S2 Actual reading list

Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in World War II

Belton Y. Cooper

Presidio Press · April 29, 2003

“An important contribution to the history of World War II . . . I have never before been able to learn so much about maintenance methods of an armored division, with precise details that underline the importance of the work, along with descriptions of how the job was done.”—Russell F. Weigley, author of  Eisenhower’s Lieutenants “Cooper saw more of the war than most junior officers, and he writes about it better than almost anyone. . . . His stories are vivid, enlightening, full of life—and of pain, sorrow, horror, and triumph.” —Stephen E. Ambrose, from his Foreword  “In a down-to-earth style, Death Traps tells the compelling story of one man’s assignment to the famous 3rd Armored Division that spearheaded the American advance from Normandy into Germany. Cooper served as an ordnance officer with the forward elements and was responsible for coordinating the recovery and repair of damaged American tanks. This was a dangerous job that often required him to travel alone through enemy territory, and the author recalls his service with pride, downplaying his role in the vast effort that kept the American forces well equipped and supplied. . . . [Readers] will be left with an indelible impression of the importance of the support troops and how dependent combat forces were on them.” — Library Journal “As an alumnus of the 3rd, I eagerly awaited this book’s coming out since I heard of its release . . . and the wait and the book have both been worth it. . . . Cooper is a very polished writer, and the book is very readable. But there is a certain quality of ‘you are there’ many other memoirs do not seem to have. . . . Nothing in recent times—ridgerunning in Korea, firebases in Vietnam, or even the one hundred hours of Desert Storm—pressed the ingenuity and resolve of American troops . . . like WWII. This book lays it out better than any other recent effort, and should be part of the library of any contemporary warrior.” —Stephen Sewell,  Armor Magazine “Cooper’s writing and recall of harrowing events is superb and engrossing. Highly recommended.” —Robert A. Lynn, The Stars and Stripes “This detailed story will become a classic of WWII history and required reading for anyone interested in armored warfare.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “[ Death Traps ] fills a critical gap in WWII literature. . . . It’s a truly unique and valuable work.” —G.I. Journal

Dragon Days: Time for "Unconventional" Tactics

H. John Poole

This book shows how to control a contested region with squad-sized outposts . North Vietnam and Iran have done it. Now, North Korea may try to consolidate the South with such a strategy. Scores of tiny Western outposts could do this too. After a short threat assessment, Dragon Days describes what a single U.S. rifle squad must do to safely accomplish such a mission in Asia. It will need the following Unconventional Warfare (UW) (1) some police procedure; (2) obscurely defending; (3) finding an enemy weakness; (4) making a secret approach; (5) disguising the attack; (6) precluding a counterstroke; (7) rural E&E; (8) enhancing rural terrain (9) urban E&E; and (10) enhancing urban terrain . Because of Asia's bottom-up culture, the little picture is where such an ability originates. This heavily illustrated book contains more small-unit perspective than any U.S. govt. publication. In fact, it may still constitute America's only UW tactical-technique manual .

Dustoff 7-3

Erik Sabiston

Warriors Publishing Group · 2015-05-19

This book is for heroes. Dustoff 7-3 tells the true story of four unlikely heroes in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, where medics are forced to descend on wires to reach the wounded and helicopter pilots must fight wind, weather, and enemy fire to pluck casualties from some of the world s most difficult combat arenas. Complete opposites thrown together, cut off, and outnumbered, Chief Warrant Officer Erik Sabiston and his flight crew answered the call in a race against time, not to take lives but to save them. The concept of evacuating wounded soldiers by helicopter developed in the Korean War and became a staple during the war in Vietnam where heroic, unarmed chopper crews flew vital missions known to the grateful grunts on the ground as Dustoffs. The crew of Dustoff 7-3 carried on that heroic tradition, flying over a region that had seen scores of American casualties, known among veterans as the Valley of Death. At the end of Operation Hammer Down, they had rescued 14 soldiers, made three critical supply runs, recovered two soldiers killed in action, and nearly died. It took all of three days.

