Hitler's Samurai - Waffen-SS in Action

'Rarely has an army had to pay such a high price for defeat as the Waffen-SS.' I quoted this statement by HIAG in the introduction to the first edition of this book, and it remains true. The whole of the Schutzstaffel, from the most richly deserving butchers like Eichmann to the young teenagers of the Hitler Youth who fought with desperation beyond their years in the bloodbath that was Berlin in 1945, was tarred with the same brush: guilty until proven innocent. In this book it has been my intention to give a more balanced view, with particular reference to the SS-VT and Waffen-SS. I have tried to show what sort of people did join the SS, and why; how they were trained, organised, uniformed and equipped; and, through a precis of their campaigns, what their achievements—good and bad—were. To many people, even today, no Waffen-SS accomplishment can be classed as 'good', but this biased emotional reaction denies the Waffen-SS the same military recognition awarded to the elite formations of other nationalities, past or present. It is also a reaction which denies the effect many aspects of Waffen-SS training and uniform have had on all postwar armies, and which are discussed later. Finally, it is a reaction which places the atrocities like Le Paradis and Oradour ahead of the many acts of chivalry performed by SS individuals and units, and which ignores the inconvenient fact that Allied troops—and not just the Russians—were guilty of similar atrocities, including the shooting of prisoners and reprisals on the civilian population of Germany.

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Italian Battleships of WW2

One of the most misunderstood aspects of the naval war in the Mediterranean is the role of the Italian Navy's capital ships. The commonly held perception is that they were committed only sparingly and, when faced with the British fleet, were always defeated. The actual story is far different and deserves proper attention. After entering the war, the Italians committed their battleships aggressively. Even after the disaster at Taranto, where several ships were placed out of action (but only one for the duration of the war), the Italians continued to employ their battleships as part of their strategy to retain control of the central Mediterranean. It was only late in the war, principally driven by fuel shortages, that the Italians ceased operations of their remaining capital ships. Ironically, the most dramatic loss of an Italian capital ship came at the hands of their former German allies when the Italians changed sides in September 1943. By the end of the war, three of the four rebuilt Italian battleships remained in service, together with two of the three modern battleships. This book tells the story of the seven Italian battleships that saw service between 1940 and 1943.

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Lotnictwo 2004-05

Analitycy wojskowi ostrzegają przed wzrostem zagrożenia ze strony przeciwlotniczych zestawów, z samonaprowadzającymi się rakietami. Aby zredukować to niebezpieczeństwo Ministerstwo Obrony Wielkiej Brytanii podpisało umowę z BAE Systems Avionics o rozwoju wielozakresowego lasera używanego do zakłócenia toru lotu rakiet naprowadzających się na źródło ciepła. BAE Systems współpracuje z Northrop Grumman w doskonaleniu laserowej głowicy zakłócającej, wykorzystywanej w urządzeniu do aktywnej obrony Nemesis. W efekcie prac ma powstać system zdolny do zabezpieczenia każdego typu śmigłowca, samolotu (także dużych, wielosilnikowych transportowców) przed różnego rodzaju rakietami wyposażonymi w głowice samona-prowadzające na źródło energii cieplnej. Dzięki niewielkiej masie wynoszącej 10 kg może być wykorzystany praktycznie na wszystkich rodzajach statków powietrznych. Do tej pory BAE Systems dostarczyło już 450 sztuk głowic laserowych dla wytwórni Northrop Grumman w Rolling Meadows (Illinois), które zostały zainstalowane na 22 typach samolotów i śmigłowców w trzech krajach.

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