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The German Army was all-conquering until late 1941 when, only a few
miles short of Moscow, it ran out of steam. Maniacal defence, the
Russian winter and exhaustion all played their part and, although
they didn't realise it, the German forces wouldn't advance further
on this front. While they continued their offensives into 1942,
Soviet defenses had stiffened. Its equipment – notably the T-34
– had improved and the Germans had lost too many of their best
men: the savvy NCOs and experienced junior officers that gave the
Wehrmacht its edge over the opposition. They had lost their moral
compass as well. Complicity in the massacres of the
SS-Einsatzgruppen, the barbarity of the anti-Partisan operations
and summary execution for those who flagged, were the hallmarks of
the German Army's fight for survival against people it considered
less than human. Outnumbered, under attack on many other fronts,
their homeland bombarded unceasingly from the air, the German
servicemen endured the hell of the Eastern Front until their armies
were destroyed in 1945. While the morality of the regime they
fought for and its reprehensible actions should never be forgotten,
what cannot be denied is the indefatigable courage of the German
infantrymen. Fully illustrated with over 200 contemporary
photographs and illustrations – and exploring a broad range of
topics from uniform, weapons and provisions to tactics and
communications – this title provides valuable insights into the
Germans' main theater of operations in World War II.
The Soviet Army was ill-prepared for its erstwhile ally's
treacherous onslaught in 1941. Its officer corps decimated by
Stalin's purges and its men less well-trained than the Germans, the
Red Army was poorly led, hampered by the power of the political
officers and only partly mobilised. But, in spite of the huge
German victories and the speed of the Nazi attack, the Soviets
proved fantastically capable of rolling with the punches. The vast
territory of the Soviet Union and huge population were significant
factors, as was substantial assistance from the West – the United
States and Britain in particular – which was in evidence when the
German columns got to within a few miles short of Moscow and were
held and then forced back. The tide turned thanks to help from
outside and the efforts of the Soviet soldiers, who proved hardy
and durable. And just like its soldiers, Russian infantry equipment
was rugged and effective. While Soviet infantrymen may not have had
the flexibility or tactical nous of the Germans, they did not lack
cunning: deception, camouflage skills and endurance made Russian
snipers, as an example, more than the equal of the Germans. Most
views of the Soviet soldier and campaign are influenced by
self-serving German postwar accounts designed to excuse their loss
by suggesting that Adolf Hitler's meddling and Soviet numbers were
the main reasons for victory: this denigrates the Russian
infantryman whose toughness and ingenuity helped destroy the Third
Reich in spite of the faults of its own regime. Fully illustrated
with over 200 contemporary photographs and illustrations, Soviet
Infantryman on the Eastern Front in the Casemate Illustrated series
provides an insight into the Soviets' main theater of operations in
World War II.
The borders of the Roman Empire were frontiers that were often wild
and dangerous. The expansion of the empire after the Punic Wars saw
the Roman Republic become the dominant force in the Mediterranean
as it first took Carthaginian territories in Gaul, Spain and north
Africa and then moved into Greece with purpose, subjugating the
area and creating two provinces, Achaea and Macedonia. The growth
of the territories under Roman control continued through the rise
of Julius Caesar - who conquered the rest of Gaul - and the
establishment of the empire: each of the emperors could point to
territories annexed and lands won. By AD 117 and the accession of
Hadrian, the empire had reached its peak. It held sway from Britain
to Morocco, from Spain to the Black Sea. And its wealth was coveted
by those outside its borders. Just as today those from poorer
countries try to make their way into Europe or North America, so
those outside the empire wanted to make their way into the Promised
Land - for trade, for improvement of their lives or for plunder.
