Download or read book Slim Master of War written by Robert Lyman and published by Constable. This book was released on 2016-06-02 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Elegantly written and beautifully produced' TLS How 'Uncle Bill' won the war in Burma Defeated and demoralised, British units in the Far East had virtually been ejected from Burma when, in 1943, General W. J. Slim organised, trained and then deployed his famous 'forgotten' 14th Army to devastating effect, defeating the Japanese twice and liberating Burma in the process. One of the most innovative soldiers of his generation, Slim's 'smart' style of soldiering was startling in its modernity - and with it he achieved something no one believed possible. An intelligent, compassionate commander, the unconventional Slim was also a heroic figure to the men he commanded - known affectionately to the ranks as 'Uncle Bill'. This biography tells the fascinating story of how he brought victory out of defeat; Lyman now gives him his rightful place, alongside Patton and Guderian, in the pantheon of eminent and unorthodox Second World War commanders.

Download or read book Slim Master of War written by R LYMAN and published by Constable Limited. This book was released on 2003-06-30 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Vietnam and the Unravelling of Empire written by T. Smith and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-10-21 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vietnam War and Indian independence devastated British policy towards Asia. The Labour Government failed to understand its commitments. Yet some senior British officers were prepared to work alongside Asian nationalism in order to secure British interests. This created a radical local fusion of imperial, diplomatic and humanitarian policies.

Download or read book Slim Master of War Direct Sales written by Robert Lyman and published by . This book was released on 2003-11-30 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Bill Slim written by Robert Lyman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-07-20 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bill' Slim was one of the greatest British generals of World War II. In a career that stretched from 1914 until 1958, Bill Slim's greatest triumphs came in India and Burma in the long war against the Japanese. Thrust into a desperate situation, he orchestrated the longest retreat in British Army history in the withdrawal from Burma. He then turned on the Japanese in India, shattered their army, and pursued them to destruction. Apart from his great military victories, Slim also left a legacy of training and morale building that endures in the British Army to this day. This book examines both Bill Slim's military career and his place in military history by examining some of his greatest battles and the strategy and tactics that set him apart from his contemporaries.

Download or read book Patton Montgomery Rommel written by Terry Brighton and published by Crown. This book was released on 2009-11-03 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Patton, Montgomery, Rommel, one of Britain's most accomplished military scholars presents an unprecedented study of the land war in the North African and European theaters, as well as their chief commanders—three men who also happened to be the most compelling dramatis personae of World War II. Beyond spellbinding depictions of pivotal confrontations at El Alamein, Monte Cassino, and the Ardennes forest, author-scholar Terry Brighton illuminates the personal motivations and historical events that propelled the three men's careers: how Patton's, Montgomery's, and Rommel's Great War experiences helped to mold their style of command—and how, exactly, they managed to apply their arguably megalomaniacal personalities (and hitherto unrecognized political acumen and tact) to advance their careers and strategic vision. Opening new avenues of inquiry into the lives and careers of three men widely profiled by scholars and popular historians alike, Brighton definitively answers numerous lingering and controversial questions: Was Patton really as vainglorious in real life as he was portrayed to be on the silver screen?—and how did his tireless advocacy of "mechanized cavalry" forever change the face of war? Was Monty's dogged publicity-seeking driven by his own need for recognition or by his desire to claim for Britain a leadership role in postwar global order?—and how did this prickly "commoner" manage to earn affection and esteem from enlisted men and nobility alike? How might the war have ended if Rommel had had more tanks?—and what fundamental philosophical difference between him and Hitler made such an outcome virtually impossible? Abetted by new primary source material and animated by Terry Brighton's incomparable storytelling gifts, Patton, Montgomery, Rommel offers critical new interpretations of the Second World War as it was experienced by its three most flamboyant, controversial, and influential commanders—and augments our understanding of each of their perceptions of war and leadership.

Download or read book The Special Operations Executive SOE in Burma written by Richard Duckett and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-10-30 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the mountains and jungles of occupied Burma during World War II, British special forces launched a series of secret operations, assisted by parts of the Burmese population. The men of the SOE, trained in sabotage and guerrilla warfare, worked in the jungle, deep behind enemy lines, to frustrate the puppet Burmese government of Ba Maw and continue the fight against Hirohito's Japan in a theatre starved of resources. Here, Richard Duckett uses newly declassified documents from the National Archives to reveal for the first time the extent of British special forces' involvement - from the 1941 operations until beyond Burma's independence from the British Empire in 1948. Duckett argues convincingly that `Operation Character' and `Operation Billet' - large SOE missions launched in support of General Slim's XIV Army offensive to liberate Burma - rank among the most militarily significant of the SOE's secret missions. Featuring a wealth of photographs and accompanying material never before published, including direct testimony recorded by veterans of the campaign and maps from the SOE files, The SOE in Burma tells a compelling story of courage and struggle in during World War II

