Author : Saul David
Publisher : Potomac Books
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 32,33 MB
Release : 1995
Category : History
ISBN :
On 20 September 1943, almost 200 members of the crack 50th (Tyne Tees) and 51st (Highland) Divisions were arrested for refusing repeated orders to join unfamiliar units fighting at the blood-soaked Salerno beachhead.
Author : Angus Konstam
Publisher : Pen and Sword
Page : 186 pages
File Size : 37,48 MB
Release : 2007-03-30
Category : History
ISBN : 184415517X
In September 1943, in the first weeks of the Allied campaign to liberate Italy, an Anglo-American invasion force of over 80,000 men was nearly beaten back into the sea by the German defenders in a ferocious ten-day battle at Salerno, south of Naples. This is the story of the tense, bitter struggle around the Salerno beach-head which decided the issue and changed the course of the campaign - for those ten critical days the fate of Italy hung in the balance. Using documentary records, memoirs and eyewitness accounts from all sides, Angus Konstam recreates every stage of the battle at every level as it happened, day by day, hour by hour. His painstakingly researched account offers a fresh perspective on a decisive battle that has been neglected by British and American historians in recent years, and it gives a fascinating insight into the realities of warfare in Europe 60 years ago.
Author : Keith Grint
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 18,70 MB
Release : 2021-04-15
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0192645404
Whenever leadership emerges within a group, there will be resistance to that leadership. Discontent may manifest in a number of ways, and action will always be determined by factors such as resource, numbers, time, space, and the legitimacy of the resistance. What, then, turns discontent into mutiny? Mutiny is often associated with the occasional mis-leadership of the masses by politically inspired hotheads, or a spontaneous and unusually romantic gesture of defiance against a uniquely overbearing military superior. In reality it is seldom either and usually has far more mundane origins, not in the absolute poverty of the subordinates but in the relative poverty of the relationships between leaders and the led in a military situation. The roots of mutiny lie in the leadership skills of a small number of leaders, and what transforms that into a constructive dialogue, or a catastrophic disaster, depends on how the leaders of both sides mobilise their supporters and their networks. Using contemporary leadership theory to cast a critical light on an array of mutinies throughout history, this book suggests we consider mutiny as a permanent possibility that is further encouraged or discouraged in some contexts. From mutinies in ancient Roman and Greek armies to those that toppled the German and Russian states and forced governments to face their own disastrous policies and changed them forever, this book covers an array of cases across land, sea, and air that still pose a threat to military establishments today. The critical theoretical line also puts into sharp relief the assumption that oftentimes people have little choice in how they respond to circumstances not of their own making. If mutineers could choose to resist what they saw as tyranny, then so can we.
Author : Saul David
Publisher :
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 41,81 MB
Release : 2018-10-25
Category :
ISBN : 9781729248195
'A detailed account... David is right to stress that the mutiny stemmed from the men's reluctance to fight amongst strangers rather than their reluctance to fight at all, and that many of the mutineers preserved a dignified and soldierly attitude throughout the proceedings.' Richard Holmes, TLS In late September 1943, almost 200 veterans of General Montgomery's Eighth Army were arrested for refusing repeated orders to join units of the US Fifth Army at the Salerno beachhead in southern Italy. Within six weeks, all but one had been found guilty of mutiny, their sentences ranging from five years' penal servitude to death. Fifty years on, Saul David became the first military historian to gain access to the court martial papers - normally restricted for 75 years. In addition to crucial defence documents and the testimony of eye-witnesses, these papers have enabled Saul David to expose: How poorly-equipped Eighth Army veterans, some still recovering from wounds and illness, were needlessly sent as reinforcements to Salerno when Fifth Army men were available. How transit camp authorities deliberately deceived the reinforcements as to their destination. How the defence team at the trial was forced, by lack of time, lack of witnesses and the hostility of the court, to offer a case based on no evidence and doomed to fail. How, after the humane intervention of the adjutant-general and the suspension of the sentences, insensitive staff officers and victimization in their new units caused many mutineers to desert. How, as a result of their convictions, the former war heroes were stripped of their campaign and gallantry medals and branded as cowards. Concluding that the men were victims of a terrible injustice, Mutiny at Salerno provides a compelling case for a free pardon. It is a book that no one interested in World War Two will want to miss. 'Mutiny' has been critically acclaimed: 'An important book' (Military Illustrated) 'Mr David has added considerably to the knowledge of the Salerno mutiny. This book should be read by anyone with an interest in the episode.' (Prof. Peter Rowe,RUSI Journal) 'A thoroughly enjoyable and interesting book and the author makes his case well' (Journal of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst) Saul David is Professor of War Studies at the University of Buckingham and the author of several critically acclaimed history books, including The Indian Mutiny: 1857 (short-listed for the Westminster Medal for Military Literature), Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency, Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879 (a Waterstones Military History Book of the Year) and, most recently, Victoria's Wars: The Rise of Empire.He has also written two best-selling historical novels set in the wars of the late 19th Century, Zulu Hart and Hart of Empire. An experienced broadcaster, he has presented and appeared in history programmes for all the major TV channels and is a regular contributor to Radio 4.
