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Neolithic long barrows in Bohemia were long neglected by archaeologists due to their destruction by modern intensive agricultural activity. This new analysis, resulting from a threeyear interdisciplinary research project, of the phenomenon of Neolithic long barrows in Bohemia and Central Europe presents entirely new findings and data and tackles a number of previously unresolved questions. New discoveries, based primarily on remote sensing and targeted excavations, together with the revision of earlier archaeological records, allow us to define more accurately the construction and chronological development of these monuments, and to advance our knowledge of the southeastern boundary of this phenomenon''s spread together with reconstruction of the social and religious significance of these monuments for the agricultural communities of Central Europe. At the sacred places defined by the long barrows, ceremonies and rituals took place over millennia that confirmed the cohesion of the living with the ancestors and their faith in the gods. People, even many generations later, continued to venerate these ancient monuments, not as places of final rest for their direct ancestors but as places dedicated to mythical time, where the living meet the dead and honour the gods. It is not surprising, therefore, that people added the burials of their own ancestors to the embankments of ancient barrows and established their own funerary areas nearby even after several millennia.All long barrows excavated within our project contained only one primary burial: in Bohemia these were not collective graves as found, for example, in the British Isles or Scandinavia. Given the monumentality of barrow construction, it can be presumed that the buried individuals represented a form of social elite, though not necessarily due to their individual social power. It seems that the primary burial played the role of an initiation sacrifice: a ritual of consecration of the ancestor sanctuary, which then no longer served for further burials that may have been taboo. Subsequent activities may have been related to forms of ancestral cult, but the primary burial was not followed by other funerary events. All evidence of later burials is at least 1000 years later than barrow construction.In the region around the Czech mythical Mountain Říp, burial monuments from various prehistoric periods, including the Late Neolithic, abound. Residential and economic activities on the plains appear later. It can be assumed that this area was perceived as a ritual landscape in earlier prehistory in which long barrows played a significant role in structuring the farming landscape and as significant landmarks. Their monumentality initiated a longstanding tradition creating palimpsests of funerary and sacred sites near Mount Říp. The places where the long barrows were built played an important role in the lives of prehistoric communities, and their placement and orientation in the landscape was not random, indicating significant symbolic connotations with the surrounding landscape. The rituals and festivities held here allowed people to connect with the spiritual legacy of their ancestors, thus creating a significant spiritual tradition inscribed in the agriculturally colonised landscape.

In the late 1930s, the U.S. Army began a significant overhaul of its vehicle fleet, shaping the logistics backbone of World War II. Affecting this effort were two major schools of thought regarding logistical support: some experts proposed the trailer or semitrailer, which had a physical separation between the mechanical part of the truck and the rear technical part containing supplies or specialist equipment; opponents encouraged the use of compact and inseparable assemblies to save time in the field. Both types of trucks would be used during World War I, complete trucks intended for the front and its immediate rear, the lines of communications and the staging area being the domain of tractors and semitrailers.This book examines all the different weight categories of tractor trucks and semitrailers used by the U.S. Army during World War II. Illustrated with hundreds of period photographs, illustrations, and diagrams, the text discusses all variants including an array of specialized vehicles for units such as commissary, engineering, aviation, and cavalry.

