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Il Castoro
Since 1999, Il Castoro has been dedicated to the production of children's books for all ages, including fiction, picture books and YA novels. Our children's books want to promote the pleasure of reading, to arouse the curiosity of children about contemporary matters and to build the readers of tomorrow.
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Espionage & secret servicesJune 2021The Cold War Wilderness of Mirrors
U.S. and Soviet Military Liaison Missions 1947–1990
by Aden Magee
The untold story of the Soviet Military Liaison Mission (SMLM) in West Germany and the U.S. Military Liaison Mission (USMLM) in East Germany.
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Peace studies & conflict resolutionSeptember 2021To Boldly Go
Leadership, strategy, and conflict in the 21st century and beyond
by Editors Jonathan Klug, Steve Leonard
The literature of ideas. When author Pamela Sargent used those words to describe science fiction in 1975, the genre had exploded into the literary mainstream. As a literature of ideas, science fiction has proven to be a powerful metaphor for the world around us, offering a rich tapestry of imagination through which to explore how we lead, how we think, and how we interact. To Boldly Go assembles more than thirty writers from around the world—experts in leadership and strategy, senior policy advisors and analysts, professional educators and innovators, experienced storytellers, and ground-level military leaders—to help us better understand ourselves through the lens of science fiction Each chapter of To Boldly Go draws out the lessons that we can learn from science fiction, drawing on classic examples of the genre in ways that are equally relatable and entertaining. A chapter on the burdens of leadership by Ghost Fleet author August Cole launches readers into cosmos with Captain Avatar aboard the space battleship Yamato. In another chapter, the climactic Battle of the Mutara Nebula from The Wrath of Khan weighs the advantages of experience over intelligence in the pursuit of strategy. What does inter-species conflict in science fiction tell us about our perspectives on social Darwinism? Whether using Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to explore the nuances of maritime strategy or The Expanse to better understand the threat poses by depleted natural resources, To Boldly Go provides thoughtful essays on relevant subjects that will appeal to business leaders, military professionals, and fans of science fiction alike.
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Weapons & equipmentApril 2021Tank Combat in Spain
Armored warfare during the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
by Anthony J. Candil
Although Spain had been for many years on the periphery of the great affairs of Europe, within a few months of the Civil War breaking out in 1936, three out of the four major European powers—Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union—decided to intervene. Spain turned out to be the perfect proving ground to carry out controlled, realistic experiments with live weapons and troops. This book covers the theories of the three main contributors that provided armor to the warring parties in the civil war, how those contributions shaped combat, and how the lessons learnt were then applied to tank combat in World War II. The use of tanks in the Spanish Civil War wedded traditional war to modern technology. The fighting in Spain did not offer any easy answers, however, to the question of infantry-armor cooperation, primarily because the tanks supplied were not very worthy and had been supplied in small numbers, even though the Republicans organized an ‘armoured division’. The situation for the tanks on the Nationalist side was so bad in practical terms that they re-used captured Russian armour in their units. Tank employment in Spain did offer many lessons, but the lessons did not always lie in what was done or accomplished but precisely on what was not done and was not accomplished.
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Weapons & equipmentFebruary 2022Seven Seconds to Die
An Analysis of Recent Wars and the Future of Warfighting
by John Antal
The first full analysis of the second Nagorno-Karabakh War—the first war in history won primarily by unmanned systems.
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Naval forces & warfareApril 2022The Blue Water War
The Maritime Struggle in the Mediterranean and Middle East, 1940–1945
by Brian E. Walter
A complete history of the maritime struggle in the Mediterranean and Middle East during World War II. For three millennia the Mediterranean Sea served as the center of western civilization and the scene of many colossal wars and naval battles. In the early summer of 1940, this ancient body of water again played host to a new and extensive conflict as the Kingdom of Italy challenged Britain for dominance within the region. With France on the verge of collapse and Britain facing the prospect of imminent invasion, the Italians hoped to re-establish control over the Mediterranean. The only thing standing in their way was the heavily outnumbered British Mediterranean Fleet and the equally outnumbered British ground and air forces present in the region. Together, these forces would determine whether the Mediterranean reverted back to Italian control or whether the Allies would prevail and retain supremacy over this great body of water for themselves. This book tells the story of this epic struggle. This was a prolonged and colossal conflict waged at differing times against the combined forces of Italy, Germany and Vichy France over a wide area stretching from the coastal waters of Southern Europe in the north to Madagascar in the south and Africa’s Atlantic coast in the west to the Persian Gulf in the east. Utilizing a variety of weapons including surface warships, submarines, and aircraft along with sizable merchant fleets, the British and their subsequent American partners maintained vital seaborne lines of communication, conducted numerous amphibious landings, interdicted Axis supply activities and eventually eliminated all semblances of Axis maritime power within the theatre. In turn, these actions facilitated multiple Allied victories that helped secure the defeat of the European Axis.
