Col. Wesley Fox is a Medal of Honor recipient who wrote two widely-admired accounts of his wartime experiences in the Marine Corps. His Marine Rifleman: Forty-Three Years in the Corps and Courage and Fear: A Primer are considered classic war memoirs. Drawing on his long experience of being a leader, Fox presents the six essential elements of leadership that all good leaders employ to build successful organizations able to cope with any challenge because they are truly built on loyalty and trust. Impressed by the manner and methods of his most effective fellow Marines to guide and direct, Fox defines leadership is defined as having a strong focus on the strengths of comradeship and its core importance to all individuals and organizations. In his view, managers are concerned with the bottom line and making a profit, while leaders are concerned with their followers, their health, happiness, and daily lives. Recognition of the sources of leaders is addressed and followed with a discussion of the principles of leadership and the historical traits of a leader. The book covers the essential elements of leadership: care, personality, knowledge, motivation, commitment, and communication with a chapter on each element. Finally, Fox provides an account of his personal experience and how his views about leadership were forged by the Marine Corps and by the crucible of combat. He provides many examples of leadership displayed by those with whom he served in battle--his fellow Marine unit leaders. While draw from a military experience, Fox contends that his six elements apply to all who want to pursue leadership. Developed during forty-three years of leading Marines in two wars and in the peace time, his principles are designed to inspire and motivate others in all endeavors.

From an internationally acclaimed expert in the field comes a detailed, analytical and comprehensive account of the worldwide evolution of tanks, from their inception a century ago to the present day. With new ideas stemming from the latest academic research, this study presents a reappraisal of the development of tanks and their evolution during World War I and how the surge in technological development during World War II and the subsequent Cold War drove developments in armour in Europe and America, transforming tanks into fast, resilient and powerful fighting machines. From the primitive, bizarre-looking Mark V to the Matilda and from the menacing King Tiger to the superlative M1 Abrams, Professor Ogorkiewicz shows how tanks gradually acquired the enhanced capabilities that enabled them to become what they are today - the core of combined-arms, mechanized warfare.

Cupid is the moving and inspiring true story of a war horse, one of many thousands that were shipped across the English Channel a hundred years ago to play their part on the Western Front during the First World War. Cupid had been a father's gift to his 15-year-old son, and when war broke out father, son and horse found themselves facing the horrors of the conflict together. They did not all return. Martin Laurie is the grandson of the young man who owned Cupid and rode her to war. With the aid of his grandfather's letters and family documents and photographs, he has pieced together an astonishing story.

The successes of the German Blitzkrieg in 1939-41 were as surprising as they were swift. Allied decision-makers wanted to discover the secret to German success quickly, even though only partial, incomplete information was available to them. The false conclusions drawn became myths about the Blitzkrieg that have lingered for decades. It has been argued that German victories in the early part of the war rested less upon newly developed tanks and aircraft and more on German military traditions: rather than creating a new way of war based on new technology, the Germans fitted the new weapons into their existing ideas on warfare. These doctrines focused on independent action, initiative, flexibility, decentralized decision-making and mobility. The conduct of German soldiers, particularly the lower-ranking men, on the battlefield was at the core of the concept and German victories rested upon the quality of the small combat units. This book focuses on the experience of the enlisted men and junior officers in the Blitzkrieg operations in Poland, Norway, Western Europe and Russia. Using accounts previously unpublished in English, military historian Niklas Zetterling explores how they operated, for example how a company commander led his tanks, how a crew worked together inside a tank, and the role of the repair services. The author fits these narratives into a broader perspective to give the reader a better understanding of why the Germans were so successful in 1939-41.

