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Webster Groves (Hardcover)
Tom Cooper, Emma Delooze-Klein, Deborah Ladd
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R781
R653
Discovery Miles 6 530
Save R128 (16%)
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The Wild Atlantic Way is a driving route along Ireland's Atlantic
seaboard, covering over 2,350km of coastline and showcasing the
region's breathtaking landscapes. This guide adapts the route for
cyclists - and throws in a couple of other highlights (such as the
Aran Islands and Killarney) for good measure. Since relatively few
people are likely to have seven weeks to spare for a full Wild
Atlantic Way tour, the book presents six self-contained cycle
tours, each offering 7-10 days of riding. For the full Wild
Atlantic Way experience, these distinct routes can be linked
together into a 44-stage trip from Derry/Londonderry to Cork. Each
route includes detailed advice on accommodation and facilities,
plus optional detours and shortcuts and points of interest. The
routes themselves are presented as 'route cards': ideal for use
with a cycle computer, these pages provide 'at a glance'
information for when you're on the road, covering navigation,
facilities and local highlights. The guide covers all the
practicalities - including transport, equipment and general tips on
cycling in Ireland.
Equipped with well-balanced air wings, huge aircraft carriers have
formed the backbone of the United States Navy's doctrine and
strategy since the Second World War. Packing an enormous punch,
their purpose is to exercise control over enormous portions of
airspace - in the offence or defence. From the mid-1970s until the
mid-2000s, the spear tip of the USN air wings was the famous
Grumman F-14 Tomcat - widely considered one of the finest air
superiority systems in the world. Originally designed as a fast,
manoeuvrable and well-armed fighter, the Tomcat entered service as
the ultimate long-range fleet defender and became the biggest, most
complex and most expensive naval aircraft of its time. Including a
unique and exceptional combination of flight characteristics,
detection systems and weapons, it earned itself the status of a
legend by the mid-1980s. The F-14 Tomcats of the US Navy achieved
their first aerial victories during freedom of navigation exercises
off Libya in 1981. However, the period during which they saw most
combat followed several years later, during Operations Earnest Will
and then Desert Storm, from 1987 until 1991. To date, very little
has been published about the operations in question. Indeed, the
widespread belief is that USN F-14s saw next to no air combat
against Iran, and even less so during Operation Desert Storm in
1991. As so often, the reality is entirely different: Tomcats
engaged dozens of opponents, often on the verge of the engagement
envelope of their powerful AWG-9 radars and AIM-54 Phoenix
long-range air-to-air missiles, and sometimes at such close ranges
that their pilots selected 'guns'. Weather- and
communications-related problems, but also the incredible discipline
of their crews prevented them from scoring up to a dozen aerial
victories: however, it is perfectly possible that they scored at
least one, perhaps more previously entirely unknown aerial
victories - and also lost one of their own to an enemy fighter.
Richly illustrated by over 100 photographs and authentic colour
profiles, 'Tomcats of the Storm' is an exclusive source of
reference about some of least-well known air combats fought by US
Navy's fighter crews in recent history.
Early in the morning of 2 August 1990, aircraft of the Iraqi Air
Force bombed Kuwaiti air bases, and then the Iraqi Republican
Guards stormed into the country. Thus began what would be called
the 'Gulf War' - or the 'II Gulf War' or 'II Persian Gulf War' -
fought between January and March 1991. Although encountering some
problems, the Iraqi forces occupied Kuwait in a matter of a few
days. However, when President Saddam Hussein of Iraq unleashed his
military upon Kuwait, little did he know what kind of reaction he
would provoke from the Western superpowers, and what kind of
devastation his country would suffer in return. Concerned about the
possibility of Iraq continuing its advance into Saudi Arabia, the
USA - in coordination with Great Britain, France, and several local
allies - reacted by deploying large contingents of their air, land
and naval forces to the Middle East.##Months of fruitless
negotiations and the continuous military build-up - Operation
Desert Shield - followed, as tensions continued to increase.
Determined to retain Kuwait, and despite multiple warnings from his
own generals, Saddam Hussein rejected all demands to withdraw. The
USA and its allies, 'the Coalition', were equally as determined to
drive out the invader and restore Kuwaiti independence. Gradually,
they agreed this would have to be by force. Following an
authorisation from the United Nations, the Coalition launched the
Operation Desert Storm, on 17 January 1991, opening one of the most
intensive air campaigns in history. The last conventional war of
the 20th Century saw the large, but essentially traditional, Iraqi
Army overwhelmed by forces trained and equipped to exploit the
latest technologies. Desert Storm reveals the whole war fought
between Iraq and an international coalition, from the start of this
campaign to its very end. Largely based on data released from
official archives, spiced with numerous interviews, and illustrated
with over 100 photographs, 18 colour profiles and maps, it offers a
refreshing insight into this unique conflict. Volume 2 of Desert
Storm tells the story of the air campaign, naval operations, the
100 hours of the land war, and the aftermath of this conflict.
