Now that the last veterans are gone, the First World War is now a completely historical subject—governed by archaeology and genealogy, battlefield tourism and military history. The anguish and privations are a bit further away, but there is still huge interest in the awful conditions and carnage endured by a generation of youth who sacrificed their lives for their country.“The Old Front Line” is a phrase first coined by the poet John Masefield when he looked back on the battle of the Somme from a distance of just one year, in 1917, and speculated how the Western Front might look in the future. Stephen Bull’s copiously illustrated work—part travel guide, part popular history—a century on, answers his speculations. The main source material is new and contemporary photographs, as well as some from the intervening century. Taken together these provide a series of exciting vistas and informative details that tell the story of the battles and landscapes. Aerial photography, old and new ground shots—and in a few cases even images taken underground—provide an authoritative summary of the war on the Western Front. Following an introduction that sets the scene and looks at the early stages of the war, eight chapters examine the Western Front geographically, looking closely at the main areas of fighting and what is visible today: not just the “iron harvest”—the scars left by trench and battle—but also the cemeteries, war memorials and statues that remind the visitor starkly of the loss of a generation.

Operation Market Garden has been recorded as a complete Allied failure in World War II, an overreach that resulted in an entire airborne division being destroyed at its apex. However, within that operation were episodes of heroism that still remain unsung.On September, 17, 1944, the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, floated down across the Dutch countryside, in the midst of German forces, and proceeded to fight their way to vital bridges to enable the Allied offensive to go forward. The 101st Airborne was behind them; the British 1st Airbourne was far advanced. In the 82nd’s sector the crucial conduits needed to be seized.The Germans knew the importance of the bridge over the Waal River at Nijmegen as well as James Gavin and his 82nd troopers did. Thus began a desperate fight for the Americans to seize it, no matter what the cost. The Germans would not give, however, and fought tenaciously in the town and fortified the bridge. On September 20 Gavin turned his paratroopers into sailors and conducted a deadly daylight amphibious assault in small plywood and canvas craft across the Waal River to secure the north end of the highway bridge in Nijmegen. German machine guns and mortars boiled the water on the crossing, but somehow a number of paratroopers made it to the far bank. Their ferocity thence rolled up the German defenses, and by the end of day the bridge had fallen. This book draws on a plethora of previously unpublished sources to shed new light on the exploits of the “Devils in Baggy Pants” by Dutch author and historian Frank van Lunteren. A native of Arnhem—the site of “The Bridge too Far”—the author draws on nearly 130 interviews he personally conducted with veterans of the 504th, plus Dutch civilians and British and German soldiers, who here tell their story for the first time.

The text part of this book describes technical specifications of the ship and her operational history in detail. This is accompanied by more than 100 color illustrations showing Lutzow's appearance during Operation Rösselsprung, July 1942. Elements that are shown in detail include armament, rangefinders, radar, searchlights, catapult with aircraft, etc. Blueprints in 1:350, 1:200, 1:100 and 1:50 scales (general views and details) are included on a separate sheet. This publication is an invaluable help to any modeler working on this ships' replica.• 80 pages• 140 renders• Gloss coated paper• Format (sizes): A4 (210x297 mm)• Booklet binding

During the Vietnam War, U.S. Army Special Forces A-Teams were deployed to isolated outposts or "camps” in the remote areas of South Vietnam. Their job was to recruit, train, and house members of the indigenous population while molding them into combat-ready fighting units. A-Teams consisted of up to 12 Green Beret soldiers who were experts in both combat and their individual military specialties. The role of the indigenous units, in conjunction with their American advisors, was to provide border security, counter the Viet Cong insurgency in the countryside, provide intelligence on enemy troop-strength and activities, and when necessary engage elements of the invading North Vietnamese Army. Bac Si (the Vietnamese term for “medic”) is the story of Sgt. Jerry Krizan who was assigned to Special Forces Camp A-331 in the III Corps tactical zone, only 10 miles from the Cambodian border. Because of its proximity to a major north-south NVA infiltration route, there were constant enemy troop movements through the camp's area of operations and A-331 itself came under attack on more than one occasion. The author meantime needed to accompany patrols and probes into enemy territory, not only prepared to provide aid but fight as a soldier if the squad was ambushed, or itself chose to attack. In this small-unit warfare against an expert enemy, U.

