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Saint-Nazaire: Operation Chariot – 1942 (Battleground French Coast)
by James DorrianIn early 1942, shipping losses in the Atlantic threatened Britain's very survival. In addition to the U-Boat menace, there was real concern that the mighty German battleship Tirpitz be unleashed against the vital Allied convoys. Yet only the 'Normandie' Dock at St Nazaire could take her vast size in the event of repairs being required. Destroy that and the Tirpitz would be neutralized.Thus was born Operation CHARIOT, the daring Commando raid that, while ultimately successful, proved hugely costly. Using personal accounts, James Dorrian describes the background and thrilling action that resulted in the award of five Victoria Crosses.In a dramatic final twist of events, once the battle was over, the converted former US warship Campelton blew up wrecking the dock gates and killing many Germans who thought the battle was won.
Saints and Liars: The Story of Americans Who Saved Refugees from the Nazis
by Debórah DworkA gripping history that plumbs the extraordinary stories of American relief and rescue workers during World War II. Long before their country officially joined the war, American aid workers were active in rescue efforts across Europe. Two such Americans were Martha and Waitstill Sharp, who were originally sent to Prague as part of a relief effort but turned immediately to helping Jews and dissidents after the 1939 invasion by Germany. They were not the only ones. Renowned historian Debórah Dwork follows the story of rescue workers in five major cities as the refugee crisis expanded to Vilna, Shanghai, Marseille, and Lisbon. Followed by Nazi agents, spiriting people across borders, they learned secrecy. Others negotiated with government representatives, like Laura Margolis, who worked with the Japanese, to get enough food and warm shelter for the refugees in Shanghai. Yet, the women also often faced lack of support from their agencies; if part of a couple, they fought to get paid even at a low salary despite working as long and hard as their husbands. Moving and revelatory, Saints and Liars illuminates the unpredictable circumstances and often fast-changing historical events with which these aid workers contended, while revealing the moral questions they encountered and the devastating decisions they had to make. Drawing on a multitude of archival documents, from letters to diaries and memos, Dwork offers us a rare glimpse into the lives of individuals who—at times with their organizations’ backing, but sometimes against their directives—sought to help people find safe haven from persecution.
Saints and Villains: A Novel
by Denise GiardinaAn astonishing historical novel in the tradition of Schindler's List--evoking powerfully the danger and heroism of the Nazi resistance. What is the price of acting morally in a time of great evil, when sin and necessity seem twinned? Saints and Villains is a strikingly resonant novel that dramatizes this painful dilemma through the fictional re-creation of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This emblematic figure risked his life--and finally lost it--through his participation in the failed plot to assassinate Hitler and topple the Nazi regime. In a gripping and sweeping narrative that moves from Berlin to London to New York City, encompassing shattering historical events, clandestine meetings, perilous missions abroad, and eventual imprisonments and death, Denise Giardina brings to life an instance of shining courage in the charnel house that was Europe in the Second World War. A novel that is bold in conception and utterly convincing in its powers of fictional re-creation--a literary event.
Saipan & Tinian 1944
by Howard Gerrard Gordon RottmanThe 1944 invasion of Saipan was the first two-division amphibious assault conducted by US forces in World War II (1939-1945). Saipan and Tinian had been under Japanese control since 1914 and, heavily colonized, they were considered virtually part of the Empire. The struggle for Saipan and Tinian was characterized by the same bitter fighting that typified the entire Central Pacific campaign. Fighting side-by-side, Army and Marine units witnessed the largest tank battle of the Pacific War, massed Japanese banzai charges, and the horror of hundreds of Japanese civilians committing suicide to avoid capture. In this book Gordon Rottman details the capture of these vital islands that led to the collapse of Prime Minister Tojo's government.
