S2 Actual reading list

War of the Rats (WWII, #1)

David L. Robbins

Bantam · 2000

For six months in 1942, Stalingrad is the center of a titanic struggle between the Russian and German armies—the bloodiest campaign in mankind's long history of warfare. The outcome is pivotal. If Hitler's forces are not stopped, Russia will fall. And with it, the world.... German soldiers call the battle Rattenkrieg, War of the Rats . The combat is horrific, as soldiers die in the smoking cellars and trenches of a ruined city. Through this twisted carnage stalk two men—one Russian, one German—each the top sniper in his respective army. These two marksmen are equally matched in both skill and tenacity. Each man has his own to find his counterpart—and kill him. But an American woman trapped in Russia complicates this extraordinary duel. Joining the Russian sniper's cadre, she soon becomes one of his most talented assassins—and perhaps his greatest weakness. Based on a true story, this is the harrowing tale of two adversaries enmeshed in their own private war—and whose fortunes will help decide the fate of the world.

Military Deception and Strategic Surprise! (Volume 0)

John Gooch

Routledge · June 1, 2007

First published in 2007. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Military Deception: Hiding The Real - Showing The Fake - Denial Operations, Propaganda, Disinformation, Joint Doctrine, Soviet Maskirovka, Desert Storm Persian Gulf War Examples

U.S. Government

Professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction, this book discusses military deception techniques and history. "Military deception" is an umbrella term that includes both denial and deception. Denial hides the real and deception shows the fake. Denial and deception are operations; propaganda and disinformation are the products. Joint doctrine says that military deception, as applied by a joint force commander (JFC), targets an adversary's decision-making process. Ultimately, the intent is to shape the adversary's behavior in the JFC's favor or to cause an adversary to form an inaccurate impression of the battlespace. Consequently, planning for deception operations depends on intelligence and security for success. Obviously, a commander wants to conceal deception efforts from the enemy, but often he'll conceal all or some of his efforts from his own troops to prevent confusion and/or compromise of the plan. During the early years of Soviet involvement in World War II, mishandling of information by soldiers and planners resulted in the compromise of many maskirovka (or deception) operations. As a result, the Soviets implemented aggressive security measures to protect their deception plans. Specifically, Soviet commanders restricted the number of planners and documents involved in the deception operations and communicated to subordinates only what they needed to know, when they needed to know it. The general enjoyed his breakfast while reading his morning paper and listening to the international news channel. Hearing the Balkans mentioned—his area of responsibility—he looked up as a foreign correspondent began to comment on the aftermath of an Allied bombing mission from the day before. The gruesome details suddenly made the general's scrambled eggs a bit less appealing. The graphic pictures showed what appeared to be the remnants of an orphanage. There in the rubble lay a bloodstained, tattered doll. Those images left him wondering about the carnage that lay beneath the collapsed brick and mortar. Had his staff miscalculated and inadvertently struck an orphanage? A similar misstep had occurred a few weeks ago when another bombing mission resulted in civilian casualties in a marketplace. As the general bemoaned the potential ramifications of accidentally bombing an orphanage, a memory surfaced. Years of flying high-performance aircraft had sharpened his senses, and something about the scene seemed familiar. Could that be the same bloodstained doll he had seen in photographs of the earlier marketplace mishap? The general had been briefed on the enemy's rather low-tech yet successful use of deception. Was he, along with the rest of the world, a target of military deception? As he pondered this, his pager went off. This fictitious example illustrates both how easy it is to manipulate the media in deception operations and how a thorough understanding of deception can help prevent a military leader from falling victim to it. The U.S. military is transforming itself with technological advancements in warfighting capability. Weapon systems, force structure and training have all improved. The amount and kind of information available to the warfighter is also improving. But even a technologically advanced nation like the United States is susceptible to deception. Analysis of friendly and enemy deception techniques in Operations DESERT STORM and ALLIED FORCE shows the main U.S. vulnerabilities to include its insatiable appetite for "news," the lack of deception-detection expertise in the military, and the tendency to believe that technological advancements make a nation deception-proof. Therefore, the key to mitigating the U.S. vulnerabilities to deception lies in educating the media about the military and common deception practices, giving the military intensive deception-detection training, and abandoning the notion that technolo

