The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force that can be awarded to personnel in the United States' Armed Forces.From the early fighting in the Philippines through the D-Day landings in Northwest Europe to the final assaults in the Pacific, this book looks at the brave US soldiers and airmen who were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions in the face of danger.It tells the exciting combat stories of such famous fi...

“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...

This vivid history chronicles the decisive US naval campaign that secured the Japanese island of Tinian—the site that would launch the end of WWII.In July 1944, the United States Navy and Marine Corps, Army, and Air Corps descended on the Pacific island of Saipan, just three miles away from the Japanese stronghold on the island of Tinian. There had been 20,000 Japanese troops on Saipan before the US unleashed a horrific all-arms campaign. The sudden silence indicat...

Steven J Zaloga offers a fascinating comparison between the two most important tanks involved in the crucial fighting of 1944, the American Sherman and the German Panther.Placing the reader in the heart of this battle between quality and quantity Zaloga uses a compelling account of the ferocious fighting during the Battle of the Bulge to explain the successes and failures of each tank, highlighting the fact that a tank can only be as good as its crew, weighing up t...

In mid-1943 James Megellas, known as “Maggie” to his fellow paratroopers, joined the 82d Airborne Division, his new “home” for the duration. His first taste of combat was in the rugged mountains outside Naples.In October 1943, when most of the 82d departed Italy to prepare for the D-Day invasion of France, Lt. Gen. Mark Clark, the Fifth Army commander, requested that the division’s 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Maggie’s outfit, stay behind for a daring new operation that would...

This "outstanding memoir" of a WWII soldier's experience at Normandy gives "a fuller picture of what the 82nd [Airborne] accomplished on D-Day" ( WWII History).In the dark early hours of D-Day, nearly every airborne unit missed its drop zone, creating a kaleidoscope of small-unit combat. Fortunately for the Allies, the 505th Regimental Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division hit near its drop zone. Its task was to seize the vital crossroads of Sainte Mèr...

Take a trip back in time to the chaos and destruction of the greatest invasion in military history, viewed through the lens of Canadian paratroopers. Men of Steel is the exciting story of some of Canada's toughest and most daring soldiers in the Second World War.In the dead of night, on 5/6 June 1944, hundreds of elite Canadian paratroopers hurled themselves from aircraft behind enemy lines. That daring act set the stage for the eventual success of the Allied invasion flee...

The author of The Battered Bastards of Bastogne does a "superb job of telling the history the 101st Airborne Division during Operation Market Garden" ( Kepler's Book Reviews).Hell's Highway is a history, most of which has never before been written. It is adventure recorded by those who lived it and put into context by an author who was also there. It is human drama on an enormous scale, told through the personal stories of 612 con...

A percentage of sales benefit The Greatest Generations Foundation.A World War II veteran in the twilight of his life stands once again on the soil where he fought the Nazis when he was young man. He remembers those long-gone days of terror and valor and thinks of friends who died before his eyes. In a voice tinged with age and emotion, he talks about what he saw and heard and felt. Why would he want to revisit the places where he saw hell erupt around him? For many veterans, the ex...

"Told by those who lived during . . . Hitler's last gasp attack in the West . . . a riveting book for anybody with an interest in the Second World War." — CurledUpThe powerful German counteroffensive operation codenamed "Wacht am Rhein" (Watch on the Rhine) launched against the American First Army in the early morning hours of December 16, 1944, would result in the greatest single extended land battle of World War II. To most Americans, the fierce series of...

"Fleshes out in vivid detail the entire story of the Screaming Eagles' valiant struggle . . . This is must reading for any student of World War II history" ( Kepler's Military History ).The Battered Bastards of Bastogne is the product of contributions by 530 soldiers who were on the ground or in the air over Bastogne. They lived and made this history, and much of it is told in their own words.The material c...

Written by veteran game designers Alessio Cavatore and Rick Priestley, Bolt Action provides all the rules needed to bring the great battles of World War II to your tabletop. Using miniature soldiers, tanks and terrain, you can fight battles in the shattered towns of occupied France, the barren deserts of North Africa, and even the sweltering jungles of the Pacific. Players get to decide which of the major or minor World War II powers they would like to represent, and then construct their a...