner by one of the world’s most aggressive and erratic totalitarian regimes. Less than forty-eight hours before the Pueblo’s capture, North Korean commandos had nearly succeeded in assassinating South Korea’s president in downtown Seoul. Together, the two explosive incidents pushed Cold War tensions toward a flashpoint as both North and South Korea girded for war—with fifty thousand American soldiers caught between them. President Lyndon Johnson rushed U.S. combat ships and aircraft to reinforce South Korea, while secretly trying to negotiate a peaceful solution to the crisis. Act of War tells the riveting saga of Bucher and his men as they struggled to survive merciless torture and horrendous living conditions in North Korean prisons. Based on extensive interviews and numerous government documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, this book also reveals new details of Johnson’s high-risk gambit to prevent war from erupting on the Korean peninsula while his negotiators desperately tried to save the sailors from possible execution. A dramatic tale of human endurance against the backdrop of an international diplomatic poker game, Act of War offers lessons on the perils of covert intelligence operations as America finds itself confronting a host of twenty-first-century enemies

The author could be described as a ‘veteran’ in every sense of the word, even though he was only aged 21 when the war ended. Armin Scheiderbauer served as an infantry officer with the 252nd Infantry Division, German Army, and saw four years of bitter combat on the Eastern Front, being wounded six times. This is an outstanding personal memoir, written with great thoughtfulness and honesty. Scheiderbauer joined his unit at the front in 1942, and during the following years saw fierce combat in many of the largest battles on the Eastern Front. His experiences of the 1943-45 period are particularly noteworthy, including his recollections of the massive Soviet offensives of summer 1944 and January 1945. Participating in the bitter battles in West Prussia, he was captured by the Soviets and not released until 1947. Adventures in my Youth is a unique memoir – the author originally wrote it only for his daughter

John Stieber was twelve-year-old schoolboy in Ireland when he was sent to secondary school in Germany. 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

No single weapon has spread so much raw power to so many people in so little time—and had such a devastating effect—as the AK-47 assault rifle. This book examines the legacy of this world-changing weapon, from its creation as means of fighting the Nazis to its ubiquity today in every kind of conflict, from civil wars in Africa to gang wars in L.A

In May 2011 after a Mediterranean exercise to prove the Apache’s ability to work ship-borne, HMS Ocean and her embarked Apache attack helicopters from 656 Squadron, Army Air Corps were about to head home. But the civil war in Libya and the NATO air campaign intervened. A few days later the Author and his fellow Apache pilots and crewmen were in action at night over hostile territory. In range to Gaddafi’s capable air and land forces once in sight of the coast, they had to fight their way into Libya, complete their mission, evading lethal ground fire, before the hazardous return to Ocean. Flying well within the reach of Libya’s state-of-the-art ground to air weapons, the Apaches made nightly raids at ultra low-level behind enemy lines. Apache over Libya describes the experiences of eight Army and two Royal Navy pilots who played a significant role in the NATO led campaign. Despite fighting the best armed enemy British aircrew have faced in generations, they defied the odds and survived. Vividly conveying the thrill and fear of flying the Apache in combat at sea and over enemy-held terrain, this is an unforgettable and unique first-hand account

Topf and Sons designed and built the crematoria at the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buchenwald, Belzec, Dachau, Mauthausen and Gusen. At its height sixty-six Topf triple muffle ovens were in operation – forty-six of which were at Auschwitz. In five years the gas chambers and crematoria of Auschwitz had been the engine of the holocaust, facilitating the murder and incineration of more than one million people, most of them Jews. Yet such a spectacularly evil feat of engineering was designed not by the Nazi SS, but by a small respectable firm of German engineers: the owners and engineers of J. A. Topf and Sons. These were not Nazi sadists, but men who were playboys and the sons of train drivers. They were driven not by ideology, but by love affairs, personal ambition and bitter personal rivalries to create the ultimate human killing and disposal machines – even at the same time as their company sheltered Nazi enemies from the death camps. The intense conflagration of their very ordinary motives created work that surpassed in its inhumanity even the demands of the SS. In order to fulfil their own ‘dreams’ they created the ultimate human nightmare

One of America’s most distinguished military historians offers the definitive account of the greatest tank battle of World War II—an epic clash of machines and men that matched the indomitable will of the Soviet Red Army against the awesome might of the Nazi Wehrmacht. While the Battle of Kursk has long captivated World War II aficionados, it has been unjustly overlooked by historians. Drawing on the masses of new information made available by the opening of the Russian military archives, Dennis Showalter at last corrects that error. This battle was the critical turning point on World War II’s Eastern Front. In the aftermath of the Red Army’s brutal repulse of the Germans at Stalingrad, the stakes could not have been higher. More than three million men and eight thousand tanks met in the heart of the Soviet Union, some four hundred miles south of Moscow, in an encounter that both sides knew would reshape the war. The adversaries were at the peak of their respective powers. On both sides, the generals and the dictators they served were in agreement on where, why, and how to fight. The result was a furious death grapple between two of history’s most formidable fighting forces—a battle that might possibly have been the greatest of all time. In Armor and Blood, Showalter re-creates every aspect of this dramatic struggle. He offers expert perspective on strategy and tactics at the highest levels, from the halls of power in Moscow and Berlin to the battlefield command posts on both sides. But it is the author’s exploration of the human dimension of armored combat that truly distinguishes this book. In the classic tradition of John Keegan’s The Face of Battle, Showalter’s narrative crackles with insight into the unique dynamics of tank warfare—its effect on men’s minds as well as their bodies. Scrupulously researched, exhaustively documented, and vividly illustrated, this book is a chilling testament to man’s ability to build and to destroy. When the dust settled, the field at Kursk was nothing more than a wasteland of steel carcasses, dead soldiers, and smoking debris. The Soviet victory ended German hopes of restoring their position on the Eastern Front, and put the Red Army on the road to Berlin. Armor and Blood presents readers with what will likely be the authoritative study of Kursk for decades to come

