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Throughout the author's life in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) his father was a member of the Northern Rhodesia Police and the author sets about recording various incidents in the life of a youngster growing up on the numerous towns and police stations at which his father served.

The story of British Forces Broadcasting began officially on 1st January 1944 in North Africa. Mobile stations were used in the advance northwards through Italy, and followed closely behind the troops after D-Day as they fought their way across Europe into Germany. However, this approach was not suitable for the war east of Suez. The India and South-East Asia Commands (SEAC) covered such a huge area that other means were needed to deliver programs to the forces in that theater. A start had been made in Delhi in 1944, where a station had been set up which used air time provided by All-India Radio on one of its transmitters. Efforts to improve welfare facilities were made by Vice-Admiral Mountbatten, soon after he arrived to take up his appointment as Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia. He set up a forces newspaper, and started experimental radio transmissions, but found there were financial constraints on what could be achieved. Friends and relatives back home became unhappy about the forces' living conditions, and articles appeared in the English press. These came to Churchill's notice, and he was persuaded to send Lord Munster on a fact-finding tour to establish what improvements were needed. His report was made available to M.P.s just before Christmas 1944, when Churchill addressed the Commons on the situation. Lord Munster had noted the station in Delhi, but wrote that transmitters were needed for forces broadcasting, and that many more receiving sets were required. Discussions involving the War Office and the BBC reached the conclusion that the best option was a powerful short wave transmitter, supported by another with less power. This was approved by the War Cabinet, along with most of Munster's recommendations. What was much more difficult to resolve was the disagreement between those who wished to have the station in Delhi, and Mountbatten who wanted it under his command, in Ceylon. The text of a signal is included in which he set out his reasons. The furious argument was decided in his favor, and the result was Radio SEAC. Early estimates of targets for when the station might go on the air proved to be optimistic. They underestimated the difficulty of shipping, from England to Ceylon, the components of a big transmitter, complete with its own power supply. Several aerial towers (300 feet high) had to be dismantled, shipped and re-erected. In order to provide some broadcasting as soon as possible, the small transmitter was used for about a year before the powerful one went on the air in May 1946 - long after the war was over. Even readers with some knowledge of the technical details of radio receivers may be surprised by photographs showing the sheer size of the components used in the big transmitter. One could justify the huge expense of the transmitting station on the grounds that when it was not longer needed for forces broadcasting it could serve as a relay station for the BBC. This would mean, for example, that the BBC Overseas Service would be received well in Australia. It was used in this way for a short time, but independence for Ceylon led to the station being handed over to the country's new government. The story of Radio SEAC, and Mountbatten's pivotal involvement in it, has remained untold until now. Eric Hitchcock presents a balanced and fascinating account, blending military, social, political and scientific history together to produce an important account.

The Seven Weeks War of 1866 occurred during a golden age of military music in both Austria and Prussia. This study will examine the background to this music, the role of military bands in contemporary culture, their repertoire and their exploits on the battlefield.PART ONE Prussia: the Wieprecht era - the development of military music, the three types of music (infantry, Jaeger and cavalry), and the composition of the respective bands, the Army March Collection, Berlin's golden era: concerts, parades and competitions. PART TWO Austria: the Leonhardt era, bandsmen as "musical missionaries", reforms after 1848, types of music, drum majors and drum dogs, regimental marches, Prussia's unrequited love affair with Austrian music. PART THREE Musicians at war, what came before: the campaign of 1864 in Denmark, Nachod and Skalitz, Koniggratz: the 57th are played into action, Koniggratz: Gottfried Piefke restores his king's morale, the Koniggratzer March: myth and reality, Piefke goes on parade. PART FOUR The repertoire: a brief guide to identifying Prussian and Austrian marches known to have been played at the time, some familiar, some less so. PART FIVE Biographical sketches - Brief biographies of important personalities (Wilhelm Wieprecht, Andreas Leonhardt, Gottfried Piefke, Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt, Heinrich Saro, Georg Faust, Albert Lorenz, Johann Christian Meinberg, Johann Carl Neumann, Gustav Bock, etc). BIBLIOGRAPHY. Fascinating insight into military music in mid-19th-century Europe, and the part it played in the Campaign of 1866. Researched from original German sources, bringing to light many facts hitherto unknown or neglected for many years. Includes a list of recommended CDs and records. This special hardback edition will be produced in a limited numbered edition, signed by the author, of 250 copies!