This book presents a detailed assessment of the chronological, cultural, economic and social relations in the territory of the central Balkans (today''s Serbia without Voivodina, western Bulgaria and the northern part of North Macedonia) in the period from the beginning of the 3rd to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. It is the first comprehensive study of the region at this period, in English, for over 40 years, in spite of the considerable amount of research and excavation that has been conducted in the intervening years. The naturalgeographic features, topographic openness, social impacts and other factors that could influence the genesis, development and, ultimately, the demise of Bronze Age cultures in this territory are analysed. Several vegetation zones are represented in Serbia, from steppes, lowland forests, hilly and mountainous areas, subMediterranean forests, and lowgrowing vegetation, to Boreal forests and formations of moorlands. These have played an important role in soil formation, especially vertisol, and their development and change are closely related to archaeology and changing land use. The book brings a lot of new information regarding absolute dates, including a full list of available radiocarbon dates for Bronze Age Serbia, some results of analysis of tin and copper isotope analyses, as well as the results of unpublished excavations of Bronze Age sites in the central Balkans. New thoughts about cultural interconnections within the central Balkans and beyond are presented, which are based on the remains of material and spiritual culture, as well as absolute dates.Following an introduction to the physical landscape of the study region, a summary is presented of the history of archaeological research and the chronology of the Bronze Age in the central Balkans. Subsequent chapters review evidence for settlement, burial and ritual, and material culture by region with a discussion on chronology, characterisation and wider cultural contacts within the European Bronze Age.A more detailed analysis of the revised absolute chronology of the central Balkan Bronze Age is then presented, together with a consideration of its implications for understanding developments in the region in the wider European context.

During the Polish campaign, SS combat units were seconded to various formations of the Heer. Still considered more parade troops than frontline soldiers, they did not prove a decisive factor in the fighting, but the campaign was important for their transformation into real fighting units. They were criticized for their losses, and the officers were blamed, being considered poorly and inadequately trained. The SS officers in turn accused Heer commanders for sacrificing SS troops in suicidal missions. Himmler became convinced that if his units were used autonomously they could have better demonstrated their full potential, leading him to push for the SS to be considered a separate fighting force.Fully illustrated, this Casemate Illustrated describes the actions of the SS units that fought on the front line in Poland, primarily the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, the SS-Verfügungstruppen and the SS-Heimwehr-Danzig.

“In 2016, I was responsible for the deaths of over 600 people. But they deserved to die—all of them. They were the bad guys, the evil of our time. History will not grant the Islamic State a redemption arc…. I don’t lose sleep over what we did. However, I still struggle with how easy it was. Technology turned warfare into a game, and we treated it as such.”Brennan Deveraux deployed to Iraq from January 2016 to August 2016, serving in the Strike Cell as the theater-level rocket artillery liaison for Operation Inherent Resolve, firing over 500 rockets and killing over 600 enemy fighters. His account relates a personal journey, addressing how US soldiers dealt with slaughtering a technologically inferior foe. This includes detailed and honest accounts of numerous artillery missions. He is open about having had a desire to rack up statistics and is candid about some choices he is not proud of. He shares the dark humor of war that he and his fellow soldiers sought refuge in when dealing with death, helping them escape their actions. Even so, at times they realized that they had lost their humanity, and the reality of warfare once again set in. When Brennan returned home, he was forced to face what he had done overseas in a life-changing moment with his family, experiencing an anxiety attack he could not explain.Brennan’s story is important because it paints a very different picture of what it means to be a soldier in a 21st-century military, exposing the impact of “remote” warfare on service members. It is a reflection on war and a soldier’s role in it, emphasizing the importance of empathy—even for the bad guys—and an appreciation for the families impacted by the inherent violence.

The landscape setting of the Iron Age oppidum and Roman city of Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) was initially explored through analysis of the available aerial photography and Lidar data over c. 1000 km2. Focusing on a 50 km square centred on Calleva, six locations with suspected later prehistoric enclosures were sampled by coring and excavation and accompanied by extensive programmes of radiocarbon dating and environmental, especially pollen analysis. Phases of activity and/or settlement were followed by abandonment and the regeneration of the woodland. Neolithic and Bronze Age activity was identified, but the first permanent settlements appeared to be of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age date. The period with the most numerous settlements is the Middle Iron Age (4th to 2nd century BC), which was characterised by hillforts and smaller ditched enclosures. Their abandonment was once again followed by woodland regeneration. At the end of the 1st century BC new settlements were founded, including the 38 ha defended oppidum in a wooded and otherwise empty landscape. A territory with a radius of c. 2 km and devoid of individual farmsteads was established around the oppidum to provide land for cultivation and grazing and it was retained with the founding of the Roman city. This territory corresponds approximately with the combined present-day parishes of Mortimer West End and Silchester. The charcoal assemblages show evidence for the management of the woodlands including for the preparation of charcoal from the Late Iron Age though the Roman and into the medieval period. Dated charcoal shows continued activity in the Environs in the post-Roman and early medieval periods including the re-occupation of the hillfort at Pond Farm.

