In February 1942, a reconnaissance party of United States Army Air Forces officers arrived in England. Firmly wedded to the doctrine of daylight precision bombing, they believed they could help turn the tide of the war in Europe. In the months that followed, they formed the Eighth Air Force - an organization that grew at an astonishing rate. To accommodate it, almost seventy airfields were hastily built across the eastern counties of England. At the heart of the Eighth Air Force were its bombardment groups, each equipped with scores of heavily armed, four-engine bombers. These Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberators were soon punching through the enemy's defences to bomb targets vital to its war effort. They were crewed by thousands of young American airmen, most of whom were volunteers. This book tells the story of just one "Bomb Group" - the 381st, which crossed the Atlantic in May 1943. Arriving at RAF Ridgewell on the Essex-Suffolk border, its airmen quickly found themselves thrown into the hazardous and attritional air battle raging in the skies over Europe.Bomb Group follows the 381st's path from its formation in the Texan desert, to its 297th and final bombing mission deep into the heart of Hitler's Third Reich. It is the remarkable story of one group and the part it played in the strategic bombing campaign of "The Mighty Eighth."

Days of Valor tells the story of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, a major combat unit of the US Army that served in the Vietnam War. The brigade was formed at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was sent out to Vietnam in December 1966. In January 1968, the 199th were conducting an operation in Bien Hoa Province, scouring the sector for NVA personnel, when the Viet Cong launched the Tet Offensive. This sudden offensive caught the US Army completely by surprise. The Viet Cong attacked all of the major cities in South Vietnam and 58 major towns. The Communist forces had considerable success in Huéand Saigon. Armed with rockets, mortars, Chinese claymores, mines, machine guns and AK-47s, the Viet Cong were able to force the 199th onto the back foot. Many of the characters described in this book did not make it home, and the narrative gives the reader a vivid impression of what it must have been like to fight in this horrific war. The author was a company commander during these battles, and he has interviewed many of the soldiers of the 199th who fought in this bloody conflict. Days of Valor is a no-holds-barred account of the Tet Offensive, and reveals the shocking reality of what young US soldiers faced. The Tet Offensive was the turning point of the Vietnam War. It was a huge propaganda victory for the Viet Cong, and the beginning of the end for the US in Vietnam.

Most studies of the Mississippi River focus on Union campaigns to open and control it, overlooking Southern attempts to stop them. Now in paperback, Neil Chatelain's Defending the Arteries of Rebellion: Confederate Naval Operations in the Mississippi River Valley, 1861-1865 is the other side of the story - the first modern full-length treatment of inland naval operations from the Confederate perspective. Confederate President Jefferson Davis realized the value of the Mississippi River and its entire valley, which he described as the "great artery of the Confederacy. " This key internal highway controlled the fledgling nation's transportation network. Davis and Stephen Mallory, his secretary of the navy, knew these vital logistical paths had to be held, and that they offered potential highways of invasion for Union warships and armies to stab their way deep into the heart of the Confederacy. To protect these arteries of rebellion, Southern strategy called for crafting a ring of powerful fortifications supported by naval forces. Different military branches, however, including the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, and Revenue Service, as well as civilian privateers and even state naval forces, competed for scarce resources to operate their own vessels. A lack of industrial capacity, coupled with a dearth of skilled labor, further complicated Confederate efforts and guaranteed the South's grand vision of deploying dozens of river gunboats and powerful ironclads would never be fully realized. Despite these limitations, the Southern war machine introduced numerous innovations and alternate defenses including the Confederacy's first operational ironclad, the first successful use of underwater torpedoes, widespread use of Army-Navy joint operations, and the employment of extensive river obstructions. When the Mississippi came under complete Union control in 1863, Confederate efforts shifted to its many tributaries, where a bitter and deadly struggle ensued to control these internal lifelines. Despite a lack of ships, material, personnel, funding, and unified organization, the Confederacy fought desperately and scored many localized tactical victories - often won at great cost - but failed at the strategic level. Chatelain, a former Navy Surface Warfare Officer, grounds his study in extensive archival and firsthand accounts, official records, and a keen understanding of terrain and geography. The result is a fast-paced, well-crafted, and endlessly fascinating account that is sure to please the most discriminating student of the Civil War.

This is a compelling account of the German defense of the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Against overwhelming Soviet forces the book shows how the German Army Group North was driven across the Baltics from Leningrad and fought a number isolated battles including the defense of Narva, Memel and the Kurland pocket. The book outlines in dramatic detail how Hitler forbade his troops to withdraw, ordering them to follow his Halt Order Decree and fight to the death. However, exhausted and demoralized by continuous Soviet assaults, Army Group North became cut-off and isolated, fighting fanatically to hold the capital cities of Tallin, Vilnius and Riga. What followed were German forces fighting to the death in the last few small pockets of land surrounding three ports: Libau in Kurland, Pillau in East Prussia and Danzig at the mouth of the River Vistula. In the Kurland, German divisions became surrounded and fought a vicious defense until May 1945. Drawing on a host of rare and unpublished photographs accompanied by in-depth captions and text, the book provides an absorbing read of the Red Army's conquering of the Baltics.

