Illustrated with detailed artworks of American, British, Canadian, Australian, French, Polish and other Western Allied nations tanks and their markings with exhaustive captions and specifications, World War II Tanks: Western Allies 1939-45: Identification Guide offers an highly-illustrated guide to the main armoured fighting vehicles used by the Western Allies during World War II. This compact volume includes sample unit structures and orders of battle from company up to corps level. Organised by division, the book offers a comprehensive survey of Western Allied armoured fighting vehicles by campaign, including the fall of Poland, the defence of the Low Countries and France, desert warfare in North Africa, the push through Italy, the Normandy landings, the Battle of the Bulge and the final defeat of Germany. All the major and many minor tanks are featured, with variations of the M4 Sherman, Churchill and Matilda, as well as mat-laying, engineering and mine-clearing versions. Lesser known models from the early years of the war, armoured cars, halftracks, trucks and amphibious vehicles make this a rounded compendium of Western Allied armoured fighting vehicles. Packed with more than 200 full-colour artworks and photographs with exhaustive specifications, World War II Tanks: Western Allies 1939-45 is a key reference guide for military modellers and World War II enthusiasts.

Who was the enigmatic Jean Moulin, a man as skilled in deception as he was in acts of heroism? The memory of this French Resistance hero, who was betrayed to the Gestapo and tortured by Klaus Barbie, the infamous 'Butcher of Lyon', is revered alongside that of other national icons. But Moulin's story is full of unanswered questions and the truth of his life is far more complicated than the legend. Patrick Marnham, winner of the Marsh Prize for biography, thrillingly tells the epic story of France's greatest war hero, bringing to light the shadowy and often deceitful world of the French Resistance, and offers a shocking conclusion to one of the great unsolved mysteries of World War II.

From Spain to Syria, the thrilling, untold history of Nazi fugitives turned postwar agents-for America, the Soviets, the Third World, or themselves. After the Second World War, the Allies vowed to hunt Nazi war criminals "to the ends of the earth." Yet many slipped away-or were shielded by the West, in exchange for cooperation in the unfolding confrontation with Communism. Reinhard Gehlen, founder of West German foreign intelligence, welcomed SS operatives into the fold, overestimating their supposed capabilities. This shortsighted decision nearly brought down his cherished service, as the KGB found his Nazi operatives easy to turn or expose. However, Gehlen was hardly alone in this cynical strategy; the American, Soviet, French and Israeli secret services-and nationalist organisations and independence movements-all used former Nazi operatives in the early Cold War. Nazi fugitives became freelance arms traffickers, spies, and assassins, playing crucial roles in the clandestine contest between the superpowers. From posh German restaurants, smuggler-infested Yugoslav ports, and fascist holdouts in Franco's Spain to Damascene safehouses and Egyptian country clubs, these spies created a busy network of influence and information, a uniquely combustible ingredient in the covert struggles of the postwar decades. Unearthing newly declassified revelations from Mossad and other archives, historian Danny Orbach reveals this long-forgotten arena of the Cold War, and its colourful cast of characters. Shrouded in official secrecy, clouded by myth and propaganda, the extraordinary tale of these Nazi agents has never been properly told-until now.

When the Soviet Union invaded Finland in late 1939, what transpired was a true “David and Goliath� conflict. When Finland refused a number of Soviet demands, including the ceding of substantial border territories ostensibly to enable the Soviets to protect Leningrad, the Soviets responded by launching an invasion. The invasion involved a large Soviet army, with several thousand tanks, and a large air force. But to the world's surprise the Finnish Army - many of them reservists without proper uniforms and limited ammunition - and Air Force battled overwhelming odds, and managed to resist Russian attacks for over two months, inflicting serious losses. Geography played its part as much of the Finnish-Soviet border was impassable, meaning that Soviet numerical superiority was of less import. Operating in the winter, with temperatures ranging as low as -43F, the Finns’ determined resistance won them international reputation. Although hostilities finally ended in a peace treaty that saw Finland cede 9% of its territory, Soviet losses had been heavy, and Finland retained its sovereignty. This fully illustrated text will cover the forces involved and all stages of the Winter War.

