Combat
3 primary works • 12 total works
Book 21
The Winter War was supposed to be a quick and easy conflict; instead it proved to be a bitter war that destroyed the international reputation of the Soviet Red Army. The diminutive Finnish force was desperately outnumbered by almost half a million Russian troops, but rather than sweeping across their neighbours the Soviet troops stumbled blindly, constantly wrong-footed and then bloodied by their seemingly insignificant foe. Drawing on a wide range of sources this study looks at three key battles, drawing a stark contrast between the poorly prepared Russian troops and the Finns, who made excellent use of terrain and innovative guerrilla tactics as they defended their homeland.
Detailed maps and specially commissioned artwork highlight key moments in the Winter War, a David-and-Goliath conflict that saw the Soviet Union suffer horrendous losses as they tried to recover from each disastrous defeat.
Detailed maps and specially commissioned artwork highlight key moments in the Winter War, a David-and-Goliath conflict that saw the Soviet Union suffer horrendous losses as they tried to recover from each disastrous defeat.
Book 29
In 1979 the Soviet Union moved from military `help' to active intervention in Afghanistan. Four-fifths of the Afghan National Army deserted in the first year of the war, which, compounded with the spread and intensification of the rebellion led by the formidable guerrilla fighters of the Mujahideen, forced the Soviets to intensify their involvement.
The Soviet army was in generally poor condition when the war started, but the troops of the airborne and air assault units were better trained and equipped. As a result they developed aggressive, sometimes effective tactics against an enemy that refused to behave the way most Soviet commanders wished him to.
Featuring specially commissioned artwork, this absorbing study examines the origins, combat role and battlefield performance of the Soviet Union's paratroopers and their Mujahideen adversaries during the long and bloody Soviet involvement in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
The Soviet army was in generally poor condition when the war started, but the troops of the airborne and air assault units were better trained and equipped. As a result they developed aggressive, sometimes effective tactics against an enemy that refused to behave the way most Soviet commanders wished him to.
Featuring specially commissioned artwork, this absorbing study examines the origins, combat role and battlefield performance of the Soviet Union's paratroopers and their Mujahideen adversaries during the long and bloody Soviet involvement in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
Book 33
The US Airborne force fielded some of the toughest, best-trained and most resourceful troops of World War II - all necessary qualities in a force that was lightly armed and which would in most operational circumstances be surrounded from the moment it landed on the battlefield. The German Wehrmacht grew to rely on a series of defensive measures to combat the airborne threat, including fortifications, localized reserves, and special training to help intercept and disrupt airborne troops both in the air and on the ground. Despite such methods it was cool-headed command and control that would prove to be the real key to blunting the Airborne's edge.
Using specially commissioned artwork, this book examines the development of the American airborne forces that spearheaded the Allied effort in Sicily, Normandy and Operation Market Garden, and the German countermeasures that evolved in response to the threat of Allied airborne landings.
Using specially commissioned artwork, this book examines the development of the American airborne forces that spearheaded the Allied effort in Sicily, Normandy and Operation Market Garden, and the German countermeasures that evolved in response to the threat of Allied airborne landings.
Israel seized the strategically critical Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War in an audacious and determined operation, yet when the Yom Kippur War broke out the Israeli military were exposed by the effectiveness of the newly confident and dangerous Syrian army. In the Golan only luck, herculean Israeli efforts and tactical misjudgements by the Syrians were to allow the Israelis to maintain control. In this book, three pivotal encounters in the Golan are assessed, supported by artwork, maps and photographs, tracking how both sides' forces evolved over the period.
The Axis invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 pitted Nazi Germany and her allies against Stalin's forces in a mighty struggle for survival. Fighting alongside the spearhead Panzer divisions were Germany's highly skilled and veteran motorized infantrymen - including the German Army's premier unit, Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) Grossdeutschland. Opposing these German mobile forces, the Soviets deployed the often ill-trained and poorly equipped men of the rifle regiments, who fought tenaciously and with the threat of savage reprisals from their own side. In this book three bruising clashes during the first seven weeks of the campaign are assessed - a bloody encounter battle at Zhlobin, the struggle for the destroyed city of Smolensk and then a prolonged clash along a dangerously stretched German defensive perimeter at Vas'kovo-Voroshilovo.
Operation Torch, launched on 8 November 1942, landed Anglo-American forces in Vichy-controlled Morocco and Algeria to create a second front against the Axis forces in North Africa, catching Rommel’s German and Italian forces in the claws of a giant pincer.