The evolution of British airborne warfare cannot be fully appreciated without reference to the technological development required to convert the detail contained in the doctrine and concept into operational reality. This is a detailed investigation of the British technological investment in an airborne capability and analyses whether the new techno

Driven by his Christian faith and an ardent belief in the threat of global communist hegemony, Coey had come to Rhodesia to fulfil an overriding passion to help the beleaguered southern African country in its fight against what he perceived to be a communist bid to secure the sub-continent.

Undoubtedly, the Second World War was one of the darkest periods of history. With untold losses and countless with physical and mental scars, there was little to celebrate except the relief of closure. Yet what happened once the noise of the shelling subsided and the smoke dissipated? Certainly, late 1940s peacetime Britain was far from easy.

Early Modern Systems of Command explores the lives these individuals led on campaign and the nature of the apparatus of command they formed. Drawing upon a wealth of primary material it examines topics as diverse as corruption, logistics, military justice and intelligence-gathering.

The material presented in this book describes the history of the development, testing and limited operations of early Soviet autogyros. As in the rest of the world, autogyros appeared in the Soviet Union in a period of full exploration of the skies by airplanes and after the first unsuccessful experiences with helicopters.

This is the story of the 162nd (Turkistan) Infantry Division, a World War II German division composed of Central Asian Turkistanis. The book covers the political background (pan-Turkism) of the founders of this unit in German service, debunks some historical myths surrounding it (the 'Nazi Mysteries') and focuses on the most crucial events in the history of the division, the Gottschee battle (Slovenia) and the 'great winter mopping up' (northern Italy). Pan-Turkish activists were prime movers in organizing Turkistani military units in German uniform. These men were completely unrelated to the occultist/esoteric beliefs, followed by some top Nazi leaders such as Heinrich Himmler or Alfred Rosenberg. The Pan-Turkish activists recruited the soldiers from Soviet POWs in Hitler's hands. Not all of the former prisoners were volunteers, some were forced to join, while a huge number of Soviet soldiers enlisted in order to survive German captivity (where a large number of their comrades had died because of ill treatment or starvation.) Another huge problem was that Pan-Turkism is something different from Kemalism (Turkish-Anatolian secular and Jacobin nationalism), the former being the political movement aiming at the political union of all Turkic-speaking populations. This is why the German ambassador to Ankara reported that he thought that the Turkish Government might even be embarrassed by open Pan-Turk propaganda from Berlin. Despite this, four main Turkish or partially Turkish units in German uniform were formed. These units were part of the 'Eastern Troops', whose Soviet personnel (Baltics, Slavs, Caucasians, Turkmen etc) were integrated into the German forces. It seems that the largest formation of the Eastern Troops in German service was the 162nd (Turkistan) Infantry Division. The most crucial event in the history of this formation was the 'great winter mopping up' (November 1944-January 1945). This operation (the clearing of Italian partisan independent republics which had been set up in the Northern Apennine mountains) was the greatest German anti-partisan action in Western Europe and one of the greatest anti-partisan operations of World War II. The author undertook a massive field investigation to determine what happened in the mountains. He reached the conclusion that the Turkistani soldiers were victims twice over: as Easterners they were regarded as inferior beings by their Nazi masters, as non-Communists, they were regarded as traitors by the Allies. All of this explains why the life and the fate of these Turkmen was absolutely tragic. The author presents a detailed textual history accompanied by over 200 rare photographs, including a large number that are previously unpublished.