Thus the Roman borders became a mix - just as our borders are today
- of defensive bulwark against enemies, but also control areas
where import and export taxes were levied, and entrance was
controlled. Some of these borders were hard: the early equivalents
of the Inner German Border or Trump's Wall - Hadrian's Wall and the
line between the Rhine and Danube. Others, such as these two great
rivers, were natural borders that the Romans policed with their
navy. This book examines these frontiers of the empire, looking at
the way they were constructed and manned and how that changed over
the years. It looks at the physical barriers - from the walls in
Britain to the Fossatum Africae in the desert. It looks at the
traders and the prices that were paid for the traffic of goods. It
looks at the way that civil settlements - vici - grew up around the
forts and fortlets and what life was like for soldiers, sailors and
civilians. As well as artefacts of the period, the book provides a
guidebook to top Roman museums and a gazetteer of visitable sites
The last year of the war saw Russian offensives that cleared the
Germans out of their final strongholds in Finland and the Baltic
states, before advancing into Finnmark in Norway and the east
European states that bordered Germany: Poland, Czechoslovakia and
Hungary. By spring 1945 the Red Army had reached to Vienna and the
Balkans, and had thrust deep into Germany where they met American,
French and British troops advancing from the west. The final days
of the Third Reich were at hand. Berlin was first surrounded, then
attacked and taken. Hitler's suicide and his successors'
unconditional surrender ended the war. For writers and historians
who concentrate on the Western Allies and the battles in France and
the Low Countries, the Eastern Front comes as a shock. The sheer
size of both the territories and the forces involved; the savagery
of both weather and the fighting; the appalling suffering of the
civilian populations of all countries and the wreckage of towns and
cities - it's no wonder that words like armageddon are used to
describe the annihilation. Red Army into the Reich combines a
narrative history, contemporary photographs and maps with images of
memorials, battlefield survivors and then & now views. It may
come as a surprise to the western reader to see how many memorials
there are to Russia's Great Patriotic War and those to the losses
suffered by the countries who spent so long under the murderous
Nazi regime.
Amphibious operations have always been an important element of
warfare, but they reached their climax during the Second World War
when they were carried out on a large scale in every theatre of the
conflict. That is why this wide-ranging, highly illustrated history
of amphibious warfare 1939-1945 by Simon and Jonathan Forty is of
such value. Their book gives graphic accounts of the main
amphibious assaults launched by the major combatants, in particular
the British, American, German and Japanese - not just large-scale
landings like those in North Africa, Normandy, the Philippines and
Okinawa, but also raids such as Dieppe and St Nazaire and
evacuations like Dunkirk and Kerch. The rapid development of
amphibious tactics and equipment is an essential element of the
story, as are the vital roles played by the navies, air forces,
armies and special forces in each complex combined operation. There
is also a section on amphibious operations that were planned but
didn't happen, such as the German invasion of Britain and the
Italian and German operation against Malta.
British soldiers, with their old-fashioned helmets, spring-powered
PIAT anti-tank guns and veneration of heroic defeats, may have lost
the propaganda war, but their record speaks for itself: they may
have started badly in France in 1940 and the Far East in 1941, but
they were victorious in the North African desert, in Europe and in
India and Burma where the 'Forgotten Army' first held the Japanese
and then inflicted at Imphal and Kohima the greatest loss to the
Japanese on land. They held back the might of the Panzers in
Normandy in 1944, chased the Germans back into Holland and came
within a whisker at Arnhem of circumventing the Siegfried Line, and
won battle after battle against a fanatical defence on their way to
final victory. This book doesn't cover the progress of the Second
World War, but looks in detail at the weapons, uniform,
accoutrements, equipment and tactics of the Second World War
British infantryman, following the themes of the Haynes Great War
British Tommy and German Infantryman Manuals.
On 10 May 1940 German Fallschirmj ger stormed the Dutch fort of
Eben-Emael, south of Maastricht. The brilliantly executed operation
was the first signal success by airborne troops in the Second World
War and it made the military world sit up and take notice. Improved
parachutes and the creation of gliders that could carry troops
meant that assault forces could be dropped or landed behind enemy
lines. This was a significant new tactic which had a dramatic
impact on several of the key campaigns, and it is the subject of
Simon and Jonathan Forty's in-depth, highly illustrated history.
They tell the story of the development of airborne forces, how they
were trained and equipped, and how they were landed and put into
action in every theatre of the global conflict. The results were
mixed. German airborne forces were victorious on Crete, but the
cost was so great that Hitler vowed never to use them in the same
way again. The Allies saw things differently. After Crete they
built up elite units who would play important roles in later
battles -in Normandy, for example, where the British 6th Airborne
Division took vital bridges prior to the D-Day landings. These are
just two examples of the many similar operations on the Western and
Eastern Fronts and in the Pacific which are covered in this
wide-ranging book. It offers the reader a fascinating insight into
airborne warfare over seventy years ago.
