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Targeting Civilians in War (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)
by Alexander B. DownesAccidental harm to civilians in warfare often becomes an occasion for public outrage, from citizens of both the victimized and the victimizing nation. In this vitally important book on a topic of acute concern for anyone interested in military strategy, international security, or human rights, Alexander B. Downes reminds readers that democratic and authoritarian governments alike will sometimes deliberately kill large numbers of civilians as a matter of military strategy. What leads governments to make such a choice? Downes examines several historical cases: British counterinsurgency tactics during the Boer War, the starvation blockade used by the Allies against Germany in World War I, Axis and Allied bombing campaigns in World War II, and ethnic cleansing in the Palestine War. He concludes that governments decide to target civilian populations for two main reasons-desperation to reduce their own military casualties or avert defeat, or a desire to seize and annex enemy territory. When a state's military fortunes take a turn for the worse, he finds, civilians are more likely to be declared legitimate targets to coerce the enemy state to give up. When territorial conquest and annexation are the aims of warfare, the population of the disputed land is viewed as a threat and the aggressor state may target those civilians to remove them. Democracies historically have proven especially likely to target civilians in desperate circumstances. In Targeting Civilians in War, Downes explores several major recent conflicts, including the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Civilian casualties occurred in each campaign, but they were not the aim of military action. In these cases, Downes maintains, the achievement of quick and decisive victories against overmatched foes allowed democracies to win without abandoning their normative beliefs by intentionally targeting civilians. Whether such "restraint" can be guaranteed in future conflicts against more powerful adversaries is, however, uncertain. During times of war, democratic societies suffer tension between norms of humane conduct and pressures to win at the lowest possible costs. The painful lesson of Targeting Civilians in War is that when these two concerns clash, the latter usually prevails.
Targeting Terrorist Financing: International Cooperation and New Regimes (Contemporary Terrorism Studies)
by Arabinda AcharyaThis book examines the dynamics of terrorist financing, including a discussion about the importance of money from both the terrorist and the counter-terrorist perspective. Targeting Terrorist Financing argues that it is not the institutions that have failed the war on terrorist financing; rather it is the states that have failed the institutions. The measures contemplated by the world community to interdict terrorists and their financial infrastructures are sufficient to debilitate the terrorists both militarily and financially. However, what has been increasingly lacking is political will among the states, and this has overwhelmed the spirit of cooperation in this very critical front against terrorism. This volume assesses the need for international cooperation and the role of institutions and regimes in targeting terrorist financing. After the 9/11 attacks, there was an expression of global willingness to target terrorism generally, and terrorist financing in particular. The institutional mechanisms that grew out of this are explored in detail here, with a critical examination of the progress made by the international community. The impact of these measures is considered with respect to changes in the nature of the terrorist threat, money confiscated, adoption of international conventions, and global standards by states, and levels of compliance, among others. This book will be of great interest to students of terrorism, international organisations, international security, and IR in general. Arabinda Acharya is Research Fellow, Manager of Strategic Projects and Head of the Terrorist Financing Response Project at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Targets of Opportunity (Brad Austin Series #2)
by Joe WeberHailed as "one of America's new thriller stars" by Tom Clancy, author Joe Weber captured national attention with his riveting debut, DEFCON One, a New York Times bestseller. A former Marine Corps pilot, Weber turned firsthand experience into explosive human drama, charged with gripping authenticity. Now, with Targets of Opportunity, Weber soars to new heights. The Vietnam War has reached a crucial turning point. Marine aviator Brad Austin (introduced in the bestselling Rules of Engagement) is assigned the most dangerous mission of his career. Recruited by the CIA, Austin must master the controls of a North Vietnamese MiG jet--then, stripped of his military identity and disguised as a Russian pilot, fly the MiG behind enemy lines. If he succeeds, the enemy will be easy prey. If he fails, the U.S. government will deny any involvement--and Brad Austin will no longer exist.... Tense, powerful, and frighteningly real, Targets of Opportunity is a masterwork of military fiction--Joe Weber at his electrifying best.
