Incorporating research found in ancient literary, iconographic, epigraphic, and archaeological sources, this book explores the experiences of the soldiers who conducted battle on the small plains of ancient Greece. The volume, which draws on the accumulated expertise of nine American and British scholars, emphasizes the actual techniques of fighting and practical concerns as the use of commands, music in warfare, the use of "dog-tags", and ritual on the battlefield.

Riding East details the history of the previously unexamined SS Cavalry Brigade. Beginning with a background of the General SS mounted units, from which personnel formed part of the Brigade's cadre, the author details the organizations, units and commanders of these pre-war formations. A detailed biography of Hermann Fegelein, commander of the Brigade, is followed by a chapter devoted to the SS command in Poland where the Brigade operated during 1939-40 as an occupational force. The units themselves are next examined from first creation in 1939 until they divided into two regiments in 1941, including all duties and operations in Poland. Assigned to the Headquarters Staff "Reichsfuhrer-SS" at the start of the invasion of Russia, the regiments the combined with other units to form the SS-Cavalry Brigade and conducted anti-partisan warfare operations for most of the remainder of 1941. All the summer 1941 operations are examined in depth, including the massive Pripet marshes actions, using original documents from American and European archive sources. Subordinated on 1942 to Army Group "Center" the SS-Cavalry Brigade fought at the front during the massive Russian offensive in 1942 and was almost completely annihilated in the Rshev area before finally being withdrwan and used as cadre for the new SS-Kavallerie-Division. Heavily documented, the detailed text is supplemented by 109 photographs, most of which are previously unpublished. In addition, six maps, six Order of Battle charts, complete officer rosters 1939-142, feldpost numbers, details of primary commanders within the Brigade, as well information on the units and commanders it was subordinated to, complete a comprehensive history of first combat mounted unit of the SS.

During its two year history, the cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland fought the Confederates in some of the most important actions of the Civil War, including Stones River, Chickamauga, the Tullahoma Campaign, the pursuit of Joseph Wheeler in October 1863 and the East Tennessee Campaign. They battled with legendary Confederate cavalry units commanded by Nathan Bedford Forrest, John Hunt Morgan, Wheeler and others. By October 1864, the cavalry grew from eight regiments to four divisions-composed of units from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and Tennessee-before participating in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, where the Union cavalry suffered 30 percent casualties. This history of the Army of the Cumberland's cavalry units analyzes their success and failures and reevaluates their alleged poor service during the Atlanta Campaign.

When the Allied armies landed on the Normandy beaches on 6 June 1944 the backbone of the armoured reaction force awaiting them was made up of 758 Pzkpfw IV tanks, a number which represents almost half the fully-tracked vehicles available for the defence of the West. The first models of these tanks had entered service in November 1937 and although replacements had been considered, the original design was continually up-gunned and up-armoured. Perhaps lacking the glamour of the Panther and Tiger, the most recent variant, the Pzkpfw IV ausf H, was at least the equal of the best British and American tanks. Drawing on official documentation and unit histories Dennis Oliver investigates the formations that operated these deservedly famous vehicles and uses archive photos and extensively researched colour illustrations to examine the markings, camouflage and technical aspects of the Pzkpfw IV tanks that served on the Western Front during the critical summer of 1944. A key section of his book displays available model kits and aftermarket products, complemented by a gallery of beautifully constructed and painted models in various scales. Technical details as well as modifications introduced during production and in the field are also examined, providing everything the modeller needs to recreate an accurate representation of these historic vehicles.

Luftwaffe Panzer division formed from the paratroop corps was one of the elite units in the Wehrmacht and fought in North Africa and Italy.

Some semi-public, exclusive male settings, most noticeably in the military, encourage the production of intimacy and desire. Yet whereas in most instances this desire is displaced through humor and aggressive gestures, it becomes acknowledged and outright declared once associated with sites of heroic death. In his provocative study of interrelations between friendship in everyday life and national sentiments in Israel, the author follows selected stories of friendship ranging over early childhood, school, the workplace, and some unique war experiences. He explores the symbolism of friendship in rituals for the fallen soldiers, the commemoration of Prime Minister Yzhak Rabin, and the national infatuation with recovering bodies of missing soldiers. He concludes that the Israeli case offers an extreme instance of a much broader cultural phenomenon: declaring the friendship for the dead epitomizes the political "blood pact" between men, taking precedence over the traditional blood ties of kinship and heterosexual unions. The book underscores nationalism as a homosocial-based emotion of commemorative desire.