The D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 were the culmination of months of
meticulous planning and organisation. A vast army had to be trained
and equipped; huge amounts of material - from tin cans to tank
transporters, petrol to parachutes - had to be stockpiled,
distributed and readied for transport to the beaches of Normandy;
bombing missions had to reduce the enemy; fighters, minesweepers
and other naval missions had to clear the English Channel; and,
finally, the men had to embark and the armada had to deliver its
cargo to a strict timetable under enemy fire onto a hostile shore.
For understandable reasons, the emphasis on remembrance of D-Day is
focused on the beaches: that's where the battles took place; that's
where most of the casualties occurred; that's where the remarkable
stories were written in blood, sand and shingle. We should never
forget the sacrifice of those who fell, but equally we shouldn't
forget the sacrifices of those who prepared the way. The hundred
locations chosen for this book are a small collection of those
places in Britain that were involved in the preparations for D-Day.
It would have been easy to choose a hundred others: few parts of
Britain were not part of the war effort. It is perhaps best to see
the chosen 100 as starting points from which the reader can
discover the considerable depth of involvement required to launch
the great invasion.
Bastogne will live forever in the annals of American military
history. From the resounding 'Nuts', in response to the German
demand for surrender, to the breaking of the siege by Patton's
Third Army face=Calibri>- brilliantly disengaged from its
positions on the Saar, wheeled 90 degrees and marched northwards
faster than any thought possible face=Calibri>- the defense of
Bastogne and victory in the Ardennes was one of the greatest feats
of American arms in the European Theatre. This title in the Past
& Present series looks at the encirclement, siege, and relief
with then and now photographs; specially commissioned aerial
photos, and a wealth of detail.
Just after its seventieth anniversary, the Battle of the Bulge has
lost none of its impact. The largest battle fought by US troops on
the continent of Europe started in a surprise attack on December
16, 1944, by four German armies, spearheaded by the cream of the
German Panzer forces. Under the cover of bad weather and heavy
snow, Hitler's last roll of the dice was intended to retake
Antwerp, split the Allies, divide their political leadership, and
force peace in the West, thus allowing the German forces to
concentrate on defeating the Red Army. Strategic pipedream or not,
the attack was furious and drained the Eastern Front of
reinforcements: 12 armored and 29 infantry divisions, some 2,000
tanks and assault guns-mainly PzKpfw IVs (800), Panthers (750) and
Tigers (250 including some of the new King Tigers)- spearheaded the
assault, which smashed into the American First and Ninth Armies.
Near-complete surprise was achieved thanks to a combination of
Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with offensive plans, and poor
reconnaissance. The Germans attacked where least expected-the
forested Ardennes-a weakly defended section of the Allied line,
taking advantage of the weather conditions, which grounded the
Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. The Allied response was
magnificent. Initial reverses brought out the best of Eisenhower's
armies, which fought with determination and grit against the enemy
and the elements. The harsh battles are best summed up by the
defense of the northern shoulder around the Elsenborn Ridge, the
battle for St. Vith, and in the south the siege of Bastogne, where
the town's commander, Gen. McAuliffe, rejected German calls for
surrender with the pithy reply: "Nuts." Within ten days the German
attack had been nullified. Patton, at the time planning an attack
further south, wheeled his Third Army round in a brilliant maneuver
that relieved Bastogne and set up a counterattack which would drive
the Germans back behind the Rhine. The Ardennes Battlefields
includes details of what can be seen on the ground today-hardware,
memorials, museums, and cemeteries-using a mixture of media to
provide an overview of the campaign: maps old and new highlight
what has survived and what hasn't; then and now photography allows
fascinating comparisons with the images taken at the time; aerial
photos give another angle to the story. The fifth book by Leo
Marriott and Simon Forty provides a different perspective to this
crucial battlefield.
