Allied Coastal Forces of WWII, Volume 1

Allied Coastal Forces of WWII, Volume 1 PDF Author: John Lambert
Publisher: Conway
ISBN: 9780851775197
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
The first volume in this series detailing all the designs for Motor Torpedo Boats, Motor Gun Boats and Motor Launches that served the Allied Forces in the period 1939-45. It covers all the designs of the British Fairmile Marine Company (including those craft built and equipped in Canada), together with the 72ft Admiralty harbor Defence Motor Launch designs and the US Navy's 110ft submarine chaser. Separate sections deal with Coastal Forces armament and equipment in full, and appendices include further technical detail, production data, provisioning and typical service records.

Kriegsmarine Coastal Forces

Kriegsmarine Coastal Forces PDF Author: Gordon Williamson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782000003
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 86

Book Description
Although often overlooked in favour of the U-boats or battleships, the vast majority of the Kriegsmarine was formed of the smaller vessels of the coastal forces. These ships and boats, which included minesweepers, torpedo boats, patrol boats, and blockade breakers, gave crucial service to Germany during the war, and many continued serving for decades after the surrender in such tasks as clearing minefields. Also included in these forces was Hitler's yacht, the Ostwind. This book reveals the history of the vessels that formed the backbone of the Kriegsmarine, and combines fascinating anecdotes, detailed technical information, and full-colour artwork.

Fairmile 'D' Motor Torpedo Boat

Fairmile 'D' Motor Torpedo Boat PDF Author: John Lambert
Publisher: Conway
ISBN: 9781844860067
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
The Fairmile Type D was designed to combat the known advantages of German S-boats (Schnellboote - but always called 'E-boats' by the Allies) over previous British coastal craft designs. Designed for 31 knots at 80 tons' displacement, the Fairmile Ds were the most potent and heavily-armed coastal forces type of any navy. They fulfilled various roles, from the original MTB/MGB role to anti-submarine and mine operations. This book is the most comprehensive body of information available anywhere in a single volume on this important type. This book provides the finest documentation of these uniquely fast small warships ever produced, through a complete set of superbly executed line drawings offering enthusiasts a novel insight into ship design and construction. In addition, it includes a service and design history and a pictorial section emphasising close-up and on-board photographs.

Bataan Survivor

Bataan Survivor PDF Author: David L. Hardee
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826273599
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Book Description
A forgotten account, written in the immediate aftermath of World War II, which vividly portrays the valor, sacrifice, suffering, and liberation of the defenders of Bataan and Corregidor through the eyes of one survivor. The personal memoir of Colonel David L. Hardee, first drafted at sea from April-May 1945 following his liberation from Japanese captivity, is a thorough treatment of his time in the Philippines. A career infantry officer, Hardee fought during the Battle of Bataan as executive officer of the Provisional Air Corps Regiment. Captured in April 1942 after the American surrender on Bataan, Hardee survived the Bataan Death March and proceeded to endure a series of squalid prison camps. A debilitating hernia left Hardee too ill to travel to Japan in 1944, making him one of the few lieutenant colonels to remain in the Philippines and subsequently survive the war. As a primary account written almost immediately after his liberation, Hardee’s memoir is fresh, vivid, and devoid of decades of faded memories or contemporary influences associated with memoirs written years after an experience. This once-forgotten memoir has been carefully edited, illustrated and annotated to unlock the true depths of Hardee’s experience as a soldier, prisoner, and liberated survivor of the Pacific War.

Air Force Combat Units of World War II

Air Force Combat Units of World War II PDF Author: Maurer Maurer
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428915850
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 520

Book Description


Torpedo Junction

Torpedo Junction PDF Author: Homer H Hickam
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612515789
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
In 1942 German U-boats turned the shipping lanes off Cape Hatteras into a sea of death. Cruising up and down the U.S. eastern seaboard, they sank 259 ships, littering the waters with cargo and bodies. As astonished civilians witnessed explosions from American beaches, fighting men dubbed the area "Torpedo Junction." And while the U.S. Navy failed to react, a handful of Coast Guard sailors scrambled to the front lines. Outgunned and out-maneuvered, they heroically battled the deadliest fleet of submarines ever launched. Never was Germany closer to winning the war. In a moving ship-by-ship account of terror and rescue at sea, Homer Hickam chronicles a little-known saga of courage, ingenuity, and triumph in the early years of World War II. From nerve-racking sea duels to the dramatic ordeals of sailors and victims on both sides of the battle, Hickam dramatically captures a war we had to win--because this one hit terrifyingly close to home.