Tarnished: Toxic Leadership in the U.S. Military
by George E. ReedBad or toxic leadership, abusive supervision, and petty tyranny in organizations are perennial issues. But to date, there has been little effort to examine the scope and nature of bad leadership in the military. Tarnished rectifies that lack of attention by defining the problems and suggesting possible solutions appropriate to the military’s unique structure and situation. Leadership is central to the identity of the U.S. military. Service academies and precommissioning processes have traditionally stressed the development of conscientious leaders of character. The services regularly publish doctrinal works and professional journal articles focusing on various aspects of leadership. Unsurprisingly, in most of those publications leadership is presented as a universally positive notion, a solution to problems, and something to be developed through an extensive and costly system of professional military education. Leadership expert George E. Reed, however, focuses on individual experiences of toxic leadership at the organizational level, arguing that because toxic leadership has such a detrimental impact on the military organizational culture, additional remediation measures are needed. Reed also demonstrates how system dynamics and military culture themselves contribute to the problem. Most significant, the book provides cogent advice and insights to those suffering from toxic leaders, educators developing tomorrow’s military leaders, and military administrators working to repair the current system.
A Tarnished Eagle: Napoleon's Winter Campaign In Poland, December 1806 Through February 1807
by Major Edward J. MurphyThe victories and accomplishments of Napoleon and his Grand Army were by the winter of 1806, the stuff of legend. Yet, on the bloody field of Eylau, Napoleon lost both his prestige and over one third of his Army. How did this Russian Army of notable inferior weapons, tactics, organization and leadership stave off defeat and almost achieve victory? The answer lies in that Napoleon did not only fight the Russians, but also suffered a combination of poor morale and inaccurate reconnaissance. His overextended lines of communications covered an area that was known for its harsh terrain, poor supplies and extremely bad weather.The Campaign cost Napoleon over 43,000 casualties and proved indecisive. The campaign, and Battle of Eylau, ruined Napoleon's image of invincibility and completely gutted the Grand Army of a wealth of leadership and experience. Over twenty general officers were killed or seriously wounded at Eylau. Subsequently, Napoleon would have to consistently rely on more conscripts and an ever-increasing number of foreign troops to fill his depleted ranks. Napoleon's Army would never again resemble the previously invincible Grand Army that died on the blood-soaked snows of Poland.
Tarnished Knight (Lost Stars #1)
by Jack CampbellCEO Artur Drakon has been betrayed. The Syndicate Worlds' government failed to protect its citizens from both the Alliance and the alien enigmas. <P><P>With a cadre of reliable soldiers under his command, Drakon launches a battle for control of the Midway Star System--assisted by an ally he's unsure he can trust... <P> CEO Gwen Iceni was exiled to Midway because she wasn't ruthless enough in the eyes of her superiors. She proved them wrong by commandeering some of the warships at Midway and declaring the star system's independence on behalf of the people though staying in charge as "President." But while she controls the mobile fleet, she has no choice but to rely on "General" Drakon's ground forces to keep the peace planet-side. <P> If their coup is to succeed, Drakon and Iceni must put their differences aside to prevent the population of Midway from rebelling against them, to defend their star system from the enigmas--and to ferret out saboteurs determined to reestablish Syndic rule...
Tarnished Victory: Divided Command In The Pacific And Its Consequences In The Naval Battle For Leyte Gulf
by LCDR James P. DrewThe Battle for Leyte Gulf in October 1944 was the largest naval battle of World War II both in terms of the number of ships involved, and the expanse of area the battle covered. The battle was a decisive victory for the Allied Forces, who effectively crushed the might of the Japanese Navy for the remainder of the war. The Joint Chiefs made the decision to keep command in the Pacific divided in the early months of the war. The Joint Chiefs were presented with opportunities to resolve this problematic command structure as the war progressed, but they chose to perpetuate the division. This decision, directly contributed to disunity of effort, differing objectives, poor communication, and tragically, unnecessary loss of life during the Battle off Samar.