Some of the most daring naval raids undertaken during World War II involved the use of midget submarines—craft of under 150 tons and crewed by just a handful of men—including Japanese midget submarines deployed at Pearl Harbor, the British X-craft attack on the Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord protected by layers of antisubmarine defenses, an Italian Maiale attaching limpet mines to the HMS Valiant, and German craft attacking Allied shipping off landing beaches.This Casemate Illustrated Special features all classes of midget subs and human torpedoes designed and used during World War II and explores how they were used. It also features the recovery of various wrecks of German, British, Japanese, and Italian midget submarines, including the search for the midget submarines sunk at Pearl Harbor in 1941. The final chapter features the restoration, testing and successful operation of a German Biber midget submarine.Period photographs, artwork, and exterior and interior images of the many midget submarines preserved in museums accompany the expert text.

Sons of the Arghandab tells the story of the 1-320th Field Artillery "Top Guns" Battalion, 101st Airborne, in the Arghandab Valley, 2010-2011.The Arghandab River Valley is known for its lush vegetation from its grape furrows and its pomegranate orchards. It’s also known as the birthplace of several Taliban leaders such as Mullah Omar and Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, and was a major crossing route for weapons coming from Pakistan into Kandahar. This hostile environment had already claimed the lives of many seasoned Infantrymen. But the Top Guns weren''t infantrymen, they were artillerymen, deployed without their usual weapons and with minimal last-minute training, redesignated as "provisional infantrymen." Painstakingly researched by one of the Top Guns and told through the perspectives of the men who survived that terrible year, this is the harrowing story of Alpha, HHB, and Bravo Batteries as they undertook the challenges of an Artillery unit charged with an Infantry mission in the most hostile killing fields in Afghanistan.

A candid and multifaceted look at life as a security contractor in Iraq in the early years after the American invasion. It’s not just a story of surviving IEDs and firefights while protecting American contractors—though those moments are vividly recounted—it’s also an exploration of the broader, often unexpected, experiences that defined the author’s two and a half years in Iraq.Structured as a series of concise, self-contained chapters, the book captures a wide range of events and encounters: high-speed crashes, tense standoffs with Iraqi security forces, the ever-present uncertainty of knowing who to trust, and the toll of living in a warzone—but outside the protection of the military—on contractors, clients, and locals alike. The focus isn’t just on action but also on the everyday challenges and the strategies necessary to stay safe in such a dangerous and unpredictable environment.The book introduces the diverse people the author met through his work, from former Green Berets, British Royal Marines and South African commandos, through to Gurkhas, a former member of the French Foreign Legion, and even a Buddhist monk. There are stories of heroic, larger-than-life figures and of outlaws who came to Iraq because they didn’t fit in anywhere else and ended up not fitting in there either. It also delves into the lives of Iraqi civilians, who offered glimpses of kindness and humanity amid the chaos. These stories provide readers with a nuanced and personal perspective on a challenging and complex chapter of modern conflict.

