The Shelf2Life WWI Memoirs Collection is an engaging set of pre-1923 materials that describe life during the Great War through memoirs, letters and diaries. Poignant personal narratives from soldiers, doctors and nurses on the front lines to munitions workers and land girls on the home front, offer invaluable insight into the sacrifices men and women made for their country. Photographs and illustrations intensify stories of struggle and survival from the trenches, hospitals, prison camps and battlefields. The WWI Memoirs Collection captures the pride and fear of the war as experienced by combatants and non-combatants alike and provides historians, researchers and students extensive perspective on individual emotional responses to the war.

Thanks for the Memories destroys the historical myth that young men and women went about the business of war and stayed on the straight and narrow path. Rather, World War II provided new opportunities for sexual experimentation, for hasty marriages, for flourishing prostitution-and for love connections that have stood the test of time. Young men in the military, far away from family and home, did things they might never have done. Young women, many of whom went to work for the first time, experienced a freedom and independence most women had never known. Because of the war, courtships were cut short, couples married more quickly than normal, and husbands and wives were often separated for several years. Despite attempts to get back to normal after the war and the apparent togetherness of the 1950s, World War II had set change in motion, heralding the second wave of the women's liberation movement. The collective consciousness of World War II revolved around the virtues of bravery, sacrifice, and commitment. Members of The Greatest Generation toed political and social lines in hopes of winning the war. They fell into lockstep, asking very few questions, and breaking few social and sexual mores. Or did they? In fact, World War II was-like all wars-a time of sexual experimentation and a general loosening of morals. It was a time of conflicting emotions and conflicting messages, a time of great sacrifice, and a time of discovery, when some groups, especially woman, experienced a relaxing of bonds that had kept them in check. Thanks For The Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II the true story of how the World War II generation responded to the passions of war, and how those passions changed their lives-and the relationships between the sexes-forever. But this book is more than that. As Jane Mersky Leder writes, Thanks for the Memories opens the hearts and memories of a generation that is dying, by one estimate, at the rate of more than 1,000 a day. It exposes the sexual and romantic escapades of The Greatest Generation and underscores how those four war years revolutionized relationships (including those between gays), and how it helped set the stage for the second wave of the women's liberation movement. Many who never thought their stories mattered, Leder writes, now feel the pull of limited time, and the importance of leaving an accurate account for their children and grandchildren of what it was like to be a young man or young woman during World War II. This is their collective story.

After the Union regained control of the Mississippi River in the summer of 1863, President Lincoln ordered the commander of the Department of the Gulf, Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, to "Plant the Flag in Texas." To assist in this endeavor, the XIII Corps was transferred to Banks' department. This brought Private William A. McMillan of the 67th Indiana to Louisiana. McMillan's diary, which covers the period from late December 1863 through the end of 1864, describes his participation in the occupation of the coast of Texas, the Red River Campaign, the capture of the forts guarding the entrance to Mobile Bay, and actions in Louisiana and Arkansas.

Did Hitler mean to pursue global conquest once he had completed his mastery of Europe? In this startling reassessment of Hitler's strategic aims, Duffy argues that he fully intended to bring the war to America once his ambitions in the Eurasian heartland were achieved. Detailed here for the first time are the Third Reich's plans for a projected series of worldwide offensives using the new secret weapons emerging from wartime research. Duffy also recounts other Axis schemes to attack American cities through the use of multi-stage missiles, submarine launched rockets, and suicide missions against ships in the New York harbor. Taken together, these plans reveal just how determined the Axis powers were to attack the United States. Whether German forces could actually reach America has been long debated. What is certain is that Wehrmacht planners explored various options. In 1942 a secret plan was submitted to Hermann Goring for the use of long-range bombers against targets across the globe. The scheme, prepared by a select group within the Luftwaffe, is believed to be the result of direct discussions with Hitler. Long rumored to exist, this document was recently discovered in the military archives in Freiburg. This account provides the first detailed analysis of the plan and places it in the context of Germany's global war objectives.

First published in 1929, it is now available as a brand new book. The story is an account of the lives of ordinary soldiers. The central character, Bourne is an enigmatic character and Manning tells his own wartime experiences through him. It is forcibly written, too forcibly for the sensibilities of the time, and a censored version was produced in 1930 under the title 'Her Privates We'.

