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The O.S.S. and I, first published in 1957, is the fast-paced, detailed account of William Morgan's service as a member of the O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor of the modern-day CIA) during the Second World War. Morgan, a psychologist, served first as an instructor and evaluator of O.S.S. candidates, testing their mental and physical suitability for hazardous, dangerous duty as spies and saboteurs behind enemy lines. Morgan then went on a mission himself, parachuting into occupied France and working with French resistance guerrillas (the Maquis) to undermine German military efforts prior to the Allied invasion in June 1944. Of special interest are the detailed descriptions of the training exercises, designed to test the applicant's creative-thinking and problem-solving skills. Included are eight pages of photographs.

Captured, first published in 1942, is Bessy Myers' account of her experience as a British Red Cross ambulance driver in France during the early days of World War II. During the retreat of the French army, Myers was captured imprisoned by the Nazis as a spy, and was sent to a military hospital (working under German orders). A French doctor turned her diary over to the Nazis, who then imprisoned her in the Cherche-Midi, the notorious military prison in Paris. Myers was later released into occupied France, and eventually was able to return to England.

A Ride to Panmunjon, first published in 1956, is a fictionalized account of American prisoners-of-war during the Korean conflict. Author Duane Thorin, himself a US Navy helicopter pilot and POW in Korea, drew on his experiences to write this book, in part to to illustrate interrogation and propaganda methods used by the communists, and how captured servicemen could best resist such efforts. Duane Thorin passed away on October 24, 2002.

Lincoln and the Tools of War, first published in 1956, is the masterful account by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Robert V. Bruce (1923-2008) of Abraham Lincoln's efforts to equip the Union Army during the Civil War. Fascinated by mechanical gadgetry and technology, Lincoln introduced breechloaders and machine guns into warfare and promoted the use of incendiary weapons, ironclad warships, breech-loading cannons, and aerial reconnaissance. Author Bruce chronicles the President's struggle against a bureaucracy reluctant and slow to change, and his dealings with a stream of inventors, ordinance experts, government officials, military officers, and lobbyists to start a new era of weapons and warfare. Illustrated with prints from the period.

War in Korea, first published in 1951 as War in Korea: The Report of a Woman Combat Correspondent, is journalist Marguerite Higgins' account of her experiences with American fighting troops during the Korean war. Illustrated throughout with photographs. From the original dust jacket:Not since Ernie Pyle have the American people taken any reporter to their hearts as they have Marguerite Higgins-the photogenic young war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune. This brilliant woman reporter, greatly admired by the fighting men, has dodged bullets with troops on the line, has asked neither favor nor privilege for herself, and has been commended publicly for bravery in helping grievously wounded men under fire. This is her up-front, personal report of the human side of the war.With the discerning eye of the expert reporter and the sympathy of a woman living through the agony of her countrymen, Miss Higgins tells the whole story of the bitter Korean campaign: young, green troops maturing in battle, Communist bullets kicking over the coffeepot at breakfast, the initial inadequacy of American arms, and the terrible price in men we are paying for unpreparedness.Miss Higgins also sketches brilliant thumbnail portraits of Generals MacArthur, Walker, and Dean, and of many line and staff officers as well as GIs. In War in Korea she has written a tremendously compelling book that calls a spade a spade as it reveals the hell and heroism of an ordeal which compares to Valley Forge in the annals of American fighting men.

Arrest and Exile, first published in 1941, is the story of Olga Kochanska, an American citizen who was arrested in Poland by the secret police, transported to Siberia in a freight car, and imprisoned in a labor camp, part of the infamous Soviet gulag system. Kochanska's experiences are detailed, from her interrogations by the N. K. V. D., her treatment at the hands of the Russian guards, to her work details, her fellow inmates of many nationalities and religions, the numbing cold, and her eventual release to freedom in the west. Well-written by noted author Lilian Mowrer, Arrest and Exile is an important-and sometimes heartbreaking-part of the body of literature coming from those who survived the gulag.

