Military History

Asia @ War: France’s War in Indochina: Volume 1: The Tiger versus the Elephant, 1946–1949

...a very interesting book with insights into how French forces dealt with Viet Minh tactics and strategies, anticipating almost the same problems faced by American forces in Vietnam nearly twenty years later. The VVA VeteranUndoubtedly, Americas attempt...

Asia @ War: Fury from the North North Korean Air Force in the Korean War, 1950-1953

It was almost exactly 15.00 hours local time, on 25 June 1950, when nine Yakovlev Yak-9P fighters of the North Korea’s ‘Korean People’s Air Force’ (KPAF) simultaneously attacked Seoul International Airport and the Kimpo Airfield outside Seoul, the...

Asia @ War: Hunting the Viet Cong: Volume 2: The Fall of Diem and the Collapse of the Strategic Hamlets 1961-1964

In the early 1960s, the American-backed South Vietnamese government began an aggressive counterinsurgency programme aimed at eliminating the Viet Cong. The policy – known as the Strategic Hamlet Programme – seriously hurt and ‘cut up’ the VC. The second...

Asia @ War: Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 : Volume 1 - Indian Military Intervention in East Pakistan

In 1947, India and Pakistan were partitioned by their former colonial ruler, Great Britain. A job that should have taken ten-years was done in a few months. Britain, drained by two world wars in 40-years, no longer had the will or the money to guide the...

Asia @ War: Into the Endless Mist Volume 1: The Aleutian Campaign, June-August 1942

Covers the events of Operation AL from the Japanese raid on Dutch Harbor and the invasion of Attu and Kiska to the American landing on Adak in late August 1942. At the beginning of June 1942, in the wake of the enormous Japanese struggle to bring a...

Asia @ War: Into the Endless Mist Volume 2 - The Aleutian Campaign, September 1942-March 1943

Finally, the Americans, using their industrial capacity and taking advantage of the obvious Japanese mistakes, moved on to Kiska by landing on Adak and Amchitka. The Japanese plan to provide reinforcements and supplies to both garrisons in the Aleutians...

Asia @ War: Last War of the Superfortresses MiG-15 versus B-29 in the Korean War 1950-53

In Last War of the Superfortresses the authors provide a detailed history of the confrontation between Soviet fighters and the United States Far East Air Force’s B-29 ‘Superfortress’ bombers during the Korean War of 1950–1953, drawing on Military...

Asia @ War: NINE LIVES OF THE FLYING TIGER VOLUME 1 America's Secret Air Wars in Asia, 1945-1950

The famed American Volunteer Group (AVG) created in August 1941, under the command of Claire Lee Chennault set an example of heroism for the American public opinion at the onset of the Second World War. This band of volunteer aviators serving under the...

Asia @ War: Nuclear India: Developing India's Nuclear Arms from Reluctance to Triad

Since the 1998 nuclear tests and the publication of India’s Nuclear Doctrine, India has continued to face endemic security challenges from both China and Pakistan. The latter, through the apparent induction of tactical nuclear weapons into the equation...

Asia @ War: Operation Cactus: Indian Military Intervention in the Maldives, 1988

In 1988, the Indian Army and Air Force, ably supported by the Indian Navy, carried out a daring intervention in the Maldives. The government of the Maldives, led by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, facing an attempted coup by PLOTE, a renegade group of Tamil...

Asia @ War: Operation Meghdoot: India’s War in Siachen – 1984 to Present

In 1984, the Indian Army carried out a stunning operation that captured the Siachen Glacier in the northernmost regions of what is now the Union Territory of Ladakh. Since that time, a full brigade of Indian troops has faced off against a similar number...

Asia @ War: Paradise Afire: The Sri Lankan War: Volume 1 - 1971-1987

When released into independence from Great Britain in 1948, the stunningly beautiful island of Ceylon, renamed Sri Lanka in 1972, was expected to become a sort of ‘South Asian Singapore.' However, stable political order and bright economic prospects...