In September 1944, a mighty shock force of battle hardened Allied troops dropped from the skies into enemy-occupied Holland in what was hoped would be the decisive final battle of World War II. Landing miles behind the German lines, their daring mission was to secure bridges across the Rhine so that ground forces could make a rapid dash into Nazi Germany. If all went well, the war could be over by Christmas. But what many trusted would be a simple operation turned into a brutal losing battle. Of 12,000 British airborne soldiers, 1,500 died and 6,000 were taken prisoner. The vital bridge at Arnhem they had come to capture stayed resolutely in German hands. But though this was a bitter military defeat for the Allies, beneath the humiliation was another story — of heroism and self-sacrifice, gallantry and survival, guts and determination unbroken in the face of impossible odds. In the two-thirds of a century that have passed since then, historians have endlessly analysed what went wrong and squabbled over who was to blame. Lost in the process was that other Arnhem story — the triumph of the human spirit, as seen through the dramatic first-hand accounts of those who were there, in the cauldron, fighting for their lives, fighting for their comrades, fighting for their honour, a battle they won hands down

When the nuclear-powered submarine USS Triton was commissioned in November 1959, its commanding officer, Captain Edward L. Beach, planned a routine shakedown cruise in the North Atlantic. Two weeks before the scheduled cruise, however, Beach was summoned to Washington and told of the immediate necessity to prove the reliability of the Rickover-conceived submarine. His new secret orders were to take the Triton around the world, entirely submerged the total distance. This is Beach’s gripping firsthand account of what went on during the 36,000 nautical-mile voyage whose record for speed and endurance still stands today. It brings to life the many tense events in the historic journey: the malfunction of the essential fathometer that indicated the location of undersea mountains and shallow waters, the sudden agonizing illness of a senior petty officer, and the serious problems with the ship’s main hydraulic oil system. Intensely dramatic, Beach’s chronicle also describes the psychological stresses of the journey and some touching moments shared by the crew. A skillful story teller, he recounts the experience in such detail that readers feel they have been along for the ride of a lifetime

“…a well-wrought ground level view of daily life in hell.” This is the remarkable story of a German soldier who fought throughout World War II, rising from conscript private to captain of a heavy weapons company on the Eastern Front. William Lubbeck, age 19, was drafted into the Wehrmacht in August 1939. As a member of the 58th Infantry Division, he received his baptism of fire during the 1940 invasion of France. The following spring his division served on the left flank of Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa. After grueling marches amidst countless Russian bodies, burnt-out vehicles, and a great number of cheering Baltic civilians, Lubbeck’s unit entered the outskirts of Leningrad, making the deepest penetration of any German formation. The Germans suffered hardships the following winter as they fought both Russian counterattacks and the brutal cold. The 58th Division was thrown back and forth across the front of Army Group North, from Novgorod to Demyansk, at one point fighting back Russian attacks on the ice of Lake Ilmen. A soldier who preferred to be close to the action, Lubbeck served as forward observer for his company, dueling with Russian snipers, partisans and full-scale assaults alike. His worries were not confined to his own safety, however, as news arrived of disasters in Germany, including the destruction of Hamburg where his girlfriend served as an Army nurse. In September 1943, Lubbeck earned the Iron Cross and was assigned to officers’ training school in Dresden. By the time he returned to Russia, Army Group North was in full-scale retreat. Now commanding his former heavy weapons company, Lubbeck alternated sharp counterattacks with inexorable withdrawal to Memel on the Baltic. In April 1945 his company was nearly obliterated, but in the last scramble from East Prussia, he was able to evacuate on a newly minted German destroyer. After his release from British captivity, Lubbeck immigrated to the United States where he raised a successful family. With the assistance of David B. Hurt, he has drawn on his wartime notes and letters, Soldatbuch, regimental history and personal memories to recount his frontline experience, including rare firsthand accounts of both triumph and disaster. “…compiled with attention to details. The reader will feel as though he is alongside Lubbeck as he calls fire missions on the enemy during his three years of service.”

In late 1917, the Russians, despite the revolution, were still willing to continue the war against Germany. This is an account of Operation Albion, the highly successful sea borne operation launched by the Germans to change their minds. The Baltic Islands were pivotal for the defense of the Finnish Gulf and St. Petersburg, so their capture was essential for any campaign towards the Russian capital. Only after the fall of the islands did Russia begin peace negotiations (freeing nearly half a million German soldiers for the Kaiser’s last gamble on the Western Front). This then was a campaign of great significance for the war on both Eastern and Western fronts. A large part of the High Sea Fleet took part in the invasion of the Baltic islands, including the most modern dreadnought battleships. The Russians mounted a resolute defense despite being heavily outgunned and over a ten day period there were many naval clashes around the islands as well as the campaign ashore, all of which are described in detail with the use of both Russian and German first hand accounts. This book shatters the myth that the Imperial German Navy spent the last two years of the war cowering in port. ‘A very detailed operational account of the highly successful German amphibious landings in October of 1917 on the Russian islands of Ösel and Dagö, off what is now Lithuania…. Important reading for anyone interested in amphibious and joint operations.’ [Contain tables.]