Admiral Halsey's Story, first published in 1947, is the gripping autobiographical account by William F. Halsey (1882-1959), legendary commander of the U.S. Third Fleet during World War II. The book covers Halsey's life and career, with detailed descriptions of his command - and the men and ships in his command - during the war years in the Pacific. This edition includes all 16 maps and 25 pages of photographs found in the original edition, and a complete index.

A Hidden World, first published in 1963, recounts the nine years spent by Hungarian Raphael Rupert in the prison camps of Soviet Russia - the Gulag. At the time of his arrest in 1947, Rupert was working from the British Embassy in Budapest. His trial, based on a presumed confession of acting as a spy, ended in his sentence to Camp 10 for 25 years of 'forced labor.' A Hidden World describes the daily life and endless brutalities endured in the camps...the numbing winter cold, the mindless drudgery in the factories, the harsh treatment by guards and prison gangs, the lack of food and medical care. Finally, after nine years, Rupert was released and able to emigrate to Great Britain, eventually settling in Ireland.

A Hundred Hours to Suez, first published in 1957, is a firsthand account of Israel's invasion of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in late 1956. Included are 3 pages of maps, and numerous line drawings. Author Robert Henriques (1905-1967) was a British writer, broadcaster, and farmer. During World War II he served in the British Army as well as with the American army, and, as he states in A Hundred Hours to Suez, "during World War II, I spent much of my time serving with United States forces; I landed with United States assault troops at both Casablanca and Sicily; on occasion I have worn the American uniform with pride; I served with General Patton in North Africa; I was twice given medals by President Roosevelt in reward for my services under General Eisenhower."

5,000 Miles Towards Tokyo, first published in 1945, is the story of four U.S. Navy escort-carriers forming Air Group 60, especially the Suwannee (a converted oiler and home to the author) in the South Pacific during 1943 and 1944. The Group played a vital role in every important Pacific invasion from the Gilbert Islands to the Philippines, with its pilots flying thousands of bombing missions and patrols. The book looks at daily operations aboard the ships, plus paints a bigger picture of the action taking place in the South Pacific such as the strategies and decision-making of high-ranking officers, such as Generals MacArthur and Halsey. Author Green Peyton (pseudonym for Green Peyton Wertenbaker) was a noted science-fiction writer prior to the War; during the conflict he served as an air combat intelligence officer aboard the USS Suwannee, the focus of much of this book. The author worked daily with the Hellcat pilots of his squadron. Included are 18 pages of maps and illustrations and a complete index. Green Peyton died on July 26, 1968.

The Aleutians Campaign and the U.S. Navy, first published in 1945, provides an overview of WWII naval operations against the Japanese-held Aleutian Islands of Alaska. On June 3-4, 1942, Japanese aircraft attacked the naval base at Dutch Harbor, followed by landings of troops on Kiska (June 6) and Attu (June 7). Although of limited strategic value, occupation of the islands was anathema to Americans, and the US Army established an air base on Adak in August 1942. From there, bombers began raids on Japanese positions and the Navy engaged the enemy offshore. In May 1943, US forces landed on Attu, with support of US warships, and engaged in heavy fighting. By the end of the month, fighting was over with heavy casualties on both sides (and the near-total decimation of the entire Japanese force). In August, allied forces landed on Kiska to find that the Japanese had already, in secret, abandoned the island. The Aleutians Campaign and the U.S. Navy provides a contemporary view of this little known theater of the war, fought in a harsh environment against a determined enemy. Illustrated with maps and photographs.

The Assault on Peleliu, first published in 1950, is a detailed recounting of the U.S. Marines' fierce battle for the Peleliu, part of the Palau Islands in the south Pacific. Facing approx. 11,00 hardened, entrenched Japanese troops, the 1st Marine Division began landing operations on September 15, 1944. What followed were more than two months of bloody fighting resulting in heavy casualties before the island was declared secure in late November. Included are more than 90 photographs and maps.

Ace of Aces: The Story of Fighter Pilot Dick Bong was first published in 1960, and recounts the exploits of Major Richard "Dick" Bong at the helm of his P-38 Lightning. Bong received the Medal of Honor for his achievement of downing 40 enemy Japanese planes in the southwestern Pacific theater, and he became a household name in America. His tally made him the highest-scoring American ace of all time, a record unlikely to ever be broken. Sadly, Bong died at the young age of 24 on August 6, 1945, in a flight accident during testing of the P-80 Shooting Star fighter. In Ace of Aces, his former commanding officer General George C. Kenney, recounts Bong's life: from his early days in Wisconsin, his sweetheart Marge, his aerial exploits and Kenney's own personal anecdotes. Illustrated with black and white photographs.

First published in 1956, Never a Shot in Anger is Colonel Barney Oldfield's thesis that World War II was the high-water mark of what he believes is a rapidly vanishing profession-that of the war correspondent. As a public relations officer who knew most of the correspondents to cover World War II, he treats them from a new point of view and sees most of them in less heroic, but more humorous, proportion than they have seen themselves. A complete roster of the more than 1,800 U.S. accredited war correspondents is included in his book.Never a Shot in Anger is full of unusual incidents, none more comforting to the author than the one which discloses how he made good on a wild prophecy. Barney reported in 1942 to Lieutenant Colonel James M. Gavin, regimental commander of the 505th Parachute Infantry. Gavin saw no use for Barney's crazy-quilt background of press and publicity, saying, "The 505th is going to fight and doesn't need a press agent." Barney jested that Gavin might be the one to "lead the boys home in victory someday, and you'll need one then." Gavin waved him off, but on January 12, 1946, Major General James M. Gavin did march ahead of the 82nd Airborne Division up Fifth Avenue in New York "representing all the troops of all services who fought in World War II." And making many of the press, radio, photographic, and newsreel arrangements ahead of that march was Lieutenant Colonel Barney Oldfield-just as he had predicted.From early maneuvers in Tennessee and Louisiana all the way through to the Victory March on Fifth Avenue, Barney Oldfield was in the thick of the melee, the man in the middle, the military public relations officer who tried to satisfy the insatiable appetite of the press while staying within the bounds of military security. Both sides gave him a rough ride most of the way-from Grosvenor Square to the rubble of Berlin.Famous names are included in these pages-by-liners of the great newspapers and magazines, radio commentators, columnists, photographers, and the top generals of the European Theater: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, Parks, Simpson, Gavin. Their personalities, foibles, orders, clashes with the press, achievements provide much of the material for the book.If Barney Oldfield's problems were many, they were also funny at times. He talked a bunch of news-hawks into becoming paratroopers. He played St. Nicholas to a group of Dutch orphans when the Battle of the Bulge was breaking a short distance away. He lugged a typewriter 75 miles into German held territory to get the story of a lieutenant with a 24-man platoon who had "surrounded" a German army of 20,000 men. He kept his Ninth Army press camp so close behind the advancing troops that it was first over the Rhine...but these are just a few of the intimate and entertaining tales Barney describes in Never a Shot in Anger.

The 233d Engineer Combat Battalion 1943-1945, first published in 1947, is the World War II account of the battalion, from training in the eastern U.S., to the unit's move to Hawaii, then into combat on Guam, the Philippines, and Okinawa. The men of the battalion took part in heavy fighting, amphibious beach landings, mine-clearing operations, road and bridge building, and heavy-equipment tasks vital to the Allied victory. Personal interviews provide insight into the conditions and challenges faced by the battalion as they fought a determined enemy in a harsh environment. Illustrated throughout with photographs and maps, and with a chronology, list of battle casualties, awards received, and unit rosters.

The Far Distant Ships, first published in 1950, recounts the often overlooked but vital contribution made by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) to the Allied victory in World War II. Especially critical in protecting the endless convoys crossing the North Atlantic from the US to Great Britain, the Canadian navy used its limited men and ships to their utmost. Their resourcefulness was also reflected in their development of the corvette, a small convoy escort ship, built in Canadian shipyards, that proved to be one of the most effective antisubmarine vessels of the war. The RCN also served important roles in Allied landings in North Africa, Italy, and Normandy. Illustrated throughout with photographs, maps, and figures; and an appendix details principal ships of the RCN and their commanders, and other organizational details.

Fair Stood the Wind for France, first published in 1944, is author H. E. Bates' fictional account of a downed English bomber-pilot and his crew over occupied France during World War II. The men are taken in by a French family who hide them in their home. However, the pilot, injured during the plane's landing, must remain in France to heal, while his crew begin their journey back to friendly territory. The pilot falls in love with the home-owner's daughter, their relationship grows and eventually they travel together across France, seeking a way back to England.Fair Stood the Wind for France rises above the average romance, however. Set against the horrors of war, it takes on a life-affirming force, enhanced by the simple, yet elegant prose of the author. Bates also excels at evoking a sense of place; much of the story occurs over the course of a hot summer in rural France, and there are many beautiful descriptions of the French countryside as it bakes in the summer heat. In 1980, the book was the subject of a 4-part television mini-series by the BBC.

The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II, published in 1999 and updated here in a new format and with a complete index of all ships mentioned in the text (absent from the 1999 edition), is the authoritative resource on the war at sea between 1939 and 1945. Author Robert Cressman provides a nearly day-by-day account of navy-related engagements, operations, and activities in all theaters of the war. Appendices list the names and dates of service of the Navy's complex command structure and explain the abbreviations used in the text. A complete index of allied, axis, and neutral vessels is provided, as well as a secondary condensed index of important allied ships.

Destroyer Squadron 23, first published in 1959, is the epic account of Commodore Arleigh Burke and the men and ships under his command in the South Pacific in World War II. Burke's leadership skills and innovative tactics, described in detail in the book, proved crucial to the U.S. defeat of the Japanese navy in the Pacific. This Uncommon Valor Reprint Edition is fully indexed and includes 10 pages of maps.

At His Side: The Story of the American Red Cross Overseas in World War II, first published in 1945, is the authoritative work on the many important overseas activities of the Red Cross during the Second World War. From field hospitals, nursing, blood collection, prisoners of war, entertainment, to simply providing coffee and fresh doughnuts to exhausted troops, the dedicated workers of the Red Cross were there to save lives and boost morale. The book includes personal accounts of many Red Cross workers involved in all aspects of the Red Cross' overseas wartime efforts, and from all regions of the globe - reports from India, China, North Africa, Guadalcanal, the Philippines, Europe, Australia, Iceland, and more, are presented in a highly readable fashion. Included are 17 maps of the various theaters where the Red Cross operated.

The Battle of the Bulge, first published in 1947 as Dark December (and published here in a slightly abridged edition), is a detailed account of the German Army's last major offensive of World War II. Presented from both Allied and German viewpoints, the book examines events leading up to the offensive, the massive engagement of German forces against unprepared American units, and finally the turning back of the defeated German Wehrmacht. Author Robert E. Merriam, former chief of the Ardennes section of the U.S. Army Historical Division, had the unique opportunity-both during and after the battle-to interview leaders and sit in on important staff meetings. When the war ended, he was able to talk to German officers and to examine battle records of both sides. Included are 8 pages of maps.

America's Youngest Soldier, originally published in 1958 as In Spite of Hell, is the gripping account of Ernest L. Wrentmore, the youngest soldier in the American Expeditionary Force during World War One. Wrentmore served with honor despite his age (two months shy of his thirteenth birthday at the time of his enlistment in September 1917), and despite the horrors he witnessed in the trenches in France. Wrentmore saw front-line service on three battle fronts, and was cited for bravery for delivering a message, under fire, that made it possible for his unit to advance. Wrentmore was wounded twice and severely gassed; and on the night of October 17, 1918, he was evacuated from the field of battle during the first phase of the Meuse-Argonne offensive.When World War Two began, the author was recalled to active duty from a successful business career, and served as an officer with the Air Force in the North African and Mediterranean campaigns. He continued his service in the Korean War and retired as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. Wrentmore passed away on December 11, 1983, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The back surface of his tombstone reads: "Youngest soldier to have served with American Expeditionary Forces in WWI, 12 years of age."

Day Without End, originally published in 1949 and reissued in 1951 as Combat, is a fictional account of a U.S. Army platoon fighting in the difficult hedgerow country of Normandy, France, several weeks after the June 1944 D-Day landings. The book follows the battle-weary infantrymen, led by Lieutenant Paul Roth, during the course of a single, gut-wrenching day near St. Lo. Their relief, promised for many days, has not come, and except for a handful of green replacements, all of the men are approaching an acute state of battle fatigue. From a pre-dawn patrol to a terrible twilight, Roth's platoon is followed through every protracted moment of a day that seems to have been diverted from the normal course of time and to run on forever.

Bataan Death March, originally published as The Dyess Story in 1944, is the moving World War II account of William Dyess (1916-1943), a US Army Air Force pilot who was captured by the Japanese in the fall of the Philippines. Dyess then took part in the infamous Bataan Death March, and was a POW at Camps Cabanatuan and O'Donnell before his transfer and eventual escape from the Davao Penal Colony on Mindanao. His horrific story, one of the first to be published in the U.S. during the war, shocked and angered the nation. Illustrated with maps and photographs. Sadly, on December 22, 1943, Dyess was killed in a training accident in California while testing a P-38 fighter; he was only 27 at the time.

Back from the Living Dead, first published in 1945, is the first-hand account of Army Air Corps Major Burt Bank's experiences as part of the Bataan Death March and his subsequent prison camp experiences in Camp O'Donnell, Davao Penal Colony, and Cabanatuan, Philippines. In January 1945, Bank was part of the group of surviving POWs freed by U.S. Army Rangers. Back from the Living Dead was one of the first post-war accounts detailing the Death March and prisoner of war atrocities. Author Bertram Bank (1914-2009), from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, would go on to serve in Alabama's House of Representatives and Senate, and was also the founder of the Alabama Football Radio Network.

They Fought With What They Had, first published in 1951, is the authoritative account of the U.S. Army Air Forces in the Philippines and on Java (Indonesia) in late 1941 and 1942. Unprepared for the Japanese onslaught, American forces had to fight with what little they had in terms of functioning aircraft, adequate munitions and replacement parts, and limited manpower. In the face of these overwhelming odds, however, a valiant effort was made to resist the Japanese invaders, which served to buy time for the fresh troops and new equipment that would soon flow into the region. Author Walter Edmonds does a masterful job of incorporating army reports and hundreds of interviews conducted with the combatants into this comprehensive, highly readable account of U.S. Army Air Forces in the south Pacific at the start of World War II. Illustrated with maps.Author Walter Edmonds (1903-1998) was best known for his historical novels including Drums Along the Mohawk, published in 1936.

Condition Red: Destroyer action in the South Pacific, first published in 1943, recounts the adventures of the USS Grayson, DD 435 destroyer during the early days of the South Pacific campaign, as related by her commander, Frederick Bell. The book is an in-depth, readable look at life on a World War Two destroyer, with details of both daily routines and intense action, including damage control, navigation, rescue, submarine attacks, gunnery, meals, and encounters with the enemy on land, sea, and air. Illustrated with 16 pages of photographs.

They Fought Alone, first published in 1958, is the story of the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) in France, written by Colonel Maurice James Buckmaster (1902-1992), the head of the SOE French Section. The SOE was formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance missions in occupied Europe during World War II. Included are accounts of the heroic men and women who worked quietly and often alone behind enemy lines to carry out resistance operations against the Nazis, serving to speed the Allied advance following D-Day.