The Panzer IV programme was started in 1934, forming, alongside the Panzer IIs and IIIs, the schnellen Truppen, the force that was to become the Panzerwaffe. At first, German planners envisioned the tank in a secondary role, but during the invasions of The Low Countries and France, it took on a more central role. When the Panzerwaffe turned east to attack the Soviet Union, the Panzer IV initially fared poorly against the better-armed T-34. However, upgrades to its gun and armour protection saw it perform far better, not only against Soviet armour but also against British and American tanks in North Africa and Italy. In 1944, it was slowly replaced by the Panzer V Panther, but the dire strategic situation meant that it bore the brunt of the Allied D-Day invasion and its aftermath, and it remained in service until the end of the war. Fully illustrated throughout with contemporary photographs, this fascinating study from German armour expert Thomas Anderson tells the complete story of Germany's most widely produced tank of World War II, from its design and development to its many upgrades and variants.

The M3 vehicle was a thirteen-person armoured transporter that could be used to transport mechanized infantry or as an artillery tractor, ambulance, communications vehicle, etc. It was also used as a carrier for various types of guns. American factories producing M2 and M3 armoured personnel carriers were overloaded and could hardly meet orders for the army. That's why, in 1942, the International Harvester Company stated that it was capable of producing a combat vehicle similar to the M3, but due to some differences in the plant's machine park, not all components could be made in the same way. Therefore, it required slight changes in the design of the new transporter. Thus the Half-Track Personnel Carrier M5 was born, which was almost identical to the M3 version. The M5 versions were created primarily for the needs of foreign customers. They were used by the British Army, as well as Polish, Czech and "Free French" units. The British used them primarily to tow various types of anti-tank guns. These vehicles also found their way to the USSR under the Lend-Lease agreement. After the Second World War, they were also used by the Israeli army.

Covers the use of various trucks and cars during WWII by Germany.

Covers the different types of trucks and cars used by Germany in WWII.

A new analysis of the technology and tanks that faced off against each other on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain, during the very height of the Cold War. From the 1960s onwards, there was a generational shift in tank design and warfare with the advent of CBR (chemical, biological, radiological) protection and a move away from HEAT ammunition to APFSDS. This shift confronted the growing threat of guided anti-tank missiles and saw the introduction of composite armor. Soviet heavy tanks and tank destroyer/assault guns became obsolete, giving way to the technological might of the T-62 and T-64, while NATO forces employed the Chieftain, AMX-30, Leopard I, and M60, plus the initial attempt at a common US-German tank, the MBT-70. Using detailed illustrations and contemporary photographs, this companion volume to NVG 301, Tanks at the Iron Curtain 1946-60 focuses on key battle tanks and their technology to give a comprehensive overall picture of how tanks developed during modern times.

This updated edition of this essential collection of historic writings by the pre-eminent scientists and historians who bore witness to the birth of the modern nuclear age now includes President Barack Obama's 2016 statement at Hiroshima, all-new writings from Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb, and a new foreword by Cynthia C. Kelly.Born out of a small research program that began in 1939, the Manhattan Project would eventually employ more than 130,000 people and cost a total of nearly $2 billion--all operating entirely under a shroud of secrecy. This groundbreaking collection of essays, articles, documents, and excerpts from history, biographies, plays, novels, letters, and oral histories, newly updated on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is the first ever to source such primary history about the creation of the atomic bomb. Included is President Barak Obama's 2016 statement at Hiroshima, as well as new perspectives from hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and the mayors of Hisorshima and Nagasaki. Also included are writings by and about J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Leslie Groves, Klaus Fuchs, Henry Stimson, Harry S Truman, Vannevar Bush, Niels Bohr, and many other key figures and authors including Joseph Kanon, Jennet Conant, Kai Bird, and Martin Sherwin. The Manhattan Project is the most comprehensive exploration of the making of the atomic bomb available today.

