Bastogne will live forever in the annals of American military history. From the resounding 'Nuts', in response to the German demand for surrender, to the breaking of the siege by Patton’s Third Army – brilliantly disengaged from its positions on the Saar, wheeled 90 degrees and marched northwards faster than any thought possible – the defense of Bastogne and victory in the Ardennes was one of the greatest feats of American arms in the European Theatre. This title in the Past & Present series looks at the encirclement, siege, and relief with then and now photographs; specially commissioned aerial photos, and a wealth of detail.

Of the five beaches attacked on 6 June, Omaha saw the sternest fighting. Well-placed defenders on the high ground and extensive beach defenses did their job. On top of this, so much had gone wrong with the first wave: many of the amphibious DD Sherman tanks didn’t reach the beach. They were released from their landing craft too far away where the greater swell swamped them and the troops landing on Omaha missed their firepower. Another problem was that many units landed in the wrong place. Strong tides and winds carried the landing craft off line and led to confusion. Finally, the German emplacements and defenses were well-placed on high ground and the only cover on the beach – the seawal – was over a killing ground. There were 32 fortified areas located between the Vire River and Port-en-Bessin: in all, 12 of these strongpoints were able to direct fire on Omaha Beach. The attacking forces–units of the US 29th and 1st Inf Divs – suffered over 2,000 casualties, many of them drowned during the approach, but led by US Rangers, themselves misplaced (they were the follow-up troops to Rudder’s Rangers who had scaled the Pointe du Hoc) the American troops pushed forward and by nightfall, they had gained hold of the beach and its immediate hinterland. Despite the casualties, 34,000 troops had been landed by the end of the day.

John J. Pershing considered Fox Conner to have been "a brilliant soldier" and “one of the finest characters our Army has ever produced.” During World War I, General Conner served as chief of operations for the American Expeditionary Force in Europe. Pershing told Conner: “I could have spared any other man in the A.E.F. better than you.” Dwight D. Eisenhower viewed Fox Conner as “the outstanding soldier of my time.” In the early 1920s, Conner transformed his protégé Eisenhower from a struggling young officer on the verge of a court martial into one of the American army’s rising stars. Eisenhower acknowledged Fox Conner as “the one more or less invisible figure to whom I owe an incalculable debt.” This book presents the first complete biography of this significant, but now forgotten, figure in American military history. In addition to providing a unique insider’s view into the operations of the American high command during World War I, Fox Conner also tells the story of an interesting life. Conner felt a calling to military service, although his father had been blinded during the Civil War. From humble beginnings in rural Mississippi, Conner became one of the army’s intellectuals. During the 1920s, when most of the nation slumbered in isolationism, Conner predicted a second world war. As the nation began to awaken to new international dangers in the 1930s, President Roosevelt offered Fox Conner the position of army chief of staff, which he declined. Poor health prevented his participation in World War II, while others whom he influenced, including Eisenhower, Patton, and Marshall, went on to fame. Fox Conner presents the portrait of the quintessential man behind the scenes in U.S. military history. Readers will find this book, and the man, fascinating.

The Supermarine Spitfire is not only one of the most famous British icons, but it is arguably the most widely-recognised and popular aircraft in the history of aviation. For many generations it was said to be ‘every schoolboy’s dream’ to fly a Spitfire, and Flying the Icon: Spitfire aims to give the reader an insight into what that requires.To mark the 80th anniversary of the first flight of Prototype K5054 on 5 March 1936, author Jarrod Cotter presents something entirely different from the previously published histories of the Spitfire. Having spent a great deal of time talking to Spitfire pilots past and present, attending flight operations briefings and Spitfire pilot training courses, he has used his ‘insider’s’ perspective to produce a book solely on flying this most iconic of all fighters.With the use of original wartime Air Ministry Pilot’s Notes, historic flight test documents, modern flight reference cards and pilot’s reports, this book details how the Spitfire was and is flown, and what the pilots thought and think of it nowadays. Included are quotes from test pilots Jeffrey Quill and Alex Henshaw, two of the most respected and well-known personalities who flew this icon.To provide an extreme range of the fighter’s evolution, the variants included comprise Prototype K5054, the Mk.I, Mk.IIa, Mk.Vb, Mk.VIII Mk.IXe/XVIe, PR.XIX and the post-war F.18/22/24. To keep with the theme of the book, it is comprehensively illustrated with pictures of Spitfires flying and pilots in Spitfires. This book is a must-have guide, giving enthusiasts the best possible idea of how to fly the icon that is the Spitfire!

