Assaults from the Sky


Book Description

This is the second volume of a comprehensive five part work on D-Day that includes a multitude of personal military accounts from both Allied and German Aviation personnel who were there. Overlord began with an assault by more than 23,000 airborne troops, 15,500 of them American, behind enemy lines to soften up the German troops and to secure key objectives. 6,600 paratroopers of the US 101st Screaming Eagles Division in 633 C-47s and 83 gliders and 6,396 paratroopers of the US 82nd All American Division in 1,101 C-47s and 427 gliders were dropped over the neck of the Cotentin peninsula. By the end of the operation, the list of casualties was extensive. But 101st Airborne Division linked up with the US 4th Infantry Division beach landings at Pouppeville, the most southerly exit off Utah Beach and the 82nd secured the area north of Ste-Mre-glise after fierce fighting and drove the enemy north, considerably delaying the German 243rd Infantry Division from contacting the Allied beach assault force. This important episode within the wider history of D-Day is enlivened in classic Bowman fashion, featuring both extensive historical notes as well as deeply personal accounts of endurance and individual gallantry.




Attack from the Sky


Book Description

United States Navy and the Korean War. Fourth in the series. Focuses on naval aviation in the Korean War. Describes the prewar political climate in Washington. Covers: rules of engagement, bombing techniques, close air support missions, on board recovery, and air-to-air combat.




Assault From the Sky


Book Description

The introduction of Airborne forces revolutionised military tactics and thinking throughout the twentieth century. In this exciting edition, ex-paratrooper John Weeks presents a history of the Airborne forces across the globe, studying the generals, the planners and parachutists, as well as the aircraft, gliders, weapons and helicopters, alongside a look at their background and their most famous actions, such as Crete, Arnhem, D-Day and the crossing the Rhine. Within each chapter Weeks presents a detailed analyses of the main airborne forces. Airborne raids caught popular imagination from early in the Second World War, when the Germans carried out daring and alarming raids. The assault is fast and dynamic, and most of all, unpredictable, which in the early 1940s led all participants of the war to develop airborne forces of their own.




Assault from the Sky


Book Description

“Action-packed . . . he brings the reader artfully through the fog of war with clarity” (20th Century Aviation Magazine). Vietnam has often been called our “first helicopter war,” and indeed, the US Marine Corps, as well as Army, had to feel its way forward during the initial combats. But by 1967, the combat was raging across South Vietnam, with confrontational battles against the NVA on a scale comparable to the great campaigns of WWII. In 1968, when the Communists launched their mammoth counteroffensive, the Marines were forced to fight on all sides, with the helicopter giving them the additional dimension that proved decisive in repelling the enemy. The author of this book, a Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient who has also worked at the USMC History Division and National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, uses his experiences as a company commander to bring the story to life by weaving personal accounts, after-action reports, and official documents into a compellingly readable narrative of service and sacrifice by Marine pilots and crewmen. The entire story of the war is depicted through the prism of Marine helicopter operations, from the first deployments to support the Army of the Republic of Vietnam against the Viet Cong through the rapid US buildup to stop the North Vietnamese Army, until the final withdrawal from our Embassy. “Superlative research.” —Leatherneck




Assault from the Sky


Book Description

This work describes U.S. Marine Corps helicopter operations, including their actions and evolution, throughout the Vietnam War. The book is divided into parts spanning the three stages of the Corps’ combat deployment: “Buildup (1962–1966),” “Heavy Combat (1967–1969),” and “The Bitter End (1975).” Each part includes chapters devoted to “telling the story” of Marine helicopters from the individual to the strategic level. Vietnam has often been called our “first helicopter war,” and indeed the U.S. Marine Corps, as well as Army, had to feel its way forward during the initial combats. But by 1967 the combat was raging across South Vietnam, with confrontational battles against the NVA, on a scale comparable to the great campaigns of WWII. In 1968, when the Communists launched their mammoth counteroffensive, the Marines were forced to fight on all sides, with the helicopter giving them the additional dimension that proved decisive in repelling the enemy. The author, a Vietnam veteran, uses his experiences as a company commander to bring the story to life by weaving personal accounts, after-action reports and official documents into a remarkably readable narrative of service and sacrifice by Marine pilots and crewmen. The entire story of the war is here depicted through the prism of Marine helicopter operations, from the first deployments to support the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) against the Viet Cong through the rapid United States buildup to stop the North Vietnamese Army, until the final withdrawal from our Embassy. Colonel Dick Camp, a Purple Heart recipient, served 26 years in the U.S. Marine Corps before retiring in 1988. Upon retirement he served as the Deputy Director, U.S. Marine Corps History Division and as the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, Vice President for Museum Operations at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, Quantico, Virginia. Currently residing in Fredericksburg, Virginia, he is the author of ten books and over 100 magazine articles on various military related subjects.




Assault from the Sky


Book Description

Presents a history of the significant World War II battles that involved airborne troops, showing the tactics they used, the problems they encountered, and the results they got.




Half the Sky


Book Description

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation—the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. From the bestselling authors of Tightrope, two of our most fiercely moral voices With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope. They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS. Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty. Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.




Broadcasting the Civil War in El Salvador


Book Description

During the 1980s war in El Salvador, Radio Venceremos was the main news outlet for the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), the guerrilla organization that challenged the government. The broadcast provided a vital link between combatants in the mountains and the outside world, as well as an alternative to mainstream media reporting. In this first-person account, "Santiago," the legend behind Radio Venceremos, tells the story of the early years of that conflict, a rebellion of poor peasants against the Salvadoran government and its benefactor, the United States. Originally published as La Terquedad del Izote, this memoir also addresses the broader story of a nationwide rebellion and its international context, particularly the intensifying Cold War and heavy U.S. involvement in it under President Reagan. By the war's end in 1992, more than 75,000 were dead and 350,000 wounded—in a country the size of Massachusetts. Although outnumbered and outfinanced, the rebels fought the Salvadoran Army to a draw and brought enough bargaining power to the negotiating table to achieve some of their key objectives, including democratic reforms and an overhaul of the security forces. Broadcasting the Civil War in El Salvador is a riveting account from the rebels' point of view that lends immediacy to the Salvadoran conflict. It should appeal to all who are interested in historic memory and human rights, U.S. policy toward Central America, and the role the media can play in wartime.




Airborne Landing to Air Assault


Book Description

Many books have been written about military parachuting, in particular about famous parachute operations like Crete and Arnhem in the Second World War and notable parachute units like the British Parachute Regiment and the US 101st Airborne Division, but no previous book has covered the entire history of the use of the parachute in warfare. That is why Nikolaos Theotokis’s study is so valuable. He traces in vivid detail the development of parachuting over the last hundred years and describes how it became a standard tactic in twentieth-century conflicts. As well as depicting a series of historic parachute operations all over the world, he recognizes the role of airmen in the story, for they were the first to use the parachute in warfare when they jumped from crippled aeroplanes in combat conditions Adapting the parachute for military purposes occurred with extraordinary speed during the First World War and, by the time of the Second World War, it had become an established technique for special operations and offensive actions on a large scale. The range of parachute drops and parachute-led attacks was remarkable, and all the most dramatic examples from the world wars and lesser conflicts are recounted in this graphic and detailed study. The role played by parachute troops as elite infantry is also a vital part of the narrative, as is the way in which techniques of air assault have evolved since the 1970s.




Strike From the Sky


Book Description

Chronicles the history of battlefield air attack from 1911, when the airplane was first used in war, to the end of World War II.