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 witnessed some of the largest tank battles since World War II, notably between India's British-made Centurion Mk 7s and the American-made M48 Pattons fielded by Pakistan. The two countries' tank regiments, many of which shared a proud legacy in the British Indian Army, fought one another in the difficult terrain of Jammu and Kashmir, the focus of a long-running dispute between India and Pakistan. The armoured clashes at Asal Uttar, Chawinda and Phillora would demonstrate that the Centurion, with its powerful gun and lower profile, generally proved superior to the faster, lighter but overly complex Patton. Featuring full-colour artwork, expert analysis and archive photographs, this is the full story of the clash between two leading tanks of the Cold War era that were never designed to fight each other, but rather to line up on battlefields as allies.

This is a major new account of the role and performance of the Italian army during the First World War. Drawing from original, archival research, it tells the story of the army's bitter three-year struggle in the mountains of Northern Italy, including the eleven bloody battles of the Isonzo, the near-catastrophic defeat at Caporetto in 1917 and the successful, but still controversial defeat of the Austro-Hungarian army at Vittorio Veneto on the eve of the Armistice. Setting military events within a broader context, the book explores pre-war Italian military culture and the interactions between domestic politics, economics and society. In a unique study of an unjustly neglected facet of the war, John Gooch illustrates how General Luigi Cadorna, a brutal disciplinarian, drove the army to the edge of collapse, and how his successor, general Armando Diaz, rebuilt it and led the Italians to their greatest victory in modern times.

Developed to provide the US military with a fast-moving reconnaissance vehicle sufficiently armed to knock out WWII-era armored vehicles. The M8 Armored Car and its sibling, the M20 Armored Utility Vehicles, were the most widely used armored vehicles built by Ford. These vehicles saw use with the US Army as well as Allied nations during WWII and well into the 1960s. This book chronicles the development and use of the vehicle from concept to combat. Through dozens of archival photos, many never before published, as well as detailed photographs of some of the finest existent examples of these vehicles, this iconic tank is explored, and its history is explained.

They came together, citizen soldiers, in the summer of 1942, drawn to Airborne by the $50 monthly bonus and a desire to be better than the other guy. And at its peak -- in Holland and the Ardennes -- Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Divison, U.S. Army, was as good a rifle company as any in the world.

From the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the disbanding in 1945, Stephen Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. In combat, the reward for a job well done is the next tough assignment, and as they advanced through Europe, the men of Easy kept getting the tough assignments.

They parachuted into France early D-Day morning and knocked out a battery of four 105 mm cannon looking down Utah Beach; they parachuted into Holland during the Arnhem campaign; they were the Battered Bastards of the Bastion of Bastogne, brought in to hold the line, although surrounded, in the Battle of the Bulge; and then they spearheaded the counteroffensive. Finally, they captured Hitler's Bavarian outpost, his Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden.

They were rough-and-ready guys, battered by the Depression, mistrustful and suspicious. They drank too much French wine, looted too many German cameras and watches, and fought too often with other GIs. But in training and combat they learned selflessness and found the closest brotherhood they ever knew. They discovered that in war, men who loved life would give their lives for them.

This is the story of the men who fought, of the martinet they hated who trained them well, and of the captain they loved who led them. E Company was a company of men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other, a company that took 150 percent casualties, a company where the Purple Heart was not a medal -- it was a badge of office.

The Soviet T-35A is the only five-turreted tank in history to enter production. With a long and proud service history on Soviet parade grounds, the T-35A was forced to adapt to the modern battlefield when the Second World War broke out. Outclassed and outdated, the T-35A tried to hold its own against the German invaders to no avail. Very little is known about these strange vehicles, beyond their basic shape and photographs of them on parade grounds and battlefields. For the first time, actual battlefield photographs have been cross-referenced with maps and documents to bring about the most complete look at the T-35A in the Second World War to date. It is a grim depiction of the aftermath of the giants that were the Soviet T-35A tanks.