The human chain reaction that led to the atom bomb On December 26, 1898, Marie Curie announced the discovery of radium and observed that “radioactivity seems to be an atomic property.” A mere 47 years later, “Little Boy"exploded over Hiroshima. Before the Fallout is the epic story of the intervening half century, during which an exhilarating quest to unravel the secrets of the material world revealed how to destroy it, and an open, international, scientific adventure transmuted overnight into a wartime sprint for the bomb. Weaving together history, science, and biography, Diana Preston chronicles a human chain reaction of scientists and leaders whose discoveries and decisions forever changed our lives. The early decades of the 20th century brought Einstein’s relativity theory, Rutherford’s discovery of the atomic nucleus, and Heisenberg’s quantum mechanics, and scientists of many nations worked together to tease out the secrets of the atom. Only 12 years before Hiroshima, one leading physicist dismissed the idea of harnessing energy from atoms as “moonshine.” Then, on the eve of World War II, the power of atomic fission was revealed, alliances were broken, friendships sundered, and science co-opted by world events. Preston interviewed the surviving scientists, and she offers new insight into the fateful wartime meeting between Heisenberg and Bohr, along with a fascinating conclusion examining what might have happened had any number of events occurred differently. She also provides a rare portrait of Hiroshima before the blast. As Hiroshima’s 60th anniversary approaches, Before the Fallout compels us to consider the threats and moral dilemmas we face in our still dangerous world

Chechnya Diary is a story about “the story” of the war in Chechnya, the “rogue republic” that attempted to secede from the Russian Federation at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Specifically, it is the story of the Samashki Massacre, a symbol of the Russian brutality that was employed to crush Chechen resistance. Thomas Goltz is a member of the exclusive journalistic cadre of compulsive, danger-addicted voyeurs who court death to get the story. But in addition to providing a tour through the convoluted Soviet and then post-Soviet nationalities policy that led to the bloodbath in Chechnya, Chechnya Diary is part of a larger exploration of the role (and impact) of the media in conflict areas. And at its heart, Chechnya Diary is the story of Hussein, the leader of the local resistance in the small town that bears the brunt of the massacre as it is drawn into war. This is a deeply personal book, a first person narrative that reads like an adventure but addresses larger theoretical issues ranging from the history of ethnic/nationalities in the USSR and the Russian Federation to journalistic responsibility in crisis zones. Chechnya Diary is a crossover work that offers both the historical context and a ground-level view of a complex and brutal war

The New Yorker “Excellent… hair-raising… Command and Control is how nonfiction should be written.” (Louis Menand) Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America’s nuclear arsenal. A ground-breaking account of accidents, near-misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: how do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved — and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind. Written with the vibrancy of a first-rate thriller, Command and Control interweaves the minute-by-minute story of an accident at a nuclear missile silo in rural Arkansas with a historical narrative that spans more than fifty years. It depicts the urgent effort by American scientists, policymakers, and military officers to ensure that nuclear weapons can’t be stolen, sabotaged, used without permission, or detonated inadvertently. Schlosser also looks at the Cold War from a new perspective, offering history from the ground up, telling the stories of bomber pilots, missile commanders, maintenance crews, and other ordinary servicemen who risked their lives to avert a nuclear holocaust. At the heart of the book lies the struggle, amid the rolling hills and small farms of Damascus, Arkansas, to prevent the explosion of a ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead ever built by the United States. Drawing on recently declassified documents and interviews with men who designed and routinely handled nuclear weapons, Command and Control takes readers into a terrifying but fascinating world that, until now, has been largely hidden from view. Through the details of a single accident, Schlosser illustrates how an unlikely event can become unavoidable, how small risks can have terrible consequences, and how the most brilliant minds in the nation can only provide us with an illusion of control. Audacious, gripping, and unforgettable, Command and Control is a tour de force of investigative journalism, an eye-opening look at the dangers of America’s nuclear age. http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=h_ZvrSePzZY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2wR11pGsYk Time magazine “A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons in the U.S…. fascinating.” (Lev Grossman) Financial Times “So incontrovertibly right and so damnably readable… a work with the multilayered density of an ambitiously conceived novel… Schlosser has done what journalism does at its best." Los Angeles Times “Deeply reported, deeply frightening… a techno-thriller of the first order.”

Throughout history cities have been at the center of warfare, from sieges to street-fighting, from peace-keeping to coups de mains. Sun Tzu admonished his readers of The Art of War that the lowest realization of warfare was to attack a fortified city. Indeed, although strategists have advised against it across the millennia, armies and generals have been forced nonetheless to attack and defend cities, and victory has required that they do it well. In Concrete Hell Louis DiMarco has provided a masterful study of the brutal realities of urban warfare, of what it means to seize and hold a city literally block by block. Such a study could not be more timely. We live in an increasingly urbanizing world, a military unprepared for urban operations is unprepared for tomorrow. Di Marco masterfully studies the successes and failures of past battles in order to provide lessons for today’s tacticians

From critically acclaimed world historian, Antony Beevor, this is the first major account in more than twenty years to cover the whole invasion from June 6, 1944, right up to the liberation of Paris on August 25. It is the first book to describe not only the experiences of the American, British, Canadian, and German soldiers, but also the terrible suffering of the French caught up in the fighting. More French civilians were killed by Allied bombing and shelling than British civilians were by the Luftwaffe. The Allied fleet attempted by far the largest amphibious assault ever, and what followed was a battle as savage as anything seen on the Eastern Front. Casualties mounted on both sides, as did the tensions between the principal commanders. Even the joys of liberation had their darker side. The war in northern France marked not just a generation, but the whole of the postwar world, profoundly influencing relations between America and Europe. Beevor draws upon his research in more than thirty archives in six countries, going back to original accounts, interviews conducted by combat historians just after the action, and many diaries and letters donated to museums and archives in recent years. D-Day will surely be hailed as the consummate account of the Normandy invasion and the ferocious offensive that led to the liberation of Paris

“Cooper saw more of the war than most junior officers, and he writes about it better than almost anyone…. His stories are vivid, enlightening, full of life—and of pain, sorrow, horror, and triumph.” “In a down-to-earth style, Death Traps tells the compelling story of one man’s assignment to the famous 3rd Armored Division that spearheaded the American advance from Normandy into Germany. Cooper served as an ordnance officer with the forward elements and was responsible for coordinating the recovery and repair of damaged American tanks. This was a dangerous job that often required him to travel alone through enemy territory, and the author recalls his service with pride, downplaying his role in the vast effort that kept the American forces well equipped and supplied…. [Readers] will be left with an indelible impression of the importance of the support troops and how dependent combat forces were on them.” —Library Journal “[DEATH TRAPS] FILLS A CRITICAL GAP IN WW2 LITERATURE…. IT’S A TRULY UNIQUE AND VALUABLE WORK.”

