Download or read book The Gurkha Diaries of Robert Atkins MC written by Robert Atkins MC and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2021-12-30 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When India was granted Independence in 1947, irreconcilable religious differences made Partition inevitable. Robert Atkins' account of the death, destruction, and suffering that he and his soldiers witnessed makes for traumatic yet compelling reading.
Download or read book The Gurkha Diaries of Robert Atkins MC written by Robert Atkins MC and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2021-12-30 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How fortunate it is that Robert Atkins wrote up his experiences as a young Gurkha officer in India and later Malaya as, seventy years on, they form an important contemporaneous record of two historically significant periods. When India was granted Independence in 1947, irreconcilable religious differences made Partition inevitable. His account of the death, destruction and suffering that he and his soldiers witnessed makes for traumatic yet compelling reading. In the aftermath of Independence the Gurkha Regiments were split between the Indian and British Armies and Robert returned to England and British service. Three years later on his way to fight in the Korean War, he was ordered to join 1st Battalion, 6th Gurkha Rifles engaged in the battle against communist terrorists, known as the Malayan Emergency. Robert saw more than his share of action over next seven years in this eventually successful but bitterly fought campaign. His courage and leadership earned him the Military Cross. The two diaries are introduced with helpful narratives setting each in their historical context. Written with admirable modesty, this superb personal account informs and entertains.
Download or read book The Other Wars written by Justin Fantauzzo and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-12-12 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first full-length study of the experience and memory of British and Dominion soldiers in the Middle East and Macedonia during WWI.
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 307 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 The High Commissioners written by Carl Bridge and published by . This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marks the centenary of the posting of the first Australian High Commissioner in London, so beginning what is today Australia's oldest diplomatic mission. In 1910, when Sir George Reid was appointed its first High Commissioner in London, Australia was a self-governing but not yet sovereign state and the Australian Governor-General remained the most important channel of communication between the Australian and United Kingdom governments until the late 1920s. The book traces the history of the office and in doing so illuminates the larger story of Australian-United Kingdom relations in the twentieth century, the evolution of Australia from British colony to sovereign state and the gradual transition of the United Kingdom from head of an empire to member of the European Union.
Download or read book The Royal Montreal Regiment 14th Battalion C E F 1914 1925 written by Robert Collier Fetherstonhaugh and published by Gazette Print. Company. This book was released on 1927 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Captured Behind Japanese Lines written by Daniel Berke and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2021-12-30 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII biography vividly recounts one man’s experience as a Special Ops soldier and POW in Japanese occupied Burma. In his postwar life, Frank Berkovitch was a quiet, reserved tailor. But during World War II, he served with the legendary Chindits in Burma and endured years of Japanese captivity. He fought as a Bren-gunner on Operation LONGCLOTH, the first mission to take them deep behind enemy lines. He was even General Orde Wingate’s batman. The Chindits were Wingate’s inspired idea. Under his dauntless leadership, they dispelled the myth that the Imperial Japanese Army was invincible. Outnumbered, outgunned, and reliant on RAF air drops for supplies, the 3,000 men of the Chindit columns overcame harsh jungle terrain to take the fight to the enemy. They wreaked havoc with enemy communications and caused heavy enemy casualties while gathering vital intelligence. During the desperate race to escape from Burma, Frank was captured crossing the Irrawaddy river. He spent two years imprisoned by notoriously cruel captors. Superbly researched, this inspiring book vividly describes the Chindits’ first operation and the heroism of Frank and his comrades, many of whom never returned.
Download or read book The 1945 Burma Campaign and the Transformation of the British Indian Army written by Raymond A. Callahan and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2021-01-28 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1945, the Indian British XIV Army inflicted on the Imperial Japanese Army in Burma the worst defeat in its history. That campaign, the most brilliant and original operational maneuver conducted by any British general in the twentieth century, largely forgotten until now, is a full and fresh account utilizing a full range of materials, from personal accounts to archival holdings—including the bits the official historians left out, such as the attempt by a jealous British Guards officer to have Slim sacked at the conclusion of the campaign. After the retreat from Burma in 1942, Lieutenant General Sir William Slim, commander of the British XIV Army, played a crucial role in the remarkable military renaissance that transformed the Indian Army and then, with that reborn army, won two defensive battles in 1944, and in the 1945 campaign shredded his Japanese opponents. Behind this dramatic story was another: the war marked the effective end of the Raj. This great transformation was, of course, brought about by many factors but not the least of them was the “Indianization” of the Indian Army’s officer corps under the pressure of war. As Slim’s great victory signposted the change from the army Kipling knew to a modern army with a growing number of Indian officers, the praetorian guard of the Raj evaporated. “Every Indian officer worth his salt is a nationalist,” the Indian Army’s commander-in-chief, Claude Auchinleck, said as the XIV Army took Rangoon. The Burma campaign may not have contributed in a major fashion to the final defeat of Japan, but it was of first-rate importance in the transformation of South Asia, as well as underlining the continuing importance of inspired leadership in complex human endeavors.
