Along with knives, hammers and axes, the saw is a tool that has been used by humans for thousands of years. A toothed piece of metal fitted with a handle has been applied to cutting almost every material ever invented, from the softest wood to the hardest metals. In Britain, an industry to supply the nation’s saw users began to grow rapidly in the eighteenth century, and marched with the Industrial Revolution to become the largest in the world. Millions of saws were made, and like most oth...

A year-by-year examination of key WWI battles and how the ongoing advances in artillery shaped strategy, tactics, and oprations; includes battlefield maps!World War I is often said to have been an artillery war, yet the decisive role artillery played in shaping military decisions—and therefor the war itself—has rarely been examined. Artillery in the Great War traces the development of this all-important technology, the differing approaches to its use, the ...

"Knife Throwing is the most authoritative guide on every aspect of the sport. From knives and knife throwing techniques to competition and advice, as well as profiles of pioneers and legends in the field, this book covers it all." —Bobby Branton, President of American Knife Thrower's Alliance (AKTA)Not only is knife throwing fun, but it is also a great sport, entertainment, recreation and exercise. It can be a wonderful hobby, pastime, or even a profession...

Defence expert Kim Richard Nossal presents a damning indictment of defence procurement in Canada, and shows how to fix it.Defence procurement in Canada is a mess. New equipment is desperately needed for the Canadian Armed Forces, but most projects are behind schedule, over budget, or both. Not only has mismanagement cost Canadian taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, it has also deprived Canada and the CAF of much-needed military capacity.Successive go...

The evolution of the battleship through centuries of war, told by a nautical expert and author of The Mighty Hood.During its reign from the sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth, the battleship was the most powerful weapon of war known to man. Strategically, it determined a war's outcome. Tactically, it dominated every sea battle. But at the Battle of Taranto in 1940 and the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, carrier-borne aircraft made a decisive display of...

An extraordinary slice of untold WWII history: how unproven Marines driving untested Sherman tanks turned the tide against Japan in the Battle of Tarawa.In May 1943, a self-described "really young, green, ignorant lieutenant" assumed command of a new US Marine Corps company. His even younger Marines were learning to operate an untested weapon, the M4A2 "Sherman" medium tank. Just six months later, the company would be thrown into one of the ghastliest battles of Wo...

Following on from New Vanguard 51: Kriegsmarine U-boats 1939–45 (1), this book charts the continuing development of the U-boat in German service, including the evolution of the Type IX as a long range 'cruiser' intended for solo operations in distant waters.Also covered is the revolutionary Type XXI, conceived of in 1942 and launched in April 1944, the first true submarine rather than submersible, whose arrival was just too late to influence the war. Other...

The Retreat to Corunna was a spectacular defeat for the British Army, yet it managed to save its reputation by carrying out one of the great fighting retreats of military history.In 1808 a British army under Sir John Moore advanced from its base at Lisbon into Spain to aid Spanish armies fighting against a French invasion led by the Emperor Napoleon himself. As the British approached Madrid they learned that the main Spanish army had been destroyed by Napoleon and Madrid captured b...

The patrol vehicles used by Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq varied dramatically between the theatres as well as amongst the Coalition members, and were developed and upgraded to meet the demands of the deployment.Covering all the major Coalition nations, Leigh Neville continues his look at the elite forces deployed in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, with this analysis of their vehicles. Tracing the evolution of the vehicle types, fr...

Based on contemporary lives and descriptions and extensively illustrated, this book written by a leading medieval historian provides a vivid picture of what it was like to be a knight in the later Middle Ages: what armour and weapons to buy; what to do at sieges; how to make a fortune from war and how to win at tournaments and impress the love of your life. Manages that difficult feat, presenting a considerable amount of learning in a light-hearted, eminently readable way The humour and se...

Everything you want to know, don't want to know, and don't know you need to know about weapons.A complete guide to weapons history, facts, myths and trivia, Gordon Rottman offers a step by step guide through interesting weapon facts and statistics, including a section on ammunition, while breaking apart popular myths and misconceptions.Covering subjects from weapons designations to the longest serving military rifles, where rifles get their names from and e...

"German Guns of the Third Reich is an illustrated record of German light and heavy artillery, heavy mortars, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns at war. Using previously unpublished photographs, many of which have come from the albums of individuals who took part in the war, it presents a unique visual account of the various German guns that were deployed for action between 1939 and 1945.The book analyses the development of the German gun at war and shows how it became of decisive importance ...