Author : G. R. Rubin
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 166 pages
File Size : 22,99 MB
Release : 1992-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781852850807
On 13 January 1942 hundreds of army and air force servicemen due to sail from Durban on the British troopship City of Canterbury refused to board the vessel in defiance of their commanders and of the British Military and Naval authorities in South Africa. Gerry Rubin sees this unusual and dramatic incident in the round. Besides examining the legal case itself, its precedents and its outcome, he looks at both the human factors involved and at the wider background. In so doing he deals with a little-mentioned aspect of the war but one familiar to hundreds of thousands of servicemen: the journey by troopship via the Cape to the Middle and Far East.
Author : Colin Simmons
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 43,55 MB
Release : 2019-06-22
Category : History
ISBN : 1445229358
As with most people of his generation, Fred Britt didn't really mention the war unless he was with fellow veterans. But when Colin Simmons found 20 hours of tapes that Fred had recorded of his experiences, after he died, 'I thought it would be nice if people could hear and read about his experiences, the story of the common man. On the tapes my Grandad asks if one of his grandchildren could do something with them. I had no idea what he did during the war. By doing this I am ensuring that his name and what he went through has not been forgotten.' Fred served with them through his training in the UK, over to Africa (at the end of El Alamein), the Invasion of Pantelleria, Sicily, & Italy, including the battles of the River Sangro, and Anzio. When Victory over Europe was declared he was then dispatched to Africa to begin training for the invasion of Japan. When that was averted he was then sent to the Middle East and was involved in the Palestine War. He returned to his family in Portsmouth in 1946.
Author : Saul David
Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton
Page : 409 pages
File Size : 12,52 MB
Release : 2018-02-22
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 1444708368
'A rattling good yarn... A compelling, sexy hero who could give Cornwell's Sharpe a run for his money' The Times on ZULU HART London 1888: George 'Zulu' Hart is the mixed-race illegitimate son of a Dublin actress and (he suspects) the Duke of Cambridge, commander-in-chief of the army. George has fought his way through wars in Africa and Afghanistan, won the VC and married his sweetheart, but he's also a gambler, short of money and in no position to turn down the job of 'minder' to Prince Albert Victor, second in line to the throne. George is to befriend the charming young cavalry officer and keep him out of trouble - no easy task, given that the Prince is a known target for Irish nationalist assassins, while his secret sexual orientation leaves him open to blackmail and scandal. To make matters worse, the Prince is also in the habit of heading out late at night to sample the dubious pleasures of the East End. Both outsiders in their different ways, perhaps the two men have more in common than they know, but when a series of horrible murders begins in Whitechapel, on just the nights the Prince has been there, George is drawn into an investigation which forces him to confront the unthinkable... A brilliant standalone adventure based on detailed research, this is a thrilling novel of suspense and a fascinating new twist on the Jack the Ripper story.
Author : Jonathan Fennell
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 967 pages
File Size : 11,35 MB
Release : 2019-01-24
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1107030951
Jonathan Fennell captures for the first time the true wartime experience of the ordinary soldiers from across the empire who made up the British and Commonwealth armies. He analyses why the great battles were won and lost and how the men that fought went on to change the world.
Author : Richard Mead
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 19,83 MB
Release : 2012-01-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1848844654
"First biography of the last 8th Army Commander, McCreery's record in WW2 was outstanding at Dunkirk, North Africa and Italy. He commanded the 8th Army from September 1944 onwards, was an outstanding horseman of his era and pioneer of armoured tactics"--Publisher's description.
Author : Saul David
Publisher : Hachette Books
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 50,47 MB
Release : 2019-09-03
Category : History
ISBN : 0316414514
Hailed as "masterly" (Wall Street Journal) and a "monumental achievement" (Douglas Brinkley), this book tells the riveting, true story of the group of elite US and Canadian soldiers who sacrificed everything to accomplish a crucial but nearly impossible WWII mission. In December of 1943, as Nazi forces sprawled around the world and the future of civilization hung in the balance, a group of highly trained U.S. and Canadian soldiers from humble backgrounds was asked to do the impossible: capture a crucial Nazi stronghold perched atop stunningly steep cliffs. The men were a rough-and-ready group, assembled from towns nested in North America's most unforgiving terrain, where many of them had struggled through the Great Depression relying on canny survival skills and the fearlessness of youth. Brought together by the promise to take part in the military's most elite missions, they formed a unique brotherhood tested first by the crucible of state-of-the-art training—including skiing, rock climbing, and parachuting—and then tragically by the vicious fighting they would face. The early battle in the Italian theatre for the strategic fort cost the heroic U.S.-Canadian commando unit—their first special forces unit ever assembled—enormous casualties. Yet the victory put them in position to continue their drive into Italy, setting the stage for the Allies' resurgence toward victory in WWII. The unit, with its vast range of capabilities and mission-specific exercises, became a model for the "Green Berets" and other special forces groups that would go on to accomplish America's most challenging undertakings behind enemy lines. Knitting first-hand accounts seamlessly into the narrative-drawing on interviews with surviving members and their families; the memoirs, letters, and diaries of Forcemen; and declassified documents in the American, Canadian, British, and German archives—The Force tells a story that is as deeply personal as it is inspiring.
