The Atlantic Campaign

The Atlantic Campaign PDF Author: Dan Van der Vat
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780060159672
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
A brilliantly readable account of the complex, important campaign that came closer than any other to ending World War II in Germany's favor. Van der Vat's comprehensive history is based on extensive research in American, Canadian, British, and German sources. Illustrated.

The Atlantic Campaign

The Atlantic Campaign PDF Author: Dan Van der Vat
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780060159672
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
A brilliantly readable account of the complex, important campaign that came closer than any other to ending World War II in Germany's favor. Van der Vat's comprehensive history is based on extensive research in American, Canadian, British, and German sources. Illustrated.

Decision in the Atlantic

Decision in the Atlantic PDF Author: Marcus Faulkner
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 1949668037
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest campaign of the Second World War. This volume highlights the scale and complexity of this bitterly contested campaign, one that encompassed far more than just attacks by German U-boats on Allied shipping. The team of leading scholars assembled in this study situates the German assault on seaborne trade within the wider Allied war effort and provides a new understanding of its place within the Second World War. Individual chapters offer original perspectives on a range of neglected or previously overlooked subjects: how Allied grand strategy shaped the war at sea; the choices facing Churchill and other Allied leaders and the tensions over the allocation of scarce resources between theaters; how the battle spread beyond the Atlantic Ocean in both military and economic terms; the management of Britain's merchant shipping repair yards; the defense of British coastal waters against German surface raiders; the contribution of air power to trade defense; antisubmarine escort training; the role of special intelligence; and the war against the U-boats in the Arctic and Pacific Oceans.

The Battle of the Atlantic

The Battle of the Atlantic PDF Author: Jonathan Dimbleby
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190495855
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 585

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Book Description
"The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril," wrote Winston Churchill in his monumental history of World War Two. Churchill's fears were well-placed-the casualty rate in the Atlantic was higher than in any other theater of the entire war. The enemy was always and constantly there and waiting, lying just over the horizon or lurking beneath the waves. In many ways, the Atlantic shipping lanes, where U-boats preyed on American ships, were the true front of the war. England's very survival depended on assistance from the United States, much of which was transported across the ocean by boat. The shipping lanes thus became the main target of German naval operations between 1940 and 1945. The Battle of the Atlantic and the men who fought it were therefore crucial to both sides. Had Germany succeeded in cutting off the supply of American ships, England might not have held out. Yet had Churchill siphoned reinforcements to the naval effort earlier, thousands of lives might have been preserved. The battle consisted of not one but hundreds of battles, ranging from hours to days in duration, and forcing both sides into constant innovation and nightmarish second-guessing, trying desperately to gain the advantage of every encounter. Any changes to the events of this series of battles, and the outcome of the war-as well as the future of Europe and the world-would have been dramatically different. Jonathan Dimbleby's The Battle of the Atlantic offers a detailed and immersive account of this campaign, placing it within the context of the war as a whole. Dimbleby delves into the politics on both sides of the Atlantic, revealing the role of Bletchley Park and the complex and dynamic relationship between America and England. He uses contemporary diaries and letters from leaders and sailors to chilling effect, evoking the lives and experiences of those who fought the longest battle of World War Two. This is the definitive account of the Battle of the Atlantic.

The Longest Campaign

The Longest Campaign PDF Author: Brian Walter
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 1612008577
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
The award-winning historian’s acclaimed account of British sea power throughout WWII: “a must-read for anyone interested in Naval warfare” (PowerShips magazine). For four centuries the British realm depended on sea power to defend itself against a myriad of threats. The Royal Navy established itself as the “Sovereign of the Seas,” helping transform a small island nation into the center of a global empire. But Britain’s maritime services faced an unprecedented challenge during World War II, and the survival of the nation was at stake. The Longest Campaign tells the epic story of British sea power in the Second World War. It is a comprehensive and detailed account of the activities, results, and relevance of Britain’s maritime effort in the Atlantic and off northwest Europe. Military historian Brian Walter looks at the entire breadth of the maritime conflict, exploring the contribution of the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, and British merchant marines, as well as their Commonwealth equivalents. Walter puts the maritime conflict in the context of the overall war effort and shows how the various operations and campaigns were intertwined. Finally, he provides unique analysis of the effectiveness of the British maritime effort and role it played in Allied victory.

Battle of the Atlantic

Battle of the Atlantic PDF Author: Marc Milner
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752466461
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
World War II was only a few hours old when the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest campaign of the Second World War and the most complex submarine war in history, began with the sinking of the unarmed passenger liner Athenia by the German submarine U30. Based on the mastery of the latest research and written from a mid-Atlantic - rather than the traditional Anglo-centric - perspective, Marc Milner focuses on the confrontation between opposing forces and the attacks on Allied shipping that lay at the heart of the six-year struggle. Against the backdrop of the battle for the Atlantic lifeline he charts the fascinating development of U-boats and the techniques used by the Allies to suppress and destroy these stealth weapons.