The White Sniper: Simo Häyhä

Tapio Saarelainen

Casemate · Oct 19, 2016

Simo Häyhä (1905 - 2002) is the most famous sniper in the world. During the Winter War fought between Russia and Finland in 1939 - 1940 he had 542 confirmed kills with iron sights, a record that still stands today. He has been a role model for snipers all over the world and paved the way for them by demonstrating their significance on the battlefield. Simo Häyhä was a man of action who spoke very little, but he was hugely respected by his men and his superiors and given many difficult missions, including taking out specific targets. Able to move silently and swiftly through the landscape, melting into the snowbound surroundings in his white camouflage fatigues, his aim was deadly and his quarry rarely escaped. The Russians learned of his reputation as a marksman and tried several times to kill him by indirect fire. He was promoted from corporal to second lieutenant and he was awarded the Cross of Kollaa. For sniping Simo Häyhä only ever used his own m/28-30 rifle. Eventually his luck ran out and Simo received a serious head wound on March 6 1940, though he subsequently recovered. After the war Simo Häyhä lead a quiet, unassuming life in farming and forestry. His roots were deep in the Finnish soil and he loved life in rural Finland. A true patriot, he epitomized the traits of a professional soldier, performing his duty and setting an example of bravery that personified the Finnish spirit when confronted by the Russian onslaught. The White Sniper fully explores Simo Häyhä's life, his exploits in the Winter War, the secrets behind his success including character and technique, and also includes a detailed look at his rifle itself. There are appendices on the basics of shooting, the impact of fire on the battlefield, battles on the Kollaa Front during the Winter War and a list of ranked snipers of the world.

Fry The Brain: The Art of Urban Sniping and its Role in Modern Guerrilla Warfare (Volume 0)

John West

Fry The Brain is a detailed, original study of urban guerrilla sniping and its employment in modern unconventional warfare. Fry The Brain strives to educate the interested reader in all aspects of modern urban guerrilla sniping. As such, Fry The Brain is a unique, relevant work that is a must read for all students of contemporary guerrilla warfare.

Guerrilla Sniper Tactics: The Skills of the Lone Wolf Marksmen

Brian F. Davies

One of the most detailed books on marksmanship and long distance shooting for the civilian, patriot and governmental agents. This book discusses the methods and tactics of the Partisan sniper...

Alamein: War Without Hate

Colin Smith

For the British, the battle fought at El Alamein in October 1942 became the turning point of the Second World War. In this study of the desert war, John Bierman and Colin Smith show why it is remembered by its survivors as a 'war without hate'. Through extensive research the authors provide a compellingly fresh perspective on the see-saw campaign in which the two sides chased each other back and forth across the unforgiving North African landscape.

All Hell Let Loose: The World at War, 1939-1945

Max Hastings

HarperPress · 2011

HardCover. Pub Date :2011-09-29 768 English HarperPress A magisterial history of the greatest and most terrible event in history. from one of the finest historians of the Second World War A book which shows the impact. of war upon hundreds of millions of people around the world-soldiers. sailors and airmen; housewives. farm workers and children.Reflecting Max Hastingss thirty-five years of research on World War II. All Hell Let Loose describes the course of events. but focuses chiefly upon human experience. which varied immensely from campaign to campaign. continent to continent.The author emphasises the Russian front. where more than 90% of all German soldiers who perished met their fate. He argues that. while Hitlers army often fought its battles brilliantly well. the Nazis conducted their war effort with stunning incompetence. He suggests that ...

Bracketing the Enemy: Forward Observers in World War II

John R. Walker

After the end of World War II, General George Patton declared that artillery had won the war. Yet howitzers did not achieve victory on their own. Crucial to the success of these big guns were forward observers, artillerymen on the front lines who directed the artillery fire. Until now, the vital role of forward observers in ground combat has received little scholarly attention. In Bracketing the Enemy, John R. Walker remedies this oversight by offering the first full-length history of forward observer teams during World War II. As early as the U.S. Civil War, artillery fire could reach as far as two miles, but without an “FO” (forward observer) to report where the first shot had landed in relation to the target, and to direct subsequent fire by outlining or “bracketing” the targeted range, many of the advantages of longer-range fire were wasted. During World War II, FOs accompanied infantrymen on the front lines. Now, for the first time, gun crews could bring deadly accurate fire on enemy positions immediately as advancing riflemen encountered these enemy strongpoints. According to Walker, this transition from direct to indirect fire was one of the most important innovations to have occurred in ground combat in centuries. Using the 37th Division in the Pacific Theater and the 87th in Europe as case studies, Walker presents a vivid picture of the dangers involved in FO duty and shows how vitally important forward observers were to the success of ground operations in a variety of scenarios. FO personnel not only performed a vital support function as artillerymen but often transcended their combat role by fighting as infantrymen, sometimes even leading soldiers into battle. And yet, although forward observers lived, fought, and bled with the infantry, they were ineligible to wear the Combat Infantryman’s Badge awarded to the riflemen they supported. Forward observers are thus among the unsung heroes of World War II. Bracketing the Enemy signals a long-overdue recognition of their distinguished service.

