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Overview
The Allies Strike Back offers fascinating new perspective on the critical middle years in World War II’s western theatre, as the advantage between Axis and Allied forces swung back and forth on the Atlantic and eastern front, and in north Africa and Europe. Acclaimed historian James Holland has spent years conducting original research and interviews, mining newly available archives, visiting battlefields and uncovering letters and diaries previously unread. Acknowledging that strategy and tactics have been the focus of previous histories, he gives equal space to the logistics and supply of men and materiel without which no war can be fought. Allied and Axis leaders criss-cross Holland’s narrative, but he also memorably introduces readers to heretofore unknown participants: Sgt. Ralph Schaps, who experienced the Louisiana Maneuvers that propelled him into Europe; Colonel Hermann Balck, in command of a German panzer regiment in Africa; U-boat captain Teddy Suhren, operating against Allied shipping in the Atlantic; Billy Drake, squadron commander in Britain’s Desert Air Force that helped turn the tide in North Africa; and many others.
Following the acclaimed first volume of his trilogy, The Rise of Germany, and offering frank assessments of successes and failures on both sides, James Holland has crafted a masterful and gripping narrative of the events that ultimately determined the outcome of World War II.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780802125606 |
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Publisher: | Grove/Atlantic, Inc. |
Publication date: | 10/03/2017 |
Series: | The War in the West |
Pages: | 720 |
Sales rank: | 1,145,736 |
Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 2.00(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
List of Maps and Diagrams ix
List of Principal Characters Featured xxi
Note on the Text xxvii
Introduction 1
Part I America Enters the War
1 The Largest Clash of Arms 16
2 Manoeuvring 23
3 Summer '41 42
4 The US Navy Goes to War 57
5 The Sinking of the Reuben James 73
6 Crusaders 84
7 Unravelling 95
8 World War 105
Part II Eastern Influences
9 Battles at Sea 114
10 Strategic Blunders 123
11 Carnage Off America 136
12 Fighters and Bombers 146
13 Steel and Strategy 157
14 Seeds of Resistance 170
15 Heat and Dust 182
16 Into the Cauldron 199
17 Combined Production 214
18 The Fall of Tobruk 225
19 Sea and Sand 242
20 Thousand Bomber Raid 252
21 Sea and Steppe 259
22 Gathering Strength 273
23 Last Chance in Africa 288
24 The End of the German Dream 306
Part III The Allies Strike Back
25 A Brief Discourse on Tanks and Fire-power 320
26 A Brief Discourse on Training and Morale 331
27 Return of the Hero 345
28 Getting Ready 355
29 The Vicious Circle 371
30 Lighting the Torch 388
31 Lightfoot 401
32 Supercharge 414
33 Cutting Losses 428
34 Invasion 444
Part IV Crushing the Wolfpacks
35 The Blackest Month 458
36 Setbacks 473
37 Year End 487
38 The Critical Theatre 499
39 Living Dangerously 514
40 Frühlingswind 531
41 Heavy Water 546
42 Regaining the Initiative 558
43 Into the Gap 571
44 Closing In 585
45 Victory for the Allies 598
Glossary 615
Appendices 617
Timeline 621
Notes 626
Selected Sources 649
Acknowledgements 679
Picture Acknowledgements 681
Index 685