Masters of the continent, the Nazis realized that they would have to defend their gains, and once the United States entered the war, redoubled their efforts. Using forced and slave labor they built a chain of defensive positions, coastal batteries, and beach defenses from the top of Norway to the Franco-Spanish border. However, as was so typical of the Nazis, while the bunkers and batteries seem impressively constructed, and the Atlantic Wall has left a permanent reminder of the years of Nazi domination, it was crippled by lack of strategic planning, internal bickering, and a multitude of command structures that did not communicate with each other effectively. In June 1944 the Allies burst through the wall, and while it took many lives to break the crust of the German defenses, the vaunted Atlantic Wall proved ineffective save for the fortresses the Allies bypassed and subdued later. Using the same formula as in their books on The Normandy Battlefields and Race to the Rhine, Leo Marriott and Simon Forty combine bespoke aerial photography with old photographs, maps, and current illustrations to provide a pictorial analysis of the subject—Around 500 illustrations ensure the subject is well covered. After opening sections on the construction of the wall, the defensive plan, and the different structures that were built, Hitler’s Atlantic Wall yesterday and today provides a survey of the key locations and what can be seen today—including many of the museums that interpret them. The bulk of the book is divided geographically by country, dealing with France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway. After 70 years, the Atlantic Wall is still a remarkable reminder of the war years, and one that continues to fascinate.

Upon the completion of the Sicily and Salerno Campaigns in 1943, the paratroopers of Colonel Reuben Tucker’s 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment were among the first Allied troops to enter Naples. A ghost town at first sight, the residents soon expressed their joy at being liberated. Four weeks later the 504th – upon the special request of General Mark Clark – spearheaded Fifth Army’s drive through the notorious Volturno Valley – the Germans’ next stand. January 1944 seemed to promise a period of rest, but the landing at Anzio meant deployment for the paratroopers again, this time by ship. A bombing raid during their beach landing was a forecast of eight weeks of bitter fighting. Holding the right flank of the beachhead along the Mussolini Canal, the paratroopers earned their nickname “Devils in Baggy Pants” for their frontline incursions into enemy lines, as well as their stubborn defense of the Allied salient. In this work H Company’s attachment to the British 5th Grenadier Guards – and the Victoria Cross action of Major William Sidney – are painted in comprehensive light for the first time. Also the story of Honorary Member of the 504th P.I.R., Italian veteran Antonio Taurelli, is included. Using war diaries, personal journals, letters and interviews with nearly 80 veterans, a close-in view of the 504th P.I.R. in the Fifth Army’s Italy Campaign is here provided in unsurpassed detail. This work is the third by Van Lunteren on the 504th P.I.R. In World War II following The Battle of the Bridges and Blocking Kampfgruppe Peiper. As readers will see, however, the Italian theater held second place to none in terms of grueling combat and courage against formidable odds, and an extremely expert enemy.

The use of images is a device used by war correspondents to recall the actions of the armed forces of their countries. This book looks back to June 6th 1944 and the landings by the Canadians on Juno Beach, immortalised by these images of the tense fighting, dramas and victories of that day. This book is a photographic journey of a glorious past, a past that will never be forgotten by the communities who experienced it but who also look to the future.

The artificial port of Arromanches, codename ‘Mulberry B’, was a great British invention designed to bring to Normandy the equipment required by the Allied armies to Normandy following the D-Day landings. Jimmy, a British engineer and specialist in designing ports, experiences the whole operation from its conception in England to its installation in France despite the setbacks including the storm that nearly destroyed it. Jimmy recounts the whole story in a book written in 1944. Jimmy speaks not only of the doubters from ordinary soldiers to men of genius, but also the fishermen and sailors of Port-en-Bessin who helped construct the artificial port even when all looked lost. Today, all these decades later, this book also brings us to the Museum of Arromanches where Linda, an English teenager, on reading Jimmy’s book, begins to understand the significance of this operation, and in the story of the invasion, we discover how the story of her family crosses that of this great historical event…

On June 5th 2009, commemorating the D-Day landings in the German cemetery of La Cambe, Schaffers, the German Ambassador, gave a moving and conciliatory speech. Listening attentively were veterans from all participating countries. In the crowd, a man was listening particularly closely. This was Wolfgang Fleischmann. Wolfgang was looking for Paul Rapier among the other listeners. Sixty-five years earlier their paths had crosses at Ouistreham. It was in June 1944, the 6th to be precise, the day of the Landings. Their meeting was brief, happening in the midst of chaos as it did. That day, Wolfgang and Paul were enemies…

