In the summer of 1944, plans began for a complex operation to seize a Rhine river bridge at Arnhem in the Netherlands. The American portion of the airborne mission was to employ two divisions of the US XVIII Airborne Corps to seize key terrain features that otherwise might delay the advance of Briti[...]

The D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 were the largest amphibious military operation ever mounted. During the late spring and early summer of 1944 the roads and ports of Southern England were thronged with the troops, vehicles and ships of the invasion force. The greatest armada the world had ever seen [...]

The German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 began World War II in Europe. The outcome of the campaign was a foregone conclusion. It pitted the newly modernized army of Europe's great industrial power against the much smaller Polish army. To further tip the scales, Germany signed a pact with th[...]

The German A-4 ballistic missile, better known by its propaganda name of V-2, was the world's first successful ballistic missile, breaking through the atmosphere to reach its target quicker. It was a forerunner of Cold War ballistic missiles and its combat use in 1944-45 set the pattern for the use [...]

The armored division were the shock force of the US Army's combat formulations during the fighting in northwest Europe in the final year of the war. This book examines the combat mission of the armored division in the US Army wartime doctrine. The organization of the US armored division is examined,[...]

The M18 76mm Gun Motor Carriage was developed for the US Army's Tank Destroyer Command. It was the only tank destroyer deployed during World War II actually based on their requirements for speed and firepower. This book examines the development of this vehicle, the controversies over the need for hi[...]

The T-54 and T-55 tanks are the most widely manufactured tanks of all time. They have become ubiquitous to wars around the globe since the 1950s, starting with Hungary in 1956, and including the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967, 1973 and 1982, the Vietnam war of 1967-75, the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88, the A[...]

The Battle of the Bulge was the largest and most costly battle fought by the US Army in World War II. The Ardennes fighting was Hitler's last gamble on the Western Front, crippling the Wehrmacht in the West for the remainder of the war. This volume offers a fresh analysis of this crucial battle. Fol[...]

The Scud has become a symbol of the changing nature of warfare in the aftermath of the Cold War, as its original development was part of a Soviet plan to fight a nuclear war in the heart of Europe. When Iraqi armed forces were nearly helpless in the face of the Coalition forces in the 1991 Gulf War,[...]

Contrary to popular belief, the Japanese Army widely employed tanks within the Pacific theater of war. This title details their key role in the conquests of Singapore and Malaya, as well as their later use in Burma, Saipan, and the Philippines, including in the amphibious assault of Corregidor. The [...]

The Sherman tank was the principal US and Allied tank of World War II - more Shermans were built than all German tanks combined. Not only were large numbers of Shermans manufactured, but a large number of variants emerged powered by different types of engines and with different types of hulls, turre[...]

In July 1944 of World War II (1939-1945), Operation "Cobra" broke the stalemate in Normandy and sent the Allies racing across France. The Allied commanders ignored Paris in their planning for this campaign, considering that the risk of intense street fighting and heavy casualties outweighed the city[...]

The Soviet Army hastily developed the T-62 in a struggle to compete against the rapid proliferation of NATO tanks in the 1960s. It was essentially a modification of the widely-manufactured T-55 tank with the addition of a new 115mm gun. Within the USSR itself, the T-62 was quickly superseded, but it[...]