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Vanished
By Wil S. Hylton. 2013
In the fall of 1944, a massive American bomber carrying eleven men vanished over the Pacific islands of Palau, leaving a…
trail of mysteries. According to mission reports from the Army Air Forces, the plane crashed in shallow waterbut when investigators went to find it, the wreckage wasn't there. Witnesses saw the crew parachute to safety, yet the airmen were never seen again. Some of their relatives whispered that they had returned to the United States in secret and lived in hiding. But they never explained why. For sixty years, the U. S. government, the children of the missing airmen, and a maverick team of scientists and scuba divers searched the islands for clues. They trolled the water with side-scan sonar, conducted grid searches on the seafloor, crawled through thickets of mangrove and poison trees, and flew over the islands in small planes to shoot infrared photography. With every clue they found, the mystery only deepened. Now, in a spellbinding narrative, Wil S. Hylton weaves together the true story of the missing men, their final mission, the families they left behind, and the real reason their disappearance remained shrouded in secrecy for so long. This is a story of love, loss, sacrifice, and faith of the undying hope among the families of the missing, and the relentless determination of scientists, explorers, archaeologists, and deep-sea divers to solve one of the enduring mysteries of World War II. .Bloody Roads to Germany
By William F. Meller. 2012
He never planned on becoming a leader--or a hero . . . In early October of 1944 Private William Meller…
was 20 years old. Joining I Company, 28th Divison as a rifleman, he was indoctrinated on the front line to the horrors of fighting the battle-hardened German Wehrmacht in the wet freezing cold of the Huertgen Forest. In early November, fighting with only rifles and grenades for three days and without food, water or medical supplies two hundred men of I Company were surrounded, killed, wounded or captured. This created the only Cease Fire in WWII. Meller and two GIs escaped to the American lines with the guidance of a German Corporal. In early November I Company was re-formed, with Meller as Sergeant-squad leader, second Platoon and moved to the Ardennes; installed their Outpost one half mile facing the Siegfried Line on the German-Luxembourg border next to Walthausen. At 6:30 AM December 16 the Panzer Lehr German Division crossed the Our River: With Staff Sergeant Meller, now the Platoon Leader, 12 men stopped the German Armored Infantry offensive until they ran out of ammunition and the Panther Tanks arrived at 4:30 PM. This was beginning of The Battle of the Bulge. INCLUDES PHOTOSThe Bombers and the Bombed
By Richard Overy. 2013
The ultimate history of the Allied bombing campaigns in World War II Technology shapes the nature of all wars, and…
the Second World War hinged on a most unpredictable weapon: the bomb. Day and night, Britain and the United States unleashed massive fleets of bombers to kill and terrorize occupied Europe, destroying its cities. The grisly consequences call into question how moral” a war the Allies fought. The Bombers and the Bombed radically overhauls our understanding of World War II. It pairs the story of the civilian front line in the Allied air war alongside the political context that shaped their strategic bombing campaigns, examining the responses to bombing and being bombed with renewed clarity. The first book to examine seriously not only the well-known attacks on Dresden and Hamburg but also the significance of the firebombing on other fronts, including Italy, where the crisis was far more severe than anything experienced in Germany, this is Richard Overy’s finest work yet. It is a rich reminder of the terrible military, technological, and ethical issues that relentlessly drove all the war’s participants into an abyss. .Ecologies of Witnessing: Language, Place, and Holocaust Testimony
By Hannah Pollin. 2018
An innovative reassessment of Holocaust testimony revealing the dramatic ways in which the languages and places of postwar life…
inform survivor memory This groundbreaking work rethinks conventional wisdom about Holocaust testimony focusing on the power of language and place to shape personal narrative Oral histories of Lithuanian Jews serve as the textual base for this exploration Comparing the remembrances of Holocaust victims who remained in Lithuania with those who resettled in Israel and North America after World War II Pollin-Galay reveals meaningful differences based on where survivors chose to live out their postwar lives and whether their language of testimony was Yiddish English or Hebrew The differences between their testimonies relate to notions of love justice community and how the Holocaust did violence to these aspects of the self More than an original presentation of yet-unheard stories this book challenges the assumption of a universal vocabulary for describing and healing human painAmerican Daughter
By Elizabeth Kendall. 2000
In this beautifully crafted book, Elizabeth Kendall tells the story of a family, of a passionate attachment between a mother…