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Military history: post WW2 conflictsApril 2022America's War in Syria
On the Ground with Kurdish Anti-ISIS Forces
by Till Paasche, John Foxx, Shaun Murray
A unique assessment of American military involvement in Syria, by three authors who participated in all large Kurdish operations between late 2014 and mid-2016. With America’s War on Terror and the subsequent democracy experiments in Afghanistan and Iraq having turned into geopolitical disasters, the US military campaign in alliance with the Kurdish forces in Syria remains a rare success story. Considering the overwhelming military victory, the functioning Kurdish civilian governing structures that followed the fighting, the extremely light military footprint and the strong link to Kurdish partners, many political analysts, military experts and politicians in Washington, DC, judge the intervention against ISIS in Syria as the nation’s most successful campaign since World War II. However, since neither these experts nor many journalists were on the ground during the fighting, they struggle to explain exactly how this particular operation turned into a just war. The authors, however, were there. Between the three of them, they fought for over two years with the Kurdish forces. They participated in all the large Kurdish operations against the Islamic State between late 2014 and mid-2016. They endured muddy archaic trench warfare, witnessed the first waves of decisive US and British airstrikes against ISIS, and experienced the impact America had on the battlefield. Later, when American, British and French Special Forces were deployed at the front lines, the authors worked closely with those teams when they evacuated hundreds of wounded from the battlefield together. Based on the authors' unique insights, this book analyses America’s war in Syria and structures the intervention into different phases including the secretive build up and the ultimate destruction of the ISIS Caliphate.
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Military intelligenceApril 2022The US Military Intelligence Pocket Manual
1941–45
by Chris McNab
This pocket manual looks at American military intelligence during World War II using contemporary manuals and briefings.
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Autobiography: historical, political & militaryJune 2022Corporal Cannon
A Female Marine in Afghanistan
by Savannah Cannon
A young female Marine in Afghanistan struggles to survive in a hostile environment—both inside and outside the wire. "Not even old enough to drink, Corporal Savannah Cannon is a young enlisted United States Marine deployed to support Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2010. As a tactical data networking specialist, she is sent away from everyone she knows and attached to a Regimental Combat Team where women are not allowed to repair communications. Her experiences over the next few months shed light on the unique and difficult positions women are placed in when supporting combat roles, while offering a raw look at the painful choices women must sometimes make. Cannon finds herself in a combat zone, ostracized from family, friends, and even her fellow Marines as the men are told to avoid her. The connections she makes are born from trauma and desperation and the choices she makes will echo throughout many lives. Corporal Cannon is not the story of a heroine; it is the hard-hitting account of just one of the flawed individuals who make up the United States’ fighting forces. Mistakes in the battlefield can have dire consequences, personally and professionally. Reflecting on her time in service, the author weaves a story of past and present, and the healing that can come with admitting our mistakes and moving past them."
