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Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa

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War & Military
Chapter: 13 | Listen:

“Tarawa Atoll is 2085 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor and 540 miles southeast of Kwajalein in the Marshalls. Betio is the principal island in the atoll. The Japanese seized Tarawa from the British within the first three days after Pearl Harbor. In August 1943, to meet in secret with Major General Julian C. Smith and his principal staff officers, Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance flew to New Zealand from Pearl Harbor. Spruance told the Marines to prepare for an amphibious assault against Japanese positions in the Gilbert Islands in November. General Smith’s operations officer, Lieutenant Colonel David M. Shoup, studied the primitive chart of Betio and saw that the tiny island was surrounded by a barrier reef. Shoup asked Spruance if any of the Navy’s experimental, shallow-draft, plastic boats could be provided. ‘Not available,’ replied the admiral, ‘expect only the usual wooden landing craft.’ Shoup frowned. General Smith could sense that Shoup’s gifted mind was already formulating a plan. The results of that plan were momentous. The Tarawa operation became a tactical watershed: the first, large-scale test of American amphibious doctrine against a strongly fortified beachhead.” – Summary by Joseph H Alexander [chương_files]

29/08/2024

Project Horizon: Establishment of a Lunar Outpost

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War & Military
Chapter: 8 | Listen: 3

The US national policy on space includes the objective of developing and exploiting this Nation’s space capability as necessary to achieve national political, scientific, and security objectives. The establishment of a manned outpost in the lunar environment will demonstrate United States leadership in space. It will also provide a basis for further explorations and operations on the lunar surface as well as a supporting capability for other US operations in space. – Summary from the text [chương_files]

U.S. Army in the Iraq War Volume 1: Invasion Insurgency Civil War 2003 – 2006

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War & Military
Chapter: 43 | Listen:

In September 2013, Chief of Staff of the Army General Raymond T. Odierno directed the Operation Iraqi Freedom Study Group to research and write an operational history of the U.S. Army’s experience in the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011. This volume, The United States Army in the Iraq War, 2003-2006, is the first of two fulfilling that task. It tells the story of the U.S.-led campaigns to remove Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi Ba’athist regime from power in 2003 and to stabilize the country following those operations. It details the course of the campaigns up to a point in late 2006 when President George W. Bush and other U.S. leaders changed the strategy in Iraq to one that resulted in the “surge” counteroffensive by American troops in 2007–2008. That counteroffensive and the subsequent withdrawal of the coalition forces from Iraq are the subjects of the second volume of this series. In scope, the study group members consciously modeled this history after the Army’s “Green Book” histories of World War II. As the Green Books did, and as General Odierno charged us to do, we focused on the operational level of war. These volumes are narrative histories that tell the story of U.S. forces in Iraq, mainly from the perspective of the theater command in Baghdad and the operational commands immediately subordinate to it. They focus on the decisions and intent of the senior three- and four-star commanders in Baghdad over time. [chương_files]

First From The Front

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War & Military
Chapter: 12 | Listen: 2

In this brief book I have lifted a very small corner of the curtain of war, to tell of my adventures — a week in the North Sea, and a breathless score of days in Northern France. I have touched upon both Tragedy and Comedy as they came my way. The tragedy is terrible enough – I have put it down plainly and unvarnished. From Tragedy to Comedy, it is but a step, along the gloomiest corridor of life one sees the flash of the cap and hears the rattle of the bells. Otherwise, it would be unbearable. And if my little bell would seem to jangle out of tune, I cannot help it. The bell was there; now and again it rang, and some of us smiled at the music of it. (Extract from the Introduction of First From The Front) At the outbreak of the First World War, Harold Ashton became War Correspondent of The Daily News and almost immediately managed to join up with a Danish Sea captain who had been commissioned to transport food supplies from Denmark to various ports in England. After this North Sea adventure, he then made his way to Northern France and accompanied various military units, both British and French as they deployed into various sectors of the war zone. His reporting focused on the ‘human interest’ aspect of the events that he witnessed, and he provided his readers with a unique insight into many aspects of the military buildup, as he […]

