Books in the Combat series

This lively account assesses the Roman and Gothic forces that clashed in three momentous battles at a pivotal moment in the history of the later Roman Empire.Ravaged by civil war and pressure from the Huns to the east, in late summer AD 376 the Gothic tribe of the Thervingi ΓÇô up to 200,000 people under their leader Fritigern ΓÇô gathered on the northern bank of the River Danube and asked the Eastern Roman emperor, Valens, for asylum within the empire. After agreeing to convert to Arian Christianity and enroll in the Roman Army, the Goths were allowed to cross the Danube and settle in the province of Thrace. Far more people crossed the Danube than the Romans expected, however, and with winter approaching, the local Roman commander, Lupicinus, lacked the resources to feed the newcomers and did not possess sufficient troops to control them. Treated poorly and running out of food, the Goths very quickly lost faith in the Roman promises. Meanwhile, other Gothic tribes also sought permission to cross the Danube. The Greuthungi were refused permission, but soon learned that local Roman garrisons had been depleted to supervise the march of the Thervingi to the town of Marcianopolis, close to the eastern shore of the Black Sea. Taking advantage of this, the Greuthungi also entered Roman territory. Camping outside Marcianopolis, Lupicinus denied the Goths access to the town''s food stores, provoking the Thervingi to begin skirmishing with the Roman troops. Fritigern convinced Lupicinus to let the Gothic leaders go and calm their people, but they did nothing to quell the warlike temper of his warriors. Lupicinus summoned troops to him, but in late 376 these Roman forces were defeated ΓÇô the first of several defeats for the Romans that would culminate in the fateful battle of Adrianople in August 378, at which Roman forces led by the emperor himself confronted the Gothic host. The aftermath and repercussions of Adrianople have been much debated, but historians agree that it marks a decisive moment in the history of the Roman world. This fully illustrated book investigates the fighting men of both sides who clashed at the battles of Marcianopolis, Ad Salices and Adrianople, as the fate of the Western Roman Empire hung in the balance.

During the 16th century, Japan underwent a military revolution, characterized by the deployment of large armies, the introduction of firearms and an eventual shift towards fighting on foot. This study encapsulates these great changes through an exploration of the experience on the ground at three key battles, Uedahara (1548), Mikata ga Hara (1573) and Nagashino (1575), in which two very different types of warrior were pitted against each other. On one side were samurai, the elite aristocratic knights whose status was proclaimed by the possession and use of a horse. On the other side were the foot soldiers known as ashigaru, lower-class warriors who were initially attendants to the samurai but who joined the armies in increasing numbers, attracted by loot and glory. These two types of warrior battled for dominance across the period, changing and adapting their tactics as time went on. In this title, the development of the conflicts between samurai and ashigaru is explored across three key battles, where highly trained elite mounted samurai of the Takeda clan faced ashigaru at very different stages in their development. The profound and irreversible changes that took place as the conflicts progressed are analysed in detail, culminating in the eventual incorporation of the ashigaru as the lowest ranks of the samurai class in within the standing army of Tokugawa Japan.

At the turn of the 20th century, the region of Manchuria sat atop a potentially catastrophic political fault line; the ancient strength of China was crumbling, leaving opportunities for both Russia and Japan to claw out new territories from the edges of that dying empire. Russian pride would contend with Japanese ambition in a conflict that ushered in the age of massed armies fighting on battlefields that were being redefined by the new tools of war such as newer, larger artillery pieces, and the use of machine guns in pitched battles. The vast, but over-stretched Russian Army was expected to steamroller its far smaller opponent, but the aggressiveness and zeal of the more modern Japanese military confounded expectations.Examining these two armies in detail, this fully illustrated study tells the story of how these two empires clashed in the Russo-Japanese War, heralding a new phase in modern warfare as World War I loomed on the horizon.

Canadian and Waffen-SS troops of 12. SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend faced one another in a series of bloody battles following the D-Day landings of June 1944. The Canadian units fought in a number of distinguished regiments, while the Hitlerjugend Division were drawn from the ranks of the Hitler Youth organizations. Veteran officers and NCOs were joined by inexperienced teenagers, and clashed with the Canadians repeatedly, notably at Authie, Bretteville and Hill 168. The struggle quickly took on an especially bitter nature, fuelled by the massacre of Canadian prisoners by Hitlerjugend personnel. Employing first-hand accounts and the latest research, as well as specially commissioned artwork and carefully selected archive photographs this absorbing study investigates the origins, ethos, training, fighting techniques and weapons of both sides during the epic struggle for Normandy.

The Greco-Persian Wars (499-449 BCE) convulsed Greece, Asia Minor and the Near East for half a century. Through a series of bloody invasions and pitched battles, the mighty Persian Empire pitted itself against the smaller armies of the Greeks, strengthened through strategic alliances. This epic conflict also brought together two different styles of warfare: the Greek hoplite phalanx and the combined spear and projectile weapon-armed Persian infantry. Analysing the battles of Marathon, Thermopylae and Plataea from the eyes of a soldier, this study explores the experience of front-line combat during the first two decades of the Greco-Persian Wars. Fully illustrated with modern photographs and archival images, and drawing directly on primary sources and the most authoritative recent research, this is the enthralling story of the fighting men of Greece and Persia and the tactics and technologies they employed.

In 1967 - 68, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) was on the front line of the defence of South Vietnam's Quang Tri province, which was at the very heart of the Vietnam conflict. In this book, the author steps into the tropical terrain of Vietnam to assess the performance and experience of USMC and NVA forces in three savage battles.

This illustrated study pits the Kaiser's troops against their British opponents during the climactic year of 1918 on the Western Front.

Fully illustrated, this book assesses the US Marines and Japanese troops fighting in three bloody battles of World War II in the Pacific. In June 1944, the United States military launched an offensive against the Japanese forces holding the Mariana Islands and Palau. The US Marine Corps played a vital role in this campaign alongside Army and Navy forces, while their Japanese opponents mounted a desperate defense of their conquests amid the harsh island terrain. This book assesses both sides' doctrine, tactics, weapons, and battlefield effectiveness in three battles of this stage of the Pacific War. Landing on Saipan on June 15, the Marines established a beachhead as the Japanese defenders strove to fight to the last man. On July 21, US Marine Corps and Army forces landed on Guam. Only on August 10 was Guam declared secure by the Americans, and even then resistance continued. US forces landed on Tinian on July 24 and wrested the island from its conquerors. Alongside Army troops, the US Marine Corps also targeted the island of Peleliu. Predicted to last four days, the US assault on Peleliu lasted more than two months as the defenders inflicted appalling US casualties. Featuring all-new artwork and mapping alongside archive photographs, this study assesses the tactics and technology employed by the Marines and their Japanese opponents in these bloody battles, as the Pacific War moved toward its grim climax.

This engrossing book pits the legionaries of Imperial Rome against their Germanic and Sarmatian opponents in the 2nd century AD.Shortly after Marcus Aurelius came to power in AD 161, the Roman Empire was racked by a series of military crises. While unrest in Britain and a new war with Parthia were swiftly dealt with, the invasion of Roman territory by the Chatti and Chauci peoples heralded a resurgent threat from the empire's European neighbours. Soon the Marcomanni and the Quadi, as well as the Dacians and the Sarmatian Iazyges, would attack the Romans in a series of savage conflicts that continued until AD 175 and would see the first invasion of Roman Italy since the beginning of the 1st century BC.In this book, the two sides' objectives, weapons and equipment and fighting styles are assessed and compared in the context of three featured battles: Carnuntum (170), where a Roman legion was vanquished and Italy invaded; the 'Battle on the Ice' (172), where the Romans fought their lighter-armed Iazyges opponents on the frozen Danube; and the so-called 'Miracle of the Rain' (174), during which a trapped Roman force facing annihilation was able to defeat numerically superior Germanic forces. Photographs, specially commissioned artwork plates and mapping complement the authoritative text in this engrossing study of Imperial Rome at war.

Featuring specially commissioned artwork and full-color maps, this absorbing study investigates the origins, fighting techniques, and battlefield performance of the combatants fighting on both sides during the Black Hills War of 1876ΓÇô77.Following the discovery of gold deposits, in December 1875 the US Government ordered the indigenous population of the Black Hills in what is now South Dakota and Wyoming, the Sioux, to return to the Great Sioux Reservation. When the Sioux refused, US Army sent forces into the area, sparking a conflict that would make Lieutenant Colonel George Custer, Chief Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and others household names around the world. Examining a series of engagements in the Black Hills War, including Rosebud, Little Bighorn and Slim Buttes, this fully illustrated study assesses the forces fighting on both sides in this momentous campaign, casting light on the origins, tactics, armament, and battlefield performance of the US Cavalry and their Sioux opponents at the height of the Indian Wars.

Operation Market Garden was an Allied plan to try and end the war before the end of 1944, and relied on landing airborne troops to secure bridges over the Rhine bridges in the Netherlands. Critical to this plan were the glider troops of Britain's 1st Airlanding Brigade. Short on heavy weapons and not trained in street fighting, the glider troops were meant to secure and defend the Allied perimeter around Arnhem as the parachute brigades fought their way into the city. Facing the airborne forces were understrength Waffen-SS units that were hastily formed into ad hoc battle groups, some supported by armour. The troops on both sides would have their tactical flexibility and powers of endurance tested to the limit in the bitter actions that ensued. Employing first-hand accounts and drawing upon the latest research, David Greentree tells the story of the glider troops' dogged defence of the Allied perimeter at Arnhem, and the Waffen-SS forces' efforts to overcome them.

This fully illustrated study assesses the fighting techniques, armament, and combat record of the Union and Confederate sharpshooters who clashed in battles and sieges throughout the American Civil War.During the American Civil War, the Union and the Confederacy both fielded units of sharpshooters. Sometimes equipped with firearms no better than those of their infantry brethren, they fought in a manner reminiscent of Napoleonic-era light infantry. Siege warfare placed a premium on marksmanship and the sharpshooter became indispensable as they could drive artillerymen from their guns. They could also become expert scouts and, for the Confederacy, impressive raiders--one raid netted almost 250 prisoners. Initially, Union marksmen enjoyed the upper hand, but as the Confederates began raising and training their own sharpshooters, they proved themselves as worthy opponents. In this study, Gary Yee, an expert in firearms of the period, assesses the role played by sharpshooters in three bloody clashes at the height of the American Civil War--the battle of Fredericksburg, the siege of Vicksburg, and the siege of Battery Wagner.

From Sidi Bou Zid to El Guettar, this fully illustrated study pits the US Army against the best that the Axis forces in Africa had to offer.Operation Torch, launched on November 8, 1942, landed Anglo-American forces in Vichy-controlled Morocco and Algeria to create a second front against the Axis forces in North Africa, catching Rommel''s German and Italian forces in the claws of a giant pincer.The Axis forces in North Africa were powerfully well armored and equipped, but fresh to war, and it showed. Organization suffered from a surfeit of peacetime theories and training was insufficient and ill-applied. Despite such failings the US GIs and their commanders learned very quickly, adapting to German tactics and the realities of mechanized warfare. The Afrikakorps was seasoned by years of fighting against increasingly powerful British and Commonwealth forces, and was led by one of the Reich''s most capable generals. The German doctrine of mechanized warfare had proved itself time and again, but ever-growing logistical and supply problems were blunting its effectiveness.

The peace that followed the First Punic War was shallow and fractious, with the resumption of hostilities in 218 BC sparked by Carthaginian expansion in Iberia seeing Rome suffer some of the worst defeats in her entire history. The Carthaginian army was a composite affair primarily made up of a number of levies from Africa and around the Mediterranean augmented by mercenaries and allies, and these troops crushed the Roman heavy infantry maniples in a series of battles across Southern Europe. Improvements made to their military, however, would see Roman revenge visited on Hannibal in full measure by Scipio, who would beat him at his own game and bring Roman legions to the gates of Carthage itself. In this study, the epic battles at Lake Trasimene (217 BC), Cannae (216 BC), and Ilipa (206 BC) are explored in detail, supported by carefully chosen illustrations and specially commissioned full-colour artwork and mapping.

After the US declaration of war on Germany, hundreds of thousands of American troops flooded into France and were thrust into the front line. Among them was the US Marine Corps'' 4th Marine Brigade whose first major action was the battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918, fighting elements of Germany''s 10th, 28th, and 237th Infantry divisions. Volunteers to a man, the newly arrived Marines faced experienced but war-weary German conscripts whose doctrine had been honed by nearly four years of conflict on the Western Front. During the fighting, the Germans are alleged to have given the nickname ΓÇ£Devil DogsΓÇ¥ to the Marines, and Belleau Wood has become enshrined in the Corps'' heritage. Employing first-hand accounts and specially commissioned artwork, this book investigates three different actions that shaped the course of the bitter battle for Belleau Wood, revealing the interplay of doctrine, tactics, technology, leadership, and human endeavor on the brutal battlefields of World War I.

In 1917 the soldiers of the Canadian Corps would prove themselves the equal of any fighting on the Western Front, while on the other side of the wire, the men of the Royal Bavarian Army won a distinguished reputation in combat. Employing the latest weapons and pioneering tactics, these two forces would clash in three notable encounters: the Canadian storming of Vimy Ridge, the back-and-forth engagement at Fresnoy and at the sodden, bloody battle of Passchendaele. Featuring carefully chosen archive photographs and specially commissioned artwork, this study assesses these three hard-fought battles in 1917 on the Western Front, and offers a new take on the evolving nature of infantry combat in World War I.

Israel seized the strategically critical Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War in an audacious and determined operation, yet when the Yom Kippur War broke out the Israeli military were exposed by the effectiveness of the newly confident and dangerous Syrian army. This title assesses the pivotal encounters in the Golan.

Specially commissioned artwork and thrilling combat accounts transport the reader to the far-flung and inhospitable East African theatre of World War I, where the Schutztruppe faced off against the King's African Rifles. In an attempt to divert Allied forces from the Western Front, a small German colonial force under the command of Oberst Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck raided British and Portuguese territory. Despite being heavily outnumbered, his expert use of guerrilla tactics forced the British to mount a series of offensives, culminating in a major battle at Nyangao-Mahiwa that saw both sides suffer heavy casualties.Meticulously researched analysis highlights the tactical and technological innovation shown by both armies as they were forced to fight in a treacherous climate where local diseases could prove just as deadly as the opposition.

When Hitler's forces poured into France and the Low Countries in 1940, the uneasy peace of the 'Phoney War' was shattered, and Europe was ripped apart by another Blitzkrieg. This study investigates the combat between the two adversaries at small-unit level, recreating the ferocity of the fighting on the front lines of the Battle of France.

Offers key insights into the tactics, leadership, combat performance and subsequent reputations of six representative Chindit and Japanese infantry units involved in three pivotal actions that hastened Japan's defeat in Burma during World War II.

The struggle for the Somme sector of the Western Front in the second half of 1916 is remembered for the toll of casualties inflicted on Britain's 'New Armies' by the German defenders on 1 July. This study pits the volunteers of Kitchener's 'New Armies' against the German veterans who defended the Somme sector in the battles of July-November 1916.

The Axis invasion of Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 pitted Nazi Germany and her allies against Stalin's forces in a mighty struggle for survival. Fighting alongside the spearhead Panzer divisions were Germany's highly skilled and veteran motorized infantrymen - including the German Army's premier unit, Infanterie-Regiment (mot) Grobetadeutschland.

The Russian Jaeger regiments and Napoleon's Young Guard clashed repeatedly during the campaigns of 1812-14. This book traces the evolving trial of strength between Russia's Jaeger arm and France's Young Guardsmen at the height of the Napoleonic Wars.

The Eastern Front of World War I is sometimes overshadowed by the fighting in the West. This study assesses the tactics and combat performance of both sides fighting in clashes at Gumbinnen, Goritten and Mahartse, examining their contrasting fortunes and revealing the evolving nature of infantry warfare on the Eastern Front during World War I.