The US Army was powerfully well armoured and equipped, but fresh to war, and it showed. Organization suffered from a surfeit of peacetime theories and training was insufficient and ill-applied. Despite such failings the US GIs and their commanders learned very quickly, adapting to German tactics and the realities of mechanized warfare. The Axis forces in North Africa were seasoned by years of fighting against increasingly powerful British and Commonwealth forces, and were led by one of the Reich’s most capable generals. The German doctrine of mechanized warfare had proved itself time and again, but ever-growing logistical and supply problems were blunting its effectiveness.
From Sidi Bou Zid to El Guettar, this fully illustrated study pits the US Army against the best that the Axis forces in Africa had to offer.
The US Army was powerfully well armoured and equipped, but fresh to war, and it showed. Organization suffered from a surfeit of peacetime theories and training was insufficient and ill-applied. Despite such failings the US GIs and their commanders learned very quickly, adapting to German tactics and the realities of mechanized warfare. The Axis forces in North Africa were seasoned by years of fighting against increasingly powerful British and Commonwealth forces, and were led by one of the Reich’s most capable generals. The German doctrine of mechanized warfare had proved itself time and again, but ever-growing logistical and supply problems were blunting its effectiveness.
From Sidi Bou Zid to El Guettar, this fully illustrated study pits the US Army against the best that the Axis forces in Africa had to offer.
Step into the violent world of the 13th century, where the European states of the Levant battled with Muslim powers for control of Jerusalem. At the cutting edge of the conflict were the elite fighting men of the Crusader and Egyptian armies - the Knights Templar and the Mamluks, respectively. The Templars were the most famous and formidable of the European Military Orders, while the Mamluks were a slave caste whose fighting prowess had elevated them to the point of holding real political power, threatening their Ayyubid masters who relied on them so desperately for military success. This book draws on the latest research to tell the story of three key engagements from the Fifth Crusade to the Seventh Crusade. It reveals the extraordinary ferocity with which these battles were fought, and how the struggle between Templar and Mamluk came to shape the political future of the region.
On 21 February 1916, the German Army launched a major attack on the French fortress of Verdun. The Germans were confident that the ensuing battle would compel France to expend its strategic reserves in a savage attritional battle, thereby wearing down Allied fighting power on the Western Front. However, initial German success in capturing a key early objective, Fort Douaumont, was swiftly stemmed by the French defences, despite heavy French casualties. The Germans then switched objectives, but made slow progress towards their goals; by July, the battle had become a stalemate.
During the protracted struggle for Verdun, the two sides’ infantrymen faced appalling battlefield conditions; their training, equipment and doctrine would be tested to the limit and beyond. New technologies, including flamethrowers, hand grenades, trench mortars and more mobile machine guns, would play a key role in the hands of infantry specialists thrown into the developing battle, and innovations in combat communications were employed to overcome the confusion of the battlefield. This study outlines the two sides’ wider approach to the evolving battle, before assessing the preparations and combat record of the French and German fighting men who fought one another during three pivotal moments of the 10½-month struggle for Verdun.
During the protracted struggle for Verdun, the two sides’ infantrymen faced appalling battlefield conditions; their training, equipment and doctrine would be tested to the limit and beyond. New technologies, including flamethrowers, hand grenades, trench mortars and more mobile machine guns, would play a key role in the hands of infantry specialists thrown into the developing battle, and innovations in combat communications were employed to overcome the confusion of the battlefield. This study outlines the two sides’ wider approach to the evolving battle, before assessing the preparations and combat record of the French and German fighting men who fought one another during three pivotal moments of the 10½-month struggle for Verdun.
In a bid to recapture territory conceded following the Winter War of 1939-40, Finnish forces cooperated with Nazi Germany and other Axis powers during the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Rapid Finnish progress in reoccupying lost ground in Karelia during the first few months of the invasion gave way to a more static form of warfare from October 1941. The Finns resisted German pressure to participate fully in the Axis attack on the beleaguered Soviet-held city of Leningrad, and the Continuation War came to be characterized by trench warfare and unconventional operations conducted by both sides behind the front lines. In June 1944 the stalemate was abruptly ended by a massive Soviet offensive that pushed the Finns back; the two sides clashed in a series of major battles, including the battle of Tali-Ihantala, with the Finns halting the Soviet advance before agreeing to an armistice that September.
The evolving military situation in this sector of the Eastern Front meant that the soldiers of the Soviet Union and Finland fought one another in a variety of challenging settings, prompting both sides to innovate as new technologies reached the front line. In this study, the doctrine, training, equipment and organization of both sides' fighting men are assessed and compared, followed by a detailed assessment of their combat records in three key battles of the Continuation War.