VIETNAM SUMMARY 2003 MESSAGE The soldier is a warrior and must live by a code. A sentry for America who stands between slavery and freedom for his family and love ones. Soldiers kill people and soldiers get killed. They die for their country. In reality they fight for each other. They train day and night for months and years. Soldiers honor, serve and obey America and hold her above all others. Can I rationalize a war where 60% to 70% of the casualties were civilians? Did those children, women and old people have too die? Why? There is no glamour or honor in war. "I love thee dear so much love I not honor more " Open the gates and fools rush in- "Once a Fool. " America the beautiful from sea to shining sea. The movies make war look so glorious and when your first friend is killed you know it was all a lie. After you get over the initial shock, you're torn between elation and guilt. Elation because it wasn't you who was killed and guilt for even thinking that way. All any man wants is to leave this world with a little dignity, believing that some how he made a difference. Just maybe this is a better place because he was a visitor here for a brief period. He hopes to be remembered for the good deeds and forgotten for the embarrassing moments when expectations were not met. However, one is remembered as a whole being, good and bad. You come into this world in less than a spectacular way, more often through pain. No clothes, crying, smacked on the bottom, complaining and very helpless. Many of us leave this world in the same way, minus the smacked bottom. A few Americans refused service induction and paid a price. Other Americans went to Vietnam and paid a greater price. Did over 58,000 Americans have too die in Vietnam? We who made it home must speak for them by making a contribution, a difference. I became a school teacher to affect the way young people think. If we are to survive, our leaders can not make the same historical mistakes. I hope the Vietnam people will someday forgive me. If I am to turn the page of my life and live; I must forgive all those who have trespassed against me. There will be a time when I can forgive the United States Government from President Kennedy to Henry Kissinger for sending American soldiers to Vietnam. Yes, I am over fifty now, I must forgive and forget the Vietnam experience so I can move on with my life. A soldier should not feel sorry for himself. No one cares; he is alone in his world. Soldiers were in Vietnam completing service obligations while their friends were getting married and finishing college. People in the United States were moving on with their lives. Many soldiers came home sick and or wounded to a hostile environment and difficult times. As they healed, trying to adjust to civilian life, the student demonstrations and war protest continued. There were few job offers, only cries of baby killers and war losers. Today, many Vietnam soldiers are here in body but they never made it back. Everyone who served in that war died a little and if you weren't there you will never understand. The country has changed forever. Hopefully, we have all changed for the better. We as a people will never be the same again. There will be a time I can forgive everyone and forgive myself so I can come to closure, but not today.

The powerful impact of World War II continues to thunder through the postwar decades. Memoirs and analyses of this turning point in world history continue to gain popularity. Now comes "Blueberry Pie" by Otis Pease, war veteran and retired history professor.

With humor and a deft touch, Pease discusses his war in the context of historians' ongoing debates: Did WWII GIs fight mainly for "blueberry pie" as John Hersey concluded-for the chance to resume their American dreams? Or did they have a broader vision of their military mission? Pease argues that the motivations and attitudes of young U.S. soldiers and sailors were much more complex than could be explained by "blueberry pie." In analyzing the question, Pease examines an extensive wartime survey of soldiers headed by sociologist Samuel Stouffer. "Blueberry Pie" also features diary excerpts and letters home from other WWII veterans.

Pease concludes his comments about "the war that changed America" by discussing the impact of what Harvard Professor Robert Putnam calls "the long civic generation" on post-war America and, with the help of the GI Bill, on its educational institutions.

Included in "Blueberry Pie" is Pease's own WWII diary, beginning with basic training and ending with his post-war journey home from Europe aboard a Victory ship. Recording his WWII career proved crucial to Pease in making sense of his memory of the war. For the reader of "Blueberry Pie," the details of the diary vivify the compelling military experience of a young man on the cusp of college and adulthood.

For several decades, Italian-born Domenico Forte worked hard in America with the hopes of bringing his family with him. It was a slow process punctuated by two world wars. Domenico survived the first war, but World War II found him in America while his family was trapped in some of the most ferocious fighting of the Italian campaign.

The Forte family eked out an existence on a farm just outside of Pico, a village in central Italy in the foothills of the Aurunci Mountains. The mountains' towering presence, coupled with a nearby labyrinth of strong rivers, became the setting for some of the most brutal combat of WWII. With a population of about 3,000, Pico became the linchpin of the German defenses; its fleeting military importance quickly brought the scourge of battle upon its citizenry. The Forte family was caught in the middle.

"Promises to Keep" chronicles the war in Pico from two perspectives. It examines the military backdrop against which the taking of Pico occurred, and discusses the military celebrities in command at the time of the siege. But more than that, it shows how the brutal reality of war affected the population of Pico.