La phase décisive du débarquement, du 6 au 14 juin 1944, racontéepar les coiffures.Du 6 au 14 juin 1944, en Normandie, le sort du monde va se jouer.Cette première phase décisive du débarquement conduira les alliésdes plages jusqu’à l’enlisement devant Caen. Les alliés réussirontilsleur incroyable pari : Établir une tête de pont en Normandie pourvaincre l’Allemagne nazie ?Les soldats ont laissé sur le champ de bataille coiffures etéquipements personnels qui nous racontent aujourd’hui l’Histoire.Chaque coiffure a une histoire, chaque coiffure se rattache à un lieu etun moment du débarquement. C’est aussi l’histoire de ces hommes,ces soldats anonymes, leur rencontre avec les grands moments dudébarquement.Grâce aux insignes et aux marquages spécifiques qui ont été peintspour le D-Day et la bataille de Normandie, nous pouvons resituerces objets dans leur lieu et leur contexte historique. Ces témoinsabandonnés lors des combats vous feront revivre les heuresdécisives du débarquement.Découvrez des histoires émouvantes et des photos exceptionnelles.• Plus de 80 coiffures illustrées par 300 photos détaillées• Des objets exceptionnels, témoignages historiques émouvants• Les messages radiodiffusés « radio Normandie – place du châteauBayeux » pendant la bataille, totalement inédits• La symbolique des insignes des soldats• L’histoire du débarquement, des plages jusqu’aux portes de Caen• De nombreuses photos d’époqueVivez le débarquement à travers d’extraordinaires témoins oubliés !

Ten years after the publication of his Services Spéciaux (1935-1945), Paillole took up his pen once again in order to shed further light on the critical role that the French Secret Service played in the infiltration of German agencies. In this first English edition of The Spy in Hitler’s Inner Circle, Paillole brings us to the very heart of the world of espionage and counterintelligence, providing unique insight into the key figures that led to the decoding of the Enigma machine at Bletchley and the ultimate collapse of Hitler’s Third Reich, most notably through Hans-Thilo Schmidt, France’s German spy embedded in the very heart of the Third Reich.In compelling narrative style Paillole details how Schmidt delivered intelligence to France right from the source of the German Cipher Office. Schmidt, whose brother Rudolf occupied one of the highest postings in the Third Reich, commander of 2nd Panzer Army in Russia, created an intelligence network between France, Poland and England, and successfully transmitted crucial details about Hitler’s strategic plans. From information about Germany’s rearmament and the reoccupation of the Rhineland, to fundamental technical intelligence about the Enigma machine, Schmidt’s contributions are key to the Allied victory in the intelligence war, despite the fact that France largely ignored his communications.Revealed here are the most secret aspects of the ‘secret war,’ the ‘war of numbers.’ Paillole also sheds further light on the interaction of secret agents working inside the German government, bringing attention to the cooperation between the French, English and Polish agencies surrounding the challenges of decoding the Enigma machine. We learn the innermost details of the roles that men such as Gustave Bertrand, Rudolphe Lemoine, and Richard Sorge played in this dramatic history and ultimately the pivotal role that Bletchley’s Alan Turing was able to perform as a result.Paillole brings renewed focus onto one of the most important espionage affairs of the war, revealing new aspects of the participation of Enigma during the decisive phases of the Second World War: the Battle of France, the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic, the Battle of Libya and the Battle of Normandy.

A Visual History of the U.S. Army's WWII Tank Destroyer In late 1941 the concept of a separate tank destroyer force began to jell. This force would be armed with specialized weapons. While the army’s primary antitank weapons of the late 1930s were 37mm towed anti-tank guns, these were soon deemed to be inadequate against enemy armor. Accordingly, the quest for larger weapons began, as did the desire for a self-propelled antitank gun, or Gun Motor Carriage. The initial efforts, which involved adapting 3/4-ton, Dodge trucks to mount antitank weapons (the M6, née WC-55), which were intended as interim and training vehicles. Product Information: ISBN: 9781944367190 Author: David Doyle Publisher: The Ampersand Group Format: Paperback Pages: 128 Dimensions: 22 z 28 x 1cm.

