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Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > Second World War
Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence form the backbone
of the Army's operating system. But while much attention has been
given in the literature to the other three elements, Communications
in the British Army during World War II have been widely ignored.
This book rectifies the omission. It shows that failures in front
line communications contributed to several of the set backs
suffered by the Army but also that ultimate victory was only
achieved after a successful communications system was in place. It
explains how the outcome of the main campaigns in Europe and North
Africa depended on communications, how the system operated and how
it evolved from a relatively primitive and inadequately supplied
state at Dunkirk to a generally effective system at the time of the
Rhine crossings. Problems still occurred however, for example at
infantry platoon level and famously with paratrooper communications
at Arnhem, often simply due to the shortcomings of existing
technology. The book concludes that it is only very recently that
advances in technology have allowed those problems to be solved.
In "George C. Marshall: Servant of the American Nation," a talented
cast of historians and social scientists provide fresh insights and
perspectives into the exceptional life of a distinguished American
soldier-statesman. Marshall's extraordinary career in the first
half of the twentieth century paralleled the emergence of the
United States as a global power. Indeed, this great servant leader
contributed substantively to almost every important event and issue
comprising that rise to power. The essays collected here are
organized around the major roles assumed by Marshall over those
five decades and provide an unusually balanced look at the key
issues of the era. As a result, they also shed important light on
the legacy of his enigmatic commander in chief, Franklin D.
Roosevelt.
Following their occupation by the Third Reich, Warsaw and Minsk
became home to tens of thousands of Germans. In this exhaustive
study, Stephan Lehnstaedt provides a nuanced, eye-opening portrait
of the lives of these men and women, who constituted a surprisingly
diverse population-including everyone from SS officers to civil
servants, as well as ethnically German city residents-united in its
self-conception as a "master race." Even as they acclimated to the
daily routines and tedium of life in the East, many Germans engaged
in acts of shocking brutality against Poles, Belarusians, and Jews,
while social conditions became increasingly conducive to systematic
mass murder.
A New York Times bestseller, Norman Ohler's Blitzed is a
"fascinating, engrossing, often dark history of drug use in the
Third Reich" (Washington Post). The Nazi regime preached an
ideology of physical, mental, and moral purity. Yet as Norman Ohler
reveals in this gripping history, the Third Reich was saturated
with drugs: cocaine, opiates, and, most of all, methamphetamines,
which were consumed by everyone from factory workers to housewives
to German soldiers. In fact, troops were encouraged, and in some
cases ordered, to take rations of a form of crystal meth--the
elevated energy and feelings of invincibility associated with the
high even help to account for the breakneck invasion that sealed
the fall of France in 1940, as well as other German military
victories. Hitler himself became increasingly dependent on
injections of a cocktail of drugs--ultimately including Eukodal, a
cousin of heroin--administered by his personal doctor. Thoroughly
researched and rivetingly readable, Blitzed throws light on a
history that, until now, has remained in the shadows. "Delightfully
nuts."--The New Yorker
This carefully researched study is the first to chronicle the
history of Allied involvement in the defense of British, French,
and Dutch possessions in the Caribbean. The study is extremely well
researched and well written. . . . The definitive work in this
particular area of historical research, based on all available
sources in English, French, and Dutch, published and unpublished.
Choice Although few military campaigns were fought in the
Caribbean, the region had strategic importance throughout World War
II for the United States and its allies. This carefully researched
study is the first to chronicle the history of Allied involvement
in the defense of British, French, and Dutch possessions in the
Caribbean. The first chapter examines the events and diplomacy that
led in 1939 to Britain's granting the United States permission to
base military facilities in Bermuda, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and to
the creation of the Caribbean Sea Frontier. Later chapters detail
the troubled course of British-American cooperation as U.S.
military commitments--and regional dominance--increased. Also
described is the role of the Netherlands, with Britain and the
United States, in the defense of the oil and bauxite reserves in
the Dutch Caribbean territories, and the friction between Britain
and the United States over French Caribbean possessions. The final
chapters analyze strategic shifts occuring as a result of the war
and influencing postwar settlements negotiated for the region.
The cinema was the most popular form of entertainment during the
Second World War. Film was a critically important medium for
influencing opinion. Films, such as In Which We Serve and One of
Our Aircraft is Missing, shaped the British people's perceptions of
the conflict. British War Films, 1939-45 is an account of the
feature films produced during the war, rather than government
documentaries and official propaganda, making the book an important
index of British morale and values at a time of desperate national
crisis.
