Cassino, the Hollow Victory

Cassino, the Hollow Victory PDF Author: John Ellis
Publisher: A. Deutsch
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 642

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Book Description

Cassino, the Hollow Victory

Cassino, the Hollow Victory PDF Author: John Ellis
Publisher: A. Deutsch
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 642

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Book Description


Monte Cassino

Monte Cassino PDF Author: Matthew Parker
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385513399
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 445

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Book Description
Monte Cassino is the true story of one of the bitterest and bloodiest of the Allied struggles against the Nazi army. Long neglected by historians, the horrific conflict saw over 350,000 casualties, while the worst winter in Italian memory and official incompetence and backbiting only worsened the carnage and turmoil. Combining groundbreaking research in military archives with interviews with four hundred survivors from both sides, as well as soldier diaries and letters, Monte Cassino is both profoundly evocative and historically definitive. Clearly and precisely, Matthew Parker brilliantly reconstructs Europe’s largest land battle–which saw the destruction of the ancient monastery of Monte Cassino–and dramatically conveys the heroism and misery of the human face of war.

The Day of Battle

The Day of Battle PDF Author: Rick Atkinson
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780805088618
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 852

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Book Description
In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy.

A Perfect Hell

A Perfect Hell PDF Author: John Nadler
Publisher: Anchor Canada
ISBN: 0307375064
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
It’s 1942 and Hitler’s armies stand astride Europe like a colossus. Germany is winning on every front. This is the story of how one of the world’s first commando units, put together for the invasion of Norway, helped turn the tide in Italy. 1942. When the British generals recommend an audacious plan to parachute a small elite commando unit into Norway in a bid to put Nazi Germany on the defensive, Winston Churchill is intrigued. But Britain, fighting for its life, can’t spare the manpower to participate. So William Lyon MacKenzie King is contacted and asked to commit Canadian troops to the bold plan. King, determined to join Roosevelt and Churchill as an equal leader in the Allied war effort, agrees. One of the world’s first commando units, the First Special Service Force, or FSSF, is assembled from hand-picked soldiers from Canadian and American regiments. Any troops sent into Norway will have to be rugged, self-sufficient, brave, and weather-hardened. Canada has such men in ample supply. The all-volunteer FSSF comprises outdoorsmen — trappers, rangers, prospectors, miners, loggers. Assembled at an isolated base in Helena, Montana, and given only five months to train before the invasion, they are schooled in parachuting, mountain climbing, cross-country skiing, and cold-weather survival. They are taught how to handle explosives, how to operate nearly every field weapon in the American and German arsenals, and how to kill with their bare hands. After the Norway plan is scrapped, the FSSF is dispatched to Italy and given its first test — to seize a key German mountain-top position which had repelled the brunt of the Allied armies for over a month. In a reprise of the audacity and careful planning that won Vimy Ridge for the Canadians in WWI, the FSSF takes the twin peaks Monte la Difensa and Monte la Remetanea by storming the supposedly unscalable rock face at the rear of the German position, and opens the way through the mountains. Later, the FSSF will hold one-quarter of the Anzio beachhead against a vastly superior German force for ninety-nine days; a force of only 1,200 commandos does the work of a full division of over 17,000 troops. Though badly outnumbered, the FSSF takes the fight to the Germans, sending nighttime patrols behind enemy lines and taking prisoners. It is here that they come to be known among the dispirited Germans as Schwartzer Teufel (“Black Devils”) for their black camouflage face-paint and their terrifying tactic of appearing out of the darkness. John Nadler vividly captures the savagery of the Italian campaign, fought as it was at close quarters and with desperate resolve, and the deeply human experiences of the individual men called upon to fight it. Based on extensive archival research and interviews with veterans, A Perfect Hell is an important contribution to Canadian military history and an indispensable account of the lives and battlefield exploits of the men who turned the tide of the Second World War.

With Utmost Spirit

With Utmost Spirit PDF Author: Barbara Brooks Tomblin
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813137683
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 608

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Book Description
Nineteen months before the D-Day invasion of Normandy, Allied assault forces landed in North Africa in Operation TORCH, the first major amphibious operation of the war in Europe. Under the direction of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, AUS, Adm. Andrew B. Cunningham, RN, Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, USN, and others, the Allies kept pressure on the Axis by attacking what Winston Churchill dubbed "the soft underbelly of Europe." The Allies seized the island of Sicily, landed at Salerno and Anzio, and established a presence along the coast of southern France. With Utmost Spirit takes a fresh look at this crucial naval theater of the Second World War. Barbara Brooks Tomblin chronicles the US Navy's and the Royal Navy's struggles to wrest control of the Mediterranean Sea from Axis submarines and aircraft, to lift the siege of Malta, and to open a through convoy route to Suez while providing ships, carrier air support, and landing craft for five successful amphibious operations. Examining official action reports, diaries, interviews, and oral histories, Tomblin describes each of these operations in terms of ship-to-shore movements, air and naval gunfire support, logistics, countermine measures, antisubmarine warfare, and the establishment of ports and training bases in the Mediterranean. Firsthand accounts from the young officers and men who manned the ships provide essential details about Mediterranean operations and draw a vivid picture of the war at sea and off the beaches.