Saladin
by David Nicolle Peter DennisThis Osprey Command book looks closely at the early life, military experiences and key battlefield exploits of Al-Malik al-Nasir Yusuf Ibn Najm al-Din Ayyub Ibn Shahdi Abu'l-Muzaffar Salah al-Din - or Saladin as he is more commonly known outside the Islamic world - who is broadly regarded as the greatest hero of the Crusades, even in Europe. Most chroniclers present him as a man of outstanding virtue, courage and political skill. More recently, however, efforts have been made to portray Saladin as an ambitious, ruthless and even devious politician, and as a less brilliant commander than it normally thought. This book sets out to reveal that the truth is, as usual, somewhere in between.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Saladin: Hero of Islam
by Geoffrey HindleyThis biography of the 12th century Islamic military leader provides a fascinating view of the Crusades and the Medieval Muslim world. Saladin was a Kurdish military leader who led the fight against the Crusades and rose to become first Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He united warring Muslim lands, reconquered the bulk of Crusader states and faced King Richard I of England in one of the most famous confrontations in medieval warfare. His extraordinary character and career are the key to understanding the Battle of Hattin, the fall of Jerusalem and the failure of the Third Crusade. Historian Geoffrey Hindley's study of Saladin&’s life and times presents a nuanced portrait of this remarkable man who dominated the Middle East in his day. It also offers fascinating insight into the politics and culture of the 12th century Muslim world.
Salamanca 1812
by Bill Younghusband Ian FletcherOsprey's study of Salamanca (1812), the most decisive battle of the entire Peninsular War (1808-1814). Wellington smashed Marmont's French Army and his pursuit of its shattered remnants led to the famous cavalry charge of the King's German Legion at Garcia Hernandez. There would be two more years of sieges and hard fighting before the Iron Duke crossed the Pyrenees into France but from Salamanca the British and their Portuguese and Spanish allies always had the upper hand. Ian Fletcher examines this important battle in detail and also discusses the campaign which led up to it.
Salamanca Campaign 1812 (Peninsular War Battlefield Companion)
by Tim SaundersAfter a gap of two years, the 1812 Salamanca Campaign saw Wellington taking the offensive in Spain against Marshal Marmont’s Army of Portugal. Marching from the border fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo which fell to the Allies in January, neither commander was willing to take the risk of a general action without a clear tactical advantage. The result were stand-offs as Wellington offered battle on the San Christóbal Heights, but once the small French-garrisoned forts left behind in Salamanca fell, Marmont withdrew to the Douro. For over a week the two armies shared cooling waters of the river before Marmont ‘humbugged’ Wellington and fell on the Allied left flank at Castrejón. Wellington rushed to the aid of the Light and 4th divisions with the heavy cavalry. Over the following days Marmont dexterously manoeuvred Wellington back towards Salamanca, with both armies within cannon shot still not risking battle. When it seemed Wellington would have to march back to the safety of Portugal, Marmont finally made a mistake on the plains south of Salamanca on 22 July 1812, by allowing his army to become over extended. Wellington saw what was happening and after weeks of marching and counter marching, the battle the soldiers earnestly hoped for was on. In the past it has been difficult to place the fighting on the ground in the centre of the Salamanca battlefield, where ‘vast clouds of smoke and dust that rolled along the basin’ obscured vision even for those fighting. Supplementing their letters, diaries and memoires with modern geographical aids, archaeology and a stout pair of boots, it is now possible to reconcile the sequence of the battle with locations, in a way in which it was not feasible even a few years ago.
Salamaua 1943 (Australian Army Campaigns Series)
by Phillip BradleyBetween the end of the Kokoda campaign in January 1943 and the start of the New Guinea offensives at Lae in early September 1943, the Australian Army was engaged in some of the most intense and challenging fighting of the war for the ridges around Salamaua. Following the defeat of the Japanese offensive against Wau, it was decided to carry the fight to the Japanese force at Salamaua but what started as platoon level actions in April and May 1943 soon developed into company, battalion and brigade level operations for control of the dominating ridge systems around Salamaua. Following an amphibious landing, an American infantry regiment and supporting artillery units were also drawn into the fighting in July 1943. Salamaua 1943 also includes detailed insights into the tenacious Japanese defence of Salamaua, a defence to a threat that in the end was only a feint to draw Japanese forces away from Lae. Incorporating over 120 photographs from the battlefield including drone footage plus 26 maps and the added detail of 15 sidebars, Salamaua 1943 takes the reader behind what was one of the most complex campaigns of the Pacific War.
