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War, History
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By the award-winning author of Dog Company: a historic account of a Revolutionary War unit’s “tactical acumen and human drama…
. . . combat writing at its best” (The Wall Street Journal). In August 1776, little over a month after the Continental Congress had formally declared independence from Britain, the revolution was on the verge of a disastrous end. General George Washington found his troops outmanned and outmaneuvered at the Battle of Brooklyn. But thanks to a series of desperate charges by a single heroic regiment, famously known as the “Immortal 400,” Washington was able to evacuate his men and the nascent Continental Army lived to fight another day. In Washington’s Immortals, award-winning military historian Patrick K. O’Donnell brings to life the forgotten story of these remarkable men. Comprised of rich merchants, tradesmen, and free blacks, they fought not just in Brooklyn, but in key battles including Trenton, Princeton, Camden, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, and Yorktown, where their heroism changed the course of the war. Drawing on extensive original sources, from letters to diaries to pension applications, O’Donnell pieces together the stories of these brave men—their friendships, loves, defeats, and triumphs. He explores their tactics, their struggles with hostile loyalists and shortages of clothing and food, their development into an elite unit, and their dogged opponents, including British General Lord Cornwallis. Through the prism of this one unit, O’Donnell tells the larger story of the Revolutionary War. “Well-written, and superbly researched . . . A must-read for Revolutionary War and Maryland history buffs alike.” —Bill Hughes, Baltimore Post-Examiner
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War, World War I
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The award-winning combat historian and author of Washington&’s Immortals honors the Unknown Soldier with this &“gripping story&” of America&’s part…
in WWI (Washington Times). The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is sacred ground at Arlington National Cemetery. Originally constructed in 1921 to hold one of the thousands of unidentified American soldiers lost in World War I, it now receives millions of visitors each year. &“With exhaustive research and fluid prose,&” historian Patrick O&’Donnell illuminates the saga behind the creation of the Tomb itself, and the stories of the soldiers who took part in its consecration (Wall Street Journal). When the first Unknown Soldier was laid to rest in Arlington, General John Pershing selected eight of America&’s most decorated veterans to serve as Body Bearers. These men appropriately spanned America&’s service branches and specialties. Their ranks include a cowboy who relived the charge of the light brigade, an American Indian who heroically breached mountains of German barbed wire, a salty New Englander who dueled a U-boat for hours in a fierce gunfight, a tough New Yorker who sacrificed his body to save his ship, and an indomitable gunner who, though blinded by gas, nonetheless overcame five machine-gun nests. In telling the stories of these brave men, O&’Donnell shines a light on the service of all veterans, including the hero they brought home. Their stories present an intimate narrative of America&’s involvement in the Great War, transporting readers into the midst of dramatic battles that ultimately decided the conflict.
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Business and economics, War, Arts and entertainment
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Life and leadership lessons from the Special Forces, from the stars of Channel 4 series SAS: Who Dares Wins -…
including Sunday Times bestselling author of FIRST MAN: LEADING FROM THE FRONT, Ant MiddletonAre you up to the challenge of SAS leadership? Only the best will succeed... Britain's SAS (Special Air Service) has an unparalleled reputation for soldiering excellence. Their skills and techniques have been perfected in the most demanding environments imaginable, but many of these can also be used in our everyday lives. This book takes situations all of us will experience during our lives and presents tactical lessons drawn from SAS training and battlefield experience. Its four authors - stars of the hit Channel 4 show SAS: Who Dares Wins - how their finely honed understanding of how to handle extreme challenges can be applied in any environment. Their advice on negotiation, people management, self-motivation and resilience, among other things, can transform your performance in a whole range of scenarios: from buying a house, nailing a job interview, and the experience of dealing with rejection, to maintaining a diet, or managing that pushy colleague at work.This is the ultimate guide to leadership and personal achievement.