Asia @ War: Paradise Afire: The Sri Lankan War: Volume 2 - 1987-1990

Upon achieving independence from Great Britain in 1948, the stunningly beautiful island of Ceylon, re-named Sri Lanka in 1972, was expected to become a sort of ‘South Asian Singapore’. However, stable political order and bright economic prospects proved...

Asia @ War: Paradise Afire: The Sri Lankan War: Volume 3 - 1990-1994

In June 1990, a mere three months after the Indian Peace Keeping Force withdrawal from Sri Lanka, the war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government resumed and was to continue unabated until another cease-fire in...

Asia @ War: Red Shirt/Yellow Shirt Protest and Insurrection in Thailand 2005-2014

A detailed account of the political crises of 2005–2014, the protest groups and the security response to these events, culminating in the seizure of power in 2014 by General Prayuth Chan O-Cha in a military coup. Thailand is often thought of in the West...

Asia @ War: Red Star Versus Rising Sun - Volume 2: The Nomonhan Incident 1939

During the first half of the 20th century, the Empire of Japan fought a series of undeclared wars in the Far East against Tsarist Russia and the successor Soviet Union. The first of these, fought in 1904-1905 over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria...

Asia @ War: Rooks in Afghanistan: Volume 1: Sukhoi Su-25 in the Afghanistan War, 1981-1985

Rooks in Afghanistan tells the story of the aircraft and crews of units of the Soviet Air Force equipped with the Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft. Between 1978 and 1989, a total of 582 single-seat Su-25s were manufactured for the Soviet Air Force – all at...

Asia @ War: Soviet Military Aviation in Central Asia 1917-41

A detailed exploration of the inter-war use of air power in Soviet Central Asia, drawing from Russian-language sources and photographic archives. The utilization of air power by the Communist regime in Russia during the revolutionary period and civil war...

Asia @ War: Target Saigon 1973-75 : Volume 1 - The Pretence of Peace

After 27 years of conflict it seemed that peace would finally settle on the Indochina peninsula on 27 January 1973 with the signing of a peace accord in Paris. The North Vietnamese had previously launched their greatest offensive against South Vietnam...

Asia @ War: Target Saigon 1973-75 Volume 2 - The Fall of South Vietnam: The Beginning of the End, January 1974 – March 1975

Drawing on a wide range of Vietnamese-language sources, the author presents a detailed account of the continuing efforts of North Vietnam to invade the South, enlivened by a large number of previously unpublished photographs, and color profiles for...

Asia @ War: Target Saigon 1973-75 Volume 3 - Disaster at Da Nang 1975

The third volume of the Target Saigon mini-series describes the opening stages of the final communist offensive against South Vietnam. The decision of President Nguyen Van Thieu to evacuate the Central Highlands was part of a wider scheme that envisaged...

Asia @ War: Target Saigon 1973-75 Volume 4 - The Final Collapse, April-May 1975

After two protracted years of fighting that wearied down the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the North Vietnamese decided to launch their final campaign in January 1975. The president of South Vietnam, Nguyen Van Thieu, decided upon a wide range...

Asia @ War: Terror and Response: The India-Pakistan Proxy War 2008-2019

In February 2019, the Indian Air Force struck at targets in Pakistan in retaliation for a terrorist attack on a convoy of the Indian Central Reserve Police Force in Kashmir. The next day, Pakistan retaliated in an inconclusive air battle. These were the...

Asia @ War: The Darkest Hour - Volume 1: The Japanese Offensive in the Indian Ocean 1942 - The Opening Moves

"Michal Piegzik has produced a very good analysis of the Japanese thrust westwards into the Indian Ocean." —The Northern Mariner The Darkest Hour presents the Imperial Japanese Navy offensive in the Indian Ocean area in March–April 1942, the main goal of...

Asia @ War: The Darkest Hour Volume 2: The Japanese Offensive in the Indian Ocean 1942 - The Attack against Ceylon and the Eastern Fleet

The Darkest Hour presents the Imperial Japanese Navy offensive in the Indian Ocean area in March–April 1942, the main goal of which was to destroy the Royal Navy in the Far East and achieve domination on the western flank of the Pacific War on the eve of...