The Good War is a book about World War 2. It takes place in 1944 at
the time of the Battle of the Bulge. The 981st U.S. Army is
encamped in Brussels, Belgium. The 981st is made up of Engineering,
Heavy Artillery, and Intelligence. The intelligence unit is sent
behind enemy lines to find out what the enemy is up to. The unit is
split into two groups, when one group is picked up by Belgian
Partisans. The corporal Alex McDowell meets among the partisans a
woman that he could fall in love with, but her overprotective
brother stands in the way of their happiness. The unit now again in
the Ardennes forest to fight the Battle of the Bulge. While war
rages through the beautiful European landscape, partisans fight and
die for freedom. One in particular Eva Rimmel, a young woman of
great courage and compassion helps a unit of lost American
soldiers. Her attraction to one of the soldiers is undeniable.
Corporal Alex McDowell a soldier of the 981st intelligence unit was
far from his home of Dallas, Texas. Separated from his unit he
found the beautiful young partisan irresistible. Can their love
survive a war?
With the United States producing almost 90,000 AFVs during World
War II, American tanks made up the bulk of those deployed by the
western Allies, and were even supplied through the lend-lease
scheme to the Soviet army on the Eastern Front. American Tanks of
World War II explores the tanks, self-propelled guns, halftracks
and armoured cars deployed by American forces, from the Torch
landings in Algeria to the hard fighting in Normandy and the bitter
Ardennes offensive. Organised chronologically by type, the entries
include the M3 Stuart, the first American-crewed tank to engage the
enemy in tank combat in the war; the ubiquitous M4 Sherman, which
proved cheap and reliable and was built in great numbers and in
many variants; the M22 Locust light tank, designed to be
air-dropped in support of airborne units; and the M26 Pershing, a
heavy tank that arrived late in the war and was capable of beating
the best tanks Germany had to offer. There are also chapters on the
many motor gun carriages used by US forces, including the M8 HMC
and T12 halftrack, both designed to provide close support for
infantry. Illustrated with expert colour profile artworks for each
entry and completed with technical specifications, American Tanks
of World War II is a detailed reference guide for modellers and
enthusiasts with an interest in World War II AFV technology.
As World War II and the Nazi assault on Europe ended, some 25,000
Jews--entire families in some instances--walked out of the forests
of Eastern Europe. Based on numerous interviews with these
survivors, "Fugitives of the Forest" tells their harrowing and
heroic stories.
"An exciting and dramatic episode."--"Library Journal"
"Cliff-hanging suspense."--"Christian Science Monitor""" "Assault
in Norway" is the classic account of a legendary raid on the Nazi
war program. By 1942 Germany had a seemingly insurmountable lead
over the Allies in developing an atomic bomb. Contributing to this
situation was its access to a crucial ingredient: "heavy water,"
found in great abundance at a fortresslike factory in occupied
Norway. Allied hopes of stalling the Nazi nuclear program soon
focused on sabotaging the cliffside plant--a suicidal mission. But
a team of brave Norwegian exiles, trained in Britain, infiltrated
their homeland and, hiding in the wilds, awaited the opportunity to
launch one of the war's most daring commando raids. Basing his
gripping narrative in large part on interviews with the commandos
themselves, Thomas Gallagher recounts in vivid detail the planning
and execution of Operation Gunnerside. "Assault in Norway" recalls
the intrigue found in such wartime classics as David Howarth's "We
Die Alone" and "The Sledge Patrol," and the mission it recounts
inspired the 1965 Hollywood film "The Heroes of Telemark."
From North Africa to Nazi Prison Camps tells the harrowing story of
a young American school teacher from the Missouri Ozarks that
fulfilled his country's call to duty during World War II. This
biographical account describes the courage that the author and his
comrades summoned and the determination of the human spirit as the
young soldiers use their tenacity and character to endure the
hardships of captivity and to keep their spirits high and remain
patriotic to their country. General Rommel's North African Campaign
was an important front where American and German forces clashed.
The 34th Division fought in the battle for Faid Pass until the
majority of troops were injured, killed or captured. This true
story tells the ruthless aspects of war from a medic's experience
as portrayed by the author.
