Books

The US armed forces pioneered amphibious warfare in the Pacific and by the time of the D-day landings they had perfected the special equipment and tactics necessary for this extraordinarily difficult and risky form of warfare. This fact-packed study...

The US armed forces were responsible for many tactical innovations during the years 1941-45, but in no field was US mastery more complete than amphibious warfare. In the vast, almost empty battlefield of the Pacific the US Navy and Marine Corps were...

The closest thing to total war before World War One, the Seven Years' War was fought in North America, Europe, the Caribbean and India with major consequences for all parties involved. This fascinating book is the first to truly review the grand...

In the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launched an attack on the Philippines to eliminate the United States' other major Pacific naval base. Catching the US forces completely by surprise, the Japanese bombed the major airfields and...

This book presents a detailed analysis of the Soviet armed forces during the final days of the war, covering the soldiers that successfully turned the tide against the Nazi onslaught and pushed it back into Germany itself. This final part of the series...

In the early hours of December 7, 1941, the Japanese First Air Fleet launched a massive air-strike against the American Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Supported by a group of midget submarines, the attack gutted the American battleship...

In this second volume of a three-part series on the Soviet Armed Forces in World War II, author Nigel Thomas turns his attention to the mid-war period. Focusing on the uniforms and organization of Soviet troops during the campaigns of the Caucasus,...

Three times during the 17th century, England and Holland went to war as part of an ongoing struggle for economic and naval supremacy. Primarily fought in the cold waters of the North Sea and the English Channel, the wars proved revolutionary in their...

For 5 days in May 1980, the world watched as the SAS performed a daring raid on the Iranian Embassy in London. Hailed by Margaret Thatcher as a brilliant operation'' the raid was a huge success for the SAS, rescuing 19 hostages with near-perfect military...

An enemy in the shadows, the Viet Cong was the military arm of the National Liberation Front, the Communist Party of the Republic of Vietnam. Often working with the North Vietnamese Army, they were a constant factor amid the rice paddies and battlefields...

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are the most dynamic field of aerospace technology, and have only emerged from the shadows recently, despite having been in use for decades. After some limited use in World War II, UAVs emerged as substitutes for manned...

The Huns were the most feared barbarians of the Ancient world, known to their Roman enemies as the 'scourge of god'. Superb horsemen and excellent archers, they fought with a reflex composite-bow that could penetrate armour at 100 metres. In battle they...

The USS Langley, the first American aircraft carrier, entered service in 1922. Despite being converted into an aircraft tender, it was the first step in a new direction for the US Navy and naval warfare. This book covers the design, development and...

This book tells the compelling story of the average US infantryman in Vietnam. Beginning with conscription, enlistment, Basic Training, and Advanced Individual Training at the Armed Forces Induction Center at Fort Polk (the infamous Tigerland), it goes...

The deeds and personalities of famous pirates have received significant attention in recent years- however, no detailed depiction of their vessels has ever been produced. This title redresses the imbalance, conducting a detailed exploration of the wide...

During World War I, the British adopted the US-designed Lewis gun as an infantry weapon, realizing that its light weight and the fact that it could be fired both prone and on the move made it ideal for supporting advances and defending captured trenches...

This title follows on from a companion book covering the US heavy cruisers that were built prior to the war, together forming the definitive guide to the US's heavy cruiser classes. Versatile warships, the heavy cruisers of the Baltimore class, and their...

Designed and produced under the regulations of the Washington Naval Treaty, the heavy cruisers of the Pensacola, Northampton, Portland, New Orleans and Wichita classes were exercises in compromise. While they possessed very heavy armament - the...

It is hard to convey the public impact of France's war to maintain her colonial grip on Algeria; yet in the late 1950s this ugly conflict dominated Europe's media to almost the same extent as would Vietnam ten years later. It brought France to the very...

The Reformation in England further distanced the Irish, as the majority of Irishmen adhered stubbornly to their Catholicism. Eventually, in Elizabeth's reign, both sides resorted to the use of force on a large scale in a series of bloody wars and...

The French forces that fought during the American War of Independence were, to a large extent, a product of the disasters of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). During that war the fleet had been swept off the oceans, and nearly all colonies had been lost...

The culmination of decades of nationalist aspiration and cynical Realpolitik, the Second War of Italian Unification saw Italy transformed from a patchwork of minor states dominated by the Habsburg Austrians into a unified kingdom under the Piedmontese...

This book is a detailed analysis of the Soviet Army at the outbreak of World War II, including the Red Army's campaigns against Japan on the Manchurian plains as well as in Finland. It covers the Red Army's first operations during Operation Barbarossa...

The common image of the Confederate Army during the Civil War is dominated by a limited number of early photographs of troops wearing the gray and butternut of the CS regulations and quartermaster issues. By contrast, this book examines the variety of...