Desert Sniper: How One Ordinary Brit Went to War Against ISIS

Ed Nash

Little, Brown Book Group Limited · 2018

What makes an ordinary but highly educated Englishman, with no previous military training, decide to travel and fight in one of the most brutal conflicts on the planet? Desert Sniper is an extraordinary, true account of one man's journey from well-meaning volunteer to battle-scarred combat sniper, placing himself daily in the line of fire to fight one of the greatest evils of this new century. Ed Nash has travelled across the globe, and is working with refugees in Burma, when he first becomes aware of the terrible atrocities being committed under ISIS's newly established 'Caliphate', covering vast tracts of Iraq and Syria. In June 2015, he chooses to undertake the hazardous journey, via Northern Iraq, to Syria, to join ill-equipped and poorly trained but battle-hardened Kurdish forces as they attempt to halt Daesh's relentless advance. Nash is an articulate, insightful and refreshingly honest companion as he unpacks the shifting complexities of the political and military situation in which he finds himself. As one of a motley band of foreign volunteer fighters - veterans of other conflicts, adventurers and misfits, from many different countries - we follow him through his rudimentary training and early combat operations as he and his companions slowly gain the trust and respect of their Kurdish colleagues. Nash shows us the realities of the war on the ground in Syria in fascinating detail; the privations of the ordinary Kurdish soldiers, the terrible price paid by civilians caught in the cross-fire, the ever-present danger of lethal suicide bombers and occasional moments of striking beauty in amongst the carnage. A modern classic in the making, Desert Sniper will prove to be one of the most unforgettable accounts to emerge from the war against ISIS.

Fangs of the Lone Wolf: Chechen Tactics in the Russian-Chechen War 1994-2009

Dodge Billingsley

Books on guerrilla war are seldom written from the tactical perspective and even less seldom from the guerrilla's perspective. Fangs of the Lone Wolf: Chechen Tactics in the Russian-Chechen Wars 1994-2009 is an exception. These are the stories of low-level guerrilla combat as told by the survivors. They cover fighting from the cities of Grozny and Argun to the villages of Bamut and Serzhen-yurt, and finally the hills, river valleys and mountains that make up so much of Chechnya. The author embedded with Chechen guerrilla forces and knows the conflict, country and culture. Yet, as a Western outsider, he is able to maintain perspective and objectivity. He traveled extensively to interview Chechen former combatants now displaced, some now in hiding or on the run from Russian retribution and justice. The military professional will appreciate the book's crisp narration, organization by type of combat, accurate color maps and insightful analysis and commentary. The civilian reader will discover the complexity of "simple guerrilla tactics" and the demands on individual perseverance and endurance that guerrilla warfare exacts.The book is organized into vignettes that provide insight on the nature of both Chechen and Russian tactics utilized during the two wars. They show the chronic problem of guerrilla logistics, the necessity of digging in fighting positions, the value of the correct use of terrain and the price paid in individual discipline and unit cohesion when guerrillas are not bound by a military code and law. Guerrilla warfare is probably as old as man, but has been overshadowed by maneuver war by modern armies and recent developments in the technology of war. As Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines and Chechnya demonstrate, guerrilla war is not only still viable, but is increasingly common. Fangs of the Lone Wolf provides a unique insight into what is becoming modern and future war.

Guerrilla Days in Ireland

Tom Barry

Guerilla Days in Ireland is the extraordinary story of the fight between two unequal forces, which ended in the withdrawal of the British from twenty-six counties. Seven weeks before the truce to the Anglo-Irish War of July, 1921, the British presence in County Cork consisted of 8,800 front line infantry troops, 1,150 Black & Tan soldiers, 540 Auxiliaries, 2,080 machine gun corps, artillery and other unites -- a total of over 12,500 men. Against these British forces stood the Irish Republican Army whose Flying Columns never exceeded 310 riflemen in the whole of County Cork. These flying columns were small groups of dedicated volunteers, severely commanded and disciplined. Constantly on the move, their paramount objective was merely to exist; to strike when conditions were favorable, to avoid disaster at all costs. In Guerilla Days in Ireland Tom Barry describes the setting up of the West Cork Flying Column, its training, and its plan of campaign.

Guerrilla Strategies: An Historical Anthology from the Long March to Afghanistan

Gérard Chaliand

University of California Press · 1982

This unique anthology of writings on revolutionary warfare and counterinsurgency covers almost all the major struggles of the modern world. Chaliand, who has had firsthand experience with guerrilla movements in Afghanistan, Africa, and Latin America, provides a concise yet panoramic overview of political and military strategies in revolutionary warfare, noting their strengths, limitations, and pathologies.