Few 19th-century Americans were as adventurous as Henry Baxter. Best known for his Civil War exploits-from leading the 7th Michigan Volunteer Infantry across the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg in the first daylight amphibious assault in American history, to his defense of the Union line on day one of Gettysburg-he accomplished these despite having no prewar military training. His heroism and leadership propelled him from officer of volunteers to major general in the Army of the Potomac. A New York emigrant from a prominent family, Baxter was involved in developing Michigan's political, business and educational foundations. He excelled at enterprise, leading a group of adventurers to California during the Gold Rush, co-founding what would become the Republican Party and eventually becoming President Grant's diplomat to Honduras during one of the most dynamic periods of Central American history. His story parallels Michigan's transition from territory to state and the United States' transformation from a divided republic into a fledgling world power.

Modern Artillery brings together 300 of the most important examples of artillery used or designed since 1900. Beginning with the guns that pounded the trenches in World War I, the book details all the major forms of artillery in service throughout the century. From hand-held anti-tank devices, anti-aircraft guns and field pieces of World War II to the recent tactical and strategic missiles, the book provides a wide survey of the development and use of artillery, with the entries conveniently placed into categories for easy reference. Each artillery piece featured is illustrated by a full-colour artwork and accompanied by a detailed specifications table giving the country of origin and technical details of the weapon, including where appropriate the calibre, elevation, muzzle velocity, traverse and range, all measurements being provided in imperial and metric. Each entry also contains a piece of text summarizing the weapon's development and service history. Presented in a handy, pocket-book size, arranged by type and with 300 colour illustrations, Modern Artillery is an authoritative and accessible reference work, which will appeal to anyone with an interest in military technology.

Extensively illustrated with 52 detailed campaign and battle maps and diagrams, this book, originally published in 1990, surveys the evolution of warfare in Europe from Napoleon to the end of the twentieth century and in Asia from the Middle Ages. It considers the interaction of technology and warfare. With wide-ranging examples, the book includes two in depth case studies, one on the Soviet Operational Manoeuvre Group and its predecessors in the Russian Imperial Army, the other on the history of land warfare, including guerilla warfare, in Asia. In this book the author demonstrates that military history can be of immense practical help to the modern military analyst and professional. Now updated with a new introduction to take into account changes since 1990, this book remains of essential value to students, teachers & professionals in political & social history, international relations, defence, war & peace studies.

The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, was one of the most innovative and successful counter-insurgency units in modern history. Formed as a commando battalion in 1964 after the dissolution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the RLI was an all-white unit made up of South Africans and men from the UK, Europe and US. It was a key weapon in independent Rhodesia's struggle against the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army during the bloody Rhodesian Bush War. This comprehensive study explores the unit's dramatic history, revealing the RLI's fearsome airborne and combat capacity, which gave the unit, at times, near total tactical superiority against its opponents.

The Roman army is remarkable for its detailed organisation and professional structure. It not only extended and protected Rome's territorial empire which was the basis of Western civilisation, but also maintained the politcal power of the emperors. The army was an integral part of the society and life of the empire and illustrated many aspects of Roman government. This sourcebook presents literary and epigraphic material, papyri and coins which illustrate the life of the army from recruitment and in the field, to peacetime and the community. It is designed as a basic tool for students of the Roman army and Roman history in general.

In The Tank Debate, John Stone highlights the equivocal position that armour has traditionally occupied in Anglo-American thought, and explains why - despite frequent predictions to the contrary - the tank has remained an important instrument of war. This book provides a timely and provocative study of the tank's developmental history, against the changing background of Anglo-American military thought.

