Imagining Nuclear War in the British Army, 1945-1989
Imagining Nuclear War in the British Army, 1945-1989

Author: Simon J. Moody

Publisher:

Published: 2019-12-19

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 0198846991

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The primary mission assigned to the British Army from the 1950s until the end of the Cold War was deterring Soviet aggression in Europe by demonstrating the will and capability to fight with nuclear weapons in defence of NATO territory. This "surreal" mission was unlike any other in history,and raised a number of conceptual and practical difficulties. This comprehensive study observes how the British Army imagined nuclear war, and how it planned to fight it. Using new archival sources, Simon J. Moody analyses British thinking about tactical nuclear weapons, the role of the Army withinNATO strategy, the development of theories of tactical nuclear warfare, how nuclear war was taught at the Staff College, the role of operational research, and the evolution of the Army's nuclear war-fighting doctrine. He argues that the British Army possessed the intellectual capacity fororganisational adaptation, but that it displayed a cognitive dissonance about some of the more uncomfortable realities of nuclear war.

The Royal Armoured Corps in the Cold War, 1946–1990
The Royal Armoured Corps in the Cold War, 1946–1990

Author: M.P. Robinson

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2016-05-19

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1473881196

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The Royal Armoured Corps composition may have changed dramatically during the four and a half decades of The Cold War but its role in the nations defence has been predominant. This highly informative book focuses on the deployment of the British Armys armoured regiments from the end of the Second World War, their vehicles and equipment, the creation of the British Army of the Rhine, NATO commitments and other peripheral missions. The characteristics and variants of the Centurion, the powerful but short lived Conqueror, the Chieftain and Challenger are covered in expert text and by numerous images. The RAC in the Cold War is a tribute to the men who served in these famous regiment and their stories make fascinating reading.

Armoured Warfare in the British Army, 1914–1939
Armoured Warfare in the British Army, 1914–1939

Author: Richard Taylor

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military

Published: 2022-04-06

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1399001191

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This is the first volume in a three-volume illustrated history of the evolution of armored manoeuvre warfare in the British army, covering the period from 1914 until 1939. Author Dick Taylor’s tour de force covers the evolution of the tank and armored cars in response to the specific conditions created by trench warfare, the history of the use of tanks during the war, as well as the critical period between the wars in which the tank was both refined and neglected. He also looks in detail at the amalgamations and mechanization of the horsed cavalry which led to the formation of the Royal armored Corps in 1939. His detailed and absorbing narrative covers the social and human aspects of the story as well as the technology, and explains how the nation that invented and first fielded the tank in 1916 struggled to maintain the lead after the Armistice.

A Guide to the Sources of British Military History
A Guide to the Sources of British Military History

Author: Robin HIgham

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-10-05

Total Pages: 688

ISBN-13: 1317390202

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Designed to fill an overlooked gap, this book, originally published in 1972, provides a single unified introduction to bibliographical sources of British military history. Moreover it includes guidance in a number of fields in which no similar source is available at all, giving information on how to obtain acess to special collections and private archives, and links military history, especially during peacetime, with the development of science and technology.

Tracing Your Tank Ancestors
Tracing Your Tank Ancestors

Author: Janice Tait

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2011-12-01

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1844686647

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If you want to find out about the career of a soldier who served in tanks, are researching medals awarded to a tank crew member or just want to know more about a particular regiment squadron or operation, this book will point you in the right direction.Assuming that the reader has little prior knowledge of the history of British armored forces, Janice Tait and David Fletcher trace their development from their formation during WW1, through WWII and on to their role as an essential part of today's British army. Most importantly, they demonstrate how you can explore this history for yourself. The authors describe the records that are available and show how they can help you to reconstruct the career of a soldier who served in tanks or was connected with them. They also describe the kind of work the soldiers did, the armored vehicles they worked with, and the men and women they served alongsideThis accessible, information-packed introduction to the history of British armored forces will be essential reading and reference for anyone who is researching this aspect of military history.

Armoured Warfare in the British Army 1945-2020
Armoured Warfare in the British Army 1945-2020

Author: Richard Taylor

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military

Published: 2024-06-30

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 139908111X

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In this, the third volume in his comprehensive, highly illustrated three-volume history of the evolution of armored maneuver warfare in the British army, Dick Taylor covers the post-war period, up to the present day. He explains how the Royal armored Corps contracted rapidly after 1945, then faced the twin challenges of National Service and heavy involvement in numerous wars and campaigns around the globe. He recounts how the RAC became a fully-professional organization by the early 1960s, and continues the tale of disbandments, down-sizing and amalgamations. In a narrative which is as much a social history as an operational one, the vivid personal accounts of soldiers feature heavily throughout. The story of the Cold War in Germany (BAOR) is told. Then, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the book describes the role British armor played in conflicts in the Gulf, the Balkans and Afghanistan. Dick Taylor’s thoroughgoing account concludes with an assessment of the RAC in 2021 in the immediate aftermath of another defense review.