The four Valois Dukes of Burgundy created, in little more than a century, a fabulously wealthy and independent state. Their centralised control and chancellery have bequeathed to us a vast treasure trove of documents, including accounts and inventories of the Masters of the artillery under the later Dukes. Although many of these were extracted and transcribed in the late nineteenth century, modern historians have largely ignored their unprecedented insights into fifteenth-century guns and their use. When Charles the Bold, the last Valois Duke, took on the combined Swiss confederate forces in 1476 he lost not just the battles and his personal fortune, but much of his artillerytrain as well. Of the dozens of cannons captured, at least 25 pieces survive in Swiss museums. The documents that survive from the Valois state give us, almost for the first time in medieval Europe, the ability to see the course of history in a period when Europe was undergoing some of the most profound changes before the 20th century. The Artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy is the first attempt to combine all these sources, bringing newand fresh insights into the development and use of artillery in the fifteenth century. Moreover this is the first modern study of medieval cannon, one of the most important discoveries of the post-classical world. KELLY DeVRIES has authored numerous books and articles on medieval warfare. ROBERT DOUGLAS SMITH formerly Head of Conservation in the Royal Armouries, Tower of London, is an acknowledged expert on medieval artillery. This study is thefirst major fruit of their combined researches.

Modern Artillery brings together 300 of the most important examples of artillery used or designed since 1900. Beginning with the guns that pounded the trenches in World War I, the book details all the major forms of artillery in service throughout the century. From hand-held anti-tank devices, anti-aircraft guns and field pieces of World War II to the recent tactical and strategic missiles, the book provides a wide survey of the development and use of artillery, with the entries conveniently placed into categories for easy reference. Each artillery piece featured is illustrated by a full-colour artwork and accompanied by a detailed specifications table giving the country of origin and technical details of the weapon, including where appropriate the calibre, elevation, muzzle velocity, traverse and range, all measurements being provided in imperial and metric. Each entry also contains a piece of text summarizing the weapon's development and service history. Presented in a handy, pocket-book size, arranged by type and with 300 colour illustrations, Modern Artillery is an authoritative and accessible reference work, which will appeal to anyone with an interest in military technology.

Famously dubbed 'Bandit Country' by a UK government minister in 1975, South Armagh was considered the most dangerous part of Northern Ireland for the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary during the years of violence known as the 'Troubles' that engulfed the province in the last three decades of the twentieth century. This was also true for the helicopter crews of the RAF, Royal Navy and Army Air Corps who served there. Throughout the 'Troubles' the Provisional IRA's feared South Armagh brigade waged a relentless campaign against military aircraft operating in the region, where the threat posed by roadside bombs made the security forces highly dependent on helicopters to conduct day-to-day operations. From pot-shot attacks with Second World War-era rifles in the early days of the conflict to large scale, highly co-ordinated ambushes by PIRA active service units equipped with heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and even shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), the threat to British air operations by the late 1980s led to the arming of helicopters operating in the border regions of Northern Ireland. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including official records and the accounts of aircrew, this book tells the little-known story of the battle for control of the skies over Northern Ireland's 'Bandit Country'.

Published to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Normandy campaign, Panzers in Normandy Then and Now is a detailed study of the German panzer regiments in Normandy in 1944 as seen from the German side. The book is basically divided into two parts: the theoretical composition of the 1944 model of the panzer regiment, its equipment and personnel, and secondly, individual chapters on the seventeen panzer units which saw service in Normandy. In addition, the book contrasts the scenes of the fighting that raged in the countryside and villages of this part of France with comparison photographs of the battleground as it is today. Research for this book also resulted in the discovery of the location of the grave of the most famous panzer commander, formerly listed as missing in action, when a Normandy roadside revealed its secret in 1983 as the last resting place of the victor of Villers-Bocage, Michael Wittmann.

The history of the Royal Navy flagships that led the fleet through the Cold War, ensured victory in the Falklands War, and saw action in Iraq and the Balkans. In 1945, at the end of World War II, the Royal Navy's carrier fleet proved essential to the post-war world. Royal Navy carriers fought in the Korean War with the UN fleet, in the debacle at Suez, and in British operations in the last days of Empire, in Malaya, Borneo and Aden. But most famously, they were the key to the Royal Navy's victory in the Falklands campaign, and they went on to fight in the two Iraq wars. Illustrated throughout with new profiles of the key carriers and their development, as well as a cutaway of HMS Victorious and superb new illustrations of the carriers in action, this book explains how the Royal Navy's air power changed throughout the Cold War and beyond. Renowned naval historian Angus Konstam explains how the World War II carriers were rebuilt in a pioneering modernization that allowed them to operate a new generation of naval jets. As carriers became more expensive to operate, the Royal Navy had to scrap its conventional fast jets and introduce a new generation of light carriers designed for the innovative Harrier 'jump jet'. When the Falklands War broke out, it was one of these new carriers and one veteran carrier from World War II that gave the Task Force the fighters it needed to defend itself in hostile waters and retake the islands. Covering a period of dramatic change for the Royal Navy, this book is a history of the Royal Navy's most important ships throughout the Cold War, the retreat from Empire, and the Falklands and Iraq wars, up to the moment Royal Navy fixed-wing air power was temporarily axed in 2010.

