Stackpole Books

No Holding Back - Operation Totalize, Normandy, August 1944 (Brian A. Reid)

·  Landmark study of the Canadians’ first major operation in Normandy

·  New revelations on the death of German panzer ace Michael Wittmann

On August 8, 1944, the Canadian Army launched Operation Totalize, a massive armored and mechanized infantry attack that aimed to break through enemy defenses south of Caen and trap the German Army in Normandy by linking up with Patton’s Third Army.

Softcover, 6 x 9,  528 pages, 50 b/w photos, 100 maps and diagrams.

Price:  $22 USD / $26 CAD

The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign (John A. English)

·  Honest reappraisal of the Canadian experience in Normandy

·  Special focus on the struggle to close the Falaise Gap

·  Relies on archival records, including Bernard Montgomery’s personal correspondence

John A. English presents a detailed examination of the role of the Canadian Army in Normandy from the D-Day landings in June 1944 through the closing of the Falaise Gap in August.

Available October 2009

Softcover, 352 pages, 6 x 9, 20 b/w photos, 18 maps.

Price: $22 USD / $26 CAD

Zhukov at the Oder - The Decisive Battle for Berlin (Tony Le Tissier)

·  First detailed account of the Soviet advance on Berlin in the closing months of World War II

·  The battles that made Soviet Marshal Georgi Zhukov famous

On January 31, 1945, the Red Army stood on a line along the Oder River, about thirty-five miles east of Berlin. They would not reach Berlin for another two months, after battles to cross the river, seize the fortress of Küstrin, and take the Seelow Heights.

Softcover, 384 pages, 6 x 9, 30 b/w photos, 29 maps.

Price: $22 USD / $26 CAD

Armoured Guardsmen - A War Diary from Normandy to the Rhine (Robert Boscawen)

·  A stirring story of frontline action with the tank troops of the Coldstream Guards as they fight their way through northwest Europe during the final year of World War II

Shortly after D-Day, Bob Boscawen, fresh from Cambridge and Sandhurst, found himself in Normandy with his Coldstream Guards tank unit. During the months that followed, he kept a diary recording the Guards Armoured Division's almost constant activity in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany--until, having already had three tanks shot from under him, he suffered severe burns and had to be evacuated, one of only two survivors of his crew.

Soft cover, small format, 272 pages, 33 b/w photos, 10 maps. Price: $19 USD / $24 CAD

On the German Art of War - Truppenführung: German Army Manual for Unit Command in World War II (Bruce Condell and David T. Zabecki, editors)

English translation of the military manual that guided the German Army in World War II

·  This book was carried into battle by officers and NCOs and had been classified by the U.S. Army until the year 2000

Truppenführung ("unit command") served as the basic manual for the German Army from 1934 until the end of World War II and laid the doctrinal groundwork for blitzkrieg and the early victories of Hitler's armies. Reading it is as close to getting inside the minds behind the Third Reich's war machine as you are likely to get.

Soft cover, 336 pages. Price: $22 USD / $28 CAD

Goodwood - The British Offensive in Normandy, July 1944 (Ian Daglish)

·  Comprehensive retelling of the controversial British and Canadian operation near Caen

·  Told from both the British and German perspectives

While American infantry slogged its way through the hedgerows of western Normandy in July 1944, the British were waging a largely armored campaign to the east near Caen. Planned to have been seized on D-Day, Caen remained contested on July 18, when Bernard Montgomery launched Operation Goodwood, whose exact purpose is still debated--either to draw Germans away from the American sector or to break out to Falaise. In one of the largest armored battles in their history, the British lost almost one-third of their tank strength in Normandy in exchange for a gain of only seven miles.

Soft cover, small format, 228 pages, 142 b/w photos, 26 maps. Price: $19 USD / $24 CAD

Hitler's Nemesis - The Red Army, 1930-45 (Walter S. Dunn Jr.; foreword by David Glantz)

·  Details on the Soviet infantry, armor, artillery, and cavalry formations that waged World War II on the Eastern Front

·  Fills a major gap in our understanding of the Red Army

Hitler's Nemesis traces the development of the Russian army in reaction to the rise of Hitler, Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, and the progression of World War II over the following four years. Caught by surprise in 1941, the Red Army teetered on the brink of destruction before bouncing back to defend Moscow, defeat the Germans at Stalingrad and Kursk, and annihilate the German Army in 1944-45. This is the story of how the Soviets staged this miraculous turnaround.

Soft cover, small format, 288 pages, 23 b/w photos. Price: $19 USD / $24 CAD

Panzers in Normandy (Samuel W. Mitcham Jr)

In July 1944, after fighting in most of Germany's campaigns--Poland, France in 1940, the Eastern Front--and then serving as Heinz Guderian's troubleshooter, General of Panzer Troops Hans Eberbach took command of Panzer Group West near the vital city of Caen in the British sector of Normandy. During the next two months, Eberbach led German tanks against the Allied onslaught in an ultimately vain attempt to stop the breakthrough into France's interior. Captured by the British at the end of August, Eberbach nevertheless secured himself a place among Germany's best panzer leaders.

Soft cover, small format, 224 pages, 47 b/w photos, 14 maps. Price: $19 USD / $24 CAD

Rommel's Lieutenants - The Men Who Served the Desert Fox, France, 1940 (Samuel W. Mitcham Jr.)

·  Covers Erwin Rommel's World War II battles before he led the legendary Afrika Korps

One of the most famous soldiers to fight in World War II, Erwin Rommel achieved immortality as the Desert Fox in the sands of Africa, but his first field command was the 7th Panzer Division, the so-called Ghost Division. During the 1940 campaign in France, the unit suffered more casualties than any other German division and at the same time inflicted heavy losses on the Allies, taking almost 100,000 prisoners. The Ghost Division's success owed much to Rommel's subordinates, who aided Rommel more than he admitted in his papers and whom historians have generally overlooked. This book remedies that oversight.

Soft cover, small format, 256 pages, 39 b/w photos, 18 maps. Price: $19 USD / $24 CAD

Tank Tactics - From Normandy to Lorraine (Roman Jarymowycz)

·  Explores the doctrinal, strategic, and tactical ideas behind World War II tank combat

·  Contains detailed maps and diagrams

Focusing on five Allied tank operations from July to September 1944--Operations Goodwood, Cobra, Totalize, and Tractable and Patton's tank battles around Arracourt--armor expert Roman Jarymowycz draws on after-action reports, extensive battlefield reconnaissance, recently discovered battle performance reviews, and war diaries to evaluate the successes and failures of the art of armored warfare as practiced by Allied tank commanders in France in 1944.

Soft cover, small format, 384 pages, 10 b/w photos, 14 maps. Price: $22 USD / $28 CAD

Eastern Front Combat - The German Soldier in Battle from Stalingrad to Berlin (Hans Wijers, editor)

We had been hit in the left side of our Panzer III and had no choice but to bail out. In our black uniforms, we clearly stood out against the snow. Meanwhile, shells continued to hit our damaged tank, and the splinters flew all around us. We crawled 400 yards on our bellies back to our own lines. No one wanted to fall into Russian hands.” --a German tanker at Stalingrad.

Appearing for the first time in English, these are original accounts by German soldiers who fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. Included are stories from a panzer crewman who survived the fighting at Stalingrad as well as a paratrooper making a last stand before Berlin. Many of the photos have never been published before.

·  First-person German accounts of bloody combat

·  Includes never-before-seen photos

Soft cover, 6" x 9". Price: $20 USD / $26 CAD/INT

Operation Mercury - The Battle for Crete, 1941 (John Sadler)

·  Detailed study of a brief but bloody campaign

·  Full of personal accounts of air, ground, and naval actions

·  Author has made numerous trips to Crete and knows the ground well

The fall of Crete in May 1941 was a catastrophic blow to the Allied cause. Nevertheless, the British, New Zealand, and Australian defenders forced the German invaders to pay a heavy price for victory. The daring German parachute assault, the first major example of its kind, proved a near disaster--so much so that Hitler never sanctioned another. But the Germans recovered, gained the initiative, and took the island in ten days.

Soft cover, 6" x 9". Price: $17 USD / $23 CAD/INT

Armored Thunderbolt - The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II (Steven Zaloga)

Some tank crews referred to the American M4 Sherman tank as a "death trap." Others, like Gen. George Patton, believed that the Sherman helped win World War II. So which was it: death trap or war winner? Armor expert Steven Zaloga answers that question by recounting the Sherman's combat history. Focusing on Northwest Europe (but also including a chapter on the Pacific), Zaloga follows the Sherman into action on D-Day, among the Normandy hedgerows, during Patton's race across France, in the great tank battle at Arracourt in September 1944, at the Battle of the Bulge, across the Rhine, and in the Ruhr pocket in 1945.

Hard cover, 9 x 12, 384 pages, 400 b+w photos. Price: $35 USD / $39 CDN/INT

Kursk

A significant turning point of World War II, the battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 was the Germans’ last major offensive on the Eastern Front. Marked by pitched clashes between German Tiger tanks and Soviet T-34s, the engagement began well enough for the Germans, but the Soviets delayed them long enough to bring their reserves forward, counterattack, and force Hitler to call off the attack. Hundreds of thousands lay dead or wounded on both sides, but the Soviets won the battle and seized the initiative for the rest of the war.

Softcover, 6" x 9", 208 pages, 10 b/w photos. Price: $17 USD / $19 CAD/INT

GERMANS IN NORMANDY

The Normandy campaign from the German perspective

Covers D-Day, Villers-Bocage, Cherbourg, St. Lô, Caen, Avranches, and other battles in hedgerow country. Drawing on letters, diaries, firsthand accounts, and official documents, The Germans in Normandy paints a vivid and frequently horrific picture of life for the men who held Hitler’s vaunted Atlantic Wall when the Allies invaded France in June 1944 and who put up a bitter but ultimately hopeless defense throughout that summer. These are the German soldiers who manned the pillboxes on Omaha Beach, fired the machine guns across farmfields, and commanded the Tiger tanks. To read about the war from their point of view is sobering and informative.

Softcover, 6" x 9", 320 pages, 29 b/w photos, 2 maps. Price: $20 USD / $23 CAD/INT

Mechanized Juggernaut

One of the great misconceptions about World War II is the notion that the German Army was a marvel of mechanical efficiency, combining lightning speed with awesome military power. However, despite the frightening strength of the panzer forces, about 75 percent of the German Army relied on horses for transport. Horses played a role in every German campaign, from the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 and the invasion of Russia to France in 1944. Even the epic tank battle at Kursk witnessed the use of these animals. DiNardo offers a compelling reconsideration of the German war machine.

Softcover, 6" x 9", 192 pages, 10 b/w photos, 10 maps. Price: $15 USD / $17 CAD/INT

Great Ships

Although naval development before World War II focused on aircraft carriers, the British nevertheless had seventy battleships--larger and more powerful than ever before--under construction at the outbreak of the war. Indeed, one of the Allies’ first successes came in December 1939 when British ships hunted down and successfully engaged the German Graf Spee off the coast of South America. The war would hasten the battleship’s decline, but not before producing dramatic moments at sea.

Softcover, 6" x 9", 448 pages, 50 b/w photos. Price: $20 USD / $22 CAD/INT

Rommel’s Desert Commanders

In Libya and Egypt in 1941 and 1942, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel achieved immortality as the Desert Fox, battling and usually defeating numerically superior enemies. Until now, historians have generally overlooked the talented cast of characters who supported Rommel during this campaign. Distinguished military historian Samuel Mitcham recounts the battles of the Afrika Korps through the men who served Rommel as staff officers and commanders of divisions, regiments, and battalions--soldiers like Ludwig Crüwell and Walter Nehring, two of World War II’s best panzer commanders, and Ernst-Günther Baade, who wore a kilt and carried a broadsword into battle.

Softcover, 6" x 9", 240 pages, 43 b/w photos, 18 maps. Price: $17 USD / $19 CAD/INT

War in the Aegean

Both Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler wanted the Aegean Sea in 1943. The British prime minister saw an opportunity to force neutral Turkey into the Allied camp and tie up German forces as the war in Europe gained speed, while the Nazi leader wanted to keep Turkey neutral and maintain Germany’s foothold in the Mediterranean and Greece. The conflict came to a head with British naval and amphibious assaults, primarily on the islands of Cos and Leros, and culminated in a German victory.

Softcover, 6" x 9", 320 pages, 29 b/w photos, 3 maps. Price $20 USD / $22 CAD/INT

Hitler's Great Panzer Heist, Germany's Foreign Armor in Action, 1939-1945

The prowess of the German panzers is the stuff of legend, but it is not generally known that Hitler stole thousands of British, Czech, French, Italian, Polish, and Soviet tanks and armored fighting vehicles to feed his war machine. At its height, more than 25 percent of the German tank force was of foreign origin. In this fascinating and meticulously researched investigation, Anthony Tucker-Jones tells this hitherto unrecorded story, describing how captured fighting vehicles were reused by the German military throughout World War II.

Hardcover, 6" x 9", English text, 224 pages, 10 maps and 25 b+w photos. Price: $25 USD / $28 CAD/INT

Rolling Thunder Against the Rising Sun (The Combat History of U.S. Army Tank Battalions in the Pacific in World War II)

Although the history of armor in World War II has captured the attention of countless authors, no one has yet chronicled the extensive use of tanks in the Pacific--until now. In compre­hensive detail Gene Eric Salecker describes the exploits of American tanks on the jungle islands where troops engaged in savage combat and encountered unforgiving weather and terrain. Stationed in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked the islands in 1941, the U.S. Army’s independent tank battalions fought from the very start of the war. From New Guinea and the Solomons to the Ryukyus, American armor proved instrumental in winning World War II in the Pacific.

Hardcover, 464 pages, 6"x9", 50 b&w photos, 28 maps. Price: $35 USD $39 CAD/INT

T-34 in Action Soviet Tank Troops in World War II

This pioneering book offers a compelling inside view of armored warfare in World War II, from the perspective of the Soviet soldiers who went to battle in the T-34, one of the most famous and effective tanks of the war. These firsthand accounts evoke the shocking and bloody reality of combat on the Eastern Front, from terrifying confrontations with German panzers to the perils of close infantry support and bombardment from German artillery and aircraft.

Softcover, 208 pages, 6"x9", 40 b&w photos, 6 maps. Price: $17 USD $19 CAD/INT

Massacre at Tobruk The British Assault on Rommel, 1942

In the late summer of 1942, Rommel’s Afrika Korps stood perilously close to breaking through to Cairo and the Nile, having already taken the fortress of Tobruk. In a desperate effort to halt the Germans and buy time for the Allies, British forces--including the Royal Marines, Royal Navy, the SAS, and the Long Range Desert Group--attempted to storm Tobruk and destroy the Axis port there. The operation failed with terrible losses. Peter C. Smith unearths many previously unrevealed facts and highlights the bravery and endurance of those who participated.

Softcover, 256 pages, 6"x9", 38 b&w photos, 2 maps. Price: $17 USD $19 CAD/INT

Iron Knights The U.S. 66th Armored Regiment in World War II

From its baptism of fire in the mud of the Western Front in 1918 to its triumphant march into Berlin in July 1945, this is the story of the U.S. 66th Armored Regiment. It was the only American heavy tank unit to see combat in World War I, and between the two wars, the regiment served as a laboratory for new ideas and equip­ment. After training under Gen. George S. Patton, the 66th distin­guished itself in numerous battles during World War II, earning six battle streamers for the unit and a Medal of Honor for one of its officers

Softcover, 400 pages, 6"x9", 157 b&w photos, 26 maps. Price: $20 USD $22 CAD/INT.

Kampfgruppe Peiper at the Battle of the Bulge (David Cooke and Wayne Evans)

On December 16, 1944, Hitler's last great offensive of World War II commenced, pushing through the Ardennes in an attempt to reach the Meuse River and, beyond it, the Allies' supply ports. Equipped with Tiger tanks, Kampfgruppe Peiper, Germany's most powerful battle group, spearheaded the offensive but failed to reach the Meuse. Using a wide variety of sources, the authors tell the story of Kampfgruppe Peiper in unprecedented detail, from the first day of the invasion through the group's retreat on Christmas Day. It also contains a reconsideration of the Malmedy Massacre.

Soft cover, 6" x 9", English text, 224 pages, 24 maps and 99 b+w photos. Price: $20 USD / $22 CAD/INT

The Nazi Rocketeers (Dennis Piszkiewicz)

Wernher von Braun is known to many as the brilliant pioneer of rocketry who left Germany after World War II to lead the United States' space program. Until now, few have realized the bloody legacy he left behind in the ruins of the Third Reich. The Nazi Rocketeers tells the story of how von Braun and his fellow rocket scientists postponed their initial dreams of space travel to create weapons of terror and mass destruction. Not only were they ambitious members of the Nazi movement, but they also, Piszkiewicz argues, collaborated with the SS in exploiting slave labor to build the V-2 rocket.

240 pages; illustrated. Price: $17 USD / $19  CAD/INT.

The Panzer Legions, A Guide to the German Army Tank Divisions of World War II and Their Commanders (Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr)

Examines vehicles, armor quality, manpower, and leadership and includes a comprehensive index of individuals, formations, battles, and campaigns. First guide to chronicle the history of each division from its inception to its destruction. Includes a career sketch of every Panzer division commander.

352 pages; illustrated. Price: $20 USD / $22 CAD/INT.

D-Day to Berlin, The Northwest Europe Campaign, 1944-45 (Alan J. Levine)

Concise history of the Allied campaign to liberate Northwest Europe during World War II. Places the campaign in the war's broader context. Casts new light on some familiar subjects and recounts many neglected issues. This study describes not only what happened from the D-Day landings in June 1944 to the surrender of Germany eleven months later, but also why it happened. While an enormous amount has been written about this campaign, most of it focuses on a single army or an individual battle. Levine stresses a truly integrated approach that combines both strategy and tactics and covers the land, sea, and air efforts of both Allies and Axis. Levine deals extensively with the German side, particularly morale issues, and he includes the role played by Canadian forces--a topic usually neglected in American accounts.

240 pages; illustrated. Price: $17 USD / $19 CAD/INT.

Retreat to the Reich, The German Defeat in France, 1944 (Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr)

The story of the Normandy campaign from a German perspective. Covers every point of view, from soldiers in the field to generals at high command. The Allied landings in France on June 6, 1944, marked the beginning of the German defeat in the West. Military historian Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr., vividly recaptures the desperation of the Wehrmacht as its thin gray line finally snapped amidst brutal hedgerow-to-hedgerow fighting in Normandy and as the survivors fled the Allied steamroller in a mad dash back to the Reich. With colorful descriptions and informative details, Mitcham recounts the German military retreat and the erosion of Germany's stronghold in Europe--as viewed through the eyes of a defiant, but ultimately defeated, Wehrmacht.

304 pages; illustrated. Price: $18 USD / $20 CAD/INT.

The German Defeat in the East, 1944-45 (Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr.)

Details the massive battles on the Eastern Front from the summer of 1944 until the fall of Budapest in early 1945. The last place a German soldier wanted to be in 1944 was the Russian front. That summer, Stalin hurled more than 6 million men, 9,000 tanks, 16,000 aircraft, and 12,800 guns and rocket launchers against German forces.

336 pages; illustrated. Price: $20 USD / $22 CAD/INT.

Four books of scale line drawings from George Bradford. Most of the drawings are in 1:35 scale, with a few in 1:48 and 1:72.

World War II AFV Plans

by George Bradford

Technical artist and military historian George Bradford has been producing detailed drawings of armored fighting vehicles for over thirty years. Based on meticulous research of actual vehicles, official photographs, factory specifications, and, in some cases, the original design plans, each drawing is rendered with great precision--and in exact scale--offering military enthusiasts and modelers an essential reference on these steel chariots of war.

Filled with fine-scale drawings of German AFVs covering the time period of the Blitzkrieg across Europe through the greatest tank battle in history, Kursk. Multiple angles provide a level of detail for the enthusiast and modeler.

The US volume covers