Najnovšie - Encyklopédie populárno-náučné strana 135 z 183
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Napoleon’s Dragoons and Lancers
Having their origins in the Army of Louis XIV, the dragoons were originally mounted infantry. During the wars of the 1e Empire, they became ‘jacks of all trade’ equally capable as fighting as battle cavalry, scouting or operating as infantry. Yet, precious few studies have been made of the dress of these thirty regiments or of the ten regiments of lancers which evolved from the dragoons in 1811.The dress and equipment of each regiment of dragoons and lancers in Napoleon’s army is analysed and portrayed here with greater accuracy than previously possible. This is because renowned Napoleonic author, Paul Dawson has been granted access to over 1,000 archive boxes, found in the Service Historique de l’Armée de Terre in Paris and the Archives Nationales. These have enabled the author to assesses how the wide ranging 1806 uniform regulations and the more famous Bardin regulations were adopted in practice. This vast resource, as yet untapped by the majority of researchers and historians for understanding the Napoleonic era in general, provides detail never before revealed to the general public.This is possible because every year a regiment would be inspected, and the condition of the uniforms assessed. A return of all the clothing to be disposed of was made, and the appropriate number of new items ordered. Items of clothing and equipment needing repair was also recorded, as was how many items had been repaired since the last inspection. Upon joining a regiment, the recruit was given his first full set of clothing and equipment, which came from stoppages in his pay. Each item of clothing had a specified life. If the items needed repair or replacement inside the prescribed period due to misuse the cost was borne by the soldier. All of this was recorded.There was an annual quota of money available to a colonel to pay for clothing renewals and repairs for his regiment. In addition, the regimental Council of Administration drew funds to buy raw materials, equipment and headdresses. These funds also covered sundry items such as the epaulettes of the adjutant-sous-officiers, lace for rank stripes, service chevrons, musicians and drummers lace, plumes and pompoms, such is the remarkable level of detail these records contain.These invaluable sources provide bias free empirical data from which we can reconstruct the life story of a regiment, its officers and above all its clothing. In addition to the official records, the author has constructed how the regiments were dressed from diaries, letters, and even cases of fraud.As well as providing the recorded details, this book shows in scores of beautiful illustrations exactly how each regiment appeared. These images include period paintings as well as works specifically commissioned for this book, plus unique photographs of existing items of uniform. Now, for the first time since the days of Napoleon, we can say exactly what was worn by Napoleon’s cavalry.
The Liberation of Ypres in WWII
Walk in the tank tracks and footsteps of Major General Stanisław Maczek and his 1st Polish Armoured Division (1PAD) soldiers who fought, fell or were wounded liberating the town of Ypres on 6th September 1944. Also revealed is the great support offered by local Resistance groups who supplied topographical assistance, information concerning enemy strong points and troop numbers, offered limited engagements, and finally assisted with the temporary gaoling of the many German prisoners of war. The book also commemorates those townsfolk including children who lost their lives over this period of short but intense fighting. Such was the cost of freedom for the beleaguered citizens of Ypres during WW2. Also remembered are those Czechoslovak officers attached to 1PAD from the Independent Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade Group commanded by Brigadier General Alois Liška, whose HQ was located at nearby Wormhout, France, in preparation for his own Battlegroup’s ‘Siege of Dunkirk’ deployment.
