Civilians At The Sharp End

Mitigating the destruction and chaos wrought upon the civilian populations of northwest Europe during the latter years of the Second World War became the focus of Civil Affairs, a little-known branch of the First Canadian Army. Comprising a motley collection of civilians-turned-soldiers – too old for combat yet too valuable to remain off the front lines – the members of Civil Affairs served as liaisons between Canadian combat forces and the civilians they encountered on the ground. Civilians at the Sharp Endfollows the story of the Civil Affairs branch through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany in 1944-45. David Borys highlights how Civil Affairs helped civilians caught in the jaws of war by delivering food and medicine, providing shelter for refugees and displaced persons, establishing law and order, dealing with resistance groups, and aiding in the reconstruction of infrastructure in damaged urban areas. Once in Germany the branch was further challenged as it transformed into a military government and became a force of occupation, rehabilitating a war-torn Germany and purging the state of its Nazi leadership, while at times having to protect German civilians from the recently liberated prisoners of the Nazi state. Borys demonstrates that while the Canadian Army was indeed concerned for the welfare of civilians, military operations took priority over civilian needs. Civil Affairs was forced to negotiate this complex terrain, assisting civilian populations while ensuring that they never impeded the work of the Canadian military and the ultimate defeat of Nazi Germany.

THE SHARP END is a unique and engrossing study of the actual human experience of Allied front line soldiers in World War II. We learn about training, discipline and morale; what life was like in the combat zone, what the soldier ate, where he sheltered and how he slept We learn about his beliefs, his fears, the threats he faced and, most starkly of all, his chances of survival. A well as a brilliantly revealing analysis, John Ellis gives us the testimony of individual participants - of the men who faced the wretched discomforts and horrors of campaigning, from sodden foxholes in France to the fly-blown nothingness of the African desert: from freezing mountain-tops in Italy to the sweltering heat and claustrophobia of Asian jungles. THE SHARP END is an essential and unparalled account of the unknown soldier's daily life in the most destructive war in human history

While soldiers were off fighting on the fields of war, civilians on the home front fought their own daily struggles, sometimes removed from the violence but often enough from deep within the maelstrom of conflict. Chapters provide readers with an excellent, detailed description of how women, children, slaves, and Native Americans coped with privation and looming threat, and how they often used, or tried to use, periods of turmoil to their own advantage. While it is the soldiers who are often remembered for their strength, honor, and courage, it is the civilians who keep life going during wartime. This volume presents the lives of these brave citizens during the early colonial era, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. This volume begins with Armstrong Starkey's detailed description of wartime life during the American Colonial era, beginning with the Jamestown, VA settlement of 1607. Among his discussions of civilian lives during the Pequot War, King Philip's War, and the Seven Years' War, Starkey also examines Native American attitudes regarding war, Puritan lives, and Salem witchcraft and its connection to war. Wayne E. Lee continues with his chapter on the American Revolution, investigating how difficult it was for civilians to choose sides, including a telling look at soldier recruitment strategies. He also surveys how inflation and shortages adversely affected civilians, in addition to disease, women's roles, slaves, and Native Americans as civilians. Richard V. Barbuto discusses the War of 1812, taking a close look at life on the ever-expanding frontier, rural homes and families, and jobs and education in city life. Gregory S. Hospodor observes American life during the Mexican War, examining how that conflict amplified domestic tensions caused by sharply divided but closely-held beliefs about national expansion and slavery. Continuing, James Marten looks at southern life in the South during the Civil War, examining the constant burden of supporting Confederate armies or coping with invading northern ones. Paul A. Cimbala concludes this volume with a look at northerner's lives during the Civil War, offering an outstanding essay on a home front mobilized for a titanic struggle, and how the war, no matter how remote, became omnipresent in daily life.

Expert contributors write on the experiences of civilians who lived through occupation and bloodshed in the First World War; the Russians who lived or died during the the devastating civil war in 1917-1922, leading eventually to the terrors of Stalinism; the Spaniards of many factions who fought against each other in bloody civil wars; the ordinary people of France, Germany, Britain, Italy and other countries who faced the hardship and horrors of the Second World War; and the ethnic- and religious-based fighting and atrocities, often targeted at civilians, in the former Yugoslavia from 1991 into the twenty-first century. Carefully selected sources for further research help users find additional information on civilian life during these events. Expert contributors write on the experiences of civilians in the many wars of twentieth-century Europe. Among the events discussed are the Europeans who lived through occupation and bloodshed in the First World War; the Russians who lived and died in the devastating civil war in 1917-1922, leading eventually to the terrors of Stalinism; the Spaniards of many factions who fought against each other in bloody civil wars; the ordinary people of France, Germany, Britain, Italy and other countries who faced the hardship and horrors of the Second World War; and the ethnic- and religious-based fighting and atrocities, often targeted at civilians, in the former Yugoslavia from 1991 into the twenty-first century. Carefully selected sources for further research help users find additonal information on civilian life during these events. Chapters including vivid accounts of civilians' roles and experiences through wars in twentieth-century Europe are supplemented by recommended print and online resources for further study, a glossary defining important terms and concepts, and a timeline putting events into a chronological context.

This book examines the obligations of troops to prevent serious abuses of human rights towards civilians under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. It analyses the duty to intervene to stop the commission of serious abuses of human rights by analysing the meaning and practical consequences for troops, in terms of civilian protection, of the Article 1 duty to respect and ensure respect for the Geneva Conventions; of the duty to secure human rights (found in most international human rights treaties); and of the duty to restore law and order in an occupation. The book also analyzes the extent of troops' obligations to provide protection in light of various different operational and legal contexts in and discusses 'grey areas' and lacuna of coverage. A discussion of whether new approaches are needed, for example where operations are undertaken explicitly to protect people from serious violations of their human rights follows; and the book concludes by offering some guidelines for troops faced with such violations.

Gangs rule Cantilucca. Two syndicates dominate the planet. Guns are the only law. Both sides are arming for a bloody showdown that can only end with a handful of survivors sifting for subsistence in the ruins of what could be a rich world. Then the survey team arrives . . . David Drake introduces a new kind of Hammer's Slammer. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

For decades, the Canadian Armed Forces has used the work of foreign scholars and writers in its professional military education to try to understand the human dimension of warfare: why and how people are motivated to fight, and how they behave once they do fight. Yet the specific Canadian context, experience, and perspective are often lost in favour of appeals to universal truths. The first major Canadian study of combat motivation in almost forty years, Why We Fight redresses this imbalance by presenting some of the best new work on the subject. Bringing together top military practitioners and scholars to discuss some of the most controversial issues of modern warfare, Why We Fight examines the face of battle as experienced by Canadians. It explores sexual violence in war, professionalism, organizations, leadership, shared intent, motivation in extremis, and the toxicity of the "warrior" culture. Its chapters offer key insights on combat motivation theories, the modern operating environment, and the collective and individual identities of the men and women who fight for Canada. Many worry that technology is leading us towards a post-human age, particularly in war. Why We Fight affirms the centrality of the human being in warfare in Canada's past, present, and future.

The study analyzes three themes: first, the evolution of the concept of civilians in the course of human history, and secondly, the situation and victimization of civilians in armed conflict since 1990, and third, how the international community since the end of the Cold War to protect civilians has monitored by the mandating robust UN peacekeeping missions. The United Nations Mission in the Congo functions as a case study.