The Devil's Sandbox

The Devil's Sandbox
Author: John R. Bruning
Publisher: Zenith Press
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2006-10-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0760323941

Citizen soldiers have played a unique role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - and their extended deployment and role in the wars battles have changed the towns, cities, and states they hail from as well. The Devil's Sandbox - a nickname for Iraq - is the story of the 2nd Battalion of Oregon's 162nd Infantry Regiment (2/162), and provides readers an intimate look at the reality of National Guardsmen at war. Follow the 2/162 from their call-up in the summer of 2003 to their return home in the spring of 2005. Witness some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraq War and some of the most rewarding and forward-looking civil affairs projects aimed at rebuilding the broken nation of Iraq. Read how the town in Oregon struggles to do without the people - the accountants, lawyers, mechanics, et. al. - who went to serve in the war. The Devil's Sandbox offers a rare insight into what this war means for the citizen-soldier at home and abroad, and chronicles a battalion that earned the respect of the regular Army soldiers who fought alongside them in some of the toughest battles in the Iraq war.

Honor Before Glory

Honor Before Glory
Author: Scott McGaugh
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2016-10-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 0306824469

On October 24, 1944, more than two hundred American soldiers realized they were surrounded by German infantry deep in the mountain forest of eastern France. As their dwindling food, ammunition, and medical supplies ran out, the American commanding officer turned to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team to achieve what other units had failed to do. Honor Before Glory is the story of the 442nd, a segregated unit of Japanese American citizens, commanded by white officers, that finally rescued the "lost battalion." Their unmatched courage and sacrifice under fire became legend-all the more remarkable because many of the soldiers had volunteered from prison-like "internment" camps where sentries watched their mothers and fathers from the barbed-wire perimeter. In seven campaigns, these young Japanese American men earned more than 9,000 Purple Hearts, 6,000 Bronze and Silver Stars, and nearly two dozen Medals of Honor. The 442nd became the most decorated unit of its size in World War II: its soldiers earned 18,100 awards and decorations, more than one for every man. Honor Before Glory is their story-a story of a young generation's fight against both the enemy and American prejudice-a story of heroism, sacrifice, and the best America has to offer.

The Battalion

The Battalion
Author: Robert W. Black
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2013-08-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0811752615

Follows a legendary unit of American fighting men from D-Day through the end of World War II.

Our Liberators

Our Liberators
Author: W. J. Blanchard
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007
Genre: World War, 1939-1945
ISBN: 9781587368103

"Our Liberators: The Combat History of the 746th Tank Battalion during World War II" recounts the combat history of one of four independent tank battalions of the U.S. Army armored forces to land in Normandy on D-day. Overlooked in other accounts of the war, their story is finally told in day-by-day detail from the battalion records and personal interviews compiled by the author. The battalion's history in combat starts with their close support during D-day of the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions to clear the Normandy peninsula of German occupation. This is a revealing story of brave young men in their Sherman tanks thrust into combat against a stubborn foe. Their bravery and fighting skills, developed during the first few days of the invasion, guided them through the rest of the war and forged the unit into a decorated fighting tank independent battalion. Shortly after D-day, they partnered with the Ninth Infanry Division and supported elements of the V and VII Corps of the First Army. They then proceeded through France, Belgium, and finally Germany. They engaged in combat against their foe with the First Infantry Division during the campaign for the Roer River dams. They were part of the rapid-pace drive across France with the Ninth Infantry Division. In the Rhineland Campaign, they helped pierce the West Wall, and then, with the Ninth Armored Division, they became the first independent tank battalion to cross the Rhine River at Remagen and establish a bridgehead. They helped seal the Ruhr Pocket, and then proceeded across Central Germany to clear a path so that the Allied forces could come together at the Elbe River to end the war. The author takes the reader through combat with the battalion, using maps and pictures to capture the many faces of the tanker-soldiers of World War II in the European Theater of Operations.

