Battle of Guam 1944: From Occupation to Liberation: Honor Restored in the Pacific

History

Grehan, John

Nicoll, Alexander

Military

Frontline Books

Czechoslovakia, a vital European economy, was dismantled by Nazi Germany. The Sudetenland was annexed, and the rest of the nation became the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Hitler replaced Reichsprotektor Konstantin von Neurath with Reinhard Heydrich in September 1941 due to unmet production quotas. Known as the "Butcher of Prague," Heydrich imposed martial law, leading to widespread arrests and executions.In response, the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, led by Edvard Benes, devised Operation Anthropoid to assassinate Heydrich. Josef Gab&#269;ík and Jan Kubis, members of the exiled Czech Army trained by the British Special Operations Executive, parachuted into Czechoslovakia on 29 December 1941. Despite Heydrich's suppression of the Czech resistance, local supporters assisted them.On 27 May 1942, Gab&#269;ík and Kubis attacked Heydrich as his car slowed at a bend. Gab&#269;ík's Sten gun jammed, but Kubis's grenade wounded Heydrich. Though they escaped, Heydrich died eight days later.

Operation Anthropoid: The Assassination of Hitler's Hangman, Reinhard Heydrich

Mace, Martin

After the Battle

The key naval battles against Imperial Japan in the Pacific during the Second World War have been described many times by numerous diligent and skillful historians. Such histories are, of course, the products of many years, even decades, of accumulated knowledge, but also of a received consensus of how the war played out to its, seemingly, inevitable conclusion. That of course is not how it was perceived at the time. Hindsight, as we know, gives us 20/20 vision. The accounts here, compiled for and on behalf of the Admiralty, were written either during or immediately after the end of the war before historians had begun to give their assessments of these momentous events.\nThese accounts were written for internal consumption, to guide and instruct naval officers. It was never intended that they would be released to the general public. As such, there was no jingoistic drum beating, no axes to grind, no new angles to try and find. The authors of these accounts relate each battle, move by move, as they unfolded, accurately and dispassionately.\nThis makes these accounts so invaluable. They read almost like a running commentary, as action follows action, minute follows minute. This sensation is magnified by the absolute impartiality of the authors, their sole attempt being to provide a thorough but very clear and comprehensible record so that others in the future could understand precisely how each battle was fought.\nThese accounts can never be superseded and never replaced. Written by naval officers of the time for naval officers of the future, they are the permanent record of the great victories, and the sobering defeat in the Java Sea, during the struggle for control of the Pacific which, for many months, hung precariously in the balance.

Great Naval Battles of the Pacific War: The Official Admiralty Accounts: Midway, Coral Sea, Java Sea, Guadalcanal and Leyte Gulf

Product Description The Battle of Hastings is the most defining event in English history. As such, its every detail has been analysed by scholars and interpreted by historians. Yet one of the most fundamental aspect of the battle the place upon which it was fought has never been seriously questioned, until now. Could it really be the case that for almost 1,000 years everyone has been studying the wrong location?In this in-depth study, the authors examine the early sources and the modern interpretations to unravel the compulsive evidence that historians have chosen to ignore because it does not fit the traditional view of where the battle was fought.Most importantly, the authors investigate the terrain of the battlefield and the archaeological data to reveal exactly where history was made. About the Author JOHN GREHAN has written, edited or contributed to more than 300 books and magazine articles covering a wide span of military history from the Iron Age to the recent conflict in Afghanistan. John has also appeared on local and national radio and television to advise on military history topics. He was employed as the Assistant Editor of Britain at War Magazine from its inception until 2014. John now devotes his time to writing and editing books.Martin Mace has been involved in writing and publishing military history for more than twenty-five years. He began his career with local history, writing a book on the Second World War anti-invasion defences and stop lines in West Sussex. Following the success of this book, he established Historic Military Press, which has published a wide range of titles. In 2006 he began working on the idea for Britain at War Magazine, the first issue of which went on sale in May 2007. This publication has grown rapidly to become the best-selling military history periodical on the high street. Martin now devotes his time to writing and editing books.