The unforgettable true story of two married journalists on an island-hopping run for their lives across the Pacific after the Fall of Manila during World War II-a saga of love, adventure, and danger. On New Year's Eve, 1941, just three weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were bombing the Philippine capital of Manila, where journalists Mel and Annalee Jacoby had married just a month earlier. The couple had worked in China as members of a tight community of foreign correspondents with close ties to Chinese leaders; if captured by invading Japanese troops, they were certain to be executed. Racing to the docks just before midnight, they barely escaped on a freighter-the beginning of a tumultuous journey that would take them from one island outpost to another. While keeping ahead of the approaching Japanese, Mel and Annalee covered the harrowing war in the Pacific Theater-two of only a handful of valiant and dedicated journalists reporting from the region. Supported by deep historical research, extensive interviews, and the Jacobys' personal letters, Bill Lascher recreates the Jacobys' thrilling odyssey and their love affair with the Far East and one another. Bringing to light their compelling personal stories and their professional life together, Eve of a Hundred Midnights is a tale of an unquenchable thirst for adventure, of daring reportage at great personal risk, and of an enduring romance that blossomed in the shadow of war.

The Dragoon offensive in August 1944 was preceded by bombings and sabotage that hit hard the German forces located in the South of France – damaging communications, railroads and bridges. The landings were then overwhelmingly successful, despite localised German resistance. The following morning a German force the size of around four infantry battalions was able to launch a counterattack, but by the end of the day von Schwerin ordered a retreat under cover of night. What ensued was a race to retreat to the Burgundian Gate, or Belfort Gap, before they were cut off by the advancing Allied troops. The Allies had all the means for a successful pursuit, while most of the German troops, with the notable exception of the 11th Panzer Division, were largely incapable of undertaking an orderly retreat. Some units, including the LXII Corps headquarters, were surrounded and captured. This account, by Jörg Staiger, recounts the German retreat and explains how the 19th Army sacrificed divisions to enable its retreat through the Rhone Valley.

On 9 November 1939, two unsuspecting British agents of the Special Intelligence Services walked into a trap set by German Spymaster Reinhard Heydrich. Believing that they were meeting a dissident German general for talks about helping German military opposition to bring down Hitler and end the war, they were instead taken captive in the Dutch village of Venlo and whisked away to Germany for interrogation by the Gestapo. The incident was a huge embarrassment for the Dutch government and provided the Germans with significant intelligence about SIS operations throughout Europe. The incident itself was an intelligence catastrophe but it also acts as a prism through which a number of other important narrative strands pass. Fundamental to the subterfuge perpetrated at Venlo were unsubstantiated but insistent rumours of high-ranking Germany generals plotting to overthrow the Nazi regime from within. After the humiliation suffered when Hitler tore up the Munich Agreement, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was anxious to see just how much truth there was in these stories; keen to rehabilitate his reputation through one last effort to find a peaceful rapprochement with Germany. When Franz Fischer, a small-time petty crook and agent provocateur, persuaded British SIS operatives in the Netherlands that he could act as a go-between for the British government with disaffected German generals, the German Security chief Reinhard Heydrich stepped in and quietly took control of the operation. Heydrich's boss, head of the Gestapo Heinrich Himmler, was anxious to explore the possibility of peace negotiations with Britain and saw an opportunity to exploit the situation for his personal benefit. On the day before a crucial meeting of conspirators and British agents on the Dutch-German border, a bomb exploded in the Burgerbraukeller in Munich in the exact spot where Hitler had stood to deliver a speech only minutes earlier. The perpetrator was quickly arrested, and Hitler demanded that Himmler find evidence to show that the two events were intimately connected-the British agents were snatched hours later. While the world was coming to terms with the fearsome power of German military might the British intelligence capability in northern Europe was consigned to the dustbin in the sleepy Dutch town of Venlo. This first full account of the Venlo incident explores the wider context of this German intelligence coup, and its consequences.

Taking as its point of departure Omer Bartov's acclaimed Anatomy of a Genocide, this volume brings together previously unknown accounts by three individuals from Buczacz. These rare narratives give personal glimpses into daily life in unsettled times: a Polish headmaster during World War I, a Ukrainian teacher and witness to both Soviet and German rule, and a Jewish radio technician, genocide survivor, and member of the Polish resistance. Together, they offer a prismatic perspective on a world remote from our own that nonetheless helps us understand how people not unlike ourselves responded to mass violence and destruction.

