World War Ii Turning Points

In this gripping new look at the 20th century's most crucial conflict, historian Bell analyzes 12 unique turning points that determined the character and the ultimate outcome of the Second World War.

In this look at the 20th century's most crucial conflict, historian P.M.H. Bell analyses twelve unique turning points that determined the character and the ultimate outcome of the Second World War.

Discusses the planning for and the aftermath of the American use of the atomic bomb which destroyed two Japanese cities in August 1945.

World War II Turning Points is an alternative history of mankind's most crucial military struggle. As such, it does not regurgitate the same, all-too-familiar versions of the past, consistently repeated by mainstream scholars since 1945. Instead, this unconventional revision is the result of newly-discovered and often neglected information about the sometimes obscure men, bizarre weapons, under-appreciated decisions, forgotten blunders and near misses that really determined the course and outcome of the Second World War. The author, a U.S. Department of Defense feature writer, whose published articles have appeared in military magazines here and abroad, combines a lifetime of research and world travels to offer an unprecedented panorama of the 20th Century's pivotal conflict. It opens with the war's single most fateful factor; namely, Allied success in breaking the Axis diplomatic and military codes. From the opening of hostilities in 1939 until the death of Reinhard Heydrich, more than three years later, Wehrmacht forces were everywhere victorious. But with the killing of their security chief, British cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, in southeast England, finally gained unrestrained access for all top secret transmissions in the Third Reich. Results were immediately forthcoming. These previously unknown events were the real if invisible turning points behind the more famous battles at places like Midway or Stalingrad. Accordingly, World War Two Turning Points shows how the international conflict was a contrast, even a struggle between Allied inevitabilities and Axis lost opportunities. Less of one or more of another by so much as a subtle degree could have decided hostilities different from their historic conclusion.

During a pivotal few months in the middle of the First World War all sides-Germany, Britain, and America-believed the war could be concluded. Peace at the end of 1916 would have saved millions of lives and changed the course of history utterly. Two years into the most terrible conflict the world had ever known, the warring powers faced a crisis. There were no good military options. Money, men, and supplies were running short on all sides. The German chancellor secretly sought President Woodrow Wilson's mediation to end the war, just as British ministers and France's president also concluded that the time was right. The Road Less Traveled describes how tantalizingly close these far-sighted statesmen came to ending the war, saving millions of lives, and avoiding the total war that dimmed hopes for a better world. Theirs was a secret battle that is only now becoming fully understood, a story of civic courage, awful responsibility, and how some leaders rose to the occasion while others shrank from it or chased other ambitions. "Peace is on the floor waiting to be picked up!" pleaded the German ambassador to the United States. This book explains both the strategies and fumbles of people facing a great crossroads of history. The Road Less Traveled reveals one of the last great mysteries of the Great War: that it simply never should have lasted so long or cost so much.

The story behind D-Day begins in 1939 when Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, attacked Poland and ignited World War Two. The following year, the Germans occupied France and Western Europe and launched a vicious air war against Britain. In 1941, they invaded the Soviet Union. Seemingly unstoppable, the Nazis now held virtually all of Europe. They imposed a ruthless system of control and unleashed the horror of the Holocaust. However, by 1943, the tide had begun to turn in favor of the Allies, the forces opposed to Germany. In the east, despite huge losses, the Soviets began to force the Germans back.

The Battle for Milne Bay - Japan's first defeat on land in the Second World War - was a defining moment in the evolution of the indomitable Australian fighting spirit. For the men of the AIF, the militia and the RAAF, it was the turning point in the Pacific, and their finest - though now largely forgotten - hour. Forgotten, until now. In August 1942, Japan's forces were unstoppable. Having conquered vast swathes of south-east Asia - Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies - and now invading New Guinea, many feared the Empire of the Rising Sun stood poised to knock down Australia's northern door. But first they needed Port Moresby. In the still of an August night, Japanese marines sailed quietly into Milne Bay, a long, malaria-ridden dead end at the far eastern tip of Papua, to unleash an audacious pincer movement. Unbeknown to them, however, a secret airstrip had been carved out of a coconut plantation by US Engineers, and a garrison of Australian troops had been established, supported by two locally based squadrons of RAAF Kittyhawks, including the men of the famed 75 Squadron. The scene was set for one of the most decisive and vicious battles of the war. For ten days and nights Australia's soldiers and airmen fought the elite of Japan's forces along a sodden jungle track, and forced them back step by muddy, bloody step. In Turning Point, bestselling author Michael Veitch brings to life the incredible exploits and tragic sacrifices of these Australian heroes.