Download or read book The German 88 Gun in Combat written by Janusz Piekalkiewicz and published by Schiffer Pub Limited. This book was released on 1992 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book by renowned World War II historian Janusz Piekalkiewicz presents the history of the famous German "88" in its ground combat role - a role it mastered. First used by the Legion Condor in Spain, the 88 was soon recongnized as a superb anti-aircraft weapon. When Rommel turned the 88's on British tanks in North Africa its anti-tank capabilities became legendary. Over 200 action and close-up photographs show the 88 gun throughout its us in the Second World War on all fronts. Janusz Piekalkiewicz (1925-1988) was a world-renowned author on many aspects of World War II history. Over 30 of his books are in print including BMW Motorcycles in World WarII, from Schiffer Military History.
Download or read book The German 88 written by Terry Gander and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2009-10-19 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The German 88 mm guns became the most famous and feared artillery pieces of the Second World War. They appeared in a whole series of forms ranging from anti-aircraft to anti-tank and tank-guns, including several self-propelled platforms. Although primarily anti-aircraft guns they gained an awesome reputation as anti-tank weapons, a reputation that remains to this day. Terry Gander, in this in-depth, highly illustrated study, tells the story of the 88 from its first manifestations during the Great War to its clandestine development in Sweden, its production in Germany, its first 'multi-role' initiation during the Spanish Civil War and its part in the campaigns of 1939-40. As well as a detailed technical description of the gun and its development, his book features vivid accounts of the 88 in action in many of the main theaters of the Second World War, in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany, and on the Eastern Front.
Download or read book German 88mm Gun vs Allied Armour written by David Campbell and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-02-18 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few weapons developed a more deadly reputation than the German '88' in the role of anti-tank gun, its long reach and lethal hitting power making it a significant problem for every type of British and later American armour. Despite its individual potency, it was almost always utilized as part of a comprehensive system of defences that relied on a mix of weapons carefully deployed in anticipation of the enemy's likely avenue and method of attack. Used in this way, the 88 became a particularly deadly part of the Afrika Korps' attempts to shatter British armoured power in the Western Desert. Initially extremely successful over the course of 1941 and 1942 in Operations Battleaxe and Crusader, the Allies' tactics and vehicles (such as the American-made M3 and the Crusader III) eventually evolved to deal with the 88's awesome power. This detailed new book tells the story of that evolution and provides an in-depth treatment of this key weapon of World War II.
Download or read book The Combat History of German Heavy Anti Tank Unit 653 in World War II written by Karlheinz Munch and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2005 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hundreds of photos, many never published before, of Germany's rarely seen tank destroyers, including the Ferdinand, Elephant, and JagdtigerColor illustrations focus on unit markings, numbering, and camouflageAccompanying text chronicles the unit's combat operations plus there are personal accounts from the men who rode in these mechanical monstersGerman Heavy Anti-Tank Unit 653 was equipped with the heaviest tank destroying vehicles of the German armed forces. Initially activated as an assault gun battalion and redesignated in April 1943, the 653 received its first Ferdinand heavy tank destroyers (later modified and renamed Elephants) in May 1943 and went into action on the Eastern Front a month later. In 1944, the unit converted to the even more massive Jagdtiger. The seventy-five-ton, heavily armored Jagdtiger was the behemoth of the battlefield and boasted a 128mm gun-as opposed to the Ferdinand's 88-with a range of more than thirteen miles, making it deadly despite its limited mobility. Outfitted with these lethal giants, the 653 saw service in Russia, Italy, Austria, and Germany.
Download or read book Seek Strike and Destroy written by Christopher Richard Gabel and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the seventy years that have passed since the tank first appeared, antitank combat has presented one of the greatest challenges in land warfare. Dramatic improvements in tank technology and doctrine over the years have precipitated equally innovative developments in the antitank field. One cycle in this ongoing arms race occurred during the early years of World War II when the U.S. Army sought desperately to find an antidote to the vaunted German blitzkrieg. This Leavenworth Paper analyzes the origins of the tank destroyer concept, evaluates the doctrine and equipment with which tank destroyer units fought, and assesses the effectiveness of the tank destroyer in battle.
