Download or read book Artillery Hell written by Curt Johnson and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Five essays detail the artillery used by both Union and Confederate forces in the Battle of Antietam, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, in September 1862. The core essay was written in 1940 for the National Park Service but first published here. Together they discuss the types and capabilities of the artillery pieces, the problems faced by the commanders, and what can be conjectured about their placement and engagement. Also includes six reports by Union officers just after the battle. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Download or read book Field Artillery written by and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Hell under the Rising Sun written by Kelly E. Crager and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2008-01-22 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Late in 1940, the young men of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment stepped off the trucks at Camp Bowie in Brownwood, Texas, ready to complete the training they would need for active duty in World War II. Many of them had grown up together in Jacksboro, Texas, and almost all of them were eager to face any challenge. Just over a year later, these carefree young Texans would be confronted by horrors they could never have imagined. The battalion was en route to bolster the Allied defense of the Philippines when they received news of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Soon, they found themselves ashore on Java, with orders to assist the Dutch, British, and Australian defense of the island against imminent Japanese invasion. When war came to Java in March 1942, the Japanese forces overwhelmed the numerically inferior Allied defenders in little more than a week. For more than three years, the Texans, along with the sailors and marines who survived the sinking of the USS Houston, were prisoners of the Imperial Japanese Army. Beginning in late 1942, these prisoners-of-war were shipped to Burma to accelerate completion of the Burma-Thailand railway. These men labored alongside other Allied prisoners and Asian conscript laborers to build more than 260 miles of railroad for their Japanese taskmasters. They suffered abscessed wounds, near-starvation, daily beatings, and debilitating disease, and 89 of the original 534 Texans taken prisoner died in the infested, malarial jungles. The survivors received a hero’s welcome from Gov. Coke Stevenson, who declared October 29, 1945, as “Lost Battalion Day” when they finally returned to Texas. Kelly E. Crager consulted official documentary sources of the National Archives and the U.S. Army and mined the personal memoirs and oral history interviews of the “Lost Battalion” members. He focuses on the treatment the men received in their captivity and surmises that a main factor in the battalion’s comparatively high survival rate (84 percent of the 2nd Battalion) was the comraderie of the Texans and their commitment to care for each other. This narrative is grueling, yet ultimately inspiring. Hell under the Rising Sun will be a valuable addition to the collections of World War II historians and interested general readers alike.

Download or read book Civil War Artillery At Gettysburg written by Philip M. Cole and published by Da Capo Press, Incorporated. This book was released on 2002-07-16 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study of artillery at Gettysburg will influence the history of this crucial battle for years to come."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book To Conquer Hell written by Edward G. Lengel and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2008-01-08 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authoritative, dramatic, and previously untold story of the bloodiest battle in American history: the epic fight for the Meuse-Argonne in World War I On September 26, 1918, more than one million American soldiers prepared to assault the German-held Meuse-Argonne region of France. Their commander, General John J. Pershing, believed in the superiority of American "guts" over barbed wire, machine guns, massed artillery, and poison gas. In thirty-six hours, he said, the Doughboys would crack the German defenses and open the road to Berlin. Six weeks later, after savage fighting across swamps, forests, towns, and rugged hills, the battle finally ended with the signing of the armistice that concluded the First World War. The Meuse-Argonne had fallen, at the cost of more than 120,000 American casualties, including 26,000 dead. In the bloodiest battle the country had ever seen, an entire generation of young Americans had been transformed forever. To Conquer Hell is gripping in its accounts of combat, studded with portraits of remarkable soldiers like Pershing, Harry Truman, George Patton, and Alvin York, and authoritative in presenting the big picture. It is military history of the first rank and, incredibly, the first in-depth account of this fascinating and important battle.

Download or read book Purgatory s Shore written by Taylor Anderson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On their way to fight in the Mexican-American War, a group of American soldiers are swept away to a strange and deadly alternate Earth in this thrilling new adventure set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Destroyermen series. The United States, 1847. A disparate group of young American soldiers are bound to join General Winfield Scott's campaign against Santa Anna at Veracruz during the Mexican-American War. They never arrive. Or rather . . . they arrive somewhere else. The untried, idealistic soldiers are mostly replacements, really; a handful of infantry, artillery, dragoons, and a few mounted riflemen with no unified command. And they've been shipwrecked on a terrible, different Earth full of monsters and unimaginable enemies. Major Lewis Cayce, late of the 3rd US "Flying" Artillery, must unite these men to face their fears and myriad threats, armed with little more than flintlock muskets, a few pieces of artillery, and a worldview that spiritually and culturally rebels against virtually everything they encounter. It will take extraordinary leadership and a cadre of equally extraordinary men and women to mold frightened troops into an effective force, make friends with other peoples the evil Holy Dominion would eradicate, and reshape their "manifest destiny" into a cause they can all believe in and fight for. For only together will they have any hope of survival.

