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Название: The Race for the Atomic Bomb: Scientists, Spies and Saboteurs – The Allies’ and Hitler’s Battle for the Ultimate Weapon
Автор: Norman Ridley
Издательство: Frontline Books
Год: 2023
Страниц: 273
Язык: английский
Формат: epub
Размер: 10.1 MB

On 19 December 1938, Otto Hahn, working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin, conducted an experiment the results of which baffled him. It took his émigré collaborator Lise Meitner to explain that he had split an atom of uranium, which at the time seemed to defy all known laws of physics. When Neils Bohr took this news to the United States it became clear to scientists there that these results opened a completely new and, for some, horrifying possibility of energy production that could be used for both peaceful and military purposes. Scientists in Germany, France, Britain and the US began to delve deeper into the implications. But it was the British government that was the first to explicitly describe how the splitting of the atom might be utilized to create a practical weapon of fearsome power.

Название: The SAS in Occupied France: 2 SAS Operations, June to October 1944
Автор: Gavin Mortimer
Издательство: Pen and Sword Military
Год: 2023
Страниц: 192
Язык: английский
Формат: epub
Размер: 23.1 MB

In the world of military history there is no brand as potent as that of the SAS. They burst into global prominence in 1980 with their spectacular storming of the Iranian Embassy, and there have been hundreds of books, films, documentaries and even reality TV shows about them. But what there hasn't been is a guide to the scenes of some of their most famous Second World War operations. That is why Gavin Mortimer’s vivid two-volume account of their daring missions in German-occupied France in 1944 is such compelling reading. SAS actions in France delayed German reinforcements reaching the battlefront in Normandy, later sewing confusion among the Germans as they withdrew. The SAS trained the French Maquis and helped to turn them from an indisciplined rabble into an effective fighting force. Their exploits inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans, and they left a trail of destruction and disorder in their wake.

Название: 100 Greatest Battles
Автор: Angus Konstam
Издательство: Osprey Publishing
Год: 2023
Страниц: 340
Язык: английский
Формат: epub
Размер: 109.9 MB

A highly illustrated introduction to some of the greatest battles in world history, from the iconic encounters of the Ancient World such as Thermopylae and Cannae, through to the major clashes of the 20th century epitomized by Stalingrad and Khe Sanh. This concise study by renowned military historian Angus Konstam examines one hundred of the most famous battles from world history. It includes great naval engagements such as Salamis, Trafalgar, Jutland and Midway; pivotal land battles that decided the fate of nations, such as Hastings, Yorktown, Gettysburg and the Somme; and the impact of the new dimension of aerial warfare in the 20th century at Pearl Harbor, in the Battle of Britain and in the skies over Hiroshima. This book deals with the battles which changed history. As a historian, I recognize that fallibility in any history book is almost impossible to avoid. I hope that these instances are minimal, but, where they do arise, these are entirely of my own doing. That said, I hope you enjoy this 2,000-year journey through human conflict, and if this book helps cast even a little light on this great arc of history, then it has served its purpose.

Название: The Allied Assault on Hitler's Channel Island Fortress: The Planned Operation to Eject the Germans in 1943
Автор: John Grehan
Издательство: Frontline Books/Pen and Sword
Год: 2023
Страниц: 272
Язык: английский
Формат: epub
Размер: 30.6 MB

Incredible as it may seem today, detailed plans were drawn up to recapture the Channel Islands, the most heavily fortified of all the German-occupied territories, regardless of the potentially ‘severe’ loss of life and the widespread destruction to the property of the British citizens. Under the codenames Constellation, Condor, Concertina, and Coverlet, the islands of Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney were to be attacked in 1943. The operation against Alderney would be preceded by a bombardment by between 500 and 600 medium/light bombers and an astonishing forty to fifty squadrons of fighters. The official papers which have now become available state that: ‘The islands cannot be taken without causing some civilian casualties. In the case of Alderney, it is thought that the air bombardment will have to be on such a scale that all personnel on the island will have to become casualties.’ A similar number of aircraft would attack Guernsey while, for the assault upon Jersey, thirty-one squadrons of heavy bombers and strike aircraft would bombard the island’s east and west coasts. This would be followed, on D-Day, by parachute and infantry landings and then a commando assault in the south-west.

Название: Soviet Air Power of the Cold War
Автор: Michael Green
Издательство: Pen and Sword Military
Год: 2023
Страниц: 241
Язык: английский
Формат: epub
Размер: 79.4 MB

At the peak of the Cold War in the 1950s the Soviet Union possessed some 12,000 aircraft, making it the largest air force of all the protagonists. By the 1990s this had declined to around 8,000, the reduction largely reflecting the increase in aircraft capability. As well as fighters and bombers, the Soviet inventory included trainers, transports, seaplanes, electronic warfare and ground attack aircraft, as well as an impressive helicopter fleet, notably the Mi-24 ‘Hind’ gunship and the massive Homer transport. The Tu-4 ‘Bull’ was the first Russian nuclear-capable bomber, a copy of the US B-29, which was followed by their range of jet bombers, the Il-28 ‘Beagle’, Tu-16 ‘Badger’ and M-4 ‘Bison’. The prop driven Tu-20 ‘Bear’ and its successors including the Tu-22 ‘Backfire’ and finally the Tu-160 ‘Backfire’, were all formidable.

Название: Rise of the Mavericks: The U.S. Air Force Security Service and the Cold War, 1948–1979
Автор: Philip C. Shackelford
Издательство: Naval Institute Press
Серия: Transforming War
Год: 2023
Страниц: 264
Язык: английский
Формат: epub
Размер: 11.3 MB

Rise of the Mavericks traces the beginnings and subsequent development of the U.S. Air Force Security Service. Established in 1948 as part of the emerging U.S. national security apparatus, this communications intelligence organization was meant to place the fledgling U.S. Air Force on a competitive footing with its Army and Navy counterparts. As World War II ended and the Cold War began, Air Force leaders understood that an effective cryptologic capability would be crucial for maintaining and enhancing the Air Force as a strategic and decisive component of America‘s national defense. Successfully deploying air-atomic strategy in the event of a future war would require reliable information on the capabilities, intentions—and potential targets—of an opposing force, in particular the Soviet Union. Communications intelligence would be a critical source of this information, and Air Force leaders were adamant that their service not remain dependent on other service structures for this capability. The Air Force Security Service rose to the occasion, quickly establishing itself as one of the preeminent communications intelligence agencies in the United States.