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Biography: historical, political & militaryApril 2022A Machine Gunner's War
From Normandy to Victory with the 1st Infantry Division in World War II
by Ernest Albert "Andy" Andrews Jr with David B. Hurt
A young machine gunner's war with the Big Red One, from D-Day through the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, Remagen to the Wehrmacht's last stand in the mountains of Germany. Ernest “Andy” Andrews began his training as a machine gunner at Fort McClellan in Alabama in July 1943. In early 1944, he arrived in the UK for further training before D-Day. Andy’s company, part of the 1st Infantry Division, departed England on the evening of June 5 on the USS Henrico. Due to a problem with his landing craft, Andy only reached Omaha Beach on the early evening of June 6, but still had a harrowing experience. Fighting in Normandy, Andy was nicked by a bullet and evacuated to England in late July when the wound became infected, before returning to participate in the Normandy breakout. Following the race across France in late August, Andy participated in the rout of several retreating German units near Mons, Belgium, and his outfit approached Aachen in mid-September. For a month, Andy's squad defended a bunker position in the Siegfried Line against repeated German attacks, then after Aachen surrendered, the unit fought its way through the Hurtgen Forest to take Hill 232. Early on the morning of November 19, Andy engaged in his toughest battle of the war as the Germans attempted to retake Hill 232. Andy was wounded in the shoulder. After surgery and a month convalescence he rejoined H Company in time to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. His unit then participated in the fast-moving Roer to the Rhine campaign, then the battle to expand the Remagen bridgehead. Breaking out from the Remagen bridgehead, Andy's squad stumbled on a German tank unit and Andy narrowly escaped getting killed. Following a rapid advance up to the Paderborn area, Andy's unit races to Germany's Harz Mountains, where the Wehrmacht was trying to organize a last stand. Andy's outfit ends the war fighting in Czechoslovakia, where Andy witnesses the German surrender in early May. Following occupation duty, Andy returned to the States in October 1945. The war shaped Andy's postwar life in countless ways, and in 1994, Andy made the first of three return visits to the European battlefields where he had fought. This vivid first-hand account takes the reader along from Normandy to victory with Andy and his machine-gun crew.
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Biography: historical, political & militaryFebruary 2022Among the Firsts: Paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne on D-Day – OSS Field Commander for Operation Rype
Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard L. Bolland’s Unconventional Wars
by Mathew Bolland
The story of the doubly pioneering Lt Col Gerhard L. Bolland—82nd Airborne paratrooper on D-Day and senior OSS field operative on Operation Rype. During World War II, the United States government developed and employed two new methods of fighting. The first was the development of "paratroop" units, as they were first called. The second was the formation of a covert and sabotage operations branch called the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Lt. Colonel Bolland was involved in both of these "firsts." During the D-Day invasion he parachuted behind enemy lines, jumping out of the 82nd Airborne lead aircraft with General James Gavin. After fighting with the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment for thirty-three days straight, he returned to England and became involved with the OSS Scandinavian Section. He served as Field Commander for their Operation, code named Rype. This was the only American military undertaking, albeit covert, in Norway during the entire course of the war. As a young boy growing up in rural western Minnesota, Bolland got his military start with the Minnesota National Guard, before being accepted to West Point, solely on merit. His military career lasted seventeen years. Lt. Colonel Bolland ended up with numerous decorations including the Norwegian Liberation Medal and Citation, the Bronze Star for valour, the French Fouragerre of Croix de Guerre with Palms and posthumously the Congressional Gold medal awarded to the OSS Society on behalf of all former OSS members that served during the war. His story reveals the struggles, successes, failures and ultimate victories, detailing what went right and what went wrong with these new unconventional methods of fighting.
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Biography: historical, political & militaryMarch 2022Take Charge and Move Out and the True Believers
The Founding Fathers of the U.S. Navy’s TACAMO Strategic Communications Community
by Lewis F. McIntyre
"The US Navy’s “Take Charge and Move Out” (TACAMO) mission provides essential airborne communications to the US nuclear deterrence forces. Today it is a thriving community, respected by the Navy and the US strategic defense forces. But it wasn’t always so. Despite the enormous importance of the mission, for the first decade of their existence, the TACAMO squadrons did not provide a viable career path for officers, instead being a “one and done” tour for the junior officers who found themselves unluckily so assigned. A second tour in the squadrons was considered to be professional suicide. But in 1975, inspired by a significant commanding officer, a handful of lieutenants put their faith in a community that did not yet exist, betting their careers on that second tour. From their faith and courage was born the TACAMO community. This is the story of the birth of TACAMO, in the words of those who built the community from scratch.
