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The Somme: The Darkest Hour On The Western Front
By Peter Hart, Nigel Steel. 2005
A major new history of the most infamous battle of the First World War, as described by the men who…
fought it. On 1 July 1916, Douglas Haig's army launched the 'Big Push' that was supposed finally to bring an end to the stalemate on the Western Front. What happened next was a human catastrophe: scrambling over the top into the face of the German machine guns and artillery fire, almost 20,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers were killed that day alone, and twice as many wounded - the greatest loss in a single day ever sustained by the British Army. The battle did not stop there, however. It dragged on for another 4 months, leaving the battlefield strewn with literally hundreds of thousands of bodies. The Somme has remained a byword for the futility of war ever since. In this major new history, Peter Hart describes how the battle looked from the point of view of those who fought it. Using never-before-seen eyewitness testimonies, he shows us this epic conflict from all angles. We see what it was like to crawl across No Man's Land in the face of the German guns, what it was like for those who stayed behind in the trenches - the padres, the artillerymen, the doctors. We also see what the battle looked like from the air, as the RFC battled to keep control of the skies above the battlefield. All this is put in the context of the background to the battle, and Haig's overall strategy for the Western Front, making this the most comprehensive history of the battle since Lyn MacDonald's bestselling work over 20 years ago.Last Stand: Famous Battles Against The Odds (Cassell Military Classics Ser.)
By Bryan Perrett. 1991
What do soldiers do when all is lost?They keep fighting! In this best-selling anthology, Bryan Perrett provides gripping accounts of…
close-quarter battles and hard fought victory against all the odds. His journey from Napoleonic Europe through to the Korean War highlights thirteen episodes of incredible bravery and sacrifice in unbelievable actions. The book begins with the gallant fight of Napoleon's Old Guard at Waterloo. It examines the famous actions at the Alamo; against the Zulus at Rorke's Drift; and 'the Bridge Too Far' at Arnhem. The adventure concludes with the desperate last stand of the Gloucesters at Imjin during the Korean War. Last Stand! is the breathtaking story of ultimate sacrifice and glorious victory.Jutland, 1916: Death In The Grey Wastes (Sven Hassel War Classics)
By Peter Hart, Nigel Steel. 2004
Dramatic, illustrated account of the biggest naval battle of the First World War.On 31 May, 1916, the great battle fleets…
of Britain and Germany met off Jutland in the North Sea. It was a climactic encounter, the culmination of a fantastically expensive naval race between the two countries, and expectations on both sides were high. For the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, there was the chance to win another Trafalgar. For the German High Seas Fleet, there was the opportunity to break the British blockade and so change the course of the war. But Jutland was a confused and controversial encounter. Tactically, it was a draw; strategically, it was a British victory.Naval historians have pored over the minutiae of Jutland ever since. Yet they have largely ignored what the battle was actually like for its thousands of participants. Full of drama and pathos, of chaos and courage, JUTLAND, 1916 describes the sea battle in the dreadnought era from the point of view of those who were there.11am, 11.11.1918: the war is finally over. After four long years Britain welcomed her heroes home. Wives and mothers were…
reunited with loved ones they'd feared they'd never see again. Fathers met sons and daughters born during the war years for the very first time. It was a time of great joy - but it was also a time of enormous change. The soldiers and nurses who survived life at the Front faced the reality of rebuilding their lives in a society that had changed beyond recognition. How did the veterans readjust to civilian life? How did they cope with their war wounds, work and memories of lost comrades? And what of the people they returned to - the independent young women who were asked to give up the work they had been enjoying, the wives who had to readjust to life with men who seemed like strangers?Against All Odds!: More Dramatic `last Stand' Actions (Sven Hassel War Classics)
By Bryan Perrett. 1995
The story of dramatic military actions where a few fought against many, often with unbelievable success.From the Napoleonic Wars to…