and a daughter and the sudden tragedy that tears it apart. American Daughter is also a brilliant portrait of wellborn women's lives in cities and towns in the post-World War II era, as Kendall evokes how difficult it was to become anything other than an American daughter, which meant being a dependent woman. Occupying a coveted place in St. Louis's privileged high society, Henry and Betty Kendall seemed to be the American dream come true: six children, a sprawling house, a legacy of higher education at Harvard and Vassar. Yet underneath lay the flawed marriage of an idealistic young woman who made her eldest daughter her best friend and turned civil rights into her salvation. Elizabeth maintained the family silence as eccentricities began to appear in her father's behavior, along with whispers of financial difficulties. She accompanied her mother back to Vassar for a summer program on the home and family, then came into her own, away from her family, at the haven of a girls' summer camp and at Radcliffe. From the war-torn 1940s, when young men in uniform, home on leave, went to debutante parties, through the seismic social changes of the 1960s, Kendall tells the intertwined story of her mother and herself, of their powerful bond and how both shaped their lives in response to it. Unrelentingly honest, rich with humor and insights into families and women's lives, American Daughter is both a poignant portrait of American life at the middle of the twentieth century, and a dual coming-of-age story of a mother and a daughter, united by commitment and love, separated by a fatal accident-and by the vastly different birthrights of their generations.From the Hardcover edition.The Mystery of Olga Chekhova
By Antony Beevor. 1936
Antony Beevor's The Mystery of Olga Chekhova is the true story of a family torn apart by revolution and war.…
Olga Chekhova was a stunning Russian beauty and a famous Nazi-era film actress who Hitler counted among his friends; she was also the niece of Anton Chekhov. After fleeing Bolshevik Moscow for Berlin in 1920, she was recruited by her composer brother Lev, to work for Soviet intelligence. In return, her family were allowed to join her. The extraordinary story of how the whole family survived the Russian Revolution, the civil war, the rise of Hitler, the Stalinist Terror, and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union becomes, in Antony Beevor's hands, a breathtaking tale of compromise and survival in a merciless age. 'A fascinating spy story, a delicious entertainment, a compelling investigation' Evening Standard'An extraordinary drama of exile and espionage' Independent'Compelling . . . as engaging a read as Stalingrad and Berlin' GuardianAntony Beevor is the renowned author of Stalingrad, which won the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Wolfson Prize for History and the Hawthornden Prize for Literature, and Berlin, which received the first Longman-History Today Trustees' Award. His books have sold nearly four million copies.The Ghosts of Hero Street
By Carlos Harrison. 2014
They came from one street in Silvis, Illinois, but death found them in many places . . . . .…
.in a distant jungle, a frozen forest, and trapped in the flaming wreckage of a bomber blown from the sky. One died going over a fence during the greatest paratrooper assault in history. Another fell in the biggest battle of World War II. Yet another, riddled with bullets in an audacious act of heroism during a decisive onslaught a world, and a war, away. All came from a single street in a railroad town called Silvis, Illinois, a tiny stretch of dirt barely a block-and-a-half long, with an unparalleled history. The twenty-two Mexican-American families who lived on that one street sent fifty-seven of their children to fight in World War II and Korea--more than any other place that size anywhere in the country. Eight of those children died. It's a distinction recognized by the Department of Defense, and it earned that rutted, unpaved strip a distinguished name. Today it's known as Hero Street. This is the story of those brave men and their families, how they fought both in battle and to be accepted in an American society that remained biased against them even after they returned home as heroes. Based on interviews with relatives, friends, and soldiers who served alongside the men, as well as personal letters and photographs, The Ghosts of Hero Street is the compelling and inspiring account of a street of soldiers--and men--who would not be denied their dignity or their honor.Command Of Honor
By Jeffers, H. Paul. 2008
The inspiring true story of General Lucian Truscott, one of the greatest combat commanders of World War II. General Lucian…
K. Truscott was an American military giant: tough, resourceful, and devoted to the men under his command. Unlike the more flamboyant high-ranking European field commanders of the time, he was neither arrogant nor in pursuit of personal glory-but rather a loyal, humble man who led his troops from the front and fought every enemy with a tenacity that made him one of the most respected and revered commanders in the U. S. Army. In Command of Honor, author H. Paul Jeffers chronicles the life of this American hero. For the first time, the life of Truscott is revealed: his ramshackle childhood in Texas and Oklahoma, his extraordinary combat service, and his peacetime duties. But above all, this is a story of leadership and sacrifice by a man who lived for duty, honor, and courage-a man who would become a legend in the annals of U. S. Army history. .Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945
