Swimming Shermans


Book Description

The Sherman DD (Duplex Drive) tank was a brilliant innovation; the design and development of a tank that could float and even 'swim' in water was controversial. Each tank was enveloped in a waterproofed canvas screen, launched at sea from landing craft and then 'swam' to shore, where the screens were deflated, allowing the tanks to operate as fighting vehicles. This book discusses the Sherman DD's many variants, including the prototype Valentine DD tank and examines the successes and tragic failures on the beaches of Normandy and further into North-West Europe, including the challenge of crossing the River Rhine.




Swimming Shermans


Book Description

The Sherman DD (Duplex Drive) tank was a brilliant innovation; the design and development of a tank that could float and even 'swim' in water was controversial. Each tank was enveloped in a waterproofed canvas screen, launched at sea from landing craft and then 'swam' to shore, where the screens were deflated, allowing the tanks to operate as fighting vehicles. This book discusses the Sherman DD's many variants, including the prototype Valentine DD tank and examines the successes and tragic failures on the beaches of Normandy and further into North-West Europe, including the challenge of crossing the River Rhine.




World War II Tank Spotter's Guide


Book Description

A beautifully illustrated pocket guide to 40 of the most iconic World War II tanks. From the rapid blitzkrieg assaults to the great battles in North Africa and desperate clashes on the Eastern Front, tanks played a vital role in World War II, becoming one of the key components of the 'combined arms' philosophy of warfare. But how well do you know the most famous and infamous tanks of the period, and how their speed, armour and armament compare? Which Soviet tank proved impervious to German firepower? Which stopgap design turned out to the one of the best-armed tanks of its day? The World War II Tank Spotter's Guide answers all of these questions and more, providing essential information on 40 legendary tanks, such as the Panther, Sherman, and T-34. Featuring full-colour artwork to aid recognition, as well as all the details you need to compare their performance, this is the perfect pocket guide to the Allied and Axis tanks of World War II.




Sand & Steel


Book Description

Part of a trilogy covering the last year of fighting in the European theater of World War II, and in time for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Sand and Steel gives us the full story of the Allied invasion of France.




Churchill's American Arsenal


Book Description

Churchill's American Arsenal reveals how the technology, know-how, and production power behind the victorious Allied partnership during World War II extended beyond the battlefront and onto the home-front. Many weapons and inventions were credited with winning World War II, most famously in the assertion that the atomic bomb "ended the war, but radar won the war." What is less well known is that both airborne radar and the atomic bomb were invented in British laboratories, but built by Americans. The same holds true for many other American weapons credited with the Allied victory: the P-51 Mustang fighter, the Liberty ship, the proximity fuze, the Sherman tank, and even penicillin all began with British scientists and planners, but were designed and mass-produced by American engineers and factory workers. Churchill's American Arsenal chronicles this vital but often fraught relationship between British inventiveness and American technical might. At first, leaders in each nation were deeply skeptical that such a relationship could ever be successful. But despite initial misunderstandings, petty jealousies, and continuing differences over priorities, scientists and engineers on both sides of the Atlantic found new and often ingenious ways to work together, jointly creating the weapons that often became the decisive factor in the strategy for victory that Churchill had laid out during the earliest days of the conflict. While no single invention won the war, without any one of them, the war could have been lost.




Churchill's Army


Book Description

Winston Churchill, Britain's iconic war time Prime Minister, is inextricably linked with the victorious British Army of 1939 to 1945. Yet hindsight, propaganda, and the imperative of the defeat of Hitler and Imperial Japan, have led to a tendency to oversimplify the image of Churchill the war leader, and 'his' Army. For whilst Churchill was undeniably a towering statesman, his relations with both the Army and War Office were ambiguous and altered considerably not only with the progress of the Second World War, but over decades. In this comprehensive book, Stephen Bull examines every aspect of the British Army during the Second World War, and considers in detail the strengths and weaknesses of an organisation that was tested to its limits on many fronts but made an immense contribution to the successful Allied outcome. The book explores the structure of military power from the men who ran it, the Generals to the detail of the regiments they commanded. It looks at the uniforms the soldiers wore and the badges and insignia they bore on their uniforms. The weaponry Churchill's army used is discussed in detail, from small arms including rifles, bayonets, grenades, carbines and machine guns to the massed firepower of the artillery along with the increasing sophistication of tanks and other military vehicles during the period. Finally the role of auxiliary and special forces and their contribution to the campaign is considered. The comprehensive text is enhanced by more than 200 contemporary photographs.