The Kriegsmarine battleships, were in fact only four vessels, introduced during 1935–1941. The first two, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, were ready before the war and two others, Bismarck and Tirpitz, were commissioned into the fleet after it had begun. That was the biggest achievement in the arming of the German navy conducted by Hitler. Interestingly, all these ships served just a few months, from February to May 1941. In the meantime, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were stationed in Brest, France; Bismarck was getting ready for raids on the Atlantic; and Tirpitz was finishing her sea trials and getting ready for commissioning. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had already been through a baptism of fire, which ended with a little victory on the British sea routes. However, staying on the French coast, they constantly were under the threat of air-strikes. The career of Bismarck ended with her sinking though she had successfully attacked British convoys beforehand. As the consequence of that defeat, the German network of sources on the Atlantic was destroyed. From that moment, raids by heavy German battleships became almost impossible to carry out, and they suffered from the ever-expanding control of the Atlantic by the Allies. Despite this, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau escaped to Germany via the English Channel. This extensively illustrated volume captures the detail of these two Kriegsmarine battleships.

This book compiles the color profiles, scale plans, and photo details of the single variant of the 7TP, Twin-turret version, Polish light tank used in 1939. Scale plans are in 1/35 scale, plus drawings from wartime technical manuals. Also contains photos of the details in black and white.

Few Civil War generals attracted as much debate and controversy as Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard. He combined brilliance and charisma with arrogance and histrionics. He was a Catholic Creole in a society dominated by white Protestants, which made him appear exotic next to the likes of Albert Sidney Johnston and Robert E. Lee.He was reviled by Jefferson Davis and often mocked by Mary Chesnut in her diary. Yet, he was popular with his soldiers and subordinates. Outside of Lee, he was the South’s most consistently successful commander, winning at Bull Run, defending Charleston in 1864, and defeating Benjamin Butler at Bermuda Hundred and Ulysses Grant and George Meade at Petersburg. Yet, he lived his life in the shadow of his one major defeat: Shiloh.Beauregard’s career before and after the war was no less tumultuous than his Civil War record. He was born among the Creole elite of Louisiana, but rejected the life of a planter in favor of the military, inspired by tales of Napoléon. He was considered a shining light of the antebellum army and performed superbly in the Mexican-American War. Yet, he complained about a lack of promotion and made a frustrating stab at being mayor of New Orleans in 1858.After the war, he was a successful railroad executive and took a stand against racism, violence, and corruption during Reconstruction. Yet, he was ousted from both railroads he oversaw and his foray into Reconstruction politics came to naught. Although he provided for his family and left them a hefty sum after his death, the money was mostly gained by working for the corrupt Louisiana Lottery.In Dreams of Victory: General P. G. T. Beauregard in the Civil War, Sean Michael Chick explores a life of contradictions and dreams unrealized—the first real hero of the Confederacy who sometimes proved to be his own worst enemy.

When he landed in Normandy on June 7, 1944, Ernie Pyle was the best (Pulitzer Prize) and most popular American war correspondent. Pyle owes this popularity to the fact that he tells simply and with a lot of empathy, the stories of the common soldiers. During the summer of 1944, he will follow the American troops from Omaha Beach until the liberation of Paris, attending the liberation of Cherbourg, the hedgerow war, the bombings of the Cobra Operation, but also discover Normandy surprisingly. .. Many episodes he tells in 70 articles subsequently published in the American daily press. These 70 articles had never been translated into French in their entirety.

George S. Patton was a colourful war leader and an eminently complex character; adored by some, but hated by others, he would lead the 3rd U.S. Army from Tunisia to the heart of Czechoslovakia. “Georgie,” the little guy from California, would go on to earn a reputation as a leader of men and become one of the most gifted and the most feared general officers of the Second World War, living only by and for the war. His fiery temper and legendary outbursts would get him in big trouble, but his personal archives have also shown that, under his hard-boiled shell – the one that his soldiers nicknamed Old Blood and Guts – was a cultured man, sensitive and deeply doubting himself. This book explores both sides of the military legend, through to his accidental death on 21st December, 1945.

Lieutenant-General James Longstreet, commander of the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, was a brilliant tactician and strategist. Prior to the Civil War there were many technological developments, of which the rifled musket and cannon, rail transport and the telegraph were a few. In addition, the North enjoyed a great advantage in manpower and resources. Longstreet adapted to these technological changes and the disparity between the belligerents making recommendations on how the war should be fought. Longstreet made a leap of thinking to adjust to this new type of warfare. Many others did not make this leap, including Robert E. Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, Bragg, Hood and Jefferson Davis. Unfortunately, his advice was not heeded and given the weight it deserved. In contrast to many other southern generals, Longstreet advocated for defensive warfare, using entrenchments and trying to maneuver the enemy to assault his position, conserving manpower, resources and supplies. With the advent of the highly accurate and long-range rifled musket, offensive tactics became questionable and risky. This caused Longstreet to come into conflict with General Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg. Longstreet opposed the Gettysburg campaign and Lee's battle plans at Gettysburg against General Meade and the Army of the Potomac. At Chickamauga, Longstreet was at odds with General Bragg on how to proceed after the stunning victory by the Army of Tennessee over Rosecrans and his forces. Longstreet was never given full authority over an army in the field. He was a pragmatic and methodical general and had his suggestions been utilized there would have been a better outcome for the South. Many historians and biographers have misunderstood Longstreet and his motives, not focusing on the total picture. This work offers a fresh and unique perspective on Lieutenant-General James Longstreet and the Civil War. This narrative takes a new viewpoint of the Civil War and the generals who tailored their designs to pursue the war, analyses Longstreet's views of the generals and the tactics and strategy they employed and examines why Longstreet proposed and urged a new type of warfare.

