The Samurai sword of Japan is probably the finest edged weapon ever made. This volume, written by leading Samurai expert Stephen Turnbull, reveals the story of how and why it achieved this distinction, from the sword's unique metallurgy to its use in combat, where one stroke often decided the victor.

Particular attention is paid to the development of the familiar curved blade from the original straight blades, the associated development of Japan's famous steel-making techniques and the challenges from contemporary warfare. Together with the technical details of forging, polishing,...

In World War II Germany's doctrine of mobile warfare dominated the battlefield. By trial and error, the Germans were the first to correctly combine the strength in tanks and in mobile infantry and artillery. This integration of mobile units, equipment, and tactics underpinned Germany's successes in the first half of the war. As the war dragged on, the Allies sought to copy German tactics but German armies remained supreme in this type of warfare until their losses had seriously degraded their capabilities.

This study traces the development of the different types of units that came...

A unique chapter in the history of firearms, the multibarrel, hand-cranked Gatling gun was one of the first practical rapid-fire weapons ever to be used in battle. It changed warfare by introducing the capability to project deadly, high-intensity fire on the battlefield, and portended the devastation that automatic weapons would wreak in World War I. During its 40-year career, it saw widespread service with US, British, and other forces on a host of battlefields through conflicts in Zululand and the American West, to the Spanish-American War. Although it saw widespread use in the hands of...

In the mid-1960s, the Soviet Union unveiled the BMP-1, the first true "infantry fighting vehicle." A revolutionary design, the BMP marked a significant departure from the traditional "armored personnel carrier," sporting a lower silhouette and a higher-caliber armament than rival APCs. One of the most fearsome light-armored vehicles of its day, it caused great consternation on the other side of the Iron Curtain as the Americans scrambled to design a machine to rival the BMP. The result was the M2 Bradley; however, the American type seemed to be at an immediate disadvantage, with a higher...

Israel seized the strategically critical Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War in an audacious and determined operation. Yet when the Yom Kippur War broke out, the Israeli military were caught off guard by the effectiveness of the newly confident and dangerous Syrian army. In the Golan, only luck, herculean Israeli efforts, and tactical misjudgments by the Syrians were to allow the Israelis to maintain control.

In this book, three pivotal encounters in the Golan are assessed, tracking how both sides' forces evolved over the period. Syria dramatically improved...

In Operation Totalize, Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds's II Canadian Corps launched an attack from its positions along the Bourguebus Ridge, south of Caen, striking south-southeast astride the main Caen-Ealaise road toward the high ground that dominated the town of Ealaise and the key west-east lateral road that ran through this town. Using sophisticated operational art, the initial break-in achieved rapid success; indeed, more tactical success than any previous Allied break-in attack in Normandy.

However, despite this rapid initial success, Totalize did not secure a...

Specially commissioned artwork and thrilling combat accounts transport the reader to the far-flung and inhospitable African theater of war, where the Schutztruppe faced off against the King's African Rifles.

Stalemate in Europe had prompted Germany to turn its attention to Africa in an attempt to divert Allied forces from the Western Front, using a small colonial force under the command of Oberst Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck to raid British and Portuguese territory. Despite being heavily outnumbered, his expert use of guerrilla tactics forced the British to bring Jan Smuts in to lead a...

Designed in the 1950s, the US Marines' M50 Ontos and the US Army's M56 Scorpion were both intended to be fast, light, air-droppable tank-killers for the Cold War battlefield--an answer to the cumbersome and ineffective World War II-vintage tanks that had taken to the battlefield during the Korean War. Although they shared the aim of bringing light, mobile, and lethal antitank firepower to the infantry, the two vehicles varied wildly in design to cater for their unique mission demands. They first saw service in the Lebanon intervention of 1958 but it was in the Vietnam War that they made...

In 1979 the Soviet Union moved from military 'help' to active intervention in Afghanistan. Four-fifths of the Afghan National Army deserted in the first year of the war, which, compounded with the spread and intensification of the rebellion led by the formidable guerrilla fighters of the Mujahideen, forced the Soviets to intensify their involvement.

The Soviet army was in generally poor condition when the war started, but the troops of the airborne and air assault units were better trained and equipped. As a result they developed aggressive, sometimes effective tactics against an...