Korea, Bryan Perrett has found a further 13 dramatic military actions where a few fought against many, often with unbelievable success. The events take place in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America; they are linked only by the bravery and devilment which led military men to risk their lives for a last ditch attempt to advance their cause. Attending to the important facts and statistics required by the military historian, the author avoids invention and undue surmise whilst also avoiding the dry lecturing style found in so many volumes describing military strategy. The result is an absorbing, exciting and above all accurate account of astonishing battlefield warfare: narrative history of the sort at which Bryan Perrett excels.Apollinaire in the Great War (1914-18)
By David Hunter. 2015
A major literary figure in pre-war Paris, Guillaume Apollinaire volunteered for war in 1914, trained as an artilleryman and was…
posted in April 1915 to the Champagne front in northern France, participating in the bloody but little-known offensive that September and then moving into the front line as an infantry officer, before being wounded in March 1916 and invalided out of active service. Back in Paris, Apollinaire plunged back into the activities of the capital's artistic avant-garde, meanwhile publishing poetry, prose and plays that were deeply influenced by his involvement in the conflict. He died on 9 November 1918, two days before the Armistice, a victim of the influenza pandemic, but with a literary reputation secured, as well as a certain fame for coining the term 'Surrealism'. This book draws heavily on Apollinaire's writings to tell the story of his war years, within the wider context of the French experience of the Great War. In this period, Apollinaire also wrote hundreds of letters, the bulk of them to two women: Louise de Coligny, a flighty socialite of aristocratic origin, and Madeleine Pagès, a young schoolteacher. In these letters he poured out his passionate feelings for both in often highly erotic poetry and prose, as well as giving detailed descriptions of his life as a front-line soldier.Moshe Dayan (Great Commanders Ser.)
By Martin Van Creveld. 2004
Martin van Creveld's Moshe Dayan tells the story of one man and of one people, to whom he was a…
figurehead - a symbol of their patriotism and their determination to survive. Born in a kibbutz in 1915, Dayan joined the Hagana when he was just fourteen, thus starting early a military career that saw him serve in every war fought in the Middle East from the War of Israeli Independence in 1948 to the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Twice he led his country's forces into smashing victories. Having planned and executed the one and directed the other, with his one eye he towers over them like Nelson over the Battle of Trafalgar. Skilled in battle, skilled in diplomacy, like many powerful public figures, Moshe Dayan's private life was far from mundane. The book quotes from little-known sources, including an account written by one of his mistresses, that reveal much about his character and his life away from the battlefield. This is an honest portrayal of both the private and the public figure, which seeks to understand a man whose contribution to the state of Israel in its developing years was immeasurable.Great Military Disasters: From Cannae To Stalingrad
By Julian Spilsbury. 2010
Great Military Disasters tells the dramatic stories behind the world's most calamitous conflicts. From the French army's failure to understand…
the impact of new technology at Crécy to Hitler's blatant overconfidence at Stalingrad, military historian Julian Spilsbury provides thrilling accounts of each disaster, covering exactly what went wrong, how and why. Of course, a disastrous outcome for one side meant victory for another, so as well as exploring the reasons the conflict ended in disaster, Great Military Disasters also reveals the key to victory. Eyewitness quotations add another dimension to this intriguing study of human incompetence of the gravest kind.Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law Volume 15, 2012
By Christophe Paulussen, Terry D. Gill, Robin Geiß, Robert Heinsch, Tim Mccormack, Jessica Dorsey. 2014
'Child Soldiers and the Lubanga Case' and 'The Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare' are the…
two central themes of this volume. Each of these timely topics is addressed from three different angles, providing a truly comprehensive analysis of the subject. The book also features an article on the duty to investigate civilian casualties during armed conflict and its implementation in practice and an elaborate year in review, discussing developments that occurred in 2012. The Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law is the world's only annual publication devoted to the study of the laws governing armed conflict. It provides a truly international forum for high-quality, peer-reviewed academic articles focusing on this crucial branch of international law. Distinguished by contemporary relevance, the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law bridges the gap between theory and practice and serves as a useful reference tool for scholars, practitioners, military personnel, civil servants, diplomats, human rights workers and students.Lightning Out of Lebanon: Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil
By Barbara Newman, Tom Diaz. 2006
Before September 11, 2001, one terrorist group had killed more Americans than any other: Hezbollah, the "Party of God." Today…
it remains potentially more dangerous than even al Qaeda. Yet little has been known about its inner workings, past successes, and future plans--until now. Written by an accomplished journalist and a law-enforcement expert, Lightning Out of Lebanon is a chilling and essential addition to our understanding of the external and internal threats to America. In disturbing detail, it portrays the degree to which Hezbollah has infiltrated this country and the extent to which it intends to do us harm. Formed in Lebanon by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in 1982, Hezbollah is fueled by hatred of Israel and the United States. Its 1983 truck-bomb attack against the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut killed 241 soldiers--the largest peacetime loss ever for the U.S. military--and caused President Reagan to withdraw all troops from Lebanon. Since then, among other atrocities, Hezbollah has murdered Americans at the U.S. embassy in Lebanon and the Khobar Towers U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia; tortured and killed the CIA station chief in Beirut; held organizational meetings with top members of al Qaeda-including Osama bin Laden-and established sleeper cells in the United States and Canada. Lightning Out of Lebanon reveals how, starting in 1982, a cunning and deadly Hezbollah terrorist named Mohammed Youssef Hammoud operated a cell in Charlotte, North Carolina, under the radar of American intelligence. The story of how FBI special agent Rick Schwein captured him in 2002 is a brilliantly researched and written account. Yet the past is only prologue in the unsettling odyssey of Hezbollah. Using their exclusive sources in the Middle East and inside the U.S. counterterrorism establishment, the authors of Lightning Out of Lebanon imagine the deadly future of Hezbollah and posit how best to combat the group which top American counterintelligence officials and Senator Bob Graham, vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have called "the A Team of terrorism."Bloody April: Slaughter In The Skies Over Arras, 1917
By Peter Hart. 2005
The story of the decimation of the Royal Flying Corps over Arras in 1917As the Allies embarked upon the Battle…
of Arras, they desperately needed accurate aerial reconnaissance photographs. But by this point the Royal Flying Club were flying obsolete planes. The new German Albatros scouts massively outclassed them in every respect: speed, armament, ability to withstand punishment and manoeuverability. Many of the RFC's pilots were straight out of flying school - as they took to the air they were sitting targets for the experienced German aces. Over the course of 'Bloody April' the RFC suffered casualties of over a third. The average life expectancy of a new subaltern on the front line dropped to just eleven days. And yet they carried on flying, day after day, in the knowledge that, in the eyes of their commanders at least, their own lives meant nothing compared to the photographs they brought back, which could save tens of thousands of soldiers on the ground. In this book Peter Hart tells the story of the air war over Arras, using the voices of the men who were actually there.Iron Fist: Classic Armoured Warfare Case Studies (Cassell Military Classics Ser.)
By Bryan Perrett. 1996
The greatest tank battles of history from the Great War to the Gulf, examined by one of Britain's bestselling military…
writers.The story of the evolution of armoured warfare in the 20th century, which has seen tanks and other armoured vehicles develop from lumbering, primitive and vulnerable Goliaths to the immensely potent and manoeuvrable agents of lightning battlefield success. This is a collection of the greatest moments of armoured history from the conception of the tank as a means to break the stalemate of the Western Front to Blitzkreig, the great tank battles of the Second World War and the 'mother of all battles' in the Gulf in 1991.The Sea Warriors: Fighting Captains And Frigate Warfare In The Age Of Nelson
By Richard Woodman. 2002
Extraordinary maritime heroes of the late 18th and early 19th centuries stride across these pages - some, like Warren, Pellew,…
Cochrane and Collingwood, are still renowned; others are almost unknown today, yet their brilliant exploits deserve to be pulled from under the long shadow of the greatest naval figure of all, Horatio Nelson. The Royal Navy's struggle is set against the political backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and the sea war with America.Uniforms of the United States Army, 1774-1889, in Full Color
By H. A. Ogden. 1998
Richly colored, hand-tinted prints portray the gamut of U.S. army uniforms, from fatigues to full dress, between 1774 and 1889.…