6 juin 1944, deux divisions aéroportées américaines sont larguées à l’est de la Presqu’île du Cotentin. L’une d’elles, la 101st Airborne Division, a pour mission d’ouvrir les sorties de plages pour la 4th Infantry Division qui va débarquer sur Utah Beach mais aussi de dégager les passages sur la Douve, au sud, au milieu des marais pour atteindre et prendre Carentan, petite ville située au coeur de cette zone aquatique mais aussi carrefour stratégique permettant la jonction avec la tête de pont d’Omaha Beach. Prendre Carentan, c’est réunir les forces américaines, un échec isolerait dangereusement les forces ayant pris pied dans le Cotentin. Les Allemands sont numériquement surclassés mais un régiment d’élite, les paras du Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 de von der Heydte, se trouve à proximité et monte en ligne face à la 101e. Ce sera alors un combat acharné entre paras américains et paras allemands, dans le secteur de Saint-Côme-du-Mont puis devant Carentan. Les paras du 502 PIR attaquent la chaussée, avec de lourdes pertes puis sur la ferme Ingouf. C’est enfin le mythique combat du « carré de choux ». Submergé dans Carentan, véritable « Cassino » normand, von der Heydte décroche dans la nuit du 11 au 12 juin, avant la contre-attaque allemande du 13 menée avec la « Götz ». C’est un échec, la bataille est finie. Les Américains ont assuré la jonction entre les deux têtes de pont. Cet ouvrage très documenté suit ces opérations mal connues, jour par jour avec de nombreux témoignages et des documents exceptionnels.

Matthieu Longue nous proposeun récit complet et une analysedétaillée du parcours au combatdu 2e bataillon du 506th ParachuteInfantry Regiment de la101st Airborne, ainsi que les principauxhauts faits d'armes de lamondialement célèbre EasyCompany « Band of Brothers »,avec le concours de vétérans etd'autres spécialistes.En compagnie des paras, lelecteur va suivre, de près, leurentraînement avant de se retrouverau coeur des combats deNormandie, de Hollande, desArdennes et d’Alsace, revivantainsi les moments tragiquesd’une aussi sombre que glorieusepage de l’histoire de l’US Army dela Seconde Guerre mondiale.L'ouvrage comporte de nombreusesdescriptions ainsi quedes organigrammes nous renseignantsur la composition desunités et donnant des informationsprécises sur les armes etles équipements utilisés par lestroupes parachutistes américaines de cette époque.

June 7, 1944. The Allies have landed in Normandy, where they have set a bridgehead : yet this one is narrow and fragile. The Canadians sprint on to Carpiquet, but their attack is crushed by panzers of the Hitlerjugend Division that have just rejoined the frontline. Canadians and Germans are going to fight each other violently, and the tension is at its highest – some Canadian soldiers are murdered in Buron, and at the Ardenne Abbey. June 8, 1944. The Winnipegs are crushed by a German counter-attack in Putot. Some German soldiers are executed on Hill 102, and some Canadian soldiers are executed in Audrieu and Le Mesnil-Patry. Who are the people responsible for those actions ? For the first time, the mystery is partially unveiled. Then, the crazy night attack on Bretteville-l’Orgueilleuse – some panzers will burn and light this terrible night. June 9, 1944. The “Ribbentrop Company” attacks Norrey : seven Panther tanks are destroyed. The Hitlerjugend’s counter-attack is stopped. In Norrey, this is “the accident” : shrapnel wipe out a lot of civilians. The acme of horror has been reached. Thanks to a large number of testimonies, given by the combatants and the Norman civilians – who also suffered a lot during the battle –, this book offers a degree of precision never reached regarding the Battle of Normandy. The wartime and current pictures, the portraits of soldiers and civilians, the maps and the plans make this book a real movie of these “three days in hell” between Bayeux and Caen, whilethe frontline was still not stabilized, while the soldiers were trying to go from one enemy strongpoint to another, and while the civilians did not know where the danger was…

A Visual History of the Golden State Battleship BB-44The very first in a new series of value-priced hard cover horizontal format books on U.S. capital ships in the Second World War. Part of the “Extended” Visual History format, this 168 page book is packed with large, clear images of the USS California. Coverage begins with the laying of her keel in 1916 and continues with the ship’s launching, commissioning and outfitting. The title then explores the ship’s long history from her days in the “Blue Water Navy” to her sinking at Pearl Harbor using hundreds of detailed photos. Salvaged and refitted, the USS California was back in action at Saipan just 30 months later. The photographic coverage follows the history of the “Prune barge” all though her WWII experience right through to her decommissioning in 1959. The many photos are accompanied by beautifully rendered line drawings and color plates. An essential companion to the Trumpeter plastic kit.