The evolving military situation in this sector of the Eastern Front meant that the soldiers of the Soviet Union and Finland fought one another in a variety of challenging settings, prompting both sides to innovate as new technologies reached the front line. In this study, the doctrine, training, equipment and organization of both sides' fighting men are assessed and compared, followed by a detailed assessment of their combat records in three key battles of the Continuation War.
At the turn of the 20th century, the region of Manchuria sat atop a potentially catastrophic political fault line; the ancient strength of China was crumbling, leaving opportunities for both Russia and Japan to claw out new territories from the edges of that dying empire. Russian pride would contend with Japanese ambition in a conflict that ushered in the age of massed armies fighting on battlefields that were being redefined by the new tools of war such as newer, larger artillery pieces, and the use of machine guns in pitched battles. The vast, but over-stretched Russian Army was expected to steamroller its far smaller opponent, but the aggressiveness and zeal of the more modern Japanese military confounded expectations.
Examining these two armies in detail, this fully illustrated study tells the story of how these two empires clashed in the Russo-Japanese War, heralding a new phase in modern warfare as World War I loomed on the horizon.
Examining these two armies in detail, this fully illustrated study tells the story of how these two empires clashed in the Russo-Japanese War, heralding a new phase in modern warfare as World War I loomed on the horizon.
For centuries, the crossbow had played a key role on the battlefields of continental Europe, with mercenaries from Genoa and Brabant in particular filling the ranks of the French army, yet on the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War they came up against a more powerful foe. To master the English longbow was a labour of years, requiring far greater skill to use than the crossbow, but it was much more flexible and formidable, striking fear into the French and their allies.
This study examines three battles - Sluys (1340), Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1356) - and shows how the use of the longbow allowed England's armies to inflict crushing defeats on numerically superior forces. The longbow changed the shape of war, becoming the defining weapon of the age and wreaking havoc upon the French armies that would face it. Featuring full-colour artwork, this is the engrossing story of the first clashes between the English longbowmen and the crossbowmen of the French king on the bloody battlefields of the Hundred Years' War.
This study examines three battles - Sluys (1340), Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1356) - and shows how the use of the longbow allowed England's armies to inflict crushing defeats on numerically superior forces. The longbow changed the shape of war, becoming the defining weapon of the age and wreaking havoc upon the French armies that would face it. Featuring full-colour artwork, this is the engrossing story of the first clashes between the English longbowmen and the crossbowmen of the French king on the bloody battlefields of the Hundred Years' War.
This book examines the US infantry against the Chinese Army amid the unforgiving terrain of Korea during the first real clash of the Cold War.
On June 25, 1950, North Korean troops invaded South Korea, triggering a bitter conflict that drew in US and other United Nations forces in support of the South, and soon prompted the Chinese to intervene on the side of the North. Featuring specially commissioned artwork, this study assesses the US and Chinese forces that clashed at Chipyongni (February 13-15, 1951), Triangle Hill (October 14-25, 1952), and Pork Chop Hill (July 6-11, 1953), casting light on the origins, doctrine, and combat effectiveness of these two very different forces during the struggle for victory in Korea.
The Chinese forces fighting in Korea were composed of experienced, confident soldiers buoyed by the Communists' success in the recent Chinese Civil War. Initially armed and equipped with much the same weaponry and doctrine that they had employed in World War II, US Army units in Korea would often find themselves outnumbered, fighting in extremely difficult terrain that precluded the widespread use of armor. Both sides would be tested to the limit by the demands of fighting in such a formidable setting.
On June 25, 1950, North Korean troops invaded South Korea, triggering a bitter conflict that drew in US and other United Nations forces in support of the South, and soon prompted the Chinese to intervene on the side of the North. Featuring specially commissioned artwork, this study assesses the US and Chinese forces that clashed at Chipyongni (February 13-15, 1951), Triangle Hill (October 14-25, 1952), and Pork Chop Hill (July 6-11, 1953), casting light on the origins, doctrine, and combat effectiveness of these two very different forces during the struggle for victory in Korea.
The Chinese forces fighting in Korea were composed of experienced, confident soldiers buoyed by the Communists' success in the recent Chinese Civil War. Initially armed and equipped with much the same weaponry and doctrine that they had employed in World War II, US Army units in Korea would often find themselves outnumbered, fighting in extremely difficult terrain that precluded the widespread use of armor. Both sides would be tested to the limit by the demands of fighting in such a formidable setting.