The Phantom Army of Alamein

The Phantom Army of Alamein PDF Author: Rick Stroud
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : El Alamein, Battle of, Egypt, 1942
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Initially formed to hide British towns, factories and airfields from enemy bombers, the Camouflage Unit, led by Major Geoffrey Barkas, joined the war in the Western Desert in 1940. At Tobruk they used their skills to weave intricate webs of deception to deceive the enemy. In August 1942 the Unit was ordered to to hide the preparations for the Battle of Alamein. In six weeks two divisions, with armour, field guns and supporting vehicles, were conjured from the sand, while real tanks and lethal twenty-five pound field guns vanished from sight. Then, on the eve of the battle, the unit performed the biggest conjuring trick in military history, making 600 tanks disappear and reappear fifty miles away disguised as lorries. Rommel had been bamboozled by an army made of nothing but string and straw and bits of wood.

The Phantom Army of Alamein

The Phantom Army of Alamein PDF Author: Rick Stroud
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : El Alamein, Battle of, Egypt, 1942
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book Here

Book Description
Initially formed to hide British towns, factories and airfields from enemy bombers, the Camouflage Unit, led by Major Geoffrey Barkas, joined the war in the Western Desert in 1940. At Tobruk they used their skills to weave intricate webs of deception to deceive the enemy. In August 1942 the Unit was ordered to to hide the preparations for the Battle of Alamein. In six weeks two divisions, with armour, field guns and supporting vehicles, were conjured from the sand, while real tanks and lethal twenty-five pound field guns vanished from sight. Then, on the eve of the battle, the unit performed the biggest conjuring trick in military history, making 600 tanks disappear and reappear fifty miles away disguised as lorries. Rommel had been bamboozled by an army made of nothing but string and straw and bits of wood.

The Phantom Army of Alamein

The Phantom Army of Alamein PDF Author: Rick Stroud
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408831287
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
In 1940 a group of artists, sculptors, film makers, theatre designers and set painters came together to form the Camouflage Unit. They were so successful that in August 1942 Montgomery ordered them to to hide the preparations for the Battle of Alamein. In six weeks two entire divisions were conjured from the sand, while real units, stores and men vanished into thin air. Then, right in front of the German's eyes they made 600 tanks disappear and reappear fifty miles away disguised as lorries. Rommel had been bamboozled by an army made of nothing but string and straw and bits of wood.

The Phantom Army of Alamein

The Phantom Army of Alamein PDF Author: Richard Stroud (directeur de télévision et auteur.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


The Phantom Army of Alamein

The Phantom Army of Alamein PDF Author: Rick Stroud
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 140882910X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Recounts how some of Britain's most creative men joined the rest of the world in the fight against the Nazis and used their artistic skills to play a vital role in the winning of the war.

The Ghost Army

The Ghost Army PDF Author: Gerry Souter
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
ISBN: 1789504430
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Our story is about the genesis and evolution of these phantoms and men-who-never-were, these artists and magicians at the front line who operated in stealth and secrecy. Throughout the course of World War II, Allied forces engaged in elaborate deceptions to fool Hitler's armies. A ragtag group of Bohemian artists and creatives were assembled to devise these strategies, including rubber dummy tanks, faux railway lines and falsified wireless intelligence. They made armies appear out of thin air, baffling German forces and ensuring Allied success in battle. For fifty years, information on the Ghost Army strategies was classified. It is only recently that details of their heroic actions have come to light. This book includes details of SHAEF command centre who organised many of the deceptions, the First US Army Group (the so-called 'Ghost Army'), the 23rd Camouflage Engineers, and accounts of the double cross agents who risked their lives and freedom to mislead Nazi High Command. Featuring never-before-seen information from veteran interviews, The Ghost Army brings to life the fascinating story of the men and women who conned Adolf Hitler.

