Download or read book The Home Guard Manual written by and published by . This book was released on 1917 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Contesting home defence written by Penny Summerfield and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-19 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contesting home defence is a new history of the Home Guard, a novel national defence force of the Second World War composed of civilians who served as part-time soldiers: it questions accounts of the force and the war, which have seen them as symbols of national unity. It scrutinises the Home Guard’s reputation and explores whether this ‘people’s army’ was a site of social cohesion or of dissension by assessing the competing claims made for it at the time. It then examines the way it was represented during the war and has been since, notably in Dad’s Army, and discusses the memories of men and women who served in it. The book makes a significant and original contribution to debates concerning the British home front and introduces fresh ways of understanding the Second World War.

Download or read book To the Last Man written by Malcolm Atkin and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2019-04-30 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This historical study of the UK’s WWII homeland defense service dispels the propaganda and pop culture myths to reveal its true wartime role. In 1940, Britain formed an armed citizen militia to act as the first line of defense in case of Nazi invasion—an essential, if suicidal, mission intended to buy time for the organization of regular forces. Officially, they were the Home Guard. Later, a British sitcom that ran for nearly a decade in the 60s and 70s dubbed them Dad’s Army. That show contributed to a distorted perception of the Home Guard that persists today. But as Malcolm Atkin reveals in this thought-provoking book, the Home Guard’s image was manipulated from its earliest days. Sifting through official documents and contemporary histories, as well as stories, artwork and poetry of the era, and comparing these with postwar films and histories, Atkin explores how the myths of the Home Guard arose and were exploited. He also shows how the strong sense of gallows-humor amongst its volunteers—which fits in with a long tradition of self-deprecating humor in the British army—was taken out of context and became the basis of the TV series. To the Last Man strips back the myths, analyzing how the modern perception has evolved. The result is a new, gritty, and sometimes shocking appreciation of the role that the Home Guard was expected to play in the Second World War.

Download or read book The Murder of Onesmus Muriuki written by Njoki Kamau and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2014-12-11 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Onesmus Muriuki is a prosperous, hard-working, hard-living man. He lives his life on the edge. Never satisfied with what is legally his, he likes reaching over the fence and grabbing his neighbors possessions. Leaving a swathe of adultery, fraud and broken hearts in his wake, Onesmus is on a knifes edge as his list of enemies grows by the day. The clock is ticking. His doom is about to fall upon him by the hand of one of his victims. Will it be Kevin, the young man whose girlfriend has fallen under Onesmuss spell? Or could it be James Munene, Onesmuss business partner, whom he has been shamelessly robbing in broad daylight? The butterflys wings have flapped, and the hurricane is gathering strength and momentum. Onesmuss days are numbered.

Download or read book The Home Guard written by S. P. Mackenzie and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 1995 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BL Reveals for the first time the real political importance of the Home Guard BL Based on original research, particularly among recently available War Office files Today we laugh at `Dad's Army', but in 1940 the threat of a German invasion of Britain was a very real one. S. P. MacKenzie's detailed and readable history of the Home Guard offers a new perspective on the men who took up the challenge. The book shows how the Home Guard, often aslarge as the wartime army, became an astonishingly strong political force in its own right.

Download or read book Front Toward Enemy written by Barbara Allen and published by Morgan James Publishing. This book was released on 2011-02-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A slain soldier’s widow details her husband’s murder by a fellow soldier . . . and exposes how the US military courts allowed the killer to escape justice. June 7, 2005. A sandstorm obscured what light lingered in Iraq’s nighttime sky as Staff Sergeant Alberto Martinez tied a claymore mine to a window grate. On the other side of the window was Lieutenant Louis Allen, a husband and father of four young boys, and his good friend and Commanding Officer Captain Phillip Esposito, a West Point graduate and father of a baby girl. The men were engaged in a board game, unwinding after a hard day, when without warning the window exploded. More than seven hundred steel ball bearings erupted from the mine and hurtled inward with lethal force, obliterating everything in their kill zone. Martinez was arrested and tried for the murders. But the military judicial system failed, and the killer was set free. How can American soldiers be at risk on their own base, among their fellow soldiers? Could these murders have been prevented? Will it happen again? How can the military’s judicial system have failed so drastically? What was the government hiding from the slain soldiers’ families? This book is a personal and factual behind-the-scenes account of a case that is to the military judicial system what the O. J. Simpson case is to the civilian judicial system.

