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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > War & defence operations > Battles & campaigns
A pilot's account of the war in the air
Books on the war in the air above the fields, broken landscapes and
trenches of France and Belgium in the First World War are not
numerous. Those written by pilots who experienced war in the air
during the infancy of aviation are fewer still. In the early years
of the 20th century the first clumsy attempts at mastering the
skies was followed quickly by the necessity, on the part of armies
and navies, to find individuals with the ability to learn the
skills and tactics of fighting in three dimensions. Those whose
learning failed them paid a price rarely expected of young
students. This book was written by a young American volunteer
during wartime. He informs his readers from the outset that he has
a poor opinion of his own abilities and of the contribution he
believes he can make, though this is difficult to understand for
those who have never taken the air to fight in a primitive flying
machine-without a parachute. Molter was one of those remarkable
young men, irrespective of his own opinion of himself, who elected
to volunteer to fight for France before America had entered the
war. He gives us an insightful account of flying combat missions
from the sharp end and no one who has an interest in the subject
will be disappointed with his story.
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.
Witnessing the Holocaust presents the autobiographical writings,
including diaries and autobiographical fiction, of six Holocaust
survivors who lived through and chronicled the Nazi genocide.
Drawing extensively on the works of Victor Klemperer, Ruth Kluger,
Michal Glowinski, Primo Levi, Imre Kertesz and Bela Zsolt, this
books conveys, with vivid detail, the persecution of the Jews from
the beginning of the Third Reich until its very end. It gives us a
sense both of what the Holocaust meant to the wider community swept
up in the horrors and what it was like for the individual to
weather one of the most shocking events in history. Survivors and
witnesses disappear, and history, not memory, becomes the
instrument for recalling the past. Judith M. Hughes secures a place
for narratives by those who experienced the Holocaust in person.
This compelling text is a vital read for all students of the
Holocaust and Holocaust memory.
Represents one of the earliest efforts to chronicle Marine Corps
operations in Iraq between 2004-2005. Commissioned and written
while U.S. forces were still engaged in combat operations in Iraq.
Contains maps to help orientate and familiarize readers to Iraq,
al-Anbar Province, and the two battles for Fallujah. Contains
photographs of commanders, combat operations, equipment, and
civil-military operations.
During a government career that spanned nearly the whole of the
Cold War, George R. Lindsey gained a reputation as a leading
defence scientist and military strategist for Canada's Defence
Research Board. His research and writing played a vital role in
shaping Canadian policy in air defence, anti-submarine warfare, the
militarization of space, and other areas of crucial concern in the
nuclear age. The Selected Works of George R. Lindsey provides full
access to a wealth of previously classified historical material
regarding the scientific and technical aspects of Canadian defence
and national security in the Cold War. Insightful and eye-opening,
Lindsey's writings shed light not only on one of Canada's most
influential civil servants of the Cold War era, but on the
strategies, priorities, and inner workings of the Canadian defence
establishment during an active and politically volatile period in
world affairs.
Dissects the politics of commemoration of soldiers, veterans, and
relatives from WWI The United States lost thousands of troops
during World War I, and the government gave next-of-kin a choice
about what to do with their fallen loved ones: ship them home for
burial or leave them permanently in Europe, in makeshift graves
that would be eventually transformed into cemeteries in France,
Belgium, and England. World War I marked the first war in which the
United States government and military took full responsibility for
the identification, burial, and memorialization of those killed in
battle, and as a result, the process of burying and remembering the
dead became intensely political. The government and military
attempted to create a patriotic consensus on the historical memory
of World War I in which war dead were not only honored but used as
a symbol to legitimize America's participation in a war not fully
supported by all citizens. The saga of American soldiers killed in
World War I and the efforts of the living to honor them is a
neglected component of United States military history, and in this
fascinating yet often macabre account, Lisa M. Budreau unpacks the
politics and processes of the competing interest groups involved in
the three core components of commemoration: repatriation,
remembrance, and return. She also describes how relatives of the
fallen made pilgrimages to French battlefields, attended largely by
American Legionnaires and the Gold Star Mothers, a group formed by
mothers of sons killed in World War I, which exists to this day.
Throughout, and with sensitivity to issues of race and gender,
Bodies of War emphasizes the inherent tensions in the politics of
memorialization and explores how those interests often conflicted
with the needs of veterans and relatives.
In May 1945, as World War II drew to a close in Europe, some 30,000
Russian Cossacks surrendered to British forces in Austria,
believing they would be spared repatriation to the Soviet Union.
