Special and elite forces

In the age of modern warfare the changing landscape of the 21st century battlefield has demanded a transformation within the US Marine Corps Special Operations.

How have the U.

The Marine Corps began World War II with less than 66,000 officers and men.

The sniper is a battlefield threat second to none.

This new study lifts the veil on the high-profile but often misunderstood gladiators of ancient Rome, from their origins to the dawn of the Principate.

During the 13-year insurgency (1961–74) in Portuguese Africa, more than 800,000 men and women served in the Portuguese armed forces.

Covering Sparta's full classical history, The Bronze Lie examines the myth of Spartan warrior supremacy.

Balaclava 1854 examines in detail the crucial battle of Balaclava during The Crimean War.

One of the most difficult security challenges of the postCold War era has been stabilizing failing states in an era of irregular warfare.

This timely addition to Civil War history shares the stories of 25 unique military organizations, showing how past and future collided in the first modern war.

Investigates the history and evolving appearance of the 'Grossdeutschland' Division, the German Army's premier combat unit during World War II.

'We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go, Always a little further; it may be, Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow.

The Late Roman Empire was a period of significant change in the designs of standards and in the costumes of standard-bearers.

In October 2001 the most militarily advanced nation on earth came into conflict with one of the least developed nations as American forces poured into Afghanistan.

The samurai were the military elite of medieval and early modern Japan, and the men who led them were hailed as the very greatest, most heroic and most honourable of all samurai warriors.

Memoirs of SOE agents have always been rare - so many were either killed in action or executed - and today they are almost unheard of.

More than half a century after his death, Lt Col.

"e;The finest account I've read on the Selous Scouts .

Drawing upon Soviet sources, this book assesses the evolving organization, uniforms, insignia, weaponry and personal equipment of Soviet naval infantry units from 1917 to 1991.

On 21 June 1941, as the Wehrmacht stormed forward across the frontiers of the Soviet Union, Hitler instituted a new higher grade of the Knight's Cross decoration for gallantry and leadership: the silver clasp of the Oak-Leaves with Swords.

The Difficult War: Perspectives on Insurgency and Special Operations Forces is a collection of essays that deals with theoretical concepts related to insurgency as well as to the practice of irregular warfare.

Volume 2 continues the history of the U.

Author Lena Sisco, a former Department of Defense Military Interrogator and U.

Although ultimately unsuccessful, Operation Agreement was one of the most dramatic raids of the war in North Africa.

Few branches of the German armed forces were represented on so many fronts as the mountain infantrymen, or Gebirgstruppen.

While sharing some weapons systems with the other US Forces, the Marine Corps has developed its own distinctive approach to matters of dress, personal equipment and armament.

Just five hours after radio contact was first made with Basher 52-O'Grady's call sign-the Air Force captain was safely on board the USS Kearsarge.

'Drawing on the stories of the soldiers who were there, this dramatic history of the SAS is full of bravado.

Thomas Percy Gleave began his RAF career in 1930, three years later becoming a member of the RAF aerobatic team.

The decision, in Spring 1948, to form two battalions of Foreign Legion paratroopers was prompted by the requirement for enlarged airborne forces in Indochina, and the healthy recruitment then employed by the Legion.

A fascinating insight into US and Coalition Special Forces operating in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Mali.

The author of The Kompromat Conspiracy reveals the truth behind Great Britain’s secret World War II group.

From the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 until the Japanese surrender in August 1945, a multitude of military and civil-defence forces strove to support the Japanese war effort and latterly prepared to defend the Home Islands against invasion.

The Great Patriotic War began on 22 June 1941, when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union.

'Wonderful .

The campaign in North Africa between September 1940 and May 1943 holds an enduring fascination for postwar generations.

A detailed study of one of the most influential commanders of World War II, one who is often regarded as a 'flawed genius'.

Gavin Mortimer reveals the 12 legendary Special Forces commanders of World War II.

The evolution of the Rangers' missions in Panama, the first Gulf War, Somalia and the post 9/11 invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, written by an expert on modern Special Forces units.

Overshadowed by the dramatic British failure at Arnhem, the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were a vital component of Operation Market-Garden and succeeded in capturing their objectives at Eindhoven and Nijmegen.

As part of an elite special operations unit at the fighting edge of the Global War on Terrorism, Nicholas Moore spent over a decade with the US Army's 75th Ranger Regiment on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Each great samurai warlord, or daimyo, had a division of troops known as the Hatamoto, 'those who stand under the flag'.

Driven by the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the insecurities it provoked in Saddam Hussein's Iraqi dictatorship, the Iran Iraq War would become the largest conventional conflict of the period.

The Imperial Japanese Navy's Special Landing Force units enjoyed a reputation out of proportion to their small size.

Few of the combatants of World War II have captured the imagination as compulsively as the Fallschirmj ger.

One of the most difficult security challenges of the postCold War era has been stabilizing failing states in an era of irregular warfare.

Featuring battlescene maps, contemporary photographs and diagrams throughout, this is the first organizational history of the MIKE forces in combat.

Made up of members of the Coldstream and Scots Guards, British Yeomanry cavalry regiments, New Zealanders, South Africans, and Indian Army men, the Long Range Desert Group was perhaps the most effective of all the "special forces" established by the Allies during the Second World War.

A highly illustrated study of this unique and bitter struggle in the far North, an epic battle between two elite forces fighting in a demanding environment.