Kategoria BISAC: History >> Military - Weapons

Big Bertha, Germany's World War I top secret mobile artillery piece, easily destroyed French and Belgian forts, helping set the stage for trench warfare.

In the first days of World War I, Germany unveiled a new weapon - the mobile 42cm (16.5 inch) M-Gerat howitzer. At the time, it was the largest artillery piece of its kind in the world and a closely guarded secret. When war broke out, two of the howitzers were rushed directly from the factory to Liege where they quickly destroyed two forts and compelled the fortress to surrender. After repeat performances at Namur, Maubeuge and...

From the beginning of 'trench warfare' in winter 1914/15, artillery became the absolutely dominant arm in all the major armies for the rest of World War I, to a degree never seen before or since. The numbers and capabilities of the guns and ammunition available governed all the generals' battle plans; and the ways in which they were employed, and either succeeded or failed, decided the outcome of battles. The majority of the millions of casualties suffered during the war fell victim to artillery fire.

The artillery war fell into three distinct phases along a four-year learning curve...

New geopolitical realities -- including terrorism, pandemics, rogue nuclear states, resource conflicts, insurgencies, mass migration, economic collapse, and cyber attacks -- have created a dramatically different national-security environment for America. Twentieth-century defense strategies, technologies, and industrial practices will not meet the security requirements of a post-9/11 world. In Democracy's Arsenal, Jacques Gansler describes the transformations needed in government and industry to achieve a new, more effective system of national defense. Drawing on his decades of...

All the French medium and heavy tanks of 1940 are in this title: Renault FT, Renault R-35, FCM-36, Hotchkiss H.38, Char B1bis, Renault D-1, and Renault D-2.

The first volume of this two part series will cover the infantry tanks and battle tanks that served in 1940. Starting with the Renault FT of World War I fame, it will cover the modernization of the FT in the inter-war years. The focus of the infantry tank section will be on the attempts to replace the FT with designs such as the Renault R-35, FCM-36, and the Hotchkiss H.38. Derivatives of these types will also be covered such as...