Battle of the Atlantic 1942–45

Battle of the Atlantic 1942–45 PDF Author: Mark Lardas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472841530
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 97

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Book Description
This illustrated study explores, in detail, the climactic events of the Battle of the Atlantic, and how air power proved to be the Allies' most important submarine-killer in one of the most bitterly fought naval campaigns of World War II. As 1942 opened, both Nazi Germany and the Allies were ready for the climactic battles of the Atlantic to begin. Germany had 91 operational U-boats, and over 150 in training or trials. Production for 1942–44 was planned to exceed 200 boats annually. Karl Dönitz, running the Kriegsmarine's U-boat arm, would finally have the numbers needed to run the tonnage war he wanted against the Allies. Meanwhile, the British had, at last, assembled the solution to the U-boat peril. Its weapons and detection systems had improved to the stage that maritime patrol aircraft could launch deadly attacks on U-boats day and night. Airborne radar, Leigh lights, Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD), and the Fido homing torpedo all turned the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft into a submarine-killer, while shore and ship-based technologies such as high-frequency direction finding and signals intelligence could now help aircraft find enemy U-boats. Following its entry into the war in 1941, the United States had also thrown its industrial muscle behind the campaign, supplying VLR Liberator bombers to the RAF and escort carriers to the Royal Navy. The US Navy also operated anti-submarine patrol blimps and VLR aircraft in the southern and western Atlantic, and sent its own escort carriers to guard convoys. This book, the second of two volumes, explores the climactic events of the Battle of the Atlantic, and reveals how air power – both maritime patrol aircraft, and carrier aircraft – ultimately proved to be the Allies' most important weapon in one of the most bitterly fought naval campaigns of World War II.

Atlantic Nightmare

Atlantic Nightmare PDF Author: Richard Freeman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781792966729
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
No battle lasted longer than the 2075 days of the Battle of the Atlantic. Few battles are so apparently perplexing in their outcome. There was nothing in the dark days of September 1939 to February 1943 to suggest that the Allies could defeat the U-boat menace. Yet two months later the U-boats were tamed. 'Atlantic Nightmare' reveals the seven strategic errors in Hitler's approach to the U-boat war that helped deliver that victory to the Allies, starting with his decision to go war with only 21 ocean-going U-boats. At each stage of the long battle 'Atlantic Nightmare' demonstrates how Hitler, Raeder and Dönitz made mistake after mistake as they failed to develop a coherent strategy. This, and their failure to make the battle a priority, gave the Allies time to build up their anti-submarine forces. 'Atlantic Nightmare' shows how Churchill and his admirals took advantage of these errors to create escort ships and escort support units that overwhelmed the U-boats. Central to this success were fundamental research, operational research, technical wizardry, code-breaking and training. Each of these aspects of the battle is explored in 'Atlantic Nightmare'.Finally, 'Atlantic Nightmare' examines the crucial roles of the gifted people who took on the Nazi challenge, including Admirals Pound, Noble and Horton, plus a galaxy of trainers, escort commanders, brilliant scientists and code-breakers.Throughout 'Atlantic Nightmare' the words of the key participants - politicians, officers, seamen and researchers - are used to show how they responded at the time to the battle in its highs and lows.'Atlantic Nightmare's' mix of battle actions, human interest, and analysis provides a wide-ranging story of this momentous battle.

What It Takes

What It Takes PDF Author: Richard Ben Cramer
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1453219641
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1710

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Book Description
Before Game Change there was What It Takes, a ride along the 1988 campaign trail and “possibly the best [book] ever written about an American election” (NPR). Written by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and New York Times–bestselling author Richard Ben Cramer, What It Takes is “a perfect-pitch rendering of the emotions, the intensity, the anguish, and the emptiness of what may have been the last normal two-party campaign in American history” (Time). An up-close, in-depth look at six candidates—George H. W. “Poppy” Bush, Bob Dole, Joe Biden, Michael Dukakis, Richard Gephardt, and Gary Hart—this account of the 1988 US presidential campaign explores a unique moment in history, with details on everything from Bush at the Astrodome to Hart’s Donna Rice scandal. Cramer also addresses the question we find ourselves pondering every four years: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that allows them to throw their hat in the ring as a candidate for leadership of the free world? Exhaustively researched from thousands of hours of interviews, What It Takes creates powerful portraits of these Republican and Democratic contenders, and the consultants, donors, journalists, handlers, and hangers-on who surround them, as they meet, greet, and strategize their way through primary season chasing the nomination, resulting in “a hipped-up amalgam of Teddy White, Tom Wolfe, and Norman Mailer” (Los Angeles Times Book Review). With timeless insight that helps us understand the current state of the nation, this “ultimate insider’s book on presidential politics” explores what helps these people survive, what makes them prosper, what drives them, and ultimately, what drives our government—human beings, in all their flawed glory (San Francisco Chronicle).

Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five PDF Author: Kurt Vonnegut
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
ISBN: 0385333846
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five is “a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century” (Time). Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time • One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.” An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. Authors as wide-ranging as Norman Mailer, John Irving, Michael Crichton, Tim O’Brien, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Strout, David Sedaris, Jennifer Egan, and J. K. Rowling have all found inspiration in Vonnegut’s words. Jonathan Safran Foer has described Vonnegut as “the kind of writer who made people—young people especially—want to write.” George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be “the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us . . . a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.” More than fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut’s portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.

Decision in the West

Decision in the West PDF Author: Albert Castel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 764

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Book Description
Following a skirmish on June 28, 1864, a truce is called so the North can remove their dead and wounded. For two hours, Yankees and Rebels mingle, with some of the latter even assisting the former in their grisly work. Newspapers are exchanged. Northern coffee is swapped for Southern tobacco. Yanks crowd around two Rebel generals, soliciting and obtaining autographs.