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Biography: historical, political & militaryApril 2022James Montgomery
Abolitionist Warrior
by Robert C. Conner
The first full biography of James Montgomery, who through his actions before and during the Civil War, contributed towards the abolition of slavery. James Montgomery was a leader of the free-state movement in pre-Civil War Kansas and Missouri, associated with its direct-action military wing. He then joined the Union Army and fought through most of the war. A close associate and ally of other abolitionists including John Brown, Harriet Tubman, Colonels Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Robert G. Shaw, Montgomery led his African-American regiment along with Tubman and other civilians in the 1863 Combahee River raid, which freed almost 800 slaves from South Carolina plantations. He then commanded a brigade in the siege of Fort Wagner, near Charleston. In 1864, still in brigade command, he fought at the Battle of Olustee in Florida, helping prevent the collapse and disintegration of Union General Truman Seymour’s army. Later that year he returned home and played a significant role in defeating Confederate General Sterling Price’s great raid, especially at the Battle of Westport. This is the first published biography of Montgomery, who was and remains a controversial figure. It uncovers and deals honestly with his serious flaws, while debunking some wilder charges, and also bringing to light his considerable attributes and achievements. Montgomery’s life, from birth to death, is seen in the necessary perspective and clear delineation of the complex racial, political and military history of the Civil War era.
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Second World WarApril 2022The US Army Engineer Pocket Manual
1941–45
by Chris McNab
This pocket manual provides an in-depth insight into the training and tasks undertaken by US Army engineers during World War II, based on original manuals and reports.
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RegimentsJanuary 2022Hell in the Streets of Husaybah
3rd Battalion, 7th Marines Lead the Way, April 2004
by Lt Col David Kelly
A vivid account of how 3/7 Marines put down the uprising in Husaybah in April 2004. During the April 2004 fights throughout Iraq, most media attention was focused in the city of Fallujah. However, at the same time, out on the border with Syria in and around the city of Husaybah, fighting was equally intense. This book tells the story of that period through many first-person accounts of intense fighting in the town of Husaybah, Iraq, during April 2004. It is based on interviews with Marines at all levels of the fight, from battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Matt Lopez, USMC, to infantrymen and squad leaders. When the Lima Company commander Captain Chris Gannon (Call sign Lima 6) was killed on entry to an enemy-held building, the company’s executive officer, Lieutenant Dominique Neal (Lima 5) informed his Marines that he had assumed command with the radio message, “Lima 5 is now Lima 6.” It also details other events, including the heroic actions of Corporal Jayson Dunham who saved the Marines around him by covering an enemy grenade with his body.
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Biography: historical, political & militaryFebruary 2022Torpedoes, Tea, and Medals
The gallant life of Commander D G H ‘Jake’ Wright DSC with bar RNVR
by Captain Chris O'Flaherty
The biography of Jake Wright, a highly decorated Coastal Forces hero who served throughout World War II. Derek Wright learnt about small boats from his father, who tragically died when Derek was just 14 years old. Sent away from his family to finish his education, he left school at 16 to join the global tea trade. Soon after he finished his training with Brooke Bond, famous for their ‘Dividend’ tea, Hitler invaded Poland and Britain was at war. By then known to his friends as ‘Jake’, he was one of the first Volunteer Reserves to be called up to fight for his country. Plucked from his naval training in HMS King Alfred, his warfighting initiation was on the beach at Dunkirk, helping evacuate stragglers after Operation DYNAMO. He then volunteered for Motor Torpedo Boats, where he served with valour and distinction. Whilst Hitler’s U-Boats were torpedoing shipments of tea bound for Great Britain, Jake Wright reciprocated by torpedoing Axis coastal shipping off Europe. His first Command was MTB 331, trained for a daredevil mission to puncture German boom defences protecting their battleships. In his next Command, MTB 32, he was wounded in action whilst torpedoing a German convoy, but kept his small ship fighting against the odds to win the action and sink his enemy; for his bravery he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Further acts of gallantry in action, combined with tactical innovation, saw him earn two bars to his DSC as well as a Mention in Despatches; he became one of only 44 officers in the Second World War to receive a DSC with two Bars. After demobilization he returned to the tea trade, rising to become one of Brooke Bond’s senior directors supplying Britain’s beloved beverage. He even helped refine how to make the perfect cup of tea. This is the life story of a determined, brave, innovative and decorated officer who has earned a place in the hearts of our nation. It is the story of Derek ‘Jake’ Wright, DSC**.