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War and military biography, War, World War II, Politics and government
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"Lyuba Vinogradova is a historian with a writer's dramatic eye. By personally interviewing many of the Russian women who as…
teenagers during WW2 took up arms to defend the motherland, her story becomes undeniably poignant and powerful" MARTIN CRUZ SMITH, author of Gorky ParkThe girls came from every corner of the U.S.S.R. They were factory workers, domestic servants, teachers and clerks, and few were older than twenty. Though many had led hard lives before the war, nothing could have prepared them for the brutal facts of their new existence: with their country on its knees, and millions of its men already dead, grievously wounded or in captivity, from 1942 onwards thousands of Soviet women were trained as snipers.Thrown into the midst of some of the fiercest fighting of the Second World War they would soon learn what it was like to spend hour upon hour hunting German soldiers in the bleak expanses of no-man's-land; they would become familiar with the awful power that comes with taking another person's life; and in turn they would discover how it feels to see your closest friends torn away from you by an enemy shell or bullet.In a narrative that travels from the sinister catacombs beneath the Kerch Peninsula to Byelorussia's primeval forests and, finally, to the smoking ruins of the Third Reich, Lyuba Vinogradova recounts the untold stories of these brave young women. Drawing on diaries, letters and interviews with survivors, as well as previously unpublished material from the military archives, she offers a moving and unforgettable record of their experiences: the rigorous training, the squalid living quarters, the blood and chaos of the Eastern Front, and those moments of laughter and happiness that occasionally allowed the girls to forget, for a second or two, their horrifying circumstances. Avenging Angels is a masterful account of an all-too-often overlooked chapter of history, and an unparalleled account of these women's lives.Translated from the Russian by Arch Tait
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Family stories, General fiction, Historical fiction, Historical romance, Spy stories, Suspense and thrillersWar, History
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In Beauty Like The Night, Joanna Bourne, 'master of romance and suspense' (Teresa Medeiros) returns to the French Revolution, with…
a stirring tale of intrigue, espionage, and irresistible attraction. For fans of Stephanie Laurens, Elizabeth Hoyt For fans of Stephanie Laurens, Elizabeth Hoyt and Poldark, this is a must-read. Severine de Cabrillac, orphan of the French revolution and sometime British intelligence agent, has tried to leave spying behind her. Now she devotes herself to investigating crimes in London and finding justice for the wrongly accused.Raoul Deverney, an enigmatic half-Spaniard with enough secrets to earn even a spy's respect, is at her door demanding help. She's the only one who can find the killer of his long-estranged wife and rescue her missing fourteen-year-old daughter.Severine reluctantly agrees to aid him, even though she knows the growing attraction between them makes it more than unwise. Their desperate search for the girl unleashes treason and murder...and offers a last chance for two strong, wounded people to find love.For more spellbinding Spymasters romance, look for the other titles by Joanna Bourne: The Forbidden Rose, The Spymaster's Lady, My Lord and Spymaster, The Black Hawk and Rogue Spy.
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War and military biography, War, World War II
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A gripping account of the Second World War, from the perspective of a young tank commander.In 1944, David Render was…
a nineteen-year-old second lieutenant fresh from Sandhurst when he was sent to France. Joining the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry five days after the D-Day landings, the combat-hardened men he was sent to command did not expect him to last long. However, in the following weeks of ferocious fighting in which more than 90 per cent of his fellow tank commanders became casualties, his ability to emerge unscathed from countless combat engagements earned him the nickname of the 'Inevitable Mr Render'.In Tank Action Render tells his remarkable story, spanning every major episode of the last year of the Second World War from the invasion of Normandy to the fall of Germany. Ultimately it is a story of survival, comradeship and the ability to stand up and be counted as a leader in combat.