The Man Who Tested Parachutes
By 1940 the Allies had fallen behind the Axis powers in parachute design and research. Other than as a means of escape from a doomed aircraft, the British regarded parachuting as of little military value. All that changed when the Germans used paratroops, the Fallschirmjäger, to devastating effect in the invasion of the Low Countries, and Churchill demanded immediate action. The call went out for men who would be prepared to risk their lives testing parachutes, jumping and landing techniques.Charles Agate was a 34-year-old schoolteacher with a taste for adventure when he joined a pioneering group of mavericks at RAF Ringway in Manchester. The breath-taking risks they took alongside the essential work of the women of the WAAF changed the course of the war and the face of airborne warfare. Their work though often came at a terrible cost.Between 1941 and 1945 Agate and his fellow Parachute Jump Instructors (PJIs) completed thousands of jumps, often from low altitude or using prototype parachutes. They jumped carrying heavy kit bags, had sandbags strapped to their legs, and landed in deep freezing water. They also trained thousands of raw recruits for the key airborne operations of the war, as well as over 600 Special Operation Executive agents for dropping into enemy territory, frequently accompanying them as dispatchers on these hazardous flights. They were proud of the knowledge they were acquiring and imparting at Ringway, but, as the authors reveal, this led to disputes with the Americans over tactics and equipment as they prepared for the Allied invasion of France.Agate amassed a record 1,601 jumps and was awarded the Air Force Cross. He and his fellow PJIs at Ringway were also personally thanked by Churchill for their unique contribution to the war effort. His last jump, in 1946, with his flying suit stuffed with winnings won on a horse called Airborne at the Epsom Derby, was reported in the press worldwide.He acknowledged after the war that he had seen ‘21 good soldiers hit the deck’ during training at RAF Ringway, and these tragedies, as well as the effects of risking his life on a daily basis, took a heavy emotional toll on him and many of the other PJIs. The Man Who Tested Parachutes explores Agate’s ‘lost’ post-war years: his struggles with his mental health, and the impact on his family. It charts his journey to becoming the unconventional head teacher of a village school and his clashes with local authorities. Finally, it describes unflinchingly the last dark twist in the life of this complex man, alone in his flat overlooking the sea just before Christmas 1986.This book tells the story of an ordinary man who took extraordinary risks, and the men and women who served alongside him. It also remembers the young recruits who died before they were able to take part in the key battles for which they were being trained.
U.S. Special Forces Commando
With the ending of the Second World War, Lief Bangsboll, after distinguished service with the O.S.S. behind enemy lines in Denmark, prepared himself for a life of peace and hopefully love with the young Canadian girl he had met while training at Camp X during the war. But the United States War Department and the Office of Strategic Services had other plans for the young soldier/agent.In September 1945, Lieutenant Bangsboll was secretly sent into Soviet-occupied Germany to assess and report upon Russian military activities in and around Berlin. In December 1945, a deadly incident occurred in which a KGB agent was killed, and Leif and his O.S.S. team were forced to escape back into the American sector of Germany.With his O.S.S. identity compromised and himself now target of the KGB, Lieutenant Bangsboll was re-assigned to the regular U.S. Army and became a member of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. With the outbreak of the Korean War, Leif was part of the first airborne operation in which he and the 187th Airborne Regiment Combat Team parachuted into North Korea as part of the U.S./United Nations force confronting the North Korean invasion.During his year of combat in Korea, Captain Bangsboll, the platoon leader for the Headquarters Intelligence & Reconnaissance platoon, worked under Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Bank, also a former OSS agent. During that assignment Leif led numerous special operations missions behind enemy lines, including a mission to recover a large cache of American gold bullion which had been left behind when the U.S. 8th Army was overrun during a North Korean offensive. He also led a secret parachute mission to rescue American /United Nations’ prisoners of war held in North Korea and a daring assault on a North Korean base which earned him the Silver Star for ‘extraordinary courage in combat’.Captain Bangsboll played a crucial role in the develop of the United States’ first Special Forces unit and was appointed as one of the initial Company Commander of a Green Beret/Special Forces unit. Then, as the Army Liaison Officer to the 302nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing in Sembach, West Germany, he flew as an observer, reporting on Soviet troop movements over Warsaw Pact held territory and instructed American pilots the skills of escape and evasion. As a Company Commander with the 10th Special Forces Group in Ulm, West Germany, he stood his ground, facing Soviet and East German combat troops poised to invade Western Europe during the tense days during the U2 spy plane incident and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The RAF Enters the Atomic Age
By September 1944 the Western Allies had reached the approximate positions they had held back in September 1939 at the outbreak of war. It had taken more than four years to claw back the territory lost in 1940. It was four years in which the strategic bomber had failed to deliver the victory the bomber advocates had promised. With Allied armies converging on Germany from all directions, they were running out of time to prove that countries could be bombed into defeat.Baughen describes the fierce battles that were fought right up to the German surrender in May 1945. He also explores the equally fierce debates behind the scenes about how airpower should be used to complete the Allied victory, and analyses the lessons learned from six years of war.Even before Germany’s surrender, thoughts were turning to the new enemy. The wartime alliance between Communist East and Capitalist West had always been one of convenience. Within weeks of the German surrender hostilities between the wartime allies were already a possibility. The seeds for post-war defence policy were already being sown.Meanwhile, in the Far East Hiroshima and Nagasaki had become the victims of the first atomic bombs. Days later Japan surrendered. The bomber advocates appeared to have the proof that bombing could win wars. But how related were the two event? sing contemporary documents, Baughen describes how British air policy evolved in the late 1940s. Would the atomic bomb change the way wars were fought? Would conventional armies have any role in future wars? In the new atomic age, were there any lessons to be learned from the Second World War? How would the emerging cruise and ballistic missiles and associated guidance systems affect defence policy? Was a conventional defence to Soviet aggression possibl? his is the story of the contribution air power made in the final battles of the Second World War, how the lessons of that conflict were misinterpreted and how the policies developed to incorporate the atomic bomb into Cold War defence thinking was leading the country into grave danger.
