The contributors here consider the multifarious aspects of the Anglo-American approach to war. The essays range from a study of volunteer soldiering in the Mexican War of 1846-48, and analyses of operations in the two World Wars, to a reconsideration of the nature of future warfare. All the contributors are concerned to base their work on the overall historical context. They explore the relationship between theory and practice in military operations. A primary interest is reviewing the problems of transition from the small-scale duties of an imperial or frontier constabulary to coping with the demand of continental warfare. This recurring problem is a central feature of the Anglo-American military tradition. Throughout, a major theme is the importance of peacetime in the mental preparation and training for war.

In World War I the 30th Infantry Division earned more Medals of Honor than any other American division. In World War II it spent more consecutive days in combat than almost any other outfit. Recruited mainly from the Carolinas and George and Tennessee, they were one of the hardest-fighting units the U.S. ever fielded in Europe. What was it about these men that made them so indomitable? They were tough and resilient for a start, but this division had something else. They possessed intrinsic zeal to engage the enemy that often left their adversaries in awe. Their U.S. Army nickname was the "Old Hickory" Division. But after encountering them on the battleifled, the Germans themselves came to call them "Roosevelt's SS." This book is a combat chronicle of this illustrious division that takes the reader right to the heart of the fighting through the eyes of those who were actually there. It goes from the hedgerows of Normandy to the 30th's gallant stand against panzers at Mortain, to the brutal slugs around Aachen and the Westwall, and then to the Battle of the Bulge. Each chapter is meticulously researched and assembled with accurate timelines and after-action reports. The last remaining veterans of the 30th Division and attached units who saw the action firsthand relate their remarkable experiences here for the first, and probably the last time. This is precisely what military historians mean when they write about "fighting spirit." There have been only a few books written about the 30th Division and none contained direct interviews with the veterans. This work follows their story from Normandy to the final victory in Germany, packed with previously untold accounts from the survivors. These are the men whose incredible stories epitomize what it was to be a GI in one of the toughest divisions in WWII.

At its peak the Italian Army contributed 2.5 million troops to the Axis war effort of World War II (1939-1945). English-speaking readers tend to think of this army in terms of the North African campaign; but far more Italian troops served in other theatres. They invaded, and later bore the major burden of occupying, the Balkan countries; and Italy sent 250,000 troops to fight on the Russian Front. In this, the first of a three-part study, Philip Jowett covers the European theatre - including Russia - from 1940 to Italy's armistice with the Allies in 1943. Many interesting uniforms, a number of them new to most readers, are meticulously illustrated by Stephen Andrew.

When the Red Army needed to mechanize its cavalry branch in the 1930s, the BT fast tank was its solution. Based on the American Christie high-speed tank, the Red Army began a program to adapt the design to its own needs. Early versions were mechanically unreliable and poorly armed but by the mid-1930s, the BT-5 emerged, armed with an excellent dual-purpose 45mm gun. It saw its combat debut in the Spanish Civil War in 1937 and was later used in the border battles with the Japanese Kwangtung Army in the late 1930s. The final production series, the BT-7, was the most refined version of the family. One of the most common types in Red Army service in the first years of the Second World War, BT tanks saw extensive combat in Poland, Finland, and the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa in 1941 and latterly during the 1945 campaign against the Japanese in Manchuria - this is the story of their design and development history.

At 21:00 on 9 May 1940 Codeword Danzig was issued alerting Adolf Hitler's airborne troops that they were about to spearhead an attack on Belgium and the Netherlands. The following day his blitzkrieg rolled forward striking the British Expeditionary Force and the French armies in Belgium and in northern France at Sedan. The desperate attempts of the allied armies to stem the Nazi tide proved futile and, once their reserves had been exhausted and the remaining forces cut off, Paris lay open. By early June, it was all over - trapped British, Belgian and French troops were forced to evacuate Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne and the defeated French army agreed to an armistice leaving the country divided in two. This dramatic story is shown in a sequence of over 150 historic photographs that Anthony Tucker-Jones he has selected for this memorable book. The images he has chosen cover every aspect of this extraordinary campaign, but his main focus is on the vital role played by the armoured fighting vehicles of both sides. The book is a graphic record of the destruction wrought by the Wehrmacht's lightning offensive through the Low Countries and France.

