Thanks to an exciting collection of testimonies and many photographs of former soldiers of the LSSAH division, German author Thomas Fischer takes us into the universe - often unknown - of the artillery of the 1st division of the Waffen SS. Through this work, the reader will be able to grasp the crucial importance of artillery, both in defense and attack, during the short Balkan Campaign of Spring 1941 and during the grueling months in the front of the immensity of the East.Grâce à une collecte passionnante de témoignages et de nombreuses photographies d’anciens soldats de la division « LSSAH », l’Allemand Thomas Fischer nous accompagne dans l’univers – souvent mal connu – de l’artillerie… qui plus est, celle de la 1re division de la Waffen SS! Changeant un peu des Panzers ou des Grenadiere, le monde des Artilleristen est tout aussi passionnant : observation, direction de tir, déploiement des pièces, préparation des obus et le rapport «intime», voire «affectif», du Kanonier avec son canon ou son obusier… Prussien de l’Est « spartiate », artilleur de la première heure et chef de troupe extrêmement strict, Gustav Mertsch tient non seulement à engager ses pièces depuis l’arrière, en tir courbe, mais aussi souvent que possible en tir direct, pilonnant certaines cibles quasiment à bout portant. Au cours de certains combats, les artilleurs utiliseront parfois leur Karabiner, notamment à l’Est, tant l’ennemi peut approcher par surprise. À travers cette oeuvre, le lecteur pourra saisir l’importance cruciale de l’artillerie, en défense comme en attaque, tant lors de la courte Campagne des Balkans du Printemps 1941 que durant les mois éprouvants passés dans l’immensité du Front de l’Est. On retrouvera également l’Artillerie-LAH en Normandie, lors de son déploiement au sud de Caen fin juin/début juillet 1944. Grièvement blessé en terre normande, Gustav Mertsch est retiré de la dite « Invasionsfront » et ne retournera plus dans la Leibstandarte. Après la guerre, il s’établira sur Hanovre. Conscient d’avoir été un Kommandeur très rude, Mertsch préférera fuir le contact avec ses anciens soldats de l’Artillerie-LAH.

Abraham Lincoln’s November 19, 1863, Gettysburg Address is generally recognized as one of the greatest leadership speeches ever written. The Ultimate Guide to the Gettysburg Address explains the 272-word speech more thoroughly than any book previously published. With the aid of colorized step-by-step diagrams, the authors deconstruct the speech into its basic elements and demonstrate how the scientific method is basic to the structure of the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln’s fascination with geometry is well documented. Authors David Hirsch and Dan Van Haften, however, are the first to discover and then demonstrate Lincoln’s use of the six elements of a proposition and then diagram and explain how his in-depth study of geometry helped him compose the Gettysburg Address. The result is a deeper and richer understanding of the Gettysburg Address that was not previously possible. This concise colour examination of one of our nation’s most treasured and important speeches is perfect for all ages and especially for those interested in history, the use of language, and logic.

The first of three volumes, this book is part of a series considered the most complete and detailed study on the uniforms and the equipment used by Second World War German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger). Virtually every element of the uniforms is presented in detail, including different models of parachutes (Knochensack) and all the equipment used by the Luftwaffe from the mid-30s until the capitulation of the Reich, as well as the typical badges of the Fallschirmjäger and many untold stories. In short, this book accompanies the reader through a visual but detailed reconstruction of the operation of "Green Devils" and the attack Norway carried out during the last days of the Third Reich against the Belgian fortress of Eben Emael, but also through the campaigns in Holland, Crete, North Africa, Russia, Italy, Normandy and the Ardennes. With the help of collectors and museums from all around the world, the author and his German publisher started an unprecedented and prolific collaboration. The three volumes contain thousands of unpublished photos of objects belonging to the Fallschirmjäger, including coins that have never been seen or studied before.

Mai-juin 1940. Une bataille malheureuseperdue en quarante-cinq jours. Tout aété dit ou presque, sur ces quarante-cinqjours, que ce soit au travers d’ouvragesgénéraux couvrant tout ou partie de lapériode ou de monographies relatantdes aspects particuliers de la bataille. Pourtant, jamais un ouvrage n’a abordél’entièreté des combats au jour le jour,secteur par secteur, de la Hollandeà Menton, avec autant de précision.Quarante-cinq jours de combats y sontrelatés, les plus emblématiques certesmais aussi, ceux, plus nombreux, que peu de récits ont, à ce jour, sorti de l’oubli quand ils ne sont pas tout simplement ignorés.C’est le drame quotidien de ces hommes dépassés par le rythme de la bataille, ballottés au gré du commandement et dont beaucoup ontété au bout de leur sacrifice, que ces deux volumes se proposent de retracer. Une vision différente et tout à fait inédite d’une bataille perdue.Le Mémorial de la bataille de France …Depuis plus de 40 ans, Jean-Yves MARY se passionne pour les événements de mai-juin 1940. Au travers de la ligne Maginot tout d’aborddont il est devenu l’un des spécialistes grâce à plusieurs ouvrages faisant références et à la réalisation entamée dès 1978, du musée de laligne Maginot et des troupes d’intervalles sur le site de Fermont. Par l’étude minutieuse, ensuite, des différentes percées opérées par lesAllemands au cours de ces deux mois tragiques, études qui se sont matérialisées par la publication de plusieurs ouvrages très documentéssur la progression foudroyante des Panzerdivisionen.Une somme de connaissances amassées au fil des ans qui ont poussé l’auteur à s’attaquer à cet ambitieux projet ...

Rares sont les photographies en couleur de la Seconde Guerre mondiale et encore plus rares lorsqu’elles montrent une unité de la Waffen-SS. Le SS-Kriegsberichter Mitschke a pu bénéficier de cette technologie, encore peu répandue à l’époque, pour un reportaged’une quarantaine de clichés montrant la SS-Gebirgs-Division «Nord» sur le front de Finlande. Il s’agit donc d’un document exceptionnel que nous avons le privilège de vous présenter. Les photographies offrent un panorama des plus variés sur la vie de cette division dans le cadre spectaculaire de la forêt de Carélie. Cet ouvrage est aussi l’occasion d’apporter des éléments nouveaux sur cette unité par rapport au texte que nous avions publié dans le Dictionnaire de la Waffen-SS. Historique illustré.

The H225M "Caracal" flew for the first time on 30 November 2000. It is the first European helicopter specifically designed for the most complex of missions: the rescue in combat. In 2006, just days after its debut in the Air Force, it was deployed as part of an operation in Lebanon: its autonomy, power and defensive potential made it the 'ideal vehicle for sneaking hundreds of European nationals from Beirut, where they were trapped as a result of the fighting between pro-Iranian Hezbollah and the Israeli army. ’Today, in 2016, ten years after its appearance, the Caracal is already a veteran of several wars: Afghanistan, Mali, through Libya and Chad. Never in history has a helicopter accumulated so many titles in its operational career in such a short span of time, making of the H225M also a bestseller in export.

À partir d’une incroyable collection de photos découverte dans la base sous-marine des U-Boote de Brest à la fin de la guerre, et restéecachée jusqu’à récemment dans une boîte à chaussure, ce livre exceptionnel retrace l’histoire complète d’un U-Boot en mission au coursde l’été 1942. Le sous-marin en question, l’U-564, arbore le célèbre motif à « 3 chats noirs » de « Teddy Suhren » qui, avec Prien et Kretschmer, était l’un des grands commandants d’U-Boot durant la bataille de l’Atlantique. Ce livre remarquable fournit un éclairage unique à la fois sur la vie au jour le jour dans un U-Boot en immersion et sur les rouages complexes de la Kriegsmarine. Au travers des succès et des épreuves de l’U-564, le lecteur est emmené dans cet immense champ de bataille naval qui est peut-être l’un des plus importants théâtres de la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

During the opening days of World War II in the Pacific, a small group of American sailors in the Philippines were propelled into the forefront of the fighting. They were manned with six small wooden torpedo (PT) boats and led by a courageous, larger-than-life character in Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley. The men of Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 faced insurmountable odds as they conducted a series of heroic operations against the navy and air power of Imperial Japan. As America’s defense of the Philippines crumbled under the weight of a massive Japanese assault, the courageous activities of Bulkeley’s men made headlines across the U.S.—often as the only good news coming from the bleak Pacific front. The unit achieved everlasting fame by evacuating General Douglas MacArthur from the front. Then the squadron continued to fight on until all six of its torpedo boats were lost under fire. The fate of the doomed American defenders was sealed when the Japanese won the battle for the islands in the spring of 1942. The exploits of the unit were immortalized in the blockbuster 1945 movie They Were Expendable, starring John Wayne and Robert Montgomery, but since then the saga of Bulkeley and his men has slipped into history. Under a Blood Red Sun revives the story of the Philippine PT-boats through the intertwined accounts of Bulkeley and his subordinate officers and men. It is a story of the courage and sacrifice of men thousands of miles from their homeland, representing American gallantry and fighting prowess, while giving the Japanese a taste of what was further to come their way.

This is the story of the most highly decorated German regimental commander of World War II, known as the 'Panzer Graf' (Armoured Count). An aristocratic Silesian, whose ancestors had faced the Mongols at Leignitz, Strachwitz first won the Iron Cross in the Great War. After fighting with the Freikorps and in between the wars, he was serving with the 1st Panzer Division when the Polish campaign inaugurated World War II. Leading from the front, his exploits as commander of a panzer battalion earned him further decorations during the French campaign. Transferred to the newly formed 16th Panzer Division, he participated in the invasion of Yugoslavia and then Operation Barbarossa where he earned the Knight’s Cross. The following year, during the advance on Stalingrad, he won the Oak Leaves for destroying 270 Soviet tanks at Kalach. Now commander of a regiment, he reached the Volga and fought ferociously on the northern rim of Sixth Army’s perimeter. Severely wounded during the battles, he was flown out of the Stalingrad pocket. Upon recuperation, he was named commander of the Grossdeutschland Division’s panzer regiment, and won the Swords to the Knight’s Cross during Manstein’s counteroffensive at Kharkov. After fighting through Kursk and the ensuing defensive battles, he was transferred the next year to Army Group North where he won the Diamonds to the Knight’s Cross at Narva. For the rest of the war, sandwiched around a stay in hospital, he commanded ad hoc battlegroups, and pioneered the formation of 'tank hunter brigades', consisting of deep-penetration infantry armed with panzerfausts and other demolitions who would ambush Soviet tanks. Wounded 12 times during the war, and barely surviving a lethal car crash, he was finally able to surrender to the Americans in May 1945. Australian author/researcher Raymond Bagdonas, though impaired by the disappearance of 16th Panzer Division’s official records at Stalingrad, and the fact that many of the Panzer Graf’s later battlegroups never kept them, has nevertheless written an intensely detailed account of this combat leader’s life, as well as ferocious armoured warfare in World War II.

A hell-bent-for-leather fighter pilot, Elwyn G. Righetti remains one of the most elusive, yet compelling, colorful and controversial commanders of World War II. Arriving late to the war, he led the England-based 55th Fighter Group against the Nazis during the closing months of the fight with a no-holds-barred aggressiveness that transformed the group from a middling organization of no reputation into a headline-grabbing team that had to make excuses to no one. Indeed, Righetti’s boldness paid off as he quickly achieved ace status and additionally scored more strafing victories–27–than any other Eighth Air Force pilot. However, success came at a high cost in men and machines. Some of Righetti’s pilots resented him as a Johnny-come-lately intent on winning a sack of medals at their expense. But most lauded their spirited new commander and his sledgehammer audacity. Indeed, he made his men most famous for 'loco busting', as they put more than six hundred enemy locomotives out of commission–170 in just two days! Ultimately, Righetti’s calculated recklessness ran full speed into the odds. His aircraft was hit while strafing an enemy airfield only four days before the 55th flew its last mission. Almost farcically aggressive to the end, he coaxed his crippled fighter through one more firing pass before making a successful crash landing. Immediately, he radioed his men that he was fine and asked that they reassure his family.Righetti was never heard from again. Vanished Hero tells the story of this remarkable man and the air war that he and his comrades fought, while examining his possible fate.

With 158 victories under his belt and dying in the Egyptian sky on the 30th of September, 1942, aged only 22, Hans-Joachim Marseille became a legend of the World War II aviation. Besides his being an exceptional pilot, he owes his reputation to his unconventionality and aversion to authority, which caused him much trouble with his superiors; his chivalrous attitude, moreover, led him to return to his base with a wounded enemy or a damaged plane on several occasions. This behaviour and his formidable combat skills made him famous in Germany as well as among allied pilots, who both respected and feared him. Having collected testimonies from veterans who experienced Marseille, American authors Colin D. Heaton and Anne-Marie Lewis wrote an extremely well-documented biography that traces the short but intense life of this unique aviator, who entered the Hall of Fame or fighter pilots at only 22 years old.