The Battle of Hastings 1066 - The Uncomfortable Truth: Revealing the True Location of England’s Most Famous Battle

Ancient Civilizations

Pen and Sword Military

Special Operations Executive was one of the most secretive organizations of the Second World War, its activities cloaked in mystery and intrigue. The fate, therefore, of many of its agents was not revealed to the general public other than the bare details carved with pride upon the headstones and memorials of those courageous individuals.Then in 2003, the first batch of SOE personal files was released by The National Archives. Over the course of the following years more and more files were made available. Now, at last, it is possible to tell the stories of all those agents that died in action.These are stories of bravery and betrayal, incompetence and misfortune, of brutal torture and ultimately death. Some died when their parachutes failed to open, others swallowed their cyanide capsules rather than fall into the hands of the Gestapo, many died in combat with the enemy, most though were executed, by hanging, by shooting and even by lethal injection.The bodies of many of the lost agents were never found, destroyed in the crematoria of such places as Buckenwald, Mauthausen and Natzweiler, others were buried where they fell. All of them should be remembered as having undertaken missions behind enemy lines in the knowledge that they might never return.

Unearthing Churchill’s Secret Army: The Official List of SOE Casualties and Their Stories

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Product Description Throughout his political life, Adolf Hitler was the subject of numerous assassination plots, some of which were attempted, all of which failed. While a few of these have become well known, particularly the bomb explosions at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich in 1939 and the Stauffenberg Valkyrie attempt carried out at the Wolfsschanze on 20 July 1944, many others have received far less attention – until now.In this book, John Grehan has examined the known planned or proposed assassination attempts on Hitler, from Chicago to London and from Sweden to the Ukraine – some of which have not previously been presented to the general public by historians.All manner of methods were proposed by those willing to bring Hitler’s life to a premature and sticky end and Hitler was well aware of the danger which lurked potentially around every corner of every road, railway track, every building and even every individual. As a result, an immense, multi-layered security apparatus surrounded the Führer day and night. Despite this, and knowing the risks they faced, many people sought to kill the German leader, and some very nearly did. Yet Hitler survived, often by just a minute or a millimeter, to die ultimately of his own hand.These plots and conspiracies are detailed in this book, along with a unique collection of photographs of many of the proposed or actual assassination locations. All will be revealed in this fascinating compilation of the obscure, the fanciful and the carefully considered attempts to assassinate Hitler. About the Author JOHN GREHAN has written, edited or contributed to more than 300 books and magazine articles covering a wide span of military history from the Iron Age to the recent conflict in Afghanistan. John has also appeared on local and national radio and television to advise on military history topics. He was employed as the Assistant Editor of Britain at War Magazine from its inception until 2014. John now devotes his time to writing and editing books.

The Hitler Assassination Attempts: The Plots, Places and People that Almost Changed History

Europe

RAF and the SOE: Special Duty Operations in Europe During World War II

The Special Operations Executive developed a vast network of agents across Occupied Europe which played a vital role in developing and sustaining resistance movements that persistently sought to subvert German control of their territories. The culmination of their efforts was seen when the Allied armies landed at Normandy in June 1944, with the SOE and the resistance causing widespread destruction and disruption behind the German lines.\nNone of this would have been possible had it not been for the Royal Air Force. Not only did the RAF supply the SOE, and the movements it led and coordinated, with the thousands of tons of arms and equipment needed to undertake this role, it also delivered and retrieved agents from under the very noses of the enemy.\nCompiled at the end of the war by the Air Historical Branch of the RAF, this is an extremely detailed and comprehensive account of the RAFs support for the SOE, and in it we learn of the enormous and complex arrangements undertaken by the Special Duties squadrons as well as showing how the material delivered by these aircraft was used in the field.\nThis account is reproduced here in its entirety, along with a detailed appendix containing the official historical record of Bomber Command aircrews and aircraft engaged in clandestine operations. Taken together, this book represents the most comprehensive account of the RAFs support for SOE ever published.

Stopping Hitler: An Official Account of How Britain Planned to Defend Itself in the Second World War

After the unprecedented death and devastation of the First World War, few people imagined that such a conflict could ever happen again. Though the belief that it had been the 'war to end war' was to be shattered within a generation, in the immediate aftermath of the First World War it was expected that international disputes could be settled by arbitration through the creation of League of Nations. Consequently, the British Government concluded that there would not be another war in the foreseeable future and therefore the country's armed forces could be correspondingly scaled back.The rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1930s, however, prompted politicians and military leaders to contemplate the frightening prospect of another global conflict. The Chiefs of Staff of the three Services were instructed to bring Britain's armed forces up to a standard where they could resist a revitalized and powerful aggressor, and to put in place plans for the defense of the country.When that war became a reality, the Chiefs of Staff then had to devise schemes to prevent a German invasion and, as the war progressed, to counter the bombers of the Luftwaffe and the flying bombs and rockets that followed.Reproduced here in its entirety is an official account drawn up by Captain G.C. Wynne of the Historical Section, Cabinet Office in 1948. Arranged in four parts, corresponding to the four different threats which developed with the changing situations of the war, it details the various plans made for Home Defence between 1939 and 1945.