The Medium Tank, M4, better known to the British as the Sherman, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and western Allies in World War II. Reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and easy to maintain, thousands were distributed to the British Commonwealth and the Soviet Union by the Lend-Lease program. It first saw combat in North Africa, where it outclassed lighter German and Italian tanks. By 1944 the M4 was outgunned by the German heavy tanks, but it still contributed to the fight when deployed in numbers and supported by artillery and fighter-bombers. A detailed insight into the development and deployment of the M4, this book covers the design and construction of the chassis, turret, engine, armaments and munitions and differences between the variants of the M4. It covers the difficulties facing the crews who fought in this legendary tank, exploring the training they received and the different combat methods perfected by the Allies, including landing from an landing craft, maneuvering in the bocage of Normandy, and fighting in the snow. Fully illustrated with hundreds of contemporary and modern photographs and detailed diagrams, this complete account provides all the technical details of the construction of the M4, its maintenance and repair, and the logistics required to support it in combat. Whether you are a collector, modeler or simply passionate about military history, this book will provide you with an unparalleled insight into the M4.

The World's Greatest Tanks features 52 of the best armoured fighting vehicles from World War I to the present day. Beginning with the prototype Mark V Male in 1917, the book ranges from World War I, World War II, through the Cold War and up to the highly sophisticated tanks that have seen recent service in wars in the Balkans, Caususus, and Middle East. From the Soviet T-34 and German Panther tanks of World War II to the M1A2 Abrams, Challenger 2 and T-90 of the present day, The World's Greatest Tanks is an expert examination of the most successful tanks of the past hundred years. Each entry is examined over two spreads and includes a brief description of the tank's development and history, a colour profile artwork, photographs, key features and specifications tables. Packed with more than 200 artworks and photographs, The World's Greatest Tanks is a colourful guide for the military historian and military technology enthusiast.

It is a little-known fact that during the Cold War, two U.S. Army Special Forces detachments were stationed far behind the Iron Curtain in West Berlin. The existence and missions of the two detachments were highly classified secrets. The massive armies of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies posed a huge threat to the nations of Western Europe. US military planners decided they needed a plan to slow the juggernaut they expected when and if a war began. The plan was Special Forces Berlin. The first 40 men who came to Berlin in mid-1956 were soon reinforced by 60 more and these 100 soldiers (and their successors) would stand ready to go to war at only two hours' notice, in a hostile area occupied by nearly one million Warsaw Pact forces, until 1990. Their mission should hostilities commence was to wreak havoc behind enemy lines, and buy time for vastly outnumbered NATO forces to conduct a breakout from the city. In reality it was an ambitious and extremely dangerous mission, even suicidal. Highly trained and fluent in German, each man was allocated a specific area. They were skilled in clandestine operations, sabotage, intelligence tradecraft and able to act if necessary as independent operators, blending into the local population and working unseen in a city awash with spies looking for information on their every move. Special Forces Berlin was a one of a kind unit that had no parallel. It left a legacy of a new type of soldier expert in unconventional warfare, one that was sought after for other deployments including the attempted rescue of American hostages from Tehran in 1979. With the U.S. government officially acknowledging their existence in 2014, their incredible story can now be told.

In 1984 the first edition of the British Army Guide was published and in September 2015 the 13th edition will be on sale. This invaluable information resource which deals with all aspects of British Army organisation, recruitment and training has been extremely popular with service personnel, the defence industry, military libraries and other groups who are interested in the British Army worldwide. Copies can be seen on desks throughout the UK Ministry of Defence and it would be fair to say that almost every foreign defence attache in London has a copy in his briefcase. Chapters include a Defence Overview; Army Organisation; International Commitments; Armour, Infantry, Artillery, Army Aviation, Engineers, Communications and Combat Service Support; Units of the Army; Recruiting and Training; Reserve Forces plus a final Miscellaneous Chapter which deals with a number of items essential to understanding How the British Army functions on a daily basis. Lavishly illustrated throughout there is no comparable publication available on the market.