Absolutely authentic in their painstaking detail, the 44 beautifully reproduced plates depict all ranks in complete regalia, with accessories such as weapons, horses, and other accoutrements. Captions.Another Bloody Century: Future Warfare
By Colin S. Gray. 2006
How the wars of the near future will be fought and who will win themMany nations, peoples and special interest…
groups believe that violence will advance their cause. Warfare has changed greatly since the Second World War; it continued to change during the late 20th century and this process is still accelerating. Political, technological, social and religious forces are shaping the future of warfare, but most western armed forces have yet to evolve significantly from the cold war era when they trained to resist a conventional invasion by the Warsaw Pact. America is now the only superpower, but its dominance is threatened by internal and external factors. The world's most hi-tech weaponry seems helpless in the face of determined guerrilla fighters not afraid to die for their beliefs.Professor Colin Gray has advised governments on both sides of the Atlantic and in ANOTHER BLOODY CENTURY, he reveals what sort of conflicts will affect our world in the years to come.The Mammoth Book of How it Happened: World War I
By Jon E. Lewis. 2003
The spectre of the Great War still haunts us. No other conflict so dramatically illustrates the waste of life, and…
the slaughter of innocents, as that of 1914-18. And none has so dramatically shaped the modern world: the Russian Revolution, the rise of Hitler, the break-up of Empire, the supremacy of America and World War II all stem from the four years of the 'war to end all wars'. Here is the eye-witness chronicle of that war, from the trenches of Flanders to the staff rooms of the Imperial Germany Army, from T. E. Lawrence in the desert to the 'Red Baron' in the air, from Land Girls in England to German U-boat crews in the Atlantic, it leaves nothing out. And if all the horror of the war fought by the Tommies in the trenches is captured, so too are the machinations of the 'top brass' and politicians.Picture History of World War II American Aircraft Production
By Joshua Stoff. 1993
Over 250 rare photographs depict one of the greatest industrial feats of World War II: the massive production of American…
military aircraft. Photos show teams of workers turning out Boeing B-17 bombers in Seattle, huge B-24D Liberators at the Ford plant in Willow Run, F6F Grumman Hellcat fighters in Long Island, and much more.Back in the day when men were men and Britain ruled the world, the two great world powers went head…
to head over control of central Asia - from the Caucasus to Kabul. This was the stage of open warfare but also espionage, subterfuge and reckless adventure. Following on from the derring do of Shooting Leave, John Ure tells the story of British soldiers, missionaries and mercenaries, horse traders and opportunists who travelled to make their name in the Great Game.Roger, Sausage and Whippet: A Miscellany of Trench Lingo from the Great War
By Christopher Moore. 2012
Roger: A code word for a gas cylinder and a nickname for rum. Sausage: An observation balloon. Whippet: A small,…
light type of tank with a top sped of eight m.p.h. The First World War raged for four years, taking with it hundreds of thousands of young soldiers who lived and died together, bonded by the horror of the war. Now, all the way from the trenches and through the letters of Christopher Moore's Captain Cartwright, comes an extraordinary lexicon of the phrases and lingo of life at the front. Whether born from the desperation of gallows humour ('If it keeps on like this, someone's going to get hurt'), borrowed from Cockney rhyming slang, Latin, French and other languages ('Cushy: Comfortable, safe, pleasant. From the Hindustani: khush, pleasure') or even taken from the name of the Huntley and Palmer biscuit company, Tommy had a new word for almost everything. From Ammo to Zig-Zag, this is a fascinating glimpse into the world of our First World War heroes. So fetch the dooly and the other makings, brew up some char, and read on safe in the knowledge that you won't be going over the top today...By Sword and Fire: Cruelty And Atrocity In Medieval Warfare
By Sean Mcglynn. 2013
Sean McGlynn investigates the reality of medieval warfare. For all the talk of chivalry, medieval warfare routinely involved acts which…
we would consider war crimes. Lands laid waste, civilians slaughtered, prisoners massacred: this was standard fare justified by tradition and practical military necessity. It was unbelievably barbaric, but seldom uncontrolled.Such acts of atrocity were calculated, hideous cruelties inflicted in order to achieve a specific end. Sean McGlynn examines the battles of Acre and Agincourt, sieges like Béziers, Lincoln, Jerusalem and Limoges as well as the infamous chevauchées of the Hundred Years War that devastated great swathes of France. He reveals how these grisly affairs form the origin of accepted ¿rules of war¿, codes of conduct that are today being enforced in the International Court of Justice in the Hague.