Salerno 1943
by Steve Noon Angus KonstamIn mid-September 1943, as the opening move of the Allied campaign to liberate the mainland of Italy, an Anglo-American invasion force landed on the beaches of the Gulf of Salerno, only a few dozen miles to the south of Naples. Italy had just surrendered, and the soldiers in the landing craft prayed that the invasion would be unopposed. It was not to be. The Germans had seized control of the Italian-built beach defences, and were ready and waiting. What followed was one of the bloodiest battles of the whole Mediterranean campaign - a ten day contest where victory hung in the balance. Over 80,000 British and American soldiers waded ashore at Salerno, and after bitter fighting they managed to establish a narrow and vulnerable bridgehead. The British enclave near Salerno was separated from the American sector around Paestum by a river, and German-held strongpoints. All attempts to link up the two parts of the bridgehead were thwarted by the German defenders, who were being reinforced faster than the Allies. Then the Americans were nearly flung back into the sea by a ferocious German counterattack, as the German commander on the spot used his veteran armour and Panzergrenadiers to deadly effect. Although driven back towards the beach, the Americans rallied and grimly held on, and the crisis passed. The ferocious ten-day battle at Salerno was eventually decided by a combination of Allied reinforcements, and secondary landings in support of the beleaguered Salerno bridgehead. The battle for Salerno changed the course of the campaign - by its end it was clear that wherever possible the Germans were going to fight for every inch of ground in Italy, and the campaign was not going to be the easy victory the Allied commanders had hoped. Using documentary records, memoirs and eyewitness accounts from all sides, Angus Konstam recreates the battle day by day, hour by hour. His methodically researched account offers a fresh perspective on a decisive battle that has largely been neglected by British and American historians in recent years.
Salerno to the Gustav Line, 1943–1944: Rare Photographs From Wartime Archives (Images of War)
by Jon Diamond Dr.In September 1943, shortly after the conquest of Sicily, the Allied armies made amphibious assaults on the Italian Mainland at Calabria, Taranto and along the Gulf of Salerno beaches. The Italian Government quickly capitulated but the Germans fought on. Although the British XIII Corps and 1st Airbornes attacks were largely uncontested in Calabria and Taranto, the Allied Fifth Armys beachheads at Salerno underwent savage Nazi counterattacks.After Salerno, the Allied Fifth and Eighth Armies continued their advance north initially to the ports of Naples and Bari before struggling through Italian massifs, held up by a determined enemy and unfavorable ground and weather. In January 1944, the Fifth Armys X, II and French Expeditionary Corps attacked across the Garigliano and Rapido Rivers with the aim of breaking through the Gustav Line fortifications. The Nazi defense at the town of Cassino just succeeded in halting the two-week Allied attack during First Battle of Cassino and the Gustav Line was to be the scene of fierce fighting for months.
Salerno: 9 September - 6 October 1943
by AnonIllustrated with 18 maps and 24 IllustrationsEARLY IN SEPTEMBER 1943, British and American armies invaded southern Italy, striking at the heart of a major Axis nation and breaching Hitler's "Fortress Europe." Behind the invasion lay long months of hard-won Allied victories. The Axis was cleared out of Africa in May, when British and American armies annihilated the German and Italian forces cornered in Tunisia. Sicily, the stepping stone from Africa to Europe, was next conquered in a 38-day battle, and on 17 August the last of its German garrison fled across the Strait of Messina to the Italian mainland. On 3 September the British Eighth Army crossed the Strait in pursuit and drove up the Calabrian Peninsula. Coordinated with the Eighth Army's attack, Allied landings at Salerno by the United States Fifth Army and at Taranto by the British 1 Airborne Division were made on 9 September. In the Salerno landings, strong American forces were fighting on the continent of Europe for the first time since 1918.Even before the beginnings of the Sicilian operations, the staffs of Allied land, naval, and air forces had been planning an invasion of Italy. Once established on the Italian mainland, we might hope to secure complete naval and aerial domination of the Mediterranean and to obtain strategic ports and airfields for future operations against continental Europe. If we could knock Italy out of the war, we would force the Germans to retreat north of the Alps or to use in Italy armies which might be fighting on the Russian front.Under the command of Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, the Fifth Army, a great Allied force composed of the British 10 Corps and the United States VI Corps, carried out the first large scale invasion of the European mainland and secured a firm base for future operations in Italy. Salerno: The American Operations from the Beaches to the Volturno is an account of the American forces who landed on the beaches in the Gulf of Salerno.