Asia @ War: The Easter Offensive: Vietnam 1972 : Volume 1 - Invasion Across the DMZ

On 30 March 1972 the South Vietnamese positions along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separated the North from South Vietnam were suddenly shelled by hundreds of heavy guns and multiple rocket launchers. Caught in a series of outposts of what was the...

Asia @ War: The Erawan War: Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974

Best known by their French acronym for Forces Armées du Royaume – FAR – the Royal Lao Armed Forces were the official defense force of the Kingdom of Laos – what is now the Lao People’s Democratic Republic – from 1949 until 1975. Founded in 1947, when...

Asia @ War: The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: Volume 2 - Showdown in the North-West

Helions picture-packed volume sports dozens of rare photos. Seventeen color vehicle plates, three aircraft profiles, unit heraldry, and uniform art survey the conflicts modeling possibilities. CybermodelerIn 1947, India and Pakistan were partitioned by...

Asia @ War: When Brothers Fight Chinese Eyewitness Accounts of the Sino-Soviet Border Battles, 1969

Asia @ War: Wings over the Hindu Kush: Air Forces, Aircraft and Air Warfare of Afghanistan, 1989-2001

This is the story of nine diverse air forces, their aircraft, and air warfare over Afghanistan in the period between the Soviet withdrawal of 1989, and the US-led Western intervention in 2001. Afghanistan is widely considered one of the World’s most...

BTO012 - US Special Warfare Units in the Pacific Theater 1941–45: Scouts, Raiders, Rangers and Reconnaissance Units

The bitter fighting in the Pacific Theater required new forms of warfare, and the gathering of detailed intelligence information on the remote and varied islands and their determined defenders. As a result, new scout, raider and reconnaissance units were...

BTO032 - Panzer Divisions: The Blitzkrieg Years 1939–40

At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Germany's armoured forces - the Panzerwaffe - were still in their infancy. The restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles meant that German tank production lagged behind its enemies. Initial armour...

CAM001 - Normandy 1944

Osprey's Campaign title for the Normandy campaign of World War II (1939-1945). D-Day, 6 June 1944, saw the largest amphibious landing operation in history. From ports and harbours on the southern coast of England, an armada of troopships and landing...

CAM003 - France 1940: Blitzkrieg in the West

Osprey's Campaign title for France's defeat in the early period of World War II (1939-1945). The German victory of 1940 stunned the world. France, major European power and owner of the world's largest armies had fallen in less than seven weeks to the...

CAM004 - Tet Offensive 1968: Turning point in Vietnam

Osprey's study of the 1968 Tet Offensive, which was the decisive battle for Vietnam (1955-1975). Masterminded by the brilliant North Vietnamese General, Vo Nguyen Giap, it was intended to trigger a general uprising in South Vietnam. However, the bloody...

CAM005 - Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble in the West

Osprey's examination of the 'Battle of the Bulge,' which was the last major German offensive in the West during World War II (1939-1945). Three armies attacked through the Ardennes, the weakest point in the American lines, and almost broke through. This...

CAM014 - Zulu War 1879: Twilight of a warrior nation

Osprey's Campaign title for the Zulu War (1879). In the late 1870s the British Imperial administration in the Cape colony in southern Africa began to view the Zulu kingdom as a challenge to their authority.To contain this perceived threat, they...

CAM017 - Chickamauga 1863: The river of death

Osprey's examination of the battle at Chickamagua, one of the decisive campaigns of the American Civil War (1861-1865). By the Autumn of 1863 the Confederacy was in dire straits. In a colossal gamble, Confederate President Jefferson Davis stripped forces...

CAM018 - Guadalcanal 1942: The Marines Strike Back

Osprey's examination of the first American amphibious assault of World War II (1939-1945). On what was a virtually unheard of Pacific island, the United States shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility, as the US Marines and Army halted the apparently...

CAM020 - Jena 1806

Forewarned of Prussia's intention to declare war on France, Napoleon decided to strike first with a bold advance from Wurzburg into Saxony. On 14 October the double battle was fought: Napoleon with 96,000 men and 120 guns engaged and heavily defeated...