Download or read book Victoria Cross Heroes written by Michael Ashcroft and published by Headline. This book was released on 2012-10-25 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ebook edition contains the full text version as per the book. Doesn't include original photographic and illustrated material. VICTORIA CROSS HEROES tells the stories of over 150 individuals whose bravery has earned them the Victoria Cross, Britain's most prestigious medal for courage in action. The book is introduced by Michael Ashcroft, who owns over ten per cent of all VCs ever awarded. He explains the history of the medal and the story of his fascination with it. The main text of the book tells the stories of both those recipients whose medals are in his collection and those whose stories featured in the television series. Each chapter covers a different conflict, from the Crimean War to Iraq.
Download or read book The Making of Billy Bishop written by Brereton Greenhous and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2002-05-01 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's a war story that is told every time the career of Billy Bishop is discussed: On June 2, 1917, the young pilot single-handedly took out a German airfield in an early morning raid at the height of the Great War. For this, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, and a place in Canadian history. And yet, the attack never happened. In this explosive new biography, Brereton Greehous exposes the myth of Billy Bishop. While his bravery never comes into question (Bishop was as courageous as any of the men who risked their lives in those early warplanes) his credibility as a storyteller does. From exaggerations and half-truths to flat-out lies, stories of Bishop's legendary exploits contain as much fiction as they do fact. Greenhous reveals many startling truths: he presents evidence that some of the medals Bishop wore late in his career were unearned, uncovers a number of examples of Bishop embellishing or inventing combat stories, and, most significantly, shows that the only account of the ace's raid on the German airfield came from Bishop himself. Even official German records of casualties fail to corroborate the Canadian's claims. The Making of Billy Bishop is a book certain to stir up controversy. Twenty years ago, a documentary film questioning Bishop's credentials as a hero was considered so blasphemous that a senate investigation was launched in an attempt to restore the pilot's name. Now, Greenhous's research vindicates the claims of the filmmakers, and re-ignites an argument once thought settled.
Download or read book Anders Lassen VC MC of the SAS written by Mike Langley and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Anders Lassen is one of the most amazing and heroic of the Second World War – indeed in the history of the British armed services. He was awarded no less than three Military Crosses and the SAS regiment’s only Victoria Cross. From the day he stalked and killed a stag armed only with a knife, Lassen had been recognized as quite unique. He took part in a series of extraordinary strikes against the Axis powers in West Africa, Normandy, the Channel Islands, the Aegean and Greece, the Balkans and, finally, in Italy. This classic biography of a remarkable warrior, which was first published in 1988, is based on interviews with Lassens fellow soldiers and a wealth of original research. It covers each stage of Lassens short, brilliant career in vivid detail and offers a penetrating insight into the exceptional courage, confidence and single-minded motivation that lay behind Lassens extraordinary exploits. Mike Langley also reconstructs, using the testimony of survivors, the operation in which Lassen was killed and for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
Download or read book VC written by Tom Nicholas and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An incisive history of the venture-capital industry.” —New Yorker “An excellent and original economic history of venture capital.” —Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution “A detailed, fact-filled account of America’s most celebrated moneymen.” —New Republic “Extremely interesting, readable, and informative...Tom Nicholas tells you most everything you ever wanted to know about the history of venture capital, from the financing of the whaling industry to the present multibillion-dollar venture funds.” —Arthur Rock “In principle, venture capital is where the ordinarily conservative, cynical domain of big money touches dreamy, long-shot enterprise. In practice, it has become the distinguishing big-business engine of our time...[A] first-rate history.” —New Yorker VC tells the riveting story of how the venture capital industry arose from America’s longstanding identification with entrepreneurship and risk-taking. Whether the venture is a whaling voyage setting sail from New Bedford or the latest Silicon Valley startup, VC is a state of mind as much as a way of doing business, exemplified by an appetite for seeking extreme financial rewards, a tolerance for failure and experimentation, and a faith in the promise of innovation to generate new wealth. Tom Nicholas’s authoritative history takes us on a roller coaster of entrepreneurial successes and setbacks. It describes how iconic firms like Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia invested in Genentech and Apple even as it tells the larger story of VC’s birth and evolution, revealing along the way why venture capital is such a quintessentially American institution—one that has proven difficult to recreate elsewhere.
Download or read book The Complete Victoria Cross written by Kevin Brazier and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2015-09-30 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fully revised paperback edition of the complete chronological record of VC holders is an essential work of reference for every student of military history. All the British and Commonwealth servicemen who have been awarded the highest honour for exceptional acts of bravery and self-sacrifice are commemorated here. The first VCs awarded for the Crimean War and in the nineteenth-century colonial wars are described, as are the VCs awarded in the world wars of the twentieth century and the most recent VCs awarded during present-day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The extraordinary exploits recounted in this fascinating book make unforgettable reading.
