This book containing more than 200 photographs and many testimonials will take you back to the heart of the furious battles by the American paratroopers to liberate and hold Sainte-Mère-Église and surroundings. He will introduce you to the extraordinary history of creation of the American airborne weapon and the epic of troopers and gliders of the 82nd Airborne from Sicily to the heart of Germany via Normandy and the Netherlands. The authors also review the moving history of the village in the aftermath of the war. The presence of two large provisional cemeteries in the territory of the municipality for three years and the recognition of the population towards its liberators allowed to forge very strong bonds of friendship between the inhabitants and the All Americans.

The narrative surrounding Britain’s anti-invasion forces has often centred on ‘Dad’s Army’-like characters running around with pitchforks, on unpreparedness and sense of inevitability of invasion and defeat. The truth, however, is very different. Top-secret, highly trained and ruthless civilian volunteers were being recruited as early as the summer of 1940. Had the Germans attempted an invasion they would have been countered by saboteurs and guerrilla fighters emerging from secret bunkers, and monitored by swathes of spies and observers who would have passed details on via runners, wireless operators and ATS women in disguised bunkers. Alongside these secret forces, the Home Guard were also setting up their own ‘guerrilla groups’, and SIS (MI6) were setting up post-occupation groups of civilians – including teenagers – to act as sabotage cells, wireless operators and assassins had the Nazis taken control of the country. The civilians involved in these groups understood the need for absolute secrecy and their commitment to keeping quiet meant that most went to their grave without ever telling anyone of their role, not even their closest family members. There has been no official and little public recognition of what these dedicated men and women were willing to do for their country in its hour of need, and after over 80 years of silence the time has come to highlight their remarkable role.

This book traces the history, organization, uniforms and equipment between 1939 and 1945 of the Waffen SS. This elite force counted nearly a million volunteers from all European countries. Enjoying the full support of the Nazi regime, Waffen SS will fight on all fronts in Europe between 1939 and 1945. The variety of uniforms presented show how the German stewardship reserved, especially from 1941, the most modern equipment"the darling of the regime."Caps, helmets, helmet covers, jackets, camouflage uniforms, belts buckles, equipment, weapons etc. All the panoply of Waffen SS is carefully detailed in the book of 2 volumes with rigorously authentic objects. Accompanied by original photographs mostly unpublished and from private archives, this book covers a gap in the field in which no truly comprehensive study has been done to date.

Volume Eight of the Pacific Profiles series presents the most accurate profiles and histories to date of Imperial Japanese Navy floatplanes which served in the South Pacific theatre, throughout New Guinea and the Solomons. The markings of the six floatplane types deployed in the theatre are covered: the A6M2-N Rufe, E8N2 Dave, E13A1 Jake, F1M2 Pete, E9W Slim and E7K Alf. Floatplane operations commenced in January 1942 with the invasion of Rabaul. Later Rufes were often misidentified as Zeros with their presence in the Solomons seemingly ubiquitous. Petes often fought Allied fighters, with other types focused on reconnaissance and occasional bombing missions, sometimes at night. Most floatplane activity had ceased by late 1943, leaving a handful of stay-behinds operating from Rabaul and Kavieng. Illustrated, unit by unit, are examples of the varied types of markings, camouflage and tail code systems which appeared on floatplanes assigned to sea tenders, shore, ship and submarine-based units. Each of the 76 profiles cites draws on evidence from colour photos, Combined Fleet orders, POW interrogations, technical reports and post-war wreck surveys. Brief histories of every unit includes their role in the theatre and defines the ever-changing markings systems as ordained by Tokyo. Numerous maps and diagrams help the reader understand command structures such as the R-Area Air Force and the 11th Seaplane Tender Division. Never before have such accurate profiles been presented, most for the first time. The author is world-renown for his expertise in Japanese aerial warfare in the Pacific.

