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Mortar Gunner On The Eastern Front Volume Ii
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Book Synopsis Mortar Gunner on the Eastern Front. Volume II by : Hans Heinz Rehfeldt
Download or read book Mortar Gunner on the Eastern Front. Volume II written by Hans Heinz Rehfeldt and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2019-10-30 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Returning to his old unit, the grenade launcher, in May 1944, he experienced the heavy defensive battles in Romania as a platoon commander and from August 1944 in East Prussia and Lithuania. After being transferred by ship from Memel to Königsberg in late 1944, he took part in the battles for Ostprussen in the winter of 1944/1945. Constantly exposed to the attacks of Russian bombers and fighter planes and severely wounded by shrapnel on the leg, he manages, with the help of a Russian volunteer and a horse-drawn vehicle from Balga to Rosenberg, from there by ship transport via Pillau to ?winouj?cie and by train to Schwerin. Fleeing the impending Russian imprisonment to the west, he falls into American captivity on 3 May 1945 and is released in July 1945 in the home. Memories of a corporal and platoon commander in the grenade launcher 1943-1945
Book Synopsis MORTAR GUNNER ON THE EASTERN FRONT by : HANS HEINZ. REHFELDT
Download or read book MORTAR GUNNER ON THE EASTERN FRONT written by HANS HEINZ. REHFELDT and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Mortar Gunner on the Eastern Front by : Hans-Heinz Rehfeldt
Download or read book Mortar Gunner on the Eastern Front written by Hans-Heinz Rehfeldt and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Mortar Gunner on the Eastern Front Volume I by : Hans Heinz Rehfeldt
Download or read book Mortar Gunner on the Eastern Front Volume I written by Hans Heinz Rehfeldt and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2019-09-30 with total page 521 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first volume of the World War II diaries of Nazi mortar gunner constantly pushed to the brink of death while fighting against Russia. Following his Abitur (A-levels) in 1940, Hans Heinz Rehfeldt volunteered for Germany’s Panzer Arm but was trained on the heavy mortar and heavy MG with Grossdeutschland Division. In 1941, he was on the Front fighting for the city of Tula, south of Moscow. Battling in freezing conditions without winter clothes, they resorted to using those taken from Soviet corpses. In 1942, his battalion fought near Oriel, suffered heavy losses, and disbanded. Ill with frostbitten legs, Rehfeldt was treated in hospital, and once recovered, was dispatched back to the Front. Following various battles (Werch, Bolchov) his battalion again suffered heavy losses and it merged. In agony from severe frostbite to his legs, Rehfeldt defied the odds and astonished his surgeon when he walked again. He was promoted from Gunner to Trained Private Soldier in 1942, and to Corporal for bravery in the field in 1943. He was also awarded numerous honors, including the Wound Badge and the Infantry Assault Badge. On 3 May 1945, he was captured by U.S. Forces and held as a POW for one month in a camp at Waschow before internment in Holstein where he was released in July 1945, after agreeing to work on the land. Then, in December 1945, he put his past behind him and began studying for his future career: veterinary medicine.
Book Synopsis Mortar Gunner on the Eastern Front by : Hans Heinz Rehfeldt
Download or read book Mortar Gunner on the Eastern Front written by Hans Heinz Rehfeldt and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2019-04-30 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A visceral account from contemporaneous diaries of a soldier who frequently came close to death but somehow survived. Following his Abitur (A-levels) in 1940, Rehfeldt volunteered for the Panzer Arm but was trained on the heavy mortar and heavy MG with Grossdeutschland Division. He was on the Front from 1941 fighting for the city of Tula, south of Moscow. Battling in freezing conditions, at its lowest -52?, the descriptions of the privations are vivid and terrifying. With no winter clothes they resorted to using those taken from Soviet corpses. In 1942, fighting in Russia, however, his battalion suffered heavy losses and was disbanded. Ill with frostbitten legs, Rehfeldt was treated in hospital and once recovered was dispatched to the Front. Following various hard-fought battles his battalion again suffered heavy losses and it merged. In agony from severe frostbite to his legs, Rehfeldt defied the odds and astonished his surgeon when he walked again. He was promoted from Gunner to Trained Private Soldier in 1942, and to Corporal for bravery in the field in 1943. He was awarded numerous honours including the Wound Badge and the Infantry Assault Badge. On 3 May 1945 he was captured by US Forces and held as PoW for one month in a camp at Waschow before internment in Holstein from where he was released in July 1945 after agreeing to work on the land. In December 1945 he began studying veterinary medicine: his future career. This astonishing account of a man who kept bouncing back from near death is a testament to the author’s determination and sheer strength of spirit.