This edited volume examines the issue of the proliferation of dual-use technology and the efforts of the international community to control these technologies.

Efforts to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) increasingly focus on preventing the proliferation and misuse of dual-use technologies: information, materials and equipment that can be easily applied for peaceful and hostile purposes. The threat of terrorist attacks with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, in particular, makes it necessary to develop a sustainable non-proliferation policy that effectively hinders the misuse of dual-use technologies.

In this book, leading non-proliferation experts from different regions of the world reflect on the political, legal and technical obstacles with an aim to finding a better balance between control and cooperation in dual-use technology transfer regulations. This broad approach makes it possible to compare regimes which may be structurally different but are similar in the way they attempt to regulate dual-use technology transfers by balancing controls and cooperative approaches.

This book will be of much interest to students of weapons proliferation, arms control, global governance, international organizations and international security.

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.

Nuclear weapons have not been used in anger since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Yet even after the Cold War, the Bomb is still the greatest threat facing humankind. As President Bill Clinton's first secretary of defence, Les Aspin, put it: 'The Cold War is over, the Soviet Union is no more. But the post-Cold War world is decidedly not post-nuclear'. For all the efforts to reduce nuclear stockpiles, the Bomb is here to stay. This Very Short Introduction looks at the science of nuclear weapons and how they differ from conventional weapons. Tracing the story of the nuclear bomb, Joseph Siracusa chronicles the race to acquire the H-bomb, a thermonuclear weapon with revolutionary implications; and the history of early arms control, nuclear deterrence, and non-proliferation. He also tracks the development of nuclear weapons from the origins of the Cold War in 1945 to the end of Moscow-dominated Communism in 1991, and examines the promise and prospect of missile defence, including Ronald Reagan's 'Star Wars' and George W. Bush's National Missile Defence. This third edition includes a new chapter on the development of nuclear weapons and the policies they have generated since the end of the Cold War. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR.

'A compelling, authoritative insight into possibly the most controversial death in Britain this century' Observer.

'Masterful ... This book made me proud of my trade as a journalist' Daily Mail.

'This searing excavation of the mysterious death of Dr David Kelly is investigative journalism at its best. It is brave, relentless, dazzlingly revealing' Peter Oborne.

In March 2003 British forces invaded Iraq after Tony Blair said the country could deploy weapons of mass destruction at 45 minutes' notice. A few months later, government scientist Dr David Kelly was unmasked by Blair's officials as the assumed source of a BBC news report challenging this claim. Within days, Dr Kelly was found dead in a wood near his home. Blair immediately convened the controversial Hutton Inquiry, which concluded Dr Kelly committed suicide.

Yet key questions remain: could Dr Kelly really have taken his life in the manner declared? And why did Blair's government derail the coroner's inquest into Dr Kelly's death? In this meticulous account, award-winning journalist Miles Goslett shows why we should be sceptical of the official story of what happened in that desperate summer of 2003.

In the wake of the T-72 tank's poor performance in the 1991 Gulf War, the Kremlin instructed the Russian tank industry to drop the discredited T-72 designation in favour of the T-90 Vladimir. The T-90 was in fact a further evolution of the T-72 family, but the name change represented an important break in Russian/Soviet tank design history. The T-90 has become the principal export tank of Russia, and is in service in large numbers in many countries including Algeria, India, and many of the former Soviet republics. Using detailed illustrations and full colour artwork, this book will also describe the evolution of the T-90s many failed successors including the little known Bokser, Molot, and T-95, as well as its likely successor, the new T-14 Armata, and the wide range of specialized vehicles based on the T-90 chassis such as the formidable Terminator tank support vehicle.