Download or read book Gurkha Odyssey written by Peter Duffell and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2019-12-27 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A British general’s memoir of serving with these famed Nepalese warriors: “An inspiring journey, delightfully related.” —Times Literary Supplement It is 1814 and the Bengal Army of the Honourable East India Company is at war with a marauding Nepal. It is here that the British first encounter the martial spirit of their indomitable foe—the Gurkha hill men from that mountainous independent land. Impressed by their fighting qualities and with the end of hostilities in sight, the Company begins to recruit them into their own ranks. Since then these lighthearted and gallant soldiers have successfully campaigned wherever the British Army has served—from the North West Frontier of India through two World Wars to the contemporary battlefields of the Falklands and Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, with well over one hundred battle honors to their name and at a cost of 20,000 casualties. Here, Peter Duffell separates fact and myth and recounts something of the history, character, and spirit of these loyal and dedicated soldiers—seen through the prism of his service and campaigning as a regular officer in the 2nd King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles, as the Brigade of Gurkhas Major General and as Regimental Colonel of the Royal Gurkha Rifles.
Download or read book The Weapon Wizards written by Yaakov Katz and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2017-01-31 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A lively account of Israel's evolving military prowess...if The Weapon Wizards were a novel, it would be one written by Horatio Alger; if it were a biblical allegory, it would be the story of David and Goliath." —The New York Times Book Review From drones to satellites, missile defense systems to cyber warfare, Israel is leading the world when it comes to new technology being deployed on the modern battlefield. The Weapon Wizards shows how this tiny nation of 8 million learned to adapt to the changes in warfare and in the defense industry and become the new prototype of a 21st century superpower, not in size, but rather in innovation and efficiency—and as a result of its long war experience. Sitting on the front lines of how wars are fought in the 21st century, Israel has developed in its arms trade new weapons and retrofitted old ones so they remain effective, relevant, and deadly on a constantly-changing battlefield. While other countries begin to prepare for these challenges, they are looking to Israel—and specifically its weapons—for guidance. Israel is, in effect, a laboratory for the rest of the world. How did Israel do it? And what are the military and geopolitical implications of these developments? These are some of the key questions Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot address. Drawing on a vast amount of research, and unparalleled access to the Israeli defense establishment, this book is a report directly from the front lines.
Download or read book Bibi written by Anshel Pfeffer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-17 with total page 627 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many in Israel and elsewhere, Benjamin Netanyahu is anathema, an embarrassment; yet he continues to dominate Israeli public life. How can we explain his rise, his hold on Israeli politics, and his outsized role on the world's stage? In Bibi, Anshel Pfeffer reveals the formative influence of Netanyahu's father and grandfather, who bequeathed to him a once-marginal brand of Zionism combining Jewish nationalism with religious traditionalism. In the Zionist enterprise, Netanyahu embodies the triumph of the underdogs over the secular liberals who founded the nation. Netanyahu's Israel is a hybrid of ancient phobia and high-tech hope; of tribalism and globalism - just like the man himself. We cannot understand Israel today without first understanding the man who leads it.
Download or read book The Evolution of Polo written by Horace A. Laffaye and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-09-12 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing the evolution of polo from its origins in Central Asia to its current manifestation as a professional sport that attracts wealthy sponsors and patrons, this sociological study examines how polo has changed according to the economic and cultural differences of the nations and continents where it is played. One hundred historic and modern photographs are included.