Wynne, Graeme Chamley

From the warmer climate of the Mediterranean to the frozen wastes of Norway's Arctic islands, the Combined Operations organization was a persistent thorn in the side of Hitler's Third Reich. From mounting attacks against enemy-held coastlines with small teams of less than a dozen men, through to huge expeditions involving thousands of troops and other personnel, the headquarters of Combined Operations oversaw a wide variety of amphibious operations, all undertaken with the sole aim of tying down the Führer's forces.The raids, both big and small, were mounted as frequently as possible against anywhere boats could reach, keeping the Axis forces constantly on guard. The effects of the early Combined Operations far outweighed the resources committed to the raids, with an extra 30,000 German troops being sent to garrison Norway following the Commando raids, the largest of which included only around 500 men.The Combined Operations organization grew as the war progressed, and it was instrumental in the planning and training of troops and the provision of landing craft for the amphibious assaults which saw the capture of French North Africa, Operation Torch, and the invasion of Sicily, Operation Husky. Its culminating glory came in the summer of 1944, when the largest amphibious operation in history saw a quarter of a million men shipped across the English Channel to the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and its aftermath.Combined Operations is an official history that explores the full story of how the body was set up, its structure, and how it put together the hugely complex tri-service operations. Also detailed is how its headquarters staff operated, and how the planning section functioned - in 1942, for example, the planners envisaged one raid every month, which culminated in the disastrous Dieppe raid in August of that year.The Combined Operations organization was also instrumental in the development and provision of specialist landing craft and ships, and of the clearing of beach obstacles and mines - all of which is explored in detail.As might be expected, a large proportion of the book is dedicated to the various and fascinating projects in preparation for Operation Overlord which saw the culmination of everything that had been learned, in the successes and failures, throughout four years of amphibious warfare.

Combined Operations: An Official History of Amphibious Warfare Against Hitler’s Third Reich, 1940-1945

As dawn was breaking on the morning of 19 August 1942, Allied troops leapt ashore to the east and west of the French port of Dieppe. These were British commandoes accompanied by U.S. Rangers, tasked to silence the German gun batteries that flanked Dieppe. Other troops - the men of the 2nd Canadian Division - landed closer to Dieppe to capture the German positions that overlooked the port while, minutes later, the main body of the predominantly Canadian assaulting force began clambering from landing craft that had run onto the beach along Dieppe's seafront. This was the start of Operation Jubilee, the Allies' most ambitious assault upon Hitler's so-called Fortress Europe - it quickly became a bloodbath.The early months of 1942 had been difficult ones for Prime Minister Churchill. Stalin was demanding action in Western Europe to lessen the pressure of the 280 German divisions that were bearing down upon Stalingrad. Roosevelt was insisting that U.S. soldiers must start fighting the Germans in Europe, and Mackenzie King, the Canadian Prime Minister, desperately needed Canadian troops to become involved in the war to keep his politically divided nation together. Churchill's response to these measures was to authorize a 'super-raid' upon German-held territory, and the target selected by the planners was Dieppe.Apart from the notable success of No.4 Commando, the raid was a disaster with more than 50 per cent of the 6,086 men who landed being killed, wounded, or taken prisoner, plus all the Churchill tanks landed in support of the infantry suffered mechanical failure or were shelled into smoking wrecks. Yet amid the scenes slaughter, of confusion, and communication breakdown, were acts of almost unimaginable heroism, ingenuity, determination, and self-sacrifice to which the awarding of two Victoria Crosses paid a worthy tribute. There were also special missions associated with the raid, the details of which remained a closely guarded secret until long after the war.This book opens a window on Operation Jubilee, allowing the reader a rare insight into the death and destruction inflicted upon the Allied force during just a few hours, and of the damage done to Dieppe itself, with many of the photographs being taken by the victorious German defenders. The raid saw the heaviest casualty figures experienced by Canadians in the Second World War, and the photographs in this book are a stark reminder of that fateful day in late summer of 1942.

The Dieppe Raid: The Allies’ Assault Upon Hitler’s Fortress Europe, August 1942 (Images of War)

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