The Sniper at War looks at the impact and role of the sniper from the American Revolutionary War to the present day. It was not until the late 18th century that advances in technology made accurate sniping with a gun possible. The American backwoodsmen took a toll of the redcoats with their hunting rifles, and the modern art of sniping was born. The book looks at how the art of sniping in war has become more professional and specialised, with dedicated training courses and equipment. Famou...

SADISTS?OF?THE?RISING?SUN focuses on the unique cruelty and capacity for slaughter displayed by Japan, from the beginning of the 1930s, with the origins of its atrocity-focused incursions into East Asia, until the devastation of its cities and incineration of its population by firestorms in 1945. During that period, Japan determinedly undertook the twentieth-century’s supreme mission of Imperially-sanctioned butchery, combining the bacteriological obliteration of entire cities with the c...

The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir of U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle, and the source for Clint Eastwood’s blockbuster, Academy-Award nominated movie."An amazingly detailed account of fighting in Iraq—a humanizing, brave story that’s extremely readable." — PATRICIA CORNWELL, New York Times Book Review**"Jaw-dropping...Undeniably riveting." *—***RICHARD ROEPER, Chicago Sun-Times...

Explosive SAS action in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan.The command came: 'Stop those vehicles!'It was like a red rag to a bull. Instantly streams of 7.62 mm tracer and 50 mm calibre machine gun rounds arced across the night sky and smashed into the bus and truck.Elite SAS Patrol Commander Stuart 'Nev' Bonner takes us inside the extraordinary and dangerous world of secret combat operations in this explosive, behind-the-scenes look at life inside the...

The true story of Australia's SAS and the soldier who was there from the start.Clint Palmer has spent much of his adult life in the SAS and has fought in this elite military unit as it developed from its fledgling beginnings into the highly trained, specialised fighting force it is today. He is an insider with the long view and this is his unique story of life in the SAS.As a bush kid in the Northern Territory of Australia, growing up in a one dog mining to...

Since their creation in 1983, the US Navy SEALs have been involved in unconventional warfare around the globe, undertaking crucial and clandestine missions.These have included traditional underwater missions such as in Panama in 1989, the taking down of ships and also gas and oil platforms, and more recently, sniping and other missions in land-locked countries like Afghanistan.They have adapted their training, their tactics and their weapons to enable them ...

Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps is the true story of the notorious samurai corps formed in 1863 to arrest or kill the enemies of the Tokugawa Shogun.The only book in English about the Shinsengumi, it focuses on the corps' two charismatic leaders, Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo, both impeccable swordsmen. It is a history-in-brief of the final years of the Bakufu, which collapsed in 1867 with the restoration of Imperial rule. In writing Shinse...

The development of this excellent and successful class of warship only became possible after the Anglo-German naval agreement of 1935 eased restrictions on the types of ship Germany could build.Even then only five of the class were permitted: the Admiral Hipper, the Blücher, the Prinz Eugen, the Seydlitz and the Lützow. These Cruisers were designed for Atlantic operations and had eight 8 inch guns, 12 10.5 cm heavy anti-aircraft guns and 17 smaller calibre anti air...

The author of Tanks in Hell tracks ten years of tank warfare in Vietnam, combining firsthand accounts from veterans with analysis of tactics and strategy.In 1965 the large, loud, and highly visible tanks of 3rd Platoon, B Company, 3rd Tank Battalion landed across a beach near Da Nang, drawing unwelcome attention to America's first, almost covert, commitment of ground troops in South Vietnam. As the Marine Corps presence grew inexorably, the 1st and 3rd Tank...

The Uzi submachine gun is one of the most recognizable weapons in history. Its familiarity stems in part from the sheer diversity of its users. Uzis have been seen being wielded and fired by US Secret Service agents and SWAT teams, Israeli soldiers, European special-forces, as well as criminals and terrorists the world over. The reasons they use the Uzi are simple – it provides devastating close-range firepower in a reliable, highly compact weapon. Weapon: The Uzi Submachine Gun tells the ...

Since the mid-1960s the Heckler & Koch MP5 has become the most widely used submachine gun in the world, especially among counterterrorist and special-operations units. Lightweight and offering a blistering rate of fire of up to 900 rounds per minute, the MP5 quickly earned a reputation for accuracy. Fielded early by West Germany's GSG 9 counterterrorist unit it was soon adopted by the SAS. Today military and police agencies in over 80 countries from Albania to Zambia utilize the weapon. Fe...

At the outset of the American Civil War, the Union Army's sharpshooters were initially equipped with the M1855 Colt revolving rifle, but it was prone to malfunction.Instead, the North's sharpshooters preferred the Sharps rifle, an innovative breech-loading weapon capable of firing up to ten shots per minute – more than three times the rate of fire offered by the standard-issue Springfield .58-caliber rifled musket. Other Union sharpshooters were equipped with the s...