Drawing together a wide variety of primary source documents from across the United States, Europe, and Asia, this book illuminates the events and experiences of World War II-the most devastating war in human history. World War II was the most destructive and disruptive war ever, a global conflict that in one way or another affected the lives of people across the planet. Voices of World War II: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life coalesces a wide variety of primary source documents drawn from across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Supplemented by interpretive material that enables readers to analyze them, assess their impact and significance, and place them in context to comparable situations today, the documents provide rare insights into World War II. Expert commentaries and additional information on these texts enable a greater understanding of the background to these documents, providing valuable training in learning to interpret, assess, and evaluate historical sources. Intended primarily for upper-level high school and undergraduate-level history students, general readers will also appreciate the variegated array of primary material from World War II, which depicts numerous aspects of the conflict, often in extremely personal terms. A chronology lists all major events of World War II A bibliography provides an up-do-date selection of basic books, Internet sources, and movies and television series on World War II A glossary defines key World War II terms and phrases Extensive commentary, contextual information, and guiding questions accompany each document

This lyrical memoir offers a fresh look inside the trauma of war and captivity during the First World War, with resonance for today's world.Georges Connes was a young literature graduate when he was drafted and served in the infamous and bloody battle of Verdun. A survivor, he was captured by the Germans in June 1916 and became a prisoner of war until his repatriation in January 1919. In the Second World War, he was active in the French Resistance, was arrested and detained, and ultimately went into hiding. After the war, he served as the interim mayor of Dijon before returning to his academic life as a professor of British and American literature.Connes referred to his time as a POW as 'The Other Ordeal', recognizing that the most important suffering continued for those who had to endure the 'firing, blood and mud' of war. Connes focuses on the human aspects of war, which are all too easy to forget in the age of mass media. He passionately argues against the predominant black and white view of 'us versus them' to unearth the complexities of war. Rather than demonizing his German captors, for example, he describes individual examples of gratuitous acts of kindness.Connes offers a pacifist, internationalist perspective on war. A survivor of two of the greatest conflicts in modern history, Connes remained optimistic about humanity. This voice of hope provides insight not only into the First World War but into the contemporary world.

Two accounts of men of the Legion during the First World War
The French Foreign Legion has earned its reputation in acts of heroism and aggression, in tenacious actions of resistance and in the spilling of much blood. It has always been recognised as a home for the dispossessed, criminals and soldiers of fortune, so among its ranks could be found hard men from a multitude of backgrounds and numerous nations. The Legion has been typified by the fierce loyalty of its men, its esprit de corps and its undying allegiance to the nation which had taken them under its protection. France has, however, always exacted a high price for its patronage. The Legion has habitually been asked to demonstrate that it is equal to its laurels and it has constantly been placed in the 'post of honour'-that bloody ground where the fighting is hardest and death more certain. In the warfare of the Western Front during the Great War that likelihood of annihilation was multiplied by the lethal nature of the battleground and losses were horrendous for Legion regiments-sometimes as high as one man killed out of three or four engaged. Yet still men flocked to the Legion's ranks. This book offers accounts of the experiences of two such men as they fought for the cause of France in the trenches. Each piece is comparatively short so they have been joined together in this special Leonaur good value edition.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

The German Navy - known as the Kriegsmarine - played a crucial role during World War II in disrupting Allied shipping, especially in the early years, when Britain stood alone against Nazi aggression following the fall of France. Broken down by campaign and key encounters within each theatre of war, German Kriegsmarine in World War II illustrates the strengths and organizational structures of the Third Reich's naval forces, building into a detailed compendium of information. Full-colour order of battle tree diagrams at fleet and flotilla level help the reader quickly understand how and where the ships and U-boats of the German Navy were employed at any given time between 1939 and 1945. Reference tables provide fleet strengths while organizational diagrams show the types and numbers of ships involved in specific operations, such as the U-Boat wolfpacks that hunted Allied merchant shipping in the North Atlantic and the invasion fleet used for the assault on Crete. With extensive organizational diagrams and full-colour operations maps, German Kriegsmarine in World War II is an easy-to-use guide to German naval forces. The book is an essential reference for anyone with a serious interest in the naval warfare of World War II.

Promoted as a means for rectifying the problems of a region in extreme need, the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission (AACC) only exposed and exacerbated the underlying antagonisms between Britain and the United States over the economic and political structure of the post-war world. This study places the AACC, formed in 1942, within the context of the Anglo-American wartime special relationship, and examines the political, economic, and security motives at the heart of this unique and little-known collaboration. It exposes the determination of the United States to use exigencies of war to impose its post-war plans upon Britain, and the tenacity of the British to defend even the smallest and least regarded of its possessions regardless of local and international opposition.

