Download or read book Hitler s Fortress Islands written by Carel Toms and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Hitlers s Fortress Islands written by Carel Toms and published by . This book was released on 1992-08-17 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Walcheren 1944 written by Richard Brooks and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2011-06-21 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Osprey's study of the Walcheren campaign of World War II (1939-1945). Walcheren is a saucer-shaped island in the estuary of the river Scheldt, commanding maritime access to Antwerp, the largest port in Western Europe. The Allies captured Antwerp intact on September 4, 1944, but their eyes were on the Rhine crossings at Arnhem, not the lower Scheldt. The failure of Operation Market-Garden later that month brought home the Allies' logistical weakness. As autumn gales drew near, every shell and petrol tin had still to be landed at Cherbourg or across the Normandy beaches. Complete US Army divisions were immobilized for lack of transport. It was vital to re-open Antwerp. The continued German presence on Walcheren, however, prevented Allied shipping from entering the Scheldt. In the fall of 1944, Walcheren had the most heavily fortified coastline in the world. Its seaward defences consisted of 30 coastal and field batteries, mounting 50-60 guns from 75mm to 220mm in caliber, manned by high quality naval personnel behind massive concrete emplacements. Supporting strongpoints had anti-aircraft guns, flame-throwers rocket-launchers and Goliath remote controlled demolition vehicles. The sand dunes protecting the low-lying island from the North Sea were laced with barbed wire, mines and dragon's teeth. Defending infantry came from Generalleutnant Wilhelm Daser's 70.Infanterie-Division, a 'white bread division' consisting of men with gastric problems. Allied intelligence estimated the total garrison at 4,000, but 8,000 eventually surrendered. On November 1, 1944, in a double-pronged attack, the men of 52nd (Lowland) Division plus No. 4 Army Commando seized Flushing (Infatuate I) while in the west 4th Special Service Brigade with three Royal Marine Commandos and No. 10 Inter-Allied Commando would take Westkapelle, and fight their way north and south along the dunes, taking the coastal batteries as they went (Infatuate II). All this was to be supported with HMS Warspite and two 15-inch gun monitors; the Support Squadron Eastern Flank (SSEF) with 25 specialized Landing Craft with guns and rockets; 350 Army guns south of the Scheldt, most of them heavier than 25-pounders; and the Typhoon and Spitfire fighter bombers of 84 Group RAF. In fighting described by one survivor as 'worse than Dieppe and D-Day put together' the Army and Royal Marines forced their way ashore, supported by specialized armour and tracked vehicles, and over the next eight days cleared the positions of their German defenders in bitter street fighting. The first Liberty ships unloaded at Antwerp on December 1, just over a fortnight before the Ardennes offensive began. If Walcheren had not fallen when it did, opening Antwerp just in time, the Allies would have been hard pressed to withstand the German attack, or replace the fuel stocks lost in its opening days, let alone cross the Rhine in the following spring, and meet the Russians on the Elbe. The Walcheren campaign was not merely a dramatic combined operation pulled off against the odds; it helped determine the course of the war and the shape of the post-war world.

Download or read book The Allied Assault on Hitler s Channel Island Fortress written by John Grehan and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2023-05-30 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. On Day 2 of the operation the first of the tanks were to land, with more armor and infantry to follow on subsequent days. As the German garrison of the Channel Islands was some 40,000 strong, the islands would be turned into an enormous battlefield, and a vast killing ground. The consequences for the Islanders were almost too horrendous to imagine and the political fallout beyond calculation if the operations failed in their objectives after the devastation and loss of British lives that the fighting had caused. Despite all this, it was thought that such operations would become the ‘second front’ so persistently demanded by Stalin to draw German troops from the Eastern Front and might also help the Allied forces which were about to invade Italy – Operation Husky – from North Africa. Equally, the Channel Islands would be the ideal base for the D-Day invasion of France scheduled for 1944. There was much then in favor of mounting the operations against the Channel Islands regardless of the fact that it meant the death of untold British citizens at the hands of British troops and the Allied air forces. The Allied Assault Upon Hitler's Channel Island Fortress is, therefore, the first detailed analysis of what would have been the most controversial operation ever undertaken by the British and American armed forces.

Download or read book The Channel Islands 1941 45 written by Charles Stephenson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-05-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the fall of France and the surrender of Paris on 14 June 1940, the British Government announced that the Channel Islands had no strategic importance and would not be defended. The Germans occupied the islands from the end of June onwards and remained in control until the end of the war. On 10 October 1941 Hitler announced his intention to 'convert them into an impregnable fortress', and the islands formed the most heavily fortified and defended section of the entire Atlantic Wall. This book describes the design, construction and manning of these defensive positions, as well as considering more widely the occupation of the Channel Islands by the Germans.

Download or read book Walcheren 1944 written by Richard Brooks and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In September 1944 the Allies captured the port city of Antwerp. In order to start the flow of supplies into the city they first had to clear the River Schelde of German outposts, including the island of Walcheren at the mouth of the Schelde Estuary - the most fortified stretch of coastline in the world. The Army and Royal Marines achieved this and supplies flowed in, just in time to help the Allies withstand the German Ardennes offensive.--From back cover.