Great Britain had introduced the tank to the world during World War I, and maintained its lead in armoured warfare with the `Experimental Mechanised Force' during the late 1920s, watched with interest by German advocates of Blitzkrieg. Despite these successes, the Experimental Mechanised Force was disbanded in the 1930s, making Britain relatively unprepared for World War II, both in terms of armoured doctrine and equipment. This fully illustrated new study examines the men who crewed the tanks of Britain's armoured force during World War II, which was only four battalions large in 1939. It looks at the recruitment and training of the vast numbers of men required, their equipment, appearance and combat experience in every theatre of the war as the British armoured division sought to catch up with the German Panzers.

The United States, being at peace, had not foreseen the need for a specialized tank recovery vehicle, despite the ramping-up of tank production in 1940-41. However, observation of the new world war quickly pointed to the need for such a vehicle. Armored vehicles, immobilized for any reason, were easily destroyed by opposing troops, denying the possibility for recovery and repair or even the salvaging of parts after the battle. This book chronicles the development and use of the US and British military's Sherman tank-based armored recovery vehicles.

First prototypes of German tank destroyer Sturmgeschutz III (StuG III) were built in 1937 and based on PzKpfw III Ausf. B tank. Vehicles were armed with short-barelled 75mm gun. From spring, 1942, StuG IIIs were equipped with StuK 40 75mm gun. Self propelled guns StuG III served in separated assault artillery units, and later in self propelled guns brigades. They were also used in support units of armoured divisions.

Failure to exploit the potential of an original idea is a recurring phenomenon in our national history. Few failures, however, can have been so costly in human life as that of our military commanders early in 1916 to appreciate that the tank was a war winning weapon. The slaughter of the Somme, Passchendaele and Ypres salient had to be endured before accepted conventional methods were abandoned and the tank given a chance. Bryan Cooper describes the early tank actions in vivid detail, with many eye-witness accounts. He tells of the courage and endurance of the crews not just in battle but in the appalling conditions in which they had to drive and fight their primitive vehicles. Scalded, scorched and poisoned with exhaust fumes, constantly threatened with being burned to death, these crews eventually laid the foundation for the Allied Victory in World War I. The book is well illustrated with many original photographs which give the present day reader a glimpse of the infancy of a dominant weapon of modern war.

Counting from 50 down to the very best all-time tank at number 1, Top 50 Tanks features the greatest armoured fighting vehicles from World War I to the present day. The book includes tanks from every era, from the Mark V Male that assaulted the German trenches at Cambrai in 1917, through the feared German King Tiger of World War II, as well as including some of the most highly sophisticated tanks that have seen recent service in wars in the Caucasus, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. From the Soviet KV-1 and German Panther tanks of World War II to the M1A2 Abrams, Merkava and T-14 Armata tanks of the present day, Top 50 Tanks is a colourful guide to the most successful and effective tanks of the past hundred years. Each entry is covered over four pages, including a brief description of the tank's development and history, colour artworks showing various views and models, a photograph and a selective specifications table. Packed with 300 full-colour artworks and photographs, Top 50 Tanks is a fun and popular guide to the greatest tanks of all time to see combat from 1917 to the present.

In the aftermath of the Winter War, Finland found itself drawing ever closer to Nazi Germany and eventually took part in Operation Barbarossa in 1941. For the Finns this was a chance to right the wrongs of the Winter War, and having reached suitable defensive positions, the army was ordered to halt. Years of uneasy trench warfare followed, known as the Continuation War, during which Finland desperately sought a way out, German dreams of victory were dashed, and the Soviet Union built the strongest army in the world.

In the summer of 1944, the whole might of the Red Army was launched against the Finnish defences on the narrow Karelian Isthmus. Over several weeks of fierce fighting, the Finns managed to halt the Soviet assault. With Stalin forced to divert his armies to the race to Berlin, an armistice agreement was reached, the harsh terms of which forced the Finns to take on their erstwhile German allies in Lapland. Featuring rare photographs and first-hand accounts, this second volume of a two-part study, publishing in paperback for the first time, details the high price Finland had to pay to retain its independence and freedom.

