Military History

No stranger to operating in conflict-torn countries, Richard Villar, a former SAS Medical Officer and current war surgeon, volunteered to provide medical support in Central Gaza during the 2024 invasion. In Gaza Medic, he offers a gripping and harrowing first-hand account of his experiences working in the war zone, where he faced his most daunting challenges yet.After traveling overland from Cairo across the Sinai Peninsula, Villar found himself working in a 200-bed hospital overrun with 700 patients, including many women and children. Conditions were dire and there was nowhere safe in Gaza. The hospital was under constant threat from drones, missiles, naval shells, and machine gun fire, making it one of the most perilous environments imaginable. Despite these dangers, he and fellow medics performed complex surgeries on victims of bombings. Medicines were limited, equipment minimal, and basic necessities such as clean water and sufficient food were luxuries.Villar's moving account transcends the politics of war to focus on the raw, often brutal, realities faced by medical professionals in conflict zones. Each day brought more mass casualties, with a healthcare system on the brink of collapse and the population facing decimation.Gaza Medic is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the true impact of the Israel/Palestine conflict on individuals and communities. Villar's narrative is a vivid reminder that courage can be found when there is chaos all around.

After the outbreak of the 2011 Syrian War, a number Syrian-Armenians who had lived in the territory for generations, fled to the Republic of Armenia. This book traces the experiences of Syrian-Armenian women as they navigated their changing and gendered identities from their adopted 'homeland' to their socially constructed new 'ancestral' home in Armenia. The rich ethnographic research conducted over 6 years by the author reveals how women adjusted to new lives in Armenia, supported themselves through gendered work such as embroidery production, yet mostly challenge simple identities such as 'refugee' or 'repatriate,' existing in a state of what the author terms "painful belonging". The book further reveals crucial insight into how experiences and traumatic memories of war in Syria and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict reciprocally shape each other in the minds of the women interviewed.

Divisions draws together the history of race and the military; of high command and ordinary GIs; and of African Americans, white Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, arguing that racist divisions were a defining feature of America's World War II military.

Tap Code is the untold story of ex-Vietnam POW Colonel Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, who brought hope, strength, and the love of God to fellow American POWs by secretly reviving a long-unused military communication code. It was a lifeline as they endured torture and abuse, bringing unity and ultimately helping them prevail over a brutal enemy.

Drawing upon extensive fieldwork, this book unveils the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood intra-dynamics by examining the emerging pathways of political disengagement and radicalization in the aftermath of 2013 Coup. It explores how the 2011 waves of protest and the 2013 military takeover of power - two contradictory phases, in terms of their implications for political Islam - shaped young members' perceptions towards Egyptian politics, violence and the role of Islamic political groups. This offers a key to understanding the ideological and strategic evolution of Islamists, in alignment with regional changes such as the rise of transnational jihadist groups and the fading of popular protest in the Arab region. The book relies on Social Movement Theory and contentious politics literature to develop a relational approach for analysing the positionalities of the young Brothers. This elucidates change within Islamic groups as a multi-layered, evolving phenomenon that cannot be attributed solely to either ideological or structural changes, but rather to manifold factors operating at different levels. It also rejects the prevailing binary classification of moderate versus radical activism when seeking to understand the effects of repression on the trajectories of Islamic movements' members.

The epic true story of an American hero who flew during the Second World War, soon to be featured in the upcoming Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks TV Series, Masters of the Air.

This reader brings to light newly discovered archival material compiled by the Soviet Consulate in Istanbul. The book reveals the lives and experience of Armenians in Turkey in the 1940s, with a particular focus on the process of emigration to Soviet Armenia. The accounts, translated for the first time into English, are comprised of Soviet officials' reports and first-hand testimony by survivors of their lives during the post-genocide period, making this an invaluable new contribution to the existing collections of Armenian survival testimonies. Placing the archival records on emigration in the context of both life in post-genocide Turkey and the 'repatriation' (nergakht) project in the Armenian Diaspora, this book, which also includes the original Russian documents, will be a useful resource for researchers and students of Armenian and Turkish history.

This book re-examines why the European Union and its forerunners were created and investigates how and why they have changed.

Considers how elite women could participate in Crusade, their means and motivations.

The narrative is woven together, making use of official records and personal recollections, as it tells the captivating story of the Air Defence Artillery in the biggest military conflict fought between India and Pakistan to date.

Examines the events of The Indo-Pakistani War of the south-western border area between India and Pakistan.The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Volume 3 is a highly authoritative and richly illustrated account of the war during which Bangladesh was born as an independent state. This volume details the offensives and counteroffensives on the south-western section of the India-Pakistan border.In 1947, India and Pakistan were partitioned by their former colonial ruler, Great Britain, leaving unresolved the issue of Kashmir. This triggered wars between the new states in 1947-48, 1965, 1971 and a continuing insurgency/counterinsurgency.Late in the afternoon of 3 December 1971, in an attempt to distract New Delhi from developments in its eastern wing, Pakistan initiated hostilities with India by flying a series of air strikes against the forward air bases of the Indian Air force. Thus began the 'official' part of the India-Pakistan War of 1971, a bitter conventional war of the highest intensity in the history of the two countries since their independence. During the following weeks, a series of pitched battles took place as the two parties began exchanging blows almost everywhere along their 2,000-kilometre long mutual borders. By 16 December, and rather suddenly, the conflict was over: once East Pakistan had been overrun by India, Islamabad had no incentive to continue fighting a war it could not possibly win. Through the extensive use of official records and participant recollections, rare photography and authentic color profiles, Ravi Rikhye tells the captivating story of the biggest military conflict fought between India and Pakistan to date, and the war that resulted in the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation.The third volume of The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 examines the events on the battlefields of the south-western border area between India and Pakistan and is extensively illustrated with photographs and includes specially commissioned color artworks.

Originally published in 1962, the title of this book is taken from Genesis and is an allusion to the establishment of a Jewish National State as the successful termination of long centuries of exile. The author describes the rise of antisemitism in Germany and the persecutions in Russia and other eastern European countries.

This book brings together international scholars to examine and share new approaches in the history of women's rescue and resistance during the Holocaust and the Armenian and Rwandan genocide.

Covers US forces in Berlin during the Cold War, from their arrival in July 1945, through to the departure of American Berlin Brigade in 1994.Cold War Berlin - An Island City Volume 4: US Forces in Berlin - Preparing For War 1945-1994 examines how the troops of the US Army's Berlin Brigade prepared for war: the units that made up the brigade; how it trained; how it was equipped; how it planned to defend the city; and also looks at the Special Forces units that served alongside it.At the end of the Second World War, the victors split Germany into three zones of occupation, and Berlin was divided into four sectors: one each for the British, Americans, French and Soviets. The western part of the city lay well within eastern Germany, cut off from immediate friendly military support and, as the Cold War developed, was surrounded by around 420,000 Soviet troops of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG) - the shock troops who would lead the invasion of Western Europe in the event of a war against NATO. There were also 180,000 East German troops of the Nationale Volksarmee, supported by tens of thousands of paramilitary police and the infamous East German Border Guards (Grenztruppen der DDR).US Forces in Berlin - Preparing For War looks at how the Berlin Brigade, the 5,000-strong American component of the Western military presence in the city prepared to defend West Berlin from the communist threat and examines what is known of Operation Stoss (or Zentrum); the East German plan to occupy Berlin in the event of war. This volume also looks at the work of the United States Military Liaison Mission (USMLM).US Forces in Berlin - Preparing For War is the second of two volumes covering US forces in Berlin during the Cold War, from their arrival in July 1945, through to the departure of American Berlin Brigade in 1994. The text is richly illustrated with photographs, illustrations, diagrams, tables, maps, plans, and color profiles, and is printed in full color throughout.

On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine. Coming after years of tensions following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and thinly veiled direct armed support for separatists fighting in Donbass and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, observers gave Ukraine's military little chance of surviving the initial Russian onslaught. Yet the Russian forces failed to deliver a decisive blow in the opening air or ground campaign. Volume 6 of War in Ukraine examines the air war between Russia and Ukraine during February and March of 2022.In order to explain the failures of the Russian Aerospace Forces (Vozdushno-kosmicheskiye Sily, VKS) in the opening moves of this war, this volume undertakes a detailed examination of the history, technology and doctrine of the Soviet and Russian air forces from the late Cold War up to the eve of the 2022 invasion, along with the opposing air force and ground-based anti-air defenses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Zbroiynyhsyl Ukrayini, ZSU).Building upon the general account of the opening moves of this conflict contained in Volume 2 of War in Ukraine, this volume presents a detailed account of the successes and failures of each side in their use of air power and how this impacted upon the ground campaign.War in Ukraine: Volume 6 The Air War February-March 2022 is illustrated throughout with full color photographs, specially commissioned maps, and the @War series' signature color artworks showing the aircraft of this ongoing conflict.

Che's Guevara's Final Adventure: The Guerrilla in Bolivia, 1967 is a detailed military history of the final campaign of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, as he commanded the Bolivian National Liberation Army in a doomed campaign against the US-backed military regime headed by Air Force General René Barrientos.Between 1966 and 1967 Argentine-born Ernesto Guevara - known around the world as 'Che' - would lead the Cuban-backed Bolivian National Liberation Army in Ñancahuazú region of Bolivia, in what was known as the the Ñancahuazú Guerrilla. Bolivia at that time was governed by a military regime headed by Air Force General René Barrientos, who in November 1964 had overthrown the historic leader and constitutional president Víctor Paz Estenssoro and put an end to the nationalist-popular revolution that began in April 1952.At the beginning of the operations, Che's guerrillas obtained some positive results before the Bolivian army and troops of the security forces began a relentless pursuit, supported by aircraft of the Bolivian air force, which bombed and machinegunned the guerrilla camps. With US military help in the training of the Bolivian Army Rangers, it was possible to decimate the guerrillas and capture, and ultimately execute, Guevara in October 1967.Che's Guevara's Final Adventure: The Guerrilla in Bolivia, 1967 provides a detailed day-by-day account of the last campaign of a figure who even today remains an instantly recognisable icon of the left-wing revolutionary movements of the Cold War era, and is illustrated throughout with original photographs and includes specially commissioned color artworks.

This volume examines Argentina's military history during the 1970s, focusing on the insurgency, government operations, and the Dirty War.Following the death of Juan Domingo Perón in 1974, the presidency of Argentina was assumed by his widow Isabel Martínez de Perón. Far from ceasing their opposition to the government, the People's Revolutionary Army (Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo/ERP) and Montoneros stepped up their armed campaign to overthrow the government and replace it with a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist regime. Despite authorising Operativo Independencia (Operation Independence) Isabel Perón would ultimately be deposed by her own generals and the anti-guerilla campaign would descend into the so-called Dirty War.The campaign against anti-government and revolutionary groups in Argentina during the 1970s has become infamous for the notorious methods employed by government forces to ruthlessly suppress any form of opposition, and terms such as 'dirty war' and 'disappeared' have been added to the global lexicon as a result. Volume 2 of Operativo Independencia offers a military history of this insurgency and the campaign to suppress it, the telling of which to date has been highly politicised. Far from being only a movement of radical students and intellectuals, the opposition to Argentina's government included armed organisations that engaged in a bloody, if ineffective and ultimately futile, campaign of murder to achieve its aims. While Isabel Martínez de Perón authorised the launch of Operativo Independencia to suppress the armed insurgency, failure to take firm control of Argentina would lead to her overthrow by her own generals who would go on to establish a series of military juntas to rule Argentina until the return of democracy in the aftermath of the Falklands/Malvinas War of 1982.Operativo Independencia Volume 2 examines the military history of events between Isabel Martínez de Perón's assumption of the presidency of Argentina and the conclusion of the Dirty War. This volume details the motivation, operations and methods of government and opposition forces in this violent period of the history of Argentina.Operativo Independencia Volume 2: Guerilla War, the 1976 Coup D'état, and The Dirty War in Argentina is illustrated throughout with over 300 original photographs of the events in Argentina during the 1970s, along with specially commissioned maps and colour artworks.

The history of the British Army's multi-racial forces that supported the empire's global dominance through economic power, a strong navy, and formidable military presence.What allowed the British to create and hold its empire? In 1914 the British had the largest empire in the world. The sun literally never set on its holdings. The Empire rested on three strong pillars - British economic might, a powerful fleet and its multi race armies. The wealth provided by British industry provided the sinews of British power. The fleet protected the arteries along which British products reached the world and the UK projected its power. But its wealth and strong navy would not allow England to guard the North-West Frontier of India, or march to Peking or Ethiopia or fight foes as varied as the Sikhs, Māori and Zulus. In The British Empire's Regulars - 1880-1914 the army and men that won and held the empire are covered in detail. In most books these men are as anonymous as pawns on a chessboard. The book gives a definitive account of the many different ethnic groups that served. Sikhs, Scots, Gurkhas, Ibos and more are all here. The work explains what contribution each made to The Empire's polyglot armies. Drawing on sociology, governmental records and history, the book will appeal to readers who are interested in the British Empire, its military forces, and to students and scholars of military sociology and history.