Index, bibliography, ill (col), p.172.non-fictionOn 7 June 1917, the British Second Army launched its attack on Messines Ridge, detonating 19 giant mines beneath the German front-line positions. By the end of the day, one of the strongest positions on the Western Front had fallen, a place of such importance that the Germans had pledged to hold it at any cost. It was the greatest British victory in three years of war. The first two years of the First World War had represented an almost unending catalogue of disaster for the Australians. Messines was not only their first real victory, it was also the first test in senior command for Major General John Monash who commanded the newly formed 3rd Division and would later be hailed as Australia's greatest soldier. Messines was a baptism of fire for the 3rd Division which came into the line alongside the battle-scarred 4th Australian Division, badly mauled at Bullecourt just six weeks earlier in one of the worst defeats of the war. The fighting at Messines would descend into unimaginable savagery, a lethal and sometimes hand-to-hand affair of bayonets, clubs, bombs and incessant machine-gun fire, described by one Australian as '72 hours of Hell'. After their string of bloody defeats over 1915 and 1916, Messines would be the ultimate test for the Australians. Collapse summary world war 1914-1918- campaigns - western front, battles of messines - australian participation - 1917

Index, bibliography, ill (maps), p.248.non-fictionThis abridged edition of the bestselling 'Fromelles' includes the recent discovery of the largest mass war grave since the Second World War, the recovery of the missing Diggers' remains and the names of those who have been identified, as well as the opening of the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery in 2010.world war 1914 - 1918 - campaigns - western front - fromelles, war graves - france

Index, ill, maps, p.584.non-fictionArmageddon tells the story of the climactic months of the Second World War, the destruction of Hitler's Germany. Max Hastings has researched archives in four countries and interviewed 170 witnesses to piece together a saga that is at once fascinating military history and the greatest human tragedy of the twentieth century." "This book follows Max Hastings's earlier acclaimed studies of the Second World War, including Overlord and Bomber Command, in examining a great sweep of history with massive research and a host of new insights." "Armageddon embraces the fates of more than a hundred million people, men and women, old and very young, from the tragic teenage fanatics who died in the ruins of Hitler's Reich to the British 'Tommies' who simply yearned to finish a painful job and go home. Few books on the Second World War have so vividly brought together the story of the battlefields, east and west, with the decisions of the generals and the impact of great events upon ordinary soldiers and civilians.world war 1939-1945 - battles - germany, world war 1939-1945 - history

Index, bibliography, maps, ill, p.173.non-fictionThe German army in the Second World War sought to fight and win swift, decisive victories in a succession of short campaigns - blitzkrieg, or lightning war. Flexibility was as essential as the will to win. Battle groups, or shock troops, were created from miscellaneous, and often disparate military units to undertake a specific local operation; it was the army's skill in combining superior numbers, aggressive tactics and the battle group commander's ability to exploit the changing situation on the ground which brought success on the battlefield.

The actions described here cover all theatres of the war, and include battle groups large and small, deployed usually to smash a breach in the enemy line or seal off an enemy penetration. It covers operations in the first dynamic years when Wehrmacht forces defeated the armies of one European country after another in fast campaigns, through to the years after Stalingrad and Africa as they moved towards defeat. 

The battle groups' contribution to Wehrmacht fortunes offer powerful lessons in the tactics of battle management and this book by James Lucas, a military historian known for his close studies of the German soldier, is considered to be one of the most detailed and authoritative accounts on the subject. Collapse summary germany - armed forces - history, germany - regimental histories

Index, bibliography, notes, ill, maps, p.592.non-fictionEven Stalin was awed by D-Day. 'In the whole history of war, ' he wrote to Churchill, 'there has never been such an undertaking.' Those who took part in the great cross-Channel invasion, whether soldier, sailor or airman, would never forget the sight. It was by far the largest invasion fleet ever known.world war 1939-1945 - campaigns - france, operation overlord