From the Wright Brothers' famous "Wright Flyer" in 1903, to the "Concorde" in 1969 this book emphasizes the great strides made in aircraft construction in the sixty-six years between these two famous designs. Presented in chronological order are thirty-seven classic designs that changed the history of flight: The Wright Flyer, Junkers J1, Fokker Dr. I, Junkers Ju 52, Polikarpov I-16, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Boeing B-17, Douglas DC-3/C-47, Messerschmitt Bf 110, Junkers Ju 88, Macchi MC.200-207, Messerschmitt Me 209, Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Heinkel He 178, Hawker Tornadeo/Typhoon, Ilyushin II-2 Sturmovik, Arado Ar 240, Chance Vought F4U Corsair, North American P-51 Mustang, De Havilland Mosquito, Messerschmitt Me 262, Hawker Tempest, Arado Ar 234, Dornier Do 335, Republic F-84F Thunderstreak, Hawker Hunter, North American F-100 Super Sabre, Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, Saab J35 Draken, Vought F-8 Crusader, Mikoyan/Gurevich MiG-21, Dassault-Breguet Mirage III/5, Northrop T-38 Talon, Hawker Siddeley Harrier, Dornier Do 31 and the Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde.\nEach aircraft is shown in photographs, scale line drawings from various perspectives, and presents the various models, prototypes and export models - technical aspects and measurements are also given.

Instead of a nuclear flash-point in Cuba or the Korean Peninsula, could the world now be facing one in a Kashmiri mountain village? The nuclear tests by India and Pakistan in May 1998 shook the region, challenged the near-global consensus on non-proliferation and increased the risk that other states would follow suit. The international community has been largely powerless in its response. In the wake of the tests the regions underlying problems have become yet more intractable, the need to resolve them more urgent than ever. This paper argues that attempts to deal with the consequences of the tests are inseparable from the history of nuclear developments in both India and Pakistan.;Sanctions have not succeeded in changing policy in the region and more pragmatic responses are necessary. For example, political stability should be encouraged within the countries concerned, in their relations with each other, and in the wider region. Arms control and measures to increase confidence and security also need to be re-examined and adapted to the changed circumstances.

This book covers the design and use of the self-propelled armored vehicle Wespe in WWII.

Captured Arms / Beutewaffen is Vol. IX in the Propaganda Photo Series on World War II German small arms. This volume is dedicated to the millions of small arms that were captured by the German army in more than 12 different countries. Most weapons were re-issued to the German army, para-military units and auxiliaries and they were often used in their original state, but sometimes modified to German standards, or re-purposed to improve the weapons being fought with by the army. Such captures often led to new and adapted technologies, as the weapon developers took the best of the ideas from others and enhanced them with their own. This book covers all small arms described in the 'Kennblatter fremden Gerats' (instruction sheets on foreign material) and many other weapons. Last but not least, Captured Arms / Beutewaffen features a unique selection of original German World War II propaganda photos, depicting captured arms in use in German service.

The book contains color profiles of the MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-19 and MiG-21 aircraft belonging to the Warsaw Pact country. The first volume includes machines from the USSR and Poland.

This classic, definitive series continues with this volume on the legendary Tiger series. Spielberger, a leading expert in the field of German military vehicles, and Doyle, who created the scale drawings, present the various Tiger varieties from all sides in this richly illustrated technical documentation. As well as the Tiger I and II, also covered are: Jagdtiger, Elefant, Sturmmrser and other variants. The Tigerfibel is also included in full English translation. Over thirty years of intensive research have culminated in this volume.

1930-1940 era Junkers aircraft in its civilian and wartime roles.

Continuously in demand since its first, prize-winning edition was published in 1975, this is the classic history of the development of the American atomic bomb, the decision to use it against Japan, and the origins of U.S. atomic diplomacy toward the Soviet Union.
In his Preface to this new edition, the author describes and evaluates the lengthening trail of new evidence that has come to light concerning these often emotionally debated subjects. The author also invokes his experience as a historical advisor to the controversial, aborted 1995 "Enola Gay" exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. This leads him to analyze the impact on American democracy of one of the most insidious of the legacies of Hiroshima: the political control of historical interpretation.
"Reviews of Previous Editions"
"The quality of Sherwin's research and the strength of his argument are far superior to previous accounts."
--"New York Times Book Review"
"Probably the definitive account for a long time to come. . . . Sherwin has tackled some of the critical questions of the Cold War's origins--and has settled them, in my opinion."
--Walter LaFeber,
Cornell University
"One of those rare achievements of conscientious scholarship, a book at once graceful and luminous, yet loyal to its documentation and restrained in its speculations."
--"Boston Globe"