Tarnished Victory: Finishing Lincoln's War
by William MarvelA master Civil War historian re-creates the final year of our nation's greatest crisis. With Tarnished Victory William Marvel concludes his sweeping four-part series--this final volume beginning with the Virginia and Atlanta campaigns in May 1864 and closing with the final surrender of Confederate forces in June 1865. In the course of that year the war grows ever more deadly, the home front is stripped to fill the armies, and the economy is crippled by debt and inflation, while the stubborn survival of the Confederacy seriously undermines support for Lincoln's war. In the end, it seems that Lincoln's early critics, who played such a pivotal role at the start of the series, are proven correct. Victory did require massive bloodshed and complete conquest of the South. It also required decades of occupation to cement the achievements of 1865, and the failure of Lincoln's political heirs to carry through with that occupation squandered the most commendable of those achievements, ultimately making it a tarnished victory. Marvel, called the "Civil War's master historical detective" by Stephen Sears, has unearthed provocative details and rich stories long buried beneath a century of accumulated distortion and misinterpretation to create revisionist history at its best.
Tarnished Warrior: Major-General James Wilkinson
by James Ripley JacobsFrom the early days of the Revolution, James Wilkinson was an important figure in American history. As a general in the Army of the United States, he was a friend of Presidents, a companion of conspirators, a master of intrigue, and a confederate of alien and domestic plotters. Few men had more intimate knowledge of the inhabited stretches of the American continent. He knew the slating streets of Montreal and was familiar with the tangled wilderness that covered the Champlain valley. In the old Northwest he traveled on the waters of the Great Lakes, wrangled with the British in Detroit, and ate boiled puppy with the savages along the Ohio. In Kentucky, he peddled merchandise and delivered pioneer women of their children.-Print ed.
Tarra: The story of an Army small ship
by Jack PeelTarra describes the 25 years of service provided to the nation by a 125-foot wooden cargo vessel, operated by the Australian Army from her launch in 1945 to her abandonment in huge seas off the north coast of New South Wales in 1965. During the war in the South Pacific, the only mode of transport available to provide food ammunition and supplies to the fighting forces and civilian population to the north of Australia, other than aircraft and pack horses, was seagoing small craft and small ships. The Tarra story follows her launch in Tasmania in 1945, when the ship was employed in dumping ammunition off the east coast of Australia. Based in Newcastle and later in Cairns, she was seconded to the Graves Registration Unit during the establishment of the Bomana War Cemetery near Port Moresby, and then lent to the civil authorities to collect copra from remote islands. Tarra provided the only form of transport for materials and personnel for the construction of the Vanimo Outstation of the Pacific Islands Regiment on the Dutch border in 1952, and she continued to resupply the Company base for the next ten years, making two voyages per year from Brisbane. Tarra and her sister, ship Vasse, played a key role in training soldiers to become sailors, particularly in the Citizen Military Forces and in the development of the Australian Regular Army after the war and during the Pentropic experiment. In declining condition, she was sold to the Societe Marine Caledonian and renamed Milos Del Mar in April 1965. The dramatic rescue of her civilian crew eight months later and her abandonment to sink slowly in rough seas was described on the front pages of major newspapers at the time and by the commander of the Air Force Sea Air Rescue aircraft, thereby completing Tarra's story. Army water transport had been operated by the Royal Australian Engineers however the function was taken over by the newly formed Royal Australian Corps of Transport. Army water transport continues today with landing craft operated by 35 Water Transport Squadron RACT.
Tars: Life in the Royal Navy during the Seven Years War
by Tim ClaytonTars is a gripping firsthand account of life in the Royal Navy during the Seven Years War, from which Britain emerged as the world's major power.Through the lives of the main protagonists - a small band of sailors from across the ranks - Trafalgar author Tim Clayton paints a vivid picture of the navy and the era at its bloodiest and most tempestuous phase, beginning in 1758. From close-quarter battles and roistering on the streets of London to the political decisions that built up and knocked down empires. In this death-or-glory era the navy became the main weapon of an aggressive and power-hungry government, and fighting at sea was carried out at ever-closer quarters and with ever-increasing amounts of firepower. Using never-before published first-person sources, Tars takes us through these men's daily struggles as Britain navigated her course on the political map.
