Author: Patrick Marrinan Publisher: ISBN: 9781780730417 Category : World War, 1939-1945 Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The classic story of Blair Mayne, late commanding officer of the first Special Air Service Regiment. He was an Air-Commando, a leader of the most daredevil and dangerous regiment in the British Army - the SAS. The scourge of the Nazis, Hitler ordered that he was to be shot on sight. The personification of Irish courage, he is also still the most de
Author: Hamish Ross Publisher: The History Press ISBN: 0752469657 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 243
Book Description
‘Paddy’ Mayne was one of the most outstanding special forces leaders of the Second World War. Hamish Ross’s authoritative study follows Mayne from solicitor and a rugby international to troop commander in the Commandos and then the SAS, whose leader he later became and whose annals he graced, winning the DSO and three bars, the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d’Honneur. Mayne’s achievements attracted attention, and after his early death legends emerged, based largely on anecdote and assertion. Hamish Ross’s closely researched biography challenges much of the received version, using contemporary sources, the official war diaries, the chronicle of 1 SAS, Mayne’s papers and diaries, and a number of extended interviews with key contemporaries. It has the support of the Mayne family and the SAS Regimental Association. In Ross’s analysis Mayne is a dynamic, yet principled and thoughtful man, committed to the unit’s original concepts; not flawless, but whose leadership qualities and tactical brilliance in the field secured the reputation of the SAS.
Author: Martin Dillon Publisher: Random House ISBN: 1780573774 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 224
Book Description
More than half a century after his death, Lt Col. Robert Blair Mayne is still regarded as one of the greatest soldiers in the history of military special operations. He was the most decorated British soldier of the Second World War, receiving four DSOs, the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d'honneur, and he pioneered tactics used today by the SAS and other special operations units worldwide. Rogue Warrior of the SAS tells the remarkable life story of 'Colonel Paddy', whose exceptional physical strength and uniquely swift reflexes made him a fearsome opponent. But his unorthodox rules of war and his resentment of authority would deny him the ultimate accolade of the Victoria Cross. Drawing on personal letters and family papers, declassified SAS files and records, together with the Official SAS Diary compiled in wartime and eyewitness accounts from many who served with him, the picture emerges of a soldier who, although a flawed hero, was unquestionably one of the most distinctive combatants of the campaigns in the Western Desert and Europe.
Author: Paddy Griffith Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN: 9780300066630 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 310
Book Description
Historians have portrayed British participation in World War I as a series of tragic debacles, with lines of men mown down by machine guns, with untried new military technology, and incompetent generals who threw their troops into improvised and unsuccessful attacks. In this book a renowned military historian studies the evolution of British infantry tactics during the war and challenges this interpretation, showing that while the British army's plans and technologies failed persistently during the improvised first half of the war, the army gradually improved its technique, technology, and, eventually, its' self-assurance. By the time of its successful sustained offensive in the fall of 1918, says Paddy Griffith, the British army was demonstrating a battlefield skill and mobility that would rarely be surpassed even during World War II. Evaluating the great gap that exists between theory and practice, between textbook and bullet-swept mudfield, Griffith argues that many battles were carefully planned to exploit advanced tactics and to avoid casualties, but that breakthrough was simply impossible under the conditions of the time. According to Griffith, the British were already masters of "storm troop tactics" by the end of 1916, and in several important respects were further ahead than the Germans would be even in 1918. In fields such as the timing and orchestration of all-arms assaults, predicted artillery fire, "Commando-style" trench raiding, the use of light machine guns, or the barrage fire of heavy machine guns, the British led the world. Although British generals were not military geniuses, says Griffith, they should at least be credited for effectively inventing much of the twentieth-century's art of war.
Author: Gerry Burke Publisher: iUniverse ISBN: 147599592X Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 305
Book Description
Paddy Pest, the ubiquitous Aussie gumshoe, is immersed in a world full of beautiful women, conniving conspirators, and covert agents. Never without his Beretta or fold-up boomerang, Paddy is always prepared—a good thing, since he is about to take a ride on the wild side with his entourage of female associates. Stormy Weathers, Paddy’s girlfriend and wing person, is known for her flaming red hair, nice legs, and her ability to hold her own in a fight. Pest surrounds himself with girls with guns and they mean business. Ariadne Vasilis has long black hair, a brutal arm-chop, and a fierce loyalty to her country, as does the delightful French gendarme Yvette Baguette. She wouldn’t be seen dead without her Paris fashion labels. From a salacious situation in Salem to a conundrum in Kentucky! There’s murder in Melbourne and mystery in Moscow, and Paddy’s people are playing for keeps. Paddy’s People is a collection of short stories laced with treachery, mayhem, and mischievous behavior that encompass some of Paddy’s worldwide adventures and acknowledge those men and women who have been inspired by his exploits.
Author: Gavin Mortimer Publisher: Constable ISBN: 1472134567 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 485
Book Description
Aristocrat, gambler, innovator and special forces legend, the life of David Stirling should need no retelling. His formation of the Special Air Service in the summer of 1941 led to a new form of warfare and Stirling is remembered as the father of special forces soldiering. But was he really a military genius or in fact a shameless self-publicist who manipulated people, and the truth, for this own ends? In this gripping and controversial biography Gavin Mortimer analyses Stirling's complex character: the childhood speech impediment that shaped his formative years, the pressure from his overbearing mother, his fraught relationship with his brother, Bill, and the jealousy and inferiority he felt in the presence of his SAS second-in-command, the cold-blooded killer Paddy Mayne. Stirling lived until old age, receiving a knighthood and plaudits from military forces around the world before his death in 1990. Yet as Mortimer dazzlingly shows, while Stirling was instrumental in selling the SAS to Churchill and senior officers, it was Mayne who really carried the regiment in the early days. Stirling was at best an incompetent soldier and at worst a foolhardy one, who jeopardised his men's live with careless talk and hare-brained missions. Drawing on interviews with SAS veterans who fought with Stirling and men who worked with him on his post-war projects, and examining recently declassified governments files about Stirling's involvement in Aden, Libya and GB75, Mortimer's riveting biography is incisive, bold, honest and written with his customary narrative panache. Impeccably researched and with the courage to challenge the mythical SAS 'brand', Mortimer brings to bear his unparalleled expertise as WW2's premier special forces historian to dig beneath the legend and reveal the real David Stirling, a man who dared and deceived.
Author: Heather Graham Publisher: Open Road Media ISBN: 1453233695 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 486
Book Description
In this Civil War romance by the New York Times– and USA Today–bestselling author, a Florida woman suspected of witchcraft reawakens a Rebel doctor’s heart. Julian McKenzie, a surgeon and makeshift colonel, is at the end of his rope. He’s trapped deep in the South with his Rebel platoon, and their supplies and morale are running low. But while fleeing from an attack, he finds salvation in a most unusual form: a run-down plantation. Inside, widow Rhiannon Tremaine, a Union sympathizer, practices what the locals describe as witchcraft. In reality, Rhiannon is a gifted healer and medic. Still, she does have a bit of magic in her. In the fifth book of her Florida Civil War series, bestselling author Heather Graham evokes a treacherous world of divided loyalties. Rhiannon has the gift of second sight, and while she used to welcome her visions, now her dreams only give her pain. In Julian, though, she may have found someone to change them . . . if the war doesn’t conspire to rip the two apart. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Heather Graham, including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.