Ernest ‘Andy’ Andrews began his training as a machine gunner at Fort McClellan in Alabama in July 1943. In early 1944, he arrived in the UK for further training before D-Day, ahead of the 1st Infantry Division deploying on the evening of June 5th on the USS Henrico. Due to a problem with his landing craft, Andrews only reached Omaha Beach on the early evening of June 6th, but his experience was still a harrowing one. Fighting in Normandy, he was nicked by a bullet and evacuated to England in late July when the wound became infected, before returning to participate in the Normandy breakout. Following the race across France in late August, he participated in the rout of several retreating German units near Mons, Belgium, and his outfit approached Aachen in mid-September. For a month, Andrews’ squad defended a bunker position in the Siegfried Line against repeated German attacks, then after Aachen surrendered, the unit fought its way through the Hurtgen Forest to take Hill 232. Early on the morning of November 19th, he engaged in his toughest battle of the war as the Germans attempted to retake Hill 232, where he was again wounded. After surgery and a month’s convalescence he rejoined H Company in time to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. His unit then participated in the fast-moving Roer to the Rhine campaign, then the battle to expand the Remagen bridgehead. Breaking out from the Remagen bridgehead, Andrews’ squad stumbled on a German tank unit and this time he narrowly escaped death. Following a rapid advance up to the Paderborn area, the unit raced to Germany’s Harz Mountains, where the Wehrmacht was trying to organize a last stand. They ended the war fighting in Czechoslovakia, where Andrews witnesses the German surrender in early May. Following occupation duty, he returned to the States in October 1945. This vivid first-hand account takes the reader along from Normandy to victory with Andy Andrews and his machine-gun crew. The war shaped the author’s postwar life in countless ways, and in 1994, he made the first of three return visits to the European battlefields where he had fought.

In 1940, the U.S. Army began to standardize the production of vehicles it required to fight a modern war – including support and medical vehicles. The first deliveries of the ¾-ton Dodge WC54 ambulance arrived in 1942. Built by Chrysler, and utilising the same chassis and engine as the entire Dodge WC series, the WC54 ambulance has specific features specific to use for the rescue and transport of injured soldiers. In all, more than 26,000 Dodge WC54 vehicles would be built during the war. Used by the U.

Dunkirk resonates through British history. The "miracle of deliverance", as Prime Minister Winston Churchill described the evacuation of nearly 340,000 troops from the small French port, in most people's minds marks the end of British involvement in France in 1940. Dunkirk finally fell to the advancing German forces but it was far from the end of the story. Tens of thousands of troops and British civilians were still in France. By the end of June, a further 250,000 people had been brought back to the United Kingdom. This is the story of that second miracle of deliverance that has never been fully told. Operation Aerial was an audacious plan to bring home the disparate units of the BEF that were cut off south of the River Somme or isolated near the Maginot Line as the Germans - and Rommel's tanks in particular - advanced in May and early June 1940. This evacuation was also to include thousands of British citizens who were trapped in France and given little guidance beyond instructions to head to ports on the west coast. Dunkirk had been a military evacuation and civilians had not been catered for. The Royal Navy, supported by a fleet of merchant navy ships, worked its way down the western coast of France trying to keep one step ahead of the Germans. As one port was captured they moved down the coast to the next from Cherbourg, to St Malo, to Brest, to Saint-Nazaire, to Lorient, to La Rochelle, to Bordeaux, to Bayonne and finally Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Operation Aerial is almost unknown alongside Operation Dynamo partly because it doesn't have the romance of the little ships but also due to controversies, disasters and accusations of a cover-up. Amid these controversies are stories of incredible resourcefulness, simple courage and remarkable heroism, underpinned by largely excellent organisation and command. There were the nurses on board the hospital ships who returned time and time again despite being attacked, the demolition teams that stayed until the Germans were breathing down their necks and took their chance when it came to being evacuated, and the many ordinary soldiers and civilians who struggled through the chaos, confusion and disintegration of France to get back home so they could continue the battle against Hitler. Now it is time that story was told.

Between 1940 and 1945, the Diamond T Motor Car Company supplied just over 50,000 vehicles to the US military, and also to the Allies. Of these, just over 30,000 were heavy 4-ton 6x6 trucks of varying types: cargo, tow truck, pontoon carrier, engineer, and cartographic. The 'Diamond' would serve in all theatres of operations, wherever its robustness and reliability were necessary to complete the mission. Due to its expertise, Diamond T also produced the famous half-track, with more than 10,000 manufactured. All of these models are described in this book by Didier Andres, an expert in the subject. It is illustrated throughout using archival and period photographs and diagrams.

