The failure of the Maginot Line shocked the world and lead to the sudden collapse of organized French resistance against Germany.Constructed throughout the 1930s, the Maginot Line was supposed to form the ultimate defence against a German invasion of France. However, different sections of the line were built at different times and the strength of various sections varied widely. During their Blitzkrieg invasion, the Germans were able to identify these weak points an...

As the outbreak of World War II approached, Nazi Germany ordered artillery manufacturers Krupp and Rheimetall-Borsig to build several super-heavy siege guns, vital to smash through French and Belgian fortresses that stood in the way of the Blitzkrieg.These 'secret weapons' were much larger than the siege artillery of World War I and included the largest artillery piece of the war, the massive 80cm railway gun 'schwere Gustav' (Heavy Gustav). However, these complex ...

The first history of the legendary US Army's HAWK missile system, the world's first mobile air-defense missile system, which saw service and combat around the world.Designed to counteract the threat posed by advanced 1950s Soviet-built aircraft, the first HAWK unit became operational in 1959. At its peak, it saw frontline service in the Far East, Panama, Europe, and in the Middle East. Units were also used during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War, and Persian G...

In the early days of World War I, Germany unveiled a new weapon – the mobile 42cm (16.5 inch) M-Gerät howitzer.At the time, it was the largest artillery piece of its kind in the world and a closely guarded secret. When war broke out, two of the howitzers were rushed directly from the factory to Liege where they quickly destroyed two forts and compelled the fortress to surrender.After repeat performances at Namur, Maubeuge and Antwerp, German soldiers christ...

World War I was the Golden Age of the railway gun.Even though at the start of the conflict none of the armies possessed any railway artillery pieces and the very idea was comparatively new, more railway guns were used during this war than in any other conflict. Designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare, the first railway guns were simple, improvised designs made by mounting surplus coastal defence, fortress, and naval guns onto existing commercial railway c...

In the early days of World War I, Germany unveiled a new weapon – the mobile 42cm (16.5 inch) M-Gerät howitzer.At the time, it was the largest artillery piece of its kind in the world and a closely guarded secret. When war broke out, two of the howitzers were rushed directly from the factory to Liege where they quickly destroyed two forts and compelled the fortress to surrender.After repeat performances at Namur, Maubeuge and Antwerp, German soldiers christ...

Jagging across north-western Europe like a scar, the Hindenburg Line was Germany's most formidable line of defence in World War I.Its fearsome reputation was matched only by its cunning design, with deep zigzagging trenches, concrete fieldworks, barbed wire and devilish booby traps forming an intimidating barrier for any attacking army.Through meticulous research, this volume explores each of the major portions of the Hindenburg Line, paying particular atte...

With detailed illustrations, this is the first book to survey the technology and deployment of the NATO missile systems that protected Western European airspace during the Cold War.For more than three decades, the first line of defence at the Iron Curtain was a huge network of medium- and long-range NATO surface-to-air missile systems. Beginning in 1959, Nike and Hawk SAMs, later reinforced by Britain's Bloodhound and Thunderbird, were deployed in a two-layer missi...