Churchill & His Generals

Churchill & His Generals PDF Author: Raymond Callahan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
On the eve of World War II, the British army was more an international police force than a combat ready fighting force. This book examines its transformation in a look at Great Britain's top commanders in the field.

Tug of War

Tug of War PDF Author: Dominick Graham
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473819938
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 635

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Book Description
When the Allies invaded mainland Italy in 1943 they intended only a clearing-up operation to knock Italy out of the war, but Hitler ordered the German armies to defend every foot of the country. The 'Tug of War' was the mysterious force which caused a war to race out of control, and attract vast numbers of men, tanks, guns and aircraft. The book analyses the main battles of Salerno, Cassino, Anzio and the march on Rome.

Major Blunders of the Second World War

Major Blunders of the Second World War PDF Author: Andrew Sangster
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1036112810
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
A mistake is an error of judgement, a blunder is a mistake caused by carelessness or ignorance, implying incompetence. Blunders are not always the result of incompetence; a chess player may give a critical piece away being distracted by noise, but in war it results in death with serious repercussions. This book explores such errors during the Second World War, some hardly known, a few contentious, many embarrassing. An American destroyer which fired a live torpedo at a battleship carrying Roosevelt, an American officer who unintentionally passed British information to Rommel, and a German plane crash-landing in neutral territory with plans for invasion are some little-known incidents. Overconfidence resulted in a Luftwaffe raid hitting exposed American gas shells killing Italian civilians, British and American military. Self-assurance led to an American general who lost men and tanks failing to rescue his son-in-law from a PoW camp. Inadequate planning brought disaster in the raid on Dieppe. Poor tactics deployed in the bombing of Monte Cassino was bad propaganda for the Allies but assisted the German defense. There are some issues which remain disputed, as with the British sinking the French Fleet, but whether it was a blunder remains questionable. There is the issue of the abdicated King Edward often accused of being a traitor, which may not have stood a court case but possibly a Judas caused by immature naivety. Finally, Dönitz was condemned at Nuremberg, but his U-boat warfare was no different from the Allies and at times almost chivalrous.

Salerno to the Gustav Line, 1943–1944

Salerno to the Gustav Line, 1943–1944 PDF Author: Jon Diamond
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526707365
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
In September 1943, shortly after the conquest of Sicily, the Allied armies made amphibious assaults on the Italian Mainland at Calabria, Taranto and along the Gulf of Salerno beaches. The Italian Government quickly capitulated but the Germans fought on. Although the British XIII Corps and 1st Airbornes attacks were largely uncontested in Calabria and Taranto, the Allied Fifth Armys beachheads at Salerno underwent savage Nazi counterattacks.After Salerno, the Allied Fifth and Eighth Armies continued their advance north initially to the ports of Naples and Bari before struggling through Italian massifs, held up by a determined enemy and unfavorable ground and weather. In January 1944, the Fifth Armys X, II and French Expeditionary Corps attacked across the Garigliano and Rapido Rivers with the aim of breaking through the Gustav Line fortifications. The Nazi defense at the town of Cassino just succeeded in halting the two-week Allied attack during First Battle of Cassino and the Gustav Line was to be the scene of fierce fighting for months.

The Advancement of Liberty

The Advancement of Liberty PDF Author: Matthew C. Price
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313346194
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
This book is a counterpoint to the prevailing view that the United States is an imperialist nation that has violently pursued power in the world to advance its own narrow interests. The basic theme is that at the dawn of the 20th century, there were six democracies in the world, but by century's end, democracy was ascendant. This epic historical transformation has been thanks in great measure to the vision and sacrifices made by Americans. Matthew C. Price examines the great conflicts of the 20th century, showing how American democratic principles have utterly reshaped global values and politics. The defeat of fascism and imperialism in World War II led to the Marshall Plan, the single most influential rebuilding program in human history. The fostering of democracy in Japan, the establishment of the UN, and the fall of the Soviet Union reshaped the world in unforeseen ways. America has dedicated itself to democracy in the Middle East, to democratization in China, and to the larger quest for the spread of liberal democratic principles worldwide, even when the struggle is difficult, dangerous, and ongoing. Early in the century, Woodrow Wilson said that America should make the world safe for democracy. In taking up that challenge, the United States changed human history.