The Battle of Britain lasted for sixteen weeks during later 1940,
yet this struggle for air supremacy was vital in thwarting Hitler's
invasion threat. The Good Fight discusses wartime propaganda where
"The Few," the RAF's fighter and bomber pilots, captivated the
world through their combat prowess and valour. Projected through
press, film, radio broadcasts and publications, this book assesses
the constituencies, organisations, censorship and approaches
deployed in exploiting this fortuitous opportunity, and the impact
upon British morale. Charting its roots in the run up to war, it
discusses the evolving propaganda coverage throughout the war
years, and the post-war historiography.
On the outbreak of WWII Frank was appointed governor general of Poland. Heinrich Himmler was responsible for the extermination camps and Frank claimed he did not become aware of the mass killings until late in the war. Frank was captured in May 1945 and was accused of crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. He said at his trial: "I myself have never installed an extermination camp for Jews, or promoted the existence of such camps; but if Adolf Hitler personally has laid that dreadful responsibility on his people, then it is mine too, for we have fought against Jewry for years; and we have indulged in the most horrible utterances." Hans Frank was found guilty and executed on October 1, 1946. This scholarly study from Martyn Housden examines Frank's career and complex character to shed light upon the Lebensraum project in the East and the carrying out of the Final Solution.
In this surprising reinterpretation of Hitler's impact on the
outcome of World War II, James Duffy reveals that the war was not
won through American strength and ingenuity alone. Rather, it was
lost due to Hitler's phenomenal military blunders. Challenging
popular American views, the author shows how Nazi Germany at first
substantially won the war in Europe. Yet Hitler proceeded to lose
it even before the United States had entered the conflict. "Hitler
Slept Late" sets the stage for each of Hitler's major errors,
uncovering why each was made, what happened as a result, and how
the outcome of the war might have been different had Hitler
followed the advice of others. Duffy shows how Hitler's conquest of
Europe ultimately failed due to two glaring faults--his inability
to develop a concrete long-range plan and his maniacal belief in
the strength of his own will. Offering new insight into Hitler as a
military leader, this provocative study provides a clear view of
Hitler's strengths and weaknesses and looks at what might have
happened had he not blundered so often at vital times during the
war.
Duffy begins with a look at Hitler's early victories in the
Rhineland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. These victories, achieved
through swift surprise attacks, worked because of the
indecisiveness and reluctance to act exhibited by the British and
French. Hitler's most egregious errors included his belief in his
own infallibility as a military leader, his failure to heed the
warnings of advisers, and his ultimate decision to surround himself
with yes men. Fatal strategic errors include allowing the British
army to escape from Dunkirk, failing to invade Great Britain
immediately after Dunkirk, and not recognizing the primary
importance of Moscow as a target in the Soviet invasion. These
character flaws and leadership foibles, as described and analyzed
in "Hitler Slept Late," vividly illustrate the words of Sir
Christopher Foxley Norris, retired Air Chief Marshal of the Royal
Air Force: Had it not been for Hitler, the Germans] would have
won.
In June 1944, the United States launched a crushing assault on the
Japanese navy in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The capture of
the Mariana Islands and the accompanying ruin of Japanese carrier
airpower marked a pivotal moment in the Pacific War. No tactical
masterstroke or blunder could reverse the increasingly lopsided
balance of power between the two combatants. The War in the Pacific
had entered its endgame. Beginning with the Honolulu Conference,
when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt met with his Pacific
theater commanders to plan the last phase of the campaign against
Japan, Twilight of the Gods brings to life the harrowing last year
of World War II in the Pacific, when the U.S. Navy won the largest
naval battle in history; Douglas MacArthur made good his pledge to
return to the Philippines; waves of kamikazes attacked the Allied
fleets; the Japanese fought to the last man on one island after
another; B-29 bombers burned down Japanese cities; and Hiroshima
and Nagasaki were vaporized in atomic blasts. Ian W. Toll's
narratives of combat in the air, at sea, and on the beaches are as
gripping as ever, but he also reconstructs the Japanese and
American home fronts and takes the reader into the halls of power
in Washington and Tokyo, where the great questions of strategy and
diplomacy were decided. Drawing from a wealth of rich archival
sources and new material, Twilight of the Gods casts a penetrating
light on the battles, grand strategic decisions and naval logistics
that enabled the Allied victory in the Pacific. An authoritative
and riveting account of the final phase of the War in the Pacific,
Twilight of the Gods brings Toll's masterful trilogy to a thrilling
conclusion. This prize-winning and best-selling trilogy will stand
as the first complete history of the Pacific War in more than
twenty-five years, and the first multivolume history of the Pacific
naval war since Samuel Eliot Morison's series was published in the
1950s.
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