Fallschirmjäger vs US Soldier
Saint-Lô 1944 Combat 81
For six weeks in the summer of 1944, US forces tasked with capturing the vital road hub of Saint-Lô in Normandy struggled to make progress amid the bocage – hedgerow country interspersed with marshland, where infantry would have to do most of the fighting. The Germans deployed some of their toughest infantrymen, the renowned Fallschirmjäger – highly motivated, well-equipped Luftwaffe volunteers formed around cadres of veterans – to defend this sector. Despite the American superiority in terms of armour, aircraft and materiel, the US infantrymen would need to evict the Germans in an exhausting series of close-quarter battles.
Featuring expert analysis, carefully chosen photographs and newly commissioned artwork, this book compares the combatants’ ethos, doctrine and training and assesses their performance during three key engagements: the German raid on Mont Castre (July 6/7); the brutal struggle for Hill 192 (July 11–13); and the climactic battles for Saint-Lô (July 11–21).
Jagdpanther vs 17-pdr Achilles North-West Europe 1944–45 Duel 143
Frank Baldwin (Author) , Richard Chasemore (Illustrator)
This is the story of the 17-pdr Achilles and the Jagdpanther, two formidable tracked anti-tank guns that clashed in North-West Europe during 1944–45.
Both mounting their country’s most effective anti-tank ordnance on a tracked chassis, the 17-pdr Achilles and the Jagdpanther were arguably the best self-propelled anti-tank guns used by the British, Canadian and German forces that fought in North-West Europe during 1944–45. Featuring specially commissioned artwork and carefully chosen photographs, this is the story of the two types’ development, combat use and legacy in the closing stages of World War II in North-West Europe.
D-Day Gunners (Hardback)
Firepower on the British Beaches and Landing Grounds
Part history book and part travel guide, D-Day Gunners is aimed at anyone interested in the artillery on the D-Day beaches and landing grounds. While the heritage of the D-Day beaches and landing sites is well documented, this rarely includes the artillery story. The author of this book aims to correct this by providing a visitors’ guide to the artillery stories associated with the battlefield heritage that remains on the D-Day beaches, mapping the fire-plan for D-Day against the known German locations, and looking at what happened at these places.
Gunners in Normandy: The History of the Royal Artillery in North-west Europe, Part 1: January 1942 to August 1944 (2020)
This is the official account of the Royal Artillery’s activities in the Normandy campaign. It is key book for any serving members of the Regiment: the book mentions every Regiment that served, a Roll of Honour, a list of the dead by unit showing where their relatives are buried along with details of how to visit the gunners graves and memorials. It is based on interviews with veterans, papers and documents from the Firepower Archives, terrain studies, personal memoirs, war diaries and other official documents. It is as definitive an account as can be written three quarters of a century after the event. Serious students of the battle Normandy should find this essential reading, with comprehensive coverage of the role of the Royal Artillery, and much material not published anywhere else, including, orders of battle, the details of targets engaged by the guns and their effectiveness. It also includes a new interpretation of the battle.
The Darker Side of Travel: The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism (2009)
Author of Chapter 9 Battlefield Tourism: Bringing organised Violence back to Life.
Over the last two decades, the concept of dark tourism has attracted growing academic interest and media attention. Nevertheless, perspectives on and understanding of dark tourism remain varied and theoretically fragile whilst, to date, no single book has attempted to draw together the conceptual themes and debates surrounding dark tourism, to explore it within wider disciplinary contexts and to establish a more informed relationship between the theory and practice of dark tourism. This book meets the undoubted need for such a volume by providing a contemporary and comprehensive analysis of dark tourism.
British Army First World War Battlefield Guide (2015)
As part of Operation REFLECT, the Army’s project to learn from the First World War, two Battlefield Guides were produced under the direction of Maj Gen Mungo Melvin, President Emeritus of the BCMH and assisted by many BCMH members writing the various chapters and particularly Barbara Taylor who drew the maps.
Frank Baldwin is the author of three chapters of this work, covering the 1914 battle of the Aisne, the battle of Verdun 1916 and the Nivelle Offensive of 1917./ This book is not on sale to the public, but electronic copies can be downloaded free of charge from the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research (CHACR) .