In the 1870s, to supplement their early steam engines, French warships were still rigged for sail. In the 1970s the Marine Nationale's ships at sea included aircraft carriers operating supersonic jets, and intercontinental ballistic missile submarines propelled by nuclear engines.

On 16 October, 1944, the 3rd White Russian Front launched its massive offensive against Heeresgruppe Mitte. The German 4th Armee, whose line of defense stretched from Nowograd on the Narew to Memel, was quickly broken through.

"Gott Strafe England" is the definitive account detailing the German air attacks against Great Britain during the First World War. This method of attack was a totally new concept, taking the war away from the battlefield and into the previously safe territory of the enemy's homeland. As a result the concept of strategic bombing was born. This two-volume series will explore all the German air operations against the British Isles during 1914 to 1918, and assess the effectiveness of this new form of warfare. It will detail the routes taken by the raiders, where the bombs fell and the casualties inflicted. Alongside this are details of the responses taken by the defenders to counter the attacks. Full details about the airships, aircraft and their crews that were brought down are examined. This evidence includes contemporary accounts by those involved, in the form of intelligence summaries and personal accounts which graphically impart the full drama and horror of the events. "Gott Strafe England" was conceived following the publication of the author's books on German Air Force losses over Great Britain during the Second World War, "Luftwaffe Crash Archive" (Red Kite 2013, volumes ongoing). This present volume completes the overall picture by including details of those airships and aircraft that were lost on operations over Great Britain during the First World War, as there has been no previous complete reference giving details of the fate of the machines and their crews. The great amount of information available regarding the air-raids, the airships and aircraft and losses involved has been used to produce a clear overview, using many primary sources available in the National Archives, Kew and thus adding invaluable evidence to accounts written in retrospect, which rely on sometimes unreliable anecdotal evidence. "Gott Strafe England", translated as "God Punish England", is an expression that often appeared in the German Press and was soon picked up by the British Tommy serving over in France and Belgium, so that everything unpleasant from Jerry, to the food, mud and the Sergeant-Major was 'Gott Strafed'. The evidence given in these volumes makes it clear that this title is indeed appropriate.

In December of 1914, veteran Boer commander General Louis Botha landed his forces on the coast of German South West Africa to finish off the colony's Schutztruppe defenders. In August, the South Africans had started off badly with a disastrous battle at Sandfontein and an internal rebellion that could have torn the Union of South Africa apart. Botha's campaign would eventually lead to victory, but it would not be easy. Overshadowed and largely forgotten by the battles in Europe, this was one of the more distant and now almost forgotten episodes of World War I. But from August 1914 to July 1915, a small German force of 4,000 faced nearly 75,000 Allied troops of the Union of South Africa, Britain, and colonial Rhodesia in a fight that was pivotal in the history of southern Africa. This loss on the battlefield would cost Germany her most prized African possession and prove to be an important milestone in the history of the country that would eventually become Namibia. Britain was so concerned about the threat the German protectorate of South West Africa posed to the Empire that it requested its dominion, the Union of South Africa, occupy the territory's ports and destroy its powerful wireless stations. South African leaders were eager to take on this 'urgent Imperial service' to expand their own territory. When the Germans capitulated nearly a year later, it was the first Allied victory of the war and a rallying point for the United Kingdom. It was a terrible place to fight a war. Invading troops wondered why anyone would want to live in the place, let alone fight over it. Vast deserts barred easy entry to the country; the bones of animals and humans scattered across the surface attested to their lethal nature. The South Africans had to feed and water over 100,000 horses and oxen where little fodder existed and after the Germans had sabotaged many of the water points. Meanwhile, the Germans were looking over their shoulders as the native peoples they had long mistreated tried to settle old scores through ambushes and sniping. Using primary sources, on the ground research, and accurate maps and charts of the battles, the author sheds new light on the operations of the South African Army in its first foreign war and the Schutztruppe defense of German South West Africa. The book also demonstrates the terrible cost of miscalculations by politicians and military leaders on both sides.