Two Essays On Military History, Strategy, and Tactics: Mountain Warfare (1909) And Naval Strategy (1917)

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War & Military
Chapter: 10 | Listen: 5

One essay (1909) lays out tactics for mountain fighting, focused on British Army experience on the Indian frontier (Afghanistan), penned by a British officer who fought in that conflict, Wilkinson Dent Bird. The other essay (1917) focuses on the British navy in World War I written by an author who specialized in British naval strategy and history, John Leyland. – Summary by david wales [chương_files]

First World War Centenary Prose Collection Vol. III

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War & Military, War & Military Fiction
Chapter: 32 | Listen:

This collection of non-fiction and fiction pieces is the third volume commemorating the First World War. The majority of the items, all chosen by the readers, are in English, but the collection also includes pieces in Dutch, French, German, Italian and Portuguese. Please note that some works are still protected by copyright in countries which observe copyright laws based on the author’s date of death. Most items were written during or shortly after the war, but one or two have been included for their relevance in other ways. For more information about each piece, please see this document (PDF format), which also shows the authors’ dates of death. (Summary by Ruth Golding) [chương_files]

Авантюристы гражданской войны

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War & Military
Chapter: 16 | Listen: 3

Military history essays of WWI and Russian Civil War, lesser known episodes. A.Vetlugin (a.k.a. Voldemar Ryndzune) became an adventurer himself in his early 20s, he knew what he was writing about. A.Ветлугин (Владимир Рындзюн) был участником Гражданской войны. Его наблюдательность и частые передвижения позволили создать галерею колоритных портретов от Дзержинского и Троцкого до Петлюры и Махно. – Summary by Mark Chulsky [chương_files]

U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 2: The Inchon-Seoul Operation

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War & Military
Chapter: 29 | Listen: 1

The Inchon Landing was a major amphibious operation, planned in record time and executed with skill and precision. Even more, it was an exemplification of the fruits of a bold strategy executed by a competent force. The decision to attack at Inchon involved weakening the line against enemy strength in the Pusan Perimeter in order to strike him in the rear. It involved the conduct of an amphibious attack under most difficult conditions of weather and geography. It ultimately culminated with combat in the heart of Seoul. – Summary by Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr. and Aaron Bennett [chương_files]

First World War Centenary Prose Collection Vol. II

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War & Military, War & Military Fiction
Chapter: 50 | Listen: 2

This collection of non-fiction and fiction pieces is the second volume commemorating the First World War. The majority of the items, all chosen by the readers, are in English, but the collection also includes pieces in French and German. Please note that some works are still protected by copyright in countries which observe copyright laws based on the author’s date of death. Most items were written during or shortly after the war, but one or two have been included for their relevance in other ways. For more information about each piece, please see this document (PDF format), which also shows the authors’ dates of death. (Summary by Ruth Golding) [chương_files]

Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima

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War & Military
Chapter: 13 | Listen:

Sunday, 4 March 1945, marked the end of the second week of the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima. By this point the assault elements of the 3d, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions were exhausted, their combat efficiency reduced to dangerously low levels. The thrilling sight of the American flag being raised by the 28th Marines on Mount Suribachi had occurred 10 days earlier, a lifetime on “Sulphur Island.” The landing forces of the V Amphibious Corps (VAC) had already sustained 13,000 casualties, including 3,000 dead. The “front lines” were a jagged serration across Iwo’s fat northern half, still in the middle of the main Japanese defenses. Ahead the going seemed all uphill against a well-disciplined, rarely visible enemy. But the battle was beginning to take its toll on the Japanese garrison as well. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi knew his 109th Division had inflicted heavy casualties on the attacking Marines, yet his own losses had been comparable. The American capture of the key hills in the main defense sector the day before deprived him of his invaluable artillery observation sites. His brilliant chief of artillery, Colonel Chosaku Kaido, lay dying. …Kuribayashi moved his own command post from the central highlands to a large cave on the northwest coast. The usual blandishments from Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo reached him by radio that afternoon, but Kuribayashi was in no mood for heroic rhetoric. “Send me air and naval support and I will hold the island,” he signalled. “Without them I cannot hold.” – […]