Jochen Prien, author of the definitive Messerschmitt Bf 109 F/G/K Series, and the extensive three volume study of JG 53, presents JG 3 in its complete history from formation to the end of World War II. This second volume presents the unit history of the "Udet" Geschwader's second Gruppe, II./JG 3, beginning with its formation in 1938 and the subsequent service of the newly formed Gruppe in the Campaign in the West from 1940-1941. Next the Gruppe's 1941 tour of duty in Russia is dealt with, followed by a short spell in the Mediterranean theatre of war, where II./JG 3 was involved in the fighting over Malta in the spring of 1942. In June 1942, the Gruppe was again shifted to the east where it took part in the advance on Stalingrad where it suffered serious losses. 1943 saw the Gruppe still in Russia until it was recalled to the Reich to see further service in the defence of Germany between August 1943 and early June 1944. After its return to the Reich and a short period of rest and re-equiping, II./JG 3 was again called upon for service in the Reichsverteidigung, this coming to an abrupt end when in November 1944 the Gruppe was separated from its parent Geschwader in order to re-equip with the new Me 262 jet fighter and become part of the first jet fighter Geschwader of the Luftwaffe, JG 7. Vol. II then takes up the history of the newly formed II./JG 3, a former bomber unit that was transformed into a fighter Gruppe at the end of 1944; this new Gruppe came too late to see significant service against the Western Allies but was transferred to the east at the beginning of 1945 in order to counter the massive Soviet offensive that overran the eastern parts of the Reich since mid-January 1945. Hopelessly outnumbered, its operations being curtailed now by a lack of fuel, the new II./JG 3 struggled on until the collapse of the Reich.

Between December 1943 and August 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill ignited the Cold War, a superpower rivalry that would dominate the world over half a century, by building an atomic bomb and excluding their Russian allies. Peter Watson tells the pulse-pounding story of how two atomic physicists tried to counter this in two very different ways. While Niels Bohr sought to convince President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill to share their nuclear knowledge with Joseph Stalin, nuclear scientist Klaus Fuchs, a German Communist emigre to Britain, was leaking atomic secrets to the Soviets in a rival attempt to ensure parity between the superpowers. Neither succeeded in preventing the World War II allies from unleashing the atom bomb on the world. Fallout proves that the atomic bomb was not needed, and was made as a result of a series of flawed decisions. The Americans did not tell the UK that the atomic research was compromised by Soviet spies; the British did not tell the Americans that in 1943 they knew for sure that Germany did not have a nuclear bomb program. Neither country admitted to the scientists developing the bomb that it would never be used to counter the (non-existent) German nuclear threat. Had the scientists known, many of them would have refused to complete work on the bomb. This story shows how politicians fatally failed to understand the nature of atomic science and, in so doing, exposed the world needlessly to great danger, a danger that is still very much with us.

This book covers in detail the Tiger variants Elefant, Jagdtiger, and Sturmtiger.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017) sets out to challenge deterrence policies and military defence doctrines, taking a humanitarian approach intended to disrupt the nuclear status quo. States with nuclear weapons oppose its very existence, neither participating in its development nor adopting its final text. Civil society groups seem determined, however, to stigmatize and delegitimize nuclear weapons towards their abolition. This book analyzes how the Treaty influences the international security architecture, examining legal, institutional and diplomatic implications of the Treaty and exploring its real and potential impact for both states acceding to the Treaty and those opposing it. It concludes with practical recommendations for international lawyers and policymakers regarding non-proliferation and disarmament matters, ultimately noting that nuclear weapons threaten peace, and everyone should have the right to nuclear peace and freedom from nuclear fear.