Download or read book Storming Hitler s British Fortress written by Simon Hamon and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2023-07-31 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1940 British forces were withdrawn from the Channel Islands, allowing the Germans to occupy British territory. Hitler was determined to hold onto what he saw as a valuable prize, and the islands were heavily fortified. However, despite being extensively defended, the occupied Channel Islands remained vulnerable to commando-style raids. Indeed, a total of nine such operations were conducted between 1940 and 1943. Many others were planned but never executed. Each one was a bold and dangerous expedition, with small groups of men daring to trespass on Hitler’s cherished British stronghold. The first of these attacks, Operation Ambassador, took place on the night of 14/15 July 1940. The second ever raid undertaken by the Commandos, it was focused on the island of Guernsey. Though the mission failed to achieve any of its objectives, valuable lessons were learnt. In the weeks, months and years that followed, raids were also undertaken against Jersey, Sark, Herm, Burhou and the Casquets lighthouse off Alderney. The final attack, Hardtack 22, was one of the three carried out against the German garrison on Sark. After the second mission, Hardtack 7, had to be aborted, the Commandos returned to the island on the night of 26/27 December 1943, tasked with undertaking a reconnaissance and capturing prisoners. This too was a failure after the raiders entered a minefield; two men were killed and most of the others wounded. Compiled from official reports and first-hand accounts, each of the raids is packed with intrigue and drama – including the fear of reprisals being taken against the islanders. Each of the missions are explored on the ground today by the authors, with the routes taken and all key locations relating to each attack photographed and described. The planned but never executed raids are also explored. Never before have these stories been told in such detail, and never before in the words of those that took part in the raids and those who ultimately, were most affected.

Download or read book Hitler s Fortresses written by Chris McNab and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-03-20 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive illustrated history of German World War II fortifications, covering the Atlantikwall, Westwall, and myriad other defensive works. Hitler's 'West Wall' was one of the greatest engineering projects of the 1930s. Stretching more than 390 miles and containing some 14,000 pillboxes it was a significant statement of intent. But it was only as World War II progressed that Germany's defensive requirements expanded beyond all previous expectations. Along the Atlantic coastline Germany poured millions of tonnes of concrete into chain batteries, bunkers and minefields, whilst defensive works were sunk into the mountainous terrain of Italy in an attempt to halt the advancing Allies. As well as these large-scale defensive works, Hitler's Fortresses delves into the principles and engineering of basic frontline defences, showing how the average German soldiers prepared their fox-holes and field fortifications, as well as exploring special purpose fortifications like the huge U-boat pens, V-weapon sites and Hitler's own personal constructions, from his sprawling headquarters to his mountain-top lair. This exhaustive study of German wartime fortifications reveals much about the strategic and tactical thinking of the German High Command, and combat accounts explore how effective the defences were in practice. Illustrated throughout with contemporary photographs, cutaway diagrams, artworks and maps, this edition shows exactly how key types of defensive positions looked and functioned, and provides an authoritative record of the Third Reich's defensive mindset.

Download or read book Hitler s Island War written by Julie Peakman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-12-05 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Highly Commended by the British Records Association for the 2019 Janette Harley Prize* In September 1943, at the height of World War II, the Aegean island of Leros became the site of the most pivotal battle of the Dodecanese campaign as the British tried, in vain, to retain control of the island. Over the course of two short months - from 15 September 1943 to 17 November 1943 - almost 1500 men lost their lives and hundreds more ended up in Prisoner-of-War camps. In this book, Julie Peakman, a modern-day resident of Leros, brings to life the story of the men caught up in the battle based on first-hand interviews and written accounts including diaries, letters and journals. She tells of the preparations of the soldiers leading up to the battle, the desperate hand-to-hand fighting, and the suffering endured from continual bombings. She also shows the extent of the men's despair at the allied surrender, the many subsequent daring escapes as well as the terrible years of incarceration for those who were captured and imprisoned. Many of the heart-rending accounts of the battle are told here for the first time, providing a unique eyewitness take on this forgotten corner of World War II.

Download or read book Adolf Island written by Caroline Sturdy Colls and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Adolf Island’ offers new forensic, archaeological and spatial perspectives on the Nazi forced and slave labour programme that was initiated on the Channel Island of Alderney during its occupation in the Second World War. Drawing on extensive archival research and the results of the first in-field investigations of the ‘crime scenes’ since 1945, the book identifies and characterises the network of concentration and labour camps, fortifications, burial sites and other material traces connected to the occupation, providing new insights into the identities and experiences of the men and women who lived, worked and died within this landscape. Moving beyond previous studies focused on military aspects of occupation, the book argues that Alderney was intrinsically linked to wider systems of Nazi forced and slave labour.

Download or read book Last Raid written by Will Fowler and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2016-04-04 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Germany occupied the originally ‘demilitarised’ Channel Islands in 1940, Hitler ordered the area to be staunchly fortified with colossal permanent structures like Battery Moltke on Jersey. As it was the only piece of the British Isles in Nazi control, he was determined that the islands should remain German forever. Churchill was equally obsessed, urging numerous commando raids and harebrained schemes for the invasion and liberation of the islands. But when France was freed in 1944, the Channel Islands were completely bypassed. German troops were cut off from their supplies and the island population began to starve. Occupied for almost the entire war, these quintessentially English islands serve as a fascinating microcosm of what Britain might have been like under Nazi rule. With one German soldier to every three islanders, resistance had to remain at a low level: possession of a radio merited a prison sentence.The Last Raid is an atmospheric account of life under German occupation, as well as the political manoeuvring behind the scenes. With the first detailed account in English of the Granville Raid, a unique German commando operation, Will Fowler combines the social experience of war with the military to form a fascinating chronicle of the fight for the Channel Islands during the Second World War.

Download or read book Hitler s Fortresses written by Chris McNab and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2014-03-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Siegfried Line to the Atlantic Wall to central Italy, this detailed guide to every level of defensive project in the Third Reich won't disappoint. It takes you inside Channel Islands' pillboxes, Normandy coastal gun positions, and emplaced tank turrets on the Gothic Line in Italy. The secretive world of Hitler's command bunkers is revealed in detail, and the principles and engineering of basic frontline defences are explained, showing how the average German soldier prepared to stand his ground. There is also a dedicated chapter on special-purpose fortifications, including U-boat pens, V-weapon sites, and flak towers. This complete journey into German wartime fortifications reveals much about the strategic and tactical thinking of Hitler and his Wehrmacht, and combat accounts explore how effective the defences were in practice. The book is illustrated throughout with more than 200 drawings, maps, and photographs; the drawings include 3D views and detailed cutaway diagrams, showing exactly how key types of defensive positions looked and functioned. As a guide for both the general historian and for the modern battlefield tourist, Hitler's Fortresses is an authoritative record of the Third Reich's defensive mindset. Hitler's use of manoeuvre warfare should not distract us from his more defensive projects. From the moment Hitler took power in 1933, massive investment went into building fortified defences in Germany's vulnerable regions, particularly along the Franco-German border. The "West Wall", for example, eventually stretched for more than 390 miles and contained some 14,000 pillboxes, being one of the great engineering projects of the 1930s. War expanded Germany's defensive requirements, not least along the Atlantic coastline, where from 1942 to 1944 engineers built a chain of batteries, bunkers, and minefields from Norway to the Franco-Spanish border, which together constituted the "Atlantic Wall". Similarly, chains of defensive works were sunk into the mountainous terrain of Italy between 1943 and 1945, in an attempt to stop the grinding Allied advance.

Download or read book Mussolini Warlord written by James Burgwyn and published by Enigma Books. This book was released on 2012-03-13 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first study of Mussolini as war leader. Focus is the disastrous performance of the Italian army and its consequences.

Download or read book The Channel Islands at War written by Robert Bard and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2014-05-15 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The incredible true story of what really happened in occupied Guernsey during the Second World War.

Download or read book A World at War 1911 1949 written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-03-27 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In A World At War, 1911-1949, scholars of the cultural history of warfare, inspired by the work of Professor John Horne, break down the traditional barriers between the historiographies of the First and Second World Wars.

Download or read book The Fall of Hitler s Fortress City written by Isabel Denny and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-02-21 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The harrowing, tragic story of a city and a people ravaged by one of the most brutal battles of World War II. In 1945, in the face of the advancing Red Army, two and a half million people were forced out of Germany’s most easterly province, East Prussia, and in particular its capital, Königsberg. Their flight was a direct result of Hitler’s ill-fated decision to invade the Soviet Union in 1941. Now that the Germans were in retreat, the horrors of Leningrad and Stalingrad were to be avenged by an army determined not only to invade Germany but to take over its eastern territories. The Russians launched Operation Bagration in June 1944 to coincide with the D-Day landings. As US and British forces pushed west, the Russians liberated Eastern Europe and made their first attacks on German soil in the autumn of 1944. Königsberg itself was badly damaged by two British air raids at the end of August 1944, and the main offensive against the city by the Red Army began in January 1945. The depleted and poorly armed German army could do little to hold it back, and by the end of January, East Prussia was cut off. The Russians exacted a terrible revenge on the civilian population, who were forced to flee across the freezing Baltic coast in an attempt to escape. On April 9, the city surrendered to the Russians after a four-day onslaught. Through firsthand accounts as well as archival material, The Fall of Hitler’s Fortress City tells the dramatic story of a place and its people that bore the brunt of Russia’s vengeance against the Nazi regime. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Download or read book Hitler s British Isles written by Duncan Barrett and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: True-life recollections from the Channel Islanders who were the only British subjects to live under Nazi rule in WWII.