The last rites were administered to the Third Reich from the west
by a massive concentration of Allied forces and firepower. With
France secured, Hitler's vain counterattack in the Ardennes held
and the Channel and North Sea ports cleared, little stood in the
way of the Allies other than the dominant geographical feature of
western Europe: the mighty Rhine River stretching from the North
Sea almost to Switzerland. In the north, the 21st Army Group
executed one of the largest operations of the war: a huge airdrop
backed up by an amphibious crossing that made full use of 79th
Armoured Division's specialized armour including the Alligators of
4th Royal Tank Regiment. Further south, until it collapsed under
the pressure, the Ludendorff Bridge, captured intact at Remagen
allowed US First Army to create a bridgehead. They would use it to
good effect, wheeling north to surround the Ruhr, Germany's
industrial heartland. Further south, where the river was narrower,
Patton's Third Army vaulted the Rhine with its customary elan, as
did Devers' Sixth Army Group. Ahead of the Allies were the remains
of the German forces, often no more than Volkssturm or
Hitlerjugend, determined to resist for as long as possible so that
their Fu hrer had time to unleash his super weapons. In the end,
these proved figments of Hitler's imagination and the defenders
crumbled in the face of units that, after nine months of training,
had become deadly proponents of the art of aggressive warfare with
modern, new equipment - such as the M26 Pershing and Comet - being
rushed to the front in the hope it could see action before the war
finished.
Of the five beaches attacked on 6 June, Omaha saw the sternest
fighting. Well-placed defenders on the high ground and extensive
beach defenses did their job. On top of this, so much had gone
wrong with the first wave: many of the amphibious DD Sherman tanks
didn't reach the beach. They were released from their landing craft
too far away where the greater swell swamped them and the troops
landing on Omaha missed their firepower. Another problem was that
many units landed in the wrong place. Strong tides and winds
carried the landing craft off line and led to confusion. Finally,
the German emplacements and defenses were well-placed on high
ground and the only cover on the beach - the seawal - was over a
killing ground. There were 32 fortified areas located between the
Vire River and Port-en-Bessin: in all, 12 of these strongpoints
were able to direct fire on Omaha Beach. The attacking forces-units
of the US 29th and 1st Inf Divs - suffered over 2,000 casualties,
many of them drowned during the approach, but led by US Rangers,
themselves misplaced (they were the follow-up troops to Rudder's
Rangers who had scaled the Pointe du Hoc) the American troops
pushed forward and by nightfall, they had gained hold of the beach
and its immediate hinterland. Despite the casualties, 34,000 troops
had been landed by the end of the day.
It is said that artillery won the Second World War for the Allies -
that Soviet guns wore down German forces on the Eastern Front,
negating their superior tactics and fighting ability, and that the
accuracy and intensity of the British and American artillery was a
major reason for the success of Allied forces in North Africa from
El Alamein, in Italy and Normandy, and played a vital role in the
battles of 1944 and 1945\. Yet the range of weapons used is often
overlooked or taken for granted - which is why this highly
illustrated history by Simon and Jonathan Forty is of such value.
They stress the importance of artillery on every front and analyse
how artillery equipment, training and tactical techniques developed
during the conflict. The selection of wartime photographs - many
from east European sources - and the extensive quotations from
contemporary documents give a graphic impression of how the guns
were used on all sides. The photographs emphasize the wide range of
pieces employed as field, anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery
without forgetting self-propelled guns, coastal and other
heavyweights and the development of rockets. The authors offer a
fascinating insight into the weapons that served in the artillery
over seventy years ago.
