Krig

Looks at the formation and operation of an advanced Special Forces recon company during the Vietnam War. Code-named the Studies and Observations Group, SOG was the most covert US military unit in its time and contained only volunteers from the Army's Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and Air Force Air Commandos.

In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, its soldiers defeated Spain and pacified nationalist insurgencies in both Cuba and the Philippines. Despite their lack of experience in colonial administration, American troops also ruled and transformed the daily lives of the 8 million people who inhabited these tropical islands.How was this relatively small and inexperienced army able to wage wars in Cuba and the Philippines and occupy them? American soldiers depended on tens of thousands of Cubans and Filipinos, both for military operations and civil government. Whether compelled to labor for free or voluntarily working for wages, Cubans and Filipinos, suspended between civilian and soldier status, enabled the making of a new US overseas empire by interpreting, guiding, building, selling sex, and many other kinds of work for American troops. In The Work of Empire, Justin Jackson reveals how their labor forged the politics, economics, and culture of American colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines and left an enduring imprint on these islands and the US Army itself. Jackson offers new ways to understand the rise of American military might and how it influenced a globalizing imperial world.

As the U.S. military presence in the Middle East winds down, Asia and the Pacific are receiving increased attention from the American national security community. The Obama administration has announced a “rebalancing” of the U.S. military posture in the region, in reaction primarily to the startling improvement in Chinese air and naval capabilities over the last decade or so. This timely study sets out to assess the implications of this shift for the long-established U.S. military presence in Asia and the Pacific. This presence is anchored in a complex basing infrastructure that scholars-and Americans generally-too often take for granted. In remedying this state of affairs, this volume offers a detailed survey and analysis of this infrastructure, its history, the political complications it has frequently given rise to, and its recent and likely future evolution. American seapower requires a robust constellation of bases to support global power projection. Given the rise of China and the emergence of the Asia-Pacific as the center of global economic growth and strategic contention, nowhere is American basing access more important than in this region. Yet manifold political and military challenges, stemming not least of which from rapidly-improving Chinese long-range precision strike capabilities, complicate the future of American access and security here. This book addresses what will be needed to maintain the fundaments of U.S. seapower and force projection in the Asia-Pacific, and where the key trend lines are headed in that regard. This book demonstrates that U.S. Asia-Pacific basing and access is increasingly vital, yet increasingly vulnerable. It demands far more attention than the limited coverage it has received to date, and cannot be taken for granted. More must be done to preserve capabilities and access upon which American and allied security and prosperity depend.

The one unresolved issue of the Pacific War is the treatment of our prisoners of war, during and after World War II, both by the Japanese and by our own government. Never before in our military history have so many Americans, military and civilian, been taken captive by an enemy at one time. It was a triumph for the Japanese, and an embarrassment to our own government. Over 36,000 men, mostly military but some civilian, were thrown into Japanese military POW camps, forced to labor for companies working to meet quotas for Japan's war effort. Guests of the Emperor takes you inside the largest fixed military prison camp in the Japanese Empire: Mitsubishi's huge factory complex at Mukden, Manchuria, where 1,200 American prisoners were subjected to brutal cold, starvation, beatings, medical experiments and an extremely high death rate while being forced to help manufacture parts for Mitsubishi's Zero fighter planes. This book is the first to reveal conclusively that some Americans at Mukden were singled out for medical experiments by Japan's biological warfare team, the infamous Unit 731, located just a few hundred miles from this camp. Nowhere else did American prisoners despise their officers so much; commit more creative sabotage; survive such brutal cold; endure death by friendly fire; and require the combined efforts of an OSS rescue team and special recovery unit, to come home alive. Anyone who wants to know more about the Pacific War, with all its contradictions and deceptions, will want to read The Manchurian Mystery.

When William Bradford Huie, a reporter for H. L. Mencken's American Mercury, joined the US Navy in 1943, he received a commission as a public relations officer in the little-known Civil Engineer Corps' Construction Battalions - the Seabees - and the following year published this account of their landing with the Marines at Guadalcanal and Wake Island, Sicily and Salerno.

ADLERTAG. Eagle Day, Operation Eagle Attack, 13 August 1940. Hitler has ordered the destruction of the RAF in preparation for the invasion of Britain.

An alternative history of the Blitz written by historian and broadcaster Joshua Levine.

Were British Intelligence chiefs gullible or sensible to recruit an astrologer to assist in the war effort against Nazi Germany? And was the astrologer genuine or a charlatan?

The launch of an unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation in February 2022 was a jolting turn of events for the majority of Western scholars studying Eastern Europe. Moreover, the dramatic unfolding of the subsequent all-out Russo-Ukrainian war helped unmask an array of fundamental deficiencies--and even outright flaws--in the dominant Western perceptions of Russia and Ukraine and of their respective places in, and relation to, Europe's past and present. The fast-moving geopolitical situation that erupted, in all of its dimensions, rocked the stability of an array of related scholarly disciplines--from the fields of history and cultural history to the study of current political events. As a result, many scholars have voiced the need for a reconceptualization and "decolonization" of the entire cluster of Russian, Slavic, post-Soviet, East European, and Ukrainian interrelated disciplines in Western scholarship. The Unpredictable Past? Reshaping Russian, Ukrainian, and East European Studies, edited by Volodymyr Kravchenko and Marko Robert Stech, offers readers an extensive collection of insightful essays on the topic by thirty prominent international scholars. These invited academics discuss the state of the art in their respective disciplines and suggest feasible solutions for re-evaluating them in the context of recent events.

After the Peace of Westphalia, several German states developed a disciplined 'military' that produced outstanding armies. Germany supplied mercenary troops to major and minor powers across Europe, and the military state, usually exemplified by Prussia, became a crucial part of German history.However, 'Germany' appeared weak and was divided into a multitude of states that constantly faced a hostile environment created by belligerent great powers. Additionally, the German 'militaries' were the result of a system of collective security, internal conflict and resolution that allowed a rich variety of political traditions to coexist relatively harmoniously. This system tried to preserve 'Germany' against formidable attacks without making it a threat to the security of its neighbours. In contrast to the political culture of later German states, that of the Reich was inherently defensive, preferring peace to war in both domestic politics and external relations. This study deals with the armies of the Holy Roman Empire for the first time in a single book from extensive research in archives across Germany and using previously unpublished iconography.This third and final volume of Bruno Mugnai's monumental work on the German armies of the late seventeenth century explores how armies recruited troops and further reviews the armed forces of the myriad of states within 'Germany'. The author examines the conflicts that involved the German armies during the second half of the seventeenth century. The book concludes with extensive appendices that contain a wealth of material on orders of battle, regiments, and the specifics of armies hiring troops to foreign states.

Dr. Opiyo Oloya's The Best Army Doesn't Wear Kilts offers a compelling exploration of the professionalization of Uganda's People's Defence Forces (UPDF). Drawing on the extraordinary transformation of the National Resistance Army (NRA) from a rebel group in south-central Uganda in the 1980s into a globally respected military force, this book distills ten universal lessons for organizational success.From the NRA's disciplined approach to resourcefulness and its strategic emphasis on education, adaptability, and community engagement, Oloya unpacks the guiding principles that shaped this army's journey to professionalization. With a keen focus on leadership, organizational culture, and resilience, the book highlights how a shared vision and adherence to core values transformed a fledgling movement into a force recognized for operational excellence across Africa.Rich with historical detail, Oloya contextualizes the NRA's evolution within the broader legacy of Ugandan armed forces and colonial histories, drawing parallels that resonate with modern organizations navigating complexity and change. Whether dissecting the importance of branding, the cultivation of discipline, or the need to embrace innovation and learn from past mistakes, Oloya offers a roadmap for leaders across industries.A must-read for business leaders, strategists, and history enthusiasts, The Best Army Doesn't Wear Kilts demonstrates how the principles underpinning military success can be applied to drive organizational growth and sustain competitive advantage. In a world of rapid change and uncertainty, this book inspires leaders to think boldly, act decisively, and build enduring institutions.