The SADF in the Border War 1966-1989 offers the first comprehensive analysis of the South African Defence Force's role in the Border War in Namibia and Angola since the end of this conflict in 1989. It investigates the causes of the Border War and follows its progress and escalation in the 1980s.

The combat cameramen of the British Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU) were responsible for recording most of the events and key historical figures of World War II. It is their material, often collected at great personal risk to themselves, which is most often used by film and television program makers today, however, little credit has ever been been afforded to the actual cameramen themselves. During research for his PhD at Lancaster University into the history of the British Army Film and Photographic Unit, the author had the pleasure to video interview some of the surviving members of the unit, many of whom went on to have long careers in the British Film Industry after their military service, some winning the industry's most awards. During the interviews they were encouraged to tell their own stories before, during and after their service in the AFPU. The stories of men such as Robert S. Baker, Peter Handford, Les Ostinelli, Desmond Davis and many more were recorded. It is incredible that given that these interviews were conducted almost sixty years after the events, the men's recollections were in the main amazingly sharp. Despite the difficulty of the passing of time, those who were interviewed provided remarkable stories of some remarkable men. These videos are the only video record in existence of these men and this book uses this exclusive source material to tell the fascinating stories of the heretofore overlooked men of the AFPU.

Dave Barr had had a penchant for trouble since day one, born in the back of a car, shooting by the time he was five, riding a motorbike at seven, Dave regularly got into fights at school. The only reading Dave would do growing up involved motorbikes, shooting, westerns and the military. After reading Battle Cry by Leon Uris aged 12 he knew he wanted to be a Marine. Following a series of menial jobs, working at a barbers and in service stations, at 17 he joined the Marines before shipping out to Vietnam. This was his dream come true, flying as a helicopter gunner, he ended the war with an impressive 57 Air Medals. After leaving the Marines, like many veterans Dave found it hard to hold down a good job and stay out of trouble. It was then that he read about Israel. Always looking for a rush Dave learnt to skydive before he deciding to take his chances, emigrating illegally to Israel. He was inducted into the Israeli Army and then the Paratroops, where the training was difficult, involving long tough marches, and learning Hebrew. After serving his time he left Israel - back in the USA Dave was stuck in a rut and ready for his next adventure....This is the first volume in the gripping and action-packed memoirs of Dave Barr, providing a rich and colorful account of one man's odyssey as a professional soldier, seeing war at the 'sharp end'.

This is the true story of a young guerrilla commander brought up in a Christian family in Rhodesia, a former colony of Britain. Exposed to the excesses of a colonial regime where race and racism determined one's status in society, and influenced by the radical anti-racial views of his parents and later of fellow students and work mates, his character began to change. A chance encounter with a captured guerrilla fighter helped complete the metamorphic transformation of his rebel character, and was catalytic to his decision to cross into Mozambique to join the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) led by Robert Mugabe, which was waging a protracted revolutionary armed struggle to liberate Zimbabwe. Known by his nom de guerre, Dragon Patiripakashata, he led several armed guerrilla incursions into Rhodesia, before being promoted to the General Staff and appointed an instructor. For the final eighteen months of the war, until 1980, he served as ZANU's Chief Representative to Socialist Ethiopia. Mutambara invites the reader to view the Rhodesian bush war through the eyes of a guerrilla commander, experience the trials and tribulations of a freedom fighter, the satisfaction of working among the masses, and the joyous celebration of achieving freedom and independence. He outlines the psyche of those who engage in revolutionary armed struggle and why, even when exposed to extreme hardship and continual assault by a superior military adversary, they remain committed to their cause. This book also takes a different view of Mugabe, reviled by most Western governments and yet who remains immensely popular among his people.