Blood and Ruins

Blood and Ruins PDF Author: Richard Overy
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143132938
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1041

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Book Description
“Monumental… [A] vast and detailed study that is surely the finest single-volume history of World War II. Richard Overy has given us a powerful reminder of the horror of war and the threat posed by dictators with dreams of empire.” – The Wall Street Journal A thought-provoking and original reassessment of World War II, from Britain’s leading military historian A New York Times bestseller Richard Overy sets out in Blood and Ruins to recast the way in which we view the Second World War and its origins and aftermath. As one of Britain’s most decorated and respected World War II historians, he argues that this was the “last imperial war,” with almost a century-long lead-up of global imperial expansion, which reached its peak in the territorial ambitions of Italy, Germany and Japan in the 1930s and early 1940s, before descending into the largest and costliest war in human history and the end, after 1945, of all territorial empires. Overy also argues for a more global perspective on the war, one that looks broader than the typical focus on military conflict between the Allied and Axis states. Above all, Overy explains the bitter cost for those involved in fighting, and the exceptional level of crime and atrocity that marked the war and its protracted aftermath—which extended far beyond 1945. Blood and Ruins is a masterpiece, a new and definitive look at the ultimate struggle over the future of the global order, which will compel us to view the war in novel and unfamiliar ways. Thought-provoking, original and challenging, Blood and Ruins sets out to understand the war anew.

Hitler's War in Africa 1941–1942

Hitler's War in Africa 1941–1942 PDF Author: David Mitchelhill-Green
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1526744376
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
Adolf Hitler’s war in Africa arose from the urgent need to reinforce the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, whose 1940 invasion of Egypt had been soundly beaten. Of secondary importance to his ideological dream of conquering the Soviet Union, Germany’s Führer rushed a small mechanised force into the unfamiliar North African theatre to stave off defeat and avert any political fallout. This fresh account begins with the arrival of the largely unprepared German formations, soon to be stricken by disease and heavily reliant upon captured materiel, as they fought a bloody series of see-sawing battles across the Western Desert. David Mitchelhill-Green has gathered a wealth of personal narratives from both sides as he follows the brash exploits of General Erwin Rommel, intent on retaking Libya; the Nile firmly in his sights. Against this backdrop is the brutal human experience of war itself.

Battle of Arnhem

Battle of Arnhem PDF Author: Victor Gregg
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1448216818
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
After sweeping through France and Belgium in the summer of 1944, the Allies were poised to enter the Netherlands to secure key bridges and towns along the Allied axis of advance. Victor Gregg and his fellow riflemen are asked to volunteer for the Parachute Regiment in an operation called Market Garden. The staunchly held maxim, 'once a rifleman always a rifleman', was overruled by a promise of extra leave. The British airborne forces landed some distance from their objective in Arnhem and were quickly hampered by unexpected resistance. Only a small force was able to reach the Arnhem road bridge, and reinforcements were unable to advance north as quickly as anticipated, therefore failing to relieve the Parachute Regiment. The troops had been up against unimaginable odds and after nine days of fighting, Gregg is captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Dresden, where the infamous and tragic bombings were about to begin.

Operation Compass

Operation Compass PDF Author: Victor Gregg
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1448216796
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
Operation Compass was the first large Allied military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. The Western Desert Force, composed of around 30,000 men from British and other Commonwealth forces, advanced from Mersa Matruh on a five-day raid against the Italian positions of the 10th Army. Operation Compass continued long beyond its original limitations in order to exploit British success. Victor Gregg takes us behind the scenes of this unforgiving terrain, to the sangars rather than the trenches, in an astonishing first-hand account of warfare. Through tender friendships and tea runs, devastating news from home and visible enemies on the horizon, Gregg goes beyond the graphic descriptions of injuries and front-line action to show the psychological impact of daily life both on and off the battlefield.

Toward Combined Arms Warfare

Toward Combined Arms Warfare PDF Author: Jonathan Mallory House
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428915834
Category : Armies
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description