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The Medic: Life and Death in the Last Days of WWII
by Leo LitwakLeo Litwak was a university student when he joined the Army to fight in World War II, "a na've, callow eighteen-year-old son prepared to join other soldier boys being hauled off to war." In 1944 he found himself in Belgium, in the middle of the waning European war, a medic trained to save lives but often powerless to do much more than watch life slip away. It was hard fighting that took Litwak and his rifle company into the heart of Germany at the close of the war. But Litwak learned there was more to war than fighting, more to understand than maps and ammunition. In the final months of the war, he watched the men in his company tenderly serve food at a Passover seder for a dozen brutalized Jewish women newly liberated from slavery. He watched those same men torture and execute defenseless German soldiers. He fell in love at the Moulin Rouge in a scene straight out of a Toulouse-Lautrec painting. The men in his company were dreamers, thieves, friends, killers, revolutionaries, and heroes. They were the men of their time: sometimes brave, sometimes compassionate, sometimes cruel, sometimes loving, usually scared. They were held together by loyalty, only to be scattered by the war's end. The Medic is the gritty, wise, bighearted, and unflinching account of one man's quest to find sense in war and its aftermath.
Medic!: The Story of a Conscientious Objector in the Vietnam War
by Ben Sherman"On the firing range during the third week of Advanced Individual Training, I put down the handgun I had been assigned and stood back from the shooting podium. The sergeant barked something barely intelligible about six years in Leavenworth Federal Prison for refusing a direct order. I repeated that I wasn't going to train myself to kill anybody. Like falling dominoes, every soldier on the range stopped to turn and look at me. The sergeant called me a coward. I said again that I wasn't going to shoot the pistol. . . " In August 1968, Ben Sherman - then an eighteen year old college sophomore - was drafted, yet another Midwestern boy called to serve his country in the rice paddies of Vietnam. After his attempt for conscientious objector status was refused by the draftboard, Sherman distinguished himself almost immediately upon entering the military: he refused to fire a weapon. Instead, he told his superior officers that he was willing to serve in any capacity that would not require him to carry a gun. Within a few short weeks he found himself in swamps of Vietnam, working as a combat medic. From his start in the morgue, cleaning the bodies of fallen soldiers before they were sent home for burial, to operating on dying men while under front line fire, Sherman's story captures the sounds, smells, and terror of Vietnam as experienced by so many American soldiers who ended up in Vietnam without wanting to be there. Written with a rare combination of humor, honesty,and intelligence, Medic offers a glimpse into a world where unrelenting pressure and unbearable circumstances were common-place, where heroes fell on the battlefield daily, and where one man struggled to keep his conscience clear in the face of unspeakable horror.
Medical Corps Heroes of World War II
by Wyatt BlassingameThey wore red crosses on their sleeves and helmets, they carried no weapons, they stayed right by the soldiers and treated their wounds as best they could.
Medical Emergency: Major-General 'Ginger' Burston and the Army Medical Service in WW II (Big Sky Publishing Ser.)
by Ian Howie-WillisMajor-General `Ginger' Burston led the Army Medical Service throughout the Pacific campaigns. This pivotal book explains how Burston and his medical team kept Allied troops healthy in primitive and hostile conditions and during the greatest medical emergency of World War II - the struggle against malaria. By keeping the soldiers healthy, and particularly by reducing malaria infection rates from 100 to less than one case per 1000 troops per week, the Army Medical Service assured an Allied victory over Japan. A Medical Emergency tells this remarkable story for the first time. In engrossing detail and using contemporary accounts, veteran historian Ian Howie-Willis brings to life the struggle of `Ginger' Burston and his Medical Service to fight a deadly opponent that decimated the ranks of friend and foe alike. Their victory was key to the ultimate Allied success.
Medical Memories and Experiences in Postwar East Germany: Treatments of the Past (Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine)
by Markus WahlThis book draws on the example of the major cities of Leipzig and Dresden to illustrate continuity and change in public health in the German Democratic Republic. Based on archival work, it will demonstrate how members of the medical profession successfully manipulated their pre-1945 past in order to continue practising, leading to persistence in the social conception of medicine and disease after Communism took hold. This was particularly evident in attitudes towards and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and the pathology of deviant behaviour among young people.
