Fighting Men Of World War Ii

Describes weapons, equipment, and uniforms of World War II Allied Forces.

This first volume of Fighting Men of World War II offers a comprehensive, full-color look at the clothing (such as boots, pants, helmet, tunic, greatcoat, camouflage, and badges), equipment, weapons, vehicles, and rations of Axis soldiers. Also included are popular items, such as lighters, that were carried by many troops but were not standard issue. The accompanying text describes the items and also compares them to those of other armies. The result is a complete picture of the daily life and conditions of the fighting men of all countries. It is an essential reference work for all military historians, collectors, and general readers.

Featuring for the first time in one reference volume the structure and equipment of the German and Axis terrestrial combat units in World War II. The hardcover reference book examines the organization of each army, its rank structure and numerical groupings as a prerequisite to examining each soldier’s equipment in detail: his clothing- boots, trousers, helmet, tunic, greatcoat, camouflage, his weapons, his support items like medical kit, mess kit and rations. Each section will feature archive pictures of the soldier in the field and specially photographed artifacts, showing preserved examples of the items that he carried with him. There will be badges, medals, pennants and flags as well as other popular personal items carried by many troops like cigarette lighters, razors and postcards of loved ones, which were not standard issue but of extreme importance to each man. The book will evaluate that equipment and how it compared to that of other soldiers in other armies both on the same side and among the opposing forces and provide a complete picture of the day-to-day lives and conditions of the fighting men of all countries and an essential reference work for all military historians, collectors, modellers and interested general readers.

Featuring for the first time in one reference volume the structure and equipment of the Allied terrestrial combat units in World War II. The hardcover reference book examines the organization of each army, its rank structure and numerical groupings as a prerequisite to examining each soldier’s equipment in detail: his clothing- boots, trousers, helmet, tunic, greatcoat, camouflage, his weapons, his support items like medical kit, mess kit and rations. Each section will feature archive pictures of the soldier in the field and specially photographed artefacts, showing preserved examples of the items that he carried with him. There will be badges, medals, pennants and flags as well as other popular personal items carried by many troops like cigarette lighters, razors and postcards of loved ones, which were not standard issue but of extreme importance to each man. The book will evaluate that equipment and how it compared to that of other soldiers in other armies both on the same side and among the opposing forces and will provide a complete picture of the day-to-day lives and conditions of the fighting men of the American, Russian, British and Commonwealth armies as well as Polish, Free French, and other nations thought fought albeit briefly on the side of the allies making it an essential reference work for all military historians, collectors, modellers and interested general readers.

The Great Book of World War II is an engrossing look or the complex issues of a truly global war, combined with graphic accounts of battles at sea, on land, and in the air. It includes more than 300 dramatic contemporary images of the action and participants from all forces, plus specially commissioned photographs of weapons, uniforms and equipment, along with detailed maps, to trace the unfolding of this epic conflict from start to finish.

“An incredible job in shedding light about an often neglected but important role this unit played in the defeat of Nazi Germany” (WWII History). While headline writers in the European Theater of Operations were naturally focused on events in Normandy and the Bulge in the north, equally ferocious combats were taking place in southern France and Germany during 1944–45, which are now finally getting their due. The US 14th Armored Division—a late arrival to the theater—was thrust into intense combat almost the minute it arrived in Europe, as the Germans remained determined to defend their southern flank. This book explores in detail what happened in the month of January 1945 in the snow-covered Vosges Mountains, when the Wehrmacht’s attempt to destroy the Sixth Army Group failed. A strategic withdrawal after ten hellish days of fiery combat allowed the Allies to hold the line until a spring offensive. In March, the division literally exploded its way through the Siegfried Line at Steinfeld and began to propel the Wehrmacht into a retreat from which it could never recover. Armored columns kept punching their way through roadblock after roadblock in town after town with powerful artillery and air concentrations that never gave the German soldiers a chance to respond. As a result of the rapid advance of Seventh Army and the 14th, German POW camps like the ones at Hammelburg and Moosburg were liberated of over 100,000 prisoners, an achievement which gave the division the nom de guerre “The Liberators.” “A frontline soldier’s view of how green troops became battle-wise and battle-weary veterans.” —The Journal of America’s Military Past

In this astonishing new history of wartime Britain, historian Stephen Bourne unearths the fascinating stories of the gay men who served in the armed forces and at home, and brings to light the great unheralded contribution they made to the war effort. Fighting Proud weaves together the remarkable lives of these men, from RAF hero Ian Gleed – a Flying Ace twice honoured for bravery by King George VI – to the infantry officers serving in the trenches on the Western Front in WWI - many of whom led the charges into machine-gun fire only to find themselves court-martialled after the war for indecent behaviour. Behind the lines, Alan Turing's work on breaking the 'enigma machine' and subsequent persecution contrasts with the many stories of love and courage in Blitzed-out London, with new wartime diaries and letters unearthed for the first time. Bourne tells the bitterly sad story of Ivor Novello, who wrote the WWI anthem 'Keep the Home Fires Burning', and the crucial work of Noel Coward - who was hated by Hitler for his work entertaining the troops. Fighting Proud also includes a wealth of long-suppressed wartime photography subsequently ignored by mainstream historians. This book is a monument to the bravery, sacrifice and honour shown by a persecuted minority, who contributed during Britain's hour of need.

In 2004 the world was first introduced to The Filthy Thirteen, a book describing the most notorious squad of fighting men in the 101st Airborne Division (and the inspiration for the movie ÒThe Dirty DozenÓ). In this long awaited work one of the squadÕs integral membersÑand probably its best soldierÑreveals his own inside account of fighting as a spearhead of the Screaming Eagles in Normandy, Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge. Jack Womer was originally a member of the 29th Infantry Division and was selected to be part of its elite Ranger battalion. But after a year of grueling training under the eyes of British Commando instructors, the 29th Rangers were suddenly dissolved. Bitterly disappointed, Womer asked for transfer to another elite unit, the Screaming Eagles, where room was found for him among the divisionÕs most miscreant squad of brawlers, drunkards, and goof-offs. Beginning on June 6, 1944, however, the Filthy Thirteen began proving themselves more a menace to the German Army than they had been to their own officers and the good people of England, embarking on a year-of ferocious combat at the very tip of the Allied advance in Europe. In this work, with the help of Stephen DeVito, Jack provides an amazingly frank look at close-quarters combat in Europe, as well as the almost surreal experience of dust-bowl-era GIÕs entering country after country in their grapple with the Wehrmacht, finally ending up in HitlerÕs mountaintop lair in Germany itself. Throughout his fights, Jack Womer credited his Ranger/Commando training for helping him to survive, even though most of the rest of the Filthy Thirteen did not. And in the end he found the reward he had most coveted all along: being able to return to his fiancŽe Theresa back in the States.