With the help of technical specifications, discover all the cannon used by the American forces campaigning between 1941 and 1945. Field artillery and anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns are presented from the technical and historical point of view. A chapter is devoted to radio vectors and another to artillery spotting. Undisputed specialist of 20th Century French Army history and former officer, Paul Gaujac served in the paratroopers, in the air transport command, at the nuclear submarines headquarters and then at that of the Army, finishing his career as head of the Historical Department of the Armée de Terre. He has published twenty works, three of them with Histoire & Collections. Modelers, military equipment enthusiasts and readers interested in World War II history will all find this an excellent new reference book.

During the preparation of the Normandy Invasion, the American high command realized soon enough that the 8th Air Force, which was wholly committed to strategic bombing, could not undertake the close support of ground units in this major offensive. The keystone of operation “Overlord” would indeed be mastery of the skies: tactical aviation had to be able to intervene quickly and precisely, and to operate from bases on the Continent. The heavy bombers, as they were dependent on large and permanent airfields, could not be called upon for such tasks. The concept of on-call tactical air support was therefore paramount in the Overlord plans and the 9th Air Force was transferred to England for this purpose. The hundreds of hitherto unpublished photos copied out from the pilots and crews’ albums, and the full-color reconstruction of their flying gear are a unique testimony to the day to day life of 9th Air Force personnel and the missions of combat crews. Let us look at these men’s faces, they belong to the Past but we owe them our Freedom. This book is dedicated to the memory of the airmen and soldiers of the Ninth Air Force who gave their all for the Liberation of Europe.

The wartime autobiography of one of the most colorful SOE operatives of his time. Sheppard's is a tale of extraordinary courage and bravery and of a man who ended his war in Nazi concentration camps but survived to tell the tale.TEXT IN FRENCH

A rarely frank account of the U.S. infantry experience in northern Europe, A Foot Soldier for Patton takes the reader from the beaches of Normandy through the giddy drive across France, to the brutal battles on the Westwall, in the Ardennes, and finally to the conquest of Germany itself. Patton’s army is best known for dashing armoured attacks, its commander combining the firepower of tanks with their historic lineage as cavalry. But when the Germans stood firm the greatest fighting was done by Patton’s long undersung infantry—the foot sloggers who were called upon to reduce enemy strongpoints, and who took the brunt of German counterattacks. Michael Bilder, a member of the 5th Infantry (“Red Diamond”division), played a unique role in the Third Army’s onslaught. A rifleman foremost, he was also a German-speaker, called upon for interrogations and special duties. Also a combat lifeguard, he played a key role in successive river crossings. An astute observer, he relates dozens of fascinating insights into the campaign, from dealing with German snipers to intoxicated Frenchwomen, as well as relaying the often morbid humor of combat. Laughter, for example, erupts among Bilder’s unit when a hated Graves Registration officer, known for robbing the pockets of the dead, gets his hand blown off by a German booby trap. When the 5th Infantry comes up against the fortress of Metz, the battle is detailed in all its horror, as is the sudden drive into the flank of the Bulge, where the Americans face their first winter battle against enemy veterans of Russia. Incidents common to the ordinary GI, but which seldom see the light of day in histories, are routinely related in this book, enriching the reader’s sense of the true reality of World War II combat.

Field guide to the landing Beaches - full of photographs.

This book covers the daily life of the ordinary German infantryman from 1914 to 1918, through “Michel”, the archetype of the German soldier, the national personification of the German people, the symbol of patriotic union. We see his life, his material surroundings, his joys, his hardships, the way he ate, expressed himself, his relationship to authority, mobilization, moving up to the front, life in the front line and the rear, the fighting, his assignment to the assault troops, care in hospital, combined with an examination of the way uniforms and equipment altered as the war went on. The context of the period is also particularly well rendered thanks to extracts from songs in vogue at the time and a host of anecdotes and accurate details which make this book such a unique collection.

From July 18 - 20, 1944, British and Canadian forces launched Operation Goodwood in order finally to capture Caen and push the Germans back towards the south, beyond Bourguébus. Among the armored divisions engaged in the fighting, the book follows the British 11th Armoured Division in particular. In four days, the English advanced over six miles and destroyed more than 100 German tanks but at a cost of 5,500 men and 413 tanks destroyed. Didier Lodieu is a recognized specialist of the Battle of Normandy and is the author of a number of works on this period. He gives us a different perspective on Operation Goodwood by following the Guards Armoured Division.The book contains numerous plans and maps and is richly illustrated with many often previously unpublished photographs together with full color armor profiles.

This book provides a comprehensive look at the air war over Europe during the climactic year of World War II, combining firsthand experience with expert analysis. The centerpiece of the work is a mission-by-mission diary of 1st Lieutenant Richard R. Ayesh, bombadier on a B-17 Flying Fortress, who flew with the 100th Bombardment Group, 13th Combat Wing of the 8th Air Force—the legendary “Bloody 100th. ” He was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, Croix de Guerre, Air Medal with Four Oak Leaf Clusters, and numerous other medals. This book follows Ayeth’s progress from his youth during the Great Depression in Wichita, Kansas, a city which at the time was rapidly becoming the air capital of the nation, to his arrival in England as a Lieutenant in a bomber crew assigned to assault the Third Reich. Once in Europe, the author provides a comprehensive look at the principles of American daylight strategic bombing, while relaying to the reader the overall military situation on the ground and in the air over Europe just after D-Day. This work is uniquely self-contained and covers all aspects of the Air War in a clear, concise, yet non-technical manner. Topics include photo-reconnaisance, munitions and bomb types, combatant aircraft characteristics, fighter tactics, bomber tactics, bomber formations, strategic target selection, combatant and defensive radars, counter-measures (and counter-counter measures), logistics, ground crews, and air scouts. The author, interweaving his analysis with the urgent firsthand diary of a participant in the Bloody 100th, describes the air war in full fashion, in the process revealing a number of insights. Throughout 35 combat missions, the unaltered combat diary of Lt. Ayesh is presented mission-by-mission, punctuated by tragedy and unbelievable heroism, with explanations and commentary on the significance of the events and actions described en route. The result is one of the most frank and exciting works on the air war over Europe to date.There is no varnishing of words in this book, either through the diary or the analysis that accompanies it. Instead, after the gallant Lt. Ayesh is followed on his perilous return home in U-boat infested waters, the book assesses the effectiveness of US strategic daylight bombing in crippling and ultimately paralyzing the Nazi war machine. Finally, the complex moral issues raised by area bombing, city bombing and the controversies surrounding them are explored, all with 21st century implications.EDWARD M. SION, Ph.D., a native of Kansas, is currently Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Villanova University. He has held visiting positions at Arizona State, the University of Toulouse and the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute. A recipient of numerous grants from the National Science Foundation and NASA, he has authored or co-authored 185 peer-reviewed publications, primarily on the end stages of stellar evolution. He currently resides with his wife and two children in Radnor, PA.

Diving vertically at the target, in the same direction the bombs will take, was an incredible bombing technique developed by the British and put into action in World War II. Bombers would dive and release the bombs very close to the target at high speed, with high risk, to accurately bomb relatively small and/or moving targets with ease.This riveting and highly detailed account of high speed aerial combat is the result of 40 years of intensive research and provides a complete history of the formidable dive bombers from World War 2. Containing an unparalled collection of data on infamous aircraft like the German Stuka, the American Dauntless, the Japanese Aichi D3A1 “Val,” the Soviet PE-2, and numerous others, Dive Bomber is the ultimate guide to this daring machine, enhanced by numerous maps, photographs, tables and diagrams, providing he most accurate and comprehensive guide ever written on this subject.

On the 22nd April 1915, towards the end of the afternoon, a strange yellow-green cloud appeared over no man’s land and drifts on the wind towards the French lines in the Langemarck-Pilckem sector, held by the 45th Division and the 87th French Territorial Division. Within just a few minutes, the French troops were suffocated under a cloud of chlorine gas and what few survivors remained were in full flight towards the rear. The Germans, meeting with little or no resistance, captured the Pilckem Ridge and right up to the Yser canal, opening a gaping breach between the French and Canadian lines. This volume retraces events as they unfold, as well as describing the lead-up to the battle and its immediate consequences. A large majority of the photographs which illustrate this volume have never been previously published.

This book recalls the story of 135 Americans grouped together in a company of paratroopers of the 82nd American Airborne from their enlistment to the end of the Battle of Normandy. Throughout this book, you will discover what stirred them to enlist in this new force, yet unknown even in America : the paratroopers. After the psychological shock provoked by Pearl Harbour on 7th December 1941, this unit, like many others, was created from nothing. You will share with these men their daily life during their military training in the United States through their own accounts, most of them published here for the first time, as well as their life in England in early 1944 whilst awaiting operation 'Overlord'; a plan which was kept secret to the very last minute, even from the paratroopers. Through original accounts, you will take part in the final preparations on the airfield tarmac at Folkingham, in England just before they boarded the C47 aircraft. You will board with them onto the nine C47's assigned to their company, from lift-off to the great night jump onto drop zone 'N'; somewhere in the middle of Normandy among German flak fire. You will take this jump with them, which was the first for almost all of the paratroopers, and alas, the last for many. You will take an active part in the regroupment attempts on the 'high spot' of &'Hill 30';. You will stay with them until the 12th of July 1944, date marking the end of the Battle of Normandy, at a cost of many deaths and casualties. You will understand the organisation of a parachute regiment, a battalion command company and an air transport group during the Battle of Normandy. This book is far from a trivial official report. It is the human testimony of simple soldiers, many of whom have awaited their old-age before telling their tale, for they simply didn't have the strength to tell it earlier. Certain veterans mentioned in this book have deceased before its publication, but the account of their achievements will live on in history.

In Normandy, over 100 000 combatants from 14 different nations lie in 28 War-cemeteries on land given by France in perpetuity. These are incomparable enclaves of remembrance. They symbolise both presence and absence : the ever present cost in human lives, the absence of all those for whom so many still grieve. An all-inclusive guide, GARDENS OF REMEMBRANCE describes the origin of each War Cemetery, its surroundings, characteristics and geographical situation. The reader will find in this guide the story of those whose lives were taken from them, often before the age of twenty. An indispensible work for those who seek to find, remember or ponder where feelings rather than words, pass on the message forever present among the Fallen.

In french and english Gold was a D-day landing beach that stretched across seven kilometres of sand and dunes, which at low tide spanned almost a kilometre towards the waterline. By June 6th 1944, the German defence troops of Fortress Europe had transformed it into a series of walls and anti-tank trenches flanked by concrete fortifications protecting formidable guns. The coastal area was flooded and dotted with mines and booby-traps. The beach area extended between the cliff at Saint Côme de Fresné to the west, and the battery at Mont-Fleury to the east. The invasion beach sectors of Item, Jig, King, and Love were located between these two points, through the hamlet of Asnelles to Ver sur Mer (La Rivière). One hour after H-hour (7:30 am), British troops proceeded inland after a show of force at Mont Fleury and the Commandos’ feat of arms at Port en Bessin, two shining moments for the British Army and Navy. Gold beach was stormed on June 6th 1944 by British soldiers who had fought victoriously in 1942 in the North African desert, and General Montgomery would later hail Gold Beach as the most successful of Normandy’s five D-Day beaches.

From the decision to land in Normandy up to the closing of the "Falaise Gap" this work describes the different phases of the Battle : strategy, diversion, the multiple operations undertaken, the sectors chosen for landing, the Armed Forces and their mission in each case. Maps trace the Army Corps and Units and their advance in the course of the Battle. A concentrated and instructive work on the main stages of the Battle of Normandy.

On the 6th of June 1944, after aerial and naval bombings of unparalleled violence, the allied troops boarded the barges that took them to their respective beaches where the Germans troops, entrenched behind the "Atlantic Wall", were laying in wait…Throughout the preparation of the D-day landings, and during the terrible land, sea and aerial combat that was to bathe Normandy in blood and fire, troops of all nationalities demonstrated the most outstanding courage and determination and abnegation..

This work offers thirty or so concise but precise biographies of French World War I Generals. All ranks of generals rub shoulders, from the simple brigadier to the generals destined to become Maréchals. Some are famous; others renowned in their time are now unknown to the general public. The reader discovers the different careers, both typical and unusual, which enabled these men to reach this rank; there is also information which goes against the grain of generally accepted ideas. All the generals are mentioned, from the generals of the "14 Generation" to those of 1918, who advanced because of the conflict; also discussed are the various sackings, the different contexts and the spirit of the times; the clans, the different schools, skills and negligence, political affinities and their influence; the generals who fell at the front and the true faces of men praised or reviled by History, all with anecdotes and details still as yet unpublished.This study, the first of its type, is captivating from beginning to end and is complemented by unpublished pictures; it enables the reader to put faces to the names of the main protagonists of the Great War; it's all about the men from all walks of life who, far from forming a rigid caste like their counterparts on the other side of the Rhine, reflected the diversity of French society at the time.An undisputed specialist of 20th Century French Army history and a former officer, Paul Gaujac served in the paratroopers, in the air transport command, at the nuclear submarine headquarters and then at that of the Army, finishing his career as head of the Historical Department of the Armée de Terre. He has published twenty works, three of them with Histoire & Collections.