I could see a carpet of twinkling lights from the ack ack all along the rail sidings which bordered the canal. I dove onto these with my cannons going. Then suddenly, when the attention of all the guns turned on me, I realized how foolhardy I was being. I ran the guns along the row of rail trucks--opened the throttle wide and pulled straight up for the clouds--with tracers crossing in front and on all sides of the plane.Ron Pottinger started the war as a rifleman in the Royal Fusiliers, then transferred to the Royal Air Force, where he began flying the 7.5-ton Hawker Typhoon. He flew dozens...

Guide to the French defenses encountered by the German blitzkrieg in 1940 Includes finely detailed plans, diagrams, and schematics of forts, blockhouses, turrets, artillery pieces, tanks, and more Between the world wars, France constructed a vast and complex array of defenses designed to prevent German forces from penetrating the French heartland as they had during World War I. Among these was the famous Maginot Line, the last of the great gun-bearing fortifications, but France also built defenses along its coasts and in its territories in North Africa. Fully illustrated with photos, maps,...

Narrative histories highlighting organization, combat experiences, and casualties of each division Lists of constituent units and division commanders Sources for further reading on each division The final volume of Samuel Mitcham's trilogy on the German Army in World War II focuses on panzer, panzer grenadier, motorized, and Waffen SS divisions. Among these units are the 1st SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Division, whose members included tank ace Michael Wittmann; the notorious 12th SS Hitler Youth Division that fought the Allies in Normandy; the 3rd SS Totenkopf Division that wreaked havoc on...

Essential background to the German blitzkrieg of World War II Complements the stories of panzer aces like Otto Carius and Michael Wittmann In the wake of World War I, the German army lay in ruins--defeated in the war, sundered by domestic upheaval, and punished by the Treaty of Versailles. A mere twenty years later, Germany possessed one of the finest military machines in the world, capable of launching a stunning blitzkrieg attack against Poland in 1939. Well-known military historian Robert M. Citino shows how Germany accomplished this astonishing reversal and developed the doctrine,...

One-of-a-kind retelling of the Normandy campaign Places the 1944 battle for France in its social, economic, scientific, and technological context GI Ingenuity is in large part an old-fashioned combat narrative, with mayhem and mass slaughter at center stage. But the book goes farther, combining military history with the history of science, technology, and culture to show how the American soldier improvised, innovated, and adapted on the battlefield. Among the improvisations and technologies covered are tanks equipped with hedgerow cutters, the coordination of air and ground attacks, and the...

In-the-cockpit perspective on aerial warfare during the Vietnam WarMany never-before-heard stories--some of them tragic, others humorousAt the height of the Vietnam War, in 1968 and 1969, Reginald Hathorn (call sign NAIL 31) flew 229 combat missions as a forward air controller for the U.S. Air Force. He inserted Special Forces teams into North Vietnam and Laos, completed missions for the CIA, and flew missions with the Lao Army. Most of the time, he flew into Laos and called in airstrikes against targets inside that country--in a war which did not officially exist, about which the world knew...

Rare memoir of a risky job performed by relatively few troopsHonest and observant narrative describes the good, bad, and ugly of the warCovers World War II's closing months in eastern France and GermanyCpl. Bill Hanford had one of the U.S. Army's most dangerous jobs in World War II: artillery forward observer (FO). Tasked with calling in heavy fire on the enemy, FOs accompanied infantrymen into combat, crawled into no-man's-land, and ascended observation posts like hills and ridges to find their targets. But beyond the usual perils of ground combat, FOs were specially targeted by the enemy...

Compelling account of the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union The Soviets expected to crush Finnish forces in mere days, but the Finns broke the Red Army's advance and held out for almost four months Authentic depiction of frontline fighting in the harshest of conditions Based on eyewitness testimony, war diaries, battle reports, and other records

Myth-busting account of the summer of 1943 on the Eastern Front, one of World War II's turning pointsIncludes the Battle of KurskSpecial focus on the notorious 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf"

A mix of exceptionally rare and discerning essays. --The Great War MagazineSix first-personaccounts by German generalsCovers the Battle of Britain, Moscow, El Alamein, Stalingrad, D-Day and the Normandy Campaign, and the Battle of the BulgeDrawn from extensive interviews conducted immediately after the war