In 1941-44, Nazi Germany's Gebirgsjager - elite mountain troops - clashed repeatedly with land-based units of the Soviet Navy during the mighty struggle on World War II's Eastern Front. Formed into naval infantry and naval rifle brigades, some 350,000 of Stalin's sailors would serve the Motherland on land, playing a key role in the defence of Moscow, Leningrad, and Sevastopol. The Gebirgsjager, many among them veterans of victories in Norway and then Crete, would find their specialist skills to be at a premium in the harsh terrain and bitter weather encountered at the northern end of the front line. Operating many hundreds of miles north of Moscow, the two sides endured savage conditions as they fought one another inside the Arctic Circle. Featuring archive photographs, specially commissioned artwork and expert analysis, this is the absorbing story of the men who fought and died in the struggle for the Soviet Union's northern flank at the height of World War II.

This publication from PeKo Publishing gives an overview of three subversions of the Panther medium tank with the help of 103 original, large and high quality photographs, many of which were unpublished so far.

In 1979 the Soviet Union moved from military `help' to active intervention in Afghanistan. Four-fifths of the Afghan National Army deserted in the first year of the war, which, compounded with the spread and intensification of the rebellion led by the formidable guerrilla fighters of the Mujahideen, forced the Soviets to intensify their involvement. The Soviet army was in generally poor condition when the war started, but the troops of the airborne and air assault units were better trained and equipped. As a result they developed aggressive, sometimes effective tactics against an enemy that refused to behave the way most Soviet commanders wished him to. Featuring specially commissioned artwork, this absorbing study examines the origins, combat role and battlefield performance of the Soviet Union's paratroopers and their Mujahideen adversaries during the long and bloody Soviet involvement in Afghanistan during the 1980s.

During the period 1890-1910 the German Army of Kaiser Wilhelm II was ablaze in color, particularly the Garde and Cavalry regiments. In this superb new volume the author brings to the student of uniforms, as well as the art and military historian, the true glory of this brief, but most colorful time. Carl Becker was a skillful and talented artist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whose treatment of German uniforms, the military pomp and ceremony, as well as the work-a-day activities of the Kaiser's army, are both realistically and artistically among the very best. The 104 never before published uniform plates are a treasure trove of color, action, and rarity which have only been viewed by a select few before this publication. The additional illustrations from books and the postcard art reproduced here well display the scope and depth of Becker's work. Technically correct, and artistically rendered on the subject of Kaiser Wilhelm II's flamboyant army of 1890-1910, this book will be a welcome addition to the library of the collector, the student of military costume, modelers and the appreciator of well executed military art.

