As part of the Light Division created to act as the advance guard of Wellington's army, the 95th Rifles are the first into battle and the last out. Fighting and thieving their way across Europe, they are clearly no ordinary troops. The 95th are in fact the first British soldiers to take aim at their targets, to take cover when being shot at, to move tactically by fire and manoeuvre. And by the end of the six-year campaign they have not only proved themselves the toughest fighters in the army, they have also - at huge personal cost - created the modern notion of the infantryman. In an exhilarating work of narrative military history, Mark Urban traces the story of the 95th Rifles, the toughest and deadliest sharpshooters of Wellington's Army. 'If you like Sharpe, then this book is a must, your Christmas present solved.' Bernard Cornwell, Daily Mail 'Urban writes history the way it should be written, alive and exciting.' Andy McNab

The Jacobite Rising of 1745 could not have taken place without French support. French ships carried Charles Edward Stuart to Scotland, French gold financed his campaign, and French weapons equipped many of his troops. Yet the actual French military contribution to the campaign was small, and its role is frequently neglected. This book seeks to redress this balance by looking in detail at the French military contribution to the Jacobite '45: the first detachment of troops to sail with the Prince - who instead of landing in Scotland found themselves caught up in an intense naval battle; the staff officers and professionals who helped Charles organise his army on modern European lines; and the Irish and Scots regulars who fought with distinction at Inverurie, Falkrik, and Culloden. As with many aspects of the '45, myths and misconceptions aplenty have arisen about the nature and significance of the French contribution. New archival research enables a better picture to be obtained than ever before of the men who made up the rank and file of this contingent, and of the background and fates of those who led them. New analysis is offered, too, as to details of the uniforms worn by the detachments serving in Scotland, re-considering existing sources and also bringing out new information. Taken together, the result is to fill an important gap in our understanding of these dramatic events, one of the last occasions that foreign troops fought on British soil.

This book has been written with intent of echoing a fact that the defence of a nation is a right of every one of its citizens. It tries to apprise countrymen about the availability of an efficient and flexible citizen-friendly tool the Territorial Army (TA) existing in our country for everyone to fulfill this right. It has been attempted to highlight the potential of TA as a national reserve and the identity crisis it is presently facing. Can Army be everywhere? Do we really need a force like TA when adequate standing army is there? How large a reserve force can our country afford? An attempt has been made to address all such issues and bring out answers.

The Royal Army Medical Corps was present during all engagements in the Second World War. From the frozen wastes of Norway through to liberation from the death camps of Germany and the Far East, RAMC personnel were frequently close to the front line, risking their lives to provide medical support to a mobile army in a mechanised war. Nearly 3,000 army medics were killed during the war as a result of enemy action and exposing themselves to dangerous tropical diseases. Using much previously unpublished material from public and private family archives, this book charts the story of those who remained true to the motto of the RAMC: Faithful in Adversity.

Winner, 2008 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award, presented by the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation Peter F. Owen offers a tautly worded, historically rigorous, and intensely human survey of the agonizing burden shouldered by the Second Battalion of the Sixth Regiment of US Marines from its formation in Quantico, Virginia, in 1917 until the cessation of hostilities in November of the following year. In places like Belleau Wood and Soissons, these young men, led by dedicated officers, died in staggering numbers-primarily because of the outmoded tactics they had learned. Owen shows how the battalion regrouped after these campaigns, however, and embarked on a period of intense retraining, molding themselves into a coldly efficient military machine. ." . . the maps, figures, and photographs are excellent . . . a timely, original, and important contribution to the record. I highly recommend it to the infantry professional operating at the tactical level of war or to any Marine who is interested in our rich and storied history."--Marine Corps Gazette "This is one of the most useful 'soldier's eye' stories published during the last few years. Built on interviews, archival deposits, memoirs, printed documents, and appropriate secondary sources, it catches in the words of the actual participants the grim realities of rain, mud, bad food, lost friends, and a formidable adversary characteristic of Great War literature. . . . a serious addition to the study of the American military experience in the Great War."--Journal of Military History PETER F. OWEN retired from the US Marine Corps as a lieutenant colonel. His first command was a weapons platoon in the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines. During his research for this book, he walked every battlefield on which 2/6 fought during the Great War. Owen previously annotated Carl Brannen's World War I memoir, Over There. Number Nine: C. A. Brannen Series