The AACC was a battleground of conflicting British and American visions of a new West Indies, and it would thus serve as a rehearsal for key debates that would emerge at the end of the war. For the United States, the AACC was a vehicle for promoting America's broad postwar ambitions in the West Indies; for Britain, it was simply part of the price that had to be paid for American assistance in the war effort. Debates within the AACC over the future of West Indian sugar, the regulation of tariffs and trade, constitutional reform and the expansion of civil aviation mirrored wider British and American differences.

This volume contains Kipling's collected of essays, poems, theories, and reminisciences on sea warfare, from submarines to destroyers, with the personal and philosophical touches that mark all of his best works. Includes "The Fringes of the Fleet," "Tales of 'the Trade'," and "Destroyers at Jutland."

On His Majesty's Secret Service
The Duke of Wellington famously said that the art of war was discovering what you don't know by what you do-guessing what was on the other side of the hill. The best way to know what was over that hill was to send someone to look for you. The duke was no stranger to scouts, spies and intelligence officers and knew their value. As important as the spying itself was the need to stop enemy agents employed in the same work. By the later 19th century the means by which intelligence work could be undertaken was as a result of developments in communication, transport and technology in all its forms becoming more sophisticated. Countermeasures likewise became more difficult and complex. The decision made by many governments was to formalise the operations of espionage and counterespionage agents into dedicated services. This book, by a member of the British Secret Service, offers an essential insight into intelligence activities during the Great War. The narrative includes the riveting personal experiences and anecdotes of other agents, touches upon the methods used including codes and locating minelayers, and gives an overview of the secret service organisations operating at that time; it concludes with an examination of the 'Casement Affair.' For those interested in the world of the proto-Bond against Imperial Germany this is a highly entertaining read.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

World War II is one of the first conflicts to be extensively recorded in detail by both combatants and journalists, and many iconic photos of the fighting and battlefields have been passed down to us today. But how do these battlefields look now, following the extensive rebuilding of the postwar era? Featuring 75 battlefield sites divided by wartime theatre, World War II Battlefields allows the reader to explore well-known battle locations today and compare them to images captured during the height of the conflict. Examine the huge concrete bunker at Fort Eben Emael, Belgium, captured by German glider troops in May 1940 and still intact today; see the beaches at Tarawa atoll, a scene of fierce fighting between the US Marines and the Japanese defenders in 1943; or the streets of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the centre of a bloody battle between the II SS Panzer Korps and the Red Army; explore the Norman village of Villers-Bocage, where a few German Tiger tanks halted the advance of the British 7th Armoured Division a week after the D-Day landings; see the twin-medieval towers of the bridge at Remagen on the Rhine river, made famous in photos and movies; see the dozens of Japanese ships sunk in Truk Lagoon following comprehensive American air attacks, and today a popular dive site; and examine Monte Cassino monastery in Italy, destroyed by Allied aerial bombing and since completely rebuilt as a place of pilgrimage.

An account of two of the great battles of the Civil War
The author of this book was present at-indeed he was literally the target of-the firing of the first hostile shots of the American Civil War. As a regular U. S. Army officer of artillery he was stationed at Forts Moultrie and Sumter as the political disputes between the Northern and Southern states exploded into armed conflict. He has left us, in another book, a memorable account from the sharp end of those momentous events which is also available from Leonaur. Doubleday was in an ideal position to view the events described in this book. He knew President Lincoln and leading members of the government, but also as a career soldier he personally knew the principal military figures on both sides of battlefield. Doubleday has written an absorbing account of the campaign from a position of authority and experience which is an essential source work for anyone interested in the period. Available in soft cover and cloth bound hard cover with dust jacket, head and tail bands and gold foil embossed spine lettering.

What was the role played by local police volunteers in the Holocaust? Using eye witness descriptions from the towns and villages of Belorussia and Ukraine, this text reveals local policemen as hands on collaborators of the Nazis. They brutally drove Jewish neighbours from their homes and guarded them closely on the way to their deaths. Some distinguished themselves as ruthless murderers. Outnumbering German police manpower in these areas, the local police were the foot soldiers of the Holocaust in the east.

This book is the first full-length study of the museum object as a memory medium in history exhibitions about the Nazi era, the Second World War, and the Holocaust. Over recent decades, German and Austrian exhibition-makers have engaged in significant programmes of object collection, often in collaboration with witnesses and descendants. At the same time, exhibition-makers have come to recognise the degree to which the National Socialist era was experienced materially, through the loss, acquisition, imposition, destruction, and re-purposing of objects. In the decades after 1945, encounters with material culture from the Nazi past continued, both within the family and in the public sphere. In analysing how these material engagements are explored in the museum, the book not only illuminates a key aspect of German and Austrian cultural memory but contributes to wider debates about relationships between the human and object worlds.