To the Limit of Endurance

To the Limit of Endurance
Author: Owen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-02
Genre:
ISBN: 9781623491567

Scholars and historians offer several theories for the crippling losses suffered by the American Expeditionary Forces on the battlefields of World War I: inexperience, poor leadership, hasty expansion of duties, and others. But until now, most of these studies have focused at the division level or higher. Now, with To the Limit of Endurance, Peter F. Owen offers a tautly worded, historically rigorous, and intensely human survey of the agonizing burden shouldered by the Second Battalion of the Sixth Regiment of U.S. Marines from its formation in Quantico, Virginia, in 1917 until the cessation of hostilities in November of the following year. In places like Belleau Wood and Soissons, these young men, led by dedicated officers, died in staggering numbers--primarily because of the outmoded tactics they had learned. Owen shows how the battalion regrouped after these campaigns, however, and embarked on a period of intense retraining. By the time of the closing weeks of the war, the adjustments they had made allowed them to mold themselves into a coldly efficient military machine. Drawing on a treasure trove of surviving first-hand accounts, Owen expertly combines these individual observations with military records and archival sources to create a mosaic that provides not only a case study of how one organization grappled with transformation but also a tightly focused, ground-level view of the lives--and deaths--of these courageous American military men. The grueling, ultimately triumphant odyssey of the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines will appeal to military historians, professional soldiers, and interested general readers.

A Sniper in the Arizona

A Sniper in the Arizona
Author: John Culbertson
Publisher: Presidio Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2008-12-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0307559823

"Morning was always a welcome sight to us. It meant two things. The first was that we were still alive. . . ." In 1967, death was the constant companion of the Marines of Hotel Company, 2/5, as they patrolled the paddy dikes, mud, and mountains of the Arizona Territory southwest of Da Nang. But John Culbertson and most of the rest of Hotel Company were the same lean, fighting Marines who had survived the carnage of Operation Tuscaloosa. Hotel's grunts walked over the enemy, not around him. In graphic terms, John Culbertson describes the daily, dangerous life of a soldier fighting in a country where the enemy was frequently indistinguishable from the allies, fought tenaciously, and thought nothing of using civilians as a shield. Though he was one of the top marksmen in 1st Marine Division Sniper School in Da Nang in March 1967--a class of just eighteen, chosen from the division's twenty thousand Marines--Culbertson knew that against the VC and the NVA, good training and experience could carry you just so far. But his company's mission was to find and engage the enemy, whatever the price. This riveting, bloody first-person account offers a stark testimony to the stuff U.S. Marines are made of.

THE IRISH GUARDS: The First & the Second Battalion in the Great War (Complete Edition)

THE IRISH GUARDS: The First & the Second Battalion in the Great War (Complete Edition)
Author: Rudyard Kipling
Publisher: DigiCat
Total Pages: 786
Release: 2023-12-17
Genre: History
ISBN:

This carefully edited collection has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Excerpt: "These volumes try to give soberly and with what truth is possible, the experiences of both battalions of the Irish Guards from 1914 to 1918. The point of view is the battalions', and the facts mainly follow the Regimental Diaries, supplemented by the few private letters and documents which such a war made possible, and by some tales that have gathered round men and their actions." Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist. He wrote tales and poems of British soldiers in India and stories for children. He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".

The Official History of the Second Regiment of Engineers and Second Engineer Train, United States Army, in the World War

The Official History of the Second Regiment of Engineers and Second Engineer Train, United States Army, in the World War
Author: United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Regiment, 2nd
Publisher:
Total Pages: 314
Release: 1920
Genre: History
ISBN:

The Official History of the Second Regiment of Engineers and Second Engineer Train, United States Army, In the World War by William Augustus Mitchell, first published in 1920, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.

Lost Battalion of Tet

Lost Battalion of Tet
Author: Charles A Krohn
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2013-05-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612512070

Published to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, this new paperback edition brings back into print a book that became an essential source for a 2006 study of the battle by the U.S. Army s Center of Military History. It takes a critical look at what went wrong in early 1968 during one of the first engagements of Tet, when a U.S. infantry battalion was ordered to attack a large North Vietnamese force near Hue City without air or artillery support. The tragic military foul-up resulted in over 60 percent casualties for the 2d Battalion, 12th Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, when the soldiers were surrounded by the enemy and began running out of ammunition. The bold decision by battalion commander Lt. Col. Richard Sweet to break out with his remaining soldiers under cover of darkness saved this encirclement from being a total disaster. Author Charles Krohn, the unit s intelligence officer at the time, provides a much-needed analysis of what took place and fills his account with details that have been confirmed as factual by other survivors. Krohn examines the battalion s involvement in two other major attacks for lessons learned when vital systems break down lessons, he says, that are timeless and applicable anywhere. This book is published in cooperation with the Association of the United States Army.