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War, World War II
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'You couldn't make these stories up: yet they're true, and Lewis does the memory of these extraordinary men full justice…
in a tale that is both heart-stopping and moving' Evening Standard'Suicidal bravery, untold moral courage and awe-inspiring survival. An utterly compelling read' Bear GryllsFrom the bestselling author of true military classics ZERO SIX BRAVO, THE NAZI HUNTERS and CHURCHILL'S SECRET WARRIORSIn the Spring of 1940, as Britain reeled from defeats on all fronts and America seemed frozen in isolation, one fear united the British and American leaders like no other: the Nazis had stolen a march on the Allies towards building the atomic bomb. So began the hunt for Hitler's nuclear weapons - nothing else came close in terms of priorities. It was to be the most secret war of those wars fought amongst the shadows. The highest stakes. The greatest odds.Prior to the outbreak of the war the massive German chemicals conglomerate I.G. Farben - the future manufacturers of Zyklon-B, the gas used in the Nazi concentration camps - had started producing bulk supplies of deuterium oxide - heavy water - at the remote Norwegian plant of Vemork. This was the central target of three separate missions - Operations GROUSE, FRESHMAN and GUNNERSIDE - over the ensuing four years. As Churchill commented: 'The actual facts in many cases were equal to the most fantastic inventions of romance and melodrama. Tangle with tangle, plot and counter-plot, ruse and treachery, cross and double-cross, true agent, false agent, double agent, gold and steel, the bomb, the dagger and the firing party were interwoven in a texture so intricate as to be incredible yet true.'Damien Lewis's new bestseller intercuts the hunt for the scientists, the raw materials and the plant, with the cloak and dagger intelligence game being played in the shadows. This relied in part on ENIGMA intercepts to guide the SOE's hand. Lewis delves into some of the most extraordinarily inventive and Machiavellian innovations at the SOE, and their related research and training schools, whereby the enemy were tricked, deceived, framed, blackmailed and double and triple-crossed, all in the name of stopping the Reich from getting the bomb.Previously published as Hunting Hitler's Nukes
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Asian history, War
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This volume explores the relationship between culture and the military in Chinese society from early China to the Qing empire,…
with contributions by eminent scholars aiming to reexamine the relationship between military matters and law, government, historiography, art, philosophy, literature, and politics. The book critically investigates the perception that, due to the influence of Confucianism, Chinese culture has systematically devalued military matters. There was nothing inherently pacifist about the Chinese governments’ views of war, and pragmatic approaches—even aggressive and expansionist projects—often prevailed. Though it has changed in form, a military elite has existed in China from the beginning of its history, and military service included a large proportion of the population at any given time. Popular literature praised the martial ethos of fighting men. Civil officials attended constantly to military matters on the administrative and financial ends. The seven military classics produced in antiquity continued to be read even into the modern period. These original essays explore the ways in which intellectual, civilian, and literary elements helped shape the nature of military institutions, theory, and the culture of war. This important contribution bridges two literatures, military and cultural, that seldom appear together in the study of China, and deepens our understanding of war and society in Chinese history.
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War, World War II, History
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No man above or below the waves was as admired--or feared--as this determined naval commander. . . Among submariners in…
World War II, Dudley "Mush" Morton stood out as a warrior without peer. At the helm of the USS Wahoo he completely changed the way the sea war was fought in the Pacific. He would relentlessly attack the Japanese at every opportunity, going through his supply of torpedoes in record time on every patrol. In only nine months, he racked up an astounding list of achievements, including being the first American skipper to wipe out an entire enemy convoy single-handedly. Here, for the first time, is the life and legend of a heroic, dynamic, and ultimately divisive submarine commander who fought the war on his own terms, and refused to do so any other way.
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War, World War II, United States history
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When President Roosevelt called for the country to be the great "Arsenal of Democracy," Detroit helped turn the tide against…
fascism with its industrial might. Locals were committed to the cause, putting careers and personal ambitions on hold. Factories were retooled from the ground up. Industrialist Henry Ford, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, aviator Charles Lindbergh, legendary boxer Joe Louis, future baseball Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg and the real-life Rosie the Riveters all helped drive the city that was "forging thunderbolts" for the front lines. With a panoramic narrative, author Gregory D. Sumner chronicles the wartime sacrifices, contributions and everyday life of the Motor City.
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European history, War, World War II
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&“An excellent read for anyone interested in men at war, as well as for students of the airborne operations, the…
Italian Campaign, and the war in Europe&” (The NYMAS Review). Upon the completion of the Sicily and Salerno Campaigns in 1943, the paratroopers of Col. Reuben Tucker&’s 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment were among the first Allied troops to enter Naples—a ghost town at first sight. The residents soon expressed their joy at being liberated. Four weeks later, the 504th—upon the special request of Gen. Mark Clark—spearheaded Fifth Army&’s drive through the notorious Volturno Valley—the Germans&’ next stand. January 1944 seemed to promise a period of rest, but the landing at Anzio meant deployment for the paratroopers again, this time by ship. A bombing raid during their beach landing was a forecast of eight weeks of bitter fighting. Holding the right flank of the beachhead along the Mussolini Canal, the paratroopers earned their nickname &“Devils in Baggy Pants&” for their frontline incursions into enemy lines, as well as their stubborn defense of the Allied salient. In this work, H Company&’s attachment to the British 5th Grenadier Guards—and the Victoria Cross action of Maj. William Sidney—are painted in comprehensive light for the first time. The story of honorary member of the 504th PIR, Italian veteran Antonio Taurelli, is also included. Using war diaries, personal journals, letters, and interviews with nearly eighty veterans, an up-close view of the 504th PIR in the Fifth Army&’s Italy Campaign is here in unsurpassed detail. From the author of two previous works on the 504th PIR, The Battle of the Bridges and Blocking Kampfgruppe Peiper, this book shows that the Italian theater was second to none in terms of grueling combat, courage against formidable odds, and an extremely expert enemy.
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Ancient history, War
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An Athenian triumph against Sparta end in disaster and infamy in this naval history of Ancient Greece in the 5th…
century B.C.Toward the end of the Peloponnesian War, nearly three hundred Athenian and Spartan ships fought a pivotal skirmish in the Arginusae Islands. Larger than any previous naval battle between warring Greeks, the Battle of Arginusae was a crucial win for Athens. Its aftermath, however, was a major disaster for its people.Due to numerous factors, the Athenian commanders abandoned the crews of twenty-five disabled ships. Thousands of soldiers were left clinging to wreckage and awaiting help that never came. When the failure was discovered back home, the eight generals in charge were deposed. Two fled into exile, while the other six were tried and executed.In The Battle of Arginusae, historian Debra Hamel describes the violent battle and its horrible aftermath. Hamel introduces readers to Athens and Sparta, the two thriving superpowers of the fifth century B.C. She provides a summary of the events that caused the long war and discusses the tactical intricacies of Greek naval warfare. Recreating the claustrophobic, unhygienic conditions in which the ships’ crews operated, Hamel unfolds the process that turned this naval victory into one of the most infamous chapters in the city-state’s history.
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War, United States history
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The riveting account of the first bloody showdown between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee—a battle that sealed the fate of…
the Confederacy and changed the course of American history. In the spring of 1864, President Lincoln feared that he might not be able to save the Union. The Army of the Potomac had performed poorly over the previous two years, and many Northerners were understandably critical of the war effort. Lincoln assumed he&’d lose the November election, and he firmly believed a Democratic successor would seek peace immediately, spelling an end to the Union. A Fire in the Wilderness tells the story of that perilous time when the future of the United States depended on the Union Army&’s success in a desolate forest roughly sixty-five miles from the nation&’s capital. At the outset of the Battle of the Wilderness, General Lee&’s Army of Northern Virginia remained capable of defeating the Army of the Potomac. But two days of relentless fighting in dense Virginia woods, Robert E. Lee was never again able to launch offensive operations against Grant&’s army. Lee, who faced tremendous difficulties replacing fallen soldiers, lost 11,125 men—or 17% of his entire force. On the opposing side, the Union suffered 17,666 casualties. The alarming casualties do not begin to convey the horror of this battle, one of the most gruesome in American history. The impenetrable forest and gunfire smoke made it impossible to view the enemy. Officers couldn&’t even see their own men during the fighting. The incessant gunfire caused the woods to catch fire, resulting in hundreds of men burning to death. &“It was as though Christian men had turned to fiends, and hell itself had usurped the place of the earth,&” wrote one officer. When the fighting finally subsided during the late evening of the second day, the usually stoical Grant threw himself down on his cot and cried.
