Campaign
5 primary works • 6 total works
Book 147
Operation Mercury, the German airborne assault on the island of Crete in May 1941, was the first strategic use of airborne forces in history. The assault began on 20 May, with landings near the island's key airports, and reinforcements the next day allowed the German forces to capture one end of the runway at Maleme. By 24 May the Germans were being reinforced by air on a huge scale and on 1 June Crete surrendered. This book describes how desperately close the battle had been, and explains how German losses so shocked the Fuhrer that he never again authorised a major airborne operation.
Book 159
By mid-April 1945, Hitler's Third Reich was staring into the abyss. Less than 60 miles to the east, the Red Army was poised to seize the German capital. On 16 April, Stalin unleashed his forces, and days later, Berlin was surrounded. The Soviet soldiers fought their way into the devastated German capital, and on the morning of 30 April, the men of MajGen Perevertkin's 79th Rifle Corps began their attack on the Reichstag, the symbolic heart of the Reich. Despite fanatical resistance and close-quarter fighting in every room, that evening the Red Banner was raised over the Reichstag and Berlin; Hitler had committed suicide the same day. Berlin surrendered unconditionally and Germany surrendered to the Allies on 7 May - the war in Europe was at an end.
Book 163
Experienced naval historian Bernard Ireland has written a highly readable multi-dimensional portrait of one of the most crucial battles of the Pacific war. Described as the 'greatest sea battle of all', the battle of Leyte Gulf comprised three major naval engagements at Samar, Cape Engano and Surigao Strait. Fought on the surface, under the sea and in the air, Leyte Gulf encompassed both the latest technology of warfare as well as the last major line action involving battleships. Intended by the Japanese as a Trafalgar-style decisive victory that would neutralise US naval power, the battle turned out to be quite the opposite - a crushing victory for the United States that opened their way to the Philippines.
Book 184
One of the most monumental and widely discussed battles in the history of World War II, Stalingrad was Hitler's first major defeat on the Eastern Front, and acted as a catalyst for his eventual downfall. Providing a detailed breakdown of the armies on both sides and discussing the merits of the commanders and the ways in which these influenced the battle, Peter Antill questions why the Germans allowed themselves to be diverted from their main objective and concentrate such large resources on a secondary target. The bird's-eye view illustrations and maps that feature in this book help to unravel the detail of unit directions, priorities and deployments, and the tactical failures that led to the day-by-day war of attrition that lasted for nearly five months.
Book 189
In late July 1941, Hitler ordered Army Group South to seize the Crimea as part of its operations to secure the Ukraine and the Donets Basin, in order to protect the vital Romanian oil refineries at Ploesti from Soviet air attack. After weeks of heavy fighting, the Germans breached the Soviet defences and overran most of the Crimea. By November 1941, the only remaining Soviet foothold in the area was the heavily fortified naval base at Sevastopol. Operation Sturgeon Haul, the final assault on Sevastopol, was one of the very few joint service German operations of World War II, with two German corps together with a Romanian corps being supported by a huge artillery siege train, the Luftwaffe's crack VIII Flieger Korps and a flotilla of S-Boats provided by the Kriegsmarine. This volume closely examines the impact of logistics, weather and joint operational planning upon the last major German victory in World War II.