ShipCraft 23: Rodney and Nelson - Revised Edition
The ''ShipCraft'' series provides in-depth information about building and modifying model kits of famous warship types. Lavishly illustrated, each book takes the modeller through a brief history of the subject class, highlighting differences between sisterships and changes in their appearance over their careers. This includes paint schemes and camouflage, featuring colour profiles and highly-detailed line drawings and scale plans. The modelling section reviews the strengths and weaknesses of available kits, lists commercial accessory sets for super-detailing of the ships, and provides hints on modifying and improving the basic kit. This is followed by an extensive photographic survey of selected high-quality models in a variety of scales, and the book concludes with a section on research references - books, monographs, large-scale plans and relevant websites.The two ships covered in this volume were the only capital ships designed and built between the wars - a special concession of the Washington Treatys ban on new battleships - and they were unlike anything before them, with the superstructure three-quarters aft and all main armament turrets forward of the bridge. During the war Nelson survived mine and torpedo damage, while Rodney played a major part in the destruction of the Bismarck, both surviving to be broken up post-war.LES BROWN is a leading light in the Small Warships Group of the IPMS and the editor of their newsletter. He is the author of a number of titles in the ShipCraft series, including two on British destroyers, and, with John Lambert, he produced two larger works, one on ‘Flower’ class corvettes and another on Allied torpedo boats. He also wrote the volume on Black Swan Class Sloops in Seaforth’s ‘Original Builders’ Plans’ series. ROBERT BROWN is a Canadian ship modeller, who has contributed a number of volumes in the ShipCraft series, the most recent being British Aircraft Carriers published in 2024. He is also the author of Battleship Warspite, the first in a new series based on original builder’s plans.
Hitler’s Heroes During the Advance to Stalingrad
This, the second book by Jeremy Dixon on the subject, is a study of those German officers who were promoted to the rank of general and who were also awarded the Knight’s Cross during the period of the fighting in Russia between Hitler’s assault upon the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, and the complete destruction of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. The Germans lost 500,000 soldiers during the Stalingrad campaign, some 91,000 of whom were taken prisoner – a number which included 2,000 officers, twenty-three generals and one Generalfeldmarschall, Friedrich Paulus.There were 149 officers who later held the rank of general who were awarded the Knight’s Cross for their actions on the Eastern Front between 6 December 1941 and 2 February 1943. One such recipient was Maximilian Fretter-Pico, who, as Generalmajor and Commander of the 97th Infantry Division, was awarded the Knight’s Cross on 26 December 1941. He was later promoted to Generalleutnant and in June 1942 was Commander of the Army Detachment Fretter-Pico, with the rank of General der Artillerie. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves as Commanding General of the XXX Army Corps, for actions in the Don and Donez area, on 16 January 1944. He was personally presented personally with the award at the Obersalzburg by Hitler.Dietrich von Saucken was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves and Swords for his bravery and leadership whilst commanding the 4th Panzer Division on the Russian Front. On 8 May 1945 he was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds as General der Panzertruppe and Commander-in-Chief of Army Headquarters East Prussia and presented by Hitler’s successor Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz. Saucken was later captured by the Soviets who flew him to Moscow for interrogation and he was later sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment.The youngest general in the German Army to be awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves and Swords on 23 January 1944 was Erich Bärenfänger, who was only 29 years old at the time. His award was presented personally by Hitler at his headquarters, the Wolf’s Lair, in Rastenburg. At the time he held the rank of Major and was promoted to Oberstleutnant in February 1944 and was promoted to Generalmajor on 28 April 1945, and named as Battle Commandant of Sector A and Sector B of the Berlin Defensive District. He committed suicide together with his wife in Berlin with Soviet forces fast approaching just four days later.With each individual’s entry there is a detailed description of how and where the Knight’s Cross was won and in the case of the higher awards, such as the Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds, who presented the award, where and when. This study provides details of their rank and command at the time of the award as well as also detailing their career during the war and after, with investigations into their fate and post-war life. The book is completed with a considerable number of photographs of many of these officers.