Download or read book Veterans written by Sasha Maslov and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ichiro Sudan trained to be a kamikaze. Roscoe Brown was a commander in the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American military aviators. Charin Singh, a farmer from Delhi, spent seven years as a Japanese prisoner of war and was not sent home until four years after the war ended. Uli John lost an arm serving in the German army but ultimately befriended former enemy soldiers as part of a network of veterans—"people who fought in the war and know what war really means." These are some of the faces and stories in the remarkable Veterans, the outcome of a worldwide project by Sasha Maslov to interview and photograph the last surviving combatants from World War II. Soldiers, support staff, and resistance fighters candidly discuss wartime experiences and their lifelong effects in this unforgettable, intimate record of the end of a cataclysmic chapter in world history and tribute to the members of an indomitable generation. Veterans is also a meditation on memory, human struggle, and the passage of time.
Download or read book Symbol of Courage written by Max Arthur and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2005 with total page 750 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Victoria Cross can only be awarded for most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy. It has been awarded only 1,354 times since the Crimean War, the majority going to British and Commonwealth troops. Symbol of Courage vividly brings the story of the medal to life, giving a narrative history from the Crimean War to the recent war in Afghanistan. It includes many first-hand accounts of individual acts of bravery and describes what happened to the VC holders, some of whom found it was harder wearing the medal than winning it. It also gives a complete listing of every VC holder with details of the action in which they won the medal. Written by acclaimed military historian Max Arthur, this is a fascinating and comprehensive study that will appeal to everyone who is interested in military history.The Victoria Cross is Britains most famous medalit has a great emotional appeal and this book is full of stories of remarkable courage. Max Arthurs last book, Forgotten Voices of the Great War, sold over 84,000 copies in paperback for Ebury. The first book for many years to give a complete history of the medal. There are many Commonwealth holders so there should be a market outside the UK.
Download or read book The Evolution of US Army Tactical Doctrine 1946 76 written by Robert A. Doughty and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper focuses on the formulation of doctrine since World War II. In no comparable period in history have the dimensions of the battlefield been so altered by rapid technological changes. The need for the tactical doctrines of the Army to remain correspondingly abreast of these changes is thus more pressing than ever before. Future conflicts are not likely to develop in the leisurely fashions of the past where tactical doctrines could be refined on the battlefield itself. It is, therefore, imperative that we apprehend future problems with as much accuracy as possible. One means of doing so is to pay particular attention to the business of how the Army's doctrine has developed historically, with a view to improving methods of future development.
Download or read book Donald Dean VC written by T. E. Crowdy and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2011-03-23 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Donald Dean lied about his age to enlist in the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment and serve on the Western Front, where he worked his way up from Private to acting Captain. It was in the last weeks of the war, late in September 1918, that he won his VC for leading a platoon in the determined defense of a recently captured and isolated trench against repeated German counterattacks. In one of these attacks, the Germans actually broke into the trench, forcing Dean to break off a radio call for artillery support with the words 'The Germans are here, goodbye!' Refusing to be overrun, he personally killed four of the Germans before they were finally evicted. Dean also served in World War II, witnessing the fall of France in 1940 and claiming to be the last Brit to get out of Boulogne. His frank account of the evacuation challenges some cherished conceptions and is very critical of the conduct of the Irish Guards in particular. He went on to fight in Madagascar, Sicilya and the Italian mainland. Donald Dean died in 1985.Military historian Terry Crowdy has edited Dean's letters and diaries, never previously published, adding additional notes and material from official reports to give the reader context. The result is a moving, often amusing and inspiring portrait of a little-known hero of two world wars.