Terry s father, Norris Wadsworth, was sent to help start a pineapple plantation and cannery on a new frontier in the Philippines. While the rich, dark soil produced golden fruit, the Wadsworths and other families built their homes on a remote plateau at the edge of the jungle. The compound was eventually called, Del Monte, a namesake to their company. The tropical oasis with a 9 hole golf course and even a grass airstrip became a popular destination for many government and military dignitaries. As a young child, Terry s days were full of happiness and adventure. Life, like the growing pineapple, was sweet. She had a little pony, attended a small school, and enjoyed playing with the other young Del Monte children. The only threats to her edenic life were occasional cobra and python snakes found around, and sometimes even in, their home. That is, until a much fiercer enemy struck 5000 miles away at Pearl Harbor. Within hours of the surprise attack in Hawaii, the Japanese military launched a similar assault on the Philippine islands and began their campaign to overtake the American Protectorate. Just before the war started the Del Monte management had helped the U.S. Army Air Corps build an airbase with two long, grassy runways nearby. Soon, the peaceful skies above their paradisiacal home were swarming with military war machines. Terry and her family found themselves on the dangerous battle front. General Douglas MacArthur, Philippine President Manuel Quezon and their families, plus many other important people hid from the Japanese in Terry s remote home as they waited to secretly fly from Del Monte to Australia. As the fighting intensified, Terry s family abandoned Del Monte to hide in the dense, mountain jungle and wait for an opportunity to also escape to Australia. While the families were in hiding, Del Monte itself became a target of the Japanese military. Bombs and shells rained down, on the homes, cannery, and airfield. Eventually the Japanese pushed the American forces into retreat. Terry and her family found themselves with only one option. Surrender As they surrendered to the Japanese, Terry s father counseled her, Live each day to the best of your ability. Do not get caught up looking so far ahead that, worrying about the future, you get discouraged and lose hope. The advice served her well, as the next three years of her interment as a prisoner of war were full of hardship and suffering. Though stripped of her possessions and freedom, Terry was grateful to be alive and to be with her parents. Together, the family hovered on the brink of starvation, battling deadly infections and disease, and eluding death at the hands of their captors. Yet, despite these conditions, they found purpose in living a meaningful life. Each prisoner had a job to perform and holidays were still observed, even if it meant singing Christmas carols in the hold of a rat infested cargo ship or feasting on wormy prunes for Thanksgiving. Terry s unconquerable spirit, as an eight to eleven year old prisoner of war, is a reminder that even in the most deplorable circumstances, life is what you make of it. Meanwhile, General McArthur and the United States military returned to take back the Philippines from Japan. Military leaders learned of a Japanese plan to execute all prisoners of war before they could be freed. A special American military unit was charged with the dangerous assignment to pass behind enemy lines, 70 miles deep into Japanese territory, and liberate the prisoners. Terry s life and the lives of thousands of other men, women, and children depended on the success of this miraculous rescue mission

Frederick R. Gabriel graduated from medical school in 1940, entered the US Army, and was assigned to the newly-created 39th Station Hospital. His letters from the Pacific theater - especially from Guadalcanal, Angaur, and Saipan - capture the everyday life of a soldier physician. His son, Michael P. Gabriel, a professional historian, has faithfully preserved, edited, and annotated that correspondence to add a new dimension to our understanding of the social history of World War II, which he presents here in Physician Soldier: The South Pacific Letters of Captain Fred Gabriel from the 39th Station Hospital. Like most wartime hospitals, the 39th Station Hospital was positioned in a rear area and saw limited direct action. And like most wartime hospitals, the 39th Station Hospital spent each day confronting the injuries and casualties of frontline combat. Gabriel supervised a ward and oversaw the unit's laboratory, serving a hospital that provided care to four hundred patients at a time. Gabriel's letters home capture this experience and more, providing a revealing look into day-to-day life in the Pacific theater. He discusses the training of medical officers and female nurses, recreational activities such as Bob Hope's USO show, and even his thoughts on the death of FDR, the end of the war in Europe, and ultimately the horrors of the atomic bomb.

American Survivors is a fresh and moving historical account of U.S. survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, breaking new ground not only in the study of World War II but also in the public understanding of nuclear weaponry. A truly trans-Pacific history, American Survivors challenges the dualistic distinction between Americans-as-victors and Japanese-as-victims often assumed by scholars of the nuclear war. Using more than 130 oral histories of Japanese American and Korean American survivors, their family members, community activists, and physicians - most of which appear here for the first time - Naoko Wake reveals a cross-national history of war, illness, immigration, gender, family, and community from intimately personal perspectives. American Survivors brings to light the history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that connects, as much as separates, people across time and national boundaries.

