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Books > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 > General
Making history useful to the reader - this is one of the missions
of the Combat Studies Institute. We strive to produce works that
recount historical events to inform decision makers and to enable
experiential learning. This collection of events put together by
John McGrath, which occurred in Iraq during the 2003-2005
timeframe, addresses that mission. The authors largely used primary
source material - interviews and unit histories - to develop these
vignettes and in doing so have made the works relatable not only to
Soldiers who experienced similar situations but to any reader who
can imagine themselves having to function in these types of
situations. We honor those involved in these actions and hope that
by recounting their stories others may not only recognize them for
their service but may also learn and grow from their experience.
This work is the continuation and revision of a project started in
2006 with the publication of "In Contact " by the Combat Studies
Institute. The original concept was to present a series of military
vignettes in a style similar to the widely used case-study
methodology commonly found in military literature. The final
version of "Between the Rivers," instead of following this strict
case-study format, presents combat action vignettes as narrative
accounts of the various types of actions challenging combat leaders
in Iraq in 2003-2005. The present volume lies directly within the
tradition of these predecessor works on small-unit actions. Since
the fall of2001, the United States Army, along with the other
American armed services, has been engaged in military actions in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Because the current conflict has so many
different fronts and facets, no handful of small- unit case studies
could do justice to such a complex tapestry of events. This book
thus represents a volume that showcases the American soldier in
combat operations within the context of the Global War on
Terrorism/The Long War. This series of five case studies is drawn
from events in Iraq. Four of the studies discuss combat operations
within a counterinsurgency framework at the company and battalion
levels. The final case study presents a deployment dilemma facing a
brigade-level task force commander when he was asked to replace a
whole division in the same geographical space. In each case, the
story is derived from oral interviews and key documents and is
fully annotated. The primary purpose for presenting these vignettes
is to provide a vicarious education in what future participants
will face as the War on Terrorism continues and beyond.
Eyewitness to War Oral History Series: Eyewitness to War The US
Army in Operation AL FAJR: An Oral History is a unique publication
for the Combat Studies Institute. This study is a derivative of the
CSI Operational Leadership Experience (OLE) project, a program that
collects and archives first-person experiences from the Global War
on Terror. It can also be considered a companion to the recently
published CSI Occasional Paper #20: Operation AL FAJR: A Study in
Army and Marine Corps Joint Operations. Interviews collected for
the OLE project formed the basis for that occasional paper and were
so compelling, we felt a need to publish those interviews in a book
series. In November 2004, the second battle for Fallujah was a
brutal and bloody fight so characteristic of urban terrain. Under
the overall command of the 1st Marine Division, four Marine
infantry and two US Army battalions (Task Forces 2-2 Infantry and
2-7 Cavalry) were committed to the streets of Fallujah. At this
same time, the Army's 2d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division formed a
cordon to hold and isolate the insurgents in the city. Using the fi
repower and mobility of the Army's heavy armor and mechanized units
to full effect, the Marine Regimental Combat Teams were successful
in destroying the enemy and securing Fallujah in ten days.
Eyewitness to War interviews span a wide spectrum of participants,
from commanders and senior non-commissioned officers at all levels
to the first-hand accounts of combat and combat service support
personnel on the battlefield. We make no claim that this history is
a comprehensive work, as these 37 people are but a fraction of the
thousands who took part in the operation. This is primarily an Army
oral history, though one of the Marine Regimental Commanders agreed
to provide his story. The USMC bore the brunt of fighting in
Fallujah and this study does not attempt to overlook their
tremendous accomplishments. The individuals featured in this work
volunteered to work with our staff over many months. Their stories
are a tremendous testimony to the skill, flexibility, and bravery
of the US Army today. This collection of personal experiences is
the raw material history is made of. It is a riveting and useful
way to study the past. And it is our hope that the insights derived
from their roles in the second battle for Fallujah will better
prepare the US Army for tomorrow's endeavors.
Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, Chosin also called Changjin,
campaign early in the Korean War, part of the Chinese Second
Offensive (November-December 1950) to drive the United Nations out
of North Korea. The Chosin Reservoir campaign was directed mainly
against the 1st Marine Division of the U.S.X Corps, which had
disembarked in eastern North Korea and moved inland in severe
winter weather to a mountainous area near the reservoir. The
campaign succeeded in forcing the entire X Corps to evacuate to
South Korea, but the Chinese did not achieve their particular
objective of isolating and destroying the 1st Marine Division.
Instead, in a deliberate retrograde movement that has become one of
the most-storied exploits in Marine Corps lore, the Marines turned
and fought their way down a narrow vulnerable road through several
mountain passes and a bridged chasm until they reached transport
ships waiting at the coast.