The Tartar Steppe
by Dino Buzzati Stuart C. HoodThe Tartar Steppe is both a scathing critique of military life and a meditation on the human thirst for glory. It tells of young Giovanni Drogo, who is posted to a distant fort overlooking the vast Tartar steppe. Although not intending to stay, Giovanni suddenly finds that years have passed, as, almost without his noticing, he has come to share the others' wait for a foreign invasion that never happens. Over time the fort is downgraded and Giovanni's ambitions fade until the day the enemy begins massing on the desolate steppe...
Task Force
by John ParkerThe Royal Navy at the start of the twenty-first century had undergone the most remarkable transformation. The Fleet is today the smallest since the start of the Napoleonic wars as surface vessels are no longer viable as a principal line of defence. That preserve is now in the hands of Britain's nuclear-armed submarine fleet, well chronicled in THE SILENT SERVICE and the Air Force, as outlined in STRIKE COMMAND. This book will complete the triangle of our essential military might, telling the story of today's sea-going ultra-mobile, rapid reaction, missile- and aircraft-carrying task force. John Parker includes personal interviews from the men and women who have served in the Senior Service to bring his story vividly to life.
Task Force
by John ParkerThe Royal Navy at the start of the twenty-first century had undergone the most remarkable transformation. The Fleet is today the smallest since the start of the Napoleonic wars as surface vessels are no longer viable as a principal line of defence. That preserve is now in the hands of Britain's nuclear-armed submarine fleet, well chronicled in THE SILENT SERVICE and the Air Force, as outlined in STRIKE COMMAND. This book will complete the triangle of our essential military might, telling the story of today's sea-going ultra-mobile, rapid reaction, missile- and aircraft-carrying task force. John Parker includes personal interviews from the men and women who have served in the Senior Service to bring his story vividly to life.
Task Force 2-4 Cav - First In, Last Out - The History Of The 2d Squadron, 4th Cavalry [Illustrated Edition]
by Major Joseph C. Barto[Includes 5 tables, 10 maps and 20 photos]Wars have been studied from every viewpoint from the most abstract to the intensely personal. In the case of Major Joseph C. Barto's Task Force 2-4 Cav-"First In, Last Out": The History of the 2d Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, During Operation Desert Storm, war is viewed from the perspective of one man's impression of a volatile, fluid battle.Re-creating his experiences in Operation Desert Storm from pieced together notes, an extensive journal, and a variety of other sources, Barto tells the story of TF 2-4 Cav. From his position as the squadron's executive officer and officer in charge of its tactical operations center, Barto reports the planning and execution of his squadron as it advanced across the desert in pursuit of Iraqis.The end result of Barto's reporting is a uniquely personal view of one man's experience during a rapidly evolving operation. Barto's exercise is not meant to be a polished analysis but rather provides students of military history with an inside view of the operations of a cavalry squadron on a dynamic, oftentimes uncertain, battlefield.
Task Force 58: The US Navy's Fast Carrier Strike Force that Won the War in the Pacific
by Rod MacdonaldThe new breed of American fast aircraft carriers could make thirty-three knots, and each carried almost 100 strike aircraft. Brought together as Task Force 58, also known as the Fast Carrier Task Force, this awesome armada at times comprised more than 100 ships carrying more than 100,000 men afloat. By 1945, more than 1,000-combat aircraft, fighters, dive- and torpedo-bombers could be launched in under an hour. The fast carriers were a revolution in naval warfare – it was a time when naval power moved away from the big guns of the battleship to air power projected at sea. Battleships were eventually subordinated to supporting and protecting the fast carriers, of which, at its peak, Task Force 58 had a total of seventeen. This book covers the birth of naval aviation, the appearance of the first modern carriers in the 1920s, through to the famous surprise six-carrier _Kido Butai_ Japanese raid against Pearl Harbor on 8 December 1941 and then the early US successes of 1942 at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. The fast carriers allowed America, in late 1942 and early 1943, to finally move from bitter defence against the Japanese expansionist onslaught, to mounting her own offensive to retake the Pacific. Task Force 58 swept west and north from the Solomon Islands to the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, neutralising Truk in Micronesia, and Palau in the Caroline islands, before the vital Mariana Islands operations, the Battle of Saipan, the first battle of the Philippine Sea and the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The strikes by Task Force 58 took Allied forces across the Pacific, to the controversial Battle of Leyte Gulf and to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Task Force 58 had opened the door to the Japanese home islands themselves – allowing US bombers to finally get close enough to launch the devastating nuclear bombing raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Task Force 58 participated in virtually all the US Navy’s major battles in the Pacific theatre during the last two years of the war. Having spent many years investigating naval shipwrecks across the Pacific, many the result of the devastating effectiveness of Task Force 58, diver and shipwreck author Rod Macdonald has created the most detailed account to date of the fast carrier strike force, the force that brought Japan to its knees and brought the Second World War to its crashing conclusion.