In 1941, the U.S. Army activated the 758th Tank Battalion, the first all-black tank battalion. This took years of protests and a lot of political clout because African Americans had to fight for the right to fight. Segregation and discrimination had reached critical levels and the Pittsburgh Courier called for the "Double V Campaign." It appealed for victory abroad against the forces of global domination and victory at home against racism. Two other all-black tank battalions joined the 5th Tank Group, the 761st in 1942 and the 784th in 1943. The 758th fought the Nazis and the Fascists in Northern Italy from the beautiful beaches of the Liguria Sea through the Po Valley and up into the rugged Apennine Mountains. They breached the Gothic Line with the 92nd "Buffalo" Infantry Division. Victorious over history's most racist regimes, many black service members returned home with hopes of a more tolerant nation. Most were bitterly disappointed. Segregation was still the law of the land; racism was alive and well. For many black veterans, disappointment became determination to fight discrimination with the same sense of purpose that had defeated the Axis. After the war they deactivated but unlike their sister battalions, the 761st and 784th, they were reborn in the 64th Tank Battalion keeping their distinguished unit insignia, a black rampant elephant head with white tusks and the scrolled motto - "We Pierce." And reborn again as the 64th Armored Regiment comprised of four separate battalions, the 1/64th, 2/64th, 3/64th, and 4/64th. The ancestral 758th Tank Battalion established in 1941 began with the rudimentary Stuart light tank, advanced to the Sherman medium tank, the Pershing medium/heavy tank, the Patton main battle tank, and now to the ultra-modern Abrams main battle tank. They went from the meek 37 millimeter cannon to a technically advanced 120 millimeter main gun augmented by a thermal viewer, an inter-vehicle tracker, a guided missile system, and other high-tech devices. This unit fought racial discrimination up until it became integrated in 1953, although discrimination continued at the individual level, the unit overcame it. They entered the Korean War to fight for Democracy ironically a segregated unit but returned to the United States fully integrated.

This facsimile reprint of the very rare 345th Bombardment Group (M) war book appears here in a new quality edition. The 345th Bombardment Group, the famed "Air Apaches," flew against the Japanese in heavily armed B-25s in hair-raising low level bombing and strafing attacks.

Ferdinand Porsche was an Austrian engineer born in 1875. In the interwar period, Ferdinand founded an automotive consultation firm, which gradually grew into today's Porsche AG automotive company. Porsche's firm was responsible for the design of the "Volkswagen," a simple model known today as the Beetle. During the Second World War, Porsche's firm played an important role in designing military vehicles for the Wehrmacht. This work follows up on author Michael Froehlich's book on Porsche's massive "Maus" tank and describes the firm's other armored-vehicle designs, with special emphasis on the VK 4501 (P) Tiger prototype and the "Ferdinand" tank destroyer. VK 4501 was the designation for the prototypes competing to be what would become the Panzer VI "Tiger." Porsche's concept used a novel gasoline/electric hybrid power plant, but the Tiger contract eventually went to Henschel. Through details on the Tiger trials at the Verskraft proving ground, readers will gain insight into the armament procurement process in the Third Reich. The hull/chassis design from VK 4501 (P) was later repurposed for a large tank destroyer named for the designer, "Ferdinand." These imposing vehicles saw combat on multiple fronts and were later renamed "Elefant." Froehlich's study, available in English for the first time, is grounded in original reports, manuals, and technical drawings.

This is a major new history of the British army during the Great War written by three leading military historians. Ian Beckett, Timothy Bowman and Mark Connelly survey operations on the Western Front and throughout the rest of the world as well as the army's social history, pre-war and wartime planning and strategy, the maintenance of discipline and morale and the lasting legacy of the First World War on the army's development. They assess the strengths and weaknesses of the army between 1914 and 1918, engaging with key debates around the adequacy of British generalship and whether or not there was a significant 'learning curve' in terms of the development of operational art during the course of the war. Their findings show how, despite limitations of initiative and innovation amongst the high command, the British army did succeed in developing the effective combined arms warfare necessary for victory in 1918.

Dedicated German anti-tank vehicles made their first major appearance in the Second World War as combatants developed effective armoured vehicles and tactics. Some were little more than stopgap solutions, mounting an anti-tank gun on a tracked vehicle to give mobility, while others were more sophisticated designs. The book covers the development and technology throughout the war that led to tank destroyers like the Panzerjger I, Sturmgeschtz, Marders, Nashorn. Hetzer, Jagdpanzer, Elefant, Jagdtiger IV and Jagdpanther vehicles being developed. As the war progressed the tank destroyers fire power became more lethal to meet the ever increasing threat against Soviet armour. Larger and more powerful variants entered the battlefield, but due the overwhelming enemy opposition they were compelled not only to attack armour, but to support ground troops too. This comprehensive account covers all the Nazis mobile anti-tank vehicles in words and images.

