Pres. George Washington authorized Springfield Armory to begin manufacturing small arms for the US military in 1794. Over nearly two centuries until its closure in 1968, the government armory at Springfield, Massachusetts, became legendary, not only for the arms provided to soldiers during conflicts such as the War of 1812, the Civil War, and World War II, but also for the way in which those arms were crafted. The drive to produce firearms of high quality and quantity for the nation's mili...

A hotly-debated topic amongst tank buffs is of the relative merits of the Soviet and American tanks of World War II. Using recently revealed documents, Steven Zaloga sheds light on the crucial tank battles of the Korean War as the rival superpowers' finest tanks battled for supremacy. The Soviet-equipped North Korean Peoples Army initially dominated the battlefield with the seemingly unstoppable T34-85. As US tank battalions hastily arrived throughout the late summer and early autumn of 19...

The breech-loading, single-shot .458in Martini-Henry rifle has become a symbol of both the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and the numerous battles in Egypt and the Sudan in 1884–85, but continued to be used by both British and colonial troops well into the 20th century.Its invention and introduction into British service were in direct response to the success of the Prussian Dreyse needle gun, which demonstrated that the breech-loading rifle offered faster loading, improved...

The Valentine was the most produced and most widely used British tank of the Second World War.The Valentine first saw combat during Operation Compass in November 1941 and remained one of the main medium tanks in British service into 1943. As the Churchill became more prevalent the Valentine was relegated to specialist and tank-destroyer variants, which would remain in service in the South-East Asian theatre to the end of the war.This book describes the evol...

From its origins to its use in combat today, The Little Book of Camouflage tells the history of camouflage in conflict.Its conception, its uses and the colours are looked at, as well as the key patterns such as the German uniforms of World War II, the ever-recognisable American type worn during Vietnam and the British DPM forming a sort of recognition guide to the various patterns in use in the armies of history and present day.Illustrated througho...

Fighting an elusive and dangerous enemy far from home, the British army in Afghanistan was involved in asymmetric warfare for over a decade.The eight-year series of deployments jointly known as Operation Herrick, alongside US and other NATO contingents within the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, were the longest continuous combat commitment of the British Army since World War II. Together with Operation 'Telic' in Iraq, which immediate...

A highly illustrated study of the T-90, the backbone of the armoured units of Putin's Russia.In the wake of the T-72 tank's poor performance in the 1991 Gulf War, the Kremlin instructed the Russian tank industry to drop the discredited T-72 designation in favour of the T-90 Vladimir. The T-90 was in fact a further evolution of the T-72 family, but the name change represented an important break in Russian/Soviet tank design history.The T-90 has become the pr...

Discover within these pages little-known facts about the USS Albany, the U.S. Navy's oldest commissioned warship, USS Constitution, and the WWII destroyer, USS Cassin Young.The photographs in this exciting new volume illustrate the history of the Charlestown Navy Yard from the late nineteenth century through the twentieth century. Founded in 1800, the yard was oneof the first military shipyards in the United States.Charlestown Navy Yard celebrates the...

A history of warfare distilled into 100 momentous battles – epic moments that have shaped our world.From the earliest recorded skirmishes of the ancient world to the computerized conflicts of today, renowned military historian Richard Overy dramatically brings to life the sights and sounds of the most significant battles in world history: the flash of steel, the thunder of guns, the shrieks of the dying, and the strange, eerie calm that descends on the bloodstained battlefield when...

This true account of a German submarine on the Massachusetts coast was called "an action-packed page-turner" by Sen. John McCain.On the morning of July 21, 1918—the final year of the First World War—a new prototype of German submarine surfaced three miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The vessel attacked an unarmed tugboat and its four barges. A handful of the shells fired by the U-boat's deck guns struck Nauset Beach, giving the modest town of Orleans ...

The USS Texas was built when dreadnought battleships were kings of the seas. It was the world's most powerful battleship when first commissioned in 1914, and for over a century it fought many battles. Some took place while the Texas served as a warship in the US Navy in World Wars I and II. Since becoming a museum ship and war memorial in 1948, it has fought a longer and more difficult struggle as it combats the ravages of time for its very survival. Throughout its existence, the Texas has...

For most people in Southwest Florida, the name Buckingham is just one more dot on a map�a rural area east of U.S. Interstate 75. But for a few years, it was so much more. Starting in 1942, it was the site of the Buckingham Army Air Field�home to some 16,000 men and women supporting the United States� World War II efforts. Airplanes roared in the skies over Lee County and reflected off the azure waters of the Gulf of Mexico as tens of thousands of young men trained as aerial gunners. Learni...