Task Force Baum
by James D. ShipmanIn the tradition of Saving Private Ryan and Bridge Over the River Kwai, bestselling author James D. Shipman delivers a powerful, action-packed novel that illustrates the long-buried secrets and unending costs of war—based on the true story of General Patton’s clandestine unauthorized raid on a World War II POW camp. March, 1945. Allied forces are battle-worn but wearily optimistic. Russia’s Red Army is advancing hard on Germany from the east, bolstering Allied troops moving in from the west and north. Soon, surely, Axis forces must accept defeat. Yet for Captain Jim Curtis, each day is a reminder of how unpredictable and uncertain warfare can be. Captured during the Battle of the Bulge after the Germans launched a devastating surprise attack, Curtis is imprisoned at a POW camp in Hammelburg, Bavaria. Conditions are grim. Inmates and guards alike are freezing and starving, with rations dwindling day by day. But whispers say General Patton’s troops are on the way, and the camp may soon be liberated. Indeed, fifty miles away, a task force of three hundred men is preparing to cross into Germany. With camps up and down the line, what makes Hammelburg so special they don’t know, but orders are orders. Yet their hopes of evading the enemy quickly evaporate. Wracked by poor judgment, insufficient arms, and bad luck, the raid unravels with shattering losses. The liberation inmates hoped for becomes a struggle for survival marked by a stark choice: stay, or risk escaping into danger—while leaving some behind. For Curtis, the decision is an even more personal test of loyalty, friendship, and the values for which one will die or kill. It will be another twenty years before the unsanctioned mission’s secret motivation becomes public knowledge, creating a controversy that will forever color Patton’s legacy and linger on in the lives of those who made it home at last—and the loved ones of those who did not.
Task Force Blue (Rogue Warrior #4)
by Richard Marcinko John Weisman"Moving slowly, steadily across the tarmac through the driving Florida rain, the Rogue Warrior and his team of SEALs have been called into action. Mission: storm a hijacked 727 sitting on a Key West airstrip and rescue the Secretary of the Navy. In a flash of high-tech explosives and automatic gunfire, a hostage is killed - and Marcinko will be the one to pay. Facing a court martial and permanent removal from the Navy, the Rogue Warrior has one more call to answer, from an ultrasecret operative inside the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). " "America's worst nightmare has become a reality. The hijackers' roots run deep in U. S. soil: Americans willing to kill Americans to create a government in their own fanatical image. The Pentagon's security has been breached: the arsenal of democracy raided. The DIA needs someone to eradicate the terrorist infrastructure, circumventing the Navy and the FBI. They need Marcinko and his elite SEAL contingent, Task Force Blue. " "Inspired and funded by a politically motivated independent billionaire, the enemy has become a force of right-wing militias and extremists, radical drug gangs, and fundamentalist terrorists - but they have yet to face an adversary like the Rogue Warrior. Accused of murder and pursued by the FBI, operating underground to maneuver through a political, military, and bureaucratic minefield, the Rogue Warrior is right where he wants to be. And, faithful to his ultimate Commandment of SpecWar, there are no rules - Marcinko will win at all costs. "--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Task Force Butler: A Case Study In The Employment Of An Ad Hoc Unit In Combat Operations, During Operation Dragoon, 1-30 August 1944
by Major Michael J. VolpeOn 15 August 1944, an Allied army launched a second amphibious landing against the coast of southern France. The Allies, having shattered German defenses around the beachhead, decided to exploit the chaos in the enemy camp. On 17 August 1944, Major General (MG) Lucian K. Truscott Jr., with no mobile organic strike force assigned to his VI Corps, ordered the assembly of and attack by an ad hoc collection of units roughly equivalent to an armored brigade. This provisional armored group (Task Force (TF) Butler) experienced remarkable success despite a dearth of planning, no rehearsals, and no history of working together in either training or combat. This case study examines the success of TF Butler from the perspectives of doctrinal development in the United States (U.S.) Army, the unit's unique task organization, and the leadership's employment of the unit in combat. The use of ad hoc formations to meet unforeseen situations was not unique to World War II; American units currently serving in the Middle East are regularly assigned units they have no habitual relations with to conduct combat operations. This case study may prove useful in preparing contemporary military leaders for the types of challenges they will face conducting operations in the contemporary operational environment.