Operation Tonga began at 22:56 on the night of 5 June, when six Halifax heavy bombers took off from Tarrant Rushton towing six Horsas carrying a coup–de–main force consisting of D Coy, Ox and Bucks LI reinforced with two extra platoons from B Coy and a party of sappers, who were tasked with capturing the bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne. 6th Airborne Division—which included 1st Canadian Para Bn–had been allotted three specific tasks to achieve, apart from protecting the eastern flank of the Allied seaborne landings. First, it was to capture intact the two bridges over the Caen Canal and the Orne River at Benouville and Ranville. Second, the division was to destroy the heavily fortified Merville coastal artillery battery located at Franceville Plage, to ensure that it could not shell the British forces landing on Sword Beach. A third task was to destroy several bridges spanning the River Dives–at Varaville, Robehomme, Bures, and Troarn. The division would then hold the territory that it had seized until it could be relieved by advancing Allied ground forces.

The Backroom Boys is the remarkable, but little known, story of how a varied group of talented intellectuals, drafted into the Australian Army in the dark days of 1942, provided high-level policy advice to Australia’s most senior soldier, General Blamey, and through him to the Government for the remainder of the war and beyond. This band of academics, lawyers and New Guinea patrol officers formed a unique military unit, the Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs, under the command of an eccentric and masterful string-puller, Alf Conlon. Based on wide-ranging research, this book reveals a fuller and more fascinating picture.

In November 1941, about 100 university students began their short-term compulsory military training with the 15th Infantry Battalion. Most were aged 19-22, had daytime jobs and were evening or external students from the arts, commerce and law faculties. They were ambitious, hard-working young men anxious to make their way in the world. Their compulsory military training was due to end on 4 February 1942 and the students would then be released to return to their jobs and continue their part-time studies. The outbreak of the Pacific War on 7 December changed everything. In April 1942, the 15th Battalion was given 24 hours' notice to move from Caloundra toTownsville. In January 1943 the Battalion went to New Guinea to take part in the Salamaua and Lae campaigns and did not return to Brisbane until July 1944. In November it was sent to fight in Bougainville. The Battalion finally returned home in January 1946 and most returned to resume their studies and jobs within the community. This book tells the story of those Queensland University students of `U' Company, 15th Battalion during its brief existence. It covers their wartime service in all its tragedy and triumph and how they resumed their lives, studies and careers once the war was over. Most regard themselves as being very fortunate - to have survived the war, to have learned to cope with adversity, to have learned the importance of getting on with life in spite of insurmountable obstacles and in having been able to make the most of opportunities that arose. They have been fortunate to find a life beyond adversity.

The Australian Imperial Force, first raised in 1914 for overseas war service, became better known by its initials - the "AIF". There was a distinct character to those who enlisted in the earliest months and who were destined to fight on Gallipoli. During the war the AIF took its place among the great armies of the world, on some of history's oldest battlefields. The Australians would attack at the Dardanelles, enter Jerusalem and Damascus, defend Amiens and Ypres, and swagger through the streets of Cairo, Paris, and London, with their distinctive slouch hats and comparative wealth of six shillings per day. However, the legend of the AIF is shrouded in myth and mystery. Was Beersheba the last great cavalry charge in history? Did the AIF storm the red light district of Cairo and burn it to ground while fighting running battles with the military police? Was the AIF the only all-volunteer army of World War I? Graham Wilson's Bully Beef and Balderdash shines an unforgiving light on these and other well-known myths of the AIF in World War I, arguing that these spectacular legends simply serve to diminish the hard-won reputation of the AIF as a fighting force. Graham Wilson mounts his own campaign to rehabilitate the historical reputation of the force and to demonstrate that misleading and inaccurate embellishment does nothing but hide the true story of Australia's World War I fighting army. Bully Beef and Balderdash deliberately tilts at some wellloved windmills and, for those who cherish the mythical story of the AIF, this will not be comfortable reading. Yet, given the extraordinary truth of the AIF's history, it is certainly compelling reading.