Hunger Disease (Current concepts in nutrition, vol. 7)

Martha Osnos

Wiley · 1979

A translation from the Polish of a manuscript smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto that details studies performed by resident Jewish physicians on patients suffering from starvation. Topics include: clinical changes in adults and children, metabolic adaptations, circulatory changes, changes in the eye and in vision, changes in the blood and bone marrow, and pathologic anatomy.

Japan's Gestapo: Murder, Mayhem and Torture in Wartime Asia

Mark Felton

Pen & Sword Military · 2009

Japan's military and secret police, the Kempetai, carried out a reign of terror against captive Asian nations, Allied POWs, and Japanese citizens throughout World War II. This history explains the origins, command structure, and role of the Kempetai apparatus, revealing their criminal and collaborationist networks. It examines biological and chemical experiments on live subjects, the gulags for POWs, and slave labor, including the so-called "comfort women," as well as their campaign of revenge after the 1942 Doolittle raid on Tokyo. Calling their actions genocide on a grand scale, the author backs up his text with firsthand testimonies from survivors.

Life and Death in Besieged Leningrad, 1941-1944 (Studies in Russian and East European History and Society)

John Barber

Palgrave Macmillan · 2005

From 1941-1944 Leningrad saw by far the largest-scale famine ever to occur in a developed society. This book examines the nature and consequences of the extreme conditions created by the German blockade of Leningrad between September 1941 and January 1944. Using declassified documents from Party and State archives in Moscow and St Petersburg and interviews with survivors, the authors have produced the most informed and detailed analysis to date of the impact of the siege on the lives and health of the people of Leningrad.

Networks of Rebellion: Explaining Insurgent Cohesion and Collapse (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)

Paul Staniland

Cornell University Press · Apr 18, 2014

Insurgent cohesion is central to explaining patterns of violence, the effectiveness of counterinsurgency, and civil war outcomes. Cohesive insurgent groups produce more effective war-fighting forces and are more credible negotiators; organizational cohesion shapes both the duration of wars and their ultimate resolution. In Networks of Rebellion , Paul Staniland explains why insurgent leaders differ so radically in their ability to build strong organizations and why the cohesion of armed groups changes over time during conflicts. He outlines a new way of thinking about the sources and structure of insurgent groups, distinguishing among integrated, vanguard, parochial, and fragmented groups. Staniland compares insurgent groups, their differing social bases, and how the nature of the coalitions and networks within which these armed groups were built has determined their discipline and internal control. He examines insurgent groups in Afghanistan, 1975 to the present day, Kashmir (1988–2003), Sri Lanka from the 1970s to the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009, and several communist uprisings in Southeast Asia during the Cold War. The initial organization of an insurgent group depends on the position of its leaders in prewar political networks. These social bases shape what leaders can and cannot do when they build a new insurgent group. Counterinsurgency, insurgent strategy, and international intervention can cause organizational change. During war, insurgent groups are embedded in social ties that determine they how they organize, fight, and negotiate; as these ties shift, organizational structure changes as well.

Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias

Stephen D. Biddle

Princeton University Press · 2021

Since September 11th, 2001, armed nonstate actors have received increased attention and discussion from scholars, policymakers, and the military. Underlying debates about nonstate warfare and how it should be countered is one crucial assumption: that state and nonstate actors fight very differently. In Nonstate Warfare, Stephen Biddle upturns this distinction, arguing that there is actually nothing intrinsic separating state or nonstate military behavior. Through an in-depth look at nonstate military conduct, Biddle shows that many nonstate armies now fight more conventionally than many state armies. Biddle frames nonstate and state methods along a continuum, spanning Fabian-style irregular warfare to Napoleonic-style warfare involving massed armies, and he presents a systematic theory to explain any given nonstate actor's position on this spectrum. Showing that most warfare for at least a century has kept to the blended middle of the spectrum, Biddle argues that material and tribal culture explanations for nonstate warfare methods do not adequately explain observed patterns of warmaking. Investigating a range of historical examples from Lebanon and Iraq to Somalia, Croatia, and the Vietcong, Biddle demonstrates that viewing state and nonstate warfighting as mutually exclusive can lead to errors in policy and scholarship.

Notes of a Sniper

Vasili Zaitsev

2826 Press · 2003

true story of one of the greatest snipers of all time, the hero of Stalingrad.

Paths to Victory: Lessons from Modern Insurgencies

Christopher Paul

RAND CORPORATION · 2013

Building on a 2010 RAND study of the 30 insurgencies begun and completed between 1978 and 2008, this study added 41 new cases to the data set, allowing comparisons across all 71 insurgencies begun and completed worldwide since World War II to distill the paths to victory. With many more cases to compare, the study was able to more rigorously test the previous findings and address several critical questions that the earlier study could not.