Arguably the Normandy landings were the most complex single operation in the history of modern warfare, maybe of any conflict. Spread over five beaches assigned to both the US and British/Canadian Forces, the need for detailed planning was paramount. There was obviously planning for the assembly of troops and the armada of ships, boats and tugs to transport the men and equipment to their destination. Yet this particular activity was fairly late in the planning stages. For example the Duplex Drive tanks used from D-Day onwards were the subject of a US patent which was filed on 13 March 1942 by N. Straussler. The Beach Groups, a combined British Force comprising all three services, assembled in Scotland in the summer/autumn of 1943, and spent many months on maneuvers. Operation PLUTO ('pipeline under the ocean') started on 14 August 1942, involving engineers, scientists and members of the armed forces working together to design and develop a pipeline capable of being deployed from the Isle of Wight to the Normandy Beaches, pumping fuel to Normandy. Work on the Mulberry Harbor, the floating temporary harbor erected on two sites supplying British/Canadian soldiers from one beach and the American troops from another, commenced in 1941 at Garlieston, Scotland. Fabrication for the Phoenix caissons (the final chosen construction method) took place along the English South Coast. Some of the Phoenix caissons were abandoned where they were made and are still visible. Further activities were planned to support the French and create an infrastructure. In one case the Royal Engineers landed a train in case the retreating Germans either destroyed the railway network or immobilized the trains. Additionally an organization, known as Civil Affairs, moved in behind the tanks to set up civil administration. This unit moved slowly through France to Holland. The author provides rich and fascinating detail on these and other aspects of the preparations in the UK for D-Day and the battle for Normandy.

Nominated for the Association of Third World Studies Toyin Falola Africa book award for 2014. >Before it was all over in 1992 at least one million Mozambicans would be dead, millions more homeless and the country lying in ruins. Ultimately Frelimo would get its victory not on the battlefield but rather at the polling booth in 1994. Based on more than a decade of meticulous research, a review of thousands of pages of military records and documents, and dozens of in-depth interviews with political leaders, diplomats, generals, and soldiers and sailors, this book tells the story of the war from the perspective of those who fought it and lived it. It follows Renamo's growth from its Rhodesian roots in 1977 as a weapon against Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwean nationalist guerrillas operating from Mozambique through South African patronage in the early 1980s to Renamo's evolution as a self-sufficient nationalist insurgency. In tracing the ebb and flow of the conflict from the rugged mountains and Savannah forests of central Mozambique across the hot, humid Zambezi River valley and down to the very outskirts of the Mozambican capital in the far south, it examines the operational strategy of Frelimo and Renamo commanders in the field, the battles they fought and the lives of their troops. In doing so it highlights personal struggles, each side's successes and failures, and the missed opportunities to decisively turn the tide of war. Accordingly, this book provides the first real comprehensive military history of a war too long neglected and under appreciated in the chronicles of modern African history.

Before the War of 1866 the name of Helmuth von Moltke was scarcely known outside the Prussian army. His appointment as Chief of the General Staff was in many ways surprising, and he certainly did not himself expect it. He was thus put at the head of a military institution that was already to some extent superior to its counterparts elsewhere; he was to turn it into a formidable machine that became, in his hands, very nearly invincible. This was due to number of factors which coincided with his appointment. Among these were the many advances in military technology and logistics on the one hand, and on the other the emergence of Otto Von Bismarck as Minister-President of Prussia, with whom Moltke had a crucial, if occasionally uneasy, relationship. This book follows Moltke's part in the course of the campaign at the end of which his name had become a household word. It traces his rise to the position of Chief of the General Staff, against the background of the political situation of Prussia in the middle of the 19th Century, and the way in which he developed the functions of the General Staff. Moltke's contribution to the allied campaign of Prussia and Austria against Denmark in 1864 was an important part of his own development, before the inevitable war between the successful allies in 1866. As the book shows, for that war Moltke prepared his plans in the minutest detail. The triumphant success of his strategy in Bohemia was supplemented by the boldness of his campaign in western Germany, in which a small Prussian army overcame a huge numerical disadvantage. By the end of the Seven Weeks' War Moltke had made Prussia the strongest military power in Europe. The Campaign of 1866 in Bohemia is covered in great detail, including the most extensive coverage of the Battle of Königgrätz yet published in English. The author has made full use of an extensive number of German language sources. His detailed text is accompanied by a number of black and white illustrations (a significant number of which are previously unpublished) and battle maps. Orders of battle are also provided.