The battle of Normandy ended as the Allied armies crossed the Seine
at the end of August 1944, a month after Operation Cobra had broken
the stalemate. The Allies harried the retreating Germans, who left
their tanks and heavy weapons south of the Seine, and by
mid-September the Allies were coming up against the defences of
Germany itself, the impressive Westwall. As far as the Allies were
concerned, the Germans were beaten. The scent of immediate victory
was in the air, the only question was where to apply the coup de
grace. Logistics demanded that this should be a single thrust
rather than Eisenhower's broad front approach. Montgomery-the
architect of victory in Normandy-proposed a daring plan to
circumvent the Westwall, thrust towards Berlin, and make use of the
newly created 1st Allied Airborne Army. The plan was simple: use
the Paratroopers to hold key bridges along a single route along
which British XXX Corps would make an advance that would be "rapid
and violent, and without regard to what is happening on the
flanks." US 101st Airborne would land north of Eindhoven; 82nd
Airborne at Nijmegen; British 1st Airborne at Arnhem-the so-called
"bridge too far." Unfortunately, the plan was flawed, the execution
imperfect, and the Germans far from beaten. In spite of the
audacious actions of the Paratroopers who would cover themselves
with glory, Operation Market Garden showed that the German ground
forces would still provide the Allies with stiff opposition in the
West. And then, in 1977, A Bridge Too Far came out. With levels of
realism that wouldn't be approached for twenty years, the movie
produced a view of the battle that subverted reality and permeated
public perception. Just as George C. Scott produced the definitive
Patton, so A Bridge Too Far provided an unnuanced view of the
battles that historians have battled to correct ever since. As with
its companion volumes on D-Day, the Bocage, and the Ardennes
battlefields, this book provides a balanced, up-to-date view of the
operation making full use of modern research. With over 500
illustrations including many maps, aerial and then and now
photography, it will provide the reader with an easy-to-read,
up-to-date examination of each part of the operation, benefitting
from on-the-ground research by Tom Timmermans, who lives in
Eindhoven.
Two months after D-Day, just as the battle of Normandy was reaching
its climax, with all eyes on the Falaise Pocket, the Allies
unleashed the second invasion of France not in the Pas de Calais
but the French Riviera. Immaculately planned, effectively
undertaken, the Allies quickly broke out of their bridgehead, drove
400 miles into France in three weeks, and liberated 10,000 square
miles of French territory while inflicting 143,250 German
casualties. On September 10 they linked up with Patton's Third Army
and advanced into the Vosges Mountains, taking Strasbourg and
holding the area against the Germans' final big attack in the west:
Operation Nordwind in January 1945. US Seventh Army and 6th Army
Group undertook a successful campaign placing a third Allied army
group with its own independent supply lines, in northeastern France
at a time when the two northern Allied army groups were stretched
to the limit. Without this force the Allies would have struggled to
hold the frontage to Switzerland and Third Army would have been
exposed to attack in its southern flank-something that could have
had disastrous repercussions particularly during the Ardennes
offensive of December 1944.The images of palm trees and azure seas
obscure our view of this campaign. It was no cakewalk. The Germans
knew the Allies were coming and had strong defences in the area. A
shortage of landing craft, vehicles, and materiel meant that the US
Seventh and French First armies were restricted in the assault. The
heavy fog and anti-glider defences made for a difficult airborne
assault, but it was carried out effectively, the amphibious assault
was textbook in execution and the invasion of southern France ended
up as a significant victory. But the story of 6th Army Group wasn't
finished. Taking up a position on the east flank of Third Army it
fought its way through the Vosges and withstood the Germans' last
throw: Operation Nordwind-the vain attempt to relieve pressure on
the Ardennes assault by attacking in the Vosges. Heavy fighting
pressed hard towards Strasbourg but the Allies were ultimately
victorious, inflicting severe losses on the Germans.
The infantry can always be found at the sharp end of the
battlefield. You may be able to crush an opponent with armour or
artillery, but there's only one way to take and hold ground and
that's with riflemen - the 'poor bloody infantry'. And it is the
infantrymen of the Second World War - from all sides, Allied and
Axis - who are the subject of this highly illustrated history. It
uses over 400 wartime photographs plus contemporary documents and
other illustrations to show the developments in equipment, training
and tactical techniques and to give an insight into the experience
of the infantry soldier during the conflict. Although the infantry
were critical to the war effort, their contribution is often
overshadowed by the more dramatic roles played by soldiers with
more specialized skills - like tank crew, paratroopers and special
forces. They also suffered devastating casualties, in particular
during the last phase of the war in the west when around 20 per
cent of an infantry division's riflemen were likely to die and over
60 per cent could expect to be wounded. So as well as describing
how the infantry fought, the authors look at the motivation which
kept them fighting in awful conditions and despite brutal setbacks.
The result is a thorough, detailed and revealing portrait of
infantry warfare over seventy years ago.