Book Synopsis Radio Operator on the Eastern Front by : Erhard Steiniger
Download or read book Radio Operator on the Eastern Front written by Erhard Steiniger and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2021-04-14 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true and dramatic testimony of a German grenadier during World War II. Erhard Steiniger joined his Wehrmacht unit on 12 October 1940 as a radio operator, a role which required his constant presence with troops at the Front, right during combat. On 22 June 1941, he accompanied his division to Lithuania where he experienced the catastrophic first day of Operation Barbarossa. He later witnessed intense clashes during the conquest of the Baltic islands and the battles leading up to Leningrad on the Volkhov and Lake Ladoga. He describes the retreat from battles in Estonia, Kurland and East Prussia and his eventual surrender and captivity in Siberia. He finally returned to Germany in October 1949, a broken man. From the first page to the last, this is a captivating eyewitness account of the horrors of war. Praise for Radio Operator on the Eastern Front “This often subdued, but continuously hypnotic, memoir is rare since it offers so much information, knowledge, and insight about the enemy from the beginning of the war on the Eastern Front right up to Steiniger’s release from a prison camp in Russia and return to Germany in 1949.” —ARGunners.com “Witting testimony of a German radio operator—a extraordinary account from a German perspective. Fascinating.” —Books Monthly
Book Synopsis Red Army Tank Commander by : Vasiliy Bryukhov
Download or read book Red Army Tank Commander written by Vasiliy Bryukhov and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-04-08 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vivid firsthand account of armored warfare by a WWII Soviet tank commander. What was it like to command a T-34 tank on the Eastern Front during the Second World War? How were tank operations organized and carried out, what was the actual experience of combat, and what were the qualities that made the difference between success and failure? And what were the chances of survival? Vasiliy Pavlovich Bryukhov’s vivid, detailed, and gripping memoir of his wartime service gives a fascinating and authentic insight into these questions. It also provides an accurate, unsentimental record of the day-to-day life of a tankman whose unit fought in the forefront of the Red Army throughout the conflict across the western Soviet Union and into eastern Europe. His first-hand eyewitness account is a memorable personal story that provides a powerful insight into the reality of tank warfare seventy-five years ago.
Book Synopsis Blood Red Snow by : Gunter Koschorrek
Download or read book Blood Red Snow written by Gunter Koschorrek and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2011-04-13 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Günter Koschorrek wrote his illicit diary on any scraps of paper he could lay his hands on, storing them with his mother on infrequent trips home on leave. The diary went missing, and it was not until he was reunited with his daughter in America some forty years later that it came to light and became Blood Red Snow. The authors excitement at the first encounter with the enemy in the Russian Steppe is obvious. Later, the horror and confusion of fighting in the streets of Stalingrad are brought to life by his descriptions of the others in his unit their differing manners and techniques for dealing with the squalor and death. He is also posted to Romania and Italy, assignments he remembers fondly compared to his time on the Eastern Front. This book stands as a memorial to the huge numbers on both sides who did not survive and is, some six decades later, the fulfilment of a responsibility the author feels to honour the memory of those who perished.