The fate of those among them who were Soviet citizens had been
sealed by the Yalta Agreement, signed by the Allied leaders a few
months earlier. Ever since, mystery has surrounded Britain's
decision to include among those returned to Stalin a substantial
number of White Russians, who had fled their country after the
Russian Revolution of 1917 and found refuge in various European
countries. They had never been Soviet citizens, and should not have
been handed over. Some were prominent tsarist generals, on whose
handover the Soviets were particularly insistent. General Charles
Keightley, the responsible British officer, concealed the presence
of White Russians from his superiors, who had issued repeated
orders stipulating that only Soviet nationals should be handed
over, and even then only if they did not resist. Through a
succession underhanded moves, Keightley secretly delivered up the
leading Cossack commanders to the Soviets, while force of
unparalleled brutality was employed to hand over thousands of
Cossack men, women, and children to a ghastly fate. Particularly
sinister was the role of the future British Prime Minister Harold
Macmillan, whose own machinations are scrutinized here. Following
the publication of Count Nikolai Tolstoy's last book on the subject
in 1986, the British government closed ranks, and three years later
an English court issued a GBP1,500,000 judgment against him for
allegedly libeling the British chief of staff who issued the fatal
orders. Since then, however, Count Tolstoy has gradually acquired a
devastating body of heretofore unrevealed evidence filling the
remaining gaps in this tragic history. Much of this material
derives from long-sealed Soviet archives, to which Tolstoy received
access by a special decree from the late Russian President Boris
Yeltsin. What really happened during these murky events is now
revealed for the first time.
This title presents new research highlighting the invention of new
weaponry and its front-line combat use. No army went to war in 1914
ready to conduct trench warfare operations. All the armies of the
First World War discovered that prolonged trench warfare required
new types of munitions alongside the conventional howitzers,
large-calibre guns and explosive shells. This volume examines how
the British went about inventing and manufacturing new weaponry
such as hand grenades, rifle grenades and trench mortars when no
body of knowledge about trench warfare munitions existed. It also
examines how tactics were developed for these new munitions. Based
on new research, this is the first book to discuss the complexity
of invention and manufacture of novel weapons such as the Mills
grenade and the Stokes mortar, and to consider the relationship
between technical design and operational tactics on the ground. In
so doing the book presents a different model of the trench warfare
conducted by the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front,
and also provides a blueprint to understanding the relationship
between technology and tactics applicable to all types of weapons
and warfare. "Continuum Studies in Military History" offers
up-to-date, scholarly accounts of war and military history.
Unrestricted by period or geography, the series aims to provide
free-standing works that are attuned to conceptual and
historiographical developments in the field while being based on
original scholarship.
"Damn you Rolly, you succeeded in taking me back to Vinh Long and
Advisory Team 68, after a more than 40 year absence. I thank you
for honoring all who served, but especially patriots like Bob Olson
and Walt Gutowski, Army guys... that I knew well. They were great
men whose spirit and professionalism you captured well. I highly
recommend the book..." Mike Paluda, Michigan COLONEL, USA, RET.
"Rolly Kidder has delivered a brilliant chronicle of the Vietnam
conflict with which many may not be familiar. Forty years later, he
revisits Vietnam and tracks down the families of three men who had
been killed... Kidder's recounting of his visits with the families
of the three servicemen is a poignant reminder of the continuing
grief and pride extant amongst many and is a fitting memorial to
the Army and Riverine heroes and an honor to those who mourn them."
Captain, M.B. Connolly, USN (retired) COMMANDER, RIVER ASSAULT
DIVISION 132 RIVER ASSAULT SQUADRON 13, 1969-70
France, 1940. The once glittering boulevards of Paris teem with
spies, collaborators, and the Gestapo now that France has fallen to
Hitler's Wermacht. For Andre Breton, Max Ernst, Marc Chagall,
Consuelo de Saint-Exupery, and scores of other cultural elite who
have been denounced as enemies of the Third Reich the fear of
imminent arrest, deportation, and death defines their daily life.
Their only salvation is the Villa Air-Bel, a chateau outside
Marseille where a group of young people will go to extraordinary
lengths to keep them alive.
A powerfully told, meticulously researched true story filled
with suspense, drama, and intrigue, "Villa Air-Bel" delves into a
fascinating albeit hidden saga in our recent history. It is a
remarkable account of how a diverse intelligentsia--intense,
brilliant, and utterly terrified--was able to survive one of the
darkest chapters of the twentieth century.
An American journalist with the German Army
Until the United States of America came into the First World War
on the side of the Allies in 1917, it was a neutral nation
considered, in theory at least, to have no interest in the outcome
of the war. This enabled American journalists to visit both sides
of the battle lines and this in turn enabled the author of this
book, Edward Lyell Fox, to gain access to the German war effort in
considerable depth and detail. Accounts of the Great War from the
German perspective are not common in the English language and so
this book provides interesting insights from a neutral viewpoint.
Fox visited the Western Front and was present as the conflict at
Ypres broke out. He also accompanied the German Army through the
Flanders campaign and later visited the Russian Front with German
forces. He was an eyewitness at the Battle of Augustowo Wald in
East Prussia-an overwhelming German victory. Fox concludes his book
with an account of the work of the American Red Cross on the battle
front. This is an interesting book for students who seek both a
different view of the conflict and an examination of less familiar
battles fronts.
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.
What were the consequences of the German occupation for the economy
of occupied Europe? After Germany conquered major parts of the
European continent, it was faced with a choice between plundering
the suppressed countries and using their economies to produce what
it needed. The decision made not only differed from country to
country but also changed over the course of the war. Individual
leaders; the economic needs of the Reich; the military situation;
struggles between governors of occupied countries and Berlin
officials, and finally racism all had an impact on the outcome. In
the end, in Western Europe and the Czech Protectorate, emphasis was
placed on production for German warfare, which kept these economies
functioning. New research, presented for the first time in this
book, shows that as a consequence the economic setback in these
areas was limited, and therefore post-war recovery was relatively
easy. However, plundering was characteristic in Eastern Europe and
the Balkans, resulting in partisan activity, a collapse of normal
society and a dramatic destruction not only of the economy but in
some countries of a substantial proportion of the labour force. In
these countries, post-war recovery was almost impossible.
This poignant history of the Tuskegee Airmen separates myth and
legend from fact, placing them within the context of the growth of
American airpower and the early stirrings of the African American
Civil Rights Movement. The "Tuskegee Airmen"-the first African
American pilots to serve in the U.S. military-were comprised of the
99th Fighter Squadron, the 332nd Fighter Group, and the 477th
Bombardment Group, all of whose members received their initial
training at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama. Their successful
service during World War II helped end military segregation, which
was an important step in ending Jim Crow laws in civilian society.
This volume in Greenwood's Landmarks of the American Mosaic series
depicts the Tuskegee Airmen at the junction of two historical
trends: the growth of airpower and its concurrent development as a
critical factor in the American military, and the early stirring of
the Civil Rights Movement. Tuskegee Airmen explains how the United
States's involvement in battling foes that represented a threat to
the American way of life helped to push the administration of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt to allow African American soldiers
to serve in the Army Air Corps. This work builds on the works of
others, forming a synthesis from earlier studies that approached
the topic mostly from either a "black struggles" or military
history perspective. 16 original documents relating to the creation
and performance of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, each
accompanied by a brief description that provides historical context
28 short biographies of black aviation and military pioneers,
important people among the Tuskegee Airmen, as well as several of
the Airmen themselves A comprehensive bibliographic description of
major secondary works on the Tuskegee Airmen, World War II,
airpower, and black participation in the American military A
glossary of specialized terms pertaining to the military, aviation,
World War II, and African Americans
The quantity of journalism produced during World War I was unlike
anything the then-budding mass media had ever seen. Correspondents
at the front were dispatching voluminous reports on a daily basis,
and though much of it was subject to censorship, it all eventually
became available. It remains the most extraordinary firsthand look
at the war that we have. Published immediately after the cessation
of hostilities and compiled from those original journalistic
sources-American, British, French, German, and others-this is an
astonishing contemporary perspective on the Great War. This replica
of the first 1919 edition includes all the original maps, photos,
and illustrations, lending an even greater immediacy to readers a
century later. Volume V covers March 1918 through September 1918 on
the Western Front, from the American "invasion" of France to the
first German bid for peace. American journalist and historian
FRANCIS WHITING HALSEY (1851-1919) was literary editor of The New
York Times from 1892 through 1896. He wrote and lectured
extensively on history; his works include, as editor, the
two-volume Great Epochs in American History Described by Famous
Writers, From Columbus to Roosevelt (1912), and, as writer, the
10-volume Seeing Europe with Famous Authors (1914).
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