Hitler's Navy

Hitler's Navy PDF Author: Gordon Williamson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472847946
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
A complete illustrated study of the German Kriegsmarine throughout World War II. Hamstrung at first by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, during the 1930s, the German Navy underwent a programme of rearmament in defiance of the restrictions, building modern warships under limitations which forced technological innovation. Submarines were strictly prohibited by the treaty, and yet, following years of covert development, they became one of the Kriegsmarine's most deadly weapons. Blooded in the Spanish Civil War, the surface ships of the Kriegsmarine went on to play a crucial role in the opening salvoes of World War II during the invasions of Poland and Norway, although serious losses here set back plans for the invasion of Britain, and by the end of the war, only a handful of surface vessels remained to be divided up among the Allies. From the beginning of the war, but especially after the fall of France, the dreaded and extraordinarily successful U-boats stalked the Atlantic, threatening vital British shipping convoys and choking off the lifeline of munitions and supply from the US. Once Italy and Japan entered the war, German naval operations expanded to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. This highly illustrated volume is a comprehensive study of the German Navy throughout the war, from pocket battleships to torpedo boats.

The Army Air Forces in World War II: Plans and early operations, January 1939 to August 1942

The Army Air Forces in World War II: Plans and early operations, January 1939 to August 1942 PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Government publications
Languages : en
Pages : 874

Book Description


Rogue Heroes

Rogue Heroes PDF Author: Ben Macintyre
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1101904178
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incredible untold story of World War II’s greatest secret fighting force, as told by the modern master of wartime intrigue—now a limited series on Epix! “Reads like a mashup of The Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape, with a sprinkling of Ocean’s 11 thrown in for good measure.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • “Rogue Heroes is a ripping good read.”—Washington Post (10 Best Books of the Year) Britain’s Special Air Service—or SAS—was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young aristocrat whose aimlessness belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a World War II battlefield map and saw a protracted struggle, Stirling saw an opportunity: given a small number of elite men, he could parachute behind Nazi lines and sabotage their airplanes and supplies. Defying his superiors’ conventional wisdom, Stirling assembled a revolutionary fighting force that would upend not just the balance of the war, but the nature of combat itself. Bringing his keen eye for detail to a riveting wartime narrative, Ben Macintyre uses his unprecedented access to the SAS archives to shine a light on a legendary unit long shrouded in secrecy.

Beyond the Beach

Beyond the Beach PDF Author: Stephen Bourque
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612518745
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 343

Book Description
An important rethinking of the Normandy war narrative Beyond the Beach examines the Allied air war against France in 1944. During this period, General Dwight David Eisenhower, as Supreme Allied Commander, took control of all American, British, and Canadian air units and employed them for tactical and operational purposes over France rather than as a strategic force to attack targets deep in Germany. Using bombers as his long-range artillery, he directed the destruction of bridges, rail centers, ports, military installations, and even French towns with the intent of preventing German reinforcements from interfering with Operation Neptune, the Allied landings on the Normandy beaches. Ultimately, this air offensive resulted in the death of over 60,000 French civilians and an immense amount of damage to towns, churches, buildings, and works of art. This intense bombing operation, conducted against a friendly occupied state, resulted in a swath of physical and human destruction across northwest France that is rarely discussed as part of the D-Day landings. This book explores the relationship between ground and air operations and its effects on the French population. It examines the three broad groups that the air operations involved, the doctrine and equipment used by Allied air force leaders to implement Eisenhower’s plans, and each of the eight major operations, called lines of effort, that coordinated the employment of the thousands of fighters, medium bombers, and heavy bombers that prowled the French skies that spring and summer of 1944. Each of these sections discusses the operation's purpose, conduct, and effects upon both the military and the civilian targets. Finally, the book explores the short and long-term effects of these operations and argues that this ignored narrative should be part of any history of the D-Day landings.