With Ethiopia in disarray following a period of severe internal unrest and the spread of insurgencies in Eritrea and Tigray, Ethiopia and its armed forces should have offered little opposition to well-equipped Somali armed forces which were unleashed to capture Ogaden, in July 1977. However, excellently trained pilots of the Ethiopian Air Force took full advantage of their US-made equipment, primarily their few brand-new Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighter-bombers, to take the fight to their opponents, win air superiority over the battlefield, and thus have their hands free to interdict the Somali supply links to stop the invasion cold. This air victory practically sealed the fate of the Somali juggernaut in Ogaden, especially so once Ethiopia convinced Cuba and the Soviet Bloc to support her instead of Somalia. In a fit of pique, Somalia forced all Soviet advisers to leave the country. Already bitter over similar experiences in Egypt in 1972, Moscow's revenge was designed as a clear message: nobody was to treat her in such fashion again. The USSR subsequently launched an air bridge to Ethiopia, unique and unprecedented in its extension and importance, delivering huge quantities of armament and equipment necessary for the Ethiopians to reconquer Ogaden, and beyond. In turn Somalia asked the USA for help and thus occurred an unprecedented switch of Cold War alliances. This volume details the history and training of both Ethiopian and Somali air forces, their equipment and training, tactics used and kills claimed, against the backdrop of the flow of the Ogaden war. It explains in detail, supported by over 100 contemporary and exclusive photographs, maps and color profiles, how the Ethiopian Air Force won the decisive victory in the air by expertly deploying the F-5Es - unequaled in maneuverability, small size and powerful armament - to practically destroy the Somali Air Force and its MiG-17s and MiG-21s.

Great Lakes Conflagration is the second in two volumes covering military operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the turn from the 21st century.

"Originally published by Heritage Books, 2008."

This book brings to life a period long forgotten in the decades that have passed since the Great War ended in 1918. Until recently, most books written on the Battle of the Somme concentrated almost exclusively on the British effort with only a brief mention of the period before 1 July 1916 and the German experience in the battle. Most simply ignore

Few new personal accounts by Waffen-SS soldiers appear in English; even fewer originate from the multitude of non-German European volunteers who formed such an important proportion of this service's manpower. Twilight of the Gods was originally written in Swedish, and published in Buenos Aires shortly after the end of WWII. Erik Wallin, a Swedish soldier who volunteered for service with the Waffen-SS, and participated in the climactic battles on the Eastern Front during late 1944 and 1945, later telling his story to this book's editor, Thorolf Hillblad. Wallin served with the Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion, 11th SS-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, a unit composed mainly of non-German volunteers, including Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes. The division enjoyed a high reputation for its combat capability, and was always at the focal points of the fighting on the Eastern Front in the last year of the war. During this period it saw combat in the Baltic, in Pomerania, on the Oder, and finally in defense of Berlin, where it was destroyed. Erik Wallin served with his unit in all of these locations, and provides the reader with a fascinating glimpse into these final battles. The book is written with a 'no holds barred' approach which will captivate, excite and maybe even shock the reader - his recollections do not evade the brutality of fighting against the advancing Red Army. Twilight of the Gods is destined to become a classic memoir of the Second World War. An outstanding new World War II memoir, and a first-hand account of the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front Written in an exciting and direct style that is guaranteed to grab and hold the reader's attention Contains much new information on the personnel and actions of 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland.