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Wearing the Green Beret: A Canadian with the Royal Marine Commandos
by Jake OlafsenIn 2004, Jake Olafsen signed up for the Royal Marines Commandos. He left everything behind at home in Canada on the basis of a spur-of-the-moment decision. The Royal Marines have the toughest and longest basic training of any infantry unit in the world. For Olafson, this meant eight months of wet and cold in England and Wales. It was hell, but he came out with the four Commando qualities that the corps look for: courage, determination, unselfishness, cheerfulness in the face of adversity.Olafsen went on to serve for four years as a Commando in the Royal Marines, an elite military unit based in the United Kingdom. He went to Afghanistan twice: in 2006, he went to confront the Taliban in Helmand Province for six months, and in 2007, he was sent to do it all over again. His story is filled with good experiences, like the sense of accomplishment, patriotism, and camaraderie, and the opportunity to travel the world. But all good things come at a price. The sacrifices he made for the Corps are significant; he has killed the enemy and he has buried his friends. And in telling his story, Olafsen hopes that he can make sense of it all. This is an honest, gutsy story about the mud and the blood, the triumphs and the tragedies.From the Hardcover edition.
A Weary Road: Shell Shock in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1918
by Mark Osborne Humphries<p>More than 16,000 Canadian soldiers suffered from shell shock during the Great War of 1914 to 1918. Despite significant interest from historians, we still know relatively little about how it was experienced, diagnosed, treated, and managed in the frontline trenches in the Canadian and British forces. <p>How did soldiers relate to suffering comrades? Did large numbers of shell shock cases affect the outcome of important battles? Was frontline psychiatric treatment as effective as many experts claimed after the war? Were Canadians treated any differently than other Commonwealth soldiers? A Weary Road is the first comprehensive study to address these important questions. Author Mark Osborne Humphries uses research from Canadian, British, and Australian archives, including hundreds of newly available hospital records and patient medical files, to provide a history of war trauma as it was experienced, treated, and managed by ordinary soldiers.</p>
Weary Warriors: Power, Knowledge, and the Invisible Wounds of Soldiers
by Michael J. Prince Pamela MossAs seen in military documents, medical journals, novels, films, television shows, and memoirs, soldiers’ invisible wounds are not innate cracks in individual psyches that break under the stress of war. Instead, the generation of weary warriors is caught up in wider social and political networks and institutions—families, activist groups, government bureaucracies, welfare state programs—mediated through a military hierarchy, psychiatry rooted in mind-body sciences, and various cultural constructs of masculinity. This book offers a history of military psychiatry from the American Civil War to the latest Afghanistan conflict. The authors trace the effects of power and knowledge in relation to the emotional and psychological trauma that shapes soldiers’ bodies, minds, and souls, developing an extensive account of the emergence, diagnosis, and treatment of soldiers’ invisible wounds.
Weather As The Decisive Factor Of The Aleutian Campaign
by Lieutenant Commander Carol A. WilderThis study is an examination of historical data to determine if weather was the decisive factor of the Aleutian Campaign. The campaign was carried out early in World War II along the over 1,000 miles of the archipelago. Island warfare made joint operations a necessity. Weather conditions disrupted all areas of battle; sea, air and ground, and made attempts at coordinated actions futile.The intense weather conditions of the North Pacific severely complicated operations over, near and on the Aleutian Islands. Weather and its effect on the Japanese raid on Dutch Harbor and the American response is examined. The role of the weather is also examined as the Americans attempt to bomb the Japanese out of Kiska and Attu. Finally, the influence of weather on the amphibious landings and ensuing ground action to eject the Japanese from the islands is reviewed.Though a dominant factor, weather was not the decisive factor at the tactical level of warfare during this campaign. The American ability to mass overwhelming combat power ultimately drove the Japanese from the region.
The Weather Factor: How Nature Has Changed History
by Erik DurschmiedThroughout history, natural elements have been responsible for the deaths of more people than the spear, bullet or atomic bomb. Floods have drowned millions, droughts and famines wiped out entire populations, frost has halted invincible armies, and storms have sunk unsinkable fleets.When facing the weather, its unpredictability can lead to incredible disasters. Though we have made major advancements in collecting and forecasting the weather, huge seas, skies, rain-falls and freezes have confounded us since the days when Noah was forced to take to the Ark.Erik Durschmied uses his formidable knowledge of military strategy and his skill at human observation to give examples of how man can never prepare for the unexpected.
The Weather Factor: How Nature Has Changed History
by Erik DurschmiedThroughout history, natural elements have been responsible for the deaths of more people than the spear, bullet or atomic bomb. Floods have drowned millions, droughts and famines wiped out entire populations, frost has halted invincible armies, and storms have sunk unsinkable fleets.When facing the weather, its unpredictability can lead to incredible disasters. Though we have made major advancements in collecting and forecasting the weather, huge seas, skies, rain-falls and freezes have confounded us since the days when Noah was forced to take to the Ark.Erik Durschmied uses his formidable knowledge of military strategy and his skill at human observation to give examples of how man can never prepare for the unexpected.
Weatherhawk
by Herbert CrowderThe F-22 Weatherhawk. The government's latest top secret aircraft. Every aeronautics firm in America wanted to buy But ex-Vietnam fighter pilot Mark Muldoon had the edge, a new development in radar technology known as JAWS Landing the deal would clinch Muldoon's future. But now this incredible, compact supercomputer is missing JAWS has apparently been stolen. And all hell is about to break loose.... A scorching masterwork of high-tech suspense, Weatherhawk reveals America's hidden world of military technology, power politics, and big business.
The Weavers of Alamaxa: A Novel (The Alamaxa Duology #2)
by Hadeer ElsbaiFollowing up on one of the most exciting fantasy debuts, The Daughters of Izdihar, Hadeer Elsbai concludes her Alamaxa Duology—inspired by Egyptian history and myth—with a tale of magic, war, betrayal, sisterhood, and love.The world is on fire...but some women can control it.The Daughters of Izdihar—a group of women fighting for the vote and against the patriarchal rule of Parliament—have finally made strides in having their voices heard...only to find them drowned out by the cannons of the fundamentalist Ziranis. As long as Alamaxa continues to allow for the elemental magic of the weavers—and insist on allowing an academy to teach such things—the Zirani will stop at nothing to end what they perceive is a threat to not only their way of life, but the entire world.Two such weavers, Nehal and Giorgina, had come together despite their differences to grow both their political and weaving power. But after the attack, Nehal wakes up in a Zirani prison, and Giorgina is on the run in her besieged city. If they can reunite again, they can rally Alamaxa to fight off the encroaching Zirani threat. Yet with so much in their way—including a contingent of Zirani insurgents with their own ideas about rebellion—this will be no easy task.And the last time a weaver fought back, the whole world was shattered.Two incredible women are all that stands before an entire army. But they’ve fought against power before and won. This time, though, it’s no longer about rhetoric.This time it’s about magic and blood.
The Web of the Chozen
by Jack L. ChalkerNobody beats Bar Holliday.He was paid to find the Terraformable worlds, new planets for his corporation to plunder. Up until the day he came upon Peace Victory, an abandoned generation ship hovering ominously above a definitely habitable planet, he believed nobody ever could.Nobody beats Bar Holliday....because he was never satisfied with anything lower than first place, because he was always the oddball, in charge of his own welfare, his own destiny...a man determined to make his mark in the world and win games at any cost.NOBODY EVER BEATS BAR HOLLIDAY....because he only took the wrong chances at the right times. But on the planet Patmos, where everything looked safe, but nothing was, Bar Holliday had at last met his match!
Web of the Romulans: A Novel (Star Trek: The Original Series #10)
by M.S. MurdockRavaged by a killer virus, the Romulans enter Canara, where the only antidote can be found. Desperate, they incite a victorious Enterprise attack on one of their vessels -- but Kirk discovers their ruse. Meanwhile the central computer has fallen in love with him severly cripling the Enterprise. Now Kirk must bring the antidote to the Romulans -- before the galaxy crashes over the brink of war!
The Webley Service Revolver
by Peter Dennis Robert MazeThe Webley .455in service revolver is among the most powerful top-break revolvers ever produced and has a claim to be the first 'tactical fighting pistol'. First adopted in 1887, in various marques it was the standard-issue service pistol for British and Commonwealth armed forces for nearly fifty years; later versions in .38in calibre went on to see further service in World War II and beyond, as well as in a host of law-enforcement roles around the world into the 1970s.Developed to give British service personnel the ability to incapacitate their opponents in 'small wars' around the globe, the Webley used the formidable - and controversial - .455in cartridge, a variant of which was known as the 'manstopper'. Users found it offered good penetration and excellent stopping power with only mild recoil - indeed, it was rated superior to the US .45 Colt in stopping power.Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork and close-up photographs, this is the compelling story of the Webley revolver, the powerful pistol that saw service across the British Empire and throughout two world wars.
Wedding a Warrior
by Hannah ConwayWHITLEIGH HAYNES, a young college student, plans her future with precision and no intention of ever leaving her Kentucky home, at least not permanently. After the attacks of September 11th, longtime boyfriend COLLIER CROMWELL puts his plans aside to join the Army, ready to serve his God and country anywhere and at any cost. Though devastated by the news, Whitleigh agrees to wait for Collier to return. She settles in to college life without him by her side, dives into volunteer work at an Elementary school, and busies herself with friends and work. Her new normal isn't so bad, in fact, it's better than imagined. She loves the children at the Elementary school, work pays well, and her friends are supportive, though Blaine, a childhood friend, flirts more often than she cares for. Collier unexpectedly proposes shattering Whitleigh's new normal, causing her to wrestle with the boundaries of her limited faith. Outside influences and obstacles demand her attention and leave her wondering what to say to the man who's asking her to leave everything she's ever known, loved, and planned?
Wedding Date with the Army Doc
by Lynne MarshallIt started at a wedding... Since her recent lifesaving-and life-changing-operation, Charlotte Johnson has steered clear of romance...but brooding Jackson Hilstead is too delicious to resist! Surely some harmless flirting with the sexy army doc can't hurt? Charlotte knows Jackson has his own emotional battles to fight, but she believes they can be stronger together. So when she accepts his invitation to a family wedding, Charlotte hopes it's a sign that one day she'll be walking down the aisle...with Jackson by her side!
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle: A Novel
by Jennifer RyanThree plucky women lift the spirits of home-front brides in wartime Britain, where clothes rationing leaves little opportunity for pomp or celebration—even at weddings—in this heartwarming novel based on true events, from the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies&’ Choir.After renowned fashion designer Cressida Westcott loses both her home and her design house in the London Blitz, she has nowhere to go but the family manor house she fled decades ago. Praying that her niece and nephew will be more hospitable than her brother had been, she arrives with nothing but the clothes she stands in, at a loss as to how to rebuild her business while staying in a quaint country village.Her niece, Violet Westcott, is thrilled that her famous aunt is coming to stay—the village has been interminably dull with all the men off fighting. But just as Cressida arrives, so does Violet&’s conscription letter. It couldn&’t have come at a worse time; how will she ever find a suitably aristocratic husband if she has to spend her days wearing a frumpy uniform and doing war work?Meanwhile, the local vicar&’s daughter, Grace Carlisle, is trying in vain to repair her mother&’s gown, her only chance of a white wedding. When Cressida Westcott appears at the local Sewing Circle meeting, Grace asks for her help—but Cressida has much more to teach the ladies than just simple sewing skills.Before long, Cressida&’s spirit and ambition galvanizes the village group into action, and they find themselves mending wedding dresses not only for local brides, but for brides across the country. And as the women dedicate themselves to helping others celebrate love, they might even manage to find it for themselves.
The Wedding Ring Quest
by Carla KellyRITA Award–Winning Author: Searching all over Scotland for a ring gone astray, they may find something even more valuable . . . Penniless Mary Rennie knows she’s lucky to have a home with relatives in Edinburgh, but she does crave more excitement in her life. So when her cousin’s ring is lost in one of several fruitcakes heading around the country as gifts, Mary seizes the chance for adventure.When widowed captain Ross Rennie and his son meet Mary in a coaching inn, they take her under their wing. After years of battling Napoleon, Ross’s soul is war weary, but Mary’s warmth and humor touch him deep inside. Soon, he’s in the most heart-stopping situation of his life—considering a wedding-ring quest of his own! “Kelly has the rare ability to create realistic yet sympathetic characters that linger in the mind.” —Library Journal
Wedding Station (A John Russell WWII Spy Thriller #7)
by David DowningThe prequel to David Downing&’s bestselling Station series introduces John Russell, an Englishman with a political past who must keep his head down as the Nazis solidify their power.February 27, 1933. In this stunning prequel to the John Russell espionage novels, the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin is set ablaze. It&’s just a month after Hitler&’s inauguration as Chancellor of Germany, and the Nazis use the torching to justify a campaign of terror against their political opponents. John Russell&’s recent separation from his wife threatens his right to reside in Germany and any meaningful relationship with his six-year-old son, Paul. He has just secured work as a crime reporter for a Berlin newspaper, and the crimes which he has to report—the gruesome murder of a rent boy, the hit-and-run death of a professional genealogist, the suspicious disappearance of a Nazi-supporting celebrity fortune-teller—are increasingly entangled in the wider nightmare engulfing Germany. Each new investigation carries the risk of Russell&’s falling foul of the authorities, at a time when the rule of law has completely vanished, and the Nazis are running scores of pop-up detention centers, complete with torture chambers, in every corner of Berlin.
Wedemeyer Reports!
by General Albert C. WedemeyerAs the chief planner for General Marshall, and co-author of the Victory Plan, General Wedemeyer had a truly significant hand in shaping and directing the Allied War effort against the Fascist powers. In these brilliant, excellently written memoirs he reveals the planning and execution of Grand Strategy on a global scale that toppled Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo.""The Second World War," says historian Walter Millis, "was administered."...As a war planner in Washington from 1940 into 1943 I was intimately involved in an attempt to see the war whole--and even after I had moved on to Asia, where I served successively on Lord Louis Mountbatten's staff in India and as U.S. commander in the China Theater, I was still close to the problems of adapting Grand Strategy to a conflict of global dimensions.It was inevitable, then, that the subject of Grand Strategy should predominate in this book. I was not deprived of my own share of war experience from close up, but my most strenuous battles were those of the mind--of trying, as we in Washington's planning echelons saw it, to establish a correct and meaningful Grand Strategy which would have resulted in a fruitful peace and a decent post-war world.There were many obstacles in the way of developing a meaningful strategy, of assuring that our abundant means, material and spiritual, would be used to achieve worthy human ends. First, there was the pervasive influence of the Communists, who had their own plans for utilizing the war as a springboard to world domination. Second, there was the obstinacy of that grand old man, Winston Churchill, who, as we soldiers felt, could never reconcile his own concepts of Grand Strategy with sound military decisions. Because we had to contend with the machinations of Stalin on the one hand and with the bulldog tenacity of Churchill on the other, this book has had to be harsh in some of its personal assessments."-Foreword
The Wednesday Wars
by Gary D. SchmidtIn this Newbery Honor-winning novel, Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero. The Wednesday Wars is a wonderfully witty and compelling story about a teenage boy’s mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967–68 school year in Long Island, New York.<P><P> Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling—he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.
A Week in Paris: A Novel
by Rachel HoreAn aspiring musician discovers her mother’s former life in pre-WWII Paris in this “elegiac tale of wartime love and secrets” (Telegraph, UK).When talented young violinist Fay Knox arrives in Paris from England, the city feels familiar to her. But not because Fay has visited Paris before. Back home, she finds an old canvas bag with a mysterious luggage tag hidden in her mother’s old trunk, and soon starts to realize her connection with the streets of Paris runs deeper than she ever imagined.As Fay traces the past, she is taken back to 1937 Paris—and the eve of a war that changed her mother’s life forever. When she discovers a dark secret buried years ago, Fay begins to question who she really is and where she belongs.Filled with romance, family secrets, and the allure of Paris, Rachel Hore’s A Week in Paris is the compelling story of two women living in two very different worlds who share far more than a passion for music.
Weerdest Day Ever! (The Seven Prequels #4)
by Richard ScrimgerBunny is on a camping trip with his brother and his grandpa. How much trouble can he get into? As it turns out, a lot. For one thing, there are soldiers all over the place. Canada is about to go to war with the United States, and the battle starts tomorrow. Bunny is worried. A hockey rivalry is one thing, but this is serious. And why is everybody so happy? Things get personal when an American soldier steals his brother Spencer's cell phone. Bunny decides to track down the phone himself. Maybe they can get out of there before the war starts. That’s when things get confusing. . . In this zany prequel to Ink Meand The Wolf and Me, the hockey-loving, indomitable Bunny goes camping with his brother and his grandpa.
The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality
by Wolfram WetteThis book is a profound reexamination of the role of the German army, the Wehrmacht, in World War II. Until very recently, the standard story avowed that the ordinary German soldier in World War II was a good soldier, distinct from Hitler's rapacious SS troops, and not an accomplice to the massacres of civilians. Wolfram Wette, a preeminent German military historian, explodes the myth of a "clean" Wehrmacht with devastating clarity. This book reveals the Wehrmacht's long-standing prejudices against Jews, Slavs, and Bolsheviks, beliefs that predated the prophecies of Mein Kampf and the paranoia of National Socialism. Though the sixteen-million-member German army is often portrayed as a victim of Nazi mania, we come to see that from 1941 to 1944 these soldiers were thoroughly involved in the horrific cleansing of Russia and Eastern Europe. Wette compellingly documents Germany's long-term preparation of its army for a race war deemed necessary to safeguard the country's future; World War II was merely the fulfillment of these plans, on a previously unimaginable scale. This sober indictment of millions of German soldiers reaches beyond the Wehrmacht's complicity to examine how German academics and ordinary citizens avoided confronting this difficult truth at war's end. Wette shows how atrocities against Jews and others were concealed and sanitized, and history rewritten. Only recently has the German public undertaken a reevaluation of this respected national institution--a painful but necessary process if we are to truly comprehend how the Holocaust was carried out and how we have come to understand it.
Wehrmacht Auxiliary Forces
by Simon Mccouaig Nigel ThomasThough the 'Wehrmachtsgefolge' (Armed Forces Auxiliaries) were generally inferior to their armed forces equivalents, their contribution to the German war-effort was far from negligible. Auxiliaries including the NSKK, Transportkorps Speer, Reichsarbeitsdienst and Organization Todt supported the Wehrmacht in their duties. In 1944, the strength of these organizations peaked at 3,800,000-40% of the size of the armed forces. As they became increasingly aware of their importance, the Auxiliaries introduced uniform and insignia modifications which made them virtually indistinguishable from their comrades in the armed forces. This book examines the organization, uniforms and history of the various Wehrmacht auxiliary forces of World War II.
Wehrmacht Combat Helmets 1933-45
by Brian Bell Kevin LylesThe German Stahlhelm is perhaps the most recognizable image of World War II (1939-1945). Manufactured in its millions, it was used or copied by many countries. It is still one of the most collected relics of the war; but despite its relative availability, prices have reached levels that challenge collectors to protect themselves by acquiring in-depth knowledge. This book, by a collector of 30 years' standing, offers a detailed masterclass in the patterns, component parts and finishes of the combat helmets used by the German Army, Navy and Air Force. It is illustrated with a superb selection of rare period photos, colour photos of collected examples, and striking colour paintings.
Wehrmacht Combat Reports: The Russian Front (Eastern Front From Primary Sources)
by Bob CarruthersThis fascinating collection of Allied reports focusing on the combat actions of the Wehrmacht in Russia is drawn from a variety of wartime sources. Compiled and edited by Emmy Award winning author and historian Bob Carruthers, this absorbing assembly of primary source intelligence reports encompasses rare material drawn from both German and Russian original sources, to provide the reader with a unique insight into how the bitter war in Russia was conducted at the tactical level. This is the unvarnished reality of what it meant to fight in this titanic struggle to the death.Featured in the book are reports of little known and neglected aspects of the war from armoured trains and the construction of field defences through to mainstream reports on street fighting techniques and improvised anti-tank measures. Many original illustrations from US wartime intelligence manuals are also featured. Essential reading for readers with an interest in discovering more about the Wehrmacht In Russia from primary sources.
The Weight of Things
by Marianne Fritz&“A harrowing book about the horrors of motherhood, jealousy, and war trauma.&” —Kirkus Reviews The Weight of Things is the first book, and the first translated book, and possibly the only translatable book by Austrian writer Marianne Fritz (1948–2007). For after winning acclaim with this novel—awarded the Robert Walser Prize in 1978—she embarked on a 10,000-page literary project called &“The Fortress,&” creating over her lifetime elaborate colorful diagrams and typescripts so complicated that her publisher had to print them straight from her original documents. A project as brilliant as it is ambitious and as bizarre as it is brilliant, it earned her cult status, comparisons to James Joyce no less than Henry Darger, and admirers including Elfriede Jelinek and W. G. Sebald. Yet in this, her first novel, we discover not an eccentric fluke of literary nature but rather a brilliant and masterful satirist, philosophically minded yet raging with anger and wit, who under the guise of a domestic horror story manages to expose the hypocrisy and deep abiding cruelties running parallel, over time, through the society and the individual minds of a century.