Author: Charles C Roberts
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 1636242537
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 170
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Book Description
A detailed history of the most widely used 37-mm gun of WWII and its applications. Developed in response to the 1899 Hague Convention, the 37-mm gun met the restrictions on the size of weapons that could fire explosive shells, yet was also light and lethal enough to be used in battle. After World War I, in which the French Model 1916 37-mm was used extensively, several countries developed or adopted the 37-mm gun. Behind in their development of an antitank gun, the United States relied on the German Pak 36 37-mm design as a basis for development. By the mid 1930s, the US Ordnance Department designed the M3 37-mm gun and M4 carriage resulting in a towed antitank gun, the first antitank gun in the US Army. This gun proved effective at the beginning of World War II, but as German armor protection increased, it could not penetrate the frontal armor of many German tanks and was relegated to lesser roles. However, the gun proved effective against the Japanese tanks and Japanese strong points in the Far East. The US military used the gun on several production and experimental armored vehicles including the M3 Lee Medium Tank, the M3 Stuart Light Tank, the M5 Stuart Light Tank, the M8 Armored Car, the T17E1 Staghound Armored Car and the M3A1E3 Scout Car. The gun was also used on several non-armored vehicles, the P39 Aeracobra, and selected naval vessels. Despite its small size, the US M3 37-mm gun served throughout the war, on many vehicles and performed exactly as designed. Fully illustrated, this is the first complete account of the development and use of the US 37-mm gun in World War II.
Author: Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782002138
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 109
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Book Description
The US Army's development of the 37mm anti-tank gun began in response to needs identified during the Spanish Civil War. By the time it entered service in Tunisia in 1943, the gun was already obsolete, and the US began the licensed manufacture of the British 6-pdr in the hope of finding a quick solution to its artillery requirements. This in turn proved unequal to the demands of warfare in France in 1944, and further anti-tank measures were developed – rocket propelled grenades for infantry use, and weapons designed specifically for use by the Tank Destroyer Force.
Author: Christopher Richard Gabel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 100
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Book Description
In the seventy years that have passed since the tank first appeared, antitank combat has presented one of the greatest challenges in land warfare. Dramatic improvements in tank technology and doctrine over the years have precipitated equally innovative developments in the antitank field. One cycle in this ongoing arms race occurred during the early years of World War II when the U.S. Army sought desperately to find an antidote to the vaunted German blitzkrieg. This Leavenworth Paper analyzes the origins of the tank destroyer concept, evaluates the doctrine and equipment with which tank destroyer units fought, and assesses the effectiveness of the tank destroyer in battle.
Author: Alexander Lüdeke
Publisher: Parragon Pubishing India
ISBN: 9781445424354
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 326
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Book Description
This book describes the weapons and vehicles of all the countries that fought in World War II in a clear and comprehensive manner. It offers an excellent overview of the divers weaponry used by both the Axis Powers and the Allies, with everything you might want to know about the development and deployment of each type of weapon along with the relevant technical specifications.
Author: Barrett Tillman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416585028
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 355
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Book Description
WHIRLWIND is the first book to tell the complete, awe-inspiring story of the Allied air war against Japan—the most important strategic bombing campaign inhistory. From the audacious Doolittle raid in 1942 to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, award-winning historian Barrett Tillman recounts the saga from the perspectives of American and British aircrews who flew unprecedented missions overthousands of miles of ocean, as well as of the generalsand admirals who commanded them. Whether describing the experiences of bomber crews based in China or the Marianas, fighter pilotson Iwo Jima, or carrier aviators at sea, Tillman provides vivid details of the lives of the fliers and their support personnel. Whirlwind takes readers into the cockpits and gun turrets of the mighty B-29 Superfortress, the largest bomber built up to that time. Tillman dramatically re-creates the sweep of wartime emotions that crews endured on fifteen-hour missions, grappling with the extreme tedium of cramped spaces and with adrenaline spikes in flak-studded skies, knowing that a bailout would put them at the mercy of a merciless enemy or an unforgiving sea. A major character is the controversial and brilliant General Curtis LeMay, who rewrote strategic bombing tactics. His command’s fire-bombing missions incinerated fully half of Tokyo and many other cities, crippling Japan’s industry while still failing to force surrender. Whirlwind examines the immense logistics and construction efforts necessary to support Superfortresses in Asia and the Mariana Islands, as well as the tireless efforts of engineers to build huge air bases from scratch.It also describes the unheralded missions that American bomber crews flew from the Aleutian Islands to Japan’s northernmost Kuril Islands. Never has the Japanese side of the story been so thoroughly examined. If Washington, D.C., represented a “second front” in Army-Navy rivalry, the situation in Tokyo approached a full-contact sport. Tillman’s description of Japan’s willfully inadequate approach to civil defense is eye-opening. Similarly, he examines the mind-set in Tokyo’s war cabinet, which ignored the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, requiring the emperor’s personal intervention to avert a ghastly Allied invasion. Tillman shows how, despite the Allies’ ultimate success, mistakes and shortsighted policies made victory more costly in lives and effort. He faults the lack of a unified command for allowing the Army Air Forces and the Navy to pursue parochial goals at the expense of the larger mission, and he questions the premature commitment of the enormously sophisticated B-29 to the most primitive theater in India and China. Whirlwind is one of the last histories of World War II written with the contribution of men who fought in it.With unexcelled macro- and microperspectives, Whirlwind is destined to become a standard reference on the war, on multiservice operations, and on the human capacity for individual heroism and national folly.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Antitank guns
Languages : en
Pages : 146
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Book Description
Author: Peter Samsonov
Publisher: Gallantry
ISBN: 1911658832
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 92
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Book Description
When the German army launched Operation Barbarossa – the invasion of the Soviet Union – on June 22, 1941, it was expecting to face and easily defeat outdated and obsolete tanks and for the most part it did, but it also received a nasty shock when it came up against the T-34. With its powerful gun and sloped armour, the T-34 was more than a match for the best German tanks at that time and the Germans regarded it with awe. German Field Marshal von Kleist, who commanded the latter stages of Barbarossa, called it ‘the finest tank in the world’. Using original wartime documents author and historian Peter Samsonov, creator of the Tank Archives blog, explains how the Soviets came to develop what was arguably the war’s most revolutionary tank design.
Author: Chris Bishop
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
ISBN: 9781586637620
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 558
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Book Description
The encyclopedia of weapns of world war II is the most detailed and authoritative compendium of the weapons of mankind's greatesst conflict ever published. It is a must for the military, enthusiast, and all those interested in World War II.
Author: Michael Green
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473827221
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 207
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Book Description
During the arduous campaigns in theatres of war from the Pacific to North West Europe, American infantry weapons played a key role in the eventual victory over the Axis forces. In so doing they earned a special reputation for ruggedness and reliability. In addition to being used by US ground forces they were widely adopted by other Allied nations. Expert author Michael Green puts the full range of small arms, be they rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, pistols, machine guns as well as mortars, anti-tank weapons and close infantry support artillery under the microscope. Many names such as the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and the incomparable semi-automatic Garand will be well known whereas others (the Johnson Rifle and Reising SMG) are not. The typically informative text completes the wide range of photographic images.
Author: Jonathan Mallory House
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428915834
Category : Armies
Languages : en
Pages : 235
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Book Description