Download or read book Fighting the People s War written by Jonathan Fennell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-24 with total page 967 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fighting the People's War is an unprecedented, panoramic history of the 'citizen armies' of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa, the core of the British and Commonwealth armies in the Second World War. Drawing on new sources to reveal the true wartime experience of the ordinary rank and file, Jonathan Fennell fundamentally challenges our understanding of the War and of the relationship between conflict and socio-political change. He uncovers how fractures on the home front had profound implications for the performance of the British and Commonwealth armies and he traces how soldiers' political beliefs, many of which emerged as a consequence of their combat experience, proved instrumental to the socio-political changes of the postwar era. Fighting the People's War transforms our understanding of how the great battles were won and lost as well as how the postwar societies were forged.

Download or read book Defeat Into Victory written by William Joseph Slim Slim (Viscount) and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 654 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A personal account of military field command during the Second World War as told by Sir William Slim, who led the British forces in Burma. In Mar. 1942 he took command of the Burma Corps and then led the British 14th Army, formed in 1943. They were British, Australians, Canadians, South Africans, Burmese, Chinese, and African soldiers, but mainly drawn from the volunteer Indian Army. For three years Slim's soldiers tied down tens of thousands of Japanese troops in Burma which keep them from fighting in the Pacific. Slim relates the long retreat through Burma and the final hard-fought victory over the Japanese forces, capturing the harsh realities of war. This narrative was first published during his appointment as the 13th Governor General of Australia, granted by the, then new, Queen Elizabeth II, in May, 1953.

Download or read book The Reconquest of Burma 1944 45 written by Robert Lyman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-07-20 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating exploration of the dramatic battles and Allied operations to wrest back control of Burma (Myanmar) from the Japanese. The Allied reconquest of Burma was not part of Allied Grand Strategy in 1944 and 1945. It happened despite it – in particular, because of the dramatic failure of the Japanese invasion of India (Operation U-Go), which ended ignominiously for the Japanese Empire in August 1944. The reconquest was one of the longest campaigns of World War II. It comprised 11 distinct battles and offensives that were part of the overall continuum of operations that resulted in the Allied victory. Written by a foremost expert on the British Army in World War II, this superbly illustrated work details the Allied operations to retake Burma from Japanese control. Accounts of Operation Capital, the capture of Meiktila and Mandalay, the Allied advance in the Arakan, the race for Rangoon, Operation Dracula, the Battle of the Sittang Bend and Japanese breakout operations across the Pegu Yomas are supported by easy to follow 2D maps and 3D diagrams. Among the events brought to life in vivid battlescene artworks are an SOE-led ambush in Operation Character, and the famous Defence of Hill 170 in the Arakan.

Download or read book The Military Leadership Handbook written by Robert W. Walker and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2008-09-29 with total page 563 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the simplest of terms, leadership is about influencing people to achieve an objective that is important to the leader, the group, and the organization. It is the human element -- leading, motivating, and inspiring, particularly during times of crisis, chaos, and complexity when directives, policy statements, and communiques have little effect on cold, exhausted, and stressed followers. Strong leadership encourages subordinates to go beyond the obligation to obey and commit to the mission in a way that maximizes their potential. The Military Leadership Handbook is a concise and complete manual that identifies, describes, and explains all those concepts, components, and ideas that deal with, or directly relate to, military leadership. The book is a comprehensive compendium that focuses on, among other subjects, cohesion, command, cultural intelligence, discipline, fear, and trust. this applied manual provides invaluable assistance to anyone who wishes to acquire a better understanding of both the theory and application of military leadership

Download or read book The Jungle Japanese and the British Commonwealth Armies at War 1941 45 written by Tim Moreman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the British Commonwealth armies in SE Asia and the SW Pacific during the Second World War, which, following the disastrous Malayan and Burma campaigns, had to hurriedly re-train, re-equip and re-organise their demoralised troops to fight a conventional jungle war against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). British, Indian and Australian troops faced formidable problems conducting operations across inaccessible, rugged and jungle-covered mountains on the borders of Burma, in New Guinea and on the islands of the SW Pacific. Yet within a remarkably short time they adapted to the exigencies of conventional jungle warfare and later inflicted shattering defeats on the Japanese. This study will trace how the military effectiveness of the Australian Army and the last great imperial British Army in SE Asia was so dramatically transformed, with particular attention to the two key factors of tactical doctrine and specialised training in jungle warfare. It will closely examine how lessons were learnt and passed on between the British, Indian and Australian armies. The book will also briefly cover the various changes in military organisation, medical support and equipment introduced by the military authorities in SE Asia and Australia, as well as covering the techniques evolved to deliver effective air support to ground troops. To demonstrate the importance of these changes, the battlefield performance of imperial troops in such contrasting operations as the First Arakan Campaign, fighting along the Kokoda Trail and the defeat of the IJA at Imphal and Kohima will be described in detail.

