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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Military history
'A sprawling tale of love, family, duty, war, and displacement'
Khaled Hosseini Correspondents by Tim Murphy is a powerful story
about the legacy of immigration, the present-day world of
refugeehood, the violence that America causes both abroad and at
home, and the power of the individual and the family to bring good
into a world that is often brutal. Spanning the breadth of the
twentieth century and into the post-9/11 wars and their legacy,
Correspondents is a powerful novel that centres on Rita Khoury, an
Irish-Lebanese woman whose life and family history mirrors the
story of modern America. Both sides of Rita's family came to the
United States in the golden years of immigration, and in her home
north of Boston Rita grows into a stubborn, perfectionist, and
relentlessly bright young woman. She studies Arabic at university
and moves to cosmopolitan Beirut to work as a journalist, and is
then posted to Iraq after the American invasion in 2003. In
Baghdad, Rita finds for the first time in her life that her safety
depends on someone else, her talented interpreter Nabil al-Jumaili,
an equally driven young man from a middle-class Baghdad family who
is hiding a secret about his sexuality. As Nabil's identity
threatens to put him in jeopardy and Rita's position becomes more
precarious as the war intensifies, their worlds start to unravel,
forcing them out of the country and into an uncertain future.
In the late summer and fall of 1777, after two years of indecisive
fighting on both sides, the outcome of the American War of
Independence hung in the balance. Having successfully expelled the
Americans from Canada in 1776, the British were determined to end
the rebellion the following year and devised what they believed a
war-winning strategy, sending General John Burgoyne south to rout
the Americans and take Albany. When British forces captured Fort
Ticonderoga with unexpected ease in July of 1777, it looked as if
it was a matter of time before they would break the rebellion in
the North. Less than three and a half months later, however, a
combination of the Continental Army and Militia forces, commanded
by Major General Horatio Gates and inspired by the heroics of
Benedict Arnold, forced Burgoyne to surrender his entire army. The
American victory stunned the world and changed the course of the
war. Kevin J. Weddle offers the most authoritative history of the
Battle of Saratoga to date, explaining with verve and clarity why
events unfolded the way they did. In the end, British plans were
undone by a combination of distance, geography, logistics, and an
underestimation of American leadership and fighting ability. Taking
Ticonderoga had misled Burgoyne and his army into thinking victory
was assured. Saratoga, which began as a British foraging
expedition, turned into a rout. The outcome forced the British to
rethink their strategy, inflamed public opinion in England against
the war, boosted Patriot morale, and, perhaps most critical of all,
led directly to the Franco-American alliance. Weddle unravels the
web of contingencies and the play of personalities that ultimately
led to what one American general called "the Compleat Victory."
The Next World War takes readers behind the scenes of the most dangerous era of international tensions since the end of the Cold War, as countries and military forces prepare for potential large-scale combat on a scale unseen since 1945.
From the corridors of power in Washington, Whitehall, Moscow and Beijing to the new frontlines of conflict in Ukraine, Taiwan, cyberspace and even the far side of the moon, Peter Apps unflinchingly explores the fault lines where global peace is already starting to unravel.
Featuring the voices of the commanders, diplomats and technologists already shaping history, as well as the nervous conscripts and ordinary people directly caught up in events, The Next World War examines the real-world effects of this new era of global confrontation. For some - including millions of citizens told to stockpile food and water and prepare for potential mass disruption - it still may not feel entirely real. But for Russia, China and their growing 'axis of upheaval', today's conflicts represent a growing opportunity to reshape the world as they would like it - leading to potential disaster for the West if it cannot heed the warnings in time.
From the return of Cold War-style atomic threats to new forms of sabotage and 'hybrid warfare', the battle for global dominance is already firmly underway. The Next World War is the book you need to understand the growing precariousness of our current situation - and the unending battle to stop it escalating past the point of no return.
First published in 1918 Whizzbangs and Woodbines presents a candid
portrait of life behind the lines on the Western Front by Reverend
Durell, then Rector of Rotherhithe, and Chief Commissioner of the
Church Army in France.The Church Army, along with its counterparts
the YMCA, TOC-H and Salvation Army played an important part in the
support and morale of soldiers in war. In addition to providing
spiritual support,the Church Army welcomed more than 200,000 men
each day to their recreation huts and provided visits and gifts to
the wounded, tents and hostels near the front lines, drove
ambulances, mobile canteens and kitchen cars.In addition to
voluntary Church services, for those who wished to attend, a simple
salvation from trench life was offered; music, singing, concerts,
card games,billiards and refreshments, all small measures of joy in
the midst of dangers and hardships and as vital to the continued
war effort as bullets and shells. For a packet of woodbines and a
cup of tea was restorative ammunition enough for the average
British Tommy.
Engineers, inventors, and dreamers in the state of Michigan had
been searching for the secret of heavier-than-air flight well
before the Wright brothersa successful flights in 1903. In 1911,
the first aircraft manufacturer opened for business in Michigan.