Gibraltar, located at the meeting points of Europe and Africa, preserves within its fortifications a rich testament to human conflict spanning 600 years. In 1068 the ruling Spanish Muslims built a large fort there. Between 1309 and 1374 Gibraltar...

Following the fall of France and the surrender of Paris on 14 June 1940, the British Government announced that the Channel Islands had no strategic importance and would not be defended. The Germans occupied the islands from the end of June onwards and...

Out of the ashes of Imperial China arose two new contenders to lead a reformed nation; the Chinese Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang, and the Chinese Communist Party. In 1927, the inevitable clash between these two political parties led to a bitter civil...

There can be no region in Europe whose history has been more tortured than Ukraine. During the 20th century Austria, Poland, Russia, Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Romania vied for power over parts of this vast and fragmented area; and its divided...

The dilemma of the young Italian kingdom and the experience of her army in the Great War were unique among the combatant nations. Late to enter the war against the Central Powers, she faced a massively defended Austro-Hungarian front in the north,...

On the same day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they also launched air attacks on Wake Island, an American marine and naval base in the Pacific. Three days later a Japanese invasion force stormed the island, but were bloodily repulsed by the...

In 1373, John of Gaunt set off from Calais on a great raid to strike at the heart of France. Driven by the high ideals of chivalry,the raiders left with epic pageantry. However, the reality soon overwhelmed the raiders. Beset on all sides by French...

The Spanish conquest of Mexico was the most remarkable military expedition in history, and in achieving it, Hernan Cortes proved himself as one of the greatest generals of all time. This book explains the background of the Aztec Empire and of the Spanish...

The war with Mexico was the one of the most decisive conflicts in American history. After smashing Mexico's armies the young republic bestrode the North American continent like a colossus with one leg anchored on the Atlantic seaboard and the other on...

The Great Plains cover the central two-thirds of the United States, and during the nineteenth century were home to some of the largest and most powerful Indian tribes on the continent. The conflict between those tribes and the newcomers from the Old...

Military gliders came of age in World War II, when glider assault infantry were the forerunners of today's helicopter-delivered airmobile troops. From the light pre-war sports and training machines, several nations developed troop-carrying gliders...

USAF Skyraider units were originally tasked to serve as quasi-training units for the fledgling VNAF. Equipped only with the two-seat models of the Skyraider, American pilots were required to have VNAF 'observers' in the aircraft for every mission...

Fighting insurgents has always been one of the greatest challenges for regular armed forces during the 20th century. The war between the Germans and the French resistance, also called FFI (Forces Fran.aises d'Int.rieur), during World War II has remained...

On 3 April 1982 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced that Argentine armed forces had landed on British sovereign territory; had captured the men of Royal Marine detachment NP8901; had run up the Argentine flag; and had declared the islands...

Pursued by British forces, Washington and his remaining 5,000 men resolved on a risky strike against the British and Hessian positions across the Delaware River. Crossing the river, Washington took the Trenton garrison for the loss of only four men,...

Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson's decisive victory over the combined fleets of France and Spain on 21 October 1805 remains one of the greatest naval triumphs in history. Off Cape Trafalgar, 27 British and 33 Franco-Spanish ships pounded each other in an epic...

In 1990 the Beretta M9 replaced the venerable Colt 1911 as the main pistol of choice for the US Army, and it has seen widespread use in Iraq and Afghanistan. Written by a leading pistol expert who currently trains US Special Forces in the use of this...

On the southwest shore of Laguna de Bay in the Philippines stood the Los Banos Internment Camp. Held within were 2,147 starving POWs, surrounded by thousands of Japanese troops. As the desperate battle for Manila raged, only 130 Paratroopers could be...

The Plains Indian War was one of the most controversial conflicts in American military history, as the US Army faced a tough opponent that challenged it for decades following the end of the Civil War. The Army leadership endured a severe lack of...

The early Romans were only one of a number of peoples that inhabited Iron Age central Italy. From the 8th to the 3rd century BC, the Romans undertook territorial expansion, and conflict with neighbouring tribes and cultures resulted in open war, most...

The Hawker Hurricane was the RAF's first monoplane fighter, and it dragged the air force into a position where it could defend Britain in its 'hour of need'. Prior to the Battle of Britain, a number of squadrons equipped with the fighter had seen action...

The Churchill was undoubtedly one of the most successful British tanks of the Second World War. Although it suffered from being underarmed, a defect common to most British armoured vehicles of the period, it was nevertheless loved by its crews- its...

The collapse of Roman rule in Britain was not so much a sudden catastrophe as a long and drawn-out decline. The 'Celtic' Britons retreated gradually to the highland areas of Wales, Cornwall and the south-west of Scotland. Control of the fertile eastern...

Throughout the 11th and 12th centuries the Norman knight was possibly the most feared warrior in Western Europe. He was descended originally from the Vikings who had settled in Northern France under their leader Rollo in or around 911 at the behest of...