For three millennia the Mediterranean Sea served as the center of western civilization and the scene of many colossal wars and naval battles. In the early summer of 1940, this ancient body of water again played host to a new and extensive conflict as the Kingdom of Italy challenged Britain for dominance within the region. With France on the verge of collapse and Britain facing the prospect of imminent invasion, the Italians hoped to re-establish control over the Mediterranean. The only thing standing in their way was the heavily outnumbered British Mediterranean Fleet and the equally outnumbered British ground and air forces present in the region. Together, these forces would determine whether the Mediterranean reverted back to Italian control or whether the Allies would prevail and retain supremacy over this great body of water for themselves. This book tells the story of this epic struggle. This was a prolonged and colossal conflict waged at differing times against the combined forces of Italy, Germany and Vichy France over a wide area stretching from the coastal waters of Southern Europe in the north to Madagascar in the south and Africa's Atlantic coast in the west to the Persian Gulf in the east. Utilizing a variety of weapons including surface warships, submarines, and aircraft along with sizable merchant fleets, the British and their subsequent American partners maintained vital seaborne lines of communication, conducted numerous amphibious landings, interdicted Axis supply activities and eventually eliminated all semblances of Axis maritime power within the theatre. In turn, these actions facilitated multiple Allied victories that helped secure the defeat of the European Axis.

This book offers a unique perspective on the decisive early weeks of the invasion in 1944, written by a German Army Corps Intelligence officer stationed in Normandy at the time of the Allied invasion, who during the invasion was the department head for enemy messages processing (Ic) in the staff of the LXXXIV AK. It discusses in detail the events leading up to the creation of Falaise Pocket, described by the author as "tragic turning point of an entire front." It also offers illuminating insights to the conditions in the American landing section and explains how the German troops based there came to be defeated. Normandy: From Cotentin to Falaise, June-July 1944 is the first full length English translation of the original edition published in German in 1954, ten years after D-Day.

Thousands of volumes have been published about World War II but relatively little attention has been given to the sniper. Drawing from memoirs, government documents and interviews, this Casemate Illustrated title incorporates eyewitness accounts to weave a comprehensive narrative of snipers in World War II. While certain common traits were shared among belligerents, each had its unique methodology for selecting and training snipers and, as casualties were high, their replacements. Drawn from hunters, competitive shooters, natural marksmen, outdoorsmen, city dwellers, farmers and veteran soldiers, they fought to assert local battlefield dominance and instill among their enemy a paralyzing fear. Sometimes admired and other times reviled by their own comrades because of the retaliation they drew, they were always too few in number. Their battlefield role, their victories and their defeats are retold here from neglected or forgotten sources. The scope of World War II Snipers is extensive, with three chapters each on the major theatres of the war including Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the Pacific. These are supported by a lengthy chapter on the sniper rifles used by the snipers and their equipment. Finally, the last chapter discusses many overlooked or ignored subjects not raised by other researchers and provides much food for thought. The bibliography is a valuable resource to future researchers and writers. For the long-range rifle shooter and today's snipers, the lessons of the past are as relevant today as they were when learned and practiced in World War II.

Unconventional warfare tactics can have a considerable effect on the outcome of any war. During World War II, the United States government developed and employed two new methods of fighting. The first was the development of 'paratroop' units, as they were first called. The second was the formation of a covert and sabotage operations branch called the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Lt. Colonel Bolland was involved in both of these 'firsts'. During the D-Day invasion he parachuted behind enemy lines, jumping out of the 82nd Airborne lead aircraft with General James Gavin. After fighting with the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment for thirty-three days straight, he returned to England and became involved with the OSS Scandinavian Section. He served as Field Commander for their Operation, code named Rype. This was the only American military undertaking, albeit covert, in Norway during the entire course of the war. As a young boy growing up in rural western Minnesota, Bolland got his military start with the Minnesota National Guard, before being accepted to West Point, solely on merit. His military career lasted seventeen years. Lt. Colonel Bolland ended up with numerous decorations including the Norwegian Liberation Medal and Citation, the Bronze Star for valour, the French Fouragerre of Croix de Guerre with Palms and posthumously the Congressional Gold medal awarded to the OSS Society on behalf of all former OSS members that served during the war. His story reveals the struggles, successes, failures and ultimate victories, detailing what went right and what went wrong with these new unconventional methods of fighting.