Medical Services in the First World War
by Susan CohenTrench warfare, advances in weaponry and disastrous military planning led to horrific types of injuries and an unprecedented scale of mass casualties during World War I. This is the amazing and little known story of the medical service personnel and the organized system of critical care which provided a lifeline of hope and humanity in the midst of devastation, disfigurement and death during the Great War. For the first time ever, an all-out effort was made to preserve life, starting with the heroic medical service personnel who were the battlefield first line of defense, risking life and limb to save and extract wounded soldiers and evacuate them to makeshift frontline hospitals or to long-term care facilities such as Highclere Castle, as depicted in Downton Abbey, when hospitals were filled beyond capacity. The book details their heroism and the vital role played by nurses in attending to the medical and psychological needs and boosting the morale of millions of wounded soldiers.
Medicine and Conflict: The Spanish Civil War and its Traumatic Legacy (Routledge/Canada Blanch Studies on Contemporary Spain)
by Sebastian BrowneThis book focuses on an important but neglected aspect of the Spanish Civil War, the evolution of medical and surgical care of the wounded during the conflict. Importantly, the focus is from a mainly Spanish perspective – as the Spanish are given a voice in their own story, which has not always been the case. Central to the book is General Franco’s treatment of Muslim combatants, the anarchist contribution to health, and the medicalisation of propaganda – themes that come together in a medico-cultural study of the Spanish Civil War. Suffusing the narrative and the analysis is the traumatic legacy of conflict, an untreated wound that a new generation of Spaniards are struggling to heal.
Medicine And Medical Ethics In Nazi Germany
by Francis R. Nicosia Jonathan HuenerThe participation of German physicians in medical experiments on innocent people and mass murder is one of the most disturbing aspects of the Nazi era and the Holocaust. Six distinguished historians working in this field are addressing the critical issues raised by these murderous experiments, such as the place of the Holocaust in the larger context of eugenic and racial research, the motivation and roles of the German medical establishment, and the impact and legacy of the eugenics movements and Nazi medical practice on physicians and medicine since World War II. Based on the authors' original scholarship, these essays offer an excellent and very accessible introduction to an important and controversial subject. They are also particularly relevant in light of current controversies over the nature and application of research in human genetics and biotechnology.
Medicine and Warfare: Spain, 1936–1939 (Routledge/Canada Blanch Studies on Contemporary Spain)
by Nicholas ConiThis original work examines the differences in medical advances on the two sides of the Spanish Civil War. Covering all aspects of medical treatment during the war, Coni covers new ground with great aplomb and delivers a book which will interest scholars involved with medical history as well as those interested in contemporary European history.
Medicines for the Union Army: The United States Army Laboratories During the Civil War
by Dennis B Worthen Greg HigbyIt wasn't only combat that killed during the Civil War!Among white Federalist troops alone, there were 1,213,685 cases of malaria, 139,638 cases of typhoid fever, 67,762 cases of measles, 61,202 cases of pneumonia, 73,382 cases of syphilis, and 109,202 cases of gonorrhea between May 1, 1861 and June 30, 1866. (Statistics for Negro troops covered less than three years of the Civil War period.)Preventative medicine at the time had little more to offer than quinine and a few disinfectants. There was no real understanding of the germ theory of disease. But Medicines for the Union Army: The United States Army Laboratories During the Civil War shows that in the evolution of the army's Medical Department from incompetence to general efficiency during this time, and in the vastly improved organization and supply system designed by William A. Hammond, Jonathan Letterman, the medical purveyors, and others working under the Surgeon General, there was evidence of a great achievement.In Medicines for the Union Army you will come to understand the medical purveying system of the time and its problems, and you will witness the birth, growth, and remarkable achievements of the Federal government's pharmaceutical laboratories at Astoria, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Medicines for the Union Army will inform and enlighten you about the these laboratories, including: the funding and transportation obstacles faced at the Astoria lab the processes by which raw materials became drugs ready for distribution drug testing and inspection methods the bottling of “medicinal whiskey” and wine at the labs the people whose work laid the foundation for modern drug production and distribution methods the contents of the medical supply cases (panniers) and wagons in use at the time . . . and much more!Medicines for the Union Army: The United States Army Laboratories During the Civil War brings to light the groundbreaking achievements of unsung American heroes working to preserve life while the country was in bloody turmoil. No Civil War historian should be without this volume!
Los médicos de Hitler (Historia Incógnita)
by Manuel Moros PeñaLos crímenes médicos del Tercer Reich y su política de creación de una superraza aria que provocó eliminaciones en masa en campos de exterminio, delirantes ensayos clínicos y atroces experimentos médicos. Una novedosa visión del nazismo como “biología aplicada” que analiza de forma detallada las circunstancias que concurrieron para que un importante sector de la medicina alemana jugara un papel crucial en la política de exterminio del régimen. Los médicos de Hitler analiza de forma detallada y rigurosa cómo el programa de eliminación de niños discapacitados y enfermos mentales, ideado, coordinado y ejecutado por médicos desembocó en el asesinato en masa de los campos de exterminio y en los atroces experimentos médicos llevados a cabo por profesionales de renombre. Un exhaustivo análisis del papel crucial desempeñado por gran parte del colectivo médico en su política de exterminio y de creación de una superraza aria. Un recorrido por todos los aspectos de la biopolítica de exterminio de Hitler, desde los comienzos del movimiento eugenésico en Alemania, la publicación de Mein Kampf, los programas de esterilización forzada, el Aktion 4, las inoculaciones de malaria, los experimentos con gas mostaza,... hasta los procesos judiciales que frenaron este tipo de prácticas.
Medieval Armoured Combat: The 1450 Fencing Manuscript from New Haven
by Dierk Hagedorn Bartlomiej WalczakThe "Gladiatoria" group of German fencing manuscripts are several editions of a treatise on armoured foot combat, specifically aimed at duel fighting.Gloriously-illustrated, and replete with substantial commentary, these works are some of the greatest achievements in the corpus of late medieval fight books. These works have both tremendous artistic merit and incalculable historical value.In this remarkable full colour volume, authors Dierk Hagedorn and Bartomiej Walczak elegantly present their work on the copy of this treatise now in the Yale Center for British Art, including a reproduction of the manuscript, a full transcription, and translations into English.The work includes a foreword by Sydney Anglo which explains how the work shows a highly sophisticated pedagogical system of movement and applauds the editors for presenting the material in a clear and practical way.Additional essays discuss other aspects of the manuscript - including a tale of Dierk Hagedorn's adventures tracking down the manuscript.
Medieval Arms and Armor: A Pictorial Archive
by J. H. Hefner-AlteneckA renowned 19th-century cultural historian and specialist on the Middle Ages, J. H. Hefner-Alteneck spent much of his life observing the influence of art on many aspects of human life, including weaponry. His illustrations for this handsome archive — drawn with incredible exactitude — depict a wide array of medieval weapons and armor dating from the early ninth century to the mid-1700s.Adapted primarily from decorative ornamentation on burial monuments and manuscripts, hundreds of finely executed images depict authentic shields, swords, crossbows, helmets, and highly ornate suits of body armor for knights and their steeds. Newly translated descriptive notes, extracted from the original German text, identify the subjects. First published more than 100 years ago, this meticulously rendered study remains an invaluable source of permission-free illustrations for artists and designers and an indispensable reference for scholars, collectors, and hobbyists.
Medieval Chinese Warfare 300-900 (Warfare and History)
by David GraffShortly after 300 AD, barbarian invaders from Inner Asia toppled China's Western Jin dynasty, leaving the country divided and at war for several centuries. Despite this, the empire gradually formed a unified imperial order. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 explores the military strategies, institutions and wars that reconstructed the Chinese empire that has survived into modern times.Drawing on classical Chinese sources and the best modern scholarship from China and Japan, David A. Graff connects military affairs with political and social developments to show how China's history was shaped by war.
Medieval Chinese Warfare 300-900
by David GraffDrawing on classical Chinese sources and the best modern scholarship from China and Japan, David A. Graff connects military affairs with political and social developments to show how China's history unfolded. Between 300 and 900 AD, both Chinese and barbarian regimes experimented with many different forms of military service, including the tribal warrior, the hereditary military retainer, the part-time farmer-soldier, and the full-time mercenary. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 is the first survey of medieval Chinese military history to be published in English. This pathbreaking text will be of interest to both students of military history and to anyone with an interest in China's past.
Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat
by Hans Talhoffer&“[A] remarkable how-to . . . offers freeze-frame instructions on medieval martial arts using swords, shields, poleaxes, daggers and wrestling&” (Publishers Weekly). Written by German fencing master Hans Talhoffer in 1467, this book illustrates the intricacies of the medieval art of fighting, covering both the &“judicial duel&” (an officially sanctioned fight to resolve a legal dispute) and personal combat. Combatants in the Middle Ages used footwork, avoidance, and the ability to judge and manipulate timing and distance to exploit and enhance the sword&’s inherent cutting and thrusting capabilities. These skills were supplemented with techniques for grappling, wrestling, kicking and throwing the opponent, as well as disarming him by seizing his weapon. Every attack contained a defense and every defense a counterattack. Talhoffer reveals the techniques for wrestling, unarmored fighting with the long sword, poleaxe, dagger, sword and buckler, and mounted combat. This unparalleled guide to medieval combat, illustrated with 268 contemporary images, provides a glimpse of real people fighting with skill, sophistication and ruthlessness. This is one of the most popular and influential manuals of its kind. &“This superb treatise, amply illustrated, provides valuable insight into the real world of medieval combat. Magnificent!&” —Books Monthly
Medieval Combat in Colour: A Fifteenth-Century Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat
by Hans TalhofferHans Talhoffer's professional fencing manual of 1467 illustrates the intricacies of the medieval art of fighting, covering both the 'judicial duel' (an officially sanctioned fight to resolve a legal dispute) and personal combat.Combatants in the Middle Ages used footwork, avoidance, and the ability to judge and manipulate timing and distance to exploit and enhance the sword's inherent cutting and thrusting capabilities. These skills were supplemented with techniques for grappling, wrestling, kicking and throwing the opponent, as well as disarming him by seizing his weapon. Every attack contained a defence and every defence a counter-attack. Talhoffer reveals the techniques for wrestling, unarmoured fighting with the long sword, pole-axe, dagger, sword and buckler, and mounted combat.This unparalleled guide to medieval combat, illustrated with 268 contemporary images, provides a glimpse of real people fighting with skill, sophistication and ruthlessness. This is one of the most popular and influential manuals of its kind.
Medieval Costume, Armour and Weapons (Dover Fashion and Costumes)
by Zoroslava Drobná Eduard Wagner Jan DurdíkAccompanied by a scrupulously researched and well-documented text, over 400 royalty-free illustrations trace the evolution of clothing styles, armor, and weapons during the medieval period in Central Europe -- from simple tunics and robes of peasants to the battle equipment and armor of warriors and the fur-lined cloaks and brocaded garments of the aristocracy.
The Medieval Crossbow: A Weapon Fit to Kill a King
by Stuart Ellis-GormanThe crossbow is an iconic weapon of the Middle Ages and, alongside the longbow, one of the most effective ranged weapons of the pre-gunpowder era. Unfortunately, despite its general fame it has been decades since an in-depth history of the medieval crossbow has been published, which is why Stuart Ellis-Gorman’s detailed, accessible, and highly illustrated study is so valuable. The Medieval Crossbow approaches the history of the crossbow from two directions. The first is a technical study of the design and construction of the medieval crossbow, the many different kinds of crossbows used during the Middle Ages, and finally a consideration of the relationship between crossbows and art. The second half of the book explores the history of the crossbow, from its origins in ancient China to its decline in sixteenth-century Europe. Along the way it explores the challenges in deciphering the crossbow’s early medieval history as well as its prominence in warfare and sport shooting in the High and Later Middle Ages. This fascinating book brings together the work of a wide range of accomplished crossbow scholars and incorporates the author’s own original research to create an account of the medieval crossbow that will appeal to anyone looking to gain an insight into one of the most important weapons of the Middle Ages.
Medieval European Armies
by Terence Wise Gerry EmbletonAlmost continual warfare raged in Europe during the period 1300-1500. These wars were the furnaces in which many of the modern European nations were forged. Parallel with this emergence of the nations came the development of national armies to protect the newly-won borders and independence, yet throughout this period the old feudal method of raising an army persisted. This fascinating study by Terence Wise explores the organization, weapons and equipment of the armies who fought across Medieval Europe, from the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) to the fight against the Moors in Spain, and the French invasion of Italy in 1494.
Medieval Handgonnes
by Gerry Embleton Sean MclachlanOsprey's new Weapon series provides a highly-detailed yet affordable overview of the development, use, and impact of small arms throughout history--from the sword to the machine gun. Journey back to the time when handguns had no moving parts! Variously called handgonnes, hackbuts, coulevrines, pistolas, schiopettos, tyufyaks, and even bombardelles, the first black powder infantry weapons were extremely crude by today's standards. In his new book, Sean McLachlan, author of American Civil War Guerilla Tactics, dispels the myth that these weapons were ineffective on the battlefield (beyond their terrifying noise!). Rather, he demonstrates through careful examination of the historical records that the handgonne was a viable weapon from its inception, even as it saw action side-by-side with the cross-bow.Readers will be treated to a lush collection of rare photographs and artwork from such far-flung locales as Danish National Museum and the Bayerisches Armeemuseum. Original artwork from Gerry and Sam Embleton illustrate how these weapons were used on the battlefield and reenactor photos demonstrate step-by-step how they were loaded and fired.
Medieval Heraldry
by Richard Hook Terence WiseCoats of arms were at first used only by kings and princes, then by their great nobles, but by the mid-13th century arms were being used extensively by the lesser nobility, knights and those who later came to be styled gentlemen. In some countries the use of arms spread even to merchants, townspeople and the peasantry. From the mundane to the fantastic, from simple geometric patterns to elaborate mythological beasts, this fascinating work by Terence Wise explores the origins and appearance of medieval heraldic devices in an engagingly readable style accompanied by numerous illustrations including eight full page colour plates by Richard Hook.
Medieval Maritime Warfare
by Charles D. StantonThis sweeping history of maritime warfare through the Middle Ages ranges from the 8th century to the 14th, covering the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. After the fall of Rome, the sea becomes the center of conflict for Western Civilization. In a world of few roads and great disorder, it is where power is projected and wealth is sought. Yet, since this turbulent period in the history of maritime warfare has rarely been studied, it is little known and even less understood. In Medieval Maritime Warfare, Charles Stanton depicts the development of maritime warfare from the end of the Roman Empire to the dawn of the Renaissance, recounting the wars waged in the Mediterranean by the Byzantines, Ottomans, Normans, Crusaders, and the Italian maritime republics, as well as those fought in northern waters by the Vikings, English, French and the Hanseatic League. Weaving together details of medieval ship design and naval strategy with vivid depictions of seafaring culture, this pioneering study makes a significant contribution to maritime history.
Medieval Maritime Warfare
by Charles D. StantonThis sweeping history of maritime warfare through the Middle Ages ranges from the 8th century to the 14th, covering the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. After the fall of Rome, the sea becomes the center of conflict for Western Civilization. In a world of few roads and great disorder, it is where power is projected and wealth is sought. Yet, since this turbulent period in the history of maritime warfare has rarely been studied, it is little known and even less understood. In Medieval Maritime Warfare, Charles Stanton depicts the development of maritime warfare from the end of the Roman Empire to the dawn of the Renaissance, recounting the wars waged in the Mediterranean by the Byzantines, Ottomans, Normans, Crusaders, and the Italian maritime republics, as well as those fought in northern waters by the Vikings, English, French and the Hanseatic League. Weaving together details of medieval ship design and naval strategy with vivid depictions of seafaring culture, this pioneering study makes a significant contribution to maritime history.
Medieval Mercenaries: The Business of War
by William UrbanThe Middle Ages were a turbulent and violent time, when the fate of nations was most often decided on the battlefield, and strength of arms was key to acquiring and maintaining power. Feudal oaths and local militias were more often than not incapable of providing the skilled and disciplined warriors necessary to keep the enemy at bay. It was the mercenary who stepped in to fill the ranks. A mercenary was a professional soldier who took employment with no concern for the morals or cause of the paymaster. But within these confines we discover a surprising array of men, from the lowest-born foot soldier to the wealthiest aristocrat the occasional clergyman, even. What united them all was a willingness, and often the desire, to fight for their supper.In this benchmark work, William Urban explores the vital importance of the mercenary to the medieval power-broker, from the Byzantine Varangian Guard to fifteenth-century soldiers of fortune in the Baltic. Through contemporary chronicles and the most up-to-date scholarship, he presents an in-depth portrait of the mercenary across the Middle Ages.