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The Kaiser's military theorists have often been portrayed as narrow-minded thinkers wedded to an outmoded way of war. This book argues that they were fully aware of the implications of advanced weaponry and that the slaughter of World War I was due to deficient training amongst younger officers.

Peter Seaborg Award The heroics of black Union soldiers in the Civil War have been justly celebrated, but their postwar lives largely neglected. Donald Shaffer's illuminating study shines a bright light on this previously obscure part of African American history, revealing for the first time black veterans' valiant but often frustrating efforts to secure true autonomy and equality as civilians.After the Glory shows how black veterans' experiences as soldiers provided them for the first time with a sense of manliness that shaped not only their own lives but also their contributions to the African American community. Shaffer makes clear, however, that their postwar pursuit of citizenship and a dignified manhood was never very easy for black veterans, their triumphs frequently neither complete nor lasting Shaffer chronicles the postwar transition of black veterans from the Union army, as well as their subsequent life patterns, political involvement, family and marital life, experiences with social welfare, comradeship with other veterans, and memories of the war itself. He draws on such sources as Civil War pension records to fashion a collective biography-a social history of both ordinary and notable lives-resurrecting the words and memories of many black veterans to provide an intimate view of their lives and struggles.Like other African Americans from many walks of life, black veterans fought fiercely against disenfranchisement and Jim Crow and were better equipped to do so than most other African Americans. They carried a sense of pride instilled by their military service that made them better prepared to confront racism and discrimination and more respected in their own communities. As Shaffer reveals, they also had nearly equal access to military pensions, financial resources available to few other blacks, and even found acceptance among white Union veterans in the Grand Army of the Republic fraternity.After the Glory is not merely another tale of black struggles in a racist America; it is the story of how a select group of African Americans led a quest for manhood--and often found it within themselves when no one else would give it to them.

The Carpathian campaign of 1915, described by some as the 'Stalingrad of the First World War', engaged the million-man armies of Austria-Hungary and Russia in fierce winter combat that drove them to the brink of annihilation. This title presents an account of the Carpathian Winter War.

In the spring of 1972, North Vietnam launched a massive military offensive designed to deliver the coup de grace to South Vietnam and its rapidly disengaging American ally. But an over-confident Hanoi misjudged its opponents who. This is the story of heroism against great odds.

Offering an in-depth history of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) from 1955 to 1975, the author takes readers into the barracks and training centers of the ARVN to plumb the hearts and souls of these forgotten soldiers. He explores the lives of ordinary men, focusing on troop morale and motivation within the context of Vietnamese society.

In the hell that was World War II, the Eastern Front was its heart of fire and ice. Gottlob Herbert Bidermann served in that lethal theater from 1941 to 1945, and his memoir of those years recaptures the sights, sounds, and smells of the war as it vividly portrays an army marching on the road to ruin.A riveting and reflective account by one of the millions of anonymous soldiers who fought and died in that cruel terrain, In Deadly Combat conveys the brutality and horrors of the Eastern Front in detail never before available in English. It offers a ground soldier's perspective on life and death on the front lines, providing revealing new information concerning day-to-day operations and German army life. Wounded five times and awarded numerous decorations for valor, Bidermann saw action in the Crimea and siege of Sebastopol, participated in the vicious battles in the forests south of Leningrad, and ended the war in the Courland Pocket. He shares his impressions of countless Russian POWs seen at the outset of his service, of peasants struggling to survive the hostilities while caught between two ruthless antagonists, and of corpses littering the landscape. He recalls a Christmas gift of gingerbread from home that overcame the stench of battle, an Easter celebrated with a basket of Russian hand grenades for eggs, and his miraculous survival of machine gun fire at close range. In closing he relives the humiliation of surrender to an enemy whom the Germans had once derided and offers a sobering glimpse into life in the Soviet gulags. Bidermann's account debunks the myth of a highly mechanized German army that rolled over weaker opponents with impunity. Despite the vast expanses of territory captured by the Germans during the early months of Operation Barbarossa, the war with Russia remained tenuous and unforgiving. His story commits that living hell to the annals of World War II and broadens our understanding of its most deadly combat zone.Translator Derek Zumbro has rendered Bidermann's memoir into a compelling narrative that retains the author's powerful style. This English-language edition of Bidermann's dynamic story is based upon a privately published memoir entitled Krim-Kurland Mit Der 132 Infanterie Division. The translator has added important events derived from numerous interviews with Bidermann to provide additional context for American readers.