Salient Points Five: Ypres & Picardy, 1914–18 (Cameos of the Western Front #5)
by Ted Smith Tony SpagnolyAs with previous books in the series, 'Salient Points 5' features a number of stories of the individuals and units taking part in these Great War actions. Included in this edition are the London Irish at Hollebeke, the 2nd Grenadier Guards at Klien-Zillebeke, the birth of the notorious Birdcage at Polegsteert, the fate of 2nd/Lt. Paul J Rodocanachi R F C at Torreken Farm, Poet Roland Leightons death near Gommecourt Wood, the 10th, 11th and 13th Cheshires at St Yves and Le Gheer, the 7th Inniskillings Fusiliers at Wytschaete, the London Rifle Brigade at Ploegsteert and the 2nd Royal Welch at Loos. Also included are two stories covering recent events concerning the military burials of the remains of two Lancashire Fusiliers at Prowse Point Military Cemetery and a reflective wander around the Ypres Town Cemetery and Extension. All bring to the Great War enthusiast a more personalized view of the men, the events in which they took part and the areas where they were involved.
Salient Points Four: Ypres & Picardy, 1914–18 (Cameos of the Western Front #4)
by Ted Smith Tony SpagnolyConcentrating on the Ploegsteert and Neuve Eglise sectors in Belgium, this book features stories on such well known figures as sculptor Charles Sargent Jagger, ARA ; R Poulton Palmer and 'Tanky' Turner, great friends and rugby football captains of England and Scotland respectively; as well the discovery and eventual burial of a Lancashire Fuslier who was killed in action in 1914; the research leading to the erection in 2002 of a 'Believed to be buried' headstone in the Strand cemetery of an Australian killed in action at Messines in 1917; the action in 1914 that initiated the birth of the infamous 'Birdcage' on the western edge of Ploegsteert Wood and other stories of interest to enthusiasts of the Great War.Another in the Cameos of the Western Front series on men, minor actions and battlefield sites, this book, like its predecessors is an ideal 'companion' for the battlefield visitor.
Salient Points One: Ypres Sector, 1914–18 (Cameos of the Western Front #1)
by Ted Smith Tony SpagnolyA collection of stories of men, their units and the actions they took part in during the conflict of 1914–1918, together with stories other points of interest along the old Western Front. Each story is supported with photographs and maps showing the area of the action as it was then, and is today. The content feature-titles are: Larch Wood (Railway Cuttings) Cemetery; Second Lieutenant Keith Rae; Bellewaarde Farm; Major William Redmond; H. H. Prince Maurice of Battenberg; Major Cropper?s Craters; Sergeant Harry Combes D.C.M., R.G.A.; A Cemetery Lost; A Scottish Soldier; Along the Messines Ridge; Halloween Night 1914; A Bloodless Victory; Old Bill is Born; The Yanks are Coming; The Lost Mines of Messines; Hospitalization South of Poperinghe and Canada at Ypres.
Salient Points Three: Ypres & Picardy 1914–18 (Cameos of the Western Front #3)
by Ted Smith Tony SpagnolyThe third in the series of a collection of stories about the men the actions and the places of interest for the battlefield visitor to the old Western Front. This book features:- A Soldier for a Year (Private David Ross); - A Very British Grenadier (Captain Pixley); - An Artist at War (Ernest Carlos); - Into Battle - Julian of the Ard Ead Julian Grenfell); - Adolf Hitler at Ypres; - Michael OLeary V.C. The Wild Colonial Boy; - No Prisoners for The Dorsets (The Dorsetshire Regiment at Hill 60); - Tanks at St. Julien; - Corporal McBride and the 2nd Worcesters at Neuve Eglise; - Triumph and Tragedy (The 6th DCLI at Sanctuary/Zouave woods 1915) and The Five Forgotten Mines of Messines (unexploded - and four of them still there, the other 'blew' in 1955).