By Leo Marks. 1998
Leo Marks, the head of Special Operations Executive, reveals many unknown truths about the Second World War in this memoir.…
Marks' ingenious work was to devise numeric codes printed on silk and to improve the security of the agent's codes. He played an important part in the deciphering of important enemy codes which culminated in the early end of the war.Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland
By Jan T. Gross. 2001
One summer day in 1941, half of the Polish town of Jedwabne murdered the other half, 1,600 men, women, and…
children, all but seven of the town's Jews. Neighbors tells their story. This is a shocking, brutal story that has never before been told. It is the most important study of Polish-Jewish relations to be published in decades and should become a classic of Holocaust literature. Jan Gross pieces together eyewitness accounts and other evidence into an engulfing reconstruction of the horrific July day remembered well by locals but forgotten by history. His investigation reads like a detective story, and its unfolding yields wider truths about Jewish-Polish relations, the Holocaust, and human responses to occupation and totalitarianism. It is a story of surprises: The newly occupying German army did not compel the massacre, and Jedwabne's Jews and Christians had previously enjoyed cordial relations. After the war, the nearby family who saved Jedwabne's surviving Jews was derided and driven from the area. The single Jew offered mercy by the town declined it. Most arresting is the sinking realization that Jedwabne's Jews were clubbed, drowned, gutted, and burned not by faceless Nazis, but by people whose features and names they knew well: their former schoolmates and those who sold them food, bought their milk, and chatted with them in the street. As much as such a question can ever be answered, Neighbors tells us why. In many ways, this is a simple book. It is easy to read in a single sitting, and hard not to. But its simplicity is deceptive. Gross's new and persuasive answers to vexed questions rewrite the history of twentieth-century Poland. This book proves, finally, that the fates of Poles and Jews during World War II can be comprehended only together.A Cross Too Heavy: Pope Pius XII and the Jews of Europe
By Paul O Shea. 2011
The papacy of Pius XII (1939-1958) has been a source of near-constant criticism and debate since his death, particularly because…
of his alleged silence during the Holocaust. Paul O'Shea examines his little-studied pre-papal life to demonstrate that Pius was neither an anti-Semitic villain nor a 'lamb without stain. 'The Ambiguity of Virtue
By Bernard Wasserstein. 2014
In May 1941, Gertrude van Tijn arrived in Lisbon on a mission of mercy from Germanâe#144;occupied Amsterdam. She came with…
Nazi approval to the capital of neutral Portugal to negotiate the departure from Hitler's Europe of thousands of German and Dutch Jews. Was this middleâe#144;aged Jewish woman, burdened with such a terrible responsibility, merely a pawn of the Nazis, or was her journey a genuine opportunity to save large numbers of Jews from the gas chambers? In such impossible circumstances, what is just action, and what is complicity? A moving account of courage and of all-too-human failings in the face of extraordinary moral challenges, The Ambiguity of Virtue tells the story of Van Tijn's work on behalf of her fellow Jews as the avenues that might save them were closed off. Between 1933 and 1940 Van Tijn helped organize Jewish emigration from Germany. After the Germans occupied Holland, she worked for the Naziâe#144;appointed Jewish Council in Amsterdam and enabled many Jews to escape. Some later called her a heroine for the choices she made; others denounced her as a collaborator. Bernard Wasserstein's haunting narrative draws readers into the twilight world of wartime Europe, to expose the wrenching dilemmas that confronted Jews under Nazi occupation. Gertrude van Tijn's experience raises crucial questions about German policy toward the Jews, about the role of the Jewish Council, and about Dutch, American, and British responses to the persecution and mass murder of Jews on an unimaginable scale.A Jewish Family in Germany Today: An Intimate Portrait
By Y. Michal Bodemann. 2005
Immediately after the Holocaust, it seemed inconceivable that a Jewish community would rebuild in Germany. What was once unimaginable has…