The Art and Science of Military Deception (Artech House Intelligence and Information Operations)

Hy Rothstein

Artech House Publishers · 2013

It is said that deception among people in a civilized society is something to be loathed even though it seems to be part of human nature; but deception in war is a virtue. This title provides the reader with sufficient knowledge to pursue General Eisenhower's vision for the proper role of deception in support of the national interest.

The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War

Thaddeus Holt

Scribner · 2004

A chronological analysis of the use of systematic deception by allied forces during World War II covers the development of deception techniques, explores the groundbreaking work of double agents, and reveals specific tactics that were used at key moments during the war. 30,000 first printing.

The Fighting Bunch: The Battle of Athens and How World War II Veterans Won the Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since the Revolution

Chris DeRose

St. Martin's Press · Nov 03, 2020

The incredible, untold story of the WWII veterans who destroyed a corrupt political machine―the only successful armed rebellion on US soil since the War of Independence. They fought for freedom abroad and returned to find that they had lost it at home. A corrupt political machine was in charge, kept in power by violence and stolen elections - the worst allegations of vote fraud ever brought to the attention of the Department of Justice, according to the Attorney General. The GIs formed a nonpartisan, all-veteran ticket. On Election Day, the GIs and their supporters found themselves assaulted, intimidated, arrested, and even shot. A small band of veterans - the Fighting Bunch - armed themselves and marched on the jail to demand an honest count. The sheriff and his men refused. These men who thought they had seen the last of war returned to the battlefield, one last time. This episode in U.S. history has never been more relevant, but has never been fully told. At the time of the rebellion, national news outlets jammed the phone lines into town, asking questions before the shooting had stopped. Journalists beat a path to Athens from across the country. Hollywood came calling, but the people of McMinn County had moved on. After years of research, including exclusive interviews with the remaining witnesses, archival radio broadcast and interview tapes, scrapbooks, letters, and diaries, author Chris DeRose has reconstructed one of the seminal―yet untold―events in American election history.

Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America

Qiao Liang

Pan American Publishing Company · August 22, 2002

As incredible as it may be to believe, three years before the Sept. 11 bombing of the World Trade Center a Chinese military manual titled Unrestricted Warfare touted such an attack – suggesting it would be difficult for the U.S. military to cope with. Here is an excerpt from Unrestricted "Whether it be the intrusions of hackers, a major explosion at the World Trade Center, or a bombing attack by bin Laden, all of these greatly exceed the frequency bandwidths understood by the American military..." Surprisingly, Osama bin Laden is mentioned frequently in this book. Now NewsMax.com is making the CIA translation of this shocking book available to all Americans. On Sept. 11, 2001, Americans and the world witnessed one of the most horrific acts ever to take place on American soil. Our media and government were quick to declare the acts of that day as simply terrorism by a nationless group known as al-Qaeda. In reading China’s military manual Unrestricted Warfare, you will learn that the events of Sept. 11 were not a random act perpetrated by independent agents. Instead, Chinese military planners believe that terrorism is just one of the many tools at the hands of nations and their terrorist allies to wage total war against the United States. You will be surprised to · The two PLA colonels who authored Unrestricted Warfare have been hailed as heroes in China since Sept. 11 · The Chinese state-run propaganda machine is cashing in on the terror attacks ... producing books, films and video games glorifying the strikes as a humbling blow against an arrogant nation. · Chinese Communist Party officials are saying that President Jiang Zemin has obsessively and gleefully watched and re-watched pictures of the aircraft crashing into the World Trade Center. · The CIA’s own translation agency reported that this book identifies the U.S. as China’s main enemy, and details how a weak nation can destroy America using unorthodox attacks – like the 9-11 attacks. · China is preparing itself and encouraging others to engage the U.S. in total war. The book is chock full of plans and strategies, from using computers, to smuggling illegal immigrants, to manipulating the stock markets, to influencing the U.S. media, to using weapons of mass destruction – all to destroy America. Recent press reports indicate that China has assisted and continues to assist militarily and economically the Taliban and al-Qaeda – even after Sept. 11. The doctrine of total war outlined in Unrestricted Warfare clearly demonstrates that the People’s Republic of China is preparing to confront the United States and our allies by conducting "asymmetrical" or multidimensional attacks on almost every aspect of our social, economic and political life. The media and Congress are keeping a lid on this book because of the implications of U.S.-China economic and trade relations. But now you can bypass them by getting a copy yourself!