From Gazala to Tunisia: 422 Days in the Life of the 2nd Battalion, The Rifle Brigade is the story of the riflemen and their battles of Gazala to the successful end of the North African campaign. These 422 days include the bitter battles of Gazala, the conflict around the Cauldron, the loss of Tobruk before the forced withdrawal with the remainder of the Eighth Army, along the Mediterranean Coast and finally digging in at Alamein. Due to their involvement in the battles around the Alamein Line, the Mine Task Force opened gaps in the Axis defences which allowed British armour to overwhelm the Germans. The riflemen of the 2nd Battalion took on the enemy in the battles at the Mareth Line and Wadi Akirit in Tunisia before joining the First Army in the final conflicts that brought the North African campaign to a successful conclusion. It was this battalion that marched two miles into enemy lines to take occupation of the Snipe position, feeling the full brunt of Rommel's counterattack, before marching back 36 hours later. It has been said that Alamein was the turning point of the war and that Snipe was the turning point of Alamein. This superb book tells all these takes and more in a detailed, powerful and moving account of the 2nd Battalion during its finest 15 months.

This book has been written with intent of echoing a fact that the defence of a nation is a right of every one of its citizens. It tries to apprise countrymen about the availability of an efficient and flexible citizen-friendly tool the Territorial Army (TA) existing in our country for everyone to fulfill this right. It has been attempted to highlight the potential of TA as a national reserve and the identity crisis it is presently facing. Can Army be everywhere? Do we really need a force like TA when adequate standing army is there? How large a reserve force can our country afford? An attempt has been made to address all such issues and bring out answers.

In 1943, the New Brunswick Rangers were sent to Britain, converted into a heavy weapons support unit, and shipped off to Normandy.Originating as a 19th century militia, the New Brunswick Rangers were placed on active service for the first time during the Second World War, serving first in the Maritimes and Newfoundland. In 1943, the Rangers were sent to Britain, where they were converted to a heavy weapons support unit, armed with machine guns and mortars in preparation for the invasion of Normandy.In this illuminating account, Matthew Douglass uncovers their participation in the war: their arrival in Normandy and their contributions to the battles in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Present at many of the critical moments of the campaign, the Rangers participated in the Battle of the Falaise Gap, which cleared the way for the advance on Paris and the German border; the Battle of the Scheldt, which secured the vital supply lines of the port of Antwerp; and the Battle of the Reichswald, when German resistance on the west bank of the Rhine was finally broken. Drawing on archival photographs and original source documents, Douglass's account of the Rangers' wartime experiences is a crucial piece in understanding the role of heavy weapons support units on the Western Front.The New Brunswick Rangers in the Second World War is volume 27 of the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series.

The original cadre of the later Waffen-SS was formed in March 1933 as the SS Headquarters Guard Berlin. From the first 117 volunteers emerged more than fifty senior SS officers, all of whom received high decorations for bravery in the 38 Waffen-SS divisions that were formed later.

The first hundred days of Armageddon 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers August-December 1914.

"Trained as an assault brigade, the 56th landed on D-Day and successfully liberated Bayeux the following day. It was then employed in the crossing of the River Seine and the assault on Le Havre, before fighting across Belgium and Holland culminating in the final assault on Arnhem in April 1945, by which time the brigade had served in four different divisions. No previous study has sought to explain how an infantry brigade is used in battle, let alone one holding the title Independent. Holborn considers the styles of war as carried out by British forces and casts new light on the effectiveness of British infantry units and their contribution to war effort. Extensive use has been made of previously unseen primary evidence from The National Archives, IWM Archive and Regimental Museums. The evidence is used to explore issues pertinent to life in the Army at home during the war, training for war and the Campaign in North West Europe, as well as the role of the battalion."

The book tells the story of the 10th Australian Light Horse during World War One. It takes the reader on a journey with the first enlisted men from West Australia from their enlistment, through training at Black Boy Hill, their encampment at Meadi, Egypt, the call to Gallipoli and then the slow process of taking the Sinai, the drive through Beersheba to Jerusalem and finally their capture of Damascus. The war for the 10th did not stop here because they had to maintain the peace. Eventually the men returned home. The story is told through the eyes of the author's father, Trooper Herman John Murphy. With a mixture of well researched fact added to a little fiction the Author takes a fresh look at an old topic capturing the essence of the Anzac: Courage, Mateship, Initiative, Self Reliance, Sense of Humour and very little respect for authority and military protocol. The underlying message of the book is the meaningless waste of human life in war