During the Vietnam War, hundreds of American prisoners-of-war faced years of brutal conditions and horrific torture at the hands of North Vietnamese guards and interrogators who ruthlessly plied them for military intelligence and propaganda. Determined to maintain their Code of Conduct, the POWs developed a powerful underground resistance. To quash it, their captors singled out its eleven leaders, Vietnam’s own “dirty dozen,” and banished them to an isolated jail that would become known as Alcatraz. None would leave its solitary cells and interrogation rooms unscathed; one would never return. As these eleven men suffered in Hanoi, their wives at home launched an extraordinary campaign that would ultimately spark the nationwide POW/MIA movement. The members of these military families banded together and showed the courage not only to endure years of doubt about the fate of their husbands and fathers, but to bravely fight for their safe return. When the survivors of Alcatraz finally came home, one veteran would go on to receive the Medal of Honor, another would become a U.S. Senator, and a third still serves in the U.S. Congress. A powerful story of survival and triumph, Alvin Townley’s Defiant will inspire anyone wondering how courage, faith, and brotherhood can endure even in the darkest of situations

Two madmen, Hitler and Stalin, engaged in a death struggle that would determine the course of history at staggering cost of human life. Craig has written the definitive book on one of the most terrible battles ever fought. With 24 pages of photos. The bloodiest battle in the history of warfare, Stalingrad was perhaps the single most important engagement of World War II. A major loss for the Axis powers, the battle for Stalingrad signaled the beginning of the end for the Third Reich of Adolf Hitler. During the five years William Craig spent researching the battle for Stalingrad, he traveled extensively on three continents, studying documents and interviewing hundreds of survivors, both military and civilian. This unique account is their story, and the stories of the nearly two million men and women who lost their lives. A classic account of the Stalingrad epic Harrison Salisbury Craig has written a book with both historical significance and intense personal drama James Michener. Probably the best single work on the epic battle of Stalingrad… An unforgettable and haunting reading experience

The most important event of World War Two. The bombing of Hiroshima is told for the first time from first-hand sources. Myth and reality are finally separated from the planning of the mission to that moment over Hiroshima when the atomic age was born. This is a reissue of Enola Gay (LJ 7/77) with 45,000 additional words and some changes in the original text. It gives an excruciatingly detailed account of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, concentrating on the Army Air Force but including much material on the decision-making process, the Japanese actions, and many diplomatic moves. Although the first edition was criticized by reviewers as having more detail than insight, the additional 60+ pages improve the virtually minute-by-minute coverage of the critical periods, particularly on Tinian and during the flight itself. This is certainly worth buying for libraries lacking the earlier edition and recommended even for those that own it

The destruction of the trapped German forces in the Falaise pocket in August 1944 is one of the most famous episodes of the Normandy campaign. But myths have grown up around accounts of the battle, and its impact on the course of the war is sometimes misunderstood. In this meticulously researched and perceptive study Anthony Tucker-Jones dispels misconceptions about the battle, describes the combat in graphic detail and reassesses the outcome in the context of the campaign to liberate Europe. He takes a broad view of the sequence of operations that culminated in the battle at Falaise, tracing the course of the campaign mainly from the German viewpoint. For two bloody months the Germans held the Allies at bay following the D-Day landings, but then they were blocked in at Falaise and the area became a killing ground. Some liken the event to Hitler’s defeat at Stalingrad, while others argue the victory was flawed because so many German troops escaped. [Contain tables. Best viewed with CoolReader.]

Fallen Sentinel tells the story of Australian tanks in World War II, a dismal tale for both tankman and taxpayer. Against the backdrop of the sweeping conquest of Western Europe by Hitler's Panzers, the Australian Government, cash-strapped and resource poor, attempted to field its own tank force to do battle with the Axis forces. Three armoured divisions were created◦— and all three disbanded before they had seen action. In what became a prodigious waste of time, material, and human endeavour, sixty-six Australian cruiser tanks were produced◦— the Sentinel tank◦— none of which would ever take the field of battle. This is a book that portrays governments under pressure and the bureaucratic bungles that saw opportunities lost and precious resources squandered. Fallen Sentinel presents a careful dissection of government process in the crucible of war, a rare gem in an age when most wartime histories focus on the front-line soldier. Peter Beale presents a damning indictment of the frailty of government under pressure, a bureaucracy in crisis and the extraordinary failure of government process at the highest level. Modern-day governments would do well to heed the lessons of this book