This monograph is an account of the activities of the Marines and
units of the 3d Marine Aircraft Wing in support of the I Marine
Expeditionary Force's efforts to liberate Kuwait. This document is
part of a preliminary series of official Marine Corps histories
that cover Marine Corps operations in the Gulf War. On 2 September
1990, 3d Marine Aircraft Wing took command of Marine aviation
forces ashore from a Marine composite aircraft group, which had
hurriedly been moved to the Persian Gulf as part of Operation
Desert Shield. The wing would grow to be the largest deployed in
Marine Corps history. It would fly more than 10 different types of
aircraft from eight airfield sites that required laying more than
4.5 million square feet of ramps, landing, and taxiing areas. In
addition, the wing and its support groups would construct six
3,000-man base camps and establish a Marine Air Command and Control
System that would operate across four countries in a joint and
combined arena. When Operation Desert Storm began, the 3d Marine
Aircraft Wing was ready and provided more than 18,000 fixed-wing
and helicopter sorties in support of I Marine Expeditionary Force's
mission of ejecting Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
The Battle of Inchon was an amphibious invasion and battle of the
Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic
reversal in favor of the United Nations. The operation involved
some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels, and led to the recapture
of the South Korea capital Seoul two weeks later. The code name for
the operation was Operation Chromite. The battle began on 15
September 1950 and ended on 19 September. Through a surprise
amphibious assault far from the Pusan Perimeter that UN and South
Korean forces were desperately defending, the largely undefended
city of Incheon was secured after being bombed by UN forces. The
battle ended a string of victories by the invading North Korean
People's Army (NKPA). The subsequent UN recapture of Seoul
partially severed NKPA's supply lines in South Korea. The majority
of United Nations ground forces involved were U.S. Marines,
commanded by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of the United
States Army. MacArthur was the driving force behind the operation,
overcoming the strong misgivings of more cautious generals to a
risky assault over extremely unfavorable terrain.
Tracing the story of the Korean War from 1950 and the North Korean
army's summer invasion across the 38th Parallel, So They Will Know
brings to life the global conflict that remains misunderstood,
underappreciated, and inadequately documented. In fact, a typical
college American History textbook will have little more than a
single page devoted to the Korean War, and rarely are there
mentions of the specific battles where thousands of men were killed
or injured during the final months before the close of the armed
conflict.
This book provides the detailed history of the Marine Corps and
their medical personnel during the first six months of the war in
Korea including their campaigns in Pusan, Inchon, Wonsan, and the
Chosin Reservoir. Also included are more than 400 personal award
citations for gallantry, intrepid behavior, and remarkable
leadership.
The city of an-Najaf, Iraq, is a provincial and market center
located on the western branch of the Euphrates River approximately
100 miles south of Baghdad. Its population (prewar) of 563,000
expands at times with pilgrims to this important center of Islamic
scholarship and theology. It is the location of several significant
shrines for Shi'a Muslims and boasts one of the largest cemeteries
in the world. Its more recent history has been marked by conflict
of a political nature as the place of exile for Ayatollah Khomeini
and site of the assassination of Ayatollah Mohammad Sadiq. It
served as the location of Shi'a resistance to perceived political
oppression and was a place of battle once more in 2004. This is a
"battle study" written purposely from the perspective of the
Marines, soldiers, and sailors who fought at an-Najaf in August
2004. Some context is needed to fit these events within the
evolution of the campaigning in Iraq in 2004. The Americans
deployed to al-Anbar and an-Najaf Provinces, faced a variety of
threats as Iraq attempted to again govern itself. Threats were from
disparate sources, including Sunni fighters in Fallujah and Shi'a
fighters in Najaf. Behind each was the possibility of al-Qaeda in
Iraq or criminal exploitation of any disruption of Coalition
efforts to establish responsible Iraqi Government. This complexity
of threats did not lend itself to easy solutions. In March 2004,
Lieutenant General James T. Conway's I Marine Expeditionary Force
was faced with an outbreak of Sunni insurgency in Fallujah. At the
same time, a Shi'a uprising took place across Iraq, including
Baghdad, Najaf, an-Nasiriyah, al-Kut, al-Amarah, and Kirkuk. The
fighting spread to Karbala, Hillah, and Basrah with attacks on
Iraqi and Coalition outposts. This fighting dropped off in June
with the establishment of the Iraqi Interim Government of Prime
Minister Ayad Allawi, but the menace of further violence remained.
The Multi-National Force-Iraq, under General George W. Casey Jr.,
USA, felt that before the Iraqis could be responsible for security
in each province, the centers of violence had to be dealt with by a
"clear-hold-build" approach. Baghdad, Fallujah, and Najaf were thus
targeted. When Muqtada al-Sadr fomented another uprising in August,
the recently arrived 11thMarine Expeditionary Unit found itself
assigned to quell the uprising in Najaf. It would be reinforced for
this effort by two U.S. Army and four Iraqi Army battalions. The
narrative that follows documents this effort from the small unit
level. The importance of the close relationship between political
and military force is emphasized. The intent is to provide a view
of combat for the education and training of Marines who might face
similar circumstances.
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Korea 1950
(Paperback)
United States Army Center of Military Hi
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Discovery Miles 4 870
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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INDOC (Indoctrination) spans the past 30 years of Ideology,
Propaganda and Conflict in the Marine Corps and al-Qaida. Dr. Karl
D. Klicker, retired Captain of Marines, intelligence officer, and
Iraq War veteran explores the internal cultural tensions within the
Marine Corps, the roots of division in the Sunni and Shi'a camps;
the social psychology of recruiting for war; and the on-going
conflict between radical Islamists and America's armed forces.
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