Special Boat Squadron (Sea of Troubles Book 3)

Barrie Pitt

'As much a thriller as it is a history book.' The Daily Mail Not by strength but by guile. Only since the Falklands campaign have the initials SBS become known to the public. Yet this clandestine formation of Britain’s armed forces has been in existence since the Second World War. Barrie Pitt, who himself served with the SBS, describes how the it came into being in 1941. How they fought with distinction in the Aegean, where one of their exploits inspired The Guns of Navarone. How they earned rapport in the Adriatic, in Greece and in Italy. How the SBS was reorganised in 1946 as part of the Royal Marines and has since played a role in Korea, Borneo and the Falklands. Equally interesting is the author’s report of the training and specialized skills required by the boat units, and the essential tasks facing them — infiltration from the sea, reconnaissance, sabotage, survival, resistance to interrogation, escape from captivity — and the expertise and determination to complete them. As Barrie Pitt's superb account of the formative years of this elite force shows, these qualities have been present from the very beginning. Barrie Pitt (1918-2006) was well known as a military historian and editor of Purnell’s History of the Second World War and History of the First World War. His publications include 'Coronel and Falkland', 'Churchill and the Generals' and 'The Crucible of War', a trilogy covering the North African campaign of the Second World War. He was born in Galway and later lived near Ilminster in Somerset.

The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression

Stéphane Courtois

Harvard University Press · 1999

Already famous throughout Europe, this international bestseller plumbs recently opened archives in the former Soviet bloc to reveal the actual, practical accomplishments of Communism around the terror, torture, famine, mass deportations, and massacres. Astonishing in the sheer detail it amasses, the book is the first comprehensive attempt to catalogue and analyze the crimes of Communism over seventy years. "Revolutions, like trees, must be judged by their fruit," Ignazio Silone wrote, and this is the standard the authors apply to the Communist experience―in the China of "the Great Helmsman," Kim Il Sung's Korea, Vietnam under "Uncle Ho" and Cuba under Castro, Ethiopia under Mengistu, Angola under Neto, and Afghanistan under Najibullah. The authors, all distinguished scholars based in Europe, document Communist crimes against humanity, but also crimes against national and universal culture, from Stalin's destruction of hundreds of churches in Moscow to Ceausescu's leveling of the historic heart of Bucharest to the widescale devastation visited on Chinese culture by Mao's Red Guards. As the death toll mounts―as many as 25 million in the former Soviet Union, 65 million in China, 1.7 million in Cambodia, and on and on―the authors systematically show how and why, wherever the millenarian ideology of Communism was established, it quickly led to crime, terror, and repression. An extraordinary accounting, this book amply documents the unparalleled position and significance of Communism in the hierarchy of violence that is the history of the twentieth century.

Weaving the Tangled Web: Military Deception in Large-Scale Combat Operations (Large-Scale Combat Operations Series Book 1)

Christopher M. Rein

This book is from Army University Press and is Volume 1 in it's Large-Scale Combat Operations Series. It has footnotes, maps, and pictures, and was originally published in 2018. “Since the Soviet Union’s fall in 1989, the specter of large-scale ground combat against a peer adversary was remote. During the years following, the US Army found itself increasingly called upon to lead multinational operations in the lower to middle tiers of the range of military operations and conflict continuum. The events of 11 September 2001 led to more than 15 years of intense focus on counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and stability operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. An entire generation of Army leaders and Soldiers were culturally imprinted by this experience. We emerged as an Army more capable in limited contingency operations than at any time in our nation’s history, but the geopolitical landscape continues to shift and the risk of great power conflict is no longer a remote possibility. “While our Army focused on limited contingency operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia, other regional and peer adversaries scrutinized US military processes and methods and adapted their own accordingly. As technology has proliferated and become accessible in even the most remote corners of the world, the US military’s competitive advantage is being challenged across all of the warfighting domains. In the last decade, we have witnessed an emergent China, a revanchist and aggressive Russia, a menacing North Korea, and a cavalier Iranian regime. Each of these adversaries seeks to change the world order in their favor and contest US strategic interests abroad. The chance for war against a peer or regional near-peer adversary has increased exponentially, and we must rapidly shift our focus to successfully compete in all domains and across the full range of military operations." Includes: Introduction: Multi-Domain Deception (Christopher M. Rein, General Editor); Chapter 1: The Belfort Ruse the American Deception plan for the battle of st. Mihiel, 1918 (Mark E. Grotelueschen); Chapter 2: From Beersheba To Megiddo British Deception Operations During The Palestine Campaign, 1917-1918; (Major Brian J. Drohan); Chapter 3: Operation Bertram British Deception At El Alamein (Gary W. Linhart); Chapter 4: Operations Barclay, Cascade, And Mincemeat Allied Deception In The Mediterranean, 1943 (Gregory S. Hospodor); Chapter 5: Operation Kreml German Strategic Deception On The Eastern Front In 1942 (Alan P. Donohue); Chapter 6: Red Star Resurgent Soviet Deception Operations At Stalingrad, 1942-1943 (First Lieutenant Kyle B. Vautrinot); Chapter 7: Operation Bagration Maskirovka At Its Height, Summer 1944 (Curtis S. King); Chapter 8: Deceive, Divert, And Delay Operation Fortitude In Support Of D-Day (Scott C. Farquhar); Chapter 9: Chinese Deception And The 1950 Intervention In The Korean War (Joseph G.D. Babb); Chapter 10: From Maneuvers To War The Egyptian Deception Plan On The Eve Of The Yom-Kippur War (Tal Tovy); Chapter 11: Target San Carlos British Deception During The Repossession Of The Falkland Islands (Steven Paget); Chapter 12: Deception In The Desert Deceiving Iraq In Operation Desert Storm (Donald P. Wright); Conclusion: The Future Of Military Deception Operations (Conrad C. Crane)