Download or read book Flak written by Edward B. Westermann and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Air raid sirens wail, searchlight beams flash across the sky, and the night is aflame with tracer fire and aerial explosions, as Allied bombers and German anti-aircraft units duel in the thundering darkness. Such "cinematic" scenes, played out with increasing frequency as World War II ground to a close, were more than mere stock material for movie melodramas. As Edward Westermann reveals, they point to a key but largely unappreciated aspect of the German war effort that has yet to get its full due.Long the neglected stepchild in studies of World War II air campaigns, German flak or anti-aircraft units have been frequently dismissed by American, British, and German historians (and by veterans of the European air war) as ineffective weapons that wasted valuable materiel and personnel resources desperately needed elsewhere by the Third Reich. Westermann emphatically disagrees with that view and makes a convincing case for the significant contributions made by the entire range of German anti-aircraft defenses.During the Allied air campaigns against the Third Reich, well over a million tons of bombs were dropped upon the German homeland, killing nearly 300,000 civilians, wounding another 780,000, and destroying more than 3,500,000 industrial and residential structures. Not surprisingly, that aerial Armageddon has inspired countless studies of both the victorious Allied bombing offensive and the ultimately doomed Luftwaffe defense of its own skies. By contrast, flak units have virtually been ignored, despite the fact that they employed more than a million men and women, were responsible for more than half of all Allied aircraft losses, forced Allied bombers to fly far abovehigh-accuracy altitudes, and thus allowed Germany to hold out far longer than it might have otherwise.Westermann's definitive study sheds new light on every facet of the development and organization of this vital defense arm, includi
Download or read book Toward Combined Arms Warfare written by Jonathan Mallory House and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1985 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Busting the Bocage written by Michael Dale Doubler and published by Fort Leavenworth, Kan. : U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. This book was released on 1988 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Flak in World War II written by Donald Nijboer and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-09-01 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than half of the U.S.’s aircraft losses in Europe in World War II were due to German antiaircraft artillery, and many of the American aircraft shot down by Luftwaffe fighters had first been driven out of formation by flak and made easy prey for the fighters. A world away in the Pacific, American flak guns aboard naval ships formed the last line of defense against Japanese kamikazes. Historian Donald Nijboer relies on firsthand accounts, newly discovered files, photos, diagrams, and maps to reveal the forgotten contribution of flak in World War II, from doctrine and tactics to combat stories on the ground and in the air about what it was like to fly into the teeth of antiaircraft fire.
Download or read book TM E9 369A written by United States. War Department and published by . This book was released on 1943 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The 88-mm gun was a German anti-aircraft gun and anti-tank artillery gun from World War II. It was used substantially by Germany throughout the war, and was one of the most recognized German weapons of the war. ... Created in 1943, this technical manual reveals a great deal about the 88-mm's design and capabilities. Intended as a manual for those responsible for operation and maintenance, it details many aspects of the 88-mm's assembly, recoil, and accessories. Originally labeled restricted, this manual was declassified long ago and is here reprinted in book form ..."--Back cover.
Download or read book Desert Warfare written by Alfred Toppe and published by Militarybookshop.CompanyUK. This book was released on 2011 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Firs published in 1991. "Desert Warfare: German Experiences in World War II" is an abridgment of a two-volume work that first appeared in 1952. Organized by Major General Alfred Toppe and written with the assistance of nine German commanders who served in North Africa, the manuscript represents a collaborative attempt to determine as many factors as possible which exerted a determining influence on desert warfare. Issues addressed include planning, intelligence, logistics, and operations. Described and analyzed are the German order of battle, the major military engagements in North Africa, and the particular problems of terrain and climate in desert operations. Not unlike many of the U.S. units engaged in the war with Iraq, the Germans in North Africa learned about combat operations in the desert only after they arrived on the scene and confronted the desert on its own terms. For this reason alone, as well as for the insights it offers, Desert Warfare requires the serious consideration of those responsible for preparing the U.S. military for any future conflict in desert terrain.
Download or read book Rangers written by Michael Julius King and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Leavenworth Paper is a critical reconstruction of World War II Ranger operations conducted at or near Djebel el Ank, Tunisia; Porto Empedocle, Sicily; Cisterna, Italy; Zerf, Germany; and Cabanatuan in the Philippines. It is not intended to be a comprehensive account of World War II Ranger operations, for such a study would have to include numerous minor actions that are too poorly documented to be studied to advantage. It is, however, representative for it examines several types of operations conducted against the troops of three enemy nations in a variety of physical and tactical environments. As such, it draws a wide range of lessons useful to combat leaders who may have to conduct such operations or be on guard against them in the future. Many factors determined the outcomes of the operations featured in this Leavenworth Paper, and of these there are four that are important enough to merit special emphasis. These are surprise, the quality of opposing forces, the success of friendly forces with which the Rangers were cooperating, and popular support.
