A military biography of one of the most successful and popular German generals of World War II.This volume details the military career and accomplishments of Walther Model, the youngest Generalfeldmarschall in the Wehrmacht in World War II and Hitler's favourite commander. Model was a tough and tenacious commander, particularly when on the defensive, and his career rise was virtually unprecedented in German military history.Model really made his mark late i...

While Germany and Austria-Hungary were well-equipped with sniping rifles in 1914, their Allied opponents were not.Although military sharpshooting had existed since the 18th century, in 1914 only the German and Austro-Hungarian armies fielded trained snipers armed with scoped rifles. Thus upon the outbreak of World War I, the Allied armies found themselves on the receiving end of a shooting war to which they had no means of response. Only the Canadians brought a ded...

Written by an expert on the Prussian army of the Napoleonic era, this is a fascinating insight into the 18th-century evolution of the Prussian forces into the war-winning troops of the final battles against Napoleon.Using contemporary materials including drill regulations, instructions, staff and regimental histories and after-action reports, this book provides a compelling history of Prussian tactics from 1792 until 1815. It includes studies of the professional Pr...

Zhukov was the dominant figure in the Red Army during World War II even though his actual job title varied from day to day.Serving as a senior General Staff representative from the Stavka, Zhukov moved from one critical sector to the next, serving as advisor, coordinator and de facto front commander as required. There is no doubt that Zhukov played a critical role in salvaging the critical situation in the autumn of 1941 and leading the Red Army to an amazing rever...

This insightful study describes and illustrates the troops fielded by the Ptolemaic regime in North Africa throughout its turbulent 275-year existence.Founded by Ptolemy I Soter, a close companion of Alexander the Great, the Ptolemaic Empire encompassed Egypt, northern Libya and parts of the Levant for nearly three centuries. Initially, its armies fought in the Wars of the Diadochi, as Alexander's successors disputed his conquests. Intermittent conflicts with the e...

This fully illustrated study explores and depicts the machine-gun tactics employed by both sides on the Western Front in 1914–18.During World War I, machine guns made an enormous combat contribution in the hands of both Entente and Central Powers forces, not only during the trench warfare of 1914–17 but also in the more mobile climactic battles of 1918. While light machine guns and 'automatic rifles' were widely issued to infantry at platoon level, this book focuse...

The Vietnamese knew the Long-Range Patrol Scouts as “the men with green faces,” a reference to the camouflage paint that they used. Operating in patrols of four to six men these men were like ghosts – scouting far behind enemy lines. This book examines the Long-Range Patrol Scout's superior stealth movement techniques, camouflage and concealment, tracking, counter-tracking, observation, and other fieldcraft skills. It also examines the occasions they participated in small-scale direct acti...

This absorbing study describes and illustrates the US, British, Japanese, French, Italian and Czechoslovak troops deployed to North Russia and Siberia at the height of the Russian Civil War.Between March 1918 and late 1920, a multinational force was deployed in the former Russian Empire's Arctic Circle and in Eastern Siberia, becoming drawn into the Russian Civil War. American, British, Canadian, Czechoslovak, French and Japanese troops all took the field as the vi...

This colourful study describes and illustrates the troops of the Seleucid Empire in West Asia throughout its turbulent 250-year existence.Founded by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator in 312 BC in the wake of the death of Alexander the Great 11 years previously, the Seleucid Empire came to control much of the territory conquered by Alexander in western Asia, and at its height reached from the Mediterranean to Afghanistan. The colourful armies fielded by Sele...

Depicts the forces involved in uprisings and border conflicts after the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.The Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I had included peoples of German, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Slovakian, Serbian, Bosnian and other origins, whose ambitions for independent nationhood were complicated by mutual religious and ethnic hostilities. In this fully illustrated study, Philip Jowett examines the organization and appearance of the forces...

This fully illustrated study examines the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupation forces in Greece during 1941–44 as well as those of the two Greek Resistance organizations.Italy's failed invasion of Greece in 1940–41 led to the German invasion of Yugoslavia in spring 1941 being extended into Greece, and, after the fall of Athens and Crete in April and May, the division of the country under German, Italian and Bulgarian occupation. The royal government and Army su...

A detailed exploration of a critical month-long battle, which set the stage for German strategic-level defeats on both the Eastern and Western fronts.In February 1944, 1st Panzer Army (under Generaloberst Hube) played a major role in the relief operation that saved part of the German forces trapped in the Korsun Pocket. However, the losses suffered in that effort left Hube's forces materially weakened, exhausted and with vulnerable flanks. Unexpectedly, Zhukov's 1s...