Ira “Taffy” Jones was a well-known air fighter during the First World War, having scored about 40 victories flying SE5 scouts in France with 74 Squadron. Well known in flying circles, Jones recorded stories drawn from his own experiences during the war and wrote of the many personalities he had met or known by association, both during the war and in the post-war flying years.An Air Fighter’s Scrap Book recreates the atmosphere of the days of the biplane, of wartime flying, of early peacetime adventures in the air, the development of civil aviation, and breathtaking record beating flights, all evoking the sheer delight in flying that characterised those early years.

Although the author has given this Jagdstaffel a fictitious number and changed the names of the pilots composing it, the incidents related in this book have the genuine ring of truth and will be recognised as facts by anyone who has had experience of flying on the Western Front or who has studied it since. Many experts believe this work draws on the experience of the Bavarian Jasta 35, which flew against the British; however, whatever its real number may have been, Jagdstaffel 356 undoubtedly fought in the air over Flanders in 1918.This book is an exciting account, obviously written from firsthand experience, of the air war from the German side.

A.R. Kingsford flew with 100 Squadron, the unit that dropped the first bomb at night on Germany and, on November 11, 1918, the last one. One of the many who came to Europe from all over the Commonwealth to fight in the First World War, Kingsford had sailed from New Zealand in 1914. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and learned to fly at Northolt, before being posted to 33 Squadron at Lincoln, where he flew against Zeppelins which had been sent from across the North Sea on night bombing raids. Kingsford joined 100 Squadron in France early in 1918. He had an active career with this famous squadron up until the end of the war.Full of incident and adventure, Night Raiders of the Air is a first-person account by this young Commonwealth volunteer on his experiences during the war against Germany.

Through their photographic representation, the stories they tell and their actual historical significance, the battlefield relics shown here cast a different light on D-Day and the Battle for Normandy, and extoll the enthusiasm and worthiness of the collectors who preserved them. This important heritage, discovered on the battlefields of a hundred day struggle that spans from June 6, 1944 to the liberation of Paris, the capture of le Havre and the battle for Brest, features many surprising and unexpected artifacts, expressing the sacrifice of civilian victims or the happier times of a long awatied liberation.

The amazing life of Pieter Krueler (1885-1986) provides a window into a full century of conflict such as one man rarely experiences. Four-War Boer traces Krueler’s highly colourful life from the Second Boer War, where he first served as a 14-year-old scout, through his service in World War I with the German army in East Africa, to the Spanish Civil War to World War II, this time with the Allies, and on into the latter part of the 20th century, when he served as a mercenary during the 1960s Congo Crisis. Later, by this time in his eighties, he became a civilian trainer for the original Selous Scouts of Rhodesia, and later still a trainer for South African commandos. This biography of a most remarkable man and warrior is based on six years of historical research through hard-to-find secondary and published primary sources as well as extensive interviews with Krueler himself. Interviews with German officers and others who knew and worked with Krueler amply document the biography, adding first-person testimony and giving the work the immediacy of a memoir. Following the Boer defeat by the British, sided with the Germans during the East African Campaign. He also operated in the Belgian Congo where he led native African soldiers on extremely dangerous missions. After WWI, Krueler’s distrust of both the rising Fascist and Communist movements in Europe led him to volunteer as a mercenary during the Spanish Civil War, where he worked with the Pyrenees Basque movement. In World War II, he worked as a reserve officer instructor, and later as a coast watcher to guard the coast of South Africa from German incursion. Krueler later served as a mercenary with Michael Hoare during the 1960s Congo Crisis, before serving South Africa to train commandos. A chapter of this book is devoted to the formation of Rhodesia’s highly elite Selous Scouts, along with highlights of several previously classified missions. This material includes a wealth of fascinating new information, and breaks the great secrecy surrounding Rhodesian and South African special operations, as unveiled through the experience of a man who was a founding father of counterinsurgency in Africa.

The Red Ball Express is the nickname given by the Americans to the supply route established between the landing beaches and the frontline, first in the Cotentin in Normandy and then throughout France.While awaiting final repairs to the rail network, the road was the only way to supply the 28 Allied divisions each in need of 750 tons of supplies each day, for a total of 12,500 tons daily.Red Ball Express describes accurately all the logistical means implemented by the U. S. Army Liberty ships to the railway through the floating ports and GMC trucks.This book is the first substantial book devoted to American logistical effort during the Second World War, offering detailed descriptions of logistical methods, tactics, techniques and more.THIS BOOK IS IN ENGLISH.