The history of Pakistan's nuclear program is the history of Pakistan. Fascinated with the new nuclear science, the young nation's leaders launched a nuclear energy program in 1956 and consciously interwove nuclear developments into the broader narrative of Pakistani nationalism. Then, impelled first by the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan Wars, and more urgently by India's first nuclear weapon test in 1974, Pakistani senior officials tapped into the country's pool of young nuclear scientists and engineers and molded them into a motivated cadre committed to building the 'ultimate weapon.' The tenacity of this group and the central place of its mission in Pakistan's national identity allowed the program to outlast the perennial political crises of the next 20 years, culminating in the test of a nuclear device in 1998. Written by a 30-year professional in the Pakistani Army who played a senior role formulating and advocating Pakistan's security policy on nuclear and conventional arms control, this book tells the compelling story of how and why Pakistan's government, scientists, and military, persevered in the face of a wide array of obstacles to acquire nuclear weapons. It lays out the conditions that sparked the shift from a peaceful quest to acquire nuclear energy into a full-fledged weapons program, details how the nuclear program was organized, reveals the role played by outside powers in nuclear decisions, and explains how Pakistani scientists overcome the many technical hurdles they encountered. Thanks to General Khan's unique insider perspective, it unveils and unravels the fascinating and turbulent interplay of personalities and organizations that took place and reveals how international opposition to the program only made it an even more significant issue of national resolve. Listen to a podcast of a related presentation by Feroz Khan at the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation.

A new illustrated study of the devastating, but little-known, Soviet armored blitzkrieg against the Japanese in the last weeks of World War II, and how it influenced Soviet tank doctrine as the Cold War dawned. Although long overshadowed in the West by the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the USSR's lightning strike into Manchuria in August 1945 was one of the most successful and unique campaigns of the era. Soviet forces, led by over 5,500 tanks and self-propelled guns, attacked across huge distances and deserts, marshes, and mountains to smash Japan's million-strong Kwantung Army in a matter of days. Japanese forces were short of training and equipment, but nevertheless fought fiercely, inflicting 32,000 casualties on the Soviets. Red Army operations were characterized by surprise, speed, and deep penetrations by tank-heavy forces born of the brutal lessons they had learned during years fighting the Wehrmacht. Lessons from the campaign directly shaped Soviet Cold War force structure and planning for mechanized operations against the West. Illustrated with contemporary artwork and rare photos from one of the best collections of Soviet military photos in the West, this fascinating book explains exactly how the last blitzkrieg of World War II was planned, fought, and won, and how it influenced the Red Army's plans for tank warfare against NATO in Europe.

Since the end of the Cold War, significant attention has focussed on the issue of nuclear deterrence and in particular whether formal nuclear security guarantees from nuclear weapons states to non-nuclear weapons states involving the possible use of nuclear weapons have a place in the twenty-first century global strategic landscape. Growing support for nuclear disarmament in the US and elsewhere has seen serious doubts being raised about the ongoing utility of extended nuclear deterrence. This book provides the first detailed analysis of the way in which extended nuclear deterrence operates in contemporary Asia. It addresses the following key questions: What does the role of extended nuclear deterrence in Asia tell us about the broader role of extended nuclear deterrence in the contemporary international system? Is this role likely to change significantly in the years ahead? O'Neil uses a theoretical and historical framework to analyse the contemporary and future dynamics of extended nuclear deterrence in Asia and challenges many of the existing orthodox perspectives on the topic. Providing a new perspective on debates surrounding extended nuclear deterrence, this book will be of interest not only to students and scholars of Asian politics, international relations and security studies, but also to policy makers and professionals.

The Oscar-shortlisted documentary Command and Control, directed by Robert Kenner, finds its origins in Eric Schlosser's book and continues to explore the little-known history of the management and safety concerns of America's nuclear aresenal. "A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons in the U.S. Fascinating." -Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine "Perilous and gripping . . . Schlosser skillfully weaves together an engrossing account of both the science and the politics of nuclear weapons safety." -San Francisco Chronicle A myth-shattering expose of America's nuclear weapons Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America's nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved-and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind. While the harms of global warming increasingly dominate the news, the equally dangerous yet more immediate threat of nuclear weapons has been largely forgotten. Written with the vibrancy of a first-rate thriller, Command and Control interweaves the minute-by-minute story of an accident at a nuclear missile silo in rural Arkansas with a historical narrative that spans more than fifty years. It depicts the urgent effort by American scientists, policy makers, and military officers to ensure that nuclear weapons can't be stolen, sabotaged, used without permission, or detonated inadvertently. Schlosser also looks at the Cold War from a new perspective, offering history from the ground up, telling the stories of bomber pilots, missile commanders, maintenance crews, and other ordinary servicemen who risked their lives to avert a nuclear holocaust. At the heart of the book lies the struggle, amid the rolling hills and small farms of Damascus, Arkansas, to prevent the explosion of a ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead ever built by the United States. Drawing on recently declassified documents and interviews with people who designed and routinely handled nuclear weapons, Command and Control takes readers into a terrifying but fascinating world that, until now, has been largely hidden from view. Through the details of a single accident, Schlosser illustrates how an unlikely event can become unavoidable, how small risks can have terrible consequences, and how the most brilliant minds in the nation can only provide us with an illusion of control. Audacious, gripping, and unforgettable, Command and Control is a tour de force of investigative journalism, an eye-opening look at the dangers of America's nuclear age.

