Fighting the People's War

Fighting the People's War

Author: Jonathan Fennell

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-01-24

Total Pages: 967

ISBN-13: 1107030951

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Jonathan Fennell captures for the first time the true wartime experience of the ordinary soldiers from across the empire who made up the British and Commonwealth armies. He analyses why the great battles were won and lost and how the men that fought went on to change the world.


American War Plans, 1941-1945

American War Plans, 1941-1945

Author: Steven Ross

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-10-12

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1136303359

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This is an examination of major American and Anglo-American war plans. Rather than discuss the history of planning, Ross considers the execution of the plans, compares the execution with the expectations of the planners and attempts to explain the differences.


A Bloody Victory

A Bloody Victory

Author: Dan Harvey

Publisher: Merrion Press

Published: 2020-05-11

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 1785373358

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Post D-Day, with the Allies on the newly created ‘Second Front’ driving fast eastwards beyond Paris, and the Russians on the ‘Eastern Front’ pressing westwards, the fervour of the fanatical Fascist Nazi Regime remained undiminished. For the Third Reich it was intolerable to believe that they must now concede. Instead of ending the war and suing for peace, the levels of hostility, hatred, and horror heightened, and the brutality, viciousness and terror increased. The resistance to the Allied advances across Europe, first towards, then within, Germany intensified, and every inch of the Fatherland was bitterly contested. With the Allies, in their thousands, were the Irish. A Bloody Victory unearths these people from the corners of Irish history and transports them back to the D-Day beaches and the bridge at Arnhem, to the frozen landscapes at the Battle of the Bulge, the banks of the River Rhine, to the unimaginable horrors of Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald concentration camps, and finally to the ruinous Battle of Berlin. There was no one individual ‘Irish narrative’ in the Second World War, but there was a narrative of Irish Individuals, and in A Bloody Victory, Dan Harvey pays due tribute to their significant contribution.


The Last Offensive

The Last Offensive

Author: Charles B. MacDonald

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2015-07-27

Total Pages: 582

ISBN-13: 9781515233718

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(Includes maps) Recovering rapidly from the shock of German counteroffensives in the Ardennes and Alsace, Allied armies early in January 1945 began an offensive that gradually spread all along the line from the North Sea to Switzerland and continued until the German armies and the German nation were prostrate in defeat. This volume tells the story of that offensive, one which eventually involved more than four and a half million troops, including ninety one divisions, sixty-one of which were American. The focus of the volume is on the role of the American armies - First, Third, Seventh, Ninth, and, to a lesser extent, Fifteenth - which comprised the largest and most powerful military force the United States has ever put in the field. The role of Allied armies - First Canadian, First French, and Second British - is recounted in sufficient detail to put the role of American. armies in perspective, as is the story of tactical air forces in support of the ground troops. This is the ninth volume in a subseries of ten designed to record the history of the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations. One volume, The Riviera to the Rhine, is the final volume to be published.


British Armoured Divisions and their Commanders, 1939-1945

British Armoured Divisions and their Commanders, 1939-1945

Author: Richard Doherty

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2013-07-16

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1848848382

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A total of eleven British armoured divisions were formed during the 1939-1945 war but, as this highly informative book reveals, just eight saw action.??In 1940 only 1st Armoured Division faced the German blitzkrieg and it was in the North African desert that armoured divisions came into their own. The terrain was ideal and six such divisions of Eighth Army fought Rommel's Panzers into submission. Three were disbanded prior to the invasion of Sicily and Italy. The campaign from D-Day onwards saw the Guards Armoured, 7th Armoured (the Desert Rats), 11th and Percy Hobart's 79th Armoured Division in the thick of the action.??Of particular interest are the men who commanded these elite formations and the way their characters contributed to the outcome of operations. While some, such as Dick McCreery, went onto greater heights, others did not make the grade; the stakes were high. A number, such as 'Pip' Roberts, were just perfectly suited in the role.??Written by a leading military historian, this book describes many fascinating aspects of armoured warfare from its uncertain beginnings, through the development of tactics and the evolving tank design. Due to British deficiencies, reliance had to be placed on US Grants and Shermans, with the Comet coming late and the Centurion too late.??The combination of gripping historical narrative and well researched fact make this an invaluable and highly readable work on the contribution of British Armoured Divisions to victory in the Second World War.


The Ghost Army of World War II

The Ghost Army of World War II

Author: Rick Beyer

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2023-10-10

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1797225308

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“A riveting tale told through personal accounts and sketches along the way—ultimately, a story of success against great odds. I enjoyed it enormously.” —Tom Brokaw The first book to tell the full story of how a traveling road show of artists wielding imagination, paint, and bravado saved thousands of American lives—now updated with new material. In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—artists, designers, architects, and sound engineers, including such future luminaries as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to conduct a secret mission. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. Every move they made was top secret, and their story was hushed up for decades after the war's end. Hundreds of color and black-and-white photographs, along with maps, official memos, and letters, accompany Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles’s meticulous research and interviews with many of the soldiers, weaving a compelling narrative of how an unlikely team carried out amazing battlefield deceptions that saved thousands of American lives and helped open the way for the final drive to Germany. The stunning art created between missions also offers a glimpse of life behind the lines during World War II. This updated edition includes: A new afterword by co-author Rick Beyer Never-before-seen additional images The successful campaign to have the unit awarded a Congressional Gold Medal History and WWII enthusiasts will find The Ghost Army of World War II an essential addition to their library.


The British Reconnaissance Corps in World War II

The British Reconnaissance Corps in World War II

Author: Richard Doherty

Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Published: 2007-03-27

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781846031229

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Osprey's study of Britain's Reconnaisance Corps of World War II (1939-1945). Either creeping through the landscape or mounted in armored cars and Bren carriers, Reconnaissance Regiments became a vital addition to all British infantry divisions. After the disastrous defeat in France in 1940, at the hands of German forces with strong recce units mounted in light armored vehicles, the Bartholomew Committee called for the formation of a British equivalent. This was achieved by forming the new elite Reconnaissance Corps.Their spearhead role meant that they were consistently at the forefront of all dramatic action, and most famously served with the 1st and 6th Airborne at Arnhem and with the Chindits in Burma.Within every theater of war, ranging from the jungles to the deserts, the Reconnaissance Corps made a critical contribution to the Allied war effort. However, with the disbandment of the Corps at the end of the war, their record has been unjustly forgotten.With a selection of rare and unpublished frontline photographs taken from private collections, this fascinating new insight into a forgotten elite unit of the British Army recounts the experiences of those soldiers who operated ahead of the army throughout the course of the war.


Eavesdropping on Hell

Eavesdropping on Hell

Author: Robert J. Hanyok

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2005-01-01

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0486481271

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This official government publication investigates the impact of the Holocaust on the Western powers' intelligence-gathering community. It explains the archival organization of wartime records accumulated by the U.S. Army's Signal Intelligence Service and Britain's Government Code and Cypher School. It also summarizes Holocaust-related information intercepted during the war years.