Task Force Hogan: The World War II Tank Battalion That Spearheaded the Liberation of Europe
by William R. HoganA fourth-generation soldier tells the story of his father’s tank battalion, the “Spearhead,” that selflessly led the charge on the front lines from Normandy into Germany—against impossible odds, technologically superior weaponry, and a fanatical enemy on its home turf—and the heroes whose sacrifice won World War II.At twenty-eight, Sam Hogan is one of the youngest lieutenant colonels in the US Army. The West Point graduate from Texas stands in the commander’s hatch of his Sherman tank, behind him a steel wedge of seventeen other Shermans of his tank battalion. Two weeks after the now-infamous D-Day landings, Sam is preparing to give the order to advance into the German defenses that enclose the Normandy beachheads. Ahead of Sam lies seemingly impossible odds for survival: technologically superior Nazi tanks, camouflaged anti-tank guns, and infantry armed with new anti-tank rockets. But Sam has prepared for this moment for the past seven years. With a guttural call to move out accompanied by diesel fumes and the squeak of tank treads, Sam and his men begin their long journey to liberate Europe—a journey from which many of them would not return.So begins the story of Sam Hogan and his colorful band of tanker heroes of the Third Armored Division—the “Spearhead”—as they battle on the front lines of some of the war’s toughest fights, from Normandy to the Elbe to the Battle of the Bulge. The soldiers of Task Force Hogan come from all walks of life. There are cooks, tankers, infantrymen, salty old sergeants, and wet-behind-the-ears lieutenants. In common, they have a sense of duty to each other and their country, and the struggle against the most sinister enemy modern history has ever produced.In Task Force Hogan, the story of Sam and his band of heroes comes to life through the writing of his son, Will Hogan—aided by never-before-seen letters, military dispatches, journal entries, and interviews with surviving family of the Task Force. These were the soldiers at the tip of the spear, brave enough to lead the charge and fight against insurmountable odds, and often paying the ultimate price, while liberating French villages and concentration camps as they rolled towards Germany to ultimately win the war. In the pages of this book, Will Hogan finally gives these unsung soldiers the voice and memorial that they all deserve.
A Taste for Treason: The Letter That Smashed a Nazi Spy Ring
by Andrew JeffreyA gripping true story of wartime espionage. Dundee, 1937. When housewife Mary Curran became suspicious of hairdresser Jessie Jordan's frequent trips to Nazi Germany, she had no idea that she was about to be drawn into an international web of espionage. Thanks to a tip off from Mary, MI5 and the FBI launched major spy hunts on both sides of the Atlantic. This is the true story of a decade-long series of Nazi espionage plots in Britain, Europe and the United States. It shows how a Nazi spy's letter, posted in New York and intercepted in Scotland, broke spy rings across Europe and North America. And it reveals, for the first time, how that letter marked the genesis of an intelligence and security alliance that today includes the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 'Fascinating, gripping and expertly researched... an extraordinary true tale of espionage told with all the drama and panache of a spy thriller' – Michael Smith, bestselling author of The Secrets of Station X
The Taste Of Battle: Front Line Action 1914-1991 (Sven Hassel War Classics)
by Bryan PerrettAs close as you can get to the reality of war. Three generations of front line soldiers recount their experiences. Few people today experience a live war situation; even professional soldiers can serve their career without going to war. Yet the question is often asked, what is it like? How do combatants cope with the danger? How does a battle look to the ordinary soldier? In a unique mix of dialogue, reportage and objective historical analysis - "faction" - Bryan Perrett brings the reality of war to the reader in a direct, no-holds-barred, exciting narrative. The fictional soldiers in this book, based on recorded accounts, are at the very heart of the action. From Mons in 1918, through the First and Second World Wars to Malaya in 1956, Vietnam in 1968 and Kuwait in 1991.