This work describes U.S. Marine Corps helicopter operations, including their actions and evolution, throughout the Vietnam War. The book is divided into parts spanning the three stages of the Corps’ combat deployment: “Buildup (1962–1966),” “Heavy Combat (1967–1969),” and “The Bitter End (1975).” Each part includes chapters devoted to “telling the story” of Marine helicopters from the individual to the strategic level.Vietnam has often been called our “first helicopter war,” and indeed the U.S. Marine Corps, as well as Army, had to feel its way forward during the initial combats. But by 1967 the combat was raging across South Vietnam, with confrontational battles against the NVA, on a scale comparable to the great campaigns of WWII. In 1968, when the Communists launched their mammoth counteroffensive, the Marines were forced to fight on all sides, with the helicopter giving them the additional dimension that proved decisive in repelling the enemy.The author, a Vietnam veteran, uses his experiences as a company commander to bring the story to life by weaving personal accounts, after-action reports and official documents into a remarkably readable narrative of service and sacrifice by Marine pilots and crewmen. The entire story of the war is here depicted through the prism of Marine helicopter operations, from the first deployments to support the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) against the Viet Cong through the rapid United States buildup to stop the North Vietnamese Army, until the final withdrawal from our Embassy. Colonel Dick Camp, a Purple Heart recipient, served 26 years in the U.S. Marine Corps before retiring in 1988. Upon retirement he served as the Deputy Director, U.S. Marine Corps History Division and as the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, Vice President for Museum Operations at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, Quantico, Virginia. Currently residing in Fredericksburg, Virginia, he is the author of ten books and over 100 magazine articles on various military related subjects.

The temperature was 40 degrees below zero when fighter planes screamed out of the clouds, puncturing the fuselage with a spray of machinegun fire and sending the bomber beside them into a death spin. This was followed by intense flak, as a hundred cannons on the ground tried to blow them out of the sky.When they finally made it back to the base, another enemy awaited them: homesickness, crushing boredom, relentless cold, and more mud than they could imagine.Bert Ibelle was a 19-year-old freshman at Dartmouth College when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps to fly dozens of bomber missions over Nazi-occupied Europe and win the Purple Heart. His buddy, Fran Brighenti, served as an infantry marksman on the opposite side of the globe, slogging through the steaming jungles of the Philippine and the fiery hell of Okinawa.Their wars couldn’t have been more different, nor could their approach to life. While the ever-exuberant Fran was a ladies man, Bert only had eyes for “Red,” the girl back home who was in love with another young man.This is their story—one that combines terror, humor, friendship, and a son’s search for his elusive father.

In 1778, the prospects for the new United States seem promising even as the War for Independence continues. The diplomatic team that the Continental Congress dispatched to France has secured an alliance. The British, now facing two enemies, give ground. Having recently chased the Congress out of Philadelphia, the British abandon the city, allowing Congress to return.But British troops still occupy New York City and other parts of the new nation. The challenges of driving them out and securing an honorable peace remain. Meanwhile, old and new crises complicate the work of Congress and threaten to fracture the union. Congress’s novice diplomats in Europe plead for arms, money, and more from France while scouring Europe for other allies, while leaders in Vermont, defying claims to the would-be state from New York, test Congress’s patience. The breathtaking betrayal of Benedict Arnold tests delegates’ faith in their own military men.The Continental currency, which served well in financing the war early on, collapses. The Articles of Confederation, the nation’s first constitution, proves unsuitable from the moment it is ratified. Delegates and the states they represent dispute about how lands to the west will be settled and governed. Congress for the third time must flee Philadelphia, but this time not because of the British. This time they slink out of town in fear of their own troops, who are angry and bitter about lack of promised pay.Congress sets up shop in a college building in Princeton, New Jersey, and then moves on to Annapolis, where in the Maryland state capital, delegates ratify the longed-for peace treaty with Great Britain.

From the closing days of the Revolutionary War in 1783 to the beginning of the War of 1812, the United States Army faced one of its most challenging periods. During this era, American soldiers confronted threats from Great Britain, France, and Spain. On the western frontier, hostile warriors from American Indian nations battled U.S. Army and militia troops north of the Ohio River, as white settlers? insatiable demands for land provoked conflict with Indian communities. The Army suppressed civil unrest, built roads, and conducted explorations, including the transcontinental expedition led by Army officers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The post-revolutionary years also saw the Army in a process of frequent reorganization, from the disbanding of the Continental Army at the end of the Revolutionary War to the establishment of Maj. Gen. Anthony Wayne?s Legion of the United States, followed by President Thomas Jefferson?s efforts at reforming the Army into a Republican institution. These structural changes increased during James Madison?s first presidential term, as Americans prepared for war with Great Britain over maritime rights, free trade, and territorial expansion in a conflict that became known as the War of 1812.Illustrated with photographs, artwork and maps, this explains how the United States? Army was transformed in its first four decades.