Richard Lukas presents the compelling eyewitness accounts of Polish Christians who suffered at the hands of the Germans. Their stories provide a somber reminder that non-Jewish Poles were just as likely as Jews to suffer at the hands of the Nazis, who viewed them with nearly equal contempt.

Most people think Star Wars was Reagan's idea, but its roots reach decades farther back. Military historian Don Baucom traces them to the dawn of the atomic age in 1944. In this first scholarly account of the origins of SDI, Baucom brings together the political, technological, and strategic forces that have shaped the history of ballistic missile defenses from World War II to the present.

When large formations of Allied four-engine bombers finally flew over Europe, it marked the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. Providing a deeper and more accurate understanding of the bomber campaigns' role in the Allied victory, this study testifies to the strategic importance of these efforts in that war.

In addition to a wide variety of traditional sources, this volume provides two major categories of documentary materials hitherto unavailable to researchers. The first consists of extensive records from the combat journal of the German Sixth Army, which were only recently rediscovered and published. The second is a vast amount of newly released Soviet and Russian archival material.

This work presents a new narrative history of the Philadelphia campaign that took place not only in the hills and woods surrounding Philadelphia, but also in east central New Jersey and along the Delaware River.

Focusing on the mobilisation of national resources, Koistinen analyses all relevant aspects of the American World War II economy from 1940 to 1945, describing the struggle to establish effective control over industrial supply and military demand.

Presents facts that reveal how the Axis coalition undermined Hitler's objectives from the Eastern Front to the Balkans, Mediterranean, and North Africa. The author argues that the Axis military alliance was doomed from the beginning by a lack of common aims, the absence of a unified command structure, and each nation's mistrust of the others.

The German seige and Soviet defence of Leningrad in World War II was an epic struggle in an epic war, a drama of heroism and human misery unmatched in the annals of modern warfare. This work provides a military history of the conflict waged beyond the city's borders.

Offers new insight into the workings of a military giant and also restores Leon Trotsky to his rightful place in Soviet military history by featuring his ideas on building a new army from the ground up. This book is an important look behind the scenes at a military establishment that continues to face leadership challenges in Russia today.

A documentary and statistical foundation for Colossus Reborn. Its includes a roster of the senior command cadre during wartime, a description of the army's weaponry and equipment, and a listing of the Red Army's and NKVD's order of battle at six crucial points from June 22, 1941, through December 31, 1943.

General Walter Krueger is still one of the least-known army commanders of World War II. This book resurrects the brilliant career of this great military leader while deepening our understanding of the Pacific War. By showing how he breathed life into Pacific war strategy, it gives him that credit and fills a gap in American military history.

Examines how the issue of the Vietnam War shaped the leadership of six presidents, and vice versa. Focusing on the personalities, politics, priorities and actions of the presidents, the contributors consider the expansion of presidential power in foreign-policy formulation since World War II.

For Frederick the Great, the prescription for warfare was simple: kurz und vives (""short and lively"") - wars that relied upon swift, powerful, and decisive military operations. Robert Citino takes us on a dramatic march through Prussian and German military history to show how that primal theme played out time and time again.

In the twenty years since When Titans Clashed was published significant new sources of information on the Soviet-Nazi war have come to light and are now incorporated into this new and expanded edition.

The definitive account of the most famous African American fighting unit in World War I and their quest for equality in the United States.

During the Civil War women did a lot more than keep the home fires burning. This book presents a portrait of these courageous women, and also includes a biographical directory of nearly 400 women participants and dozens of Civil War documents attesting to women's role in the war.

Drawing from a wide range of sources, including official documents, first-person accounts, histories and personal letters, in addition to folklore and fiction, this book examines the common structure and themes of American prisoner-of-war narratives.

John Sullivan was one of the CIA's top polygraph examiners during the final four years of the war in Vietnam. In this book he tells what it was like to be an agency officer working in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos during those chaotic years, putting a human face on covert operations.

The first and only book to cover the World War II exploits and contributions of Detachment 101 considered by many to be the forerunner of today's Special Forces in Burma against the Japanese Imperial Army.

Only a few months after the start of US operations in Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda sent American-led coalition forces into their most intensely brutal confrontation with Al Qaeda and the in the Shar-i Kot Valley. Drawing on previously unavailable or neglected sources, this gives us the most complete and accurate account of this thirteen-day firefight waged in mountainous terrain nearly two miles above sea level.

One of the most persistent myths to come out of World War II is that the Third Reich failed because a militarily incompetent Hitler and a small circle of ""yes-men"" consistently overrode the professional judgement of the German General Staff. This text seeks to dispel this long-standing myth.