The Airman's War, 1914-1918
The First World War was the first conflict in history to be fought in the air, as well as on land and at sea. Britain’s fledgling air arms, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service, developed a methodology for aerial combat from scratch, devising tactics and improving weaponry as they went. From them, in 1918, the RAF was born. The first combat pilots were considered then, as now, to be heroes, untainted by the squalor of the war in the trenches. Yet no pilot could even take off, let alone score combat victories, without the support of mechanics, riggers, and armourers to name but a few of those on the ground. The Airman’s War examines the experiences of all British flying service personnel, from Air Mechanic to Squadron Commander, in fixed wing aircraft, balloons and airships, from air fields and from aircraft carriers. Using long forgotten personal accounts, it contrasts these experiences with those of the opposing air services, on the Western Front, in the defence of Britain, and in the Aegean and Mediterranean theatres. With evocative images, some never before published, it presents a commanding overview of a subject which continues to inspire fascination among each subsequent generation.
The Fleet that Fought Itself
In July 1936 a military revolt brought civil war to Spain; it erupted into a bitter political contest and a brutal land war which have been well covered by historians – a less appreciated dimension of the conflict was the crucial role played by the navies of both sides. This new book describes and explores the naval operations that played out over thirty-eight months and spread well beyond the seas of Spain. Spanish guns thundered off the English coast and as far south as the Bay of Guinea. Submarines lurked in the Aegean, waiting to torpedo ships bringing supplies from the Black Sea. To the west, operations extended into the Atlantic as warships searched for blockade runners and moved between the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean.The book begins by describing of the Spanish navy pre-war, then covers the generals’ revolt of July 1936 and its effect in the fleet. Subsequent chapters deal with the naval war as it unfolded. It describes Franco’s attempts to move the battle-hardened Spanish troops in Africa to the Spanish mainland, then shifts focus to the northern Spanish coast, where an isolated Republican enclave depended on the sea to receive weapons, food, and fuel. The author then pursues a split narrative, interweaving developments in the north and the Mediterranean and following the war to its conclusion. Significant actions fought between the two navies are all covered in detail. In addition, the book describes the crucial roles played by the British, French, German, and Italian navies in the Spanish struggle. Throughout, the author challenges the common view that the Republican navy was incompetent and inert.Based on primary as well as secondary sources, in both the English and Spanish languages, this book sheds genuinely new light on the Spanish navies of this civil war era and brings into focus their significance in the broader struggle.
The Dhofar Conflict
COIN - counterinsurgency - is a major element in international relations - both historical and ''IR theory'' - and in military history. It was a vital component in the Cold War and decolonisation. COIN is now widely contrasted with ''Big War'' theory in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war and proxy-war with NATO, but is still a global phenomenon.Dhofar as a mis-ruled province of ''medieval'' Oman, saw insurgency initiated by the Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF) and its successors organizations including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf (PFLOAG). These were supported variously by China, the USSR and other Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt and Iraq, but the insurgency was defeated by a combination Omani, British, Iranian and Jordanian forces. The COIN win in Dhofar prevented the spread of Communism on the Arabian Peninsula, thereby protecting British Middle Eastern influence and the vital Gulf oil supply to both the UK and wider Western economic bloc. The war and associated counterinsurgency (COIN) campaign can be considered a unique or ''sui generis'' military ''success'', with revolutionary forces overcome in a difficult and often brutal campaign involving British forces including its elite SAS Regiment, along with Jordanian and Iranian military aid.The study covers much more than the Dhofar campaign and contrasts the Omani example with other British COIN operations in major decolonising territories and ''Emergencies'' (1945-1999). These include the campaigns undertaken in Palestine, Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus, Brunei/Borneo, Aden and Northern Ireland; which highlight the many similar aspects of these examples shared with the Dhofar War, but also that its unique status in the British COIN historiography should be acknowledged.