Book Synopsis Born Under a Lucky Star by : Ivan Makarov
Download or read book Born Under a Lucky Star written by Ivan Makarov and published by . This book was released on 2020-11-17 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Synopsis.History is written by the victors, but the harsh reality of war can only be depicted by its soldiers. As a Russian recruit in World War II, Ivan Makarov witnessed General Chuikov pull out his pistol and shoot their regimental commander as a traitor. Then thrown into an open field to face German tank and artillery fire with only rifles and machine guns of their own, it took only six days at the Eastern Front for three-quarters of a regiment of 2,000 men to be wiped out. Not only by the Germans, but also by their own Russian blocking detachment. At this rate, Ivan struggled to comprehend how he would survive the hundreds of battles that lay before him, with death seeming to be the only certainty. But Ivan was a wise soul and a brave soldier, who fought for his life, no matter how hopeless or fatal the situation. In his raw and trenchant memoir, Ivan recounts in detail the terror and despair faced by a Red Army soldier on the Eastern Front.He has no sympathy for Stalin and his incompetent commanders, who sought awards and recognition at the expense of their soldiers' lives. He simply wanted to serve his country. It is rare to find first-hand accounts of the Great Patriotic War from Red Army soldiers, as many did not survive to tell the tale. For the first time, Ivan reveals his gripping recollections of battles, times, places, and people encountered over the course of World War II from when he was drafted in 1941 until their victory. These recollections re-lived over a lifetime he dared not put on paper until 1992. About the Author. Ivan Makarov was my grandfather on my mother's side. He was a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. From my childhood, I remember that he loved to tell stories about the war--about his childhood and life. Ivan also had an old typewriter and was constantly typing on it. In early 2000, he came to visit us, gave a bundle of printed stories to my mother, and said, "These are my memoirs of the war, one day you should publish a book. Let people know the real truth about the war, as all my life, I have never seen the real war portrayed in any book or movie."There are hardly any accounts detailing what the war was like for a Red Army soldier from the front line, especially in the first years. A profoundly changed man returned from there. Those who managed to return, as a rule, did not like and could not recount the real events that had transpired, and many of the Russian military documents of those years are still inaccessible to the public.Ivan wrote these stories from 1992 to 1998, after the Soviet Union collapsed and it became possible to talk about what had really happened openly. Before this time, he could easily go to prison for such writings. This book is a collection of individual stories. These events Ivan recalls in detail, from Stalingrad to Germany. During the first half of the war, Ivan was a machine gunner and a regimental scout during the second. He talks about what he personally saw and experienced during the war, and what difficulties were faced by ordinary soldiers. Ivan describes how he was captured by the Germans, escaped, and returned to the Red Army, and how he served in the machine gun company once more. Later, he was assigned to the army's intelligence services and performed special tasks. Despite all the difficulties on the front line, he maintained his desire to live, managed to survive, and returned to Russia.These stories I found in my mother's house before I moved to Australia in 2014. I started reading and could not stop, I found them captivating. After reading and making copies, I decided that it was necessary to publish the book and even translate it into English. Usually, the authors of Russian war memoirs were commanders or political workers, whose stories were vastly different
Book Synopsis Infantry in Battle by : Infantry School (U.S.)