Although the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which began in late September 1918 and continued through to the Armistice, was not the first major action fought by the AEF, it was the greatest in which it engaged in the Great War. Indeed, the casualty count in the fighting at the Meuse-Argonne makes it the bloodiest battle in American military history. The Argonne was an area that had been heavily fought over, particularly in the early part of the war; its eastern part, towards the Meuse, then became enveloped in the first great attritional battle of the war, Verdun. The area is marked by extensive woodlands and rolling countryside; however, unlike the Somme, it is interspersed with numerous waterways, deep ravines and higher ridges, along with significant hills, such as at Montfaucon. To be frank, the opening stages of the Offensive were marked by considerable unforced difficulties for the Americans, who after all were facing a far from strong enemy opposition (however formidable the defensive line might have been). Errors were made, logistical problems multiplied, command was often less than satisfactory. In many respects this should not have come as a surprise: this was an army that was relatively new to the Western Front, which was being reinforced at an awesome rate (approximately 300,000 men a month by July) and whose senior commanders had never before faced the challenges of modern warfare, themselves evolving at a dizzying rate. Maarten Otte gives a background narrative to events before the opening of the Offensive and its development. Taking each of the US corps in turn, he then provides tours that will help the visitor to understand the fighting and the problems that were faced. This opening book on the Meuse-Argonne takes the reader, more or less, to the date when General Pershing handed over command of the US First Army to Major General Liggard in mid October, a change in command that marked a significant improvement in the American performance as they pushed the Germans ever backwards. The Great War battlefield of the Argonne is marked by numerous physical remains of the war, some fine (some might argue over grandiose) monuments and by the stunning American cemetery at Romagne, the second largest in the world administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission. There is much to see in a battlefield that has been largely neglected in the decades since the Second World War.

Of all the military assignments in Vietnam, perhaps none was more challenging than the defense of the Mekong River Delta region. Operating deep within the Viet Cong--controlled Delta, the 9th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army was charged with protecting the area and its population against Communist insurgents and ensuring the success of the South Vietnamese government's pacification program. Faced with unrelenting physical hardships, a tenacious enemy, and the region's rugged terrain, the 9th Division established strategies and quantifiable goals for completing their mission, effectively writing a blueprint for combating guerilla warfare that influenced army tacticians for decades to come. In The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam: Unparalleled and Unequaled, Ira A. Hunt Jr. details the innovative strategies of the 9th Division in their fight to overcome the Viet Cong. Based on Hunt's experience as colonel and division chief of staff, the volume documents how the 9th Division's combat effectiveness peaked in 1969. A wealth of illustrative material, including photos, maps, charts, and tables, deepens understanding of the region's hazardous environment and clarifies the circumstances of the division's failures and successes. A welcome addition to scholarship on the Vietnam War, The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam will find an audience with enthusiasts and scholars of military history.

An inventive study of relations between the National Guard and the Regular Army during World War II, Guard Wars follows the Pennsylvania National Guard's 28th Infantry Division from its peacetime status through training and into combat in Western Europe. The broader story, spanning the years 1939 1945, sheds light on the National Guard, the U.S. Army, and American identities and priorities during the war years. Michael E. Weaver carefully tracks the division s difficult transformation into a combat-ready unit and highlights General Omar Bradley's extraordinary capacity for leadership which turned the Pennsylvanians from the least capable to one of the more capable units, a claim dearly tested in the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest. This absorbing and informative analysis chronicles the nation's response to the extreme demands of a world war, and the flexibility its leaders and soldiers displayed in the chaos of combat."

This is the compelling story of West Belfast's involvement fighting on the Western Front throughout the First World War. This is the story of men from either side of West Belfast's sectarian divide during the Great War. This dramatic book tells the story of the volunteers of the 36th and 16th divisions who fought on the Somme and side-by-side at Messines. Grayson also brings in forgotten West Belfast men from throughout the armed forces, from the retreat at Mons to the defeat of Germany and life post-war. In so doing, he tells a new story which challenges popular perceptions of the war and explains why remembrance remains so controversial in Belfast today.

The Black Devils March is an account of how the 1st (and only) Polish Armoured Division in the West under the leadership of General Stanislaw Maczek, arose out of the ashes of defeat and while attempting to avoid the internal politics of the Polish Government in Exile, was able to return to Europe in August 1944. In Europe the Division achieved glory, honour and victory but was unable to liberate Poland owing to the politics of the post-war settlement in Europe. The account of the formation and combat service of the Division is fully researched from Polish, English and German sources, and includes training in Scotland, the unit's sharp introduction to warfare in the Normandy bocage, the Falaise Gap and Hill 262, the advance into Belgium and Holland, and final victory on German soil. The text is supported by nearly 100 photographs (many previously unpublished), maps, and detailed appendices, including a list of the Division's medal recipients. The politics of the Polish Army are examined as well as the historical legacy of the Polish soldier in exile. This helps the reader understand the frustration of the Poles as they sought to form an armoured unit - not only was it of value as part of the Polish Army fighting alongside the Allies, it was also of considerable political value to the Poles as they sought to preserve their dignity and sovereignty. The conclusion points to a rather hollow victory for the Poles by May 1945, as Germany may have been vanquished but Poland remained occupied, this time by the Soviet Union.

