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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Special & elite forces
This book is part of the unique Book of Samurai series that
comprises the works of 17th-century samurai tactician Natori
Sanjuro Masazumi, retainer and advisor to the lords of Kishu
domain. It offers an unparalleled insight into the weaponry and
armour of the samurai era, as well as tactical advice for use on
the battlefield and off - wisdom that can be applied to many
scenarios today.Heieki Yoho, the first scroll translated in this
book, offers advice for every possible situation, from moving
troops to besieging a castle to fighting on the open battlefield.
From turning thieves or cowards to good service, to practising
"external listening" in order to obtain information from as many
sources as possible, to penetrating the deeper motives of those who
slander (or praise) others, the advice here is thought provoking
and paints a vivid picture of samurai Japan at war.Heigu Yoho, the
second scroll, gives us a rare and precious glimpse into samurai
arms and armour, including their construction, status regulations
and connected ceremonies, mythology and Buddhist doctrine: a
helmet's ventilation hole, for example, allows access to the 98,000
gods of war. There is an accessible introduction and a glossary, as
well as 130 line drawings that include illustrations of arms and
armour, strategic diagrams and beautiful examples of Japanese
calligraphy.
The SBS was first into battle a month before the SAS in the Falklands War and again in the Gulf War, yet hitherto it is the SAS that has had by far the higher profile. The SBS draws its manpower solely from the Marine Commando Units, and the Royal Marines are the oldest and most battle-honoured regiment in the world. FIRST INTO ACTION is the first Special Boat Services memoir written from the inside. It tells how Duncan Falconer trained with the Royal Marines in Deal before being recruited into the SBS at Poole in Dorset. The regimen of ruthless training is graphically described and the book also includes revelatory accounts of SBS operations in Ulster, Bosnia and the Gulf War, and of the intense rivalry between the SAS's individualist mentality and the more team-based, marine ethos of the SBS. Duncan Falconer's grippingly detailed memoir is sure to command the attention of anyone interested in the Special Forces and how they operate.
'I did not regard myself as a slacker. Even in childhood I taught
myself to carry out tasks entrusted conscientiously and carefully.
In war, it is no secret that the casual don't survive'. Evgeni
Nikolaev was one of Russia s leading snipers of World War II and
his memoir provides and unparralled account of frontline action in
crucial theatres of war. Nikolaev is credited with a remarkable 324
kills and his wartime service included time in the siege of
Leningrad in 1941/1942. His memoir is not an neutral, apolitical
account. Far from it. Nikolaev asserts, for example, that Finland
attached Russia. As a member of the NKVD is it not surprising that
his memoir full of historical misinterpretation and justification
of the agency s actions. Equally, Nikoalev is dismissive of his
Nazi opponents. He variously describes his Nazi counterparts as
bandits and scum and implores the reader to take a look, fellows,
at the beast of a bastard I ve laid low . In vivid, arresting
recollections he paints his actions in a saintly heroic light. He
describes the comfort of the German foxholes, wired with telephone
connections, relative to the Russians who fasted without food or
water awaiting the moment for a perfect shot. He claimes the
Russian soldier was a moral warrior, killing only with head or
heart shots. In addition to describing details of his kills,
Nikolaev explains how his life was saved when an explosive rifle
bullet struck a watch that he kept in his jacket pocket. His life
was saved by a surgeon who extracted all the watch parts.
This new book is a historical account of the 14th Waffen-SS Galicia
Division (also known as the 1st Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian
National Army). In 1943/1944 a determined group of young men and
women in Galicia volunteered to serve in a combat division destined
for eastern front combat. Their goal: to engage and destroy the
Soviet hordes menacing their homeland and to counter Nazi Germany's
subjugation of their country. Although initially Galicia's
Volunteers would serve in a German sponsored military formation, in
actuality the volunteers of the Galicia division wanted to engage
all hostile ideologies-both from the east and west-in order to
secure a free independent Ukraine. The division's history is
presented along with a human aspect of what the soldiers endured
during the brutal battles on the eastern front.
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