Download or read book Infantry in Battle written by Infantry School (U.S.) and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1934 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis The True Story of the Great Escape by : Jonathan F. Vance
Download or read book The True Story of the Great Escape written by Jonathan F. Vance and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2019-08-30 with total page 525 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The real history behind the classic war movie and the men who plotted the daring escape from a Nazi POW camp. Between dusk and dawn on the night of March 24th–25th 1944, a small army of Allied soldiers crawled through tunnels in Germany in a covert operation the likes of which the Third Reich had never seen. The prison break from Stalag Luft III in eastern Germany was the largest of its kind in the Second World War. Seventy-nine Allied soldiers and airmen made it outside the wire—but only three made it outside Nazi Germany. Fifty were executed by the Gestapo. In this book Jonathan Vance tells the incredible story that was made famous by the 1963 film The Great Escape. It is a classic tale of prisoners and their wardens in a battle of wits and wills. The brilliantly conceived escape plan is overshadowed only by the colorful, daring (and sometimes very funny) crew who executed it—literally under the noses of German guards. From the men’s first days in Stalag Luft III and the forming of bonds among them, to the tunnel building, amazing escape, and eventual capture, Vance’s history is a vivid, compelling look at one of the greatest “exfiltration” missions of all time. “Shows the variety and depth of the men sent into harm’s way during World War II, something emphasized by the population of Stalag Luft III. Most of the Allied POWs were flyers, with all the technical, tactical and planning skills that profession requires. Such men are independent thinkers, craving open air and wide-open spaces, which meant that an obsession with escape was almost inevitable.” —John D. Gresham
Book Synopsis Operation Colossus by : Lawrence Paterson
Download or read book Operation Colossus written by Lawrence Paterson and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2020-06-24 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lawrence Paterson’s groundbreaking new book is a detailed account of the now legendary Operation Colossus, the first British airborne raid of the Second World War, which took place in Basilicata, Italy on 10 February 1941. Britain was one of the last major powers of the Second World War to establish an airborne arm of service. Formed by a collection of free-thinking army and air force officers, the fledgling British paratrooper unit, known as the ‘SAS’, deployed trial and error in terms of tactics and equipment, costing the lives of several volunteers before an elite few were selected to make the first British parachute raid of the war. Alongside the paratroopers were two veterans of the First World War: an Italian SOE agent, formerly a banqueting manager in London hotels, and an RAF reserve officer who held the Military Cross for bravery. Collectively known as ‘X-Troop’, these men were parachuted by specially selected bomber crews into the heart of enemy territory, where they successfully destroyed their target, the Tragino Aqueduct, before becoming the object of an exhaustive manhunt by Italian troops and civilians. Captured, they were variously interrogated, imprisoned, and the Italian SOE agent placed on trial for treason and executed. Given the distances that had to be covered, the logistical complications and the lack of any precedent, the raid was a remarkable feat. Its success or failure depended on a group of men using methods and equipment thus far untried by the British Army. They were truly ‘guinea pigs’ for those that would follow in their footsteps. Often overlooked in British military history, Paterson brings this extraordinary episode to light, drawing on verbatim testimony and interrogating the truth of previous accounts. From the formation of the unit and the build up to its first deployment, through Operation Colossus and its aftermath, to its ongoing legacy today, this is the fascinating story of the modern day British Parachute Regiment.
Book Synopsis Toward Combined Arms Warfare by : Jonathan Mallory House
Download or read book Toward Combined Arms Warfare written by Jonathan Mallory House and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1985 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Otto Kretschmer by : Lawrence Paterson
Download or read book Otto Kretschmer written by Lawrence Paterson and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2018-01-30 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Otto Kretschmer was only in combat from September 1939 until March 1941 but was Germany's highest-scoring U-boat commander sinking 47 ships totaling 274,333 tons. This definitive work details his personal story and the political backdrop from his earliest days. Aged 17 he spent 8 months studying literature at Exeter University where he learned to speak English fluently. The following year, on 1 April 1930, he enlisted as an officer candidate in the Weimar Republic's small navy. After completing his officer training and time on the training ship Niobe he served aboard the light cruiser Emden. In December 1934 he was transferred to the light cruiser Köln, then in January 1936 made the move to the fledgling U-boat service. His first operational posting was to the 2nd U-Flotilla’s Type VII U35 where he almost being drowned during training in the Baltic Sea! During the Spanish Civil War, he was involved in several patrols as part of the international nonintervention force. He was finally given command of U23, a post which he held until April 1940. He had already sunk 8 ships including the destroyer HMS Daring east of Pentland Firth on 18 February 1940. He demonstrated a cool approach to combat: his mantra ‘one torpedo for one ship’ proved that the best way for his boat to succeed against a convoy was to remain surfaced as much as possible, penetrating the convoy and using the boat’s high speed and small silhouette to avoid retaliation. His nickname ‘Silent Otto’ referred to his ability to remain undetected and his reluctance to provide the regular radio reports required by Dönitz: he had guessed that the Allies had broken German codes. Alongside his military skill was a character that remained rooted in the traditions of the Prussian military. While other U-boat commanders and crew returned from patrol with beards and a relaxed demeanor, U99 always returned with all men clean-shaven and paraded on deck. In the Bowmanville POW camp he organized a 2-way radio link to the German Naval High Command and planned a mass breakout with a U-boat rendezvous arranged. He was also instrumental in the ‘Battle of Bowmanville’ that lasted for 3 days in October 1942. His antics behind the wire became the inspiration for the 1970 film ‘The McKenzie Break’. Postwar he answered the call for volunteers upon the establishment of the Bundesmarine. He retired from the rank of Flotillenadmiral in 1970. He suffered a fall celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary aboard a boat and died two days later at the age of 86.