Download or read book A Frozen Hell written by William R. Trotter and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2013-06-13 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1939, tiny Finland waged war-the kind of war that spawns legends-against the mighty Soviet Union, and yet their epic struggle has been largely ignored. Guerrillas on skis, heroic single-handed attacks on tanks, unfathomable endurance, and the charismatic leadership of one of this century's true military geniuses-these are the elements of both the Finnish victory and a gripping tale of war.

Download or read book The Twenty Fourth Michigan written by Donald L. Smith and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2018-03-28 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the tradition of the great regimental histories of the past, this book records the fire which seared the ranks of the Twenty-Four Michigan Regiment of the legendary “Iron Brigade.” Born as the result of a riot, led by a Virginian, met with coldness and hostility by the black-hatted veterans of the brigade, the Twenty-Fourth swore it would win their respect…and so they did with a vengeance. At Fredericksburg, in “artillery hell” and under a murderous crossfire from the guns of “Stonewall” Jackson and “Jeb” Stuart, they performed the manual of arms to stead the line. The first day at Gettysburg they sparked this remark from the confederate ranks…”That ain’t no milishy, there’s those damn black hats again.” With the immortal First Corps they were ordered west of the town to hold long enough for the army to occupy the strategic heights behind them. They held, and by evening they had lost more men than any of the 400-odd Union regiments engaged in the battle. Still later they marched down “that crimson strip across the maps,” which marked Grant’s Wilderness Campaign; they bled at Petersburg and then, their ranks almost decimated, were sent to guard bounty jumpers. The last tribute to their gallant service came as they were chosen the Guard of Honor for Lincoln’s funeral. In a little more than two years of bloody fighting they found their way to nineteenth place on the list of “300 Fighting Regiments.” To read this book is to consort with heroes who, 100 years ago, stood watching their world writhe in agony. It gives hope that in matching their courage, our country will emerge from the cauldron triumphant.

Download or read book Civil War Field Artillery written by Earl J. Hess and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2022-10-05 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American Civil War saw the creation of the largest, most potent artillery force ever deployed in a conflict fought in the Western Hemisphere. It was as sizable and powerful as any raised in prior European wars. Moreover, Union and Confederate artillery included the largest number of rifled pieces fielded in any conflagration in the world up to that point. Earl J. Hess’s Civil War Field Artillery is the first comprehensive general history of the artillery arm that supported infantry and cavalry in the conflict. Based on deep and expansive research, it serves as an exhaustive examination with abundant new interpretations that reenvision the Civil War’s military. Hess explores the major factors that affected artillerists and their work, including the hardware, the organization of artillery power, relationships between artillery officers and other commanders, and the influence of environmental factors on battlefield effectiveness. He also examines the lives of artillerymen, the use of artillery horses, manpower replacement practices, effects of the widespread construction of field fortifications on artillery performance, and the problems of resupplying batteries in the field. In one of his numerous reevalutions, Hess suggests that the early war practice of dispersing guns and assigning them to infantry brigades or divisions did not inhibit the massing of artillery power on the battlefield, and that the concentration system employed during the latter half of the conflict failed to produce a greater concentration of guns. In another break with previous scholarship, he shows that the efficacy of fuzes to explode long-range ordnance proved a problem that neither side was able to resolve during the war. Indeed, cumulative data on the types of projectiles fired in battle show that commanders lessened their use of the new long-range exploding ordnance due to bad fuzes and instead increased their use of solid shot, the oldest artillery projectile in history.

