This book is a detailed analysis of the Soviet Army at the outbreak of World War II, including the Red Army's campaigns against Japan on the Manchurian plains as well as in Finland.It covers the Red Army's first operations during Operation Barbarossa when the Red Army was forced to defend Mother Russia against the German onslaught. It offers a breakdown of all the armed forces including the army, air force, paratroopers, navy and NKVD troops. In particular it cover...

In this second volume of a three-part series on the Soviet Armed Forces in World War II, author Nigel Thomas turns his attention to the mid-war period.Focusing on the uniforms and organization of Soviet troops during the campaigns of the Caucasus, Stalingrad and Kursk, this book offers a detailed breakdown of all the armed forces which conducted the valiant defensive campaigns, including the army, air force, paratroopers, navy and NKVD troops. It also covers equipm...

Around three decades ago, I attended West Country rodeos, which were held in the months of July and August, in the capacity of an RSPCA Inspector. I had acquired a love of horses in my youth, and had spent all available free time at my local riding school. Therefore, this proclivity towards horses, made me an eager candidate for a position in the Society. I was accepted as an RSPCA Inspector in the year 1979. During my seventeen years employment with said Society, I excelled particularly w...

The Royal Hungarian Army was Germany's largest ally on the Eastern Front, but information about the Hungarian Army in English is rare.Deployed in Ukraine at the beginning of the war, the Hungarian Army was involved in a number of brutal encounters with the Red Army, including stubborn resistance in Transylvania in the summer of 1944, and the brave defense of Budapest in the face of overwhelming odds.The Hungarian Army was a varied and colourful force, rangi...

Despite the huge pressure of fighting on three fronts, ever-worsening shortages of manpower and equipment, and Allied command of the skies, Germany's decimated divisions fought on with impressive skill and determination.This period also saw a fascinating mixture of obsolescent, newly designed, and field-made combat clothing which gave the German soldier a radically different appearance from his predecessor of just five years before.Featuring illustrations t...

In August 1914 the mobilization of Imperial Germany's 800,000-strong army ushered in the first great war of the modern age - a war which still stands as the greatest slaughter of soldiers in history.That German Army is also the best example of a particular period of military thought, when virtually the whole manpower of the European nations was integrated into mass conscript armies, supported by several age categories of reservists and by dedicated industrial and t...

Surely nobody who had suffered the ferocity of the Nazi invasion could consider switching sides and joining the Germans? Yet that is exactly what up to 400,000 Soviet citizens did in World War II.These included not only the 'legions' recruited from non-Russian ethnic groups eager for freedom from Stalin's dictatorship, but also some 100,000 Russians and Cossacks. What began as small local security units of 'Ostruppen', enrolled for the ongoing campaigns against Sov...

In March 1941, an anti-German coup in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia prompted Hitler to order an invasion using allied Italian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Romanian forces. Operation Marita was an invasion of Yugoslavia and simultaneously Greece.At the same time, the constituent region of Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia and joined the Axis powers. Royal Yugoslav armed forces, despite advancing against the Italians in Albania were forced to surrender after 11 da...

Due to its partitions and dissolution in the late eighteenth century, hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers enlisted in distinct units in the armies of many countries.Polish legions were found primarily in the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires, but also that of the German Reich and the French Republic. All these forces were uniformed and equipped by the parent armies, though often with explicitly Polish features. The collapse of Tsarist Russia in 1917 and of ...

This third volume of a mini-series covering the German forces in World War I examines the troops that fought during the climax of the war on all fronts.Nigel Thomas discusses the forces during the last great battles of attrition in the West (Arras, Messines, 3rd Ypres - Passchendaele/Langemarck - and Cambrai, 1917) and the collapse of Russia in the East. The 'Kaiserschlacht' campaign is covered, as are the German operations in Italy, the Balkans, and in support of ...

This book is a detailed analysis of the Soviet Army at the outbreak of World War II, including the Red Army's campaigns against Japan on the Manchurian plains as well as in Finland.It covers the Red Army's first operations during Operation Barbarossa when the Red Army was forced to defend Mother Russia against the German onslaught. It offers a breakdown of all the armed forces including the army, air force, paratroopers, navy and NKVD troops. In particular it cover...

A detailed analysis of the Soviet armed forces during the final days of the war, covering the soldiers that successfully turned the tide against the Nazi onslaught and pushed it back into Germany itself.This final part of the series documents the Red Army's push through Germany to Berlin, which eventually culminated in the surrender of the German forces to the Allies in 1945. It also offers a detailed breakdown of all the armed forces that conducted the offensive c...