Countdown to D-Day: The German Perspective
Countdown to D-Day: The German Perspective

Author: Peter Margaritis

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2019-01-04

Total Pages: 670

ISBN-13: 1612007708

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A WWII historian takes readers inside the day-to-day drama of Nazi military commanders in occupied Europe as they brace for the Allied invasion. In December of 1943, with Allied forces planning to invade Fortress Europe, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is named General Inspector of the Atlantic Wall. His mission is to assess their readiness, and what he finds disgusts him. The famed Atlantikwall is nothing but a paper tiger, woefully unprepared for the forces being massed across the English Channel. His task—to turn back the Allied invasion—already seems hopeless. The crust old theater commander, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, awaits the inevitable defeat from a plush villa outside Paris. The corps commander on the ground in Normandy attempts to fulfill Rommel’s demands, but supplies are woefully inadequate. Meanwhile, all focus is on defending the coastline at Calais—the area that High Command believes to be the Allies’ most likely objective. All of the Western Theater commanders are subject to the whims of Adolf Hitler, hundreds of miles away and issuing orders that are increasingly divorced from the reality of the war. Countdown to D-Day takes a detailed day-to-day journal approach tracing the daily activities and machinations of the German High Command as they try to prepare for the Allied invasion.

Hitler and Nazi Germany
Hitler and Nazi Germany

Author: Jackson J. Spielvogel

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-05-05

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1351003720

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Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History is a brief but comprehensive survey of the Third Reich based on current research findings that provides a balanced approach to the study of Hitler’s role in the history of the Third Reich. The book considers the economic, social, and political forces that made possible the rise and development of Nazism; the institutional, cultural, and social life of the Third Reich; World War II; and the Holocaust. World War II and the Holocaust are presented as logical outcomes of the ideology of Hitler and the Nazi movement. This new edition contains more information on the Kaiserreich (Imperial Germany), as well as Nazi complicity in the Reichstag Fire and increased discussion of consent and dissent during the Nazi attempt to create the ideal Volksgemeinschaft (people’s community). It takes a greater focus on the experiences of ordinary bystanders, perpetrators, and victims throughout the text, includes more discussion of race and space, and the final chapter has been completely revised. Fully updated, the book ensures that students gain a complete and thorough picture of the period and issues. Supported by maps, images, and thoroughly updated bibliographies that offer further reading suggestions for students to take their study further, the book offers the perfect overview of Hitler and the Third Reich.

Arnhem 1944
Arnhem 1944

Author: Martin Middlebrook

Publisher: Stackpole Books

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 546

ISBN-13: 0811708268

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* Exciting overview of the World War II battle made famous by the classic movie and book A Bridge Too Far * Boots-on-the-ground story of British paratroopers fighting off Germans in Holland during Operation Market Garden * Masterly analysis of why the operation failed * Draws from the personal experiences of more than 500 participants * Written by an accomplished military historianMartin Middlebrook has written numerous works of military history, including the classic The First Day on the Somme (978-1-84415-465-4). He lives in England

Chasing Rommel
Chasing Rommel

Author: Amelia McNutt

Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers

Published: 2023-07-21

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 1685624316

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On June 6, 1944, tens of thousands of American soldiers, sailors, and airmen assaulted the German held coast of France at Normandy. Some were killed, some wounded, and all of them were changed as the battles raged against Rommel and his defenders. They fell for yards of sandy beaches, for critical roads, bridges, villages, towns, and cities. Together, we will travel to those places, and we will relive all the bravery and horror, all the mistakes and honor, as we learn their stories - Chasing Rommel.

July 1914
July 1914

Author: Sean McMeekin

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2014-04-29

Total Pages: 482

ISBN-13: 0465038867

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When a Serbian-backed assassin gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in late June 1914, the world seemed unmoved. Even Ferdinand's own uncle, Franz Josef I, was notably ambivalent about the death of the Hapsburg heir, saying simply, "It is God's will." Certainly, there was nothing to suggest that the episode would lead to conflict -- much less a world war of such massive and horrific proportions that it would fundamentally reshape the course of human events. As acclaimed historian Sean McMeekin reveals in July 1914, World War I might have been avoided entirely had it not been for a small group of statesmen who, in the month after the assassination, plotted to use Ferdinand's murder as the trigger for a long-awaited showdown in Europe. The primary culprits, moreover, have long escaped blame. While most accounts of the war's outbreak place the bulk of responsibility on German and Austro-Hungarian militarism, McMeekin draws on surprising new evidence from archives across Europe to show that the worst offenders were actually to be found in Russia and France, whose belligerence and duplicity ensured that war was inevitable. Whether they plotted for war or rode the whirlwind nearly blind, each of the men involved -- from Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold von Berchtold and German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov and French president Raymond Poincaré- sought to capitalize on the fallout from Ferdinand's murder, unwittingly leading Europe toward the greatest cataclysm it had ever seen. A revolutionary account of the genesis of World War I, July 1914 tells the gripping story of Europe's countdown to war from the bloody opening act on June 28th to Britain's final plunge on August 4th, showing how a single month -- and a handful of men -- changed the course of the twentieth century.