Designed by Sydney Camm as a swept wing, daytime interceptor with
excellent manoeuvrability, the Hunter became the first jet aircraft
manufactured by Hawker for the Royal Air Force. It set numerous
aviation records and saw widespread service with a large number of
RAF units in Europe and abroad. When the Royal Air Force received
newer aircraft capable of supersonic speeds to perform the
interceptor duties, many Hunters were modified and re-equipped for
ground-attack and reconnaissance missions instead. Because they
were deemed surplus to British requirements, most of these were
subsequently refurbished and exported to foreign customers - so
also to Iraq and Jordan. Hawker Hunters at War covers every aspect
of Hunter's service in the two countries, from in-depth coverage of
negotiations related to their export to Iraq and Jordan, to
all-important details of their operational service during 1958-67.
It culminates in detailed examination of their role in the June
1967 Arab-Israeli War (also known as the 'Six Days War') and
extensive tables listing all aircraft delivered and their fates.
Almost entirely based on interviews with retired commanding
officers and pilots of the former Royal Iraqi Air Force, Iraqi Air
Force and Royal Jordanian Air Force - as well as plenty of
unpublished official documents from British, Iraqi and Jordanian
archives - the narrative is providing an unprecedented insight into
a number of contemporary affairs. Profusely illustrated with well
over 100 photographs and 15 colour profiles showing all aspects of
camouflage, markings and various equipment, Hawker Hunters at War
is the ultimate profile of Hunter's colourful and action-packed
service in Iraq and Jordan during a period when this legendary type
formed the backbone of local air forces.
Formerly known as the 'Switzerland of the Middle East', an island
of economic stability and social progress, Lebanon was shattered by
a civil war that raged from 1975 until 1990. Pitting the central
government against different factions and alliances of Christians,
Sunni and Shi'a Moslems, leftists, and Syrian armed forces, this
multifaceted conflict experienced a major escalation when Israel
launched an invasion with the aim of destroying the Palestine
Liberation Organisation (PLO), in 1982. Also known as the First
Lebanon War, or Operation Peace for Galilee, the Israeli enterprise
was run in cooperation with Christian allies and the
self-proclaimed Free Lebanon State. Except for attacking the PLO
and surrounding its leadership in West Beirut, it provoked a major
showdown with Syrian armed forces deployed inside Lebanon, and
resulted in a series of bitter battles. Ever since, fighting on the
ground and in the sky of the Beka'a Valley is a synonym for
modern-day conventional air-land battle in the age of
high-technology warfare. Focusing on military-related developments,
and rich in exclusive details and illustrations, 'Lebanese Civil
War: Israeli Invasion, 1982' is dissecting military forces, their
equipment, intention and capabilities, and their combat operations.
When the BP oil spill devastates the Gulf coast, those who made a living by shrimping find themselves in dire straits. For the oddballs and lowlifes who inhabit the sleepy, working class bayou town of Jeannette, these desperate circumstances serve as the catalyst that pushes them to enact whatever risky schemes they can dream up to reverse their fortunes. At the center of it all is Gus Lindquist, a pill-addicted, one armed treasure hunter obsessed with finding the lost treasure of pirate Jean Lafitte. His quest brings him into contact with a wide array of memorable characters, ranging from a couple of small time criminal potheads prone to hysterical banter, to the smooth-talking Oil company middleman out to bamboozle his own mother, to some drug smuggling psychopath twins, to a young man estranged from his father since his mother died in Hurricane Katrina. As the story progresses, these characters find themselves on a collision course with each other, and as the tension and action ramp up, it becomes clear that not all of them will survive these events.
The Iran-Iraq War was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th
Century and accidentally created the current nightmare of Islamic
fundamentalist terrorism. There have been many books on the
conflict but this is the first detailed military history using
materials from both sides, as well as materials obtained from US
Intelligence circles and British Governmental archives. It provides
a unique insight into a war which began through miscalculation and
rapidly escalated into the longest conventional conflict in the
post Second World War era. The first volume looks at the background
and describes in detail how Saddam Hussein decided to invade but
hamstrung the Iraqi Army to restrict its greatest success to a
narrow strip of territory in Iran's southern province of Khuzestan.
This left the Iraqis unable either to advance or withdraw and
exposed them to ever greater and more successful Iranian
counter-strokes which drove them out in May 1982 in the ferocious
Battle of Khorramshahr.
Since September 1962, hardly a week passed without a major armed
confrontation or an outright war in Yemen. The number of
long-lasting insurgencies, mutinies, rebellions, or
terrorism-related activities that took place during this period is
going into dozens. Despite duration of all these conflicts and
although they may have caused as many as half a million of deaths,
the rest of the World heard very little about them. At best, Yemen
is nowadays known as a hotbed of international terrorism, an area
that is on the receiving end of frequent US air strikes flown by
UAVs, or as 'some place' fiercely bombarded by a coalition led by
Saudi Arabia. While at least some details about British aerial
operations in what was Southern Arabia of the 1960s were published
over the years, next to nothing is known about activities of other,
`local' air forces - like those of Egypt - and even less so about
that of Yemen. This is even more surprising considering that for
nearly two decades there were no less than two, fully developed
services of that kind - one operated by what was then North Yemen,
another by what used to be South Yemen - and that these were deeply
involved in the Cold War, too. Using newly released secret
intelligence sources, neglected memoirs, and popular memory, this
book is telling the story of military flying in Yemen between 1962
and 1994. It is providing in-depth insights and analysis of
campaigns fought by the Egyptian air force of the 1960s, the
creation of two Yemeni air forces in the 1970s, an entire series of
inter-Yemeni wars of the 1980s and 1990s. Containing over 140
photographs, colour profiles, maps and extensive tables, Hot Skies
over Yemen is a richly illustrated and unique point of reference
about one segment of modern aerial warfare that remains entirely
unknown until today.
Officially established on 22 April 1931, around a core of 5 pilots
and 32 aircraft mechanics, the Royal Iraqi Air Force was the first
military flying service in any Arab country. Coming into being with
the task of supporting the Iraqi armed forces and the British
against revolts by local tribes, it saw extensive combat and
gradually grew into a potent force. During the Anglo-Iraqi War of
1941, it became involved in its first conventional campaign in
support of an anti-British coup but was destroyed as a fighting
force. It was still recovering when deployed in combat again, this
time against Israel in the course of the Palestine War of
1948-1949. During the relatively quiet decade of the 1950s, the air
force experienced a rapid growth, further intensified once the
monarchy was toppled during the 14 Tammuz Revolution in 1958, and
once again, after two additional coups in 1963. During all of these
affairs, a dozen additional coup attempts in the 1960s, and then
during the long and bitter war against a Kurdish insurgency in the
north, and the next clash with Israel in 1967, the Iraqi Air Force
continued playing a dominant role in the fate of the country. The
situation changed only little following the coup of 1968 that
brought the Ba'ath Party to power. What did instrument a major
change was the air force's involvement in the October 1973
Arab-Israeli War, and then the showdown with the Iranian-supported
Kurdish insurgency in northern Iraq in 1974-1975. These two affairs
taught the Iraqis that numbers alone did not make an air force.
Correspondingly, during the second half of the 1970s, Baghdad
embarked on a project based on full technology transfer from
France, which was intended to result in preparing the IrAF for the
21st century. This process hardly began when the new ruler in
Baghdad, Saddam Hussein at-Tikriti, led his country into an
invasion of neighbouring Iran, embroiling it in a ruinous,
eight-year-long war. Amazingly enough, for the first few years of
that conflict, the IrAF still continued planning and growing as if
there was no conflict to fight, although frequently suffering heavy
losses while - due to the micromanagement from the government -
de-facto fighting with one hand tied to its backs. It was only the
experience of facing sustained and massive Iranian offensives of
the 1984-1986 period that prompted Baghdad into unleashing the air
force into an all-out campaign against the Iranian economy that
effected a turn-around in the war. Almost unexpectedly, the IrAF
emerged from the eight years of Iran stronger, better equipped and
better trained, and more experienced than ever before. However,
Saddam Hussein took care to remove all of its top commanders, and
replace them with his favourites, thus de-facto castrating the most
powerful branch of the Iraqi armed forces shortly before embarking
upon his ultimate adventure: the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The
resulting Second Persian Gulf War of 1991 left the IrAF in tatters:
mauled by sustained air strikes on its air bases, and cut off from
its former sources of equipment and training, it was never to
recover again, and rather vegetated for the last years of
existence, pending its ultimate destruction during the US-led
invasion of 2003. Although virtually 'born in battle', collecting
precious combat experience and playing an important role in so many
internal and external conflicts, the Iraqi Air Force remains one of
the least known and most misinterpreted military services in the
Middle East. Richly illustrated, Wings over Iraq provides a
uniquely compact yet comprehensive guide to its operational
history, its crucial officers and aircraft, and its major
operations.
Great Lakes Holocaust' is the first in two volumes covering
military operations in Zaire - as the Congo was named from 1971
until 1997 - and the Democratic Republic of Congo at the turn of
the 21st century. This volume explores the events of the 1980s and
1990s in Rwanda and Uganda, which eventually spilled over the
borders into Zaire, resulting in one of the worst tragedies ever to
befall an African region. The narrative traces the ascent of
crucial Rwandan, Congolese and Ugandan military and political
figures, and their connections within influential business and
political circles in and outside Africa. It examines the build-up
of the Zairian military under the government of Dictator Mobutu
Sese Seko in the 1960s and 1970s, and provides an in-depth study
into reasons for its near-collapse in the early 1990s. The military
build-up of Rwanda and Uganda is discussed in detail as is their
planning for operations inside Zaire, and the global logistic tail
that provided the Rwandan military, particularly, but also most of
its opponents, with a capability of not only waging war beyond
their borders, but - in the case of Rwanda - of invading and
practically conquering a country the size of Western Europe or the
USA east of the Mississippi. The book further traces the covert
Rwandan military actions inside Zaire, initially run under the
guise of an insurgency by one of Zaire's ethnic minorities; how
ever-deepening Rwandan operations inside Zaire were practically
dictated by concentrations of Hutu refugees; and how the insurgency
- led by Laurent-Desire Kabila who was installed by key Rwandan and
Ugandan military and political figures - developed into an
organization that sought autonomy from the military and political
dictates of Rwanda, in turn delivering a direct reason for the
Second Congo War which was fought from 1998-2003.
Volume 2 takes up the account after Iraq withdrew from Khuzestan
and is based upon material from both sides, from US Intelligence
data, British Government documents and secret Iraqi files. Iraq's
withdrawal exposed the great southern city of Basra to Iranian
attack but it was shielded by fortifications based upon a huge
anti-tank ditch, the so-called Fish Lake, which the Iranians tried
to storm in the summer of 1982. This bloody failure left Tehran in
a position where prestige prevented a withdrawal into Iran but the
armed forces lacked the resources to bring the conflict to a
favourable conclusion. During the next four years the Iranians
tried to outflank the Fish Lake defences initially through the
marshes in the north and finally through an attack on the Fao
Peninsula which increased national prestige but was a strategic
failure and paved the way for Iraq's massive victories in 1988.
This followed a series of successful defensive battles in which the
Iranians were driven back with great loss. This account describes
the battles in greater detail than before and, by examining them,
provides unique insights and ends many of the myths which are
repeated in many other accounts of this conflict.
As of 1975, the decades long insurgency in Angola appeared to be
short of its conclusion. However, with no less than three major
insurgent movements fighting for supremacy, the war went on and
then South Africa, USA, the Soviet Union, Zaire and Cuba became
involved. Affairs like the CIA's efforts to destabilise Angola for
little else but to recoup its prestige after the catastrophic
defeat in South Vietnam, or the South African military intervention
in Angola - Operation Savannah - have attracted lots of public
attention and are relatively well covered in related publications.
On the contrary, the final stages of the Portuguese withdrawal, the
military build-up of three native insurgent forces, and then the
onset of the Cuban military intervention in Angola - Operation
Carlotta run in 1975 and 1976 - remain largely unknown. Based on
extensive research with help of Angolan and Cuban sources, the War
of Intervention in Angola is providing a unique insight precisely
into the latter topic. It traces the failures of the US-supported
FNLA, the growth and reorganization of the MPLA into a conventional
army; deployment of Cuban military contingents, their capabilities
and intentions; and the performance and experiences of the MPLA and
Cuban forces at war with South Africans and the third Angolan
insurgent group - UNITA. The volume is illustrated with over 100
rare photographs, a dozen of maps and 15 colour profiles.
When released into independence from Great Britain, in 1948, the
stunningly beautiful island of Ceylon, re-named Sri Lanka in 1972,
was expected to become a sort of `South Asian Singapore'. However,
stable political order and bright economic prospects proved
insufficient to maintain peace. A host of unsolved ethnic conflicts
and social inequalities conspired to erupt into an armed conflict,
in 1971. When this broke out the entire Sri Lankan society was
shocked to its core by a large-scale insurgency instigated by a
Sinhalese Maoist group, JVP. Worst still, this was followed by the
gradual build-up of several other Tamil groups in the north of the
island. Following riots known as `Black July', in 1983, Sri Lanka
was ripped apart by a murderous war against Tamil insurgents, which
caught the armed forces wrong-footed because of the government's
reluctance to build-up its military to necessary levels. This came
to a temporary stop in 1987, with the implementation of a peace
arrangement virtually enforced by the government of India and a
deployment of a large peacekeeping force of the Indian military. By
the time, the notorious LTTE emerged as the most powerful Tamil
insurgent movement, and the principal opponent of the Sri Lankan
armed forces. Eventually, the Indian military intervention proved
to be only a temporary solution. The LTTE turned against the Indian
military but suffered heavily in return. However, this provided
some breathing space for the Sri Lankan military, which then
launched a vicious and protracted counterinsurgency campaign
against the JVP. The fighting thus went on. Relying on extensive
studies of the Sri Lankan War with the help of first-hand sources,
official documentation and publications from all of involved
parties, this volume provides an in-depth and particularly detailed
account of military operations during the first 16 years of this
war.
On 1 October 1990, hundreds of Banyarawanda militants that served
with the Ugandan Army deserted their posts to form the Rwandan
Patriotic Front (RPF) and invade Rwanda. Thus began the Rwandan
Civil War, which was to culminate in the famous genocide of nearly
one million of Tutsi and moderate Hutus, in 1994. Starting with
in-depth descriptions of the history of Rwandan political, military
and security development, this volume traces the history of the RPA
from its emergence as a small-scale insurgent group formed from the
ranks of Rwandan refugee diaspora in Uganda; its military
operations and related experiences during nearly four years of war
against the Rwandan government; and its establishment of control
over Kigali, in July 1994. As such, the narrative presented here
provides a fascinating and unique insight into the military story
behind the emergence of modern-day Rwanda and its military;
considered by many to be the'Israel of Africa'. Providing minute
details about RPF's tactics and doctrine - that strongly influenced
developments in a number of other modern-day African wars - this
volume is foremost an offering that provides highly interesting
backgrounds for and a prequel to, nearly all of the subsequent wars
in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. Illustrated
with over 150 photographs, colour profiles, and maps describing the
equipment, colours, and markings, and tactics of the RPF and its
opponents, this is a unique study about the emergence of one of the
most important US allies on the African continent.
In 1971, Idi Amin Dada, a former officer of the King's African
Rifles and commander of the Ugandan Army, seized power in a
military coup in Uganda. Characterised by human rights abuses,
political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings,
nepotism, corruption and gross economic mismanagement, Amin's rule
drove thousands into exile. Amin shifted the country's orientation
in international relations from alliances with the West and Israel,
to cooperation with the Soviet Union. With Tanzanian leader Julius
Nyerere offering sanctuary to Uganda's ousted president, Milton
Obote, Ugandan relations with Tanzania soon became strained too.
Already in 1972, a group of Tanzania-based exiles attempted,
unsuccessfully, to invade Uganda and remove Amin. By late 1978,
following another attempted coup against him, Amin deployed his
troops against the mutineers, some of whom fled across the
Tanzanian border. The rebellion against him thus spilled over into
Tanzania, against whom Uganda then declared a state of war. Opening
with an overview of the ascent of crucial military and political
figures, and the build-up of the Tanzanian and Ugandan militaries
during the 1960s and 1970s, this volume provides an in-depth study
of the related political and military events, but foremost of
military operations during the Kagera War- also known as 'A Just
War' - fought between Tanzania and Uganda in 1978-1979. It further
traces the almost continuous armed conflict in Uganda of 1981-1994,
which became renowned for emergence of several insurgent movements
notorious for incredible violence against civilian population, some
of which remain active in central Africa to this day. This book is
illustrated with an extensive selection of photographs, colour
profiles, and maps, describing the equipment, markings, and tactics
of the involved military forces.
Based on true cases drawn from the author's career, Fraud Catcher
is the first book in a series about Tom Brabazon, a fraud
investigator and finder of missing persons with a dark past. After
a tragic childhood in which both his parents were murdered, Tom
escapes from school, changes his identity and becomes an
international sports star before becoming a full time investigator.
Wracked by personal demons but street-smart and dedicated to
seeking justice, he's a hunter who never quits before he finds his
quarry. Tom plunges into a strange world of missing people,
investment and stock market frauds, swindlers, embezzlers, con
artists and corrupt politicians. The chase takes him to Ireland,
England, Switzerland and around the United States, until it leads
him home to solve the biggest case of all, his father's murder.
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