This book presents an impressive inventory of the gigantic efforts employed by the workshops of the Allies to defeat the Oppressor. Each GI was backed by 12 tons of equipment ; for every infantryman, sailor or airman in action in the Battle of Normandy and later in the Battle for France, 10 soldiers were in support behind, to ensure they obtained their objectives with minimum risk speed and maximum ease. These were the troops of American, British and Canadian War Effort, (behind-the-lines), whose logistic support, made possible the Allied Victory of 1945. Not forgotten are the civilians on war-work, 65 million men and women, united in the vast industrial enterprise who together forged the tools of victory.

That they were unique or on the contrary produced in millions of copies, hundred objects presented within the framework of this work have this in common that they form the weft of one Major episode of the Second World War, the Battle of Normandy. If all the objects selected in these pages turn out "unknown persons", none is nevertheless harmless.

With about 100 panoramic photos, Christophe Daguet offers us a timeless postcard of Normandy of the D-DAY and invites you in a real journey in the landscapes of the Landing. The book is completed by an internet version which will allow you to reach sequences videos realized by the author, the comments in foreign languages, virtual visits 360°of the main sites and museums, and practical information.

Made famous by her final commanding officer, John F. Kennedy, PT-109 is one of the most celebrated warships in American history. However, a full chronicle of PT-109’s wartime story has heretofore been lacking. Behind the familiar account of the future president and the boat’s violent demise is the little-known record under two previous officers during the swirling battles around Guadalcanal.In these mainly nocturnal fights, when the Japanese navy was at its apex, America’s small, fast-boat flotillas would sally out to probe enemy strength, vying with enemy destroyers, who were similarly roaming the waters and able to blast a PT-boat out of the water if main armament could be brought to bear. It was constant hit-and-run and dodging between searchlights across Iron Bottom Sound, as the PT-boats darted in among the enemy fleet, like a “barroom brawl with the lights turned out.”Bryant Larson and Rollin Westholm preceded Kennedy as commanders of PT-109, and their fights with the brave ship and its crew hold second to none in the chronicles of US Navy daring. As the battles moved on across the Pacific the PT-boat flotillas gained confidence, even as the Japanese, too, learned lessons in how to destroy them.Under its third and final commander, Kennedy, PT-109 came a cropper as a Japanese destroyer suddenly emerged from a dark mist and rammed it in half. Two crewmen were killed immediately but Kennedy, formerly on the swim team at Harvard, was able to shepherd his wounded and others to refuge. His unsurpassed gallantry can not resist retelling, yet the courage of the book’s previous commanders have not till now seen the light of day.This book provides the complete record of PT-109 in the Pacific, as well as a valuable glimpse of how the American Navy’s daring and initiative found its full playing field in World War II.

The text part of this book describes history of the ship's construction and service. This is accompanied by more than 100 color illustrations showing USS Massachusetts' appearance towards the end of her service in the Pacific, 1945. Elements that are shown in detail include superstructures, armament, fire control instruments, aircraft, boats, equipment, rig, etc. Blueprints in 1:350, 1:200, 1:100 and 1:50 scales (general views and details) are included on a separate sheet. The publication is a great reference for building a detailed model of USS Massachusetts.• 80 pages• 80 drawings• 146 renders• Gloss coated paper• Format (sizes): A4 (210x297 mm)• Booklet binding

The Dam Buster raid, Operation Chastise, has gone down in history as one of the greatest feats of arms executed by the Royal Air Force. Extraordinary demands were placed upon the airmen who took part in the raid, one of whom was the particularly accomplished young pilot Henry Maudslay. Henry, educated at Eton, was well-regarded and respected by contemporaries and Masters alike. He left school in 1940 and volunteered immediately for the RAF, becoming part of a generation for who transition into adulthood would, again, be cast in the heat of battle.Henry flew his first operational tour with No. 44 Squadron on Handley Page Hampdens, following which his experiences and skills were utilized during service trials for the new Avro Lancaster. Henry joined No. 50 Squadron at the start of 1943 for a second tour and in March 1943 he was selected to join a new squadron, No. 617, then forming at RAF Scampton. Henry Maudslay attacked the Eder Dam on the night of 16/17 May 1943. After a number of attempts, he released his weapon which struck the parapet and detonated on impact almost immediately behind the aircraft. Contrary to contemporary reports the aircraft survived, and set course for home, only to be brought down near the Rhine with the loss of all its crew. Combining material from family, school and official archives, together with personal letters and recollections from those who knew him, Robert Owen, Official Historian of the No. 617 Squadron Association, describes in detail the family background, school life and extraordinary flying career of this young and enigmatic airman.