Pacific Express: The Critical Role of Military Logistics in World War II (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII, Vol. 3)

William L. McGee

Under one cover, an edited collection of the best works by noted military historians on the importance of military logistics in World War II. *** PACIFIC EXPRESS IS ON THE MARINE CORPS COMMANDANT'S PROFESSIONAL READING LIST FOR LOGISTICS FOR ALL OFFICER AND ENLISTED MARINES, WHETHER ACTIVE DUTY OR RESERVE. *** In PACIFIC EXPRESS, award-winning World War II military historian William L. McGee acts as editor gathering together the best writings on military logistics in WWII. Consider this: In World War II, 16.1 million men and women served in the U.S. Armed Forces. For every individual who served in combat, ten individuals served in a support role. McGee profiles many of the major components of the “Pacific express”: * U.S. Navy Seabees and U.S. Marine Corps Engineers - who built the Advance Bases. * U.S. Navy crews - who manned the amphibious force and Fleet’s floating mobile Service Squadrons throughout the vast reaches of the Pacific. * U.S. Merchant Marine and U.S. Naval Armed Guard - who manned and defended the thousands of War Shipping Administration cargo ships, transports, and tankers to “Deliver the goods!” * U.S. Army and civilian (civil service) Transportation Corps personnel - who operated most of the Army’s large and small vessels, but were seldom covered by the consumer-oriented media during WWII. * U.S. Coast Guardsmen - who manned hundreds of U.S. Army and Navy long-haul vessels and thousands of battle-loaded amphibious landing ships and craft. IN THE AUTHOR'S WORDS “I’ve dedicated PACIFIC EXPRESS to the men and women – military and civilian – who served in logistical support roles for the front line combat personnel in WWII. The story of the vital logistics services supporting the U.S. Armed Forces operating in the Pacific is told - proof positive that warfare is not all blazing combat.” –William L. McGee 560 pp, 111 b&w photos, 7 maps, 21 figures/tables/charts, appendix, notes, bibliography, index, Paperback 6" x 9" OTHER TITLES IN THE SERIES Vol. I, THE AMPHIBIANS ARE COMING! Emergence of the 'Gator Navy and its Revolutionary Landing Craft Vol. II, THE SOLOMONS CAMPAIGNS, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville, Pacific War Turning Point WHAT READERS ARE SAYING … ■ A very polished and professional volume covering a major and relatively unheralded part of World War II … I’m sure the author will receive widespread acclaim for providing the quality and quantity of naval history in PACIFIC EXPRESS. –David H. Grover, CDR USNR (Ret), and author of "U.S. Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II" ■ Bill McGee’s account of amphibious operations in the Pacific and of the supply effort needed to support all operations there is meticulously researched and told with the skill of a born storyteller. PACIFIC EXPRESS and the other volumes in the series will make a proud addition to anyone’s library. -Gordon Smith, Chairman, Amphibious Forces Memorial Museum ■ The editors have woven historical facts with firsthand accounts to create a behind-the-scenes look at military logistics in World War II. —C.A. Lloyd, Chairman, USN Armed Guard Veterans Association WWII ■ Besides providing statistics, Bill McGee provides a personal touch with interviews and references to persons who were actually there. -Jim Higman, Merchant Marine Engineer (Ret) and editor of "California Central Coast U.S. Navy Armed Guard & Merchant Marine Vets WWII" ■ Bill McGee hits another home run with PACIFIC EXPRESS. My time served in the South Pacific in WWII springs to life as I hear the bow doors open and the ramp fall on Pacific soil … Reading this book brings back memories and tears to this eighty-plus year old LSM sailor. -Royce N. McNeill, USS LSM-LSMR Association ■ With PACIFIC EXPRESS, Bill McGee secures his title of “Godfather of amphibious operations history.” This Volume III in his series anchors Volumes I and II as essential reading and reference for military history. –Joe Flynn, California Director and Member National Board, USS LCI National Association ■ Although about WWII, much of what is written in PACIFIC EXPRESS applied when I served on the USS HELENA (CA-75) during the Korean War and afterward. Bill McGee does a through job of explaining military logistics in ways we can understand. -Dave Brouchoud, USS Helena (CA-75), Jan 1952–May 1955 ■ Just finished reading Bill McGee’s third volume in his Amphibious Operations series and it certainly passes inspection. –Ron Swanson, Editor, Flotilla, LCT Flotillas of World War II