The Summer Sherman Loved Me


Book Description

A coming-of-age novel set in the early 1960s in Minneapolis, The Summer Sherman Loved Me is an honest look at the struggles of a twelve-year-old girl that transcends time. As Margaret tries to sort out her strained relationship with her mother and her feelings for her neighbor who claims to love her, readers join her in her journey discovering what it means to grow up.




D-Day: The Decision to Launch


Book Description

The little-known drama of the last-minute decision to launch the invasion of Normandy—excerpted from the internationally bestselling D-Day: The Battle for Normandy In D-Day: The Decision to Launch, excerpted from Antony Beevor’s bestselling book D-Day: The Battle for Normandy, readers get the little-known story of how the difficult decision was made to launch the Allied invasion of France on June 6, 1944. The stakes could not have been higher: if Operation Overlord were to fail, it would be a crushing blow to the Allies, a huge loss of both men and equipment. The decision of when to launch rested with supreme commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower, but it hinged on one factor: the weather. If there was too much cloud cover, the Allied bombers wouldn’t be able to provide air support, and if the seas were too rough, the landing craft would be swamped. It fell to one man to predict the weather: Dr. James Stagg, the head of the meteorological team at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. This riveting selection from D-Day, praised by Time as “a vibrant work of history that honors the sacrifice of tens of thousands of men and women,” tells the fascinating inside story of one of the most important decisions of World War II.




Caen Controversy


Book Description

On 6 June 1944 British, American, Canadian and French troops landed in Normandy by air and sea. This was one of the key moments of the Second World War, a long-anticipated invasion which would, ultimately, lead to the defeat of Nazi Germany. By the day’s end a lodgment had been effected and Operation OVERLORD was being hailed as a success. In reality the assault had produced mixed results and at certain points along the French coastline the position was still far from certain. The key Allied objectives had also not been captured during the first day of the fighting and this failure would have long-term consequences. Of the priority targets, the city of Caen was a vital logistical hub with its road and rail networks plus it would also act as a critical axis for launching the anticipated follow-on attacks against the German defenders. As a result an entire brigade of British troops was tasked with attempting its capture but their advance culminated a few miles short. This new book examines this significant element of the wider D-Day operation and provides a narrative account of the operations conducted by 3 British Infantry Division. It examines in some detail the planning, preparation and the landings that were made on the beaches of Sword sector. To do this it considers the previously published material and also draws upon archival sources many of which have been previously overlooked to identify key factors behind the failure to capture the city. Its publication coincides with the 70th anniversary of the Allied liberation of France.




Bawdy Madonna


Book Description

Angie Lanier, the heroine of Kathleen MacArthur's new novel, travels a world away from her Midwest background, where she absorbs a mysterious spell cast upon her by a Balinese priest. Her efforts to learn more about her father prompts flashbacks of her confusion between the values of her modest mother and her outrageous grandmother. Angie's relationship with a free-spirited young congressman, the idol who dominated her childhood fantasies, is immediately jeopardized when she meets a highly principled and compassionate Oxford don. She experiences a life very different from her promising career as a society tattler for a Washington D.C. magazine. With wry insight and moments of randy sex, MacArthur invites her readers to share Angie's efforts to resolve the challenges imposed by the 60's sexual revolution, plus her discovery of a horrific family secret. The novel also includes some not so subtle hints of reincarnation.