Bøger af Steven J. (Author) Zaloga

The armour clashes in May 1940 were the biggest the world had yet seen, as the sweeping German advances of that period came to epitomize Blitzkrieg. The Wehrmacht's Panzer III was well matched by the French Somua S35 tanks. Fully illustrated, this work draws on research to provide a definitive analysis of the clash between these two tank designs.

Covers the French armor of World War II. This title looks at the infantry and battle tanks that faced the onslaught of the German Blitzkrieg in 1940. It offers a background to the design and development of these tank types, and an evaluation of their performance in the Battle of France.

A sequel to French Tanks of World War II (1), this title focuses primarily on France's cavalry armored vehicles, including the light reconnaissance tanks such as the AMR and AMC families, the famous Somua S.35 cavalry tanks and the extensive array of armored half-track and armored cars used by the French cavalry.

Not only did the Sicily operation represent a watershed in tactical development of combined arms tactics, it was also an important test for future Allied joint operations. Senior British commanders left the North African theater with a jaundiced and dismissive view of the combat capabilities of the inexperienced US Army after the debacle at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in February 1943. Sicily was a demonstration that the US Army had rapidly learned its lessons and was now capable of fighting as a co-equal of the British Army. The Sicily campaign contained a measure of high drama as Patton took the reins of the Seventh US Army and bent the rules of the theater commander in a bold race to take Palermo on the northern Sicilian coast. When stiff German resistance halted Montgomery's main assault to Messina through the mountains, Patton was posed to be the first to reach the key Sicilian port and end the campaign. The Sicily campaign contains a fair amount of controversy as well including the disastrous problems with early airborne assaults and the Allied failure to seal the straits of Messina, allowing the Germans to withdraw many of their best forces.

General Omar Bradley was the premier US Army tactical commander in the European Theatre of Operations in 1944-45. Beyond the performance of the US Army in the ETO, Bradley was also intimately wrapped up in other controversies, especially the internecine squabbles with his British counterpart, Bernard Montgomery. This book tells his story.

As the Allies attempted to break out of Normandy, it quickly became apparent that there would be no easy victory over the Germans, and that every scrap of territory on the way to Berlin would have to be earned through hard fighting. This book deals with the battles between the German Panzer IV and US Sherman of World War II.

A hotly-debated topic amongst tank buffs is of the relative merits of the Soviet and American tanks of World War II. This book sheds light on the crucial tank battles of the Korean War as the rival superpowers' finest tanks battled for supremacy.

Operation Nordwind is one of the lesser known campaigns of World War II. Largely overshadowed by the Battle of the Bulge further north, Nordwind was the last operation by the Waffen-SS Panzer divisions in the west. This title highlights the difficulties of inter-Allied cooperation between the Americans and the French.

George S Patton Jr was an American field commander of World War II, and regarded as the US Army's finest practitioner of mechanized warfare. This title examines Patton's life and leadership in three wars, with a concentration on his command in World War II.

"Kamikaze: Japanese Special Attack Weapons, 1944-45".

In this book Steven J Zaloga offers a fascinating comparison between the two most important tanks involved in the crucial fighting of 1944, the American Sherman and the German Panther. Placing the reader in the heart of this battle between quality and quantity Zaloga uses a compelling account of the ferocious fighting during the Battle of the Bulge to explain the successes and failures of each tank, highlighting the fact that a tank can only be as good as its crew, weighing up the impact of low morale, high cost and mediocre crew training on the Panther's superiority. With full-colour battlescenes, technical drawings, photographs, digital gunsight views, extracts from crew training manuals and real combat reports, this book brings the titanic battles between the Panther and Sherman to life.

The fighting at Omaha Beach is one of the most famous events in military history, and represented a crucial moment in the course of World War II. This book reveals the events of that single day in June 1944.

The T-54 and T-55 tanks are the most widely manufactured tanks of all time. This volume examines the roots of this prolific tank family, starting with the Soviet Army's first attempts to replace the T-34 during World War II, and covering the T-43 and T-44, the more successful T-54, and its ultimate evolution into the T-55.

The Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) saw the first operational deployment of US armoured divisions in World War II. This title covers the organization of these early US armored divisions, as well as the independent tank and tank destroyer battalions that accompanied them.

One of the most sophisticated armoured fighting vehicles in the world, the M2/M3 Bradley is the United States equivalent of the British Warrior, combining the role of personnel carrier with the formidable armament of a 25mm cannon and TOW anti-tank missiles. With a maximum road speed of 66kmh it also has a degree of manoeuvrability dreamed of by other armoured vehicles. In this book Steven Zaloga examines the different variants of the Bradley in detail and looks at the changing tactical requirements of the US Army for an armoured personnel carrier.

The M1 Abrams was the most radical departure in US tank design since World War II. Until the advent of the M1 in the early 1980s, the US Army had relied on the steady evolution of the M26 Pershing tank, through the M46, M47, M48 and M60. The M1 design came at a time when there were a host of important new tank technologies coming to fruition, in terms of structure and weaponry: these were integrated into it. This book details the design, development and operational use of one of the world''s best main battle tanks.

The jeep was the most famous military vehicle of World War II, and its name has become synonymous with a whole class of military and civilian all-terrain vehicles. The jeep originated in a prewar US Army requirement for a simple, inexpensive, and robust vehicle for basic utility chores. Its simple design proved to be adaptable to a host of military tasks including use as a scout vehicle, battlefield ambulance, communications vehicle, and staff car. This book, covering "the savior of World War II", focuses on the design and development of this versatile vehicle used on nearly every front of World War II.

This volume explores the M10 and M36 tank destroyers used between 1942 and 1952 by the Allied forces. They played a key role in the battles for Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, the crossing of the Rhine and the final defeat of Germany, and continued to serve in Korea, Indochina and the Balkans.

The D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 were the largest amphibious military operation ever mounted. A huge armada was assembled to transport US and British armies across the Channel to open the second front against the Third Reich. This text reveals the events of this day on Utah Beach.

The Soviet T-80 Standard Tank was the last tank fielded before the Soviet collapse, and the most controversial. This title charts the history of the T-80, covering the initial construction, through the development to the subsequent variants, the T-84 and Russia's enigmatic Black Eagle Tank.

This work examines the history of the KV series of Soviet tanks. It describes its development and combat history, and includes contemporary photographs and detailed colour plates and cut-aways.

The Iosef Stalin tanks were the ultimate heavy tanks developed by the Soviet Union and were popularly called 'Victory tanks' due to their close association with the defeat of Germany in 1945. Yet in spite of their reputation, the Stalin tanks emerged from a troubled design, had a brief moment of glory in 1944 and 1945, and disappeared in ignominy after 1960. This title covers the events contributing to the Soviet Union's need to design the new series, with particular reference to the unsuccessful KV series and the advent of a new generation of heavy German tanks including the Tiger. It also covers their development, operational history and myriad variants.

This concise history of the T-34/76 tank, one of the most successful fighting vehicles of the Second World War, describes its development and combat history on the Eastern Front between 1941 and 1945, and includes contemporary photographs and detailed colour plates and cut-aways.

An addition to the CAMPAIGN series which examines the German invasion of Byelorussia in June 1944, codenamed Operation Bagration, in which the Germans suffered huge losses. Illustrated with bird's-eye views and maps of the various stages of the campaign.

A history of the US M3 halftrack, one of the most successful infantry vehicles in the history of armoured warfare, which came to symbolize the Allied armed forces of World War II, which also saw service in the post-war era. The book describes its development and combat history since the 1960s.

The M8 light armoured car was the only significant wheeled combat vehicle used by the US Army in World War II. This title describes the design and development of the M8, the many variants that were produced during World War II and afterwards, along with a survey of its operational use.

The German invasion in 1941 led to a series of staggering defeats for the Russians. In the first five months of fighting, the Soviets lost about four million men, amounting to 80 per cent of the total strength of the ground forces at the time of the outbreak of the war. Yet the Red Army managed to hold on. The Soviets had been steadily growing throughout in capability and effectiveness, and after the smashing of the German offensive at the battle of the Kursk salient, they were never again seriously checked, advancing to the ruins of Berlin itself. This title examines the organisation, equipment and uniforms of the Red Army of the Great Patriotic War.

The highly successful 'stop-gap' M3 medium tank was designed in 1941, and as adequate turret casting facilities were not yet ready, the M3 used an unusual armament configuration patterned after a French tank. British lend-lease demands led to the design of a second turret type with the US version called the Lee and the British version the Grant. It could penetrate Panzer armor, and its explosive firepower was excellent for dealing with German anti-tank guns. This book covers the design, development, service and variants of a vehicle that was the backbone of many World War II forces.