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

Daron Acemoğlu

Crown Publishers · 2012

Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including:    - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West?    - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority?    - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions? Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.

Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters

Dick Winters

They were called Easy Company—but their mission was never easy. Immortalized as the Band of Brothers, they suffered 150% casualties while liberating Europe—an unparalleled record of bravery under fire. Dick Winters was their commander—"the best combat leader in World War II" to his men. This is his story—told in his own words for the first time.On D-Day, Dick Winters parachuted into France and assumed leadership of the Band of Brothers when their commander was killed. He led them through the Battle of the Bulge and into Germany, by which time each member had been wounded. They liberated an S.S. death camp from the horrors of the Holocaust and captured Berchtesgaden, Hitler's alpine retreat. After briefly serving during the Korean War, Winters was a highly successful businessman. Made famous by Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers—and the subsequent award-winning HBO miniseries—he is the object of worldwide adulation, Beyond Band of Brothers is Winters's memoir—based on his wartime diary—but it also includes his comrades' untold stories. Virtually all this material is being released for the first time. Only Winters was present from the activation of Easy Company until the war's end. Winner of the Distinguished Service Cross, only he could pen this moving tribute to the human spirit.

On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle

Hampton Sides

Doubleday · 2018

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers and In the Kingdom of Ice, a chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War On October 15, 1950, the vainglorious General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of U.N. troops in Korea, convinced President Harry Truman that the communist forces would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he said with near certainty, would not intervene in the war. As he was speaking, 300,000 Chinese soldiers began crossing the border. Led by the 13,000 men of the 1st Marine Division, the Americans moved far north into the trap Mao had set for the arrogant MacArthur at the Chosin Reservoir. What followed was one of the most heroic - and harrowing - operations in American military history. Faced with annihilation, and temperatures plunging to 20 degrees below zero, the surrounded Marines fought through the enemy forces with ferocity, ingenuity and nearly unimaginable courage. Hampton Sides's superb account of the battle relies on years of archival research and interviews with scores of Marines and Koreans who survived the siege. While expertly chronicling the follies of the American leaders, this is an immediate, grunt's-eye view of history, enthralling in its narrative pace and powerful in its portrayal of what ordinary men are capable of in the most extreme circumstances.

The Korean War

Max Hastings

Pan Books · January 7, 2000

It was the first war we could not win. At no other time since World War II have two superpowers met in battle. Now Max Hastings, preeminent military historian, takes us back to the bloody, bitter, struggle to restore South Korean independence after the Communist invasion of June 1950. Using personal accounts from interviews with more than 200 vets - including the Chinese - Hasting follows real officers and soldiers through the battles. He brilliantly captures the Cold War crisis at home - the strategies and politics of Truman, Acheson, Marshall, MacArthur, Ridgeway, and Bradley - and shows what we should have learned in the war that was the prelude to Vietnam.