The M60 was a second-generation American main battle tank, the last in the line of Patton tanks that had first been developed at the end of World War. It entered operational service with the US Army in 1960 and some 15,000 M60s were manufactured by Chrysler at the Detroit Tank Arsenal Plant between then and when production ceased in 1983. It served with both the US Army and the US Marine Corps and was the principal tank deployed in Europe in the sixties, seventies and early eighties, providing NATO's main armoured force at the height of the Cold War. It became one of the most widely used armoured fighting vehicles of the twentieth century, serving in the armies of over 25 countries. It continued to serve alongside the M1 Abrams into the 1990s before this venerable Cold War warrior was finally retired from active service with the US military in 1997. This volume charts the development of the M60 from its origins in World War II to the Cold War. It focuses on its service with the US military and other NATO armies, examining its combat service in the First Gulf War and also with other armies in the Middle East. The book gives a full account of the wide range of kits and accessories available in all the popular scales and a modelling gallery features builds covering a range of M60s in service with various armed forces. Detailed colour profiles provide both reference and inspiration for modellers and military enthusiasts alike.

Using rare first-hand accounts from Me 262 pilots, Robert Forsyth examines what it was like to fly the world's most advanced interceptor in the deadly skies over Germany in 1944-45. Right from its operational debut in the summer of 1944, the Me 262 outclassed anything the Allies had in terms of speed and firepower ratio, offering a formidable punch with four 30 mm Mk 108 nose-mounted cannon, and a Jumo 004 jet engine. The problem the Luftwaffe faced, however, was one of numbers. Towards the end of the war, availability of machines and trained pilots was scarce, and it is only thanks to the exploits of a handful of veteran Jagdwaffe aces such as Adolf Galland, Walter Krupinski and Johannes Steinhoff, that the aircraft made a significant impact on the air war and was the source of considerable concern to the Allies. Filled with specially commissioned artwork including action-packed ribbon diagrams, battlescenes, armament views and maps, Robert Forsyth offers the definitive technical and historical guide to the state-of-the-art Me 262, using rare photographs and pilots' first-hand accounts.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is the largest and most diverse political grouping of states engaged on issues related to nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. Drawing on the authors' first-hand experiences as members of NAM observer-state delegations in NPT and IAEA negotiations, as well as the findings of a larger CNS research project on NAM nuclear politics, the book will provide important new insights about how a small subset of NAM states has tended to dominate NAM politics and have promoted policies that are often at odds with those advanced by Western states on issues such as nuclear terrorism, IAEA safeguards, nuclear export controls, multinational fuel arrangements, proliferation in the Middle East, NPT, and nuclear arms control and disarmament. Based on an analysis of NAM perspectives, politics, and priorities, the book will provide practical recommendations for engaging NAM members in a more constructive fashion on issues related to nuclear nonproliferation, disarmament, peaceful use, and counter-nuclear terrorism. Particular attention will be given to problems likely to be encountered when Iran assumes the chairmanship of NAM in 2012 and how these difficulties can best be mitigated in the lead up to the next NPT Review Conference.

Significant advances have been made in animal model development for biological research since the publication of the first edition of this volume, and the ramifications of the FDA s Animal Efficacy Rule have become better understood in the scientific community. With each chapter completely updated with the latest research findings, Biodefense Research Methodology and Animal Models, Second Edition spans the spectrum of coverage from basic research to advanced development of medical countermeasures.

Topics discussed in this volume include:

• A history of biological agents as weapons, from the use of corpses to contaminate water supplies to modern day anthrax attacks
• Concepts and strategies involved in biowarfare and bioterrorism
• The development, validation, and importance of animal models in biodefense research
• Infectious disease aerobiology
• Studies involving anthrax, glanders, plague, tularemia, Q fever, alphaviruses, orthopoxviruses, and a new chapter on brucellosis
• Animal models for viral hemorrhagic fevers
• Botulinum and Ricin toxins
• Staphylococcal and streptococcal superantigens

As the scientific community works diligently to protect the world s population from the misuse of infectious organisms and toxins, it is imperative that researchers stay abreast of the latest techniques for biodefense research. Exploring in vivo and in vitro assays, this volume brings researchers up to date on the latest information on bacterial and viral infectious agents and biological toxins considered to pose the greatest threats to public safety. In addition, the contributors take a step toward minimizing the use of animals in further experiments by presenting documented findings that can be built upon.