No Better Place to Die
No Better Place to Die

Author: Robert Murphy

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2009-04-07

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1935149881

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The you-are-there story of one of the most ferocious small-unit combats in US history . . . As part of the massive Allied invasion of Normandy, three airborne divisions were dropped behind enemy lines to sew confusion in the German rear and prevent panzer reinforcements from reaching the beaches. In the dark early hours of D-Day, this confusion was achieved well enough, as nearly every airborne unit missed its drop zone, creating a kaleidoscope of small-unit combat. Fortunately for the Allies, the 505th Regimental Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division hit on or near its drop zone. Its task was to seize the vital crossroads of Ste Mère Eglise, and to hold the bridge over the Merderet River at nearby La Fière. Benefiting from dynamic battlefield leadership, the paratroopers reached the bridge, only to be met by wave after wave of German tanks and infantry desperate to force the crossing. Reinforced by glider troops, who suffered terribly in their landings from the now-alert Germans, the 505th not only held the vital bridge for three days but launched a counterattack in the teeth of enemy fire to secure their objective once and for all, albeit at gruesome cost. In No Better Place to Die, Robert M. Murphy provides an objective narrative of countless acts of heroism, almost breathtaking in its “you are there” detail. No World War II veteran is better known in 82nd Airborne circles than Robert M. (“Bob”) Murphy. A Pathfinder and member of A Company, 505th PIR, Bob was wounded three times in action, and made all four combat jumps with his regiment, fighting in Sicily, Italy, Normandy, and Holland. He was decorated for valor for his role at La Fière, and is a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. After the war, he was instrumental in establishing the 505th RCT Association. A selection of the Military Book Club

The War for England's Shores
The War for England's Shores

Author: G. H. Bennett

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2023-09-15

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1557504970

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The War for England's Shores examines the Kriegsmarine’s S-Boat offensive along the English Channel and the North Sea from 1940 to 1945, together with British (later Allied) responses to nullify that threat. The campaign against the convoys running along the coast of Britain has been overlooked by historians. Swift and armed with torpedoes and mines, the S-Boat posed a serious threat to the convoys forced to run along the British coast as often as six days out of every seven. Using an array of archival materials from Britain, Germany, and the United States, The War for England’s Shores examines why the Germans failed to make the most of this opportunity to disrupt the British war economy. G. H. Bennett analyzes how the British slowly nullified the threat by embracing new technologies and developing a system of sea control to gradually force the German S-Boat arm to transition from offensive action against Britain's coastal convoys to the defensive posture of waiting for an invasion of France. Considering the war along Britain's coastal convoy routes in the context of twenty-first-century interest in littoral warfare, this work has vital, current appeal using the German S-Boat campaign of 1940 to 1945 to offer significant and surprising new insights.

Clearing the Way
Clearing the Way

Author: Chris McNab

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2023-12-21

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1636243878

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Covers all aspect of military engineering from construction through camouflage and booby traps to demolition. Quite simply, without engineers the U.S. Army would have been unable to fight World War II. The men of the Corps of Engineers, with the strength of more than 700 battalions mobilized during World War II, were tasked with every imaginable engineering challenge. In rear areas and back in the United States they built the facilities essential for everyday military life—showers, toilets, barrack blocks, military hospitals, training camps, storage depots, and much more. To keep logistics flowing to the front, they constructed or repaired thousands of miles of roads and bridges, plus built airfields to support Allied strategic and tactical air operations. Engineers also created endless chains of defensive positions, from simple trench systems to complex bunker networks, as well as retrieving damaged vehicles and equipment from still-contested battlefields. Combat engineers, meanwhile, occupied some of the most dangerous frontline roles in the American armed forces. Heavily armed with demolitions and weapons, plus weighed down by engineering tools and even driving armored bulldozers, they were tasked with destroying enemy strongpoints, bridges, equipment, vehicles and many other obstacles to the advance, in both overland and amphibious operations. Clearing the Way: U.S. Army Engineers in World War II brings together an exceptional collection of primary sources from engineering field manuals, technical manuals, and other official publications. They provide a detailed insight into the work and skills of the U.S. Army engineers, including building a field fortification, laying and defusing mines, making a contested river crossing, or camouflaging a defensive position properly. Through these texts, we gain practical insight into the exceptional individuals who often combined first-rate infantry fighting skills with engineering skill and problem-solving ingenuity.

Holocaust Fighters
Holocaust Fighters

Author: Jeffrey Sussman

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-10-13

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1538139839

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A remarkable portrait of the heroic people who faced the threat of extermination by the Nazis and resisted by any means possible—whether through boxing, exposing the reality of death camps, armed guerrilla attacks, or deadly acts of vengeance. In Holocaust Fighters: Boxers, Resisters, and Avengers, Jeffrey Sussman shares the riveting stories of those who fought back against the Nazis. The lives of five boxers who were forced to fight for their lives while imprisoned in concentration camps are explored in depth, followed by the stories of those who managed to escape captivity and reveal the truth about the death camps. Sussman also depicts in fascinating detail the acts of the Avengers, a military unit that hunted down and killed Nazi war criminals. The final portraits are of the prosecutors who brought the Nazi leaders to justice, those same leaders who watched Jewish and Gypsy boxers beat each other for their own personal entertainment. Holocaust Fighters is an incredible account of the many ways people resisted Nazi rule, providing moving portrayals of the resilience of the human spirit even in the face of incredible horrors.

The Germans in Normandy
The Germans in Normandy

Author: Richard Hargreaves

Publisher: Grub Street Publishers

Published: 2006-11-06

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13: 1781594708

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This account of the D-Day invasion—from the German point of view—includes maps and photos. The Allied invasion of Northern France was the greatest combined operation in the history of warfare. Up until now, it has been recorded from the attackers’ point of view—whereas the defenders’ angle has been largely ignored. While the Germans knew an invasion was inevitable, no one knew where or when it would fall. Those manning Hitler’s mighty Atlantic Wall may have felt secure in their bunkers, but they had no conception of the fury and fire that was about to break. After the initial assaults of June established an Allied bridgehead, a state of stalemate prevailed. The Germans fought with great courage—hindered by lack of supplies and overwhelming Allied control of the air. This book describes the catastrophe that followed, in a unique look at the war from the losing side.