Download or read book Hell s Highway written by Tim Saunders and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2009-05-18 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII history and battleground guide offers a fascinating look at the vital and infamous stretch of road through the Netherlands. After the Allied victory at Normandy, Operation Market Garden was intended to cut a path to Germany through the Netherlands. Essential to the plan was a two-lane road that came to be known as Hell's Highway. This was the route that the British 3rd Guards Armored Division had to advance down rapidly to relieve the American Paratroopers of the 82d Airborne at Nijmegen and the British I st Airborne Division at Arnhem. Beginning with the famous capture of Joe’s Bridge by the Irish Guards—an essential preliminary action before the start of Operation Market Garden—historian Tim Saunders guides visitors through the seizure of bridges, the liberation of small towns, and other actions undertaken by the famous Screaming Eagles. With vivid personal accounts throughout, this guide features practical visitor information about monuments and other important sites.

Download or read book A Good Idea of Hell written by Leonard V. Smith and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He also comments on the new technology that changed the nature of war: the machine gun, new airplanes, U-boats, improved artillery, barbed wire, and poison gases." "Drama and a sympathetic human voice combine to make this account of a little-reported French front a valuable addition to the literature on World War I."--Jacket.

Download or read book Grape And Canister The Story Of The Field Artillery Of The Army Of The Potomac 1861 1865 written by L. VanLoan Naisawald and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 872 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes - 18 maps and 6 illustrations “The role of the field artillery in the Civil War is often overlooked in favor of the more romantic views of great cavalry commanders or infantrymen. But the reality was that without the field artillery, many of the decisive battles won by the Army of the Potomac most likely would have resulted in defeat and/or destruction. Grape and Canister, first published in 1960, has since become a classic and remains the definitive study of the field artillery of the Army of the Potomac.”-Print ed.

Download or read book War In The Mountains written by J. L. Askew and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-30 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the War Between the States, the mountains of North Carolina were a hotbed of internecine strife where the phrase "brother against brother" truly applied. By late 1863, the Confederate government took measures to tighten control of the region, establishing the Western District of North Carolina under command of General Robert Vance, covering the area from the Blue Ridge Mountains westward to the borders of adjacent states. In less than four months, in the largest military operation conducted by the fledging department, General Vance was defeated and captured during an incursion into East Tennessee. Colonel John B. Palmer, Vance's replacement, had barely taken command at Asheville before Confederate General James Longstreet pulled his army from East Tennessee, leaving the Western District exposed and threatened by the growing Union presence at Knoxville. Palmer travelled to Richmond to plead for more troops, especially an artillery battery, to counter recent Federal raids where he was outgunned by Yankees armed with cannons. The Confederate high command found the Macbeth Light Artillery at Charleston, ordering the unit to Asheville where they arrived late May 1864. Hardened veterans of Second Manassas and Antietam, the Macbeth would see a different face of war in the mountains, fighting a different kind of enemy, often not in any uniform, native Southerners disloyal to the Confederate cause, conscript evaders, deserters, disparagingly called "Tories" and "Homegrown Yankees." This book is a panorama of the mountain war in Western North Carolina and Upper East Tennessee, of raids, skirmishes, and battles where rebel commander John B. Palmer defended the Western District against the likes of the notorious Yankee Colonel, George W. Kirk, and his raiders. The Macbeth Light Artillery is covered in a first book length account within the context of a comprehensive study of military operations during 1864 and 1865 in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee.

Download or read book Low Level Hell written by Hugh L. Mills, Jr. and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2009-01-16 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aeroscouts of the 1st Infantry Division had three words emblazoned on their unit patch: Low Level Hell. It was then and continues today as the perfect concise definition of what these intrepid aviators experienced as they ranged the skies of Vietnam from the Cambodian border to the Iron Triangle. The Outcasts, as they were known, flew low and slow, aerial eyes of the division in search of the enemy. Too often for longevity’s sake they found the Viet Cong and the fight was on. These young pilots (19-22 years old) “invented” the book as they went along. Praise for Low Level Hell “An absolutely splendid and engrossing book. The most compelling part is the accounts of his many air-to-ground engagements. There were moments when I literally held my breath.”—Dr. Charles H. Cureton, Chief Historian, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine (TRADOC) Command “Low Level Hell is the best ‘bird’s eye view’ of the helicopter war in Vietnam in print today. No volume better describes the feelings from the cockpit. Mills has captured the realities of a select group of aviators who shot craps with death on every mission.”—R.S. Maxham, Director, U.S. Army Aviation Museum

Download or read book Hell in An Loc written by Quang Thi Lâm and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Three days before Easter last spring, the North Vietnamese struck South Vietnam with a fury unknown to the Vietnam war since the Tet offensive four years earlier. They poured south across the DMZ, smashed into the central highland from Laos, crossed the border from Cambodia and, with an army of 36,000 men and 100 Russian-made tanks, raced toward Saigon, boasting that they'd be in the city by May 19, Ho Chi Minh's birthday. From one end of the country to the other, bases and villages fell before the savagery of their onslaught. By April 5, all that blocked them from Saigon was a ragtag band of 6,800 South Vietnamese regulars and militiamen and a handful of American advisors holed up in An Loc, a once-prosperous rubber-plantation town of 15,000 astride Highway 13, which led to the capital, 60 miles to the south ... In Thi's opinion, reporting the victory of An Loc would contradict the U.S. media's basic premise that the war could not be won because ARVN was a corrupt and ineffective force. Subsequent published studies of the conflict provide a wealth of details about the use of U.S. airpower and the role of the U.S. advisors, but they fail to provide equal coverage to the activities and performance of ARVN units participating in the siege. Thi believes that it is time to set the record straight. Without denying the tremendous contribution of the U.S. advisors and pilots to the success of An Loc, this book is written primarily to tell the South Vietnamese side of the story and, more importantly, to render justice to the South Vietnamese soldier who withstood ninety-four days of horror and prevailed"--Publisher's website.

Download or read book Living Hell written by Michael C. C. Adams and published by Johns Hopkins University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A senior military historian presents an unflinching account of the human costs of the Civil War. Many Americans, argues Michael C. C. Adams, tend to think of the Civil War as more glorious, less awful, than the reality. Millions of tourists flock to battlefields each year as vacation destinations, their perceptions of the war often shaped by reenactors who work hard for verisimilitude but who cannot ultimately simulate mutilation, madness, chronic disease, advanced physical decay. In Living Hell, Adams tries a different tack, clustering the voices of myriad actual participants on the firing line or in the hospital ward to create a virtual historical reenactment. Perhaps because the United States has not seen conventional war on its own soil since 1865, the collective memory of its horror has faded, so that we have sanitized and romanticized even the experience of the Civil War. Neither film nor reenactment can fully capture the hard truth of the four-year conflict. Living Hell presents a stark portrait of the human costs of the Civil War and gives readers a more accurate appreciation of its profound and lasting consequences. Adams examines the sharp contrast between the expectations of recruits versus the realities of communal living, the enormous problems of dirt and exposure, poor diet, malnutrition, and disease. He describes the slaughter produced by close-order combat, the difficulties of cleaning up the battlefields—where tens of thousands of dead and wounded often lay in an area of only a few square miles—and the resulting psychological damage survivors experienced. Drawing extensively on letters and memoirs of individual soldiers, Adams assembles vivid accounts of the distress Confederate and Union soldiers faced daily: sickness, exhaustion, hunger, devastating injuries, and makeshift hospitals where saws were often the medical instrument of choice. Inverting Robert E. Lee’s famous line about war, Adams suggests that too many Americans become fond of war out of ignorance of its terrors. Providing a powerful counterpoint to Civil War glorification, Living Hell echoes William Tecumseh Sherman’s comment that war is cruelty and cannot be refined. Praise for Our Masters the Rebels: A Speculation on Union Military Failure in the East, 1861–1865 "This excellent and provocative work concludes with a chapter suggesting how the image of Southern military superiority endured in spite of defeat."—Civil War History "Adams's imaginative connections between culture and combat provide a forceful reminder that Civil War military history belongs not in an encapsulated realm, with its own categories and arcane language, but at the center of the study of the intellectual, social, and psychological currents that prevailed in the mid-nineteenth century."—Journal of American History Praise for The Best War Ever: America and World War II "Adams has a real gift for efficiently explaining complex historical problems."—Reviews in American History "Not only is this mythologizing bad history, says Adams, it is dangerous as well. Surrounding the war with an aura of nostalgia both fosters the delusion that war can cure our social ills and makes us strong again, and weakens confidence in our ability to act effectively in our own time."—Journal of Military History

Download or read book Antietam and the Maryland and Virginia Campaigns of 1862 from the Government Records Union and Confederate mostly Unknown and which Have Now First Disclosed the Truth Approved by the War Department written by Isaac Winter Heysinger and published by New York : Meale Publishing Company. This book was released on 1912 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: