<div>In late 1942 Hitler's forces advanced far into the Caucasus in the southern Soviet Union in one of the most ambitious offensives of the Second World War, but this extraordinary episode is often forgotten-it is overshadowed by the disastrous German attack on Stalingrad which took place at the same time. Using over 150 wartime photographs Anthony Tucker-Jones gives the reader a graphic, concise introduction to this remarkable but neglected campaign on the Eastern Front.Operation Edelweiss was designed to seize the oil fields of Maikop, Baku and Grozny. Seen by some as a wholly unnecessary diversion of resources from the critical confrontation at Stalingrad, the assault on the Caucasus aimed to secure oil supplies for the Germans and deny them to the Soviets.As this memorable selection of photographs shows, the Werhmacht came close to success. Their forces advanced almost as far as Grozny, famously raising the Nazi flag over Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in the region, before they were compelled into a hurried withdrawal by the rapid deterioration of the German position elsewhere on the Eastern Front.</div>

The Battle for the Caucasus, 1942–1943

<div><B>A pictorial history and analysis of the tank warfare between Red Soviet and Nazi forces along the Eastern Front during World War II.</B><BR /><BR /> On the Eastern Front during the Second World War, massive Soviet and German tank armies clashed in a series of battles that were unmatched in their scale and ferocity. Several of them have attained almost legendary status. But epic encounters such as these were only part of a broader story, as Anthony Tucker-Jones demonstrates in this selection of graphic photographs. While the images give a fascinating inside view of combat, they also reveal the daily routines of tank warfare 65 years ago. Training, maintenance, transportation, and supply are shown, as are the daily lives of the tank crews and the often appalling conditions in which they worked and fought. The photographs also record in vivid detail the destructive reality of armored warfare, from the initial triumphant advance of the German panzers deep into the Soviet Union to the massive Red Army counter-offensives which drove the German armies back to Berlin.<BR /><BR /><B>Praise for <I>Armoured Warfare on the Eastern Front</I></B><BR /><BR /><B>&ldquo;Each chapter includes a useful introduction and the pictures each come with an accurate and informative caption, describing the item in the picture and placing it in context, comparing it to its opponents at the time or looking at production numbers. This is a high quality piece of work, and a useful photographic guide to the armoured vehicles of the Eastern Front.&rdquo; &mdash;History of War</B></div>

Armoured Warfare on the Eastern Front

<div>Over 150 wartime photographs give a graphic snapshot of the dramatic tank battles fought by the Waffen-SS panzer and panzergrenadier divisions during 1944-5 on both the Eastern and Western fronts. By this stage of the Second World War these formations were at the height of their powers and took part in major armoured operations in Russia, France, the Netherlands, and Poland. As the Wehrmacht retreated the Waffen-SS played an increasingly important role. Most notably their panzers prolonged the war by staving off defeat at Arnhem and Wolomin, stabilizing both the Western and Eastern fronts at critical points in the fighting.The photographs and the accompanying narrative record the contrasting conditions they faced on each battlefront and the weapons and equipment they used, especially the armored vehicles, including the Tiger and Panther tanks, which were among the best designs the Germans produced. But they also record the crimes committed by members of the Waffen-SS against civilians and captured enemy soldiers during the series of brutal, often desperate operations mounted to stave off German defeat.Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a fascinating introduction to these elite units during the final phase of the fighting in Europe.</div>

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Armoured Warfare and the Waffen-SS, 1944–1945

<div><P><B>This WWII pictorial history sheds light on the armored fighting vehicles built and deployed by Italy, Hungary and other Axis powers on the Eastern Front.</B></P> In discussions of Second World War military vehicles, German, American and British tanks are given the most focus. Meanwhile, the tanks, self-propelled guns and armored cars built and deployed by Hitler&rsquo;s Axis allies, have been almost forgotten. Both the rarity of these fighting vehicles and the vital roles they played in battle make them a fascinating subject of photographic history.<BR /><BR /> This selection of previously unpublished wartime photographs provides a visual record of the armored forces thrown into action by Hitler&rsquo;s allies on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945. Illustrated here are the panzers deployed by Bulgaria, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy and Romania on the Eastern Front and in the Balkans. Hungary&rsquo;s home-made armor included the Toldi and Tur&aacute;n tanks and Zr&iacute;nyi self-propelled guns. The Italians produced CV-33 tankettes, Semovente self-propelled guns, Autoblinda and Lancia armored cars and a series of tanks. Romanian and Czech tanks and assault guns were also deployed.</div>

Armoured Warfare and Hitler's Allies, 1941–1945

<div>This latest volume in Anthony Tucker-Joness series of photographic histories of armored warfare records in graphic detail the role played by tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery during the decisive campaign in northwest Europe in 1944-5. In a sequence of over 200 archive photographs he shows how American, British, Canadian, and Polish armored divisions spearheaded the assault on the Third Reich, and how the Wehrmacht mounted a desperate armored defense. Tanks were required to operate in the dust of Normandy, the mud and waters of the Scheldt and Rhine rivers and the snows of the Ardennes and the forests of Germany. A succession of crucial armored engagements was fought  during the D-Day landings, Operation Goodwood and the struggle for the Bourgubus ridge, the Falaise pocket, the Seine crossing, Arnhem, the German attack in the Ardennes, the Rhine crossing, in the Reichswald and during the rearguard actions and the last-ditch tank battles fought by the panzers in the Ruhr before the German surrender. Anthony Tucker-Joness photographic survey of the ultimate tank battles of the Second World War illustrates the range of armored fighting vehicles that were developed during the conflict, and it features the specialized vehicles deployed in Europe for the first time such as the Buffalo, DUKW, Weasel and Terrapin.</div>

Armoured Warfare in Northwest Europe, 1944–1945

<div>Anthony Tucker-Jones is only too familiar with the modern architects of terror. For the past decade and a half he has worked as the terrorism and security correspondent for the highly respected intersec  The Journal of International Security. During that time he has written extensively on al Qaeda and Daesh. This book draws on his experience to assess Islamic States brutal Holy War that has brought terror and mayhem to the four corners of the globe.The emergence of terror group Islamic State, or Daesh, has created one of the greatest threats to global security in the twenty-first century. Spawned from the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, it carved out an Islamic caliphate straddling both failed countries. Since then it has wantonly despoiled world heritage sites, engaged in regional genocide and conducted regular terror attacks against capital cities across the world, killing irrespective of race, color, creed, gender or age.Like its predecessor, al Qaeda, Daeshs most potent and insidious weapon is franchise terrorism. It has inspired clutches of deadly wannabee terrorists who have carried out a wave of what can be best described as war crimes, killing innocent civilians. In this perceptive assessment Tucker-Jones highlights how the West has become caught up in what is essentially a civil war between Shia and Sunni Islam, with deadly results.</div>

Daesh

<div><P><B>This WWII pictorial history illustrates the wide array of armored vehicles deployed by Allied and Axis powers in Italy.</B></P><P>The Second World War campaigns in North Africa, on the Eastern Front and in northwest Europe were dominated by armored warfare, but the battles in Italy were not. The Italian peninsula&rsquo;s mountainous terrain was best suited to an infantry war. Yet from the Allied landings in Sicily in 1943 to the German surrender after the crossing of the Po in 1945, tanks, self-propelled guns and armored cars were essential elements in the operations of both sides.</P> Anthony Tucker-Jones&rsquo;s selection of rare wartime photographs shows armor in battle at Salerno, Anzio and Monte Cassino, during the struggle for the Gustav Line, the advance on Rome and the liberation of northern Italy. These dramatic images reveal the full array of Axis and Allied armored vehicles that was deployed, including German Panzers, Panthers, and Tigers and Allied Stuarts, Chafees, Shermans and Churchills. They also vividly illustrate the Italian landscapes over which the campaign was fought and the grueling conditions endured by the men who fought in it.</div>

Armoured Warfare in the Italian Campaign, 1943–1945

<div>When the world held its breath It is 25 years since the end of the Cold War, now a generation old. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europewith the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Iraq, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was French Indochina   At the end of the Second World War France sought to reassert its military prestige, but instead suffered humiliating defeat at Dien Bien Phu in French colonial Indochina. The First Indochina war became a textbook example of how not to conduct counterinsurgency warfare against nationalist guerrillas. Anthony Tucker-Jones guides the reader through this decisive conflict with a concise text and contemporary photographs, providing critical insight into the conduct of the war by both sides and its wider ramifications.The Viet Minh, after resisting the Japanese in Indochina, sought independence for Vietnam from France. The French, with limited military resources, moved swiftly to reassert control in 1945, sparking a decade-long conflict. French defense of Hanoi rested on holding the Red River Delta, making it a key battleground. When the Viet Minh invaded neighboring Laos the French deployed to fight a set-piece battle at Dien Bien Phu, in 1954, but instead were trapped. All relief attempts failed and French defenses were slowly overwhelmed. America considered coming to the garrisons rescue using nuclear weapons, but instead left it to its fate, which set the scene for the Algerian and the Vietnam conflicts.</div>

Dien Bien Phu

<div>Robert Lymans deep knowledge and understanding of the war in Burma, and the great battles at Kohima and Imphal in 1944, are well known. In this book he uses original documents, published works and personal accounts to weave together an enthralling account of some of the bitterest fighting of WWII. Not only does he use British sources for his research but he has also included material from the Naga tribes of north-east India, on whose land these battles were fought, and from Japanese accounts, including interviews with Japanese veterans of the fighting. Thus he has been able to produce what is arguably the most balanced history of the battles that were pivotal in ending the Japanese empire. Fergal Keane, journalist and author of Road to Bones: The Siege of Kohima 1944 wrote to the author saying What a triumph! I finished it last night. You have done a wonderful job. I only wish Id read it before writing my own book! He goes on to say Robert Lyman is one of the great writers about men and war and in this book he has succeeded in conveying the courage, genius and folly of an epic struggle. I cannot think of a writer engaged in the subject of the Second World War who can match Lyman for his integrity or the soundness of his judgments.</div>

Falaise

<div>The Battle of the Bulge took the Allied armies by surprise in 1944. It was a result of the extraordinary recovery of Hitlers panzer divisions following crushing defeats on the Eastern and Western fronts. In a daring offensive he hoped his panzers would unhinge the American and British push on the Rhine by charging through the Schnee Eifel, thereby prolonging the war. The consequence was one of the best-known battles of the entire conflict, and Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is the ideal introduction to it. The story is told through a sequence of revealing contemporary photographs and a concise text. They give a sharp insight into the planning and decision-making, the armored forces involved, the terrain and the appalling mid-winter conditions, the front-line fighting and the experience of the troops involved. The armored battle, which was critical to the outcome, is the main focus. Through a massive tank offensive the Germans aimed to cut through the US 1st Army to Antwerp and Brussels, in the process trapping three Allied armies. The confusion and near collapse of the Americans as their defenses were overrun is vividly recorded in the photographs, as is their resistance and recovery as the German spearheads were slowed, then stopped.</div>

Armoured Warfare in the Battle of the Bulge, 1944–1945

<div>The Kalashnikov assault rifle, generically known as the AK-47, is the most famous small arm ever made. This weapon has transcended its Soviet designer and country of origin to become the most prolifically produced and iconic weapon in the world – and it has become a brand that has been used to sell everything from T-shirts to vodka.  Although it first appeared in the late 1940s, it did not make its decisive presence felt on the battlefield until the Vietnam War when China supplied it to the Vietnamese communists. The weapons durability became a legend. Since then it has been employed in practically every conflict around the globe, and it is seen as the symbol of the wars of national liberation. Probably its most celebrated moment came in the hands of the mujahideen fighting to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan.  In Kalashnikov in Combat Anthony Tucker-Jones gives the reader a brief history of the weapon and he offers a visual record of the impact of the AK-47 on the battlefield up to the present day. His account is illustrated with a wealth of archive photographs ranging from Vietnam to the American-led invasion of Iraq and beyond.</div>

Kalashnikov in Combat

<div><P><B>This fully illustrated WWII history offers a vivid look at the armored vehicles used by Allied and Nazi forces during D-Day and the Normandy Campaign.</B></P><P>The remarkable photographs collected here illustrate in graphic detail the role armor played in the Allied D-Day landings and the liberation of occupied France&mdash;as well as the skill and tenacity of the German panzer units that confronted them. The struggle gave rise to a sequence of battles that were among the most intense, and critical, of any fought in the Second World War.</P><BR /> Anthony Tucker-Jones traces the course of the armored campaign through these striking wartime photographs: the D-Day landings, the first clashes of the opposing tanks and anti-tank guns, then the Allied operations that culminated in the Allied breakthrough and the destruction of the German 5th Panzer Army at Falaise.<BR /><BR /> The images offer a fascinating inside view of the fighting itself and of the widespread destruction it caused. But they also record the routines of tank warfare, and give a vivid impression of the experience of the tank crews of the day and of the tanks they operated, including the German Mk IVs, Panthers, and Tigers, and the Allied Shermans, Churchills and specialized tanks, such as Hobart&rsquo;s Funnies, that confronted each other in France.</div>

Armoured Warfare in the Battle for Normandy

<div>The North African campaign, the struggle of the Italians and Germans against the Allies in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia between 1940 and 1943, was a war of movement and maneuver, of dramatic changes of fortune, and it was a war in which mechanized forces—tanks in particular—excelled. Compared with the heavily populated landscapes of northwest Europe, the empty open spaces of North Africa appeared to be ideal operating terrain for tanks, yet the harsh desert conditions tested men and machinery to the limit, as Anthony Tucker-Jones demonstrates in this remarkable selection of wartime photographs.The use of armor during the entire course of the campaign is covered, from the initial Italian offensive, the arrival of Rommels Panzergruppe Afrika, the battles fought along the North African shore which culminated in El Alamein, then the Allied advance into Tunisia which led to the final defeat of the German and Italian armies.The images give a fascinating inside view of combat, but they also reveal the daily routines of tank warfare 65 years ago, and give a vivid impression of what it was like to fight in and live with the tanks of the day  the German Mk IIIs and Mk IVs and the Tiger, the British Matildas and Valentines and the American Grants and Shermans that contributed so much to the Allied victory. Training, maintenance, transportation and supply are shown, as are the daily lives of the tank crews and extreme conditions in which they worked and fought.</div>

Armoured Warfare in the North African Campaign

<div><P><B>This fully illustrated history explores the unique role of armored vehicles in the Korean War with more than 180 wartime photographs.</B></P><P>After World War II, military analysts thought that the only place significant armored forces were ever likely to confront each other again was in central Europe where the NATO alliance would fend off the Soviet Red Army. But then during the Korean War of 1950-53, large numbers of armored fighting vehicles were deployed by both sides. This neglected aspect of the conflict is the subject of Anthony Tucker-Jones&rsquo;s photographic history.</P> Korea, with its rugged mountains, narrow passes, steep valleys and waterlogged fields. was not ideal tank country so the armor mainly supported the infantry and rarely engaged in battles of maneuver. Yet the wide variety of armor supporting UN and North Korean forces played a vital if unorthodox role in the swiftly moving campaigns.<BR /><BR /> More than 180 contemporary photographs have been selected to show Soviet-built T-34/85s and Su-76s, American M4 Shermans, M26 Pershings and M46 Pattons, as well as British Cromwells and Centurions in one of the defining conflicts of the Cold War.</div>

Armoured Warfare in the Korean War

<div>The bloody eight-year Iran-Iraq war is now almost forgotten, overshadowed by the subsequent Gulf War and Iraq War. However, it is best remembered for the unique so-called ‘Tanker War which threatened to strangle the worlds oil supplies. At the time Tucker-Jones as a defence analyst wrote extensively on the war and now brings his expertise to bear with this account of a conflict fuelled by festering regional rivalries, the Cold War and the emerging threat posed by militant Shia Islam.  Fought on land, at sea and in the air using some of the most modern weapons money could buy, Western-backed Saddam Husseins Sunni Iraq and Shia Iran under the ayatollahs fought themselves to a standstill. Once Saddams armoured blitzkrieg had been halted and Irans human-wave counterattacks fought off, it became a war of attrition with major battles fought for the possession of Khorramshahr and Basra. Both sides resorted to chemical weapons and bombarding each other with missiles. When the war spilled over into the waters of the Gulf it sparked open Western intervention. Escalating attacks on oil tankers finally culminated in a ceasefire.</div>

Iran–Iraq War

<div>At the end of the Cold War the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction replaced the Soviet Union as the new enemy of world peace. The pariah WMD states became enemy No. 1. The significance of militant Islams growing disgust with Western foreign policy and apparent indifference to the suffering of Muslims worldwide was missed until it was too late.In Rise of Militant Islam Anthony Tucker-Jones examines from an insiders perspective how Western intelligence misinterpreted every landmark event on the road to 9/11 and ultimately failed to curb global jihad.  The 9/11 attack provoked a War on Terror which has yet to fully curb the threat of global jihad or bring ringleader Osama bin Laden to justice.Anthony Tucker-Jones, who served in the Defense Intelligence Staff, the British Ministry of Defenses top intelligence assessment organization, gained an unparalleled insiders view of the growing war on terror and how the Wests intelligence agencies were wrong-footed at almost every turn.  He traces the rise of international terrorism and its networks throughout the Muslim world, in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Algeria, Chechnya, Somalia and across the Middle East, and he uncovers the connections between them. He shows how the key to the growth of Al Qaeda as a global terrorist organization was not only the emergence of Osama bin Laden, but also the growing understanding of asymmetrical warfare which the CIA had taught anti-Soviet jihadists in Afghanistan in the 1980s.</div>

The Rise of Militant Islam

<div>"In this companion volume to his photographic history of Soviet tanks and armoured vehicles, Anthony Tucker-Jones provides a visual guide to the vast array of aircraft, warships and missiles the Soviet armed forces deployed at the height of the Cold War. Although the superpowers never came to blows, the so-called 'Cold War' was far from cold, with numerous 'hot' proxy wars being fought in Africa and the Middle East. All these conflicts employed Soviet weaponry which has been captured in action in the colour and black-and-white photographs selected for this book.    Between the 1950s and 1980s Soviet and Warsaw Pact countries churned out thousands of weapons ready for the Third World War. They also embarked on a technological arms race with NATO in an attempt to counter each new piece of equipment as it appeared. The MiG fighters, the Badger and Backfire bombers, the nuclear submarines have achieved almost iconic status, but, as Anthony Tucker-Jones's book shows, there was much more to the Soviet armoury than these famous weapons. Much of it, despite its age, remains in service with armies, guerrilla forces and terrorist organizations around the world today."</div>

Soviet Cold War Weaponry: Aircraft, Warships, Missiles and Artillery

<div><B>A pictorial history and analysis of the infamous World War II German tanks.</B><BR /><BR /> The German Tiger I and Tiger II (known to the Allies as the King Tiger or Royal Tiger) were the most famous and formidable heavy tanks of the Second World War. In their day, their awesome reputation inspired such apprehension among Allied soldiers that the weaknesses of these brilliant but flawed designs tended to be overlooked.<BR /><BR /> Anthony Tucker-Jones, in this illustrated history, tells the story of their conception and development and reconsiders their operational history, and he dispels the myths that have grown up around them. The Tigers were over-engineered, required raw materials that were in short supply, and were time-consuming to manufacture and difficult to recover from the battlefield. Only around 1,300 of the Tiger I and fewer than 500 of the Tiger II were produced, so they were never going to make anything more than a local impact on the outcome of the fighting on the Western and Eastern fronts. Yet the myth of the Tigers, with their 88mm guns, thick armor, and brutal profiles, has grown over time to the extent that they are regarded as the deadliest tanks of the Second World War.<BR /><BR /> Anthony Tucker-Jones&rsquo;s expert account of these remarkable fighting vehicles is accompanied by a series of color plates showing the main variants of the designs and the common ancillary equipment and unit markings. His book is an essential work of reference for enthusiasts.</div>

Tiger I &amp; Tiger II

<div>Four years of armored battle on the Eastern Front in the Second World War littered the battlefields with the wrecks of destroyed and disabled tanks, and Anthony Tucker-Joness photographic history is a fascinating guide to them. It provides a graphic record of the various types of tank deployed by the Red Army and the Wehrmacht during the largest and most destructive confrontation between mechanized armies in military history.During the opening stages of the war the German victors regularly photographed and posed with destroyed Soviet armor. Operation Barbarossa left 17,000 smashed Soviet tanks in its wake, and the heavy and medium tanks such as the T-28, T-35, KV-1 and the T-34 proved to be a source of endless interest. Once the tide turned the wrecked and burnt-out panzers  the Mk IVs, Tigers and Panthers  were photographed by the victorious Red Army.As well as tracing the entire course of the war on the Eastern Front through the trail of broken armor, the photographs provide a wide-ranging visual archive of the tank types of the period that will appeal to everyone who is interested in tank warfare and to modelers and wargamers in particular.</div>

Tank Wrecks of the Eastern Front, 1941–1945

<div>On 30 January 1968 the North Vietnamese communists launched a coordinated surprise attack  the Tet Offensive  across South Vietnam against the South Vietnamese and American armies. Superior firepower eventually crushed the offensive, but it proved to be a major psychological victory for the communists  a turning point in the Vietnam War. Anthony Tucker-Jones, in this photographic history of Tet  and of American involvement in the struggle against the forces of the Viet Cong and the regular North Vietnamese army  uses over 180 contemporary images, colour and black and white, to show all sides of the conflict and to reassess a defining moment in the protracted and bitter campaign against communism in South-East Asia. The images record in vivid detail the conditions and the nature of the fighting, in particular the battles for Hue, Khe Sanh and Saigon, and the equipment and the weaponry that was used. They show the impact of the fighting on the civilian population in the countryside and cities as they became battlegrounds. And they illustrate why the US public was so shocked by the capability of the communists to launch such an all-encompassing assault that many lost faith in America's commitment to the South.</div>

The Vietnam War

<div>The T-54, T-62 and T-72 main battle tanks along with the personnel carriers, assault guns, self-propelled guns and anti-tank missiles that are illustrated in this photographic history represent the high point in the design and manufacture of armoured vehicles by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Although the superpowers never came to blows, the 'Cold War' was far from cold, as numerous 'hot' proxy wars were fought in Africa and the Middle East, and these conflicts employed the Soviet weaponry that is shown in action in the colour and black-and-white photographs selected for this book.Between the 1950s and 1980s Soviet and Warsaw Pact countries produced thousands of tanks and armoured vehicles ready for the Third World War. They embarked on a technological arms race with the NATO allies in an attempt to counter each new piece of equipment as it appeared in service. Much of this Soviet weaponry has achieved almost iconic status and, despite its age, remains in service with armies, guerrilla forces and terrorist organizations around the world today. It is also of enduring interest to collectors, re-enactors and modellers who are fascinated by the military equipment of the late twentieth century.</div>

Soviet Cold War Weaponry

<div>This photographic history of the Soviet-Afghan War of 1979 to 1989 gives a fascinating insight into a grim conflict that prefigured the American-led campaign in that country. In an unequal struggle, the mujahedeen resisted for ten years, then triumphed over Moscow. For the Soviet Union, the futile intervention has been compared to the similar humiliation suffered by the United States in Vietnam. For the Afghans the victory was just one episode in the long history of their efforts to free their territory from the interference of foreign powers. By focusing on the Soviet use of heavy weaponry, Anthony Tucker-Jones shows the imbalance at the heart of a conflict in which the mechanized, industrial might of a super power was set against lightly armed partisans who became experts in infiltration tactics and ambushes. His work is a visual record of the tactics and the equipment the Soviets used to counter the resistance and protect vulnerable convoys.It also shows what this grueling conflict was like for the Soviet soldiers, the guerrilla fighters and the Afghan population, and it puts the present war in Afghanistan in a thought-provoking historical perspective.</div>

The Soviet-Afghan War

<div>The Soviet T-54/55 is probably the best-known tank of the Cold War, and it was produced in greater numbers that any other tank in history. It first went into service just after the Second World War and over 70,000 were made, and its design was so successful that it even outlasted its successor the T-62. For a generation it formed the backbone of the armored forces of the Warsaw Pact and it was exported all over the world, remaining in the front-line until the 1990s. This photographic history in the Images of War series by Anthony Tucker-Jones is the ideal introduction to it. In over 150 archive photographs and a detailed analytical text, he traces the design and development of the T-54/55 and records its operational history. He describes how it was conceived as a main battle tank, an all-rounder, contrasting with the light, medium and heavy tanks produced in the past, and it proved to be extraordinarily effective. It was as adaptable as it was long-lasting, different versions being produced by China, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania. Its relatively simple design also meant it was easy to maintain even in difficult conditions and it was used by armies across the Third World, in particular in wars in Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Somalia. Anthony Tucker-Jones's history of this remarkable armored vehicle will be absorbing reading for tank enthusiasts and a valuable source for modelers.</div>

T-54/55

<div>In the summer of 1944 the Red Army crushed Army Group Centre in one of the largest offensives in military history. Operation Bagration - launched almost exactly three years after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union - was Stalin's retribution for Hitler's Operation Barbarossa. Earlier battles at Stalingrad and Kursk paved the way for Soviet victory, but as Anthony Tucker-Jones demonstrates in this fascinating study, Bagration ensured that the Germans would never regain the strategic initiative. In one fell swoop the Wehrmacht lost a quarter of its strength on the Eastern Front. And in a series of overwhelming assaults, the Red Army recaptured practically all the territory the Soviet Union had lost in 1941, advanced into East Prussia and reached the outskirts of Warsaw. As he reconstructs this massive and complex battle, Anthony Tucker-Jones assesses the opposing forces and their commanders and gives a vivid insight into the planning and decision-making at the highest level. He recreates the experience of the soldiers on the battlefield by using graphic contemporary accounts, and he sets the Bagration offensive in the wider context of the Soviet war effort. He also asks why Stalin's road to retribution proved to be such a long and bloody one - for the Germans, despite their crippling losses, managed to resist for another ten months.</div>

Stalin's Revenge

<div><B>&ldquo;The most iconic tank for the Red Army in World War II . . . a pictorial history of the design, development and usage of the T-34 and its derivatives.&rdquo; &mdash;<I>Military Archive Research</I></B><BR />  <BR /> It could be said that the T-34 was the tank that won the Second World War. In total, 57,000 were produced between 1941 and 1945. Stalin&rsquo;s tank factories outstripped Hitler&rsquo;s by a factor of three to one, and production of the T-34 also exceeded that of the famed American M4 Sherman. Not only did this output swamp German panzer production, the T-34 was a robust, no-frills war-winning design&mdash;easy to manufacture and reliable. Its sloping armor was innovative at the time, and its wide tracks suited it to off-road warfare. Crucially, it required little maintenance in comparison to German tanks, and its chassis was used as the basis for a range of assault guns: the SU-85, SU-100, and SU-122.<BR />  <BR /> Anthony Tucker-Jones&rsquo;s photographic history of this exceptional armored vehicle follows its story through the course of the war, from its combat debut against the Wehrmacht during Operation Barbarossa, through the Red Army&rsquo;s defeats and retreats of 1941 and 1942, to the tide-turning victories at Stalingrad and Kursk, and on through the long, rapid Soviet advance across Ukraine and Byelorussia to Berlin. As well as a range of rare archive photographs and those of a surviving example of the T-34, the book features specially commissioned color illustrations.<BR />  <BR /> &ldquo;There is a plethora of information for the modeler and armor enthusiasts . . . I really don&rsquo;t think you would go wrong with this book. Recommended.&rdquo; &mdash;inSCALE</div>

T-34

<div>At 21:00 on 9 May 1940 Codeword Danzig was issued alerting Adolf Hitler's airborne troops that they were about to spearhead an attack on Belgium and the Netherlands. The following day his blitzkrieg rolled forward striking the British Expeditionary Force and the French armies in Belgium and in northern France at Sedan. The desperate attempts of the allied armies to stem the Nazi tide proved futile and, once their reserves had been exhausted and the remaining forces cut off, Paris lay open. By early June, it was all over - trapped British, Belgian and French troops were forced to evacuate Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne and the defeated French army agreed to an armistice leaving the country divided in two. This dramatic story is shown in a sequence of over 150 historic photographs that Anthony Tucker-Jones he has selected for this memorable book. The images he has chosen cover every aspect of this extraordinary campaign, but his main focus is on the vital role played by the armoured fighting vehicles of both sides. The book is a graphic record of the destruction wrought by the Wehrmacht's lightning offensive through the Low Countries and France.</div>

Armoured Warfare and the Fall of France 1940

<div><B>A pictorial history of a series of World War II battles between the Soviet Red Army and the Nazi Wehrmacht around a city in present-day Ukraine.</B><BR /><BR /> The four battles fought for Kharkov during the Second World War are often overshadowed by the battles for Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad, yet they were critical stages in the struggle between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army for control of the southern Soviet Union.<BR /><BR /> Anthony Tucker-Jones, in this volume in the Images of War series, offers a visual record of the dramatic and bloody conflict that took place there, showing every grim aspect of the fighting. Kharkov became one of the most bitterly contested cities during the war on the Eastern Front, and this book presents a graphic overview of the atrocious conditions the soldiers on both sides had to endure.<BR /><BR /> In 1941 Kharkov fell to Hitler&rsquo;s Army Group South. In 1942 the Soviets tried and failed to retake it, losing 240,000 men in the Barvenkovo Bulge. Then, in 1943, the control of the battered city changed hands twice before the Soviets liberated it for good. The fate of Kharkov during the war reflects the history of the wider struggle between Hitler&rsquo;s Germany and Stalin&rsquo;s Soviet Union.<BR /><BR /><B>Praise for <I>Battle for Kharkov</I></B><BR /><BR /><B>&ldquo;The collection of original un-published Scott Pick photos are exceptional with such quality and topic coverage that the material visually jumps off the pages. . . . Presents a hard hitting and furious review of the period. . . . The ability of the author to cover the lengthy period in a concise review is very solid, and creates a substantial quality of information versus time of reading commitment.&rdquo; &mdash;Richard Wade, military historian</B></div>

The Battle for Kharkov, 1941–1943

<div>Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a fascinating visual introduction to the armoured battles of the Second World War in the Far East and Asia-Pacific regions, from 1937 to 1945. In contrast to the experience of the armies that fought in Europe and North Africa, in the Far East tanks remained an infantry support weapon, and their role is often neglected in histories of the conflict. Japanese armour confronted tanks deployed by the Chinese, Russians, British and Americans. Early in the war, against Chinese forces which lacked armour, the Japanese had some success, but their light and medium tanks were no match for their Allied counterparts. Later Japanese designs were better armed, but they were built in such small numbers that they could do little to stem the Allied advance. The role of armoured vehicles in each theatre of the war in the Far East is shown in a selection of over 150 rare wartime photographs that record armour in action in China, Manchuria, Mongolia, Malaya, Burma and during the battles fought for the Pacific islands.</div>

Armoured Warfare in the Far East, 1937–1945

<div>The Panzerkampfwagen III  Panzer III  was one of the German army's principal tanks of the Second World War, yet its history is often overlooked in comparison to its more famous successors the Panzer IV, Panther and Tiger. Anthony Tucker-Jones, in this volume in the Images of War series, provides a visual account of the tank in over 150 wartime photographs and describes in a concise text its development and operational history. The Panzer III was designed as part of Hitler's re-armarment program in the mid-1930's and played a key role in the German blitzkrieg offensives in Poland, France and the Soviet Union. Although it lacked adequate firepower and could not match more advanced Allied tanks like the T-34, it stayed in service in North Africa and on the Eastern Front and it was still encountered in action in Normandy towards the end of the war. Its reliable chassis was also adapted for assault gun production. In this form, as the Sturmgeschtz III, it took part in the defensive battles fought by the Wehrmacht as it retreated in Italy, France and eastern Europe. Anthony Tucker-Jones's selection of photographs show the Panzer III in every theater of the war and at every stage, and his text gives an insight into the design history and fighting performance of this historic armored vehicle.</div>

The Panzer III

<div>While the Panzer I and II are not as famous as the German tanks produced later in the Second World War, they played a vital role in Hitler's early blitzkrieg campaigns and in the Nazi rearmament program pursued, at first in secret, by the Nazi regime during the 1930s. Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history of their design, development and wartime service is an ideal introduction to them.Both Panzers saw combat during the invasions of Poland and France, the Low Countries and Scandinavia during 1939-40. Although by the time the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the Panzer I had been virtually phased out of service, in the form of self-propelled guns they continued to see combat well into 1943. The Panzer II was also phased out with the panzer regiments in late 1943, yet it remained in action on secondary fronts and, as the self-propelled Marder II antitank gun and Wespe artillery variant, it saw active service with the panzer and panzer grenadier divisions until the end of the war. The Panzer I and II were the precursors of the formidable range of medium and heavy tanks that followed  the Panzer III and IV and the Panther and Tiger  and this book is a fascinating record of them.</div>

Panzer I and II

<div>The latest volume in Anthony Tucker-Joness series of books on armoured warfare in the Images of War series is a graphic account of the development of armoured forces in the Arab and Israeli armies from 1948 to the present day. In a sequence of over 200 archive photographs he tells the story of the role armour played in Arab-Israeli conflicts over the last sixty years, from the initial battles of 1948, through the Suez Crisis, the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the Israeli attack on Hamas in Gaza in 2008.In all these clashes armoured vehicles played a prominent, sometimes decisive part. As the photographs show, an extraordinary range of Second World War and post-war tanks, armoured cars and armoured personnel carriers was deployed by all sides. Russian T-34s, SU-100s, T-54/55s, T-62s and T-72s were imported from the Eastern Bloc by the Egyptians and Syrians. Shermans, Pattons, Centurions and AMX-13s were imported from the West by the Israelis. In addition, the Israelis developed modified hybrids such as the Sherman/Isherman, the Shot, Magach and Sabra, and they produced to their own design their main battle tank, the Merkava. Anthony Tucker-Joness photographic survey is an excellent introduction to late-twentieth-century armoured warfare, and it gives a fascinating insight into the military history of Israel and its Arab neighbours.</div>

Armoured Warfare in the Arab-Israeli Conflicts

<div>This selection of over 150 photographs provides a visual guide to the desperate air war fought over the Eastern Front between 1941 and 1945. Most of these black-and-white wartime photographs have never been published before.     They show Stalins Red Air Force and Hitlers Luftwaffe, their equipment and the role they played in supporting the war on the ground. Although it was a major aspect of the struggle on the Eastern Front, aerial combat has long been neglected, and Anthony Tucker-Joness photographic history is a vivid introduction to it.     Just before Hitlers invasion of the Soviet Union the leadership of the Red Air Force was decimated by Stalin in a series of purges. Although it had thousands of fighter aircraft these were not capable of taking on the Luftwaffe and were swiftly destroyed in the German blitzkrieg. But a remarkable recovery followed as the Red Air Force slowly but surely turned the tide against the ravages of the Luftwaffe to wrestle back air superiority by 1944.    The photographs and Anthony Tucker-Joness text give a fascinating insight into this decisive reversal of fortune. They also record, in a series of memorable images, the principal Soviet and German aircraft that featured in the aerial fighting and the pilots who flew them.</div>

The Eastern Front Air War, 1941–1945

<div>Drugs, war and terrorism were the unholy trinity that brought the US-led air campaign crashing down on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in October 2001 in Operation Enduring Freedom, and this photographic history is a graphic introduction to it. The immediate aim was to eject the Taliban from power, and to capture or kill the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his supporters whom the Taliban were sheltering. The decade-long war that followed, first against the Taliban regime, then against Taliban insurgents, is one of the most controversial conflicts of recent times. It has also seen the deployment of thousands of coalition troops and a huge range of modern military equipment, and these are the main focus of Anthony Tucker-Jones's account. He covers the entire course of the conflict, from the initial air war, the battle for the White Mountains and Tora Bora, the defeat of the Taliban, the escape of bin Laden and the grim protracted security campaign that followed  an asymmetrical war of guerrilla tactics and improvised explosive devices that is going on today.</div>

The Afghan War

<div>While the Allied armies were deadlocked with the Germans in Normandy after D-Day and even as they broke out and began their long advance, another campaign was being fought against the Germans in southern France  and it is this campaign, which is often neglected in accounts of the liberation of Europe, that is the subject of Anthony Tucker-Joness latest photographic history.     In a sequence of over 150 wartime photographs he tells the story, from the amphibious invasion of the French Riviera  Operation Dragoon  to the battle at Montelimar, the forcing of the Belfort gap, the destruction of German resistance in the Colmar pocket and the entry of Allied forces into southern Germany.     His concise narrative gives a graphic overview of each phase of the operations, and the selection of photographs shows the American, French and German forces in action. The mechanized and armoured units and their equipment are a particular feature of the book. The photographs are a valuable visual record of the tanks, guns, jeeps and trucks  the most up-to-date military vehicles and weaponry of the time  as they moved along the roads and through the towns and countryside of southern France.</div>

Armoured Warfare from the Riviera to the Rhine, 1944–1945

<div><P><B>This pictorial history of the Nazi Panther tank offers an in-depth analysis of its innovative design and its role on the Eastern Front of WWII.</B></P> The German Panther was one of the most important tanks of the Second World War, ranking alongside the American Sherman and the Soviet T-34. In a comprehensive study of this remarkable fighting vehicle, author and military expert Anthony Tucker-Jones presents more than 100 archival photographs, along with a selection of color profiles, illustrating its design, development and operations in battle.<BR /><BR /> On the Eastern Front, the German army needed to counter the Red Army&rsquo;s robust and utilitarian T-34 tank, which were increasingly deployed by the Russians in decisive numbers. The German military rapidly produced the Panther as its answer to this threat. With its sloping armor and a high-velocity 75mm gun, it proved to be a better medium tank than its predecessor, the Mk IV. More versatile than the heavyweight Tiger, it was superior to most of the Allied tanks it faced and had a significant influence on subsequent tank design.</div>

The Panther Tank

<div>Operation Dragoon, the Allied landings in the south of France in August 1944, is often seen as a sideshow supporting Operation Overlord, the crucial D-Day landings in Normandy. And often the operation is criticized as an expensive diversion of men and equipment from the struggle against the German armies in Italy. Yet, as Anthony Tucker-Jones shows in his new in-depth study, Dragoon and the subsequent Allied advance across southern France were key stages in the liberation of Europe, and the operation had far-reaching political and military ramifications.  Controversy dogged the plan from the start. Fierce disagreement among the senior Allied commanders and politicians - in particular between Churchill, Eisenhower and de Gaulle - threatened to weaken the Anglo-American war effort.In vivid detail Anthony Tucker-Jones tells the story of the high-level strategic argument that gave birth to Dragoon, and he looks at the impact of the operation on the direction and duration of the war against Nazi Germany.  He also describes the course of the invasion on the ground - the massive logistical effort required, the landings themselves, the role played by the French resistance, and the bitter battles fought against German rearguards as they sought to retain France's southern cities and cover their withdrawal toward the strategic Belfort Gap.</div>

Operation Dragoon

<div><P><B>This photographic history of Operation Desert Storm vividly captures the drama and humanity of each stage of the conflict.</B></P> In the early 1990s, the American military led a coalition of United Nations forces to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. With more than 180 color photographs, <I>The Gulf War</I> provides a remarkable visual account of the conflict, documenting the vast array of military equipment deployed by both sides in the air, at sea and on land.<BR /><BR /> Author and military expert Anthony Tucker-Jones, who was an analyst for British Defense Intelligence at the time of the conflict, describes the armed forces that were ranged against each other, including troops, armored vehicles, artillery pieces and aircraft. He also offers a concise overview of key events, including the preliminary air campaign, the elimination of the Iraqi navy, the coalition&#39;s ground offensive, tank battles, the liberation of Kuwait City, and more.</div>

The Gulf War

<div>A hundred years ago, on 15 September 1916, on the Western Front during the Battle of the Somme, the tank made its debut on the battlefield. The first tanks were crude, unreliable, vulnerable weapons, but they changed the character of land warfare forever, and Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history of these pioneering armored vehicles is the ideal introduction to them.     In a selection of over 150 archive photographs he offers a fascinating insight into the difficult early days of this innovative new weapon, describing its technical history and its performance in combat. While the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 is often held up as the first large-scale tank battle, tanks had already served at Flers-Courcelette on the Somme, during the Nivelle offensive and the battles of Messines and Passchendaele.     His book shows that the development of the tank was fraught with technical obstacles and battlefield setbacks. It was invented by the British and the French at almost the same time to help break the deadlock of trench warfare, and the British deployed it first in 1916. Belatedly the Germans followed the British and French example. The initial designs were continuously refined during two years of intense warfare. Finding the right balance between power and weight, getting the armament right, and working out the best tactics for tanks on the battlefield was a tricky, often deadly business.</div>

Armoured Warfare in the First World War 1916-18

<div><P><B>This pictorial history of the infamous Nazi tank presents a full account&mdash;in words and photographs&mdash;of Hitler&rsquo;s most fearsome and versatile war machine.</B></P> Throughout the Second World War, the Panzerkampfwagen Mk IV proved to be the one constant in Hitler&#39;s Panzerwaffe. It was the German equivalent of the American Sherman and the Soviet T-34. In this pictorial history, military expert Anthony Tucker-Jones provides a concise account of the Mk IV&#39;s design, development and performance in combat. The Mk IV served on every major front: in France, the Balkans, North Africa, the Soviet Union and, at the end of the war, in Germany itself. It was a key weapon in the blitzkrieg attacks and in the later desperate defense of the Reich.<BR /><BR /> Using more than 150 rare wartime photographs, plus a selection of specially commissioned color images, Tucker-Jones illustrates how the initial design of the Mk IV was refined throughout the war to counter the design advances in Allied tanks and anti-tank guns. While the Mk IV was never produced in the same numbers as the leading Allied tanks, it was one of the most important armored vehicles of the Second World War.</div>