Download or read book Rock Force written by Kevin Maurer and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of No Easy Day comes a thrilling World War II story of the American airborne soldiers who captured a Japanese-held island fortress “Rock Force is a beautifully told story of war: the friendships, the courage and despair, and the terror... One of the most exciting books ever written about the Pacific War.”—Mitch Weiss, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Countdown 1945 In late December 1941, General Douglas MacArthur, caught off guard by the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, is forced to retreat to Corregidor, a jagged, rocky island fortress at the mouth of Manila Bay. Months later, under orders from the president, the general is whisked away in the dark of night, leaving his troops to their fate. It is a bitter pill for a fiercely proud warrior who has always protected his men. He famously declares "I shall return," but the humiliation of Corregidor haunts him, even earning him the derisive nickname "Dugout Doug." In early 1945, MacArthur returns to the Philippines, his eyes firmly fixed on Corregidor. To take back the island, he calls on the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, a highly trained veteran airborne unit. Their mission is to jump onto the island—hemmed in by sheer cliffs, pockmarked by bomb craters, bristling with deadly spiky broken tree trunks—and wrest it from some 6,700 Japanese defenders who await, fully armed and ready to fight to the death. Drawn from firsthand accounts and personal interviews with the battle's surviving veterans, acclaimed war correspondent and bestselling author Kevin Maurer delves into this extraordinary tale, uncovering astonishing accounts of bravery and heroism during an epic, yet largely forgotten, clash of the Pacific War. Here is an intimate story of uncommon soldiers showing uncommon courage and winning, through blood and sacrifice, the redemption of General MacArthur.
Download or read book FROM A SURGEON S JOURNAL 1915 1918 written by HARVEY. CUSHING and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Special Forces Interpreter written by Eddie Idrees and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2021-05-26 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first memoir of an Afghan interpreter with the Coalition who served with both US Special Forces and the SAS over an eight year period. Eddie Idrees, a pseudonym for security reasons, has a fascinating and inspiring story to tell. Born in Afghanistan, he spent time as a refugee in Pakistan during the civil war dreaming of serving with the military. As this unique memoir reveals, his wishes came true in spades. For eight years from 2004, Eddie worked as an interpreter with, first, American Special Forces before moving across to the Special Air Service. A veteran of over 500 operations, he describes the most notable ones including breaking into a Taliban prison to free prisoners about to be executed. He was the first Afghan interpreter to parachute in with the SAS. His aim in writing his story is to explain the interpreter’s role and contribution and the challenges and threats they faced, not just from the Taliban. For all the media attention, these have never been fully understood. Eddie concludes by describing his experiences and emotions on leaving his fractured and politically corrupt homeland and making a new life in the United Kingdom. Special Forces Interpreter demands to be read and not just for its vivid and thrilling descriptions of Special Forces’ operations.
Download or read book Sand and Steel written by Peter Caddick-Adams and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-22 with total page 928 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Caddick-Adams's account of the Allied invasion of France in June 1944 matches the monumental achievement of his book on the Battle of the Bulge, Snow and Steel, which Richard Overy has called the "standard history of this climactic confrontation in the West." Sand and Steel gives us D-Day, arguably the greatest and most consequential military operation of modern times, beginning with the years of painstaking and costly preparation, through to the pitched battles fought along France's northern coast, from Omaha Beach to the Falaise and the push east to Strasbourg. In addition to covering the build-up to the invasion, including the elaborate and lavish campaigns to deceive Germans as to where and when the invasion would take place, Caddick-Adams gives a full and detailed account of the German preparations: the formidable Atlantikwall and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's plans to make Europe impregnable-plans not completed by June 6. Sand and Steel reveals precisely what lay in wait for the Allies. But the heart of the book is Caddick-Adams' narratives of the five beaches where the terrible drama played out--Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword, and the attempt by American, British, and Canadian soldiers to gain a foothold in Europe. The Allied invasion of Europe involved mind-boggling logistics, including orchestrating the largest flotilla of ships ever assembled. Its strategic and psychological demands stretched the Allies to their limits, testing the strengths of the bonds of Anglo-American leadership. Drawing on first-hand battlefield research, personal testimony and interviews, and a commanding grasp of all the archives and literature, Caddick-Adams's gripping book, published on the 75th anniversary of the events, does Operations Overlord and Neptune full justice.
Download or read book Bloody Gallipoli written by Richard Stowers and published by . This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides new insights into a campaign that 90 years on shows no sign of losing its poignancy to new generations of New Zealanders and serves to reinforce the contention that our nationhood was first forged on the hills and ridges of Bloody Gallipoli.