The book tells the story of a little known artillery regiment, the 155th (Lanarkshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, RA which saw constant action during the ill-fated Malayan Campaign of 1941/42 and whose members later experienced the worst kind of hell as POWs of a cruel and bestial enemy. Following the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the Regiment fought a brave and resolute rearguard action all the way down the Malayan Peninsular and onto the so called impregnable fortress of Singapore. Held in the highest respect by comrades and foe alike, this former territorial cavalry regiment fully deserved its Royal Artillery moto - Ubigue - 'everywhere'. In the years that followed, the Gunners slaved, suffered an d died on the infamous Burma Railway, in copper mines of Formosa and camps throughout the Far East. More men of the Regiment died as POWs than fell in action. They should not be forgotten. Included is a full nominal roll which allows the reader to identify the camp/s where each individual Gunner was held. A Roll of Honour provides the date, place and cause of death and place of burial/commemoration of the Regiment's casualties.

This study investigates the relationship between Lothar-Gunther Buchheim (1918-2007), his bestselling 1973 novel Das Boot (The Boat), and West Germany's Vergangenheitsbewaltigung. As a war reporter during the Battle of the Atlantic, Buchheim benefitted from distinct privileges, yet he was never in a position of power. Almost thirty years later, Buchheim confronted the duality of his own past and railed against what he perceived to be a varnished public memory of the submarine campaign. Michael Rothberg's theory of the implicated beneficiary is used as a lens to view Buchheim and this duality. Das Boot has been retold by others worldwide because many people claim that the story bears an anti-war message. Wolfgang Petersen's critically acclaimed 1981 film and interpretations as a comedy sketch, a theatrical play, and a streamed television sequel have followed. This trajectory of Buchheim's personal memory reflects a process that practitioners of memory studies have described as transnational memory formation. Archival footage, interviews, and teaching materials reflect the relevance of Das Boot since its debut. Given the debates that surrounded Buchheim's endeavors, the question now raised is whether Germany's "mastering the past" serves as a model for other societies analyzing their own histories. Sitting at the intersection of History, Literature and Film Studies, this is an unprecedented case study depicting how the pre- and postwar times affected writers and others caught in the middle of the drama of the era.

This extraordinary book tells the story of a remarkable family caught in Japan at the outbreak of the Second World War in the Pacific. With letters, journal extracts and notes from Hamish Brown's parents, as well as his own recollections, it brings the era to life: not only life in the dying days of the British Empire, but also the terrible reality of the invasion of Singapore into which they escaped.

Designed to locate and sink German U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic, the escort carrier USS Bogue (CVE-9) became the most successful Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) carrier of World War II. This book covers the construction and commissioning of the Bogue, as well as the deployment of Naval Aviation composite squadrons that launched missions from the flight deck. Day-to-day operations are chronicled in comprehensive detail, along with developments in ASW tactics and the breaking of Germany's Enigma Naval Code, which enabled U.S. Navy forces in the Atlantic to take the offensive.

Celebrated military historian James Holland chronicles the experiences in World War II of the legendary tank unit, the Sherwood RangersIn the annals of World War II, certain groups of soldiers stand out, and among the most notable were the Sherwood Rangers. Originally a cavalry unit in the last days of horses in combat, whose officers were landed gentry leading men who largely worked for them, they were switched to the "mechanized cavalry" of tanks in 1942. Winning acclaim in the North African campaign, the Sherwood Rangers then spearheaded one of the D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, led the way across France, were the first British troops to cross into Germany, and contributed mightily to Germany's surrender in May 1945. Inspired by Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers, acclaimed WWII historian James Holland memorably profiles an extraordinary group of citizen soldiers constantly in harm's way. Their casualties were horrific, but their ranks immediately refilled. Informed by never-before-seen documents, letters, photographs, and other artifacts from Sherwood Rangers' families--an ongoing fraternity--and by his own deep knowledge of the war, Holland offers a uniquely intimate portrait of the war at ground level, introducing heretofore unknowns such as Commanding Officer Stanley Christopherson, squadron commander John Semken, and Sergeant George Dring, and other memorable characters who helped the regiment become the single unit with the most battle honors of any ever in the British army. He weaves the Sherwood Rangers' exploits into the larger narrative and strategy of the war, and also brings fresh analysis to the tactics used. Following the Sherwood Rangers' brutal journey over the dramatic eleven months between D-Day and V-E Day, Holland presents a vivid and original perspective on the endgame of WWII in Europe.

The unparalleled work of history that recreates the battle that changed World War II -- now in a new edition for the 50th anniversary of D-Day.

Newly in print for the first time in years, this is the classic story of the invasion of Normandy, and a book that endures as a masterpiece of living history. A compelling tale of courage and heroism, glow and tragedy, The Longest Day painstakingly recreates the fateful hours that preceded and followed the massive invasion of Normandy to retell the story of an epic battle that would turn the tide against world fascism and free Europe from the grip of Nazi Germany.

For this new edition of The Longest Day, the original photographs used in the first 1959 edition have been reassembled and painstakingly reproduced, and the text has been freshly reset. Here is a book that is a must for any follower of history, as well as for anyone who wants to better understand how free nations prevailed at a time when darkness enshrouded the earth.

As the Second World War raged throughout Europe, modernist writers often became crucial voices in the propaganda efforts of both sides. Modernism at the Microphone: Radio, Propaganda, and Literary Aesthetics During World War II is a comprehensive study of the role modernist writers' radio works played in the propaganda war and the relationship between modernist literary aesthetics and propaganda. Drawing on new archival research, the book covers the broadcast work of such key figures as George Orwell, Orson Welles, Dorothy L. Sayers, Louis MacNeice, Mulk Raj Anand, T.S. Eliot, and P.G. Wodehouse. In addition to the work of Anglo-American modernists, Melissa Dinsman also explores the radio work of exiled German writers, such as Thomas Mann, as well as Ezra Pound's notorious pro-fascist broadcasts. In this way, the book reveals modernism's engagement with new technologies that opened up transnational boundaries under the pressures of war.

This book offers a re-interpretation of the political history of Macau from 1937 to 1945, during which Japan and China were engulfed in the Second World War. Using an array of English and Chinese sources, the author explores the diplomatic and social landscape of war-time Macau under Portuguese colonial rule. By framing this analysis within the concept of Portuguese 'neutrality', the book builds on the political history of Macau and provides new insights into the role of Japanese collaborators and Communist guerrillas. Seeking to answer important questions such as why Macau was not invaded by Japan in the Second World War, and what role the Nationalist Party Government played during this period, this book presents a new approach to examining Macau's diplomatic history. A unique read for scholars of Chinese history, this book will also appeal to those researching diplomatic and political history during the Second World War.

This book presents a selection of the newest research on themes amplified by the sixth annual Beyond Camps and Forced Labour conference on the post-Holocaust period, including 'displaced persons', reception and resettlement, exiles and refugees, trials and justice, reparation and restitution, and memory and testimony. The chapters highlight new, transnational approaches and findings based on underused and newly opened archives, including compensation files of the British government; on historical actors often on the periphery within English-language historiography, including Romanian and Hungarian survivors; and new approaches such as the spatial history of Drancy, as well as geographies that have undergone less scrutiny, for example, Tehran, Chile, Mexico and Cyprus. This volume represents the vibrant and varied state of research on the aftermath of the Holocaust.

First Published in 1981. The objective of this study is to reconstruct the difficulty faced by American and British policy-makers in 'determining the capabilities and intentions' of their two main wartime allies regarding the Middle East. Specifically, it seeks to explore the role of great power relations in the Middle East in the breakdown of the wartime alliance and in the origins of the Cold War.

Twenty-first-century views of historical violence have been immeasurably influenced by cultural representations of the Second World War. Within Europe, one of the key sites for such representation has been the vast array of museums and memorials that reflect contemporary ideas of war, the roles of soldiers and civilians, and the self-perception of those who remember. This volume takes a historical perspective on museums covering the Second World War and explores how these institutions came to define political contexts and cultures of public memory in Germany, across Europe, and throughout the world.

In this vivid memoir originally published in German, Anne Groschler (1888-1982) recounts her 1944 escape from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to Mandatory Palestine via "Transport 222", an exchange transport of 222 Jews for "Aryan" prisoners of war. In the most detailed contribution of the exchange ever published, Groschler paints an authentic picture of life before WWII amongst the upper echelons of German society, her ultimate persecution and escape to Holland where she was betrayed, the horrors of life in the Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen camps, and her eventual flight via "Transport 222" to Palestine. Written immediately after her liberation in 1944, this unique document captures a little-known chapter of Holocaust history.

This gripping book brings back to life the events surrounding the internment of ten German Nuclear Scientists immediately after World War II. It is also an "eye-witness" account of the dawning of the nuclear age, with the dialogue and narrative spanning the period before, during and after atomic bombs were dropped on Japan at the end of the war. This pivotal historical episode is conveyed, along with the emotions as well as the facts, through drama, historical narrative, and photographs of the captive German nuclear scientists - who included Werner Heisenberg, Otto Hahn, and Max von Laue. The unique story that unfolds in the play is based on secretly recorded transcripts of the scientists' actual conversations at Farm Hall, together with related documents and photographs.