At the A-7 Corsair II's peak in the mid-1980s, some 30 US Navy squadrons flew various versions of the aircraft, including six Naval Air Reserve units, and these many of these units saw action across the Middle East. By the time the jet saw combat in Operation Desert Storm (1991), there remained only two fleet squadrons - many fleet squadrons having either disestablished or transitioned to the F/A 18 Hornet - but both of these units (VA-46 and VA-72) played a major role in the campaign to free Kuwait. The book details the technological development and improvements that were introduced to the airframe post-Vietnam (the FLIR targeting pod from 1979 and AGM-88 HARM missile from 1983 being the most important), and how they shaped operational employment of the aircraft. The jet's combat experiences in conflicts during the 1970s (Cambodia), 1980s (Lebanon, Grenada, Libya and Iran), and 1990s (Iraq) are explained in detail, and Peter Mersky's expert analysis is supported by numerous first-hand accounts from naval aviators that saw action with the A-7 during these campaigns.

In the 1960's guerrillas were operating in almost all Latin American countries, as well as in Africa and Asia, and the need of specialized weapons to fight them arose. The Argentine Air Force, seeing this threat grow, asked the FMA factory to produce a counterinsurgency airplane to equip the force, but also to offer on the international market. After several proposals were analysed, a final product emerged, called the IA-58 Pucar , a robust twin turboprop aircraft with heavy internal weapons, planned to operate from unprepared airstrips on very hard conditions. The plane entered service with the Argentine Air Force in 1975 and more than 100 were produced over the years, with several versions being developed or proposed. It was purchased by Uruguay, Colombia and Sri Lanka, the type gained world notoriety when they took part on the 1982 South Atlantic war, but also had combat experience in Colombia and Sri Lanka, and was tested by the Royal Air Force. Now, with the original version already retired, the Argentine Air Force plans to convert them into the Pucar F nix version, with new engines and avionics, with new missions too, like intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. While some aspects of its story were described in many publications, most of it has never been told until now, including many unknown proposed versions and details of its operational record, both in Argentina and in the other countries that operated the plane.

Vol. IV of IV.

How to fly the legendary fighter plane in combat using the manuals and instructions supplied by the RAF during the Second World War. An amazing array of leaflets, books and manuals were issued by the War Office during the Second World War to aid pilots in flying the Supermarine Spitfire, here for the first time they are collated into a single book. An introduction is supplied by expert aviation historian Dilip Sarkar. Other sections include aircraft recognition, how to act as an RAF officer, bailing out etc.returncharacterreturncharacter returncharacterreturncharacter REVIEWS returncharacterreturncharacter "The year this book is published, 2010, is the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain...recaps key aspects of it and the planning and execution of the air war in general as they relate to the Spitfire..."Speedreaders, 10/21/2010

Number 4 in the Luftwaffe Profile Series describes the design and use of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190.

The last predreadnought battleships of the US Navy were critical to the technological development of US battleships, and they were the first tool of international hard power wielded by the United States, a nation which would eventually become the world's dominant political and military power of the 20th century. These battleships were the stars of the 1907-09 Great White Fleet circumnavigation, in which the emerging power and reach of the US Navy was displayed around the world. They also took part in the bombardment and landings at Veracruz, some served as convoy escorts in World War I, and the last two were transferred to the Hellenic Navy and were sunk during World War II. This book examines the design, history, and technical qualities of the final six classes of US predreadnought battleships, all of which were involved in the circumnavigation of the Great White Fleet. These classes progressively closed the quality gap with European navies - the Connecticuts were the finest predreadnought battleships ever built - and this book also compares and contrasts US predreadnought battleships to their foreign contemporaries. Packed with illustrations and specially commissioned artwork, this is an essential guide to the development of US Navy Battleships at the turn of the twentieth century.

The Navy Carrier Torpedo Bomber Tenzan or Nakajima B6N, was codenamed Jill by the Allies. It was the replacement of the famous Nakajima B5N (Kate) torpedo bomber and although more B6N's were built than B5N's, the plane never achieved the spectacular success of its predecessor. It entered service in the second half of 1943 but wouldn't be used on a large scale until June, 1944 during the air and sea battles in the Philippine Sea for the Mariana Islands. Later it would be used in Taiwan, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa and for Kamikaze attacks. The crushing air superiority of the Allies and the loss of nearly all the Japanese aircraft carriers and their trained pilots led to many Tenzans being lost, while never having had a chance to prove their worth. In spite of the fact that the Tenzan never achieved any real successes, it was undoubtedly one of the best carrier based torpedo bombers of WWII.