Monasticism is a form of religious life in which participants renounce worldly activities to dedicate themselves primarily to spiritual matters, living in small communities subject to a set of rules and isolated from the secular world. Christian monasticism, which originated at the end of the 3rd century in Egypt and North Africa, spread to different parts of Europe in the 6th century. However, it was not until the Middle Ages that monastic communities became one of the most powerful institutions in Europe. Monasteries and convents played a very important role not only as centers of spirituality but also as focal points of economic, technological and cultural activity. This multiplicity of activities carried out alongside their religious, social and political roles make monasteries spaces that can be studied from very different perspectives and that unfailingly provide essential information about our history.This second of two titles originates from an international conference that took place in Barcelona in January 2024, which sought to examine different aspects related to monastic life in the past and to promote and disseminate the results obtained in the latest studies undertaken within the framework of monastic complexes and their environments. These include contributions and multidisciplinary studies from archaeological, bioanthropological and/or documentary perspectives. Specialists from different disciplines present developments on the topic of monasticism from different fields of study, such as zooarchaeology, bioanthropology, palaeopathology, archaeology, history, documentary disciplines, archives, cultural heritage, etc.Volume 2 focuses on diet, food practices, water management, and the organization and use of space within monastic complexes and landscapes.

By October 1943, the German 17th Army had been forced to retreat from the Kuban bridgehead across the Kerch Strait to Crimea. During the following months, the Red Army pushed back the German forces in the southern Ukraine. In November 1943, they eventually cut off the land-based connection of 17th Army through the Perekop Isthmus. Hitler prohibited a sea evacuation of 17th Army because he thought the Red Army could use the Crimean Peninsula to launch air attacks against Romanian oil refineries.In November 1943, the Russian launched a massive amphibious assault at two locations on the eastern coast of the Crimea, but its units were unable to prevent an Axis counterattack that collapsed the southern bridgehead. The Red Army held the bridgehead at Yenikale, from which they launched further offensive operations, culminating in a huge offensive in April 1944. Although the 17th Army bitterly contested every bit of ground, it was unable to stop the advance. Soviet forces reached Kerch on April 11, forcing the 17th Army to retreat towards Sevastopol. The remaining Axis forces in the Crimea were concentrating around the city by the end of the third week of April.The Germans intended to hold Sevastopol as a fortress, as the Russians had done between 1941 and 1942. However, the fortifications of the city had not been restored and the city fell on 9 May. From mid-April, Romanian and German ships undertook a huge and complex evacuation operation. The last phase of the evacuation, following the fall of Sevastopol, saw 37,000 troops transported under constant attacks from Soviet aircraft and shore artillery. Overall around 57,000 men were lost during the evacuation.Fully illustrated with rare and unpublished photos, this is a detailed account of the dogged attempt to retake the Crimea in 1943–44.

Patrick Naughton’s father barely spoke of his time in Vietnam to his family, yet his service was the sole reason Patrick joined the U.S. Army as a teenager. Patrick Naughton Sr served in Vietnam with the 82nd Airborne and advising the South Vietnamese Army, while Patrick himself would serve in Iraq. Three decades of history and politics divided their service yet the similarities between their experiences are undeniably striking. Patrick’s attempts to understand his father led to a search for those who served with him in Vietnam, an examination of the personal relationship of a father and son whose few connections have been war, and a quest to understand war and its undeniable generational influence. The result is an engaging and eye-opening weaving together of the combat experiences of two generations of a military family.From the failure of grand stratagem, through personal combat stories, and the memories of those lost—America’s wars against communism and terror are laid raw through the experiences of one family.