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Fortress Rabaul: The Battle for the Southwest Pacific, January 1942–April 1943 (The Rabaul Trilogy)
by Bruce Gamble“This tour de force . . . is an absolute must for anyone interested in the true story of one of World War II’s most interesting—and most overlooked—battles.” —Col. Walter Boyne, USAF (Ret.), author of Clash of WingsFor most of World War II, the mention of Japan’s island stronghold sent shudders through thousands of Allied airmen. Some called it “Fortress Rabaul,” an apt name for the headquarters of the Imperial Japanese forces in the Southwest Pacific. Author Bruce Gamble chronicles Rabaul’s crucial role in Japanese operations in the Southwest Pacific. Millions of square feet of housing and storage facilities supported a hundred thousand soldiers and naval personnel. Simpson Harbor and the airfields were the focus of hundreds of missions by American air forces.Winner of the “Gold Medal” (Military Writers Society of America) and “Editor’s Choice Award” (Stone and Stone Second World War Books), Fortress Rabaul details a critical and, until now, little understood chapter in the history of World War II.“Not for the first time, Bruce Gamble has done amazing work gathering a dazzling array of tiny, little facts, then arranging them in a big, dazzling story that amazes one’s inner historian even as it breaks one’s heart on its way to a triumphal conclusion.” —Eric Hammel, author of Two Flags over Iwo Jima“Drawing on a variety of sources from both sides, the author has written a detailed reference book that reads like a novel.” —Air Classics“Fortress Rabaul opens a broader vista on this under-studied campaign with its wide research, thoughtful analysis, and gifted story-teller’s panache.” —WWII History Magazine
Fortress of Magi (Chronicles of Amicae #3)
by Mirah BolenderMirah Bolender follows The Monstrous Citadel with Fortress of Magi—the pulse-pounding conclusion to her debut fantasy trilogy in which a bomb squad defuses the magic weapons of a long forgotten warThe Hive Mind has done the impossible—left its island prison. It's a matter of time before Amicae falls, and Laura Kramer has very few resources left to prevent it.The council has tied her hands, and the gangs want her dead. Her only real choice is to walk away and leave the city to its fate.Chronicles of AmicaeCity of Broken MagicThe Monstrous CitadelFortress of MagiAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Fortress: The Story of the Siege and Fall of Singapore
by Kenneth AttiwillFortress: The Story of the Siege and Fall of Singapore, first published in 1959, is the sobering account of the failed defense of Singapore in late 1941 and early 1942 against the advancing Japanese Army.In Fortress, author Kenneth Attiwill—himself a prisoner of the Japanese for three and a half years—recreates, in vivid detail, the fall of Singapore in World War II: the unforgettable atmosphere of chaos, misunderstanding, panic bombings, evacuation of civilians, ill-trained troops, the invasion of Japanese troops, and the beginnings of tortures as the “Fortress” fell.Here is an engrossing analysis of the Singapore defeat—in strategy caused by the failure of the Chief of Staff in London to activate the British defense in Malaya; in the air due to disorganization at Air Command Headquarters; on the sea, because Japanese efficiency was underestimated; and on land, through misjudgment of the invasion of Malaya.Richly illustrated throughout with 14 pages of maps and photographs.
Fortresses of the Peninsular War 1808-14
by Chris Taylor Ian FletcherIn the course of the Peninsular War, Wellington's army fought several hard battles and smaller actions, but it was the bloody sieges that troubled him more than anything else. Indeed, the performance of his army during the sieges was probably the most disappointing aspect of what was otherwise an extremely successful campaign. Taking 1808 as its starting point, this title deals with the fortress sieges that involved Wellington's AngloPortuguese army, and concentrates on four key sites in particular (Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Burgos and San Sebastián). All of these played a vital role in the war due to their strategically important positions. It documents both the sieges and the storming of the fortresses, as well as the general role of the fortresses in Spain and the impact they had on the thinking of the commanders and strategies of the armies involved.
Forts and Forays: A Dragoon in New Mexico, 1850-1856
by Dr James A. Bennett Clinton E. BrooksForts and Forays is a rare account of frontier soldiering in the pre-Civil War Southwest by an enlisted man. James A. Bennett joined the regular army in 1849 and was stationed in New Mexico for six years before he deserted to Mexico. Assigned to the First Dragoons, he visited most major New Mexico posts such as Forts Union, Craig, and Fillmore. His company was stationed at or passed through Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Socorro, and other New Mexico settlements. In six years, his rank climbed from private to sergeant before an unknown infraction reduced him to the ranks. Bennett served under future Civil War generals Edwin V. Sumner, Richard S. Ewell, and John W. Davidson.During his service, Bennett waged war on the Kicarilla, Mogollon, Mescalero, and Mimbres Apaches, the Navajos, and the Utes, suffering serious wounds at the Battle of Cienguilla Forts and Forays is a unique glimpse into the routine duties and terrifying ordeals of soldiering in the antebellum Southwest.