Salient Points Two: Ypres Sector, 1914–18 (Cameos of the Western Front #2)
by Ted Smith Tony SpagnolyAnother group of stories in the Salient Points series. A collection of stories of men, their units and the actions they took part in during the conflict of 1914–1918, together with stories other points of interest along the old Western Front. Each story is supported with photographs and maps showing the area of the action as it was then, and is today. The content feature-titles are: The Black Watch; Lord Worsley at Zandvoorde; The 1st Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers at Zandvoorde; The Worcesters and the Welsh at Gheluvelt in 1914; The Youngest Soldier; Major Lanoe Hawker at Abeele Aerodrome; 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish) at Kichener Wood; Pond Farm; Fray Bentos at Hill 35; The Liverpool Irish at Schuler Galleries; The O'Donnell Twins; New Zealand at the village of Messines; Reconciliation at Broodseinde.
Salisbury in the Great War (Your Towns & Cities in the Great War)
by Neil G. HallThe war invisibly regulated our lives, commented a Salisbury resident when recalling the calamity, now known as the Great War. Much of life in the city with its ancient cathedral, the finest spire in England, medieval New Town built on chequers an
Sally Brady's Italian Adventure: A Novel
by Christina Lynch"A fresh breeze of wit and glamour." —The Wall Street Journal"Richly evocative of the charms and contradictions of Italy. Brava!” —Chris Pavone, New York Times bestselling author"A gorgeously entertaining story about a spirited woman during wartime that manages to be a clever caper at times but taut and profound at others"* What if you found yourself in the middle of a war armed only with lipstick and a sense of humor? Abandoned as a child in Los Angeles in 1931, dust bowl refugee Sally Brady convinces a Hollywood movie star to adopt her, and grows up to be an effervescent gossip columnist secretly satirizing Europe’s upper crust. By 1940 saucy Sally is conquering Fascist-era Rome with cheek and charm. A good deed leaves Sally stranded in wartime Italy, brandishing a biting wit, a fake passport, and an elastic sense of right and wrong. To save her friends and find her way home through a land of besieged castles and villas, Sally must combat tragedy with comedy, tie up pompous bureaucrats in their own red tape, force the cruel to be kind, and unravel the mystery, weight, and meaning of family. Heir to Odysseus’s wiles and Candide’s optimism, Sally Brady is a heroine for the 21st century.
Salmagundi Vietnam
by Lee Blair Don PrattThis collection of some 200 anecdotes emanating from the war in Vietnam presents a realistic picture of the ups and downs of American's Best serving a tour in Vietnam. <P><P>A potpourri of booze, sex, satire, humor, and, of course, not to be forgotten, fire-fights with "Charlie," and death.Author's say "when the hard-core Bonnie Rat returns home from a tour in Vietnam, he also has no qualms about telling it how it is." This is precisely what the authors have done in Salmagundi Vietnam. Often their accounts dwell on the ugly side of the war, but for the most part they have included a good measure of good ol' GI humor, that special virtue of the American fighting man that enables him to make the most of any situation.
Salt of the Earth
by Jozef WittlinThe classic pacifist novel by a major Polish writer, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize'Only the villages are asleep, the eternal reservoir of all kinds of soldiery, the inexhaustible source of physical strength'The villagers of the Carpathian mountains lead a simple life at the beginning of the twentieth century - much as they have always done. They are isolated and remote, and the advances of the outside world have not touched them. Among them - Piotr, a bandy-legged peasant, whose 'entire life involved carrying things'. A notional subject of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, all he wants in life is an official railway cap, a cottage with a mouse-trap and cheese, and a bride with a dowry.But then the First World War comes to the mountains, and Piotr is drafted into the army. Unwilling, uncomprehending, the bewildered Piotr is forced to fight a war he does not understand - against his national as well as his personal interest.In a new translation, authorised by the author's daughter, Salt of the Earth is a strongly pacifist novel inspired by the Odyssey, about the consequences of war on ordinary men.
Salt to the Sea
by Ruta Sepetys<P>The author of <i>Between Shades of Gray</i> returns to WWII in this epic novel that shines a light on one of the war's most devastating--yet unknown--tragedies. <P>In 1945, World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia, and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, almost all of them with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer toward safety. Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people aboard must fight for the same thing: survival. <P>Told in alternating points of view, and perfect for fans of Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize-winning <i>All the Light We Cannot See</i>, Erik Larson's critically acclaimed #1 New York Times bestseller <i>Dead Wake</i>, and Elizabeth Wein's Printz Honor Book <i>Code Name Verity</i>, this masterful work of historical fiction is inspired by the real-life tragedy that was the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff--the greatest maritime disaster in history. As she did in <i>Between Shades of Gray</i>, Ruta Sepetys unearths a shockingly little-known casualty of a gruesome war, and proves that humanity can prevail, even in the darkest of hours.
Saltwater Leadership
by Robert O. Wray Jr.Designed for busy junior officers in the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine, this primer teaches the basics of leadership in five sequential steps. It begins with a useful overview of major leadership studies, followed by an informative summary of the wisdom of 380 senior sea-going officers regarding those leadership attributes required of the junior officer. One chapter includes sea stories from officers of varied backgrounds, each offering a leadership lesson that was learned the hard way. Along with this sage advice from experienced sea-service officers, the book offers a final chapter that helps readers build personalized plans to improve their own leadership skills. Such a practical guide is certain to turn young officers into successful leaders.
Salud y Shalom: Conversations with Jewish Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
by Joseph ButwinJewish volunteers made up almost one-third of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (ALB) during the Spanish Civil War. Most belonged to a Communist Party focused on the antifascist goals of the Popular Front and faithful to the internationalist idea of erasing ethnicity, including Jewish ethnicity. Joseph Butwin’s oral history presents conversations with ten Jewish veterans of the ALB. Recorded from 1992–94 in the wake of European communism’s collapse, the interviews explore the milieus that formed the volunteers. Immigrants established the secular Yiddish-speaking socialism that became a part of many Jewish American communities. Their children, reacting to economic depression and the rise of fascism, enlisted in the ALB. Butwin follows their stories from their youthful motives and choices through their lives as Jews and leftists, and records the reckonings that took place as they reflected on their past. Insightful and revealing, Salud y Shalom explores the forces of identity and history that led young Jewish leftists to fight fascism.
Salute of Guns
by Donald BoydA British World War I veteran details artillery’s role in the Great War, life on the Western Front, and soldier morale in this classic memoir.Salute of Guns covers a story that is almost forgotten: Artillery was the decisive weapon of the Great War. The developments in artillery tactics, equipment and shells played a major role in the final Allied victory. British artillery was in the forefront of all those changes. This book gives the reader a dramatic insight into the story of artillery in the First World War.Donald Boyd joined his local Territorial Force artillery unit in September 1914. Commissioned in 1915, he learnt his trade in France from unsympathetic pre-war Indian Army regulars who did not understand how war was changing. From 1916 to 1918 he took part in the Western Front’s major battles, including the Somme, Third Ypres, Cambrai and the 1918 offensives. The stress of an artillery subaltern’s existence, observing in the front line, keeping the guns in action at a battery position or leading ammunition columns up tracks exposed to shellfire brought him to nervous collapse twice. The author is frank about his problems and convincingly conveys the relationships within his sub-unit which helped or hindered his struggle to stay in the front line.A new foreword by Michael Orr sets Boyd’s memoir in context and documents its reliability from the archives.Praise for Salute of Guns“If I had to name the best record of Western Front fighting I should, on the whole, choose Donald Boyd’s Salute of Guns as the one that has dealt most faithfully with the most difficult to recall of all its aspects—contemporary morale.” —Robert Graves“An excellent account of service by a man dealing with the fear and mental fatigue of a long war who yet describes his military activities with great clarity. It is particularly valuable as such memoirs from the Royal Regiment are few. Pen & Sword are to be congratulated.” —British Commission for Military History