Download or read book The Burma Campaign written by Frank McLynn and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-04 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This history reveals the failures and fortunes of leadership during the WWII campaign into Japanese-occupied Burma: “a thoroughly satisfying experience” (Kirkus). Acclaimed historian Frank McLynn tells the story of four larger-than-life Allied commanders whose lives collided in the Burma campaign, one of the most punishing and protracted military adventures of World War II. This vivid account ranges from Britain’s defeat in 1942 through the crucial battles of Imphal and Kohima—known as "the Stalingrad of the East"—and on to ultimate victory in 1945. Frank McLynn narrative focuses on the interactions and antagonisms of its principal players: William Slim, the brilliant general; Orde Wingate, the idiosyncratic commander of a British force of irregulars; Louis Mountbatten, one of Churchill's favorites, overpromoted to the position of Supreme Commander, S.E. Asia; and Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, a hard-line—and openly anlgophobic—U.S. general. With lively portraits of each of these men, McLynn shows how the plans and strategies of generals and politicians were translated into a hideous reality for soldiers on the ground.

Download or read book In the Service of the Emperor written by N.S. Nash and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2022-09-21 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The expansion of the Japanese Empire between 1931 until its defeat in 1945 is one of the most extraordinary yet shocking episodes in human history. Extraordinary in that a relatively non-industrialised island nation was prepared to go to war, concurrently, with China, the most populous country, Great Britain with its world-wide empire and the USA, the wealthiest and most powerful country on earth. Shocking, as those 'in the service of the Emperor’ practiced persistent and unrestrained brutality as they conquered and occupied swathes of South East Asia. But, as this superbly researched work reveals, there is no denying their fighting and logistical expertise. The author examines the political, economic and strategic effects of the rapid Japanese expansion and explores the cult of deity that surrounded the Emperor. The contribution of the Allied forces and their leadership is given due attention. When retribution duly came, it was focussed on the military leadership responsible for unspeakable atrocities on their military and civilian victims. The physical perpetrators remaining largely unpunished. Japan, today, has still not acknowledged its wartime guilt. The result is an authoritative, balanced and highly readable account of a chapter of world history that must never be forgotten.

Download or read book A Guide to British Military History written by Ian F. W. Beckett and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-06-30 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What exactly is military history? Forty years ago it meant battles, campaigns, great commanders, drums and trumpets. It was largely the preserve of military professionals and was used to support national history and nationalism. Now, though, the study of war has been transformed by the war and society approach, by the examination of identity, memory and gender, and a less Euro-centric and more global perspective. Generally it is recognised that war and conflict must be integrated into the wider narrative of historical development, and this is why Ian Becketts research guide is such a useful tool for anyone working in this growing field. It introduces students to all the key debates, issues and resources. While European and global perspectives are not neglected, there is an emphasis on the British experience of war since 1500. This survey of British military history will be essential reading and reference for anyone who has a professional or amateur interest in the subject, and it will be a valuable introduction for newcomers to it.

Download or read book Orde Wingate and the British Army 1922 1944 written by Simon Anglim and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-06 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Major General Orde Wingate (1903–1944) was the most controversial British military commander of the Second World War, and perhaps of the last hundred years. Anglim's biography fills a significant void in the literature, making extensive use of Wingate's papers to place him firmly in the context of the British army of the time.

Download or read book Stilwell the Patriot written by David Rooney and published by Skyhorse. This book was released on 2016-08-16 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joe Stilwell, known as “Vinegar Joe” for his caustic personality, was stationed in Burma during World War II and famously differed in strategy from other commanders in his division. In retrospect analyses, it’s said that if he had gotten his way, the United States might have defeated the Communists in 1945 and changed the course of history. This meticulously-reached biography of Vinegar Joe presents an intimate account of his career, working as Chinese military leader Chiang Kai-shek’s chief of staff, the commander of the Chinese divisions in Burma, and the deputy supreme commander of the South East Asia Command. It explores Stilwell’s determination to drive a road through the jungle in order to reopen the old Burma Road, and his passion to ensure that the colossal American contribution to the Burma Campaign was not misappropriated by Chiang, his boss. In recounting Vinegar Joe’s unusual escapades, historian David Rooney provides an intimate understanding of why Stilwell came to distrust and despise Chiang, and why he was fiercely critical of his fellow commanders. Simultaneously sympathetic and critical, the biography is one of a controversial American patriot. And in addition to Rooney’s compelling and enlightening text, Stilwell the Patriot features fifteen black-and-white photographs and six maps. The images includes photographs of Stilwell and Chiang, American tanks in Burma, and maps of where nearby battles took place. After a limited print-run more than ten years ago, Stilwell the Patriot is being put back in print shortly after the seventieth anniversary of the Burma Campaign. Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, 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.