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War, United States history
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The wild and suspenseful story of one of the most crucial and least known campaigns of the Revolutionary War when…
America’s scrappy navy took on the full might of Britain’s sea power."Vividly written... In novelistic prose, Kelly conveys the starkness of close-quarter naval warfare, where retreat was impossible... Ironically without the tarnished hero of Valcour, the US might not exist today." —The Wall Street Journal"Few know of the valor and courage of Benedict Arnold... With such a dramatic main character, the story of the Battle of Valcour is finally seen as one of the most exciting and important of the American Revolution." —Tom Clavin author of Dodge City and co-author of Valley Forge During the summer of 1776, a British incursion from Canada loomed. In response, citizen soldiers of the newly independent nation mounted a heroic defense. Patriots constructed a small fleet of gunboats on Lake Champlain in northern New York and confronted the Royal Navy in a desperate three-day battle near Valcour Island. Their effort surprised the arrogant British and forced the enemy to call off their invasion.Jack Kelly's Valcour is a story of people. The northern campaign of 1776 was led by the underrated general Philip Schuyler (Hamilton's father-in-law), the ambitious former British officer Horatio Gates, and the notorious Benedict Arnold. An experienced sea captain, Arnold devised a brilliant strategy that confounded his slow-witted opponents.America’s independence hung in the balance during 1776. Patriots endured one defeat after another. But two events turned the tide: Washington’s bold attack on Trenton and the equally audacious fight at Valcour Island. Together, they stunned the enemy and helped preserve the cause of liberty.
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European history, War
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The history of VMFA-323 was written to provide an account of important events covering the more than 40 years of…
the squadron's continuous active service. From its commissioning in 1943 through action in the Pacific, the Korean War. Vietnam, and the inter-war periods, the "Death Rattlers" can be seen to have served with distinction.
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War
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This volume details the change in United States policy for the Vietnam War. After a thorough review, President Richard M.…
Nixon adopted a policy of seeking to end United States military involvement in Vietnam either through negotiations or, failing that, turning the combat role over to the South Vietnamese. It was this decision that began the Vietnamization of the war in the summer of 1969 and which would soon greatly reduce and then end the Marine Corps’ combat role in the war.The Marines of III Marine Amphibious Force continued the full range of military and pacification activities within I Corps Tactical Zone during this period of transition. Until withdrawn, the 3rd Marine Division, employing highly mobile tactics, successfully blunted North Vietnamese Army efforts to reintroduce troops and supplies into Quang Tri Province. The 1st Marine Division, concentrated in Quang Nam Province, continued both mobile offensive and pacification operations to protect the city of Da Nang and surrounding population centers. The 1st Marine Aircraft Wing provided air support to both divisions, as well as other allied units in I Corps, while Force Logistic Command served all major Marine commands.Although written from the perspective of III MAF and the Marine ground war in I Corps, an attempt has been made to place the Marine role in relation to the overall American effort. The volume also treats the Marine Corps’ participation in the advisory effort, the operations of the Seventh Fleet Special Landing Force, and, to a lesser extent, the activities of the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile), 23rd Infantry (Americal) Division, and 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized). There are separate chapters on Marine air, artillery, surveillance, and logistics.
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European history, War
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The current transition to a post-Cold War world is in certain ways reminiscent of the immediate post-World War II years.…
Then, amidst the euphoria of victory over the Axis powers, the Allies immediately had to face new problems, among them the threat of nuclear weapons, the necessity of rebuilding Europe and stabilizing Japan, and the need to contain Communist expansionism across the globe. Today, the West has had precious little time to celebrate the end of the Cold War before turning to the destabilizing problems of Soviet disintegration and the blatant military aggression of Iraq.This volume holds the unpublished lectures and other writings of George F. Kennan at the National War College in its first academic year, 1946-47. Kennan and his generation, having won the war, faced the challenges of winning the peace. This they did, by creating and fostering the policies and structures that we now often take for granted: the Marshall Plan, the concept of containment, and institutions such as the US Department of Defense, NATO, and the United Nations. The National War College itself was an experiment in co-educating military and civilian leaders.As the first Deputy for Foreign Affairs at the War College, George Kennan had no small role in shaping these developments. His 1946-47 lectures and papers, specially edited for this book in collaboration with Professor Kennan, document his thinking on many critical national security topics of those days when the Iron Curtain was falling across much of the world.Kennan’s patterns of sound, critical thinking, his idealism tempered by realism, his intellectual rigor and command of history, and his repeated insistence on America’s internal moral and social strength as essential components of national power all help make Measures Short of War valuable reading for any historian or student of international affairs.