Download or read book Medical Support of the Army Air Forces in World War II written by United States. Air Force Medical Service and published by . This book was released on 1955 with total page 1120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Victoria Cross in 100 Objects written by Brian Best and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2020-02-19 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was the events of the Crimean War that changed everything. Until that time, those serving in Britain's army or navy had been expected to do their duty without thought of recognition or reward, particularly the men in the lower ranks. Fuelled by reports from the first ever war correspondents, which were read by an increasingly literate public, the mumblings of discontent over how the gallantry and valor of the ordinary man was recognized rapidly grew into a national outcry. Questions were asked in Parliament, answers were demanded by the press - why were the heroes of the Alma, Inkerman and the Charge of the Light Brigade not being officially acknowledged? Something had to be done. That something was the introduction of an award that would be of such prestige it would be sought by all men from the most junior private to a Field Marshal. It would be the highest possible award for valor in the face of the enemy and it bore the name of the Queen for whom the men fought - The Victoria Cross. Since the VC was instituted in January 1856, it has been awarded 1,358 times to 1,355 individual recipients. Those men were thrown into wars and campaigns around the globe, from the seas and skies around the UK to the deserts of Africa and the sweltering jungles of the Far East. The two world wars saw the most VCs awarded - 628 in the First and 182 in the Second. Only fifteen medals, eleven to members of the British Army, and four to the Australian Army, have been awarded since the Second World War. In this highly-illustrated work, the renowned Victoria Cross historian and author Brian Best examines the introduction and evolution of the VC, along with some of the fascinating individuals and remarkable acts of valor associated with it, through an intriguing collection of 100 objects.
Download or read book US 10th Mountain Division in World War II written by Gordon L. Rottman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-10-20 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 10th was the only US mountain division to be raised in World War II, and still has a high profile, being involved in operations from Iraq to Somalia and from Haiti to Afghanistan. It did not arrive in Europe until winter 1944/45, but then fought hard in the harsh mountainous terrain of Northern Italy. The division was special in a number of ways. Its personnel were selected for physical fitness and experience in winter sports, mountaineering, and hunting, unlike the rest of the infantry. It was highly trained in mountain and winter warfare, including the use of skis and snowshoes, while its organization, field clothing, and some personal equipment also differed from that of the usual infantry division. The division made extensive use of pack-mules, and its reconnaissance unit was horse-mounted, conducting the last horse-mounted charge in US history in April 1945. Featuring full-color artwork and rare photographs, this is the gripping story of the US Army's only mountain division in action during the closing months of World War II.
Download or read book Searching for Charlie written by Tom Scott and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham is the only combat soldier ever to win the Victoria Cross twice. His acts of bravery in World War II meant he probably deserved six more.The mystery of how a reserved, modest, slightly built farm valuer from New Zealand, could be so ferocious and fearless in battle has intrigued and fascinated Tom Scott ever since he read about Charles Upham as a schoolboy. Searching for Charlie is his epic quest to unravel the real Charles Upham."--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book VCs of the North written by Alan Whitworth and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-10-30 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today the Victoria Cross remains the supreme British award for bravery. It takes precedence over all other awards and decorations. During its 160-year history, since the first medals were given for gallantry during the Crimean War in the 1850s, 1,357 of these medals have been won, and almost fifty of them have gone to the soldiers of Cumbria, Durham and Northumberland . Alan Whitworth, in this carefully researched and revealing account, describes in graphic detail the exploits and the lives of this elite band of heroes. Within this group of Northern VC recipients are a number of outstanding names, including Richard Annand who gained the first VC of the Second World War and Roland Bradford who was one of only four sets of brothers to have secured the VC. He also had the distinction of becoming the youngest general in the British army. But among the roll of the brave whose gallantry and self-sacrifice are celebrated in these pages the reader will find the names and extraordinary deeds of many other men who were either born or bred or lived and died in the North. They will also find the story of the youngest Victoria Cross recipient who won his award aged just nineteen.The stories of these ordinary individuals who have 'performed some signal act of valour or devotion to their country' will be fascinating reading for anyone who is interested in military history in general and in the long military tradition of the North of England.
Download or read book The Victoria Cross written by Ashali Varma and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Memoirs of the author's father, Prem Bhagat, who was military officer in Africa during World War II and after in independent India and awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in World War II.
Download or read book Extraordinary Heroes written by The Imperial War Museum and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2010-11-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Victoria and George Crosses are the highest military and civil decorations of the United Kingdom, awarded for gallantry. The Victoria Cross, introduced in 1856, is awarded to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries for valour in the face of the enemy, while the George Cross was introduced during World War II so that civilians could also be awarded for acts of heroism, or conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger. There have been 1,356 Victoria Crosses awarded, and there have been 404 recipients of the George Cross since 1940. The Imperial War Museum is opening the Lord Ashcroft Gallery in November 2010 to showcase not only their large collection of Victoria and George crosses, but also Lord Ashcroft's collection, which he has loaned to the Museum for 10 years. The gallery will therefore contain the largest collection of VCs and GCs in the world. The museum envisages around 150,000 visitors a year. This fully illustrated book contains the stories of over 80 recipients: a mixture of individuals - including men, women and children from different countries - who performed their acts of heroism across the last century and a half.
Download or read book The Evolution of the Victoria Cross written by M. J. Crook and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