The Panzer IV

<div>The selection of over 150 rare wartime photographs in this volume in Pen &amp; Swords Images of War series offers a graphic visual record of the dramatic and bloody battles fought for the Crimea during the Second World War. They show every grim aspect of the fighting and reflect in many ways the ruthless character of the struggle across the entire Eastern Front.    The German-led Axis forces took eight months to conquer the Crimea in 1941-2  the Soviet defenders of the fortified city-port of Sevastopol held out against repeated assaults for 250 days. In 1944, after the course of the war had turned against the Wehrmacht and their allies, the city was liberated by the Red Army, but only after over 120,000 Axis troops had been evacuated across the Black Sea.     Naval operations involving the Soviet Black Sea Fleet and the Romanian Royal Navy are covered in the book, as is the battle in the air between the Luftwaffe and the Red Air Force. But perhaps the most memorable photographs give an insight into the ordinary soldiers experience of the fighting and show the enormous material damage the conflict left behind.</div>

The Battle for Crimea, 1941–1944

<div>The Iraq War is a visual record of the American-led Operation Iraqi Freedom of 2003, which resulted in the dramatic overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein. In a striking sequence of photographs Anthony Tucker-Jones shows how this was achieved by the American and British armed forces in a lightning campaign of just two weeks. But the photographs also show the disastrous aftermath when the swift victory was undermined by the outbreak of the Iraqi insurgency - in the Shia south, in Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle, and in Fallujah where two ferocious battles were fought. The author, who is an expert on the Iraqi armed forces and has written extensively on the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War, gives a fascinating insight into the Iraqi army and air force and into the multitude of weapons systems Saddam purchased from around the world. He also looks at the failures on the American and British side - the flaws in the tactics that were used, the poor performance of some of the armoured fighting vehicles  and at the reformed Iraqi armed forces who have now taken responsibility for security in the country. The Iraq War is a vivid photographic introduction to a conflict that has only just passed into history.</div>

The Iraq War

<div><B>A photographic history of WWII&rsquo;s Operation Market Garden and the Allies&rsquo; quest for the famed &ldquo;Bridge Too Far.&rdquo;</B><BR />  <BR /> Operation Market Garden, September 1944, the Netherlands. Three parachute drops and one armored charge. The prize was the last bridge at Arnhem over the Neder Rijn. Taken intact, it would provide the Allies with a backdoor into Germany&mdash;the famous &ldquo;Bridge Too Far.&rdquo;<BR />  <BR /> This was one of the most audacious and imaginative operations of the war, and it failed. Anthony Tucker-Jones&rsquo;s photographic history, with a sequence of almost 200 archive photographs accompanied by a detailed narrative, describes the landing of British and American parachutists and glider troops. At the same time, British tanks spearheaded a sixty-mile dash along &ldquo;Hell&rsquo;s Highway&rdquo; to link up with the lightly armed and heavily outnumbered airborne forces.<BR />  <BR /> Most books about the resulting battle concentrate on the struggle at Arnhem and the heroism of the British 1st Airborne Division. This book puts that episode in its wider context. In particular it focuses on the efforts of the US 101st and 82nd airborne divisions to hold off counterattacks by German battlegroups during the tanks&rsquo; advance. The photographs give a dramatic insight into all sides of a remarkable but ill-fated operation which has fascinated historians and been the subject of controversy ever since. They also portray, as only photographs can, the men who were involved and the places and conditions in which the fighting took place.</div>

The Battle for Arnhem 1944–1945

<div><B>This unique pictorial history captures the many types of armored vehicles used across the Western Front of WWII—through soldiers’ photos of enemy wreckage.</B><br/><br/>Early in the Second World War, victorious German soldiers regularly photographed and posed with destroyed or abandoned Allied tanks. When the tide of the war turned against them in 1944, their wrecked Panzers were photographed by victorious Allies. The practice created an extraordinary record of the thousands of tank wrecks that littered the battlefields across the Western Front. <br/><br/>In this volume, Anthony Tucker-Jones has selected a fascinating collection of these historic images, forming a rare visual guide to the fate of World War II armor. All the principal tanks of the conflict are represented: Renaults, Matildas, Churchills, Shermans, Panzer IVs, Panthers and Tigers along with many others. <br/><br/><I>Tanks Wrecks of the Western Front</I> provides insight into the rapid development of tank design during the war, and shows how vulnerable these armored vehicles were to antitank guns and air attacks.</div>

Tank Wrecks of the Western Front, 1940–1945

<div><B>The Allied air forces of WWII come dramatically alive in this photographic history of D-Day and the invasion of France.</B><br/><br/>In the months preceding the Normandy landings, Allied air forces played a vital role in blinding and isolating German forces in northern France. During the campaign, they supported the Allied armies in their push inland, most notably by hampering the march of Hitler’s panzer divisions and controversially bombing the ancient Norman cities of Caen and Rouen.<br/><br/>Anthony Tucker-Jones’s photographic history is a vivid introduction to the Allied air offensive, illustrating the many famous types of aircraft employed by the RAF, USAAF and Luftwaffe. Allied bombers, such as the Halifax, Lancaster, Fortress, Liberator, Havoc and Marauder; as well as fighters and fighter-bombers, such as the Lightning, Thunderbolt, Mustang, Spitfire and Typhoon, are shown in ample detail.<br/><br/>These images of the air war over northern France bring home in a graphic way the nature and conditions of combat flying over seventy years ago, and they emphasize the contribution of air power to the campaign.</div>

Anthony Tucker-Jones

Books By Anthony Tucker-Jones (44 Books)

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