Operation Cobra and the Great Offensive
Operation Cobra and the Great Offensive

Author: Bill Yenne

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-06-15

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 1451604211

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THE BEGINNINGS OF VICTORY Shortly after the D-Day invasion, the Allied forces in Europe had stalled. A limited operation was set in motion to punch a small hole in the enemy defenses, starting on July 25, 1944. It was called Operation Cobra, and it would become one of the greatest offensives in all of military history. In the sixty days following the launch of the operation, the Allies -- commanded by Dwight Eisenhower and led by men such as the irascible General George Patton and General Omar Bradley -- attacked the enemy relentlessly. And what began as a desperate attempt to break a stalemate turned into an unstoppable armored juggernaut that swept the Germans out of virtually all of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Here is a penetrating account of that incredible feat of military skill, bravery, and daring that changed the course of the war, and signaled the end of Germany's domination of Europe.

After D-Day
After D-Day

Author: James Jay Carafano

Publisher: Stackpole Books

Published: 2008-06-13

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 1461750636

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After storming the beaches on D-Day, June 6, 1944, the Allied invasion of France bogged down in seven weeks of grueling attrition in Normandy. On July 25, U.S. divisions under Gen. Omar Bradley launched Operation Cobra, an attempt to break out of the hedgerows and begin a war of movement across France. Despite a disastrous start, with misdropped bombs killing hundreds of GIs, Cobra proved to be one of the most pivotal battles of World War II, successfully breaking the stalemate in Normandy and clearing a path into occupied France.

Encyclopedia of World War II
Encyclopedia of World War II

Author: Alan Axelrod

Publisher: H W Fowler

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 911

ISBN-13: 0816060223

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A reference to the ideological, military, political, biographical, and social topics surrounding World War II, which is often considered the pivotal event of the twentieth century.

Lions of Carentan, The
Lions of Carentan, The

Author: Volker Griesser

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2011-10-06

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1612000061

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Although it is known that Allied airborne forces landed into a German buzzsaw on D-Day, far less is known about the troops they encountered in the dark night of June 6, 1944. One of the formations they encountered was a similarly elite group of paratroopers, who instead of dropping from the skies fought on the defensive, giving their Allied counterparts a tremendous challenge in achieving their objectives. This is the complete wartime history of one of the largest German paratrooper regiments, 6th , from its initial formation in the spring of 1943 to its last day at the end of the war. With numerous firsthand accounts from key members, reporting on their experiences, they describe the events of 1943Ð45 vividly and without compromise. These accounts reveal previously unknown details about important operations in Italy, Russia, on the Normandy Front, Belgium, Holland, the last German Parachute drop in the Ardennes, and the final battle to the end in Germany. With over 220 original photographs, many from private collections and never before published, this book fully illustrates the men, their uniforms, equipment and weapons. Also included is an appendix with maps, battle calendar, staffing plans, a list of field and post-MOB-numbers, and the Knight's Cross recipients of the regiment. Having earned the respect of the Allied forces who fought against it during World War II, this work will inform current readers of the full record of FallschirmjŠger Regiment 6, and why the Allied advance into German-held Europe was so painstaking to achieve.

Busting the Bocage
Busting the Bocage

Author: Michael Dale Doubler

Publisher: Fort Leavenworth, Kan. : U.S. Army Command and General Staff College

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 92

ISBN-13:

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The Second World Wars
The Second World Wars

Author: Victor Davis Hanson

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2017-10-17

Total Pages: 775

ISBN-13: 0465093191

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A "breathtakingly magisterial" account of World War II by America's preeminent military historian (Wall Street Journal) World War II was the most lethal conflict in human history. Never before had a war been fought on so many diverse landscapes and in so many different ways, from rocket attacks in London to jungle fighting in Burma to armor strikes in Libya. The Second World Wars examines how combat unfolded in the air, at sea, and on land to show how distinct conflicts among disparate combatants coalesced into one interconnected global war. Drawing on 3,000 years of military history, bestselling author Victor Davis Hanson argues that despite its novel industrial barbarity, neither the war's origins nor its geography were unusual. Nor was its ultimate outcome surprising. The Axis powers were well prepared to win limited border conflicts, but once they blundered into global war, they had no hope of victory. An authoritative new history of astonishing breadth, The Second World Wars offers a stunning reinterpretation of history's deadliest conflict.

Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm
Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm

Author: Robert M. Citino

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 2022-05-25

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 0700634010

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When Germany launched its blitzkrieg invasion of France in 1940, it forever changed the way the world waged war. Although the Wehrmacht ultimately succumbed to superior Allied firepower in a two-front war, its stunning operational achievement left a lasting impression on military commanders throughout the world, even if their own operations were rarely executed as effectively. Robert Citino analyzes military campaigns from the second half of the twentieth century to further demonstrate the difficulty of achieving decisive results at the operational level. Offering detailed operational analyses of actual campaigns, Citino describes how UN forces in Korea enjoyed technological and air superiority but found the enemy unbeatable; provides analyses of Israeli operational victories in successive wars until the Arab states finally grasped the realities of operational-level warfare in 1973; and tells how the Vietnam debacle continued to shape U.S. doctrine in surprising ways. Looking beyond major-power conflicts, he also reveals the lessons of India’s blitzkrieg-like drive into Pakistan in 1971 and of the senseless bloodletting of the Iran-Iraq War. Citino especially considers the evolution of U.S. doctrine and assesses the success of Desert Storm in dismantling an entrenched defending force with virtually no friendly casualties. He also provides one of the first scholarly analyses of Operation Iraqi Freedom, showing that its plan was curiously divorced from the realities of military history, grounded instead on nebulous theories about expected enemy behavior. Throughout Citino points to the importance of mobility--especially mobilized armor--in modern operational warfare and assesses the respective roles of firepower, training, doctrine, and command and control mechanisms. Brimming with new insights, Citino’s study shows why technical superiority is no guarantee of victory and why a thorough grounding in the history of past campaigns is essential to anyone who wishes to understand modern warfare. Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm provides that grounding as it addresses the future of operational-level warfare in the post–9/11 era.

Operation Cobra 1944
Operation Cobra 1944

Author: Steven J. Zaloga

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2011-03-15

Total Pages: 95

ISBN-13: 1846035430

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After the success of the D-Day landings, the Allied forces were bogged down in a bloody stalemate in Normandy. On 25 July 1944, General Bradley launched Operation Cobra to break the deadlock. What followed was one of the most decisive months of World War II, as US forces punched a hole in the German frontline and began a spectacular advance. As Patton's Third Army poured into Brittany and raced south to the Loire, the German army was threatened with encirclement. By the end of August German forces in Normandy were utterly destroyed, and the remaining German units in central and southern France were in headlong retreat to the German frontier. In this concise, illustrated account, Steven J. Zaloga explains how the breakout from Normandy came about.

Rising Sons
Rising Sons

Author: Bill Yenne

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2013-11-26

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1466858370

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Despite the fact that they and their families had been forced into internment camps, thousands of the American sons of Japanese immigrants responded by volunteering to serve in the United States armed forces during World War II. As military historian Bill Yenne writes, "It was their country, and they wanted to serve, just like anyone else their age. These young Japanese Americans thought of themselves as Americans, and they wanted to prove it." Most of these young Japanese Americans served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and its component 100th Infantry Battalion. For its size and length of service, the 442nd was the most decorated in the history of the US Army. The Japanese American GIs of the 442nd eventually earned 21 Medals of Honor and 9,486 Purple Hearts, while their outfit was awarded eight Presidential Unit Citations. Rising Sons brings to light the stories of these young men who faced down discrimination to serve their country. Some of these sons of Japanese immigrants came from Hawaii, where they had witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor firsthand, and responded like most Americans by signing up to serve. Most of the Japanese-Americans served in Italy and France, in the terrible and difficult battles at Anzio and Cassino, in the Vosges Mountains and on the Gothic Line. Detached from the regiment for service in southern Germany, the 442nd's artillery battalion had the ironic distinction of being one of the American units involved in the liberation of Dachau. Japanese-Americans also proved themselves invaluable in the Pacific as well, serving in the Military Intelligence Service or in the infamous special-ops commando team known as Merrill's Marauders. Weaving together impeccable research with vivid firsthand accounts from surviving veterans, Yenne recounts the incredible stories of the Japanese-American soldiers who fought so bravely in World War II, men who were willing to lay down their lives for a country they were uncertain would ever accept them again. Their courageous actions proved that they, too, were true members of America's Greatest Generation.

Honor on the Line
Honor on the Line

Author: Robert J. Scott

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2012-07

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 1475932081

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It was the fall of 1940, and Americans turned to college football for relief from the turbulent world around them. The Depression still had its grip on the nation and, across the Atlantic, the Battle of Britain raged. As war crept closer every day, the nation's first peacetime draft called Americans to the defense of the country. While the great Tom Harmon of Michigan set new standards on the gridiron, on other fields black stars struggled for the right to play. At Stanford, coaching genius Clark Shaughnessy reinvented the game and in the process engineered the greatest turnaround in the history of college football. But the team everybody was talking about was Cornell. Fueled by the most powerful offense in the country, the Big Red dominated the national rankings until, on a snowy field at Dartmouth, they eked out a win with a touchdown on the last play of the game-or did they? When it came to light that the touchdown had been scored on a grievous error by the officials, Cornell, undefeated and in the race for the national championship, faced a wrenching decision. The 1940 season was one of the most exciting on record-and one that taught America about the values that really matter.