With the onset of World War II, African Americans found themselves in a struggle just to be allowed to fight for their country. Individuals like Lt. General Leslie McNair and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt fought against the military's discrimination, arguing that the nation could little afford to overlook such an important source of strength. Their eventual success took the form of a military experiment designed to determine whether African Americans were as capable as white soldiers. The 784th was one tank battalion formed as a result. Part of an effort to chronicle the history of the first African Americans to serve in armored units, this history recounts the service of the 784th Tank Battalion. Replete with observations and comments from veterans of the battalion, it paints a vivid picture of World War II as seen through the eyes of soldiers who had to confront second-class treatment by their army and fellow soldiers while enduring the horrors of war. It details the day-to-day activities of the 784th Tank Battalion, describing basic training, actual combat, occupation and, finally, the deactivation of the unit. Special emphasis is placed on the ways in which these war experiences contributed to the American civil rights movements of the 1960s.

The Fall of Che Guevara tells the story of Guevara's last campaign, in the backwoods of Bolivia, where he hoped to ignite a revolution that would spread throughout South America. For the first time, this book shows in detail the strategy of the U.S. and Bolivian governments to foil his efforts. Based on numerous interviews and on secret documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act from the CIA, the State Department, the Pentagon, and the National Security Archive, this work casts new light on the roles of a Green Beret detachment sent to train the Bolivians and of the CIA and other U.S. agencies in bringing Guevara down.
Ryan's shows that Guevara was an agent of Cuban foreign policy from the time he met Fidel Castro in 1955 until his death--not a mere independent revolutionary, as many scholars have claimed. Guevara's attempted insurgency in Bolivia was in reality a Cuban attempt to achieve another badly-needed revolutionary success.
This dramatic account of the last days of Che Guevara will appeal to scholars and students of United States foreign policy and Latin American history, and to all those interested in this revolutionary's remarkable life.

This extensive and unique collection, consisting of over 180 letters and hundreds of drawings, covers Reed's period of service (1862-65) and provides the modern reader a wealth of information on the role of the Union army in the eastern theater, the events in the life of the Civil War soldier, and the war in general. A native of Boston, Reed served as bugler of the Ninth Massachusetts Battery, whose desperate holding action at Gettysburg ranks as one the most heroic actions of the war. During this battle Reed performed a deed of selfless bravery by saving his wounded captain from between the lines, an act for which he was later awarded the Medal of Honor. In addition to Gettysburg, Reed saw action in nearly all of the battles in the East from 1862 to 1865, including Bristoe Station, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Ana, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor, and the siege of Petersburg.Reed's letters chronicle events, from the most common to the extraordinary, with simple yet thoughtful eloquence. His drawings capture a wide variety of events to which he was not only an eyewitness but also a participant. His talent was considered equal to that of leading newspaper artists of his day, and his drawings were used to illustrate a best-selling Civil War book, Hardtack and Coffee (1887). We are fortunate that Reed's writings and drawings have been preserved, and can be presented here in a single volume.

The corporate and urban jungles of late-twentieth-century America were far from those of Guadalcanal that provided a sort of coming of age for Whyte. Following Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia, Whyte reported to the First Marine Division at New River, North Carolina, in 1942.

While leaders in Washington discussed Pacific War strategy, word arrived that the Japanese had begun construction of an airfield near Lunga Point on Guadalcanal. Fearing establishment of the base might presage a thrust southeastward that would sever the line of communications between the United States and Australia, the Joint Chiefs of Staff authorized Operation Watchtower, the seizure of Guadalcanal and Tulagi by the First Marine Division.

On the last day of July, 1942, the First Division set sail for Guadalcanal. Whyte had only an inkling of what was in store for the Marines when they landed on the north coast of Guadalcanal seven days later. Planning for the campaign had been rudimentary at best. When the First Marines splashed ashore without opposition from the Japanese, they thought it would be easy to seize their first objective, Mount Austen. They soon learned the inadequacy of their maps when that objective proved to be several miles inland through eight-foot-tall kunai grass that trapped the heat and made even walking difficult.

What quickly developed was the first real test of land combat between the United States and Japan. The goal was to seize a partially constructed Japanese airfield on Guadalcanal before the Japanese could make it operational, an objective quickly achieved. Unfortunately, the capture of the airfield simply marked the beginning of what would develop into theMarines' longest campaign in World War II.

