Elite
2 primary works • 4 total works
Book 156
Like so many aspects of battle, 'reconnaissance' is a familiar term, but few civilians have any idea how it is actually done or what it involves. In human terms, 'combat reconnaissance' means the first soldiers to go forward ahead of the main body of forces - either creeping through the landscape or, for larger units, actually driving forward into the unknown in fast, light armoured vehicles and jeeps festooned with machine-guns - until they run into the enemy. When they do they have to try to report his strength and position, without getting killed by the first burst of fire. Somebody has to do this at the start of every single action of any war - whether it's a handful of men crawling, or a column of armoured cars racing. This book explains how the major armies did it in World War II, with what equipment used and in which ways.
Book 160
Just about every war movie - famously, Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers - includes dramatic scenes of soldiers trying to attack an enemy pillbox or trench. Gordon L Rottman (who became expert in these tactics whilst serving in the Vietnam War) explains and illustrates the kit and techniques used in assaulting fortifications. He covers the differences in British, American, German, Soviet and Japanese approaches and experiences, concentrating on small units of foot soldiers with hand-carried equipment. Their tactical deployment is analysed and explained in detail, with the support of colour artwork, maps, diagrams and photographs.
ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN E-BOOK.? In this book, expert author and tactician Gordon L Rottman provides the first English-language study of Japanese Army and Navy tank units, their tactics and how they were deployed in action. The Japanese army made extensive use of its tanks in the campaigns in China in the 1930s, and it was in these early successes that the Japanese began to develop their own unique style of tank tactics. From the steam-rolling success of the Japanese as they invaded Manchuria until the eventual Japanese defeat, Rottman provides a battle history of the Japanese tank units as they faced the Chinese, the Russians, the British and the Americans.