Anzio Annie, Anzio Express, "Leopold"; known by many names, the German 8 cm Kanone 5 Eisenbahngeschutz (railway gun), commonly abbreviated K5(E), was the most successful and widely used of Germany's railway gun designs. Twenty-four of the weapons, capable of shelling England from positions in France, were built and were used by Germany on most of their fronts, including France, Italy, Russia, and Holland. The operation and use of these fearsome weapons are presented through 80 period black-and-white photos. The vintage photos are supplemented by over 150 full-color photos of the only surviving examples, illustrating the nuances of the construction of these massive weapons.

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.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203137302

Here is the remarkable story of the foreigners who volunteered to join the guerrilla war against Germans and Fascists in Second World War Italy. The fighters included Britons, Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Americans, Russians, Poles and Yugoslavs. Most were escaped prisoners of war who fled their camps after the Italian armistice and surrender in September 1943. From the summer of 1944 the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) built on information from their compatriots in enemy territory to send in agents to help arm and train the partisans and to coordinate airdrops. Against the backdrop of twenty months of savage warfare on the mainland, this is the full story of the Allied servicemen who took part in the Italian Resistance, which became one of the greatest insurgent movements in Western Europe. Partisan forces hit enemy communications, tied down seven German divisions and provided tactical support for the Allied armies. 'Among the Italian Partisans' is a celebration of brave men and great events.

A guide to sieges that took place in Europe and the Near East between 450 and 1565. The chapter on weaponry is descriptive and there are excellent drawings as well as contemporary illustrations. Equally, the final chapter on the conduct of sieges is admirably forthright... the index is particularly good. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT In medieval warfare, the siege predominated: for every battle, there were hundreds of sieges. Yet the rich and vivid history of siege warfare has been consistently neglected. Jim Bradbury's panoramic survey takes the history of siege warfare in Europe from the late Roman Empire to the 16th century, and includes sieges in Byzantium, Eastern Europe and the areas affected by the Crusades. Within this broad sweep of time and place, he finds, not that enormous changes occurred, but that the rules and methods of siege warfare remained remarkably constant. Included are detailed studies of some of the major sieges including Constantinople and Chateau-Gaillard. Throughout, Bradbury supports his narrative with chronicles and letters. irst-hand accounts of danger, famine and endurance bring the acute reality of siege warfare clearly before the reader. JIM BRADBURY is the author of The Medieval Archer; he writes and lectures on battles and warfare in England and France in the middle ages.

As the war began to swing in favour of the Allies, it became clear that no final defeat of the Third Reich would be possible until the armoured monsters of the Panzerwaffe were defeated. But who would, or even could, take on the mighty Tigers and Panthers, just a handful of which could stop entire formations in their tracks? The answer lay with the formation of a new type of unit, the Tank Destroyer Battalion. This is the story of the men and machines that made up the very first Tank Destroyer Battalion, the 601st, from their unique training and formation, to the final, desperate battles in the heart of Nazi Germany. Packed with rare material, letters, diaries and previously unpublished photographs, and now available in paperback, this is an intense and intimate chronicle of the men who fought the Panzers in an astonishing 10 campaigns and 546 days of lethal combat.

Want to know how to destroy a tank? Derail a train? Fell a tree? Break up a gun? Damage telephone wires? Destroy a bridge? Go back in time and become a partisan preparing for Nazi invasion with this original guerilla warfare manual produced for Russian civilians in 1943. The original version of this manual was distributed to the public in December 1941 as Nazi tanks rolled toward Moscow. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the Red Army was hard pressed to cope with the"invincible" Wehrmacht. Yet by 1943, it was obvious that Germany was losing the war. The partisan ranks grew as did the training requirements for the partisan commanders. The 1943 edition of The Partisan's Companion helped quickly train new guerrillas to a common standard. Inside was chapter after chapter of guerrilla warfare and survival tactics designed to turn ordinary civilians into freedom fighters capable of defending their homes against the Nazis. In this complete, expanded and last third edition, the manual incorporates all the lessons learned in battle. You'll learn the tactics of partisan warfare as practiced by Soviet citizens during World War II, including how to ambush the bad guy and get away with it, from railroads to highways; destroy their tanks without detection; blowing up supply stations; set up and use improvised sniper positions; carry out sappy work such as felling trees, damaging telephone and telegraph wires and destroying bridges; surviving under harsh winter conditions and perhaps the most important role of all- reconnaissance and recognizing the enemy before they recognize you.