The battle for control of Guadalcanal and what Americans learned from it forms the heart of William H. Whyte's memoir, published here for the first time.

To Serve My Country, to Serve my Race is the story of the historic 6888th, the first United States Women's Army Corps unit composed of African-American women to serve overseas. While African-American men and white women were invited, if belatedly, to serve their country abroad, African-American women were excluded for overseas duty throughout most of WWII. Under political pressure from legislators like Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., the NAACP, the black press, and even President Roosevelt, the U.S. War Department was forced to deploy African-American women to the European theater in 1945. African-American women, having succeeded, through their own activism and political ties, in their quest to shape their own lives, answered the call from all over the country, from every socioeconomic stratum.Stationed in France and England at the end of World War II, the 6888th brought together women like Mary Daniel Williams, a cook in the 6888th who signed up for the Army to escape the slums of Cleveland and to improve her ninth-grade education, and Margaret Barnes Jones, a public relations officer of the 6888th, who grew up in a comfortable household with a politically active mother who encouraged her to challenge the system. Despite the social, political, and economic restrictions imposed upon these African-American women in their own country, they were eager to serve, not only out of patriotism but out of a desire to uplift their race and dispell bigoted preconceptions about their abilities. Elaine Bennett, a First Sergeant in the 6888th, joined because I wanted to prove to myself and maybe to the world that we would give what we had back to the United States as a confirmation that we were full- fledged citizens. Filled with compelling personal testimony based on extensive interviews, To Serve My Country is the first book to document the lives of these courageous pioneers.It reveals how their Army experience affected them for the rest of their lives and how they, in turn, transformed the U.S. military forever.

In this powerful and moving memoir, Robert Beecham tells of his Civil War experiences, both as an enlisted man in the fabled Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac and as an officer commanding a newly raised African-American unit. Written in 1902, Beecham recounts his war experiences with a keen eye toward the daily life of the soldier, the suffering and brutality of war, and the remarkable acts of valor, by soldiers both black and white, that punctuated the grind of long campaigns. As If It Were Glory is an unforgettable account of the Civil War, unclouded by sentimentality and insistent that the nation remain true to the cause for which it fought. Beecham's war was a long one-he served from May 1861 through the completion of the war in the spring of 1865. With the Iron Brigade he saw action at such momentous battles as Chancellorsville and then at Gettysburg, where he was taken prisoner. Returned to service in a prison exchange, Beecham was promoted to first lieutenant of the 23rd United States Colored Troops whom he lead in fierce fighting at the Battle of the Crater. At the Crater, Beecham was wounded, again captured, and, after eight months in a Confederate prison, escaped to find his way to Annapolis just before the conclusion of the war. In his narrative, Beecham celebrates the ingenuity of the enlisted man at the expense of officers who are often arrogant or incompetent. He also chides the altered recollections of fellow veterans who remember only triumphs and forgot defeats. In one of the most powerful parts of his memoir, Beecham pays tribute to the valor of the African Americans who fought under his command and insists that they were "the bravest and best soldiers that ever lived."

A virtual army of those heroic "dolls for boys" is covered in this colorful volume. Starring well-known figures and rarities alike, from Hasbro's GI Joe and Mego's Star Trek figures to Tomland's Star Raiders and Marx's Safari Adventure Series, this lively text and more than 400 color illustrations present the figures, their outfits, vehicles, and accessories. Complete details are provided on every series listed. Combining forces with the Adventure Team are super heroes, science fiction stars, and characters from television and film that will delight aficionados of all stripes. Rounding out the book are up-to-date values for the figures and their accessories. The book is sure to bring back exciting childhood memories of happy hours spent living out the adventures of favorite heroes.