A study of the little-known career of Germany's Panther, perhaps the greatest tank of World War II, in foreign hands both during and after the war. The Panther was arguably the most successful medium tank design of World War II, demonstrated by the number of Germany's enemies that used them after, and even during the war. While some were used by the Western Allies, the Russians used the greatest number of captured Panthers against Nazi Germany, though they did not find much favour thanks to their mechanical unreliability and difficulty in acquiring spare parts. After the war, they were mostly passed on to satellite states such as Bulgaria and Romania. The French army also used them in significant numbers after the war with approximately 50 in service from 1946 to 1950, and they were a significant influence on future French tank design. Using detailed artwork and contemporary photographs, this fascinating book tells the little-known story of the Panther tank in foreign hands in World War II and beyond.

Plagued by unreliable vehicles and poorly thought-out doctrine, the early years of World War II were years of struggle for Britain's tank corps. Relying on tanks built in the late 1930s, and those designed and built with limited resources in the opening years of the war, they battled valiantly against an opponent well versed in the arts of armoured warfare. This book is the second of a multi-volume history of British tanks by renowned British armour expert David Fletcher MBE. It covers the development and use of the Matilda, Crusader, and Valentine tanks that pushed back the Axis in North Africa, the much-improved Churchill that fought with distinction from North Africa to Normandy, and the excellent Cromwell tank of 1944-45. It also looks at Britain's super-heavy tank projects, the TOG1 and TOG2, and the Tortoise heavy assault tank, designed to smash through the toughest of battlefield conditions, but never put into production.

A PDF version of this book is available for free in open access via www.tandfebooks.com as well as the OAPEN Library platform, www.oapen.org. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license and is part of the OAPEN-UK research project. This book examines the current debate on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, notably the international non-proliferation regime and how to implement its disarmament provisions. Discussing the requirements of a new international consensus on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, this book builds on the three pillars of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT): non-proliferation, disarmament and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It reviews the impact of Cold War and post-Cold War policies on current disarmament initiatives and analyses contemporary proliferation problems: how to deal with the states that never joined the NPT (India, Pakistan and Israel); how states that have been moving toward nuclear weapons have been brought back to non-nuclear-weapon status; and, in particular, how to deal with Iran and North Korea. The analysis centres on the relationship between disarmament and non-proliferation in an increasingly multi-centric world involving China and India as well as the US, the European powers and Russia. It concludes with a description and discussion of three different worlds without nuclear weapons and their implications for nuclear disarmament policies. This book will be of great interest to all students of arms control, strategic studies, war and conflict studies, and IR/security studies in general Sverre Lodgaard is a Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo

The F-104 Starfighter was one of the most fascinating aircraft of the Cold War era in Europe. Several European air forces operated the aircraft, with Germany alone having 916 Starfighters in its inventory. The General Electric J-79 engine howl was unique and filled the European skies for many years. This book covers Starfighter pilot training in the US, weapons training in Italy and Portugal, NATO competitions, technical specifications and the controversial accident issues in the 1960s. With over 220 images, many unpublished outside Germany, this book, the second volume of two covering the Starfighter in German service, provides a dynamic look at this versatile multi-purpose aircraft in service with the Luftwaffe and Naval Air Wings.

Using first-hand accounts and rare and unpublished images, this highly illustrated title tells the full story of the German reconnaissance troops in World War II. When the Wehrmacht was first formed in 1935, tactical reconnaissance was carried out by motorcycle rifle units (Kradschutzen). However, with the development and large-scale introduction of wheeled armoured vehicles in the late 1930s, motorized reconnaissance battalions (Aufklarungs-Abteilungen) were introduced. Equipped with a mixture of armoured cars and motorcycles, they often operated far ahead of battlefront to survey the terrain, observe enemy positions and identify enemy forces - key information required ahead of any armoured assault. In the second half of the war, with Germany on the strategic defensive, armoured reconnaissance troops found themselves increasingly drawn into combat operations, and even holding sectors of the line. At the same time, more modern equipment was introduced with motorcycles phased out and purpose-built armoured personnel carriers (Schutzenpanzerwagen) introduced. Renowned armour expert Thomas Anderson draws on first-hand accounts and rare and previously unseen photographs in this comprehensive and fully illustrated study of the Panzer reconnaissance troops, the crucial eyes and ears of the German armoured forces of World War II.