Step into the violent world of the 13th century, where the European states of the Levant battled with Muslim powers for control of Jerusalem. At the cutting edge of the conflict were the elite fighting men of the Crusader and Egyptian armies - the Knights Templar and the Mamluks, respectively. The Templars were the most famous and formidable of the European Military Orders, while the Mamluks were a slave caste whose fighting prowess had elevated them to the point of holding real political power, threatening their Ayyubid masters who relied on them so desperately for military success. This book draws on the latest research to tell the story of three key engagements from the Fifth Crusade to the Seventh Crusade. It reveals the extraordinary ferocity with which these battles were fought, and how the struggle between Templar and Mamluk came to shape the political future of the region.

The FV4030/4 Challenger 1 is a British main battle tank (MBT) used by the British Army from 1983 to 2001. This book provides the reader with the full and unvarnished story of the origins, development, decades of service, and combat history of the Challenger 1 Tank. The text is interspersed with numerous photographs, many published for the first time, alongside color profiles and scale plans, including those of rare and unusual variants. It also relates the experiences of the crews who lived and worked on the Challenger 1, often in the irreverent style typical of Army humor.

'Guerrilla warfare is a war of the masses, a war of the people' First published in 1961, following the successful Cuban Revolution, this is Che Guevara's handbook for guerrilla war. It covers strategy, tactics, terrain, organization of an army, logistics, field medical treatment, intelligence, propaganda and training, and focuses on seven 'golden rules' of guerrilla warfare. Widely studied both by insurrectionist movements and those who have tried to suppress them, this is the key text to understand how revolutions can be fought and won by ordinary people.

There are many different types of power practice directed towards making soldiers obedient and disciplined inside the field of insurgency. While some commanders punish by inflicting physical pain, others use re-educative methods. While some prepare soldiers by using close-knit combat simulations, others send their subordinates immediately into battle. While these variations cannot fully be explained by the ideological set-up of different groups or by their political orientation, the basic assumption of the study is that they nevertheless do not emerge at random. This book puts forth that the type of power being utilised depends on the habitus of the respective commander and, as a result, becomes socially differentiated. Furthermore, power practices are shaped by the classificatory discourse of commanders (and their soldiers) on good soldierhood and leadership. The study found multiple 'habitus groups' inside the field of insurgency, each with a distinctive classificatory discourse and a corresponding power type at work. While commanders shaped the dominating power practices (such as military trainings, indoctrination, systems of rewards and punishments, etc.), low-ranking soldiers took active part in supporting or undermining power according to their own habitus formation. This book helps professionals in this area to understand better the types of power practice inside insurgencies. It is also a useful guide to students and academics interested in peace and conflict studies, sociology and Southeast Asia.

This is a comprehensive new history of the French Army's critical contribution to the Great War. Ranging across all fronts, Elizabeth Greenhalgh examines the French Army's achievements and failures and sets these in the context of the difficulties of coalition warfare and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the enemy forces it faced. Drawing from new archival sources, she reveals the challenges of dealing with and replenishing a mass conscript army in the face of slaughter on an unprecedented scale, and shows how, through trials and defeats, French generals and their troops learned to adapt and develop techniques which eventually led to victory. In a unique account of the largest Allied army on the Western Front, she revises our understanding not only of wartime strategy and combat, but also of other crucial aspects of France's war, from mutinies and mail censorship to medical services, railways and weapons development.