Book Synopsis The Greenhill Dictionary of Military Quotations by : Peter G Tsouras
Download or read book The Greenhill Dictionary of Military Quotations written by Peter G Tsouras and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2020-05-18 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative compilation of military history quotes from 2000 BC to the present day. 'A massive compilation casting light not only upon the pain, suffering and sheer insanity of war, but also upon the unique comradeship and exhilaration of battle... this is a valuable addition to the literature of reference.' - The Spectator Peter Tsouras brings 4,000 years of military history to life through the words of more than 800 soldiers, commanders, military theorists and commentators on war. Quotes by diverse personalities – Napoleon, Machiavelli, Atatürk, 'Che' Guevara, Rommel, Julius Caesar, Wellington, Xenophon, Crazy Horse, Wallenstein, T.E. Lawrence, Saladin, Zhukov, Eisenhower and many more – sit side by side to build a comprehensive picture of war across the ages. Broken down into more then 480 categories, covering courage, danger, failure, leadership, luck, military intelligence, tactics, training, guerrilla warfare and victory, this definitive guide draws on the collected wisdom of those who have experienced war at every level. From the brutality and suffering of war, to the courage and camaraderie of soldiers, to the glory and exhilaration of battle, these quotes offer an insight into the turbulent history of warfare and the lives and deeds of great warriors.
Book Synopsis Stalag Luft III by : Charles Messenger
Download or read book Stalag Luft III written by Charles Messenger and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2019-03-30 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In early 1942 the Third Reich opened a maximum security prisoner-of-war camp in Lower Silesia for captured Allied airmen. Called Stalag Luft III, the camp soon came to contain some of the most inventive escapers ever known.The escapers were led by Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, codenamed 'Big X'. In March 1944, Bushell masterminded an attempt to smuggle hundreds of POWs down a tunnel built right under the noses of their guards. In fact, 76 Allied airmen clambered into the tunnel and only three made successful escapes.This remarkable breakout would be immortalized in the famous Hollywood film The Great Escape, in which the bravery of the men was rightly celebrated. Behind the scenes photographs from the film are included in this definitive pictorial work on the most famous POW camp of World War II.
Download or read book Snipers at War written by John Walter and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Snipers at War is a detailed history and analysis of the equipment, tactics and personalities of the ‘sniping world’, from the pursuit of accuracy to the latest electronic aids to observation and ranging. Technology and marksmanship from the Crimean War to the present day is examined in detail. The role of the sniper was largely ignored until the Winter War of 1939-40 between Finland and the USSR showed what could be achieved by specialist marksmen: Finn Simo Häyhä amassed 505 kills in less than a hundred days, a lesson learned by the Red Army to its cost. By the Germans invasion of 1941 the Russians were prepared: when the war ended, in addition to men such as Vasiliy Zaytsev, a Stalingrad hero with 242 accredited kills, the USSR had trained more than 2000 women as snipers. After 1945, the sniper’s reputation declined again. However, the Vietnam War, seemingly unending Middle Eastern conflict, internal strife in Sri Lanka, and ever-present urban threats have given new impetus not only to sniping but also to the development of new and more effective weaponry.
