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This book offers an extensive overview of the myriad Republican
forces during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39. The conflict was the
curtain-raiser to World War II, and the major international event
of the 1930s. The study illustrates, textually and visually, how
the Republican forces were initially varied in appearance and
character. Loyal elements of the Spanish army that rejected the
appeal of the rebel generals were supported by a wide range of
volunteer regional units and political militias, and by volunteers
from many other countries.
These disparate forces were later amalgamated--by force--into the
Communist-dominated People's Army. Thereafter their motley array of
clothing, weapons and equipment became rather more uniform as the
Soviet Union provided support and supplies on a large scale.
Featuring specially commissioned full-color artwork, this second
part of a two-part study depicts the fighting men of the Republican
forces that strove to retain control of Spain alongside thousands
of international volunteers.
The Spanish Civil War, 1936-39, was the curtain-raiser to World War
II, and the major international event of the 1930s. It was the
first great clash of 20th-century ideologies, between the rebel
Nationalist army led by General Franco (right-wing, and aided by
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy), and the Republican army of the
government (left-wing, and aided by the Communist Soviet Union and
many volunteers from liberal democracies). Three years of
widespread campaigns involved the most modern weapons available.
The war was fought ruthlessly by both sides, and when the
Nationalists secured victory they installed a dictatorship that
lasted until November 1975 - the last such regime in Western
Europe. Featuring specially commissioned full-color artwork, this
first part of a two-part study depicts the fighting men of the
Nationalist forces that strove to take control of Spain alongside
their German and Italian allies.
In 1898 US public opinion turned against the Spanish for their
repression of Cuba. Relations between the two governments soured
and ultimately resulted in the mysterious blowing up of the USS
"Maine" in Havana harbor, which triggered a short but demanding
war.
A US expeditionary force was sent to Cuba, where the troops
encountered both difficult climate and terrain, and a fierce
Spanish garrison which, despite being greatly outnumbered, fought
hard before surrendering.
Many famous US personalities were involved, including future
President Theodore Roosevelt, future general John Pershing, and
journalists William Randolph Hearst and Stephen Crane.
The war against the Spanish may have been brief but as Henry Cabot
Lodge declared: "Its results were startling, and of world-wide
meaning." Victory made the US a nation with global interests.
As an extension of the war, US troops also captured the island of
Puerto Rico. The US Navy bombarded Manila in the Philippines, and
landed its troops. The Spanish garrison quickly surrendered, but a
local anti-Spanish insurgent force under Emilio Aguinaldo resisted
US occupation. The conflict continued until 1902, more than 100,000
US troops were eventually committed, and the campaign saw difficult
jungle fighting, with indigenous Moro tribesmen fiercely resisting
US forces.
Providing a detailed examination of the experiences and equipment
of the opposing sides, and featuring rare and previously
unpublished photographs, this book highlights this crucial yet
oft-forgotten war that changed the future of American foreign
policy during "the age of American imperialism."
Nazi Germany's MP 38 and MP 40 submachine guns are among World War
II's most iconic weapons, but it is often forgotten that they
continued in use all over the world for many decades after 1945,
even being seen during the fighting in Libya in 2011. Widely issued
to Fallschirmjager (parachute infantry) owing to their portability
and folding stocks, the MP 38 and MP 40 became the hallmarks of
Germany's infantry section and platoon leaders; by the war's end
the Germans were following the Soviet practice of issuing entire
assault platoons with submachine guns. Over 1 million were produced
during World War II, many finding their way after 1945 into the
hands of paramilitary and irregular forces, from Israel to Vietnam;
the Norwegian armed forces continued to use them until the early
1990s, and examples and derivatives saw widespread use in the
Yugoslav wars of that decade.
The submachine-gun concept had its origins in the trenches of World
War I, as German designers sought to develop a new weapon that
utilized pistol ammunition to deliver devastating bursts of
automatic fire at close ranges. The massively influential Bergmann
MP 18, the world's first purpose-built 'machine pistol' (submachine
gun), spearheaded the German assaults of 1918 and, although the
Treaty of Versailles banned the study and manufacture of light
automatic weapons in Germany, weapons designers like Berthold
Geipel and Heinrich Vollmer of Erfurter Maschinenfabrik (Erma)
covertly continued to innovate in this field.
An open-bolt, blowback-operated weapon with a single-feed 32-round
magazine offering fully automatic fire only and a patented
telescoping return spring guide that served as a pneumatic recoil
buffer, Geipel and Vollmer's MP 38 drew upon earlier prototypes
such as the VMP 1930 and MP 36, as well as the EMP 35, another Erma
design that was widely exported and saw combat in the Spanish Civil
War. The MP 38 was one of the first of the lighter, more compact
"second generation" of submachine guns, utilizing stamped-steel and
plastic components that made it easier to produce than earlier
types such as the M1928 Thompson and the MP 18, which featured
wooden stocks and employed machined-steel parts. It was rapidly
adopted by Germany's armed forces and first saw combat during the
invasion of Poland in 1939. An improved version, the MP 40, made
greater use of stamped steel and electro-spot welding to simplify
production further; a twin-magazine version, the MP 40/II, was
briefly and unsuccessfully considered as a counter to the
select-fire Soviet PPSh-41 with its 71-round drum magazine.
The MP 38 and the MP 40 saw combat in the hands of German troops in
every theater in which they were involved, and have become
synonymous with Nazi Germany's war effort in popular perception.
Even during the war Geipel and Vollmer's designs, mistakenly
attributed to the rival designer Hugo Schmeisser by the Allies,
profoundly influenced the British Sten and the US M3 "grease gun"
as well as postwar weapons such as the Spanish Star Modelo Z-45 and
the Yugoslav M56. Featuring specially commissioned full-color
artwork and period and close-up photographs, this is the story of
the origins, combat use, and lasting influence of two of World War
II's most famous firearms.
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