Military Science - History & Tactics: Books, Videos

The first three editions of A Quick and Dirty Guide to War not only provided essential tools for understanding wars and hot spots around the world, they delivered remarkably accurate projections on the outcomes of each conflict. War-game simulation specialists James F. Dunnigan and Austin Bay have revised their highly regarded analyses, bringing up to date not only the many conventional conflicts around the world today but the new battlegrounds that have emerged since the previous edition was published more than a decade ago – the Global War on Terror, counterinsurgency struggles around the world and the latest frontier of modern combat: cyber war.

This fourth edition takes up where the last edition left off and analyzes the monumental events that have occurred since 1996 – September 11, the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – while guiding readers through dozens of other significant developments around the globe, including the tinderbox situation with Iran and oil flow through the Persian Gulf; the final disintegration of Yugoslavia; the struggle for regional influence between Brazil, Colombia and Hugo Chávez's Venezuela; Israel's attempts to deal with a fragmented Palestine Liberation Organization; China and India's growing influence in Asia and beyond; ongoing chaos and suffering on the Horn of Africa; Russia's struggle to reassert itself on the world stage; and much more.

Dunnigan and Bay present an enormous amount of information in a series of concise, insightful briefings coupled with their shrewd projections of potential outcomes, making A Quick and Dirty Guide to War a thought-provoking reference on the face of war in the 21st century.

James F. Dunnigan and Austin Bay are U.S. Army veterans, acclaimed military historians and analysts, and designers of war-game simulations. Dunnigan has been a lecturer to the U.S. State Department, CIA and U.S. Army War College. Bay writes a syndicated national security column and has appeared as a guest commentator on CNN, C-SPAN, Nightline and NPR.
$49.95
Softcover 978-1-58160-683-6 640 pages 6" x 9" maps

NEW! Since its release in 1994, Killing Zone: A Professional's Guide to Preparing and Preventing Ambushes has been hailed by military professionals for its clarity and depth of understanding of ambushes. Now, this classic book has been retitled and thoroughly revised and updated for today's evolving battlefield.

Ambush! contains much of the original material drawn from author Gary Stubblefield's experiences in Vietnam and beyond as a U.S. Navy SEAL and counterinsurgency expert Mark Monday's decades of research and analysis. Now the book has been reorganized and expanded based on the battlefield knowledge of U.S. Army Special Forces Lt. Col. Joshua Potter, a decorated combat veteran of Iraq who used, refined, and updated the original edition.

Ambush! incorporates the expertise of combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, security contractors, and Special Operations professionals who have set up ambushes in war-torn Central and South America, Africa, and the Philippines. It includes:

* A revised look at the anatomy, operational cycle, and warning signs of an ambush
* Lessons learned from conducting, preventing, and countering ambushes in Afghanistan and Iraq
* Procedures for dealing with ambushes involving IEDs
* