“The Devil’s Playground” was anything south of the second canal to the men of Charlie Company’s 2nd Platoon—Two Charlie—during their 2009–2010 deployment to the Arghandab River Valley in Afghanistan. The valley had been a notorious hot spot throughout history, with the Russians unable to maintain a foothold in the 80s and Coalition forces now facing the same problem during Operation Enduring Freedom.The Two Charlie paratroopers deployed as part of the 2-508th PIR, Two Fury, of the 82nd Airborne Division, but always seemed to be on their own. They started their deployment attached to Canadian forces in Panjwai but were shortly moved into the Arghandab with one of the battalion’s biggest Areas of Operation. They inherited a bare bones outpost that they worked hard to turn into the defendable position known as COP Tynes, while patrolling the grape fields and orchards of the valley. Little did they know that when the leaves returned to the valley in the spring, so too would the fighting.As the fighting picked up in the valley, the men of Two Charlie continued to sustain casualties as they fought day in and day out. There was never a dull moment in the Arghandab, and the fact that Two Charlie had to patrol, act as a quick reaction force, and secure their outpost on their own ensured that they never stopped. The men were constantly brought to their breaking point as their numbers dwindled and the fighting intensified. The men all started to believe that they weren’t going to make it out of the valley alive. The one rule of the valley would be proved time and time again: in the end, the valley always wins.This book shares the story of the men of Two Charlie and their fight for survival in the Arghandab River Valley, the Devil’s Playground.

A full account of the Wilderness to the James River, including Grant's rise to high command, the condition of the armies going into the critical 1864 campaign, a deep look at the commanders on both sides, and the strategy of the campaign from both perspectives. The study is combat, strategy, and tactics from the first day of action until the last, when Grant—unable to capture Richmond, but now south and east of the capital—builds a long bridge and crosses the James River to attack Petersburg. Illustrated by photographs and excellent maps, it will conclude with a note about visiting the battlefields, the casualties, the treatment of wounded, and the burial of the dead.

An American of Japanese ancestry is born in Hawaii just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He learns the value of an extended family and mentorship and applies those lessons throughout life. He joins the Army where he is drawn into intelligence and Special Forces where he embodies the life of a quiet professional and his watchword is “Intoku,” a Japanese word that means doing good in secret. He rises through the ranks and receives a direct commission as a Captain. He is recruited by the legendary Colonel Charlie Beckwith to become a founding member of the Delta Force, an elite special operations unit. He leads a roadblock team on the ill-fated mission to rescue American hostages in Tehran in 1980 and destroys a fuel truck from penetrating the roadblock.After retiring from the Army, he continued to contribute to national security against terrorism, extremism, and for global special operations and nuclear security. Part memoir of a remarkable life, this book will also be a valuable addition to Special Operations history as well as a guide to navigating extreme situations. The book pays tribute to those that have mentored him, along with those who embody the “Intoku” code and shows the value of mentorship and helping others succeed.

“The entry of daggers into the Forum” is an expression that identifies two precise historical moments: when twotribunes of the plebs—brothers Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Caius Sempronius Gracchus—were murdered in Rome in 133 and 122 BC amidst bloody riots. These deaths and subsequent events marked the rupture of the constitutional order in the Roman Republic and the beginning of a political crisis. Thus began a political process that would lead, over the span of three generations, to the end of the res publica, a transition of endless violence, ransacking, and destruction, including three bitter and bloody civil wars. Internal politics in Rome in this period was fueled by social conflict, the confrontation between two political alignments—the Optimates and the Populares—each headed by an eminent figure and was characterized by sectarianism and (factional) intolerance. It was characterized by speeches delivered in the Senate, in the streets, and in the courts with solemnity and intensity but equally by the daggers that flashed in the hands of conspirators and assassins; by street riots, with thousands of victims; by real or alleged coups d’état, with ferocious mass repressions; by summary executions; by victims abandoned to the fury of the mob; of widespread civil wars whose battles intertwined with those against enemies abroad; manhunts, horrendous crimes; the system of legalized killings that aimed at the annihilation of political opponents known as proscriptions; corruption; and brutal and mass killings.This book discusses this tumultuous period in Rome between 133 and 78 BC, covering the plots of the Senate of Rome against the Gracchi and their violent ends, the mysterious death of Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, destroyer of Carthage and of Numantia, the ferocious lynching of Lucius Apuleius Saturninus, the seditious tribune of the plebs, the civil war between Marius and Sulla, including the siege and capitulation of Rome and Marius’ reign of terror, ending with the definitive victory and proscriptions of Sulla.

The wartime interest in Greenland was a direct result of its vital strategic position—if you wanted to predict the weather in Europe, you had to have men in place on the vast, frozen island. The most celebrated example of Greenland’s crucial contribution to Allied meteorological services is the correct weather forecast in June 1944 leading to the decision to launch the invasion of Normandy. In addition, both before and after D-Day a stream of weather reports from Greenland was essential for the Allied ability to carry out the bombing offensive against Germany. The Germans were aware of the value of Greenland from a meteorological point of view, and they repeatedly attempted to establish semi-permanent weather stations along the sparsely populated east coast of the island. This resulted in an epic cat-and-mouse game, in which US Coast Guard personnel assisted by a celebrated sledge patrol manned by Scandinavian adventurers struggled to locate and eliminate German bases before they could make any difference. It's a story seldom told, but the fact remains that Greenland was the only part of the North American continent in which German troops maintained a presence throughout almost the entirety of the war.At the same time, the US entry into the war triggered an enormous American effort to hastily establish the necessary infrastructure in the form of harbors and air bases that enabled Greenland to form a vital link in the effort to send men and supplies across the North Atlantic in the face of stern opposition from the German Navy. While Allied ships were passing through Greenland waters in massive numbers, planes were plying the so-called Snowball Route from Greenland over Iceland to the British Isles.This gave rise to number of tragic incidents, such as the sinking of the transport ship SS Dorchester off Greenland in February 1942, leading to the deaths of 674 out of 904 men on board, including the “Four Chaplains”—representing the Methodists, the Reformed Church, the Catholic Church, and Judaism—who gave up their life jackets to save others. In July the same year, in one of the most massive, forced landings in history, “the lost squadron,” six P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft and two Flying Fortresses, crash-landed on a Greenland glacier.

An 18-year-old in the United States is still barred from buying alcohol, acquiring a pilot’s license, or stepping into a casino. Yet, astonishingly, they can be enlisted in the military, trained in weapon handling, and deployed to a war zone. On the other side of the age spectrum, individuals over 39, regardless of their skills or experience, often encounter insurmountable obstacles to enlistment. Break this mold and meet Lanny Snodgrass, who, at the age of 63, became the oldest American to join the Army and complete officer basic training. It was 2003, the Iraq War had just started, and the Pentagon, grappling with a severe shortage of military doctors, momentarily relaxed age requirements. Recognizing an opportunity, Dr. Snodgrass stepped in to serve.With around four decades of experience treating veterans and active-duty military personnel, many teenagers grappling with psychiatric illnesses such as PTSD, depression, and suicidality, Dr. Snodgrass bears unique insight into the perils of sending young soldiers to war. He has seen firsthand the walking wounded, those who have served in multiple deployments and are often on the brink of despair.This book represents a culmination of these experiences. As a late-joining physician and one of the leading experts on PTSD, Dr. Snodgrass poses critical questions about the limits of service and whether these age constraints should be maintained or relaxed. He scrutinizes the age limits on military service, addressing the antiquated criteria that have remained largely unchanged for over a century. If we continue to send our young to war while overlooking the potential of older, willing Americans, tragic consequences will persist. It’s not an overstatement, then, to say that Duty Calls presents a life-and-death proposition on how to build a more resilient, professional military force.

In September 1943, as America began advancing from its foothold on Guadalcanal, a young American airman was lost in heavy weather over the South Pacific on what was expected to be a routine flight. In examining that loss and the events leading up to a rescue attempt on an island in the South Pacific, and bringing together societies utterly alien to each other, Survival in the South Pacific brings together the big themes of the Pacific War.The American lieutenant and his comrades had been swept from their homes, trained at speed for war, and dispatched to one of the remotest places on the globe. American war plans in place when Pearl Harbor was attacked poorly reflected the capabilities of its military, and the limits imposed by America’s far-flung and indefensible territories. The “Germany First” policy had resulted in a deeply uncertain future for forces in the South Pacific and Australia—the United States was unprepared for the global war that came to it in late 1941, even as the pipeline of men and materiel began to fill. Young Allied and Japanese aviators, sailors, and soldiers, were not the only ones thrown into the swirling maelstrom of war that had engulfed the Pacific—the indigenous islanders were also immersed in a new reality. In bringing together individual stories of men at war, this book gives a new perspective on the Pacific War.

"I was a guest of Adolf!"This was how Ernest Focht responded when asked about his wartime experience.Ernest Virgil Focht was born and brought up in Tyrone, Pennsylvania. He was drafted into the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in April 1941 and assigned to the 105th Infantry Battalion (Anti-Tank). After training he participated in the Carolina Maneuvers. The National Guard unit was redesignated as the 805th Tank Destroyer Battalion, being deployed to North Africa in January 1943.Ernie was captured in his first action in February 1943, remaining a prisoner of war until May 1945 when the Russian Army liberated his camp. During these 27 months he was held in five different POW camps, and was forced to march between camps in the depths of the 1944–45 winter. Using his wartime diaries and letters home, this book offers an insight into the 805th Tank Destroyer Battalion, and the experiences of prisoners of war.

During Vietnam, the basic role of the USMC gunship squadrons was to protect the transport helicopters during medevac missions, troop insertions and extractions, resupply missions, and supporting the Marines on the ground during operations and patrols. Basically, whenever the Marines or South Vietnam friendlies got in trouble the gunships were dispatched to assist them.As a gunner, and later crew chief, Pete Greene flew hundreds of missions on Huey gunships – flying practically every day with different pilots and gunners. In this vivid memoir he recalls many of those missions, including providing gunship support for MACV-SOG in and around I Corps area, working with Marine Recon, and undertaking frequent, perilous resupply and medevac and medevac support missions.

An all-round account of the actions of Company G of the 163rd Infantry Regiment, 41st Division, U.S. Army, during World War II in the Pacific. The narrative follows the company from training in the Pacific Northwest, to Australia, New Guinea, the Philippines, and onto Japan. Each of the actions in which Company G participated is described at every level—divisional, regimental, battalion, company, and individual—to show how strategies and decisions made at the highest levels were experienced by individual soldiers.At the heart of the book are the stories of some of the men of Company G, including Jack Anderson, who had been with the 163rd as a National Guardsman before the war and served through the occupation of Japan; Doyle Bruce, a draftee from Texas who joined the U.

Most modern books and films glamorize World War II airborne soldiers as troopers leaping into the night to descend by parachute into combat. Much less often considered is the role of glider forces. Glider troops lacked the panache and special distinctions of paratroopers, despite their critical role in airborne warfare. Likewise, World War II ground combat is characterized as a combined arms fight of infantry and armor, backed up with field artillery; by comparison the role played by specialized, supporting arms has received scant attention. The 80th AAA Battalion was a glider outfit, providing anti-aircraft defense and anti-tank capability to the division's three infantry regiments as battlefield conditions dictated. Elements of the battalion fought in Italy, Normandy, Holland and the Battle of the Bulge, making combat glider assaults during both Operation Neptune and Operation Market Garden. The exploits of the men of the 80th tend to be obscured as commanders maneuvered the batteries wherever their special skills were needed on the battlefield, with no regiment to call a permanent home.The 80th AAA battalion was a hybrid unit. While its members were considered Coast Artillery (the branch responsible for defending ground formations from air attack during WWII), they fought alongside parachute and glider infantry, most often providing direct fire, anti-armor support with 57mm/6 pounder cannons. While field artillery, both parachute and glider, established their gunlines some distance behind infantry units to provide indirect fire support, the men of the 80th fought face to face with the enemy, alongside their infantry brothers.

For nearly half a century, the battleship was the most powerful weapon on the ocean, deployed by the US Navy and many other fleets. However, their time seemed to be at an end when Japanese carrier-based aircraft destroyed so many at Pearl Harbor in 1941, ushering in the age of the aircraft carrier. Nevertheless, US battleships continued to serve with distinction in various roles throughout World War II and during the Cold War. Naval historian Ingo Bauernfeind tells the dramatic yet successful story of the US Navy’s battleships and battle cruisers by class, ranging from the early Dreadnought-type of the South Carolina-class to the gigantic Montana-class, which were approved but never built. This fully illustrated volume gives a clear overview of each ship’s career, its fate and highlights its significance in American naval history. Besides covering various battles in the Pacific, it also describes the important actions of US battleships providing shore bombardment during the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa as well as during the D-day landings in Normandy, thus illustrating their contribution to Allied victory in World War II. Moreover, it covers the little-known actions of the Iowa-class during the Korean and Vietnam wars and even during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, when the modernised USS Missouri and USS Wisconsin fired guided missiles and operated drones in addition to the use of their historic 16-inch guns. This volume culminates in a guided tour through the mighty USS Missouri, an overview of the other seven preserved US battleships serving as floating museums for future generations, as well as a dive to the sunken USS Arizona and USS Utah at Pearl Harbor.

The highly successful 2cm FlaK 30 series of guns used by Germany in World War II was developed from the Solothurn ST-5, a 20mm anti-aircraft gun designed by Solothurn in Switzerland, itself an enlarged Solothurn MG30. Solothurn was owned by the German firm Rheinmetall, which along with all other German manufacturers was prohibited from developing certain weapons under the terms of the Versailles Treaty. The partnership with Solothurn was a common way to circumvent restrictions. The ST-5 fired the “Long Solothurn” ammunition – the most powerful 20 mm round available.Heavily illustrated, this title discusses the development of the famous 2cm FlaK 38 together with its predecessor, the 2cm FlaK 30, and also the lightweight 2cm Gebergs FlaK 38 and the 2cm Flak vierling. It discusses the uses of the gun in World War II, and its various mounts on both trucks and tank chassis. By the end of the war over 17,500 of these guns were in service.

The true story of German secret agents engaged in a campaign of subversion and terror in the United States before and during World War I.Many believe that World War I was only fought "over there," as the popular 1917 song goes, in the trenches and muddy battlefields of Northern France and Belgium—they are wrong.There was a secret war fought in America; on remote railway bridges and waterways linking the United States and Canada; aboard burning and exploding ships in the Atlantic Ocean; in the smoldering ruins of America's bombed and burned-out factories, munitions plants, and railway centers; and waged in carefully disguised clandestine workshops where improvised explosive devices and deadly toxins were designed and manufactured. It was irregular warfare on a scale that caught the United States woefully unprepared.This is the true story of German secret agents engaged in a campaign of subversion and terror on the American homeland before and during World War I.

Following the Normandy invasion of 6 June, 1944, Heersgruppe B under German Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel rushed reserves to the newly created bridgehead in order to crush it and drive the Allied forces into the sea. One of these armored reserves was the newly created 12. SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend. Extremely well equipped and at near full strength by mid-1944 standards, it was seen as an extremely capable formation that could defeat any Allied invasion.During this period studied in this volume, 7-11 June 1944, the 12. SS-Panzer-Division attempted to capture and hold the battlefield initiative, and in conjunction with other Panzer-Divisionen, throw what would become the Second British Army into the sea. The main thesis presented will be that despite this division's best efforts, it was defeated by a firm Allied defence that repulsed their offensive operations, eventually robbing the Germans of the initiative in a grinding series of bridgehead battles.This first volume will study combat in the period 7-11 June 1944 in the eastern sector of the Normandy Bridgehead. Chapters will analyze the Anglo-Canadian D-Day assault and the deployment of the division, then analyze in detail the fighting of the Hitlerjugend in the following areas: northern Caen, Putot, Bretteville l'Orgueilleuse, Norrey-en-Bessin, Hill 103, Le-Mesnil-Patry, and finally Rots. Also studied will be contrasting German and Anglo-Canadian tactical doctrine, the influence of tactical airpower, and the war crimes committed by the Hitlerjugend immediately after the invasion.The conclusion will reinforce the thesis presented above and a detailed set of appendices will analyze German personnel, equipment, and armored losses during the battles, and losses inflicted on the Allies. This will be Volume 1 of a planned multi-volume commitment.

In early 1945, the Red Army marched into East Prussia. Having advanced across Poland, relentlessly pushing back German forces, the Red Army built up forces along the Oder River, preparing for the final push towards Berlin. But before that battle could take place, it was necessary to clear and destroy German forces in Pomerania and West Prussia. In February 1945, the 2nd Byelorussian Front was advanced west north of the Vistula River toward Pomerania and the major port city of Danzig, with the primary aim of protecting the right flank of Zhukov’s 1st Byelorussian Front, which was pushing towards Berlin. The opening of the offensive saw a series of heavy attacks east of Neustettin against the towns of Kontiz and Koslin. The fighting was bitter, resulting in the entire left wing of the 3rd Panzer Army being cut off.Forward Soviet tank units reached the Baltic, and the German forces in Pomerania became trapped in a series of encirclements. Russian troops then pushed on to Danzig—strategic location and the last German stronghold in the region—reaching it in early March and putting it under siege. A third stage was the operation to take the Arnswalde and Kolberg areas. Kolberg was one of the key German positions in the “Pomeranian wall,” the vital link between Pomerania and Prussia. The German high command had planned to use the port facilities for the logistical supply of nearby German forces, and hoped that the presence of this stronghold would lure Soviet forces away from the main thrust toward Berlin. The ensuing battle was brutal, with Soviet troops eventually seizing Kolberg. Finally, spearheads of the 1st Byelorussian Front advanced against the German Eleventh SS Panzer Army, which was being assembled in Pomerania. What followed was a bitter and bloody battle for the town of Altdamm.The offensive successfully cleared the remnants of German forces northeast of Berlin, allowing Zhukov’s forces to finally launch the battle of Berlin from the Seelow Heights on the Oder on April 16, 1945.