Just as the Anglo-Canadian forces in the east found it difficult to
advance beyond Caen after D-Day, so the US First Army laboured to
advance through the Norman bocage country in the west. The lethal
struggle that developed there was a defining episode in the
Normandy campaign, and this photographic history is a vivid
introduction to it. Through a selection of over 150 carefully
chosen and meticulously captioned�wartime photographs Simon
Forty traces the course of the battle and gives the reader a
graphic impression of the conditions, the terrain and the
experience of the troops. The Germans mounted a tenacious defence.
They fought from prepared positions in the high hedgerows. Each
cramped field and narrow lane became a killing ground. But the
Americans adapted their tactics and brought in special equipment
including bulldozers and tanks with hedgerow cutters to force their
way through. The losses were appalling as the Germans used snipers,
mines, machineguns and artillery to great effect. Inexorably,
however, and with enormous bravery, First Army solved their
tactical problems, inflicted heavy casualties on the defenders and
ground their way to Saint-L�.
While the 6th Airborne Division had landed in France on D-Day and
covered itself in glory, its counterpart, the 1st Airborne
Division, had last seen action during an amphibious assault at
Taranto on September 9, 1943, as part of the invasion of Italy.
Returned to the UK in December 1943, it was held in reserve during
the battle of Normandy and spent three months waiting for action,
as plan after plan was proposed and then discarded, such was the
speed of the Allied pursuit of the Germans. In September 1944,
however, 1st Airborne played a leading role in Operation Market-the
air component of Operation Market Garden, an audacious attempt by
the Allies to bypass the Siegfried Line and advance into the Ruhr.
It was to be 1st Airborne's last action of the war. Encountering
more resistance than expected, including II SS Panzer Corps, the
division landed too far from Arnhem bridge, and fought bravely but
in vain. Held up en route, particularly at Nijmegen, XXX Corps'
advance to Arnhem stuttered and ran late. After nine days of
fighting, 1st Airborne had lost 8,000 men around Arnhem when the
survivors retreated across the Lower Rhine to safety. During those
nine days, however, they had created a legend: first as the small
unit under Lt-Col John Frost held the "bridge too far" and then as
the Oosterbeek perimeter came under sustained attack waiting for
XXX Corps to arrive. The Past& Present Series reconstructs
historical battles by using photography, juxtaposing modern views
with those of the past together with concise explanatory text. It
shows how much infrastructure has remained and how much such as
outfits, uniforms, and ephemera has changed, providing a coherent
link between now and then.
A fascinating examination of every aspect of the Roman soldier, at
the height of Rome's imperial might, this highly illustrated manual
gets to grips with what we know about the men of the legions. Every
detail of a legionary's life is shown, from what they wore and
carried and how ranks were signified to where they slept at night
and ate round the camp fire. * Includes fascinating detail on kit,
equipment, weapons and insignia * Examines how their unique tactics
helped the legions win over and over again * Covers infantry,
cavalry and engineers, as well as officers and the chain of command
* Details battlefield tactics and fighting strategies, war machines
and fighting formations
Operation Tonga began at 22:56 on the night of 5 June, when six
Halifax heavy bombers took off from Tarrant Rushton towing six
Horsas carrying a coup-de-main force consisting of D Coy, Ox and
Bucks LI reinforced with two extra platoons from B Coy and a party
of sappers, who were tasked with capturing the bridges over the
Caen Canal and the River Orne. 6th Airborne Division-which included
1st Canadian Para Bn-had been allotted three specific tasks to
achieve, apart from protecting the eastern flank of the Allied
seaborne landings. First, it was to capture intact the two bridges
over the Caen Canal and the Orne River at Benouville and Ranville.
Second, the division was to destroy the heavily fortified Merville
coastal artillery battery located at Franceville Plage, to ensure
that it could not shell the British forces landing on Sword Beach.
A third task was to destroy several bridges spanning the River
Dives-at Varaville, Robehomme, Bures, and Troarn. The division
would then hold the territory that it had seized until it could be
relieved by advancing Allied ground forces.
The Italian campaign was one of the most debated of the Second
World War, splitting the American and British allies, and causing
great disharmony. After the fall of Rome and the surrender of
Italy, the invasion of Normandy led to the Italian campaign
becoming a sideshow as the D-Day Dodgers' fought their way through
Italy to the Alps against a grinding defence and extreme weather.