now come to pass: Germany is home to one of Europe's most vibrant Jewish communities, and it has the fastest growing Jewish immigrant population of any country in the world outside Israel. By sharing the life stories of members of one Jewish family--the Kalmans--Y. Michal Bodemann provides an intimate look at what it is like to live as a Jew in Germany today. Having survived concentration camps in Poland, four Kalman siblings--three brothers and a sister--were left stranded in Germany after the war. They built new lives and a major enterprise; they each married and had children. Over the past fifteen years Bodemann conducted extensive interviews with the Kalmans, mostly with the survivors' ten children, who were born between 1948 and 1964. In these oral histories, he shares their thoughts on Judaism, work, family, and community. Staying in Germany is not a given; four of the ten cousins live in Israel and the United States. Among the Kalman cousins are an art gallery owner, a body builder, a radio personality, a former chief financial officer of a prominent U. S. bank, and a sculptor. They discuss Zionism, anti-Semitism, what it means to root for the German soccer team, Schindler's List, money, success, marriage and intermarriage, and family history. They reveal their different levels of engagement with Judaism and involvement with local Jewish communities. Kalman is a pseudonym, and their anonymity allows the family members to talk with passion and candor about their relationships and their lives as Jews.My Fault
By Margherita Sarfatti, Brian Sullivan. 2014
Margherita Sarfatti first met Benito Mussolini in 1911 at the socialist daily Avanti! In what became a turbulent love affair…
she emerged as an important writer, art critic, and major adviser to the founder of the Fascist party. Even though she converted to Catholicism, she was cast aside once Hitler came to power and fled to South America in 1938. During her long exile where she constantly feared for her children who had remained in Italy and were in danger during the war, Sarfatti decided to tell the story of her relationship with Mussolini and the role she played in many important Fascist artistic, cultural, and ideological issues until 1934. Most of Italy's modern architecture and many of its painters owe Sarfatti both their success and lasting legacy. At first she wrote her memoir in English under the title My Fault. But in 1945 a daily newspaper in Buenos Aires, Critica, published a Spanish version in fourteen installments. In the full text Sarfatti bares all about her stormy relationship with the intensely womanizing dictator whom she knew was quite incapable of any kind of monogamous relationship. Yet the attraction remained long irresistible and that passion jumps off these pages with unrelenting strength. Brian Sullivan is America's foremost authority on Fascist Italy. After a PhD at Columbia he taught at Yale University and at the War College. With the late Phil Cannistraro he is the co-author of Il Duce's Other Woman (William Morrow, 1993) a major biography of Margherita Sarfatti. He lives in Rockville, Maryland.Mussolini Warlord
By H. James Burgwyn. 2012
Fascist Italy has received far too little attention in the military history of the Axis partnership. This is the first…
comprehensive study of Benito Mussolini's military efforts to build an empire during World War II. It details the fascist dictator's attempt to build both a Mediterranean empire and Balkan empire, as well as a narrative history of his tragically flawed illusions; Italy's disastrous military performance; the heroism of Italian soldiers, sailors, and airmen; and the brutal counterinsurgency programs. Italy's various war theaters are discussed singly, with major battles outlined, military aptitude and results judged, and relations with the Axis partner described. Fascist ideology and the Italian army's conduct in the occupied territories--France, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Russia, East Africa, and North Africa--are also analyzed. Mussolini was the single individual most responsible for Italy's failure during World War II. H. James Burgwyn is professor emeritus of history at Westchester University and the author of important works on modern Italian history.Aces of Jagdgeschwader 3 'Udet'
By John Weal. 2013
In Me-109s and FW-190s from the Battle of Britain to Stalingrad, Kursk, Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, and Berlin,…
German aces from Jagdgeschwader 3 racked up a stunning aerial record.Jagdgeschwader 3 may not have the same immediate resonance as some of the more famous Luftwaffe fighter units, such Jagdgeschwader 2 'Richthofen', but it is arguably the archetypal German fighter formation of World War 2. Not only did it participate in every campaign fought by the Luftwaffe (with the exceptions of Poland and Norway), it flew every major variant of the two legendary German wartime fighters, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 - starting with the Bf 109E in 1939 and ending with the Fw 190D-9 'Long-nose' in 1945. And, during the course of the hostilities, it numbered among its ranks more than 70 Knight's Cross winners (a total exceeded by only one other Jagdgeschwader). The wealth and variety of detail afforded by such a background - which includes the historic battles of Britain, Stalingrad, Kursk, Normandy, the Ardennes and Berlin - provides an ideal framework upon which to portray the multitude of stories, exploits and ultimate fates of the many aces themselves, from the now unknown trio who achieved their first five kills during the Blitzkrieg in France in the late spring/early summer of 1940 to the nearly two-dozen highly acclaimed and lauded 'centurions' who flew with JG 3.Bolt Action: Tank War