In November 1950 The US 1st Marine Division was trapped in the Chosin Reservoir following the intervention of Red China in the Korean War. Fought during the worst blizzard in a century, the ensuing battle is considered by the United States Marine Corps to be 'the Corps' Finest Hour.' The soldiers who fought there would later become known as the `Frozen Chosen'. Published now in paperback, this incredible story is based on first hand interviews from surviving veterans, telling of heroism and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds, as a handful of Marines fought desperately against wave after wave of Chinese forces. Sometimes forced into desperate hand to hand combat, the fighting retreat from Chosin marked one of the darkest moments for Western forces in Korea, but would go on to resonate with generations of Marines as a symbol of the Marine Corps' dogged determination, fighting skill, and never-say-die attitude on the battlefield.

This volume explores the nature of civil war in the modern world and in historical perspective.

Civil wars represent the principal form of armed conflict since the end of the Second World War, and certainly in the contemporary era. The nature and impact of civil wars suggests that these conflicts reflect and are also a driving force for major societal change. In this sense, "Understanding Civil Wars: Continuity and change in intrastate conflict" argues that the nature of civil war is not fundamentally changing in nature.

The book includes a thorough consideration of patterns and types of intrastate conflict and debates relating to the causes, impact, and changing nature of war. A key focus is on the political and social driving forces of such conflict and its societal meanings, significance and consequences. The author also explores methodological and epistemological challenges related to studying and understanding intrastate war. A range of questions and debates are addressed. What is the current knowledge regarding the causes and nature of armed intrastate conflict? Is it possible to produce general, cross-national theories on civil war which have broad explanatory relevance? Is the concept of civil wars empirically meaningful in an era of globalization and transnational war? Has intrastate conflict fundamentally changed in nature? Are there historical patterns in different types of intrastate conflict? What are the most interesting methodological trends and debates in the study of armed intrastate conflict? How are narratives about the causes and nature of civil wars constructed around ideas such as ethnic conflict, separatist conflict and resource conflict?

This book will be of much interest to students of civil wars, intrastate conflict, security studies and international relations in general."

This text examines the history of the Japanese army in the 1920s. In this decade, the 'Meija military system' disintegrated and was replaced by a new 'Imperial Army System'. The Japanese victory over Russia in 1905 had changed the direction of Japanese military thought from almost total dependence on western rational military thinking to a more traditional reliance on morale as the preponderant factor for victory in combat. The author focuses on the intense and complex struggle which took place over leadership of the Army, the application of the principle of the primacy of morale, and the quite contradictory but obvious necessity for the army to modernize. This internal turmoil was intensified by a background of increasingly difficult economic circumstances, and the terrible effects of the great earthquake and fire of 1923. This crucial decade of Japanese history set the stage for the shattering events of the 1930s and 1940s.

This book examines the complex practice of counter-insurgency warfare through the prism of British military experiences in the post-war era and endeavours to unpack their performance. During the twentieth century counter-insurgency assumed the status of one of the British military's fortes. A wealth of asymmetric warfare experience was accumulated after the Second World War as the small wars of decolonisation offered the army of a fading imperial power many opportunities to deploy against an irregular enemy. However, this quantity of experience does not translate into quality. This book argues that the British, far from being exemplars of counter-insurgency, have in fact consistently proved to be slow learners in counter-insurgency warfare. This book presents an analysis of the most significant British counter-insurgency campaigns of the past 60 years: Malaya (1948-60), Kenya (1952-60), South Arabia (1962-67), the first decade of the Northern Irish 'Troubles' (1969-79), and the recent British counter-insurgency campaign in southern Iraq (2003-09). Colonial history is used to contextualise the contemporary performance in Iraq and undermine the commonly held confidence in British counter-insurgency. Blending historical research with critical analysis, this book seeks to establish a new paradigm through which to interpret and analyse the British approach to counter-insurgency, as well as considering the mythology of inherent British competence in the realm of irregular warfare. It will be of interest to students of counter-insurgency, military history, strategic studies, security studies, and IR in general.

This classic, definitive series continues with this volume on Czech panzers and armored vehicles in German use from 1920-1945. Spielberger, a leading expert in the field of German military vehicles, presents the wide variety of variants on the 35(t) and 38(t) chassis: self-propelled artillery, anti-tank guns, flak, mortars, flamethrowers, Hetzer, half-tracks, trucks, personnel carriers, etc.