This illustrated naval history presents a comprehensive study of French battleships constructed after the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.The French battleships of the Dunkerque and Richelieu classes were the most radical and influential battleship designs of the interwar period, and were coveted by the British, German and Italian navies following the Armistice of June 1940. Using a wealth of primary-source material, this volume provides a full acc...

“An important contribution to the history of World War II . . . I have never before been able to learn so much about maintenance methods of an armored division, with precise details that underline the importance of the work, along with descriptions of how the job was done.”—Russell F. Weigley, author of Eisenhower’s Lieutenants“Cooper saw more of the war than most junior officers, and he writes about it better than almost anyone. . . . His stories are vivi...

"Once you heard that pinging sound you knew they had got to you, then the depth charges came. Terrible, just terrible." Kurt Wehling, u-boat survivor The steel coffins was the name given to the U-boats of the Kriegsmarine by their own crews. Their fatalistic view of the war was certainly justified; it is estimated that seventy-five per cent of the 39,000 men who sailed in the U-boat fleet paid the ultimate price as the tide of war turned inexorably against Hitler's Germany. This is the ill...

A New York Times bestseller! The untold story of what really happened on D-Day.The Rangers’ mission was clear. They were to lead the assault on Omaha Beach and break out inland. Simultaneously, other Ranger units would scale the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc to destroy the ostensibly huge gun battery there and thus protect the invasion fleet from being targeted. But was the Pointe du Hoc mission actually necessary? Why did the Allies plan and execute an attack ...

In February 1942, three of the major ships of the German surface fleet – the battle-cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen – stormed out of the harbour at Brest on a dramatic voyage back to Germany. Passing through the straights of Dover, the ships faced everything the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy could throw at them. In a dramatic running fight, the ships managed to sail right under the nose of history's greatest maritime nation to reach the safety of ...

The World's Great Tanks examines the best tanks to have ever entered combat - from the earliest British Mark IVs and Vs to classic World War II tanks such as the Russian T-34, the American Sherman, and the German Tiger and Panther tanks to the more modern tanks, such as the Abrams, T-72, Challenger and Leopard. The book details the development of these key vehicles and significant breakthroughs such as the Christie suspension and Chobham armour.This is a text-only ebook edition.

In this comprehensive book, the wartime development of the U-Boat is traced along with the experiences of typical U-Boat crewmen, from recruitment to combat.Germany's World War II U-Boat fleet represented the elite of their naval personnel. In terms of technology, training, tactics and combat successes, the U-Boat Waffe was far superior to that of any other combatant nation. Gordon Williamson examines the operational tactics of the U-Boat fleet, as well as describi...

In the darkest days of World War II, the British planned a daring airborne operation to capture the secret of the new German radar.Lead by Major John Frost, a company of paratroopers dropped into Bruneval on the French coast, and quickly neutralized a small German garrison. Then began a desperate fight for time as the British tried to dismantle the German radar and evacuate back to England, as ever more German units converged on their position.Using artwork...

With the outbreak of World War II, Britain's Royal Navy and her fleet of battleships would be at the forefront of her defence.Yet ten of the 12 battleships were already over 20 years old, having served in World War I, and required extensive modifications to allow them to perform a vital service throughout the six long years of conflict. Angus Konstam offers a comprehensive review of the development of these British battleships from their initial commissioning to th...

The Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine -- The Austro-Hungarian Navy -- was in at the beginning of World War I when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie lay in state aboard its flagship, and at the end when it dissolved along with the empire that commanded it. During the war, this small but powerful "fleet in being" forced the Allies to maintain a blockade of the Otranto Straits. German and Austro-Hungarian U-boats ran riot in the Mediterranean even though the capital ships alm...

A fascinating look at how naval design was revolutionized in the early years of the 20th century and how the rival designs were put to the ultimate test at the battle of Jutland in 1916.In 1916, in the seas near Jutland, two fleets of armoured dreadnoughts met in open battle. This book tells the story of the British and German battleships of these two great fleets – from their development as the first generation of fully-armoured warships – to their combat experien...

A compact, detailed account of the most powerfully gunned tank fielded by the Allies during World War II.An ordinary American-built Sherman modified by the British, the Firefly had the firepower that could finally match the awesome German tanks that had dominated Europe. David Fletcher examines the controversy that dogged the Firefly and the psychological boost the tank provided to Allied forces.Exploring its successes and failures on the battlefield and pr...