In the aftermath of the Winter War Finland found itself drawing ever closer to Nazi Germany and eventually took part in Operation Barbarossa in 1941. For the Finns this was a chance to right the wrongs of the Winter War, and having reached suitable defensive positions, the army was ordered to halt. Years of uneasy trench warfare followed, known as the Continuation War, during which Finland desperately sought a way out, German dreams of victory were dashed and the Soviet Union built the strongest army in the world. In the summer of 1944, the whole might of the Red Army was launched against the Finnish defences on the narrow Karelian Isthmus. Over several weeks of fierce fighting, the Finns managed to halt the Soviet assault. With Stalin forced to divert his armies to the race to Berlin an armistice agreement was reached, the harsh terms of which forced the Finns to take on their erstwhile German allies in Lapland. Featuring never-before-seen photographs and first-hand accounts, this second volume of a two-part study details the high price Finland had to pay to retain its independence and freedom. “If you’re one of those who just can’t get enough of the Mannerheim Line, Finnish ski patrols, and the Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun, and if Talvisota (‘Winter War’) is the first Finnish word you ever learned, and sisu (‘guts’) the second, then you won’t be able to live without both volumes of Finland at War… Osprey deserves kudos for its first-class treatment of Nenye’s indispensable work.” Vesa Nenye spent summers in the wilderness of Lapland and Karelia where he uncovered many remnants from World War II and a passion for Finnish military history. Vesa went on to serve as a Tank Commander and an Arms & Munitions NCO and became a member of the Panssarikilta, Finland's armored core heritage society. He now works in the war gaming industry and international sales and is restoring an old Methodist chapel. He lives in Nottingham with his wife and their dog. Peter Munter is a true veteran of historical- and strategy-games in Finland. He founded a play-by-mail business in the times before internet and worked extensively as writer and translator of roleplaying supplements in the late 80s. Peter has also won a Finnish Sci-Fi writing award. He currently works as a Managing Director in a games retail chain that he established with Vesa in 1997 and lives in Lahti, Finland with his three children. Toni Wirtanen got involved with the many activities the army has to offer to volunteer civilians and reservists in Finland at a young age, which led him to serve in the Kymi Jäger Battalion/Karelian Brigade as an infantry anti-tank specialist. Toni is best known for his work as the singer/guitarist/songwriter in the Finnish rock band Apulanta. While studying geology at the University of Bergen, Chris Birks also worked at building the Norwegian hobby scene for miniature strategy war-gaming. Chris now works as a teacher of mathematics and natural sciences

A selection of the Military Book Club. This book describes the odd coalition between Germany and Finland in World War II, and their joint military operations from 1941 to 1945. This is a topic often missing in English, though in stark contrast to the numerous books on the shorter and less bloody Winter War. That conflict represented a gallant fight of a democratic “David” against a totalitarian “Goliath” that caught the imagination of the world. The story of Finland fighting alongside a “Goliath” of its own has not brought pride to that nation and was a period many Finns would rather forget. The prologue of this book brings the reader up to speed by briefly examining the difficult history of Finland, from its separation from the Soviet Union in 1917 to its isolation after being bludgeoned in 1939–40. It then examines both Finnish and German motives for forming a coalition against the USSR, and how—as logical as a common enemy would seem—the lack of true planning and preparation would doom the alliance. This book posits that it was mind-boggling how the highly professional German General Staff allowed itself to accept the militarily unsound and shaky coalition that resulted. The war aims were not discussed or harmonized, there were no campaign plans with tasks and missions spelled out past the initial assault, no effective main effort established, inadequate force levels, and an unsound command structure with various headquarters. Practically every rule in the book was broken. The objective of linking up with the Finns in the Leningrad area was an important factor in Hitler opting for three main drives into the Soviet Union rather than an earlier OKH plan that called for only two. After describing the operations during and after Barbarossa, this book describes how the Finnish theater became a blind ally for the Germans. Their strongest and best army was trapped both operationally and geographically in central and northern Finland, making virtually no contribution to the war effort. The Germans could not bring to bear enough forces to accomplish their objectives without substantial Finnish assistance, and that was not forthcoming. The final chapters deal with the Soviet counteroffensive against the Finns in 1944. The Finns lost all their gains and quickly concluded a separate armistice. This left the German forces in Finland to simply vacate the territory, fighting between the Finns and Soviets alike as they tried to return to the main war. Jointly suffering 291,000 casualties, the only consolation was that the coalition had inflicted some 830,000 on the Soviets. In this book, Henrik Lunde, a former US Special Operations colonel, and the renowned author of Hitler’s Pre-emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940, once again fills a profound gap in our understanding of World War II. [This book contains a tables.]

Alois Dwenger, writing from the front in May of 1942, complained that people forgot “the actions of simple soldiers…. I believe that true heroism lies in bearing this dreadful everyday life.” In exploring the reality of the Landser, the average German soldier in World War II, through letters, diaries, memoirs, and oral histories, Stephen G. Fritz provides the definitive account of the everyday war of the German front soldier. The personal documents of these soldiers, most from the Russian front, where the majority of German infantrymen saw service, paint a richly textured portrait of the Landser that illustrates the complexity and paradox of his daily life. Although clinging to a self-image as a decent fellow, the German soldier nonetheless committed terrible crimes in the name of National Socialism. When the war was finally over, and his country lay in ruins, the Landser faced a bitter truth: all his exertions and sacrifices had been in the name of a deplorable regime that had committed unprecedented crimes. With chapters on training, images of combat, living conditions, combat stress, the personal sensations of war, the bonds of comradeship, and ideology and motivation, Fritz offers a sense of immediacy and intimacy, revealing war through the eyes of these self-styled “little men.” A fascinating look at the day-to-day life of German soldiers, this is a book not about war but about men. It will be vitally important for anyone interested in World War II, German history, or the experiences of common soldiers throughout the world

A century has now gone by, yet the Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16 is still infamous as arguably the most ill conceived, badly led and pointless campaign of the entire First World War. The brainchild of Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, following Turkey’s entry into the war on the German side, its ultimate objective was to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in western Turkey, thus allowing the Allies to take control of the eastern Mediterranean and increase pressure on the Central Powers to drain manpower from the vital Western Front

The Russian civil war was one of the major events of the last century, leading to the establishment of the Soviet Union. After the First World War the British Government, with the full backing of Secretary of State for War Winston Churchill, sent British forces to help the White Russian armies end the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1918–1920 the RAF sent 221, 266 and 47 Squadron to fight alongside General Denekin in South Russia. The RAF launched attacks on Red Army troops, ships and aircraft, and dropped bombs on Grozney, Astrokhan and Tsaritsin (Stalingrad), which was captured by British tanks 23 years before Hitler’s army was destroyed there. Many of the RAF men were experienced and battle-hardened pilots, having fought on the Western Front against the German Air Force; the Red Air Force soon learned the quality of their opponents. With the overall collapse of the White Forces in South Russia, the British were forced to make an honourable withdrawal in 1920. The contribution made by the RAF aircrews to the White Russian cause was nonetheless great, and out of all proportion to their numbers. This is the first book focusing on the 1918–1920 RAF campaign in South Russia ever to be published, and presents a fascinating insight into an almost unknown period in RAF history

In 1988 Iraq was the region’s dominant military power and ambitious to become leader of the Arab world. Saddam Hussein’s war-experienced army were known to have used biological and chemical weapons in the past, and when 260,000 troops and 2,000 tanks crossed into Kuwait they met with little resistance. Yet Iraq’s defeat at the hands of the coalition forces was the most devastatingly efficient in military history. It was the first war fought over a resource: oil. The UK committed 43,000 troops to this new ‘high tech’ war, and initially expected high casualties. Yet on the Iraqi side, uncounted thousands of soldiers were killed, many poorly trained conscripts. Returning coalition soldiers have since found themselves dogged by health problems, likely caused by the new technologies that proved so effective in battle. Iraqi power was diminished, but Saddam Hussein was allowed to remain in power, laying the scene for the protracted suffering of the Iraq invasion over a decade later. Hugh McManners’ original interviews for Gulf War One provide a compelling picture and explode many myths of how this war was carried out, and why. From military planners and politicians to ordinary soldiers and Gulf War Syndrome sufferers, both those serving and those caught up in the war tell its history in their own words

Growing up in suburban Pretoria, Steve Joubert dreamed of a career as a pilot. After undergoing SAAF pilot training, a freak injury put an end to his hopes of flying fighter jets. Instead he learned to fly the versatile Alouette helicopter. He had barely qualified as a chopper pilot when he was sent to the Border, where he flew missions over Namibia and southern Angola to supply air cover to troops on the ground. As a gunship pilot, Steve saw some of the worst scenes of war, often arriving first on the scene after a contact or landmine attack. He also recalls the lighter moments of military life, as well as the thrill of flying. A born maverick, his lack of respect for authority often got him into trouble with his superiors. His experiences affected him deeply, and led him eventually to question his role in the war effort. As the Border War escalated, his disillusionment grew. This gripping memoir is a powerful plea for healing and understanding

Allan Alexander Foote (b. 13. April 1905, d. 1. August 1957) was a radio operator for a Soviet espionage ring in Switzerland during World War II. Foote was originally from Yorkshire in England, and had spent some time in Spain working for the Republican side during the Civil War in the 1930s. He decided to continue his efforts against Fascism (and, perhaps, for Communism) and volunteered for clandestine work with Red Orchestra. He was put into contact with Ursula Kuczynski in Switzerland. He became a radio operator for the Soviet espionage operation run by Alexander Radó and was one of those who passed information to Moscow from the Lucy spy ring run by Rudolf Roessler. Foote was one of those arrested when the Swiss police shut down most of the operation and was detained for a time. After the War, he spent some time in the Eastern Bloc and then returned to the West and published his book, A Handbook for Spies. He died in the 1950s.  Because of the implausible veracity of the intelligence (fast, plentiful, and accurate) and never explained source of the Lucy Ring's information, suspicion attaches to all those associated with it. Since Foote, as the Lucy Ring's radio operator was a central cog in the chain of supply and therefore in a position to know much, his subsequent account has been thought to be rather dubious in places. This and the fact that he seemingly managed to return to the West rather easily, has led some to suggest Foote was a British Secret Service double agent and one conduit (perhaps even the main one) of intelligence from Britain to Roessler and thence to Moscow.  According to various sources, Foote was indeed a MI6 (SIS) double agent unbeknownst to Rado. After the destruction of Rado's network and his escape from Switzerland, Rado met Foote in Paris and both were ordered to return to Moscow immediately. They took off aboard a Russian military aeroplane on January 6, 1945, taking a circuitous route (due to the war being still in progress) via Egypt. Their plane landed to refuel in Cairo, where upon Rado defected. Continuing alone to Moscow, Foote was subjected to intensive interrogation in an attempt to determine his loyalty and the possibility of his being a penetration agent. Foote was confronted with an instance of disinformation sent from his transmitter in May 1942 and told "That message cost us 100 000 men at Kharkov and resulted in the Germans reaching Stalingrad." Foote said that he merely passed on what he received from Radó. Satisfied with Foote's explanation, the Soviets gave Foote a false identity under the alias of Major Granatov. Posing as a German, Albert Müller, he inserted himself into post war Berlin to establish this alias with the aim of being sent by Moscow Centre to Argentina, to attempt to identify and infiltrate groups of escaped high ranking Nazis.  Journalist, broadcaster and author Malcolm Muggeridge, himself a wartime MI6 officer, "got to know Foote after the war" (pp 207-08) when Foote paid Muggeridge "regular visits" at his flat near Regents Park, London. Foote at this time was working as a clerk in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, work he found, according to Muggeridge, "very tedious". Muggeridge is firmly of the opinion that the information Foote sent "could only, in fact, have come from Bletchley"  In March 1947, following the defection of a Soviet agent who had been involved with British Intelligence, Foote's allegiance to the British may have been confirmed. Foote himself defected from his Russian control in Berlin, escaping to the British sector

A fascinating account of Nazi Germany’s armored forces by the author of Patton and Rommel. Determined to secure a quick, decisive victory on the World War II battlefields, Adolf Hitler adopted an attack plan that combined tools with technique—the formidable Panzer divisions. Self-contained armored units able to operate independently, the Panzers became the German army's fighting core as well as its moral focus, establishing an entirely new military doctrine. In Hitler’s Panzers, renowned World War II scholar Dennis Showalter presents a comprehensive and unbiased study of Nazi Germany’s armored forces. By delving deeply into a detailed history of the theory, strategy, myths, and realities of Germany’s technologically innovative approach to warfare, Showalter provides a look at the military lessons of the past, and a speculation on how the Panzer ethos may be implemented in the future of international conflict

A thorough examination of one of history’s revolutionary campaigns… After Hitler conquered Poland, and while still fine-tuning his plans against France, the British began to exert control of the coastline of neutral Norway, an action that threatened to cut off Germany’s iron-ore conduit to Sweden and outflank from the start its hegemony on the Continent. The Germans quickly responded with a dizzying series of assaults, using every tool of modern warfare developed in the previous generation. Airlifted infantry, mountain troops and paratroopers were dispatched to the Scandinavian nation, seizing Norwegian strong points while forestalling larger but more cumbersome Allied units. The German navy also set sail, taking a brutal beating at the hands of Britannia, while ensuring with its sacrifice that key harbors could be held open for resupply. As dive bombers soared overhead, small but elite German units traversed forbidding terrain to ambush Allied units trying to forge inland. At Narvik, some 6,000 German troops battled 20,000 French and British, until the Allies were finally forced to withdraw by the great disaster in France, which had then get underway. As a veritable coda to the campaign, the aircraft carrier Glorious, while trying to sail back to Britain, was hammered under the waves by the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst. The air, airborne, sea, amphibious, infantry, armor and commando aspects of this brief but violent campaign are here covered in meticulous detail. Henrik Lunde, a native Norwegian and former U.S. Special Operations colonel, has written perhaps the most objective account to date of a campaign in which 20th century military innovation found its first fertile playing field

“The American sniper could be regarded as the greatest all-around rifleman the world has ever known….” At the start of the war in Vietnam, the United States had no snipers; by the end of the war, Marine and army precision marksmen had killed more than 10,000 NVA and VC soldiers—the equivalent of an entire division—at the cost of under 20,000 bullets, proving that long-range shooters still had a place in the battlefield. Now noted military historian Michael Lee Lanning shows how U.S. snipers in Vietnam—combining modern technology in weapons, ammunition, and telescopes—used the experience and traditions of centuries of expert shooters to perfect their craft. To provide insight into the use of American snipers in Vietnam, Lanning interviewed men with combat trigger time, as well as their instructors, the founders of the Marine and U.S. Army sniper programs, and the generals to whom they reported. Backed by hard information and firsthand accounts, the author demonstrates how the skills these one-shot killers honed in the jungles of Vietnam provided an indelible legacy that helped save American lives in Grenada, the Gulf War, and Somalia and continues to this day with American troops in Bosnia. [Best viewed with CoolReader.]

They died in vast numbers, eight million men and women driven forward in suicidal charges, shattered by German shells and tanks. They were the soldiers of the Red Army, an exhausted mass of recruits who confronted Europe’s most lethal fighting force and by 1945 had defeated it. For sixty years, their experiences were suppressed, replaced by patriotic propaganda. We know how the soldiers died, but nearly nothing about how they lived, how they saw the world, or why they fought. In this ambitious, revelatory history, Catherine Merridale uncovers the harrowing story of who these soldiers were, and how they lived and died during the war

В 1934 году Reichsluftfahrministerium (RLM) – воздушный комиссариат – разработал технические требования к самолету, названному «Kampfzerstoerer» (это слово можно перевести как истребитель-бомобардировщик, термином «Zersloerer» в Германии называли самолеты, которых в других странах относили к тяжелым истребителям). Трехместный самолет должен был нести мощное наступательное вооружение, состоящее из пушек калибра 20 мм, а также брать на борт небольшую бомбовую нагрузку. В качестве силовой установки предполагали использовать два двигателя Даймлер-Бенц DB 600 или два Юнкерс Jumo 210 (оба типа двигателя в то время еще находились на стадии проектирования). В 1935 году фирма Юнкерса начала работы над самолетами, по конструкции близкими к концепции Kampfzerstoerer. Одновременно были созданы два проекта: Ju 85 – с разнесенным оперением и Ju 88 с оперением однокилевым. Прим.: Полный комплект иллюстраций, расположенных как в печатном издании (+ собранные схемы на разворотах), подписи к иллюстрациям текстом

The mass murder of 22,000 Poles by the Soviet NKVD at Katyn is one of the most shocking events of the Second World War and its political implications are still being felt today. This book draws on intelligence reports, witness statements, memoranda and briefing papers of diplomats who dealt with the Katyn massacre. The bitter dispute is ongoing between the Russian and Polish governments, to declassify the rest of the documents and concede to genocide perpetrated by the Soviets. British “Most Secret” files reveal that Katyn was considered as a provocative incident, which might break political alliance with the Soviets. The “suspension of judgment” policy of the British government hid for more than half a century a deceitful diplomacy of Machiavellian proportions. Katyn 1940 draws on intelligence reports, previously unpublished documents, witness statements, memoranda, and briefing papers of diplomats and civil servants of various echelons, who dealt with the Katyn massacre up to the present day to expose the true hypocrisy of the British and American attitude to the massacre. Eugenia Maresch is the author of General Wladyslaw Sikorski, Poland’s Wartime Leader; Intelligence Co-operation Between Great Britain and Poland in World War II; and Polish Forces in Defence of the British Isles 1939-1945