The night broke open in a storm of explosions and fire. The sound of shells whizzing overhead, screeching through the night like wounded pheasants, was terrifying. When the shells exploded prematurely overhead, a rain of shrapnel fell on the men below--better than when the shells exploded in the trenches...In A More Unbending Battle, journalist and author Pete Nelson chronicles the little-known story of the 369th Infantry Regiment--the first African-American regiment mustered to fight in WWI. Recruited from all walks of Harlem life, the regiment had to fight alongside the French because America's segregation policy prohibited them from fighting with white U.S. soldiers. Despite extraordinary odds and racism, the 369th became one of the most successful--and infamous--regiments of the war. The Harlem Hellfighters, as their enemies named them, spent longer than any other American unit in combat, were the first Allied unit to reach the Rhine, and showed extraordinary valor on the battlefield, with many soldiers winning the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor. Replete with vivid accounts of battlefield heroics, A More Unbending Battle is the thrilling story of the dauntless Harlem Hellfighters.

The Union inland navy that became the Mississippi Squadron is one of the greatest, yet least studied aspects of the Civil War. Without it, however, the war in the West may not have been won, and the war in the East might have lasted much longer and perhaps ended differently. The men who formed and commanded this large fighting force have, with few exceptions, not been as thoroughly studied as their army counterparts. The vessels they created were highly specialized craft which operated in the narrow confines of the Western rivers in places that could not otherwise receive fire support. Ironclads and gunboats protected army forces and convoyed much needed supplies to far-flung Federal forces. They patrolled thousands of miles of rivers and fought battles that were every bit as harrowing as land engagements yet inside iron monsters that created stifling heat with little ventilation. This book is about the intrepid men who fought under these conditions and the highly improvised boats in which they fought. The tactics their commanders developed were the basis for many later naval operations. Of equal importance were lessons learned about what not to do. The flag officers and admirals of the Mississippi Squadron wrote the rules for modern riverine warfare.

Much of the Civil War west of the Mississippi was a war of waiting for action, of foraging already stripped land for an army that supposedly could provision itself, and of disease in camp, while trying to hold out against Union pressure. There were none of the major engagements that characterized the conflict farther east. Instead, small units of confederate cavalry and infantry skirmished with Federal forces in Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana, trying to hold the western Confederacy together. The many units of Texans who joined this fight had a second objective - to keep the enemy out of their home state by placing themselves ""between the enemy and Texas."" Historian Anne J. Bailey studies one Texas unit, Parsons's Cavalry Brigade, to show how the war west of the Mississippi was fought. Historian Norman D. Brown calls this ""the definitive study of Parsons's Cavalry Brigade; the story will not need to be told again."" Exhaustively researched and written with literary grace, ""Between the Enemy and Texas"" is a ""must"" book for anyone interested in the role of mounted troops in the Trans-Mississippi Department.

Salford was late in recruiting for its Pals battalions, with many of its men already joining Territorial units and a new Pals battalion in Manchester. Yet within a year it had raised four Pals battalions and a reserve battalion. Raised mainly from Lancashire's most notorious slums, the men trained together in Wales, North East England and on Salisbury Plain, they had great expectations of success. On the 1st of July 1916 the Somme offensive was launched and in the very epicentre of that cauldron the first three of Salford's battalions were thrown at the massive defences of Thiepval - the men were decimated, Salford was shattered. Michael Stedman records the impact of the war from the start on Salford and follows the difficulties and triumphs. Whether the actions small or great the author writes graphically about them all. Unusual photographs and a variety of sources make this both a readable and a scholarly account.

On an early morning in the fall of 1942, Kemp McLaughlin's group set out for a raid on a French target. Immediately after dropping its bombs, McLaughlin's plane was hit. A huge fire burned a four-foot hole in his wing, his waist gunner bailed out, his radio operator was wounded, the plane lost all oxygen, and his pilot put on a parachute and sat on the escape hatch, waiting for the plane to explode. And this was only McLaughlin's first sortie. McLaughlin went on to pilot the mission command plane on the second raid against Schweinfurt, the largest air raid in history, which resulted in the destruction of 70 percent of German ball bearing production capability. McLaughlin also participated in the bombing of heavy water installations in Norway. The Mighty Eighth in WWII also includes the stories of downed pilots in France and Holland who traveled under the cover of night through the countryside, evading the Nazis who had seen their planes go down. As a group leader, McLaughlin was responsible for the planning and execution of air raids, forced to follow the directives of senior (and sometimes less informed) officers. His position as one of the managers of the massive sky trains allows him to provide unique insight into the work of maintenance and armament crews, preflight briefings, and off-duty activities of the airmen. No other memoir of World War II reveals so much about both the actual bombing runs against Nazi Germany and the management of personnel and material that made those airborne armadas possible.