Endgame 1945

Download or read book Endgame 1945 written by David Stafford and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2010-09-02 with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this remarkable account of the end of the Second World War, David Stafford looks behind the headlines of history and uncovers the stories of those, soldier and civilian alike, who had lived through the war and now must endure the daily horrors and hardships of its aftermath. Endgame 1945 is an unforgettable panorama of the defeat of Fascism, of ordinary men and women and extraordinary valour, and of Europe in every way tested to its limits. It is the final chapter of war. 'Gripping and moving . . . From a BBC reporter accompanying allied soldiers into the concentration camp at Buchenwald to a New Zealand intelligence officer working with Italian and Yugoslav partisans in Trieste, the men and women Stafford highlights pay eloquent tribute to the chaos and confusion that reigned as war metamorphosed into peace' Nick Rennison, SUNDAY TIMES

Download or read book Spoils of War written by Aidan Dodson and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2020-03-30 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extensive history of enemy fleets following both World Wars, featuring never-before-seen archival and archaeological materials. Spoils of War traces the histories of navies and ships of the defeated powers from the months leading up to the relevant armistices or surrenders to the final execution of the appropriate post-war settlements. In doing so, it discusses the way in which the victorious powers reached their final demands, how these were implemented, and to what effect. The later histories of ships that saw subsequent service, either in their original navies or in those navies which acquired them, are also described. Much use is made of archival materials, and in some cases archaeological, sources, some of which have never previously been used. Ultimately, a wide range of long-standing myths are busted, and some badly distorted modern views are set right. The fascinating narrative is accompanied by lists of all major navy-built (and certain significant ex-mercantile) enemy ships in commission at the relevant date of the armistice or surrender, or whose hulks were specifically listed for attention in post-Second World War allied agreements. These include key dates in their careers and their ultimate fates. This original book, featuring numerous photographs, is sure to become an essential reference tool for all those interested in the naval history of the two World Wars. Praise for Spoils of War “Most highly recommended.” —Firetrench “For those who need to finally know the ultimate fate of the often gallant ships that strove against the Allies in both world wars, this is the book.” —Julian Stockwin, author of the Thomas Kydd series

Download or read book The British Way in Counter-Insurgency, 1945-1967 written by David French and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2011-09-29 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The claim by the Ministry of Defence in 2001 that 'the experience of numerous small wars has provided the British Army with a unique insight into this demanding form of conflict' unravelled spectacularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. One important reason for that, David French suggests, was because contemporary British counter-insurgency doctrine was based upon a serious misreading of the past. Until now, many observers believed that during the wars of decolonisation in the two decades after 1945, the British had discovered how western liberal notions of right and wrong could be made compatible with the imperatives of waging war amongst the people, that force could be used effectively but with care, and that a more just and prosperous society could emerge from these struggles. By using only the minimum necessary force, and doing so with the utmost discrimination, the British were able to win by securing the 'hearts and minds' of the people. But this was a serious distortion of actual British practice on the ground. David French's main contention is that the British hid their use of naked force behind a carefully constructed veneer of legality. In reality, they commonly used wholesale coercion, including cordon and search operations, mass detention without trial, forcible population resettlement, and the creation of free-fire zones to intimidate and lock-down the civilian population. The British waged their counter-insurgency campaigns by being nasty, not nice, to the people. The British Way in Counter-Insurgency is a seminal reassessment of the historical foundation of British counter doctrine and practice.

Download or read book The Rhineland 1945 written by Ken Ford and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 2004 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In early 1945 Allied Armies attempted to enter Germany by seizing the west bank of the Rhine. The Germans opened the Roer dams and the ensuing battle was characterized by amphibious attacks, frontal assaults on the much vaunted Siegfried Line and grim fighting for the Reichswald Forest.

Download or read book Stalingrad written by Antony Beevor and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1999-05-01 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of Stalingrad was not only the psychological turning point of World War II: it also changed the face of modern warfare. From Antony Beevor, the internationally bestselling author of D-Day and The Battle of Arnhem. In August 1942, Hitler's huge Sixth Army reached the city that bore Stalin's name. In the five-month siege that followed, the Russians fought to hold Stalingrad at any cost; then, in an astonishing reversal, encircled and trapped their Nazi enemy. This battle for the ruins of a city cost more than a million lives. Stalingrad conveys the experience of soldiers on both sides, fighting in inhuman conditions, and of civilians trapped on an urban battlefield. Antony Beevor has itnerviewed survivors and discovered completely new material in a wide range of German and Soviet archives, including prisoner interrogations and reports of desertions and executions. As a story of cruelty, courage, and human suffering, Stalingrad is unprecedented and unforgettable. Historians and reviewers worldwide have hailed Antony Beevor's magisterial Stalingrad as the definitive account of World War II's most harrowing battle.

Download or read book Endgame, 1945 written by David Stafford and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2007-11-12 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To end a history of World War II at VE Day is to leave the tale half told. Endgame 1945 highlights the gripping personal stories of nine men and women, ranging from soldiers to POWs to war correspondents, who witnessed firsthand the Allied struggle to finish the terrible game at last. Endgame 1945 highlights the gripping personal stories of nine men and women, ranging from soldiers to POWs to war correspondents, who witnessed firsthand the Allied struggle to finish the terrible game at last. Through their ground-level movements, Stafford traces the elaborate web of events that led to the war's real resolution: the deaths of Hitler and Mussolini, the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau, and the Allies' race with the Red Army to establish a victors' foothold in Europe, to name a few. From Hitler's April decision never to surrender to the start of the Potsdam Conference, Stafford brings an unprecedented focus to the war's "final chapter." Narrative history at its most compelling, Endgame 1945 is the riveting story of three turbulent months that truly shaped the modern world.

Download or read book The Third Reich at War written by Richard J. Evans and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009 with total page 964 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The final volume in Richard J. Evans's masterly trilogy on the history of Nazi Germany traces the rise and fall of German military might, the mobilization of a ?people's community? to serve a war of conquest, and Hitler's campaign of racial subjugation and genocide Already hailed as ?a masterpiece? (William Grimes in The New York Times) and ?the most comprehensive history? of the Third Reich? (Ian Kershaw), this epic trilogy reaches its terrifying climax in this volume. Evans interweaves a broad narrative of the war's progress with viscerally affecting personal testimony from a wide range of people'from generals to front-line soldiers, from Hitler Youth activists to middle-class housewives. The Third Reich at War lays bare the dynamics of a nation more deeply immersed in war than any society before or since. Fresh insights into the conflict's great events are here, from the invasion of Poland to the Battle of Stalingrad to Hitler's suicide in the bunker. But just as important is the re-creation of the daily experience of ordinary Germans in wartime, staggering under pressure from Allied bombing and their own government's mounting demands upon them. At the center of the book is the Nazi extermination of Europe's Jews, set in the context of Hitler's genocidal plans for the racial restructuring of Europe. Blending narrative, description and analysis, The Third Reich at War creates an engrossing picture'at once sweeping and precise'of a society rushing headlong to self-destruction and taking much of Europe with it. It is the culmination of a historical masterwork that will remain the most authoritative work on Nazi Germany for years to come.