The Taste Of Battle: Front Line Action 1914-1991
by Bryan PerrettAs close as you can get to the reality of war. Three generations of front line soldiers recount their experiences.Few people today experience a live war situation; even professional soldiers can serve their career without going to war. Yet the question is often asked, what is it like? How do combatants cope with the danger? How does a battle look to the ordinary soldier?In a unique mix of dialogue, reportage and objective historical analysis - "faction" - Bryan Perrett brings the reality of war to the reader in a direct, no-holds-barred, exciting narrative. The fictional soldiers in this book, based on recorded accounts, are at the very heart of the action. From Mons in 1918, through the First and Second World Wars to Malaya in 1956, Vietnam in 1968 and Kuwait in 1991.
The Taste of Longing: Ethel Mulvany and Her Starving Prisoners of War Cookbook
by Suzanne EvansHalf a world away from her home in Manitoulin Island, Ethel Mulvany is starving in Singapore’s infamous Changi Prison, along with hundreds of other women jailed there as POWs during the Second World War. They beat back pangs of hunger by playing decadent games of make-believe and writing down recipes filled with cream, raisins, chocolate, butter, cinnamon, ripe fruit – the unattainable ingredients of peacetime, of home, of memory. In this novelistic, immersive biography, Suzanne Evans presents a truly individual account of WWII through the eyes of Ethel – mercurial, enterprising, combative, stubborn, and wholly herself. The Taste of Longing follows Ethel through the fall of Singapore in 1942, the years of her internment, and beyond. As a prisoner, she devours dog biscuits and book spines, befriends spiders and smugglers, and endures torture and solitary confinement. As a free woman back in Canada, she fights to build a life for herself in the midst of trauma and burgeoning mental illness. Woven with vintage recipes and transcribed tape recordings, the story of Ethel and her fantastical POW Cookbook is a testament to the often-overlooked strength of women in wartime. It’s a story of the unbreakable power of imagination, generosity, and pure heart.
Taste of War
by Lizzie CollinghamA New York Times Notable Book of 2012Food, and in particular the lack of it, was central to the experience of World War II. In this richly detailed and engaging history, Lizzie Collingham establishes how control of food and its production is crucial to total war. How were the imperial ambitions of Germany and Japan - ambitions which sowed the seeds of war - informed by a desire for self-sufficiency in food production? How was the outcome of the war affected by the decisions that the Allies and the Axis took over how to feed their troops? And how did the distinctive ideologies of the different combatant countries determine their attitudes towards those they had to feed?Tracing the interaction between food and strategy, on both the military and home fronts, this gripping, original account demonstrates how the issue of access to food was a driving force within Nazi policy and contributed to the decision to murder hundreds of thousands of 'useless eaters' in Europe. Focusing on both the winners and losers in the battle for food, The Taste of War brings to light the striking fact that war-related hunger and famine was not only caused by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, but was also the result of Allied mismanagement and neglect, particularly in India, Africa and China.American dominance both during and after the war was not only a result of the United States' immense industrial production but also of its abundance of food. This book traces the establishment of a global pattern of food production and distribution and shows how the war subsequently promoted the pervasive influence of American food habits and tastes in the post-war world. A work of great scope, The Taste of War connects the broad sweep of history to its intimate impact upon the lives of individuals.