Download or read book Murder in the House written by Margaret Truman and published by Fawcett. This book was released on 1998-06-28 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He died beneath the Statue of Freedom, clutching a 9-mm pistol in his hand. But as dawn rose, the politician would die again--in a hail of rumor and character assassination. Now one man suspects the shattering truth: that the congressman's suicide was a carefully planned murder. In the heart of the free world, a furious struggle begins: to reclaim a man's innocence, expose a woman's lie, and stop a chilling conspiracy of murder that reaches halfway around the world. . . .

Download or read book The Tragedy of Bleiburg and Viktring 1945 written by Florian Rulitz and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-07 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The atrocities and mass murders committed by Josip Broz Tito's Partisan units of the Yugoslav Army immediately after the Second World War had no place in the conscience of Socialist Yugoslavia. More than once, the annual Croatian commemoration of the Bleiburg victims was subject to attacks carried out by the socialist Yugoslav state. Abroad in the West, on Austrian soil, the Yugoslav secret service (UDBA) did not shy away from murdering the protagonist of the Croatian memory culture, Nicola Martinovic, as late as 1975. The official history was aligned with a firm interpretational paradigm that called for a glorification of the anti-fascist "people's liberation resistance." With the breakup of Yugoslavia and its socialist regime in 1991, the identity-establishing accounts of contemporary witnesses, which had mainly been cherished in exile circles abroad, increasingly reached public awareness in Croatia and Slovenia. In the 1990s Croatia witnessed the emergence of a memory that had been suppressed by the socialist-Yugoslav regime—namely the Bleiburg tragedy. The situation in Slovenia was similar in terms of identity and remembrance culture. Among the Slovenes, the communist crimes committed during the turmoil are known as the drama of Viktring or the Viktring tragedy, named after the largest refugee camp of the Slovenes. Reports on the communist postwar crimes and on the countless discoveries of mass gravesites have also begun circulating in the media of the German-speaking world in the last few years. Florian Rulitz's meticulously researched book, now available for the first time in English, provides a corrective to the historical memory that had been previously accepted as truth. Rulitz focuses on two essential questions. First, did the so-called "final encirclement battles" indeed occur in Carinthia in the Ferlach/Hollenburg/Viktring and Dravograd/Poljana/Bleiburg areas, resulting in military victories for the Yugoslav Army? Second, were the battles after the capitulation fought by the refugees with the aim of reaching the British-controlled areas in Carinthia? To answer these questions, Rulitz presents a detailed reconstruction of those days in May 1945. He furthermore considers the question of the murders on Austrian territory, which were hushed up in Partisan literature and presented as casualties of the final military operations. This groundbreaking study will interest scholars and students of modern European history.

Download or read book The Notorious Bull Nelson written by Donald A. Clark and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2011-02-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dynamic figure in the pages of history, Major General William “Bull” Nelson played a formative role in the Union’s success in Kentucky and the Western theater of the Civil War. Now, Donald A. Clark presents a long-overdue examination of this irascible officer, his numerous accomplishments, and his grim fate. More popularly known for his temper than his intrepid endeavors on behalf of the North, Nelson nevertheless dedicated much of his life to his nation and the preservation of the Union. The child of a privileged family, Nelson was one of the first officers to graduate from the newly formed U.S. Naval Academy. His years in the Navy imbued in him the qualities of bravery, loyalty, and fortitude; however, his term of service also seemed to breed an intolerance of others for which he became infamous, and that ultimately led to his violent downfall. Clark sheds new light upon Nelson’s pre–Civil War years as a naval officer, when he became a hardened veteran of battle, fighting at the siege of Veracruz and the capture of Tabasco during the Mexican War in the 1840s. On the basis of Nelson’s military experience, in 1861 President Lincoln sent him to Kentucky—which was considering secession—and Nelson rallied loyalists and helped the Union prepare to maintain control of the state during the next several years of war. Nelson went on to prove instrumental in blocking Confederate attempts to subdue Kentucky and the West, serving important roles in the battle of Shiloh, General Henry W. Halleck’s advance against Corinth, and Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell’s movement toward Chattanooga. But while some viewed his bold maneuvers as the saving of the state, many others, including such notables as Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, argued that Nelson’s actions merited no praise. Unfortunately for the general, the question of his value to the Union abruptly became moot, as his achievements were shortly overshadowed by ignominious rumors of scandal and abuse. His involvement in the defense of Louisville gave Nelson a chance to redeem himself and restore his military reputation, but the general’s famous temper soon robbed him of any potential glory. During September of 1862, in a crime that was never prosecuted, fellow Union general Jefferson C. Davis shot and killed Nelson after an argument. Clark explores this remarkable exception in military law, arguing that while the fact of the murder was indisputable, many considered Davis a hero for having dispatched the so-called tyrant. Although Nelson eventually received many posthumous honors for his indispensable role in the war, justice was never sought for his murder. A comprehensive study of this well-known, yet misunderstood American figure, The Notorious “Bull” Nelson: Murdered Civil War General is an illuminating addition to the history of the Civil War. Through Clark’s impeccable research and richly layered narrative, William “Bull” Nelson springs from the pages as large and volatile as he was in life.

Download or read book Mass Murder in the United States written by Grant Duwe and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-10-16 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is mass murder a historically new phenomenon that emerged in the 1960s? How has it changed over time? And what causes a person to commit multiple murders in a matter of hours or even minutes? This book explores these questions by examining 909 mass murders that took place in the United States between 1900 and 1999. By far the largest study on the topic to date, it begins with a look at the patterns and prevalence of mass murders by presenting rates from 1900-1999 and by describing the characteristics of mass killers. Placing the phenomenon within the broader social, political, and economic context of the twentieth century, the work examines the factors that have influenced trends in the prevalence of mass murder. It also discusses more than 100 case studies within three distinct periods of mass murder activity (1900-1939, 1940-1965, and 1966-1999) to illustrate more clearly the motives of mass murderers and the circumstances surrounding their crimes. The final chapters take a look at media coverage and the role it has played in the social construction of mass murder. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Download or read book Murder at Camp Delta written by Joseph Hickman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-01-20 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The revelatory inside story about Guantánamo Bay—and the US government cover up—by the Staff Sergeant who felt honor-bound to uncover it: “A disturbing account…made with compelling clarity and strength of character” (Publishers Weekly). Staff Sergeant Joe Hickman was a loyal member of the armed forces and a proud American patriot. For twenty years, he worked as a prison guard, a private investigator, and in the military, earning more than twenty commendations and awards. When he re-enlisted after 9/11, he served as a team leader and Sergeant of the Guard in Guantánamo Naval Base. From the moment he arrived at Camp Delta, something was amiss. The prions were chaotic, detainees were abused, and Hickman uncovered by accident a secret facility he labeled “Camp No.” On June 9, 2006, the night Hickman was on duty, three prisoners died, supposed suicides, and Hickman knew something was seriously wrong. So began his epic search for the truth, an odyssey that would lead him to conclude that the US government was using Guantánamo not just as a prison, but as a training ground for interrogators to test advanced torture techniques. For the first time, Hickman details the inner workings of Camp Delta: the events surrounding the death of three prisoners, the orchestrated cover-up, and the secret facility at the heart of it all. From his own eyewitness account and a careful review of thousands of documents, he deconstructs the government’s account of what happened and proves that the military not only tortured prisoners, but lied about their deaths. By revealing Guantánamo’s true nature, Sergeant Hickman shows us why the prison has been so difficult to close. “Murder at Camp Delta is a plainly told, unsettling corrective to the many jingoistic accounts of post-9/11 military action” (Kirkus Reviews).

Download or read book Battle Tactics of the Western Front written by Paddy Griffith and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historians have portrayed British participation in World War I as a series of tragic debacles, with lines of men mown down by machine guns, with untried new military technology, and incompetent generals who threw their troops into improvised and unsuccessful attacks. In this book a renowned military historian studies the evolution of British infantry tactics during the war and challenges this interpretation, showing that while the British army's plans and technologies failed persistently during the improvised first half of the war, the army gradually improved its technique, technology, and, eventually, its' self-assurance. By the time of its successful sustained offensive in the fall of 1918, says Paddy Griffith, the British army was demonstrating a battlefield skill and mobility that would rarely be surpassed even during World War II. Evaluating the great gap that exists between theory and practice, between textbook and bullet-swept mudfield, Griffith argues that many battles were carefully planned to exploit advanced tactics and to avoid casualties, but that breakthrough was simply impossible under the conditions of the time. According to Griffith, the British were already masters of "storm troop tactics" by the end of 1916, and in several important respects were further ahead than the Germans would be even in 1918. In fields such as the timing and orchestration of all-arms assaults, predicted artillery fire, "Commando-style" trench raiding, the use of light machine guns, or the barrage fire of heavy machine guns, the British led the world. Although British generals were not military geniuses, says Griffith, they should at least be credited for effectively inventing much of the twentieth-century's art of war.

Download or read book Grandpa Wouldn T Lie written by Samuel D. Perry and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2013-02-05 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grandpa Wouldn't Lie is the heartwarming story of a boy's relationship with his grandparents. Through stories told by his grandfather, the author learns, not only his family heritage, but important lessons about personal values and the meaning of life. Although essential reading for members of the author's family, this book has appeal for the general reader, too. The stories contained within it take the reader back to a time when life in the southern Appalachians was harsh and, sometimes,brutal. However, through the stories told by his grandfather, the author learns that integrity and family honor can triumph in the face of unrelenting difficulties. This is a book that will be read again and again, by both young and old. The reader will be long in forgetting it.

Download or read book Murder in the White House written by Margaret Truman and published by Witness. This book was released on 2015-09-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a town where the weapon of choice is usually a well-aimed rumor, the strangling of Secretary of State Lansard Blaine in the Lincoln Bedroom is a gruesome first. White House counsel Ron Fairbanks is ordered to investigate. There are persistent rumors that the Secretary was an accomplished womanizer with ties to a glamorous call girl. There is also troubling evidence of unofficial connections with international wheeler-dealers. In death as in life, Blaine is a power to be reckoned with. For Fairbanks, who loves the President's daughter, one point is soon clear: only a few highly placed insiders had access to the Lincoln Bedroom that fateful evening. And one of them was the President. . . .

Download or read book The Lies We Shared written by Sarah Penny and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2012-09-28 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Don't think about the past. I can't not think about the past. The past is what I am. For Rebecca Falconer the past truly is another country. Two countries, in fact. Zimbabwe and Rhodesia. And while her present may be tied to the new, makeshift life she has built for herself in London, her heart remains rooted in the red earth of Glencoe - the farm she grew up on in the Eastern Highlands, now appropriated under Robert Mugabe's land reform programme. However, while the past seems to offer assurance in the face of an unpredictable future, things are not always as they seem. When her mother dies unexpectedly, Rebecca begins a journey that will lead her back to a very different time - 1950s Kenya in the grip of the Mau Mau uprising. Confronted by the modern reality of the country that her mother once called home, Rebecca tries to come to terms with her own feelings about the woman who raised her. But, as she searches for a way of finally laying her mother's ghost to rest, a disturbing truth comes to light that will call into question the very foundations of her family's identity.

Download or read book A Murder in Lemberg written by Michael Stanislawski and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How could a Jew kill a Jew for religious and political reasons? Many people asked this question after an Orthodox Jew assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Itshak Rabin in 1995. But historian Michael Stanislawski couldn't forget it, and he decided to find out everything he could about an obscure and much earlier event that was uncannily similar to Rabin's murder: the 1848 killing--by an Orthodox Jew--of the Reform rabbi of Lemberg (now L'viv, Ukraine). Eventually, Stanislawski concluded that this was the first murder of a Jewish leader by a Jew since antiquity, a prelude to twentieth-century assassinations of Jews by Jews, and a turning point in Jewish history. Based on records unavailable for decades, A Murder in Lemberg is the first book about this fascinating case. On September 6, 1848, Abraham Ber Pilpel entered the kitchen of Rabbi Abraham Kohn and his family and poured arsenic in the soup that was being prepared for their dinner. Within hours, the rabbi and his infant daughter were dead. Was Kohn's murder part of a conservative Jewish backlash to Jewish reform and liberalization in a year of European revolution? Or was he killed simply because he threatened taxes that enriched Lemberg's Orthodox leaders? Vividly recreating the dramatic story of the murder, the trial that followed, and the political and religious fallout of both, Stanislawski tries to answer these questions and others. In the process, he reveals the surprising diversity of Jewish life in mid-nineteenth-century eastern Europe. Far from being uniformly Orthodox, as is often assumed, there was a struggle between Orthodox and Reform Jews that was so intense that it might have led to murder.

Download or read book When Workers Shot Back Class Conflict from 1877 to 1921 written by Robert Ovetz and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 613 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States looks today much like it did in the late 19th to early 20th century. Open class conflict is disappearing, strikes are becoming rare, unions are declining, corporate power is growing, and work is insecure and contingent. When Workers Shot Back: Class Conflict from 1877 to 1921 explores one of the most tumultuous times in United States history. Self-organised workers recomposed their power by devising new strategies and tactics to disrupt the capitalist economy and extract concessions. Mine, railroad, steel, and iron workers pursued a strategy of tension that sometimes erupted into militant class conflict and general strikes in which workers took over and ran a number of cities. Turning common wisdom on its head, When Workers Shot Back argues that the escalation of working class conflict drives rather than reacts to the consolidation and reorganisation of capital and economic and political reform of the state. Studying the class composition of this period illustrates why workers escalated the intensity of their tactics, even using tactical violence, to extract concessions and reforms when all other efforts to do so were blocked, coopted or repressed.