Forts and Roman Strategy: A New Approach and Interpretation
by Paul CobyPaul Coby here proposes a new system for the recording and mapping of Roman forts and fortifications that integrates all the data, including size, dating and identification of occupying units. Application of these methods allows analysis that brings new insights into the placement of these forts, the units garrisoning them and the strategy of conquest and defense they underpinned. This is a new and original contribution to the long-running debate over whether the Roman Empire had a coherent grand strategy or merely reacted piecemeal to emerging needs. Although the author focuses on several major campaigns in Britain as case studies, the author stresses that his method's are also applicable to elsewhere in the Empire. Lavishly illustrated with color maps, the book is also supported by a website and blogs, encouraging further investigation and discussion.
Forts of the American Frontier 1776-1891
by Adam Hook Ron FieldWith the violent separation between the United States and Britain which began in 1776, the new 'Americans' set off to fulfill their manifest destiny and rule their new land from coast to coast. As they pushed westward, they came into conflict with both natives and other European settlers, and began to build fortresses to defend their newly claimed land. This book charts the development and variation of the fortresses of the American Frontier, covering both American defenses and those of the Spanish in the west. It also examines the little-known forts of early Russian settlers on the Pacific coast.
Forts of the War of 1812
by René Chartrand Donato SpedaliereWhen war broke out between the United States and Great Britain in 1812, neither side was prepared for the conflict, as evidenced by their respective fortifications. The most sophisticated and modern fortifications were those built by the US Corps of Engineers to protect some of the main port cities. These included Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia, Fort McHenry in Baltimore and Castle William in New York. The British also heavily fortified their main harbor at Halifax and their main center of power at Quebec. However, elsewhere, especially in the interior, fortifications were old, neglected or only hastily erected. The forts at Detroit and Mackinac were much as the British had left them in 1796. This book covers all of the main fortifications of the conflict, those that faced the crashing of guns and those whose intimidation played a part in the grand strategy of the war.
Fortunate Son: The Autobiography of Lewis B. Puller, Jr.
by Lewis B. PullerLewis B. Puller, Jr., the son of the most decorated Marine in the Corps' history, volunteered for duty in Vietnam after college. He came home a few months later missing both legs, his left hand, and two fingers of his right hand. He would never walk again, though he would complete law school, serve on President Ford's clemency board, and run for Congress. He would also live with the nightmares of Vietnam, and his growing dependence on alcohol. Few have told their story with more honesty, or more devastating openness.<P><P> Pulitzer Prize Winner
Fortune Favours the Brave: Tales of Courage and Tenacity in Canadian Military History
by Colonel Bernd Horn Senator Romeo DallaireMany Canadians see the role their country’s military plays in Afghanistan as an anomaly. However, this assumption is far from the truth. As U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has commented, "Canadians are fierce fighters." Fortune Favours the Brave certainly proves this point in a collection of essays that showcases the fighting spirit and courage of Canada’s military. Daring actions featured in the book include the intrepid assault on the Fortress of Louisbourg and the cat-and-mouse struggle between Canadian partisans and Rogers’s Rangers in the Seven Years’ War in the 1750s; the seesaw battle for the Niagara frontier in the War of 1812; an innovative trench raid in the First World War; the valiant parachute assault to penetrate the Third Reich in the Second World War; the infamous battle at Kap’yong in the Korean War; covert submarine operations during the Cold War; the Medak Pocket clash in Croatia in the early 1990s; and Operation Medusa in Afghanistan.
Fortune Favours the Brave: The Battles of the Hook Korea, 1952–53 (Military History Ser.)
by A.J. BarkerAll too little remembered today, the Korean War was bitterly fought out under atrocious conditions of weather and terrain. Greatly outnumbered by their Communist Chinese and North Korean enemy, the United Nations forces fought with extraordinary resolve and gallantry. The Hook, the name given to a prominent ridge on the Peninsula, saw more blood spilt than any other feature in this prolonged and grisly war. Not surprisingly it became known as 'the bloody Hood'.The two costliest battles are described in detail in Fortune Favours The Brave, a classic account of the war. Both involved British infantry battalions of 29 Commonwealth Brigade. In November 1952, The Black Watch saw off a major Chinese attack against all odds. In May 1953 it was the turn of 1st Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's Regiment to face what must have seemed an overwhelming onslaught. Along a 1,000 yard front the greatest concentration of artillery fire since the Great War was brought to bear on Chinese human-wave attacks.In the morning the Dukes still held the ground despite heavy casualties. This feat of arms, achieved by battalion made up mainly of young National Servicemen from yorkshire, ranks among the finest in the long and glorious history of the British Army.
Fortune's Heir: The Ballantyne Chronicles Book #2
by Alex RutherfordThe long-anticipated sequel to Fortune's Soldier, from the author of the Empire of the Moghul series. In his Himalayan retreat of Glenmire, Nicholas Ballantyne is determined his days of bloodshed and intrigue in the service of the British East India Company are over. Yet the Battle of Plassey, where he fought with Robert Clive, has delivered only a short-lived peace and the 1770s are precarious times in India. Martial Marathas, formidable Sikhs and wild Afghan Rohillas threaten not only each other, but the Company’s very existence. Most dangerous of all are the militarily astute Hyder Ali and his charismatic son Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, who – with strong French support – are intent on driving the British into the sea. When Warren Hastings, the Company’s newly appointed Governor-General, beset by internal rivalries, seeks Nicholas’ help, he agrees. Though long-cynical about the Company, he foresees a bloodbath that could rip India apart, cause thousands of deaths and imperil his own family. A quiet life must wait.
Fortune's Light (Star Trek: The Next Generation #15)
by Michael Jan FriedmanDante Maxima Seven -- a world known to its inhabitants as Imprima. A world where Madragi -- huge social/economic entities wealthy beyond compare -- control the fate of millions.. Years ago, William Riker was part of the Starfleet delegation that opened Imprima to the Federation. Now the disappearance of an old friend -- Teller Conlon, who also served on that team -- draws Riker and the Enterprise across the galaxy, back to Imprima. Because the jewel known as Fortune's Light -- one of Madraga Criathis's most priceless possessions -- has been stolen. And Teller Conlon stands accused of its theft. Now Riker must discover the truth behind the disappearance of both his friend and Fortune's Light, no easy task on a world where treachery and intrigue are commonplace...and where even an old friend's embrace may conceal the deadly bite of a dagger's blade.
Fortune's Pawn (Paradox #1)
by Rachel BachDevi Morris isn't your average mercenary. She has plans. Big ones. And a ton of ambition. It's a combination that's going to get her killed one day - but not just yet. That is, until she just gets a job on a tiny trade ship with a nasty reputation for surprises. The Glorious Fool isn't misnamed: it likes to get into trouble, so much so that one year of security work under its captain is equal to five years everywhere else. With odds like that, Devi knows she's found the perfect way to get the jump on the next part of her Plan. But the Fool doesn't give up its secrets without a fight, and one year on this ship might be more than even Devi can handle. If Sigouney Weaver in Alien met Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica, you'd get Deviana Morris -- a hot new mercenary earning her stripes to join an elite fighting force. Until one alien bite throws her whole future into jeopardy.ing to have to get some answers fast, before all the secrets send her home in a body bag.
Fortune's Pawn: Book 1 of Paradox (Paradox #1)
by Rachel BachFans of Firefly and Elizabeth Moon will lap up this action-packed military science fiction series. Welcome to the start of a thrilling new space adventure, starring female mercenary Deviana Morris . . .Deviana Morris isn't your average mercenary. She has plans. Big ones. And a ton of ambition. One of those is going to get her killed one day - but not just yet. Not when she just got a job on a tiny trade ship with a nasty reputation for surprises. The Glorious Fool isn't misnamed: it likes to get into trouble. And with a reputation for bad luck that makes one year as security detail on this ship equal to five years everywhere else - Devi knows she's found the perfect way to get the jump on the next part of her Plan. But the Fool doesn't give up its secrets without a fight, and one year might be more than even Devi can handle.Review for FORTUNE'S PAWN:'This book kicked ass . . . I just loved it!' - FELICIA DAY'Devi is hands-down one of the best sci-fi heroines I've read in years' - RT BOOK REVIEWS'Rollicking space opera starring a tough, sexy, armor-clad space chick . . . [Bach] does a nice job of painting a scenario that, if familiar - think the space marines of the Alien franchise or the motley crew of Firefly - allows her plenty of room for action. And action aplenty is what she delivers . . . Lots of fun' - KIRKUS REVIEWS
Fortune's Second-Chance Cowboy (The Fortunes of Texas: The Secret Fortunes)
by Marie FerrarellaWELCOME HOME, CHLOE FORTUNE! "You're family," Graham Fortune tells his newly discovered half sister, Chloe Fortune Elliott, and just like that, Chloe has a new job and a new home in Austin. She works well with the troubled teens at Peter's Place, but she's having more difficulty managing a male of the grown-up variety. Ranch hand Chance Howell gets under her skin from the moment they meet. The tall blond army veteran is good with horses and adolescents, but he's a master at avoiding intimacy. Maybe that's why Chloe is so drawn to him. Or maybe it's the sadness she recognizes in his eyes. Her head tells her falling for Chance is a bad idea. Her heart tells her she may have no choice...
Fortune: A Novel
by Lenny BartulinAn audacious, entertaining historical epic spanning continents and centuries, for readers of David Mitchell, Column McCann, Kate Atkinson, and Eleanor Catton.Fortune is a dazzling, endlessly surprising, and gripping historical novel that opens the day Napoleon leads his victorious Grande Armée into Berlin after having conquered Prussia in battle. As crowds throng the streets to witness this momentous event, a handful of lives that briefly touch are sprung from their orbits and set on courses that will take them across Europe and around the world—their fates and desires sometimes intersecting—to strange lands in the Caribbean and South America, the Australian continent and van Diemen's Land, and back to a Europe now transformed.A frustrated general in Napoleon's army, billeted with one of Berlin's finest families. Elisabeth, a passionate young woman living with her aunt in that house. A young man of eighteen years and no particular talent, drawn to the smoky coffeehouses where students debate, whom she spies through a window fornicating with a serving girl at the moment Napoleon makes his grand entrance. An entrepreneur in New World exotica with a passion for shrunken heads, to whose house the young man was led for his tryst. A slave from Suriname, Mr. Hendriks, with his resentful white American companion, who have traveled to Berlin to sell a barrel of electric eels for their master. And a student enamored of philosophy, who will join Mr. Hendricks and the American on their return voyage. Through their stories amid war, cataclysm, colliding cultures, and misadventure, Lenny Bartulin imagines the ways that grand events in extraordinary times can shape the course of ordinary lives.
Fortunes of War
by Olivia Manning Rachel CuskThe Balkan Trilogy is the story of a marriage and of a war, a vast, teeming, and complex masterpiece in which Olivia Manning brings the uncertainty and adventure of civilian existence under political and military siege to vibrant life. Manning's focus is not the battlefield but the café and kitchen, the bedroom and street, the fabric of the everyday world that has been irrevocably changed by war, yet remains unchanged.At the heart of the trilogy are newlyweds Guy and Harriet Pringle, who arrive in Bucharest--the so-called Paris of the East--in the fall of 1939, just weeks after the German invasion of Poland. Guy, an Englishman teaching at the university, is as wantonly gregarious as his wife is introverted, and Harriet is shocked to discover that she must share her adored husband with a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Other surprises follow: Romania joins the Axis, and before long German soldiers overrun the capital. The Pringles flee south to Greece, part of a group of refugees made up of White Russians, journalists, con artists, and dignitaries. In Athens, however, the couple will face a new challenge of their own, as great in its way as the still-expanding theater of war.
Fortunes of War
by Stephen CoontsIt is the near future. Russia is disintegrating; Japan is in economic decline. Some of japann's leaders execute a bold plan to make Japan great again -- the invasion of siberia. As American and Japanese planes once again battle each other in the skies, the world moves closer and closer to the brink! As in all wars, it is the personal courage and honor of individuals, not the grand strategies of politicians, which will decide the fate of nations -- and of the world.
Fortunes of War
by Stephen CoontsFour Japanese nationalists storm Tokyo's imperial palace and behead the emperor. Their goal: to invade Russia and conquer oil-rich Siberia in order to dominate the globe. Soon the world explodes in war, as Japan, Russia and the United States go head-to-head in a struggle that threatens total destruction. Now three men from three different nations must meet their ultimate challenge: to fight as patriots in a war driven by greed and madness--and save the planet from nothing less than a full-scale nuclear attack.Stephen Coonts' Fortunes of War is an explosive, action-packed thriller.
Fortunes of War: The Levant Trilogy
by Olivia Manning Anthony SattinIn The Levant Trilogy Olivia Manning returns to the story of the young English couple Guy and Harriet Pringle, last seen, at the end of The Balkan Trilogy, departing from Athens ahead of the invading Nazi army. Now, in the spring of 1941, they arrive in Egypt as Rommel's forces slowly but surely approach Cairo across the Sahara from the west. Will the city fall? In the streets the people contemplate welcoming a new set of occupiers, while European refugees and well-heeled Anglo-Egyptians prepare to pack their bags. And at night, everyone who is anyone flocks to the city's famed hotels and seedy cabarets, seeking one last dance before the tanks roll in. Manning describes the Pringles' ever complicated marriage and their motley group of friends and foes with the same sharp eye that earned The Balkan Trilogy a devoted following. And she also traces the fortunes of a marvelously drawn new character, Simon Boulderstone, a twenty-year-old recruit who must grapple with the boredom, chaos, and fleeting exhilaration of war.
Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall
by Nina WillnerIn this illuminating and deeply moving memoir, a former American military intelligence officer goes beyond traditional Cold War espionage tales to tell the true story of her family--of five women separated by the Iron Curtain for more than forty years, and their miraculous reunion after the fall of the Berlin Wall.Forty Autumns makes visceral the pain and longing of one family forced to live apart in a world divided by two. At twenty, Hanna escaped from East to West Germany. But the price of freedom--leaving behind her parents, eight siblings, and family home--was heartbreaking. Uprooted, Hanna eventually moved to America, where she settled down with her husband and had children of her own. Growing up near Washington, D.C., Hanna's daughter, Nina Willner became the first female Army Intelligence Officer to lead sensitive intelligence operations in East Berlin at the height of the Cold War. Though only a few miles separated American Nina and her German relatives--grandmother Oma, Aunt Heidi, and cousin, Cordula, a member of the East German Olympic training team--a bitter political war kept them apart. In Forty Autumns, Nina recounts her family's story--five ordinary lives buffeted by circumstances beyond their control. She takes us deep into the tumultuous and terrifying world of East Germany under Communist rule, revealing both the cruel reality her relatives endured and her own experiences as an intelligence officer, running secret operations behind the Berlin Wall that put her life at risk. A personal look at a tenuous era that divided a city and a nation, and continues to haunt us, Forty Autumns is an intimate and beautifully written story of courage, resilience, and love--of five women whose spirits could not be broken, and who fought to preserve what matters most: family. Forty Autumns is illustrated with dozens of black-and-white and color photographs.
Forty Days In 1914 [Illustrated Edition]
by Major-General Sir Frederick MauriceIncludes The First World War On The Western Front 1914-1915 Illustrations Pack with 101 maps, plans, and photos.In 1919 renowned military writer Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice set out to piece together how the German Schlieffen plan fell apart in the opening phases of the First World War. Using his extensive military background he deduced how the German High Command reacted to the opening clashes in 1914 and eventually recoiled after the Battle of the Marne. Still a fascinating read even after so many years, the details of the British and French commanders remain filled with the tension and drama as they sought to stem the seemingly unstoppable German juggernaut.
Forty Days with the Enemy
by Richard DudmanThis book is an interesting and detailed account of the 1970 capture, detention, and release of Richard Dudman, Elizabeth Pond, and Michael Morrow. Readers interested to know the fates of the many journalists lost in Southeast Asia would find the book very informative and absorbing.
Forty-Four Years, the Life of a Hunter: Being Reminiscences of Meshach Browning, a Maryland Hunter and Trapper [Illustrated Edition]
by Meshach BrowningMeshach Browning spent decades as a professional hunter and trapper of bears, boars and deer in rural Maryland during the early 1800s—this is his story, in his own words. Born in modest circumstances, Browning grew up at a time when the USA as a nation was in its infancy, with much of the population living in rural areas. From his youth, the author vowed to be self-sufficient, leaving his home and first love to hone his hunting skills. Returning with money gained from selling pelts and meat, it is then that Meshach contemplates hunting as a career. The equipment the author used is much inferior to today's. Meshach's use of a musket gun—whose reliability is demonstrated as poor in several instances—leads him to rely on his skills in close quarters combat. On multiple hunts, described with stunning vividness in these pages, Browning's ability to battle animals in melee saves his life. Dangers of his trade are balanced by its lucrativeness: bear meat and pelt for instance fetched high prices.-Print ed.