Историческая литература
Различные книги в жанре Историческая литератураThe Captain Who Burned His Ships
This is the first biography of Captain Thomas Tingey, who was a key figure in the development of the early U.S. Navy. Having come to America after a short service in the Royal Navy, Tingey contributed importantly to the growth of the American Navy, but was then obliged to burn the Washington Navy Yard in 1814 to prevent it from falling into the hands of British invaders. This is at the same time a history of the first quarter-century of the Washington Navy Yard, which Tingey commanded for that period, and of the transition of the young Navy from an object of partisan discord to an honored defender of a growing and increasingly self-confident nation. The book looks at Tingey's contributions to navy yard procedures and practices, his civic role in the budding city of Washington, the dramatic events of 1814, and the rebuilding of the yard as a major technical center for the navy.
Death at a Distance
Only seven U.S. submariners earned the Medal of Honor in World War II. Sam Dealey, the USS Harder's commander, was one of them. His honor was awarded posthumously after the entire crew was lost off Bataan during a depth-charge attack in August 1944 by a Japanese convoy. The Harder's fighting spirit is legendary, and its record of sinking a total of eighteen enemy ships (with a tonnage in excess of 55,000) made Dealey one of the top five submarine skippers in the war. During a single patrol his crew sank five enemy destroyers in five short-range torpedo attacks – an unprecedented feat. In addition, the Harder played important roles in rescue missions, extracting secret operatives deep in enemy territory and saving downed pilots. Drawing on previously untapped sources, Michael Sturma, an Australian teaching at Murdoch University, details several daring missions, one that involved the heroic Australian commando Bill Jinkins, and puts the Harder's action in the context of the overall Pacific campaign. In do so, the author adds not only significant information to the Harder's story but also provides a fresh perspective on the submarine war.
War Plan Orange
Based on twenty years of research in formerly secret archives, this book reveals for the first time the full significance of War Plan Orange–the U.S. Navy's strategy to defeat Japan, forumulated over the forty years prior to World War II. It recounts the struggles between «thrusting» and «cautionary» schools of strategy, the roles of outspoken leaders such as Dewey, Mahan, King, and MacArthur, and the adaptation of aviation and other technologies to the plan. The book shows that the strategy of Plan Orange was the basis of prewar U.S. naval development in training, ship and aircraft design, and amphibious and tactical thought.War Plan Orange is the recipient of numerous book awards, including the prestigious Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Naval History Prize.
Nimitz
Called a great book worthy of a great man, this definitive biography of the commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet in World War II, first published in 1976 and now available in paperback for the first time, continues to be considered the best book ever written about Adm. Chester W. Nimitz. Highly respected by both the civilian and naval communities, Nimitz was sometimes overshadowed by more colorful warriors such as MacArthur and Halsey. Potter's lively and authoritative style fleshes out Admiral Nimitz's personality to help readers appreciate the contributions he made as the principal architect of Japan's defeat. The book covers his full life, from a poverty-stricken childhood to postwar appointments as Chief of Naval Operations and U.N. mediator. It candidly reveals Nimitz's opinions of Halsey, Kimmel, King, Spruance, MacArthur, Forrestal, Roosevelt, and Truman.
Battleship Bismarck
Burkard Baron Von Mullenheim-Rechberg
Originally published to much acclaim in 1980, this is the story of the legendary German battleship that sunk the pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, on May 24, 1941, and three days later was hunted down and sunk by the British during one of the most dramatic pursuits in naval history. Told by a German naval officer who witnessed both sinkings, the book chronicles the brief but sensational career of what was thought to be the grandest weapon of the Third Reich. Burkard Baron von Müllenheim-Rechberg, the Bismarck's top-ranking survivor, tells the battleship's story from commissioning to the moment when the captain gave a final salute and went down with his ship.The epic battle between the two great enemy ships captured the imagination of an entire generation and became a popular subject for movies and songs. With the discovery a few years ago of the Bismarck's sunken hull off the coast of France, worldwide attention has focused again on the famous ship. Reprinted now in paperback for the first time, the work presents the human dimensions of the event without neglecting the technical side and includes information on rudder damage and repair, overall ship damage, and code breaking. The book also provides insights into the author's life as a prisoner of war in England and Canada and the friction that existed between the Nazis and non-Nazis Germans in the camps. Such a personal look at one of the most famous sea encounters in the history of World War II makes absorbing reading.
Stranded in the Philippines
American missionaries Henry Roy Bell and his wife Edna had been teaching in the Philippines at Silliman University for twenty years when the Japanese invaded the islands after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This is the story of their guerilla war against the Japanese, from the time they took to the hills until they were secretly evacuated by submarine three years later. At first willing only to provide food to the young men covertly fighting against the Japanese, Bell eventually became fully involved in the Filipino resistance movement and rose to the rank of major in an island-wide guerrilla army. With a price on his head and his capture eminent, Bell, his wife, and two teenage sons were smuggled across the island and, on February 6, 1944, escaped on board a cargo submarine delivering arms and ammunition to the guerrillas
Faithful Warriors
Faithful Warriors is a memoir of World War II in the Pacific by a combat veteran of the 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. Written with award-winning author Steven Weingartner, Ladd’s book chronicles his experiences as a junior officer in some of the fiercest fighting of the war in the Pacific. His recollections and descriptions of life–and death–on the far-flung island battlefronts of the Pacific War are vividly rendered, augmented by the recollections of a number of the men with whom he served.This memoir tells the story of how both Ladd and the Marine Corps came of age during history’s greatest military conflict. His journey through the war is representative of many Marines in World War II: training outside of San Diego just before the war, awaiting the Japanese attack after Pearl Harbor as part of the Marine garrison on Samoa, surviving the savage fighting on Guadalcanal, resting and recuperating afterwards in New Zealand; participating in the bloodbath on Tarawa; recovering in Hawaii after being wounded; and returning to face combat yet again on Saipan and Tinian.Ladd is at his best when he is describes exactly what he saw, heard, and smelled within the mythical 50-yard circle of his foxhole. From his narrative we learn of the bravery of men who mustered the courage to scramble down the nets for the landing craft, after facing the veteran’s fatalistic fear that one's luck in surviving the next battle would surely run out and knowing the ferocity that would come.
The Dragon's War
Making full use of significant new sources in Chinese-language materials, U.S. Naval Academy professor Maochun Yu provides Western readers with the first detailed account of military and intelligence operations conducted inside China by foreign powers between 1937 and 1945. He also addresses the profound impact of these operations upon China's nationalism, wartime politics, and overall military campaigns. Arguing that operations by the USSR, the United States, Britain, and France, in particular, challenged the authority and legitimacy of the Chinese nationalist government, he illustrates how the failure of the Nationalist Government under Chiang Kai-shek to control these operations contributed to its demise following World War II. This provocative work unveils like never before the extraordinary intrigue, command and operational manipulations, international espionage, and politics surrounding military and intelligence operations in wartime China among the allies. It covers such topics as foreign military aid programs to China; the Chinese secret police's massive joint intelligence organization with the U.S. Navy; special intelligence initiatives conducted by the British, Free French, and Americans; secret British and American dealings with the Chinese Communists; America's first covert overseas military operation (the Flying Tigers); and Soviet and American military personnel in the China theater. The author points to the remarkable political and military ramifications that these operations had in China, including the inadvertent creation of conditions that allowed the rise of Communist China. With its implications on the world scene today, such an important new perspective of China during its war against Japan will appeal to a general audience as well as to students of World War II and specialists in the military and intelligence communities.
Fremantle's Submarines
From unpromising beginnings in March 1942, the submarine base at Fremantle became a vital part of the Allied offensive against Japan. Pushed back from the Philippines and the Netherlands East Indies, American submariners, accompanied by small numbers of Dutch, retreated to Fremantle on the remote west coast of Australia as a port of last resort. Far from their prospective patrol areas and their own supply lines, they had little reason to feel optimistic. Thanks largely to a welcoming civilian population, the morale of Allied submariners quickly improved, as did their effectiveness in fighting the enemy.The first arrival of American and Dutch submarines at Fremantle coincided with a period when Western Australians felt especially vulnerable. On 3 March Japanese Zero fighters bombed the towns of Wyndham and Broome, while the same day there were three Japanese submarine attacks on shipping off the Western Australian coast. With many locals convinced that a Japanese invasion was imminent, Allied submariners got an appreciative reception. While in relatively small numbers, submariners were widely perceived as an elite force not only within the navy, but more generally by those who admired their courage and commitment. Although the Australians had no submariners of their own, they supported the base through the mobilization of resources and labor. Joined by British submariners from 1944, Allied submarines made a total of 416 patrols from Fremantle during the course of the war, becoming the most active base in the Pacific after Pearl Harbor. Some of the most famous submarines of the Second World War – including USS Harder, USS Flasher and HMS Trenchant – operated out of Fremantle, and many of the submariners who sailed from that port made the ultimate sacrifice.The success of Fremantle’s submarines depended not only on personal heroism, but cooperation between allies. From disastrous beginnings, the Allies overcame inertia and national suspicions to become a much more effective fighting force than their enemies. The Australian government provided unstinting support, while Australian commandos shared the perils of many submarine patrols. Meanwhile cooperation between American, Dutch and British submariners pioneered joint naval operations in the Pacific.This book documents not only the courage of submarine crews and the multinational cooperation that developed between Allies, but integrates the experiences of submariners on shore with their operations at sea. The promise of leave in Australia made the hardships and perils of lengthy war patrols more bearable. News that a submarine was ending its patrol in Fremantle inevitably created an expectant excitement among the crew on board. The hospitality and sense of belonging fostered by Western Australians became legendary among Allied submariners and remains central to their wartime memories. Many of those memories focus on relationships with young women, frequently sealed permanently through marriages. Many submariners also remember fondly the high alcohol content of Australian beer. Most of all, however, they recall the generosity of those civilians who welcomed them into their homes and hearts. At the same time, visiting submariners helped fill the emotional void created in many Australian families by absent sons, brothers, fathers and husbands fighting overseas. In an atmosphere of wartime austerity and rationing, the submariners also proved generous in sharing scarce resources with the local population. From the standpoint of morale, Fremantle became one of the most successful military outposts of the Second World War.
The Ghosts that Died at Sunda Strait
Recounting the last stand of the heavy cruiser Houston, this tale of survival brings to life the 1942 battle at Sunda Strait.