The Welsh Braveheart
Like William Wallace in Scotland, Owain Glyndwr fought for his country and was only finally defeated by superior numbers and the military genius of Henry V. Yet Glyndwr was not just a freedom fighter. He was the last native-born Prince of Wales, a man who initiated the first Welsh parliament at Machynlleth and proposed an entirely independent Welsh church.Glyndwr also laid plans for two Welsh universities, proposed a return to the far sighted and revolutionary Laws of Hywel Dda and formed a Tripartite Agreement with Henry Percy and Edmund Mortimer. It led to an invasion of England and nearly brought the reign of Henry V to an end.And yet, despite his success and popularity, Glyndwr''s rebellion seriously damaged the Welsh economy with towns destroyed and much agricultural land laid to waste. Even so, he was never betrayed by his people, despite a huge reward being offered for his capture.Glyndwr refused at least two offers of pardon from the English crown and remains the supreme champion of the underdog.
The Long Range Desert Group in North Africa
Formed in July 1940 for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering behind enemy lines, the Long Range Desert Group was the first British special force unit. In no time the LRDG earned itself an enviable reputation for deep penetration patrols into German and Italian held territory. Its successes on prolonged missions into harsh terrain and under extreme climatic conditions were out of all proportion to its size. Wide-ranging military skills, including exceptional navigation techniques, and the highest standards of discipline and leadership were required from all ranks.Many of the previously unpublished and well captioned images in this comprehensive and well researched book come from the collections of LRDG veterans. They show the weapons, equipment, uniforms and insignia used and, together with personal accounts and operational reports, bring to life the extraordinary achievements of this legendary unit.The result is a fascinating record of the LRDG’s contribution to the Allied victory in North Africa.
US Airborne Tanks, 1939–1945
From their first introduction at the Battle of the Somme in the First World War, tanks proved to be one of the most important military developments in the history of warfare. Such was their influence on the battlefield, both as infantry support and as an armoured spearhead, their presence could determine the outcome of any battle.Another significant development during the 1930s was that of airborne forces, with a number of countries experimenting with air-dropped troops. Such a concept offered the possibility of inserting soldiers behind the front lines to sow fear and confusion in the enemy’s rear. However, such troops, parachuting from aircraft, could only be lightly armed, thus limiting their effectiveness. It is understandable, therefore, that much thought was given to the practicalities of air-lifting tanks that could be dropped, or deposited, alongside paratroopers.Tanks, though, are heavy, cumbersome vehicles and before there could be any thought of carrying them by air, much lighter models would have to be produced. Charles Roberts’ fascinating book opens with an investigation into the efforts in the 1930s by Britain, the Soviet Union and the USA into the development of, or adaptation of, light tanks for airborne operations.It was, inevitably, the start of the Second World War which accelerated efforts to produce an airborne tank and the means of delivery. The use of conventional powered aircraft to carry the tanks, limited their use to existing airfields which negated their employment with airborne troops landing in the open countryside. Another method of delivery had to be found, and this took the form of the glider, which could be landed in a field behind enemy lines. The combination of light tank and glider made the aim of airborne forces being supported by armour a realistic proposition – and as a result, the 28th Airborne Tank Battalion was born.This detailed and comprehensive study deals with every aspect of design and deployment of American airborne tanks from the earliest concepts to their actual use, by British units, on D-Day and during Operation Varsity, the Rhine crossing.