Download or read book Soviet Defensive Tactics At Kursk July 1943 written by Colonel David M Glantz and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his classic work, On War, Carl von Clausewitz wrote, “As we shall show, defense is a stronger form of fighting than attack.” A generation of nineteenth century officers, nurtured on the study of the experiences of Napoleon and conditioned by the wars of German unification, had little reason to accept that view. The offensive spirit swept through European armies and manifested itself in the regulations, plans, and mentality of those armiehe events of 1939, 1940, and 1941 in Poland, France, and Russia respectively again challenged Clausewitz’ claim of the superiority of the defense and prompted armies worldwide to frantically field large armored forces and develop doctrines for their use. While blitzkrieg concepts ruled supreme, it fell to that nation victimized most by those concepts to develop techniques to counter the German juggernaut. The Soviets had to temper a generation of offensive tradition in order to marshal forces and develop techniques to counter blitzkrieg. In essence, the Soviet struggle for survival against blitzkrieg proved also to be a partial test of Clausewitz’ dictum. In July 1943, after arduous months of developing defensive techniques, often at a high cost in terms of men and material, the Soviets met blitzkrieg head-on and proved that defense against it was feasible. The titanic, grinding Kursk operation validated, in part, Clausewitz’ views. But it also demonstrated that careful study of force organization and employment and application of the fruits of that study can produce either offensive or defensive victory. While on the surface the events of Kursk seemed to validate Clausewitz’ view, it is often forgotten that, at Kursk, the Soviets integrated the concept of counteroffensive into their grand defensive designs. Thus the defense itself was meaningless unless viewed against the backdrop of the renewed offensive efforts and vice versa. What Kursk did prove was that strategic, operational, and tactical defenses could counter blitzkrieg.
Download or read book ARCHIE FLAK AAA And SAM A Short Operational History Of Ground Based Air Defense Illustrated Edition written by Dr. Kenneth P. Werrell and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes over 90 illustrations ‘Dr Kenneth Werrell’s history of ground-based air defense performs an important service both to scholarship and, more important, to the defense of our nation’s freedom. It is perhaps human nature that we tend over time to lose sight of the lessons of the past, especially when they do not conform to certain cherished preconceptions of ours. That such myopia can be dangerous, if not downright disastrous, Doctor Werrell’s study richly illustrates. Without sentimentalism, he chronicles a pattern of lessons learned and too quickly forgotten, as the marvel of air power was reminded again and again of its limitations and vulnerability. In Korea and in Vietnam, the American people were stripped of their illusions of national and technical omnipotence. The unhappy outcome of those two conflicts were doubly lamentable because the lessons of World War II were—or should have been—fresh in our minds. In that world war, as Doctor Werrell shows, relatively cheap ground-based air defense did make a difference: at Ploesti, at Antwerp, and at the Rhine bridges.
Download or read book The Red Army and the Second World War written by Alexander Hill and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-07 with total page 757 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a definitive new account of the Soviet Union at war, Alexander Hill charts the development, successes and failures of the Red Army from the industrialisation of the Soviet Union in the late 1920s through to the end of the Great Patriotic War in May 1945. Setting military strategy and operations within a broader context that includes national mobilisation on a staggering scale, the book presents a comprehensive account of the origins and course of the war from the perspective of this key Allied power. Drawing on the latest archival research and a wealth of eyewitness testimony, Hill portrays the Red Army at war from the perspective of senior leaders and men and women at the front line to reveal how the Red Army triumphed over the forces of Nazi Germany and her allies on the Eastern Front, and why it did so at such great cost.
Download or read book The Ardennes written by Hugh Marshall Cole and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 772 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book German 88 Mm Antiaircraft Gun Materiel written by Ray Merriam and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2012-08-15 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merriam Press Military Reprint 12. First Edition (August 2012). This is the War Department manual for the German 88mm Anti-aircraft/Anti-tank gun that was famed and feared throughout the war. Extensive coverage in text and photos and illustrations of the weapon and its equipment, based on captured examples as well as documents and printed materials. Contents: Introduction; Gun and Mount; Ammunition; Sighting and Fire Control Equipment; Firing Tables; References; Index; 122 photos and illustrations.