The military was quick to see the advantages of railways in warfare, whether for the rapid deployment of men or the movement of heavy equipment like artillery. From here it was a short step to making the train a potent weapon in its own right - a mobile fort or a battleship on rails. Armed and armoured, they became the first practical self-propelled war machines, which by the time of the American Civil War were able to make a significant contribution to battlefield success. Thereafter, almost every belligerent nation with a railway system made some use of armoured rolling stock, ranging from low-intensity colonial policing to the massive employment of armoured trains during the Russian Civil War. And although they were somewhat eclipsed as frontline weapons by the development of the tank and other AFVs, armoured trains retained a role as late as the civil wars in the former republic of Yugoslavia. This truly encyclopaedic book covers, country by country, the huge range of fighting equipment that rode the rails over nearly two centuries.While it outlines the place of armoured trains in the evolution of warfare, it concentrates on details of their design through a vast array of photographs and the author's meticulous drawings. Published in French in 1989, this highly regarded work has been completely revised and expanded for this English edition. It remains the last word on the subject.

The Hummel ("bumblebee") and Nashorn ("rhinoceros") are two of Nazi Germany's most widely recognized self-propelled artillery pieces. The Hummel, with its heavy field howitzer, was indispensable as heavy field artillery despite its open-top fighting compartment. The Nashorn, also known as the Hornisse ("hornet"), utilized the same chassis but mounted the formidable 88 mm antitank gun, becoming one of the most feared pieces of antitank artillery, or Panzerjager ("tank hunter"). This book chronicles the development and use of these vehicles from concept to combat. Through dozens of archival photos, many never before published, as well as detailed photographs of some of the finest existent examples of surviving vehicles, these iconic armored fighting vehicles are explored, and their history is explained.

Powered by a massive Ford V-8 engine, the M4A3 Sherman was the standard tank of the US Army during the later stages of WWII, as well as the Korean War. The M4A3 was also supplied to the Marines during WWII, when the Corps faced a shortage of their preferred M4A2. The M4A3 was used by both services during the Korean War and was supplied in large numbers to Allied nations during the post-WWII rebuilding process. This book chronicles the development and use of these vehicles from concept to combat. This work contains several hundred first class images, many of which are in color.

Winifred Phillips was born in Ilford, Essex, in 1926, one of four children. Sent to a convent boarding school, which she loathed, she trained as a nursery nurse and met George Wheeler, a 19-year-old RAF trainee wireless operator. The pair fell in love and spent a happy year together, only to say goodbye in 1943 when he was sent on bombing missions to Germany. They kept in touch with regular letters but he went missing in 1944 and nobody knew what happened to him. Determined to see something of the world, Winifred joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1948 and enlisted in the Women's Royal Army Corps a year later. For the next two decades she travelled the globe and reached the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2. Her story offers a unique insight into the lives of female service personnel in the 1950s and '60s. She writes wittily and candidly about her time in the army, how life was lived in the mess and the NAAFI, and the scrapes she got into. But she never forgot George. And she never married. At the age of 70, she went on a journey to find out what happened to the only man who would ever win her heart and, 50 years after he disappeared, she was finally able to pay her respects. In 2009, after ten years of campaigning, Win became the first ever female Chelsea Pensioner to be accepted at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, where she lives today.

Since the 1980s, the American M1 Abrams series of tanks has been widely regarded as among the finest main battle tanks in the world. This volume is a concise look at the background, development, and Army and Marine operational history of the Abrams from the 1970s to the present. The author, who brings a unique perspective and authority as a former M1A1 tank gunner with the United States Army's 1/104th Cavalry, was granted behind-the-scenes access to photograph the US Army's collection of rare tanks at Fort Benning, Georgia. He also shows the Abrams tank's service in lesser known places-not just Iraq and Afghanistan-such as Cold War Germany, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Somalia, and others. Part of the Legends of Warfare series.