This book containing more than 200 photographs and many testimonials will take you back to the heart of the furious battles by the American paratroopers to liberate and hold Sainte-Mère-Église and surroundings. He will introduce you to the extraordinary history of creation of the American airborne weapon and the epic of troopers and gliders of the 82nd Airborne from Sicily to the heart of Germany via Normandy and the Netherlands. The authors also review the moving history of the village in the aftermath of the war. The presence of two large provisional cemeteries in the territory of the municipality for three years and the recognition of the population towards its liberators allowed to forge very strong bonds of friendship between the inhabitants and the All Americans.

Albert Nofi tells the story of the American War through a range of insightful and entertaining essays, anecdotes, and facts. Did you know..

Francis Marion is certainly the stuff of which legends are made. His nickname “The Swamp Fox,” bestowed upon him by one of his fiercest enemies, captures his wily approach to battle. The embellishment of his exploits in Parson Weems’ early biography make separation of fact from fiction difficult, but certainly represents the awe, loyalty, and attraction he produced in those around him. His legacy is enshrined in the fact that more places in the United States have been named after him than any other soldier of the American Revolution, with the sole exception of George Washington. Even today’s U.S. Army Rangers include Marion as one of their formative heroes. Surely much about leadership can be learned from such an intriguing personality. Leading like the Swamp Fox: The Leadership Lessons of Francis Marion unlocks those lessons. Divided into three parts, the book first presents the historical background and context necessary to appreciate Marion’s situation. The main body of the book then examines Marion’s leadership across eight categories, with a number of vignettes demonstrating Marion’s competency. The summary then captures some conclusions about how leadership impacted the American Revolution in the South CarolinaLowcountry. An appendix provides some information about how the reader might explore those physical reminders of Marion and his exploits that exist today. Readers interested in history or leadership, or both, will all find something for them in Leading like the Swamp Fox.

Citizen-soldier Strong Vincent was many things: Harvard graduate, lawyer, political speaker, descendent of pilgrims and religious refugees, husband, father, brother. But his greatest contribution to history is as the saviour of the Federal left on the second day at Gettysburg, when he and his men held Little Round Top against overwhelming Confederate numbers. Forgotten by history in favour of his subordinate, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Vincent faded into relative obscurity in the decades following his death. This book restores Vincent to his rightful place among the heroes of the battle of Gettysburg: presenting his life story using new, never-before-published sources and archival material to bring the story of one of the most forgotten officers of the American Civil War back to the attention of readers and historians.

The narrative surrounding Britain’s anti-invasion forces has often centred on ‘Dad’s Army’-like characters running around with pitchforks, on unpreparedness and sense of inevitability of invasion and defeat. The truth, however, is very different. Top-secret, highly trained and ruthless civilian volunteers were being recruited as early as the summer of 1940. Had the Germans attempted an invasion they would have been countered by saboteurs and guerrilla fighters emerging from secret bunkers, and monitored by swathes of spies and observers who would have passed details on via runners, wireless operators and ATS women in disguised bunkers. Alongside these secret forces, the Home Guard were also setting up their own ‘guerrilla groups’, and SIS (MI6) were setting up post-occupation groups of civilians – including teenagers – to act as sabotage cells, wireless operators and assassins had the Nazis taken control of the country. The civilians involved in these groups understood the need for absolute secrecy and their commitment to keeping quiet meant that most went to their grave without ever telling anyone of their role, not even their closest family members. There has been no official and little public recognition of what these dedicated men and women were willing to do for their country in its hour of need, and after over 80 years of silence the time has come to highlight their remarkable role.

This book traces the history, organization, uniforms and equipment between 1939 and 1945 of the Waffen SS. This elite force counted nearly a million volunteers from all European countries. Enjoying the full support of the Nazi regime, Waffen SS will fight on all fronts in Europe between 1939 and 1945. The variety of uniforms presented show how the German stewardship reserved, especially from 1941, the most modern equipment"the darling of the regime."Caps, helmets, helmet covers, jackets, camouflage uniforms, belts buckles, equipment, weapons etc. All the panoply of Waffen SS is carefully detailed in the book of 2 volumes with rigorously authentic objects. Accompanied by original photographs mostly unpublished and from private archives, this book covers a gap in the field in which no truly comprehensive study has been done to date.