Twice a year, 150 anxious recruits gather at SAS headquarters in the UK, their minds focused on one objective: to become SAS soldiers in one of the world’s most elite regiments. Yet between arriving and receiving the famous winged dagger badge, stands nearly four months of the toughest military selection process in the world.Could you rise to this exceptional challenge of mind and body? The SAS Training Manual shows you how. Beginning with essential preparation, the book c...

You can train all you like, but when it comes to the crunch, do you have the mental endurance to see yourself through combat situations, being held hostage or finding yourself at the mercy of the elements? SAS and Elite Forces Handbook: Mental Endurance examines what it takes to be as mentally fit as a special forces soldier. It is equally important to focus on diet, rest patterns and mental discipline as it is to concentrate on push-ups, sit-ups and other physical exercises. Using simple ...

Featuring specially commissioned artwork and carefully chosen photographs, this study charts the SVD Dragunov rifle's development, combat use and lasting legacy, from Vietnam to Syria.Developed as a medium-range sniping rifle in the Soviet Union during the 1960s, the Dragunov stood out against most Western sniping rifle types by being semi-automatic, a configuration that marginally lowers accuracy compared to bolt-action sniping rifles, but which allows for faster ...

With the aid of superb line artworks, the Elite Forces Handbook: Hunting demonstrates the core skills involved in being a self-reliant hunter. From tracking large game to shooting wild pheasant, this book is the essential guide to finding, killing and surviving off animals in the wild. The book offers useful tips on a vast array of topics, including laying traps, building your own weapons, deciphering tracks, skinning and butchering your kill, cooking meat and building smokehouses. It also...

A view into the world of the intrepid but often forgotten seamen who helped the Allies win WWII.They may not have worn gold braid or medals, but the Allied Merchant Navies in World War II provided a vital service to their countries' war efforts. Hundreds of thousands of British and American sailors—some as young as fourteen—faced considerable risks to maintain an essential flow of armaments, equipment, and food: submarines, mines, armed raiders and destroyers, airc...

During World War II, it quickly became apparent that the physical and tactical demands placed upon paratroopers required men of exceptional stamina, courage and intelligence. To create these soldiers, levels of training were unusually punishing and protracted, and those who came through to take their "wings" were a true elite.The Paratrooper Training Pocket Manual 1939–1945 provides an unusually detailed look into what it took to make a military paratrooper during the Seco...

The story of the 100 most influential weapons in history.Our history has been shaped and changed by weapons: the smallest advances in weapons development have helped to build and overthrow empires, changed the course of civilization, driven modern technology, and won wars.For thousands of years, individual pieces of weaponry have come to symbolize struggles and nations, from the Roman gladius to the English longbow, and from the flintlock musket through to ...

Using excerpts from contemporary training manuals, this pocket manual is an insight into the preparation of the troops involved in Operation Overlord.The success of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, depended on thousands of troops carrying out their mission and the seamless coordination of the amphibious landings with paratrooper and glider assaults. The troops not only had to be trained up ready for their own roles, but to work alongside other troops, often coor...

An illustrated study of how coalition armor in Iraq in 2003–06 handled a unique multi-threat environment, from enemy armor to IEDs.On 20 March 2003, Coalition forces launched the invasion of Iraq on a massive scale. Their armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) faced an uncertain level of resistance, and soon had to overcome a wide range of enemy threats. These included tank vs tank clashes during the first days of the invasion (most famously at Basra and Mahmoudiyah), an...

Who’s going to guide you when your military boot camp class is over? What’s going to help you prepare for the next boot camp challenge? With the aid of superb line artworks, SAS and Elite Forces Guide: Extreme Fitness demonstrates to the reader how special forces soldiers are trained to reach and maintain peak physical fitness.The book explores the different training methods to build up physical strength, speed, agility and endurance, across running, swimming, weight train...

A history of the Red Army, Soviet Army and Russian Army in 100 years of conflict.From the chaos of the civil war to the political manoeuvring of the Cold War, Russia's armed forces have shaped the future not only of Russia but of countless other countries around the globe.The Great Bear at War: The Russian and Soviet Army, 1917–Present explores the development and struggles of Soviet and Russian armed forces across the numerous conflicts which mark...

The M4 carbine has become one of the defining military firearms of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Developed as a fusion of the XM177E2 Colt Commando and the M16A2 assault rifle, the M4 offered a more convenient battlefield firearm than the full-length M16 variants, and the US Army adopted it as the standard infantry weapon in the 1990s. Today, military and law-enforcement personnel of more than 60 countries have adopted either the M4 or the M4A1 variant, both of which have been te...