By Peter Dennis, Warlord Games. 0158
Tank War, the new supplement for Bolt Action, gives players the option to expand their games to a whole new…
level - armored warfare. Recreate such great engagements as the battle of Kursk with the scenarios, army options and special rules found in this book. Whether you want to add more armour to your existing armies or build an entirely armoured force, Tank War has you covered.Captured Eagles: Secrets of the Luftwaffe
By Frederick A. Johnsen. 2014
In Captured Eagles, Frederick A. Johnsen lays bare the once secret history of the American effort to understand and counter…
the Luftwaffe before and during World War II, and afterward to seize and exploit German technological advances in everything from jet fighters and bombers to ballistic missiles.Even before World War II, U.S. Army Air Force commanders were gravely concerned about the technological lead that German aviation seemed to hold. Once America entered the war, they were desperate to learn the secrets and capabilities of the Luftwaffe. From German defectors to battlefield trophies to combat action reports, the race to understand the Luftwaffe's technology took on heroic proportions. But even the end of the war didn't lessen the urgency of acquiring German technology. American intelligence teams scoured Europe to bring home the jewels of German aviation, from jet aircraft such as the Me 262 that far exceeded almost any aircraft in the Air Force's inventory, to ballistic missiles such as the V2 that were beyond anything the Allies possessed. This would be the technological foundation of American air power during the Cold War, and even give the U.S. the boost it needed to win the Space Race and land on the Moon.Drawing on rarely seen historical sources such as Air Force technical documents, as well as first person accounts from the airmen and engineers who were there, author Frederick A. Johnsen, tells the history of one of the most fascinating periods in both American and German aviation history.Savoia-Marchetti S.79 Sparviero Torpedo-Bomber Units
By Richard Caruana, Marco Mattioli. 2014
Italy's Sparviero (Sparrowhawk) saw combat with the Regia Aeronautica in France, Yugoslavia, Greece, North Africa, East Africa and in the…
Mediterranean versus the Royal Navy. Italy's most successful wartime bomber, the S.79 was also the most produced, with around 1370 built between 1936 and early 1944. Initially developed by Savoia-Marchetti as a transport aircraft it had evolved into a dedicated medium bomber by the time the S.79-I made its combat debut with the Aviazione Legionaria in the Spanish Civil War in 1936. The manufacturer then produced the S.79-II torpedo-bomber, fitted with 1000 hp Piaggio or Fiat radial engines in place of the original 780 hp Alfa Romeos. Entering service in 1939, the S.79-II saw much action over the next four years, particularly in its intended torpedo-bomber role against the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. Indeed, the Sparviero crews tasked with targeting Allied shipping became national heroes in Italy thanks to their exploits, with men such as Buscaglia, Graziani, Erasi, Faggioni, Di Bella, Aichner and Cimicchi being as revered as fighter aces in other countries. Following Italy's surrender in September 1943, a large number of S.79s continued to see action against the Allies with the pro-German RSI, although they suffered heavy losses. This is the first of two proposed volumes on the S.79, the second book detailing its use as a bomber and transport.P-38 Lightning Aces 1942-43
By John Stanaway. 2014
The first P-38s became operational with the 1st Fighter Group in April 1941, and the initial combat deployments were made…
in Alaska, the Southwest Pacific and North Africa during the latter part of 1942. Photographic reconnaissance versions of the P-38 were in action even sooner when F-4 (P-38E) models were rushed to frontline units a few months after Pearl Harbor. Often using modified field measures to equip aircraft and train pilots in this demanding fighter, early pilots wrote a remarkable record of accomplishments that displayed a high degree of courage and innovation. Every theatre in which the United States was involved saw deployment of the P-38, and more than 60 Lightning pilots were credited with at least five victories by the end of 1943. Some of the early aces to be featured are photo-reconnaissance ace Karl Polifka, who supposedly scored some of the first unofficial P-38 aerial victories in the period April through August 1942, and 39th Fighter Squadron aces Charles King, Dick Bong and Hoyt Eason, who scored some of the first victories for the squadron. Some of the aces of the Mediterranean were 37th FS pilots Leverette, Wilkins and Hanna, who flew older G-models during the period when the celebrated Stuka shootdown took place in October 1943. New information and insight on this operation, including the identity of some of the German participants, is now available. New photos and details are available regarding CBI aces Bob Schultz, Hampton Boggs, Harry Sealy and others too.