In a sequence of 200 wartime photographs Simon Forty sums up the
major events of the conflict - from the landings on Sicily to the
crossing of the Po. Commanded first by Sir Harold Alexander and
then Mark Clark, the Allied armies (US Fifth and British Eighth)
drew men not only from Britain, the United States, France and
Poland but from all over the Commonwealth - from Australia, Canada,
India, New Zealand and South Africa - as well as such other
countries as Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Greece and Palestine. The
devastation caused by the war in the cities, towns and countryside
is part of the story, but perhaps the most powerful impression is
made by the faces of the soldiers themselves as they look out from
the Italian front of so long ago.
The Great War was so devastating - eight million lives were lost
globally - that in its aftermath a horrified world expected it to
be the final chapter in armed conflict. Mapping The First World War
provides a uniquely different perspective on the `war to end all
wars'. An introduction details the causes and progress of the war
and is followed by over a hundred maps and charts that show the
broad sweep of events, from Germany's 1914 war goals to the final
positions of the troops. There are maps depicting movements and
battles as well as related documents, such as those on levels of
conscription and numbers of weapons. As in all wars, maps were
vital to the military organization of all sides during World War I.
Before each military event there was the planning, the
reconnaissance, and the conjecture as to enemy positions. After the
event there would be debriefing, analysis of success and failure,
and a redrawing of maps to show new troop positions and boundaries.
All of the maps featured in this book have been drawn from the
extensive collection held by the National Archives at Kew in west
London. Providing a fascinating and unique insight into the
planning and organization of military campaigns, Mapping The First
World War is essential for anyone interested in military history.
On the battlefields of Europe and North Africa during the Second
World War tanks played a key role, and the intense pressure of
combat drove forward tank design and tactics at an extraordinary
rate. In a few years, on all sides, tank warfare was transformed.
This is the dramatic process that Simon and Jonathan Forty
chronicle in this heavily illustrated history. They describe the
fundamentals of pre-war tank design and compare the theories
formulated in the 1930s as to how they should be used in battle.
Then they show how the harsh experience of the German blitzkrieg
campaigns in Poland, France and the Soviet Union compelled the
Western Allies to reconsider their equipment, organization and
tactics - and how the Germans responded to the Allied challenge.
The speed of progress is demonstrated in the selection of over 180
archive photographs which record, as only photographs can, the
conditions of war on each battle front. They also give a vivid
impression of what armoured warfare was like for the tank crews of
75 years ago.
“It’s rare for a book to capture your attention from the very
first sentence, but kudos to the authors of First Canadian Army for
doing just that... I, too, feel that Canada’s contributions to
victory in both world wars have unfortunately been downplayed or
ignored over the decades by the country’s allies.” —
Canada’s History Magazine. A pictorial history of the decisive
role played by Canada in the final year of World War II. After
Dunkirk, as the tattered remnants of Britain’s best troops
returned home without their heavy weapons, Canadian troops moved in
to defend northwest Europe, sending in virtually all of its
disposable weapon resources and 368,000 soldiers. The majority of
these were to be part of the First Canadian Army, which would play
a key role leading to the unconditional surrender by Nazi Germany
on May 9, 1945. This book is a pictorial history of the First
Canadian Army in northwest Europe during the final year of the war.
It concentrates not just on the events of 75 years ago but also
what can be seen on the ground today. The illustrations, over 350
of them, include battle, landing and assault maps; photographs of
soldiers in action and resting, aerial photographs of key sites of
action then and now; battlefield survivors such as Sherman tanks;
memorials to individuals and units; and, of course, the cemeteries
of Canadian, Polish and British soldiers. In ten parts and 60
chapters featuring 350 illustrations and maps, the book covers: The
Bridgehead; The Battles Around Caen; Clearing the Coast; Clearing
The Scheldt; Winter on the Maas; The Rhineland; Advance to the Sea;
I Corps in The West Netherlands; The German Surrender. Military
history buffs will enjoy this book for its focus on a specific
battalion and its actions at a decisive moment in the war. The
archival photographs are important records and reminders of this
watershed moment in World War II’s European theater.
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