The Polish 'Few'
They came to fight for freedom and their country. They came to fight Germans. They were men of the Polish Air Force who had escaped first to France and then to Britain to fly alongside the Royal Air Force just as Fighter Command faced its greatest challenge – the Battle of Britain.Many of the Polish airmen joined existing RAF squadrons. The Poles also formed their own squadrons, but only four were operational during the Battle of Britain. Two, Nos. 300 and 301, were bomber squadrons, with the remaining pair, Nos. 302 and 303, were fighter squadrons. Flying Hawker Hurricanes, both 302 and 303 squadrons were active by the middle of August 1940, just when they were needed most with Fighter Command stretched to its limit at the height of the Battle of Britain.The Polish squadrons, many of the pilots battle-hardened from their encounters with the Luftwaffe during the invasion of Poland and Battle of France, soon made their mark. In particular, 303 Squadron become the highest-scoring unit of Fighter Command.In total, 145 Polish pilots, the largest non-British contingent in Fighter Command at the time, fought in the Battle of Britain. While Winston Churchill praised the contribution of the ‘Few’, the pilots of many nationalities who had defended Britain, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding was more specific: ‘Had it not been for the magnificent material contributed by the Polish squadrons and their unsurpassed gallantry, I hesitate to say that the outcome of the Battle would have been the same.’
Imperial General
Petilius Cerealis is one of the few Imperial Roman officers, below the level of Emperor, whose career it is possible to follow in sufficient detail to write a coherent biography. Fortunately his career was a remarkably eventful and colourful one. With a knack for being caught up in big events and emerging unscathed despite some hairy adventures (and scandal, usually involving some local wench) he appears to have been a Roman version of Blackadder and Flashman combined.Cerealis was in Britain when Boudicca''s revolt erupted (60 or 61 AD) and marched to confront her. He lost most of his force but narrowly escaped with his own skin intact. In 69 AD, the infamously tumultuous '' year of the four emperors'', he was in Rome, the seat of conspiracy. When his uncle, none other than Vespasian, decided to make his own bid for the imperial purple (he was to become the fourth emperor that year), Cerealis'' life was at risk of being killed as a traitor and had to escape from the city to join his uncle who was marching to force his way in. A short while later he was commanding a force on the Rhine when the Batavian mutiny broke out. This time he only escaped death because he was in bed with a local girl rather than in his own tent. And so it goes on…''Imperial General is both a fascinating insight into the life of an imperial Roman officer during the period of the Principate, and a rollicking good tale told in Philip Matyszak''s trademark lively style.
From Norway to Burma
From 1939 to 1945, units of The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry were involved in some of the fiercest battles of the Second World War. From the snowy wastes of Scandinavia to the deserts of North Africa, and from the mountains of Italy to the steaming jungles of Asia, the men of the KOYLI fought against the forces of all three of the dictatorships that came so close to conquering the world.Before taking part in the fighting, three battalions of KOYLI had left the regiment to become 53rd, 57th, and 94th Anti-Aircraft Regiments within the Royal Artillery, and 149th Armoured Regiment of the Royal Armoured Corps. Thus, the KOYLI comprised five infantry battalions during the period of the world conflict. They were ordinary men from the quiet towns and villages of Yorkshire, who suddenly found themselves thrown into a deadly fight against the mightiest military machine the world had ever seen, and their story is one of incredible hardship, bravery, and sacrifice in some of the most daunting and inhospitable places on Earth.Illustrated throughout with over 100 photographs and maps, this new history offers a unique and detailed look at one of the Second World War’s most extraordinary regiments.
The Lost War Diaries of Roy Lane
This is the story of an exceptional young man whose war-time experience was long, considerable and so unusual as to be almost unique.Roy Lane joined the RAF in 1938 as soon as he was old enough. He trained to fly Hurricanes - single-seater fighter-planes. His war-time journey took him from the Battle of Britain via McIndoe’s pioneering plastic surgery to the Merchant Ships’ Fighter Unit and the so slow-moving Atlantic and Arctic convoys. In 1942 he commanded a small RAF base at Archangel on the White Sea. Posted to India in 1943, he volunteered to become the Air Liaison Officer attached to Brigadier Bernard Fergusson’s Chindit Brigade. Its secret mission, ‘Operation Thursday’ would take it hundreds of miles on foot through the jungle-covered mountains of North-West Burma to the hoped-for turning point in the land war with Japan.Roy, the eldest ,had two brothers Richard and Peter who also became airmen and a sister, Diana, who joined the WAAF later in the war. The family home was in Southampton, soon to be very much in the front-line of the war with Germany.Roy’s letters from Burma urged his family to keep them to supplement the material he was gathering for ‘my book’ in his diaries. His five war diaries were last seen in the late 1960s in the bottom a wardrobe in Southampton. Searching for them uncovered much that was unknown, unexpected and sometimes extraordinary. Private letters, official correspondence, newspaper cuttings and personal recollections reveal moments of high drama - a family house destroyed by a bomb; a plane crashing in flames - good times; friends and family, some long lost.The ‘logic of war’, the context, is explored to explain why there and why then? The interplay of fate and chance brings the story to its cruel conclusion.
