The coastal defenses in Normandy along the D-Day beaches were less thorough than other Atlantic Wall defenses, such as the Pas de Calais, where the Germans expected the main attack. However, they still proved to be formidable obstacles for the Allied invasion force. Rommel stressed the need to defeat the invasion on the beach, and therefore the ...
The Russian SA-2, nicknamed "Red SAM",is history's dominant antiaircraft missile. In 1960, it famously downed Gary Powers' U-2 spyplane, and two years later it was one of the missiles deployed during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which almost sparked a nuclear showdown between America and the USSR. The SA-2 was also deployed in Vietnam, North Korea, ...
Operation Overlord was the largest amphibious military operation ever launched, with a vast armada transporting over 150,000 Allied soldiers across the Channel. Just after dawn on 6 June 1944, the Allied troops assaulted the beaches of the Cotentin peninsula against stiff German resistance. Coordinated with the amphibious landings were a number of ...
The US Army had a unique tactical doctrine during World War II, placing the emphasis for tank fighting on its Tank Destroyer Command whose main early-war vehicle was the M10 3-inch Gun Motor Carriage, based on the reliable M4A2 Sherman tank chassis. This durable and versatile vehicle saw combat service from the North Africa campaign in 1943. By ...
The North African campaign of November 1942-May 1943 was a baptism of fire for the US Army. After relatively straightforward landings, the US II Corps advanced into Tunisia to support operations by the British 8th Army. Rommel, worried by the prospect of an attack into his rear, decided to exploit the inexperience of the US Army and strike a ...
The Jeep was the most famous military vehicle of World War II, and the name has become synonymous with a whole class of military and civilian all-terrain vehicles. The Jeep originated in a pre-war US Army requirement for a simple, inexpensive, and robust vehicle for basic utility chores. Its simple design proved to be adaptable to a host of ...
The D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 were the largest amphibious military operation ever mounted. During the late spring and early summer of 1944 the roads and ports of Southern England were thronged with the troops, vehicles and ships of the invasion force. The greatest armada the world had ever seen had been assembled to transport US 1st Army and ...
Determined to learn from the lessons of World War I where it was unprepared and heavily reliant on British and French guns, the US Army developed a new generation of field artillery weapons and tactics during the 1930s. Consequently, in World War II it was the clear leader in field artillery. Providing a thorough examination of the many critical ...
First seen during the American Civil War and later appearing in the Franco-Prussian War and the Boer Wars, the military use of the armoured train only came to the fore during World War I, reigning supreme on the Eastern Front. Deployed widely during Russian Civil War the technology spilt over into the Chinese Civil War, and the subsequent war with ...
The M3 and M5 family of light tanks were the culmination of American tank development of the 1930s. However, by the time of the outbreak of World War II, they were approaching obsolescence. First entering combat in the autumn of 1941 in the Western Desert with the British Army, the Stuart quickly showed that it was inadequate in tank fighting. ...
The T-54 and T-55 tanks are the most widely manufactured tanks of all time. They have become ubiquitous to wars around the globe since the 1950s, starting with Hungary in 1956, and including the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967, 1973 and 1982, the Vietnam war of 1967-75, the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88, the Afghanistan conflict, Operation Desert Storm, the ...
The Siegfried Line campaign was one of the most frustrating and bloody series of battles fought by the US Army in Northwest Europe. The US Army's First and Ninth armies were arrayed against the German Siegfried Line along the German-Belgian border north of the Ardennes, with the objective of breaking through these defences to reach the Roer River ...
One of the most sophisticated armoured fighting vehicles in the world, the M2/M3 Bradley is the United States equivalent of the British Warrior, combining the role of personnel carrier with the formidable armament of a 25mm cannon and TOW anti-tank missiles. With a maximum road speed of 66kmh it also has a degree of manoeuvrability dreamed of by ...
This title is structured around the career of a single tanker from 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, revealing what it was like to live and fight in a medium tank. The focus is largely on the crew of an M4 Sherman, though light tank service is also studied. Tank operation required a well trained and well coordinated crew. The crew ...
Germany's Atlantic Wall was the most ambitious military fortification program of World War II. With Germany's gradual loss of the strategic initiative to the Allies, in 1942 Hitler was forced to construct an impenetrable wall of fortifications along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast. This book deals solely with the structures on the French ...
The D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 were the largest amphibious military operation ever mounted. During the late Spring and early summer of 1944 the roads and ports of southern England were thronged with the troops, vehicles and ships of the invasion force. The greatest armada the world had ever seen had been assembled to transport US 1st Army and ...
Entering service in the early 1960s, the M109 Self-Propelled Howitzer has been in production for 34 years and forms the backbone of US Army and Reserve artillery units. The M109A6 is the latest development of the M109 series and incorporates advanced fire control systems that enable it to have the first rounds on target in less than 60 seconds ...
The M8 light armoured car was the only significant wheeled combat vehicle used by the US Army in World War II. In conjunction with the light armed utility version, the M20, it was the staple of the army's cavalry squadrons for use in reconnaissance and scouting. First entering combat in Italy in 1943, it was widely used throughout the campaign in ...
The US Army's development of the 37mm anti-tank gun began in response to needs identified during the Spanish Civil War. By the time it entered service in Tunisia in 1943, the gun was already obsolete, and the US began the licensed manufacture of the British 6-pdr in the hope of finding a quick solution to their artillery requirements. This in tum ...
The elite forces of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies in the mid-1980s were undoubtedly the largest in the world, and among the least known. The Soviet elite formations alone had a total strength comparable to that of the entire British armed forces. Besides the conventional military elite formations such as airborne and marine forces, ...
An account of the 1944 Operation Cobra. It demonstrates how this campaign ended the stalemate which had followed the Normandy landings and delivered a crushing blow to the German Army in France. Topics covered include the Avranches counterattack and the Falaise Pocket.
The German A-4 ballistic missile, better known by its propaganda name of V-2, was the world's first successful ballistic missile, breaking through the atmosphere to reach its target quicker. It was a forerunner of Cold War ballistic missiles and its combat use in 1944-45 set the pattern for the use of Scud ballistic missiles in recent decades. The ...
In this book Steven J Zaloga offers a fascinating comparison of the combat performance of the two most important tanks involved in the crucial fighting of 1944, the Sherman and the Panther. Examining the design and development of both tanks, Zaloga notes the obvious superiority that the Panther had over the Sherman and how the highly engineered ...
The Soviet T-80 Standard Tank was the last tank fielded before the Soviet collapse, and the most controversial. Despite having the most sophisticated fire controls and multi-layer armor ever fielded on a Soviet tank, its turbine power plant (rather than a conventional diesel) remained a source of considerable trouble throughout its career. Steven ...
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
