Early in 1944 the Allied advance was halted by the German defence of the Gustav Line. Even with the deployment of Eighth Army reinforcements from the Adriatic, every effort to capture Monte Cassino failed.Fifth Armys VI Corps amphibious landing at Anzio in January, while initially successful stalled in the face of formidable German counter-attacks and the beach-head was effectively besieged.The stalemate at Anzio and along the Gustav Line was finally broken in mid May by the Allied Spring ...

The 80th Anniversary of the historic final Battle of El Alamein is the ideal time to study the events leading up to General Bernard Montgomery's famous victory over Field Marshal Rommel's Panzerarmee Africa in Autumn 1942. Four months earlier after the loss of Tobruk , Rommel's forces were in the ascendancy. Prime Minister Winston Churchill removed General Auchinleck from Command of Eighth Army and appointed Bernard Montgomery in his place. After the successful defense of Alam El Halfa Rid...

Featuring specially commissioned artwork, gripping first-hand accounts and expert analysis, this engaging reassessment offers a glimpse of what it was like for Britain's Chindits to fight in the jungles and mountains of Burma at the height of World War II.In order to keep China in the war against the Japanese, the Western Allies believed they had to return to Northern Burma. Colonel Orde Wingate, a military maverick and proponent of guerrilla warfare, knew that a d...

This latest Images of War series book examines the controversial development of the Allied campaign in Normandy in the weeks after the D-Day landings. After overcoming Rommel’s beach obstacles and ‘Atlantic Wall’ fortifications, a secure Allied lodgment of the five beaches developed along the Caen-Bayeux-Carentan axis with a period of consolidation while reinforcements and supplies were built up.The early arrival of 12th SS Hitlerjugend, 21st Panzer and the Panzer Lehr Divisions de...

"This photo essay produces a very effective picture of the defeat of British forces in Malaya and Singapore by the Japanese . . . Highly recommended."—FiretrenchIn just 10 weeks from 8 December 1941 to mid-February 1942, British and Imperial forces were utterly defeated by the numerically inferior Japanese under General Yamashita.British units fought hard on the Malayan mainland, but the Japanese showed greater mobility, cunning and tactical superiority. Mo...

The decisive WWII campaign that brought Italy to its knees is vividly captured in this in-depth photographic history.With victory in North Africa complete, the Allies had a choice. The Americans wanted an early cross-channel attack from Britain on Northwest Europe. Churchill favored invading the soft underbelly of Italy to weaken the Axis forces and gain Italian surrender. With Eisenhower's army and battle-hardened Eighth Army in North Africa, Churchill prevailed.

General Stilwell's ad hoc force of Merrill's Marauders, American-trained Chinese divisions, Kachin guerrillas and General Wingate's Chindits conducted a northern Burmese offensive that led to the coup de main seizure of Myitkyina's airfield in May 1944. In August 1944, after a protracted siege, Myitkyina town on the Irrawaddy River fell to the Allies. At the same time elements of General Slim's 14th Army were mounting a defence of northeastern India at Imphal and Kohima against Imperial Ja...

"A compelling chronicle of the Battle of Papua New Guinea with rarely viewed images from World War II . . . an excellent book." — Naval Historical FoundationThe Japanese seizure of Rabaul on New Britain in January 1942 directly threatened Northern Australia and, as a result, General Douglas MacArthur took command of the Southwest Pacific Area. In July 1942, the Japanese attacked south across the Owen Stanley mountain range.Thanks to the hasty deploym...

"This series is basically a photo compilation with brief historical sections for each batch of images so we have some idea of what these images are all about. I've always been interested in this part of the war and very much enjoyed this one. I'm sure you will find it just as nice." -ModelingMadness.Com Fierce Pacific ground, sea, and aerial combat raged between the Allies and Imperial Japan to halt the latter's inexorable advance in 1942-1943. After the American victory at Guadalcanal in ...

A pictorial history of America's first major military campaign in Africa during WWII.In November 1942, eleven months after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. launched Operation Torch, a multipronged attack on French North Africa—a region controlled by Germany through Vichy France. Led by Generals Eisenhower and Patton, it was America's first major offensive against the Germans.Through rare wartime images, this book vividly chronicles the initial landings in Morocco and...

General Douglas A MacArthur, Commander of the Southwest Pacific Area, saw the liberation of the Philippines Archipelago as the launching board for the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. By late 1944, with the capture of New Guinea and surrounding islands, the US Sixth and Eighth Armies were poised for the challenge. American forces landed on Leyte on 20 October 1944 with the Leyte Gulf naval battle quickly following. By 25 December the island was cleared opening the way for Lieutenant ...

Rome was liberated on 5 June 1944 but the Italian campaign had another eleven gruelling months to run. The US Fifth and British Eighth Armies drove across the Arno River, capturing Florence on 5 August. Once again The Wehrmachts Tenth and Fourteenth Armies eluded destruction, withdrawing into the Gothic Line in the Northern Apennines. The Eighth Army, advancing along the Adriatic coast and the Fifth Army in the mountains north of Florence penetrated this strong German defensive belt betwee...