Great Generals of the Ancient World
Of the thousands of commanders who served in historys armies, why is it that only a few are remembered as great leaders of men in battle? What combination of personal and circumstantial influences conspire to produce great commanders? What makes a great leader great? Richard A Gabriel analyses the biographies of ten great generals who lived between 1481 BC and AD 632 in an attempt to identify the characteristics of intellect, psychology, personality, and experience that allowed them to tread the path to greatness. Professor Richard Gabriel has selected the ten whom he believes to be the greatest of them all. Those included, and more so those omitted, will surprise many readers. Conspicuous by their absence, for example, are Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun. Richard Gabriel, himself a retired soldier and professor at the Canadian Defence College, uses his selected exemplars to distil the timeless essence of military leadership.
Hitler’s War Against the Partisans During The Stalingrad Offensive
From the start of the war on the Eastern Front, Hitler’s Ostheer, his Eastern Army, and its associated forces would wage a vernichtungskrieg, or war of annihilation, in the East. Never before had such a wide-reaching campaign been fought.The preparations for the war against the partisans began before the launch of Operation Barbarossa, during which the Axis forces immediately put their plans into effect. The effects upon the newly conquered territories were soon being felt.The end of the initial phase of the German invasion of the Soviet Union was met by a Red Army winter offensive which began on 5 December 1941. As the author shows, this had repercussions behind the German lines, where the nascent Soviet partisan movement was attempting to grow and gain a foothold. By the spring of 1942 those early Soviet partisan units were ready to expand. The Germans, aware of the military situation both on the frontlines and in the rear of their armies, also prepared to counter the growing partisan threat. The partisans undoubtedly made a significant contribution to Stalin’s war effort by countering Axis plans to exploit occupied Soviet territories economically, as well as providing valuable assistance to the Red Army by conducting systematic attacks against Hitler''s rear communication network.As the German military planned to continue the Russian campaign into the summer of 1942, new security forces were gathered together and sent to the Soviet Union, and a new headquarters specifically organized to fight the guerrilla menace, was established. In this follow-up study, author Antonio Munoz picks up the partisan and anti-partisan struggle in the East, where Hitler’s War Against the Partisans During Operation Barbarossa left off.The struggle behind the frontlines in Russia proved to be as grand and epic as the fight along the front lines. Dr. Munoz describes this war of attrition along the entire breath of the USSR. In 1942 the Ostheer, acting on Adolf Hitler’s orders, launched their 1942 summer offensive which was aimed at capturing the Caucasus Mountains and the Russian oil fields that lay there.Dr. Munoz not only covers the war behind the lines in every region of the occupied USSR, but also describes the German anti-partisan effort behind the lines of Army Group South, as its forces drove into the Caucasus Mountains, the Volga River bend and Stalingrad. No other work has included the guerrilla and anti-partisan struggle specific to the Stalingrad campaign. Munoz manages to accomplish this, but also to convey the story of the rest of the partisan and anti-guerrilla war in the rest of the USSR from the spring of 1942 to the spring of 1943.
V kategórii populárno - náučné encyklopédie nájdete široký výber kníh, ktoré vám poskytnú poznatky z rôznych oblastí zaujímavým a zrozumiteľným spôsobom. Encyklopédie vám pomôžu získať komplexný prehľad o rôznych témach, ako ľudské telo a človek, príroda, vesmír, veda a technika a história.
Naša ponuka encyklopédií populárno-náučného charakteru vám umožní objaviť fascinujúci svet poznania a rozšíriť svoje vedomosti o rôznych témach.