During the 1920s and 1930s, the Detroit area was known as the
aAviation Capital of America.a The All-American Aircraft Show, held
annually in Detroit from 1928 to 1933, was the major showcase for
introducing new airplanes to the aviation community. Major
competitions, such as the Ford Air Tours (1925 to 1931) and the
Cirrus Derby (1930), originated and ended at airports in Michigan.
Michiganas aircraft manufacturers made major contributions to
Americaas war efforts, building 1,500 Liberty planes during World
War I and 8,685 B-24 bombers during World War II. In addition to
those major manufacturers, a large number of individual designers
and entrepreneurs toiled to build the ultimate airplane. Today the
pioneering tradition lives on in the hundreds of individuals who
design and build airplanes in their garage or basement.
In the summer of 1943, at the height of World War II, battles were
exploding all throughout the Pacific theater. In mid-November of
that year, the United States waged a bloody campaign on Betio
Island in the Tarawa Atoll, the most heavily fortified Japanese
territory in the entire Pacific. They were fighting to wrest
control of the island to stage the next big push toward Japan--and
one journalist was there to chronicle the horror.
Dive into war correspondent Robert Sherrod's battlefield account as
he goes ashore with the assault troops of the U.S. Marines 2nd
Marine Division in Tarawa. Follow the story of the U.S. Army 27th
Infantry Division as nearly 35,000 troops take on less than 5,000
Japanese defenders in one of the most savage engagements of the
war. By the end of the battle, only seventeen Japanese soldiers
were still alive.
This story, a must for any history buff, tells the ins and outs of
life alongside the U.S. Marines in this lesser-known battle of
World War II. The battle itself carried on for three days, but
Sherrod, a dedicated journalist, remained in Tarawa until the very
end, and through his writing, shares every detail.
First published in 1918, this book is a record of observations and
evidence compiled by the then US Consul in Queenstown, Eire. A rare
study from first-hand accounts. Contains detailed testimonies of
survivors from over fifty vessels attacked and often sunk by German
submarines during the Great War.A vivid and accurate picture of the
tactics and motives of German submarine warfare is provided in the
first part of the book. The second part concentrate son the attack
and sinking of RMS Lusitania. The sinking of the Lusitania remains
a controversial topic with the loss of 1,198 lives on 7May 1915
The Delaware Air National Guard got its start when a group of World
War II veterans formed a new National Guard unit composed of
surplus airplanes, combat experience, a measure of hard work,
camaraderie, and fun. Some called this assemblage a gentleman's
flying club, but in a few short years, it was tested for the first
time in the Korean War. Since then, the Delaware Air National Guard
has flown and fought in almost every corner of the globe. It
answered the call in Vietnam, the Middle East, the Balkans, and
most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. Celebrating 60 years of
service, it has become a well-known local institution. The "Blue
Hen Air Force" has evolved into a professional organization that
shoulders a significant operational role for the U.S. Air Force and
serves as a versatile emergency resource for the state of Delaware.
The story of the 39th Divisional Field Ambulances beings in the
year of 1915 at various recruiting offices, and continues in a
thin, uncertain stream of variable humanity, finding its way to the
Sussex Downs, facing the sea, at Cow Gap, Eastbourne, Here the
lines of white tents, the whitewashed stones, the martial sounds
and atmosphere welcomed the embryo soldier to the service of his
country, and to fellowship unique and abiding. These embryo
soldiers were to become the men that would be responsible for the
mobile frontline medical units and had special responsibility for
the care of casualties of the Brigades in their Division. Via Ypres
tells of these young men - mostly mere boys and non-militaristic in
their education - faced with the task of preparing to go to war to
take part in the great struggle. These happy, cheerful and perhaps
a bit casual soon-to-be soldiers remained just so once training was
over but also became the gallant and efficient men who were to be
faced with the danger and misery that war cannot help but bring; in
doing so potentially risk their lives to save those of their
comrades.
This account of the life of Jacques Vaillant de Guelis follows him
from his birth in Cardiff, through school and University and French
Military Service. Newly married he was recalled to France in 1939
and was assigned to a company of British engineers as liaison
officer until reportedly captured. He escaped via Dunkirk, only to
return to France a few days later. He retreated south, escaped over
the Pyrenees only to be caught again and flung into the Miranda del
Ebro Concentration camp. On his release he returned to England
where he was recruited by the fledgling SOE, after an interview
with Churchill. He became a familiar figure in Baker Street as a
recruiting and conducting officer until he was sent to France on a
fact- finding mission in 1941. A stay in Algiers in 1942-3 followed
when he took part in the liberation of Corsica before returning to
London and leading his 2nd mission to France in 1944. In 1945 he
joined SAARF and led his last mission to Germany which culminated
in collision with another vehicle when he was badly injured. He
died later as a result
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