South of the Norman city of Caen, the twin features of the Verrières and Bourguebus ridges were key stepping stones for the British Second Army in late July 1944 - taking them was crucial if it was to be successful in its attempt to break out of the Normandy bridgehead. To capture this vital ground, Allied forces would have to defeat arguably the strongest German armoured formation in Normandy: the I. SS-Panzerkorps "Leibstandarte. " The resulting battles of late July and early August 1944 saw powerful German defensive counterattacks south of Caen inflict tremendous casualties, regain lost ground and at times defeat Anglo-Canadian operations in detail. Viewed by the German leadership as militarily critical, the majority of its armored assets were deployed to dominate this excellent tank country east of the Orne river. These defeats and the experience of meeting an enemy with near-equal resources exposed a flawed Anglo-Canadian offensive tactical doctrine that was overly dependent on the supremacy of its artillery forces. Furthermore, weaknesses in Allied tank technology inhibited their armored forces from fighting a decisive armored battle, forcing Anglo-Canadian infantry and artillery forces to further rely on First World War "Bite and Hold" tactics, massively supported by artillery. Confronted with the full force of the Panzerwaffe, Anglo-Canadian doctrine at times floundered. In response, the Royal Artillery and Royal Canadian Artillery units pummelled the German tankers and grenadiers, but despite their best efforts, ground could not be captured by concentrated artillery fire alone. This is a detailed account of the success of I. SS-Panzerkorps' defensive operations, aimed at holding the Vèrrieres-Bourgebus ridges in late July 1944.

"Die Wehrmacht im Kampf" Battles and Problems of the Second World War is a series originally edited by Hermann Teske and published in German in the 1950s and 1960s. Written by former members of the German Army in World War II, it provides valuable and historically significant information on the perspective of the German Army of many crucial campaigns and battles. Now being published in English for the first time, each volume has a modern introduction by Matthias Strohn, a lecturer at Sandhurst and The University of Buckingham and an expert on the German Army. This volume in the Die Wehrmacht im Kampf series examines the principles of mobile defensive operations by analysing examples of defensive combat that took place on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. It is written by Ferdinand Maria von Senger und Etterlin, a German officer in the panzer troops who fought in several defensive battles against the Russians.

The Dornier Do 335A did not meet all the Luftwaffe requirements. First, the cockpit armor was too weak, which excluded the machine from the role of a fighter intercepting heavily defended Allied bombers. Therefore, in the summer of 1944, a modified version of the Do 335 - marked with the letter “B”- was developed. The main difference was to be an armored pilot’s cockpit with a new, easier to manufacture windscreen. The front wheel had larger tire. To be able to retract it without any changes in the landing gear bay construction, it was rotated around the leg axis by 45° during the retraction. The rest of the equipment and weapons were to be the same as in the case of the Do 335A-1. The developed version was designated Do 335B-1, but it was quickly abandoned in favor of heavily armed versions B-2 and B-3, known as Zerstörer. The prototypes of the version B-2 were Do 335M-13 and M-14 powered, like the A-1, by the DB 603E (front) and DB-603QE (rear) engines, but with significantly reinforced armament. The 15 mm MG 151/15 cannons above the engine were replaced with a 20 mm MG 151/20, and the wings were fitted with two 30 mm MK 103 cannons with 70 rounds per barrel. The same cannon fired through the propeller axis.

“This work is highly readable and provides a comprehensive examination of a lesser-known area of World War II. It would be an excellent addition to the library of any historian or student with an interest [in] the subject.” —LTC (Retired) Jesse McIntyre III, Infantry“A masterful study of how militaries and nations prepare for large-scale conventional war by training their forces and allocating resources to meet what they envision as the future character of war. ” —Richard S. Faulkner, Army History"Lauer's mastery of his subject is unrivaled. His book should be required reading for anyone with an interest in the training and development of infantry soldiers.” —David J. Furness, US Marine Corps Lieutenant General"A landmark study.... Drawing on newly available sources, Stephen Lauer unpacks the factors that influenced the creation of World War II infantries and sustained them in the crucible of close combat."—Chris Marsh, Joint Special Operations UniversityIt has long been accepted wisdom that Germany's infantrymen possessed superior tactical ability relative to their Anglo-American adversaries in World War II. Now, drawing on newly available information, Stephen Lauer unpacks that assumption, exploring the conscription, classification, and training methods of the US, British, and German infantries from 1919 through 1945.How did conscripted citizens become foot soldiers willing to fight, and even die, for each other in the face of brutal physical and mental demands? How was it decided which men to assign to combat units? How did each nation engender the social bonds that were essential if soldiers were to succeed—and survive—in their small unit milieus? Addressing these questions of manpower quality, Forging the Anvil is a landmark study of the key factors that influenced the creation of World War II infantries and sustained them in the crucible of close combat.