The acclaimed and harrowing story of the fate of Russia’s most powerful submarine – now with new material from the author. At 11.28 a.m. on Saturday, 12 August 2000, a massive and mysterious blast punched through the shallow Arctic waters of the Barents Sea. 135 seconds later, another colossal explosion was detected by seismologists around the globe. The Kursk, pride of Russia’s Northern Fleet and the largest attack submarine in the world, was plunging to the ocean floor, fatally wounded. In Kursk, award-winning television journalist Robert Moore vividly recreates this disaster minute by minute. Venturing into a covert world where the Cold War continues out of sight, Moore investigates the military and political background to the tragedy. But above all, he tells the nail-bitingly poignant human story of the families waiting on shore, of the desperate efforts of the British, Norwegian and Russian rescuers, and of the twenty-three sailors, trapped in the aft compartment of the stricken submarine, waiting for rescue, as a horrified world followed their fight to stay alive…

Guy Sajer n’a pas dix-sept ans quand, en juillet 1942, il endosse l’uniforme de la Wehrmacht. Il est français par son père, allemand par sa mère ; il habite alors l’Alsace. À cause de son jeune âge, il n’est pas affecté à une unité combattante, mais dans le train des équipages. Dès novembre, l’hiver s’abat sur la plaine russe ; le froid, la neige, les partisans rendent la progression des convois extrêmement difficile : jamais l’unité de Sajer n’atteindra Stalingrad qu’elle devait ravitailler ; la vie armée aura capitulé avant. Mais Sajer sait déjà que la guerre n’est pas une partie de plaisir, que survivre dans l’hiver russe est déjà un combat. Et pourtant, ce premier hiver, il n’a pas vraiment fait la guerre. La vraie guerre, celle du combattant de première ligne, il la découvre lorsqu’il est versé dans la division « Gross Deutschland », division d’élite, avec laquelle, à partir de l’été 1943, il va se trouver engagé dans les plus grandes batailles du front d’Ukraine, quand la Wehrmacht plie sous l’offensive russe. De Koursk à Kharkov, de jour comme de nuit, dans la boue, la neige, quand le thermomètre marque 40°, sous le martèlement terrifiant de l’artillerie russe, face aux vagues d’assaut d’un adversaire désormais puissamment armé et qui ne se soucie pas des pertes, les hommes de la « Gross Deutschland », portés toujours aux endroits les plus exposés, toujours en première ligne, combattant à un contre vingt, connaissent l’enfer. La bataille de Bielgorod, le passage du Dniepr (la Bérésina à l’échelle de la Seconde Guerre mondiale) constituent, vécus au niveau du simple soldat, deux des plus hauts moments de ce récit d’Apocalypse. Plus tard, quand le front allemand s’est désagrégé, quand l’immense armée reflue, aux combats réguliers s’ajoutera la lutte contre les partisans, plus sauvage et plus impitoyable. Plus tard encore, c’est la retraite des derniers survivants de la division d’élite à travers la Roumanie et les Carpathes jusqu’en Pologne. Dans l’hiver 1944–1945, Sajer et ses camarades sont lancés dans les combats désespérés que les Allemands livrent en Prusse-Orientale pour interdire l’entrée du Vaterland aux Russes. C’est encore Memel, où l’horreur atteint à son comble, et Dantzig, au milieu de l’exode des populations allemandes de l’Est. Enfin, malade, épuisé, Sajer sera fait prisonnier par les Anglais dans le Hanovre… Si ce récit de la guerre en Russie ne ressemble à aucun autre, s’il surpasse en vérité, en horreur et en grandeur tout ce qui a été écrit, ce n’est pas seulement parce que l’auteur a réellement vécu tout ce qu’il rapporte, ce n’est pas seulement parce que, sous sa plume, les mots froid, faim, fièvre, sang et peur prennent l’accent et la force terrible et de la réalité, c’est aussi parce que Sajer sait voir et faire voir dans le détail avec une puissance de trait vraiment extraordinaire. Alors, le lecteur ne peut douter que tout ce qui est rapporté là est vrai, vrai au détail près ; il sait de science certaine qu’il n’y a pas là de « littérature », pas de morceaux de bravoure – mais que c’était ainsi : ainsi dans le courage et ainsi dans la peur, ainsi dans la misère et ainsi dans l’horreur

On September 8, 1941, eleven weeks after Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, his brutal surprise attack on the Soviet Union, Leningrad was surrounded. The siege was not lifted for two and a half years, by which time some three quarters of a million Leningraders had died of starvation. Anna Reid’s Leningrad is a gripping, authoritative narrative history of this dramatic moment in the twentieth century, interwoven with indelible personal accounts of daily siege life drawn from diarists on both sides. They reveal the Nazis’ deliberate decision to starve Leningrad into surrender and Hitler’s messianic miscalculation, the incompetence and cruelty of the Soviet war leadership, the horrors experienced by soldiers on the front lines, and, above all, the terrible details of life in the blockaded city: the relentless search for food and water; the withering of emotions and family ties; looting, murder, and cannibalism—and at the same time, extraordinary bravery and self-sacrifice. Stripping away decades of Soviet propaganda, and drawing on newly available diaries and government records, Leningrad also tackles a raft of unanswered questions: Was the size of the death toll as much the fault of Stalin as of Hitler? Why didn’t the Germans capture the city? Why didn’t it collapse into anarchy? What decided who lived and who died? Impressive in its originality and literary style, Leningrad gives voice to the dead and will rival Anthony Beevor’s classic Stalingrad in its impact

Originally published in 1960, this compact book tells the true story of a German soldier: from his early childhood during the First World War, through to his harrowing experiences on the frontline during the Word War II, culminating in his capture by the Red Army on 20 December 1942… An astonishing first-hand account