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Asian history, European history, War
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Endless debates have raged over the reasons the Japanese were able to execute their surprise attack on the U.S. Navy's…
Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor so successfully. Military neglect, political and diplomatic ineptitude, and even what could only be described as accusations of malfeasance against the President of the United States all have been argued and reargued for more than 60 years. One key source of information for this ongoing and sometime passionate discussion is "On the Treadmill to Pearl Harbor: the Memoirs of Admiral James O. Richardson." As commander of the U.S. Fleet in 1940 and 1941, Admiral Richardson was in a unique position to observe and reach conclusions about the readiness or lack of readiness of the fleet, as well as the political atmosphere in which crucial strategic and tactical decisions were reached. Because many crucial naval records perished at Pearl Harbor, Admiral Richardson's recollections, as told to Rear Admiral George C. Dyer, constitute an important primary source for war plans, including War Plan Orange for operations in case of a war with Japan. He also addresses his deep concern about the lack of preparedness of the Navy, particularly its low prewar staffing levels, and the folly of sending a poorly prepared naval force to Pearl Harbor as a deterrent to aggression by a better prepared Japanese fleet. He forthrightly places much of the blamed for this situation on President Roosevelt and his advisers. Interestingly, in light of the many conspiracy theories surrounding December 7, 1941, he criticizes these men for consistently underestimating the Japanese threat rather than courting an attack as a way of embroiling the U.S. in the war. On the Treadmill to Pearl Harbor is an important source for naval historians and students of World War II, as well as an intriguing first-person account of the crucial months preceding "the day of infamy."
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European history, War
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First published in 1934, the ideas in this book were developed just prior to the Nazi seizure of power and…
it also reflects on its aftermath. It assessed the decline of European power and the crisis of Western civilization in the face of conflict between the ruling class and the lowers classes in white nations, and the ‘Coloured World Revolution’ — arguing that only by adherence to their inherited ‘Prussianism’ would Germany have the solidity to be able to combat these dangers. Despite the influence of his previous writings of key Nazi figures, his criticisms of National Socialism in this book led to it being banned, although not before it had been widely distributed throughout Germany.-Print ed.
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European history, War
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In the many decades since the German army smashed into the American lines in the Battle of the Bulge, opinion…
of the U.S. senior command's leadership capabilities has fluctuated between hero worship and scorn, with the latter view becoming more predominant as the initial glow of victory faded. Rather than a conventional study of the Ardennes offensive, "Generals of the Ardennes: American Leadership in the Battle of the Bulge" studies five examples of American command leadership at different levels to answer two questions: what characteristics of leadership did these generals display, and how did they affect the overall battle? Based on extensive documentation and personal interviews with participants, "Generals of the Ardennes" provides a description and analysis of: Dwight Eisenhower's role as coalition commander; Omar Bradley's direction of the 12th Army Group during the crisis; Lieutenant General William Simpson's contribution to the Ninth Army's part in defeating the German onslaught; Major General Troy Middleton's stand with the VIII Corps in the center of the fighting; Major General Alan Jones and Brigadier General Bruce Clarke and how they dealt with the challenges and confusions at "the point of the spear." Amid the countless books in many languages that tell and retell the history of the Battle of the Bulge, this one is unique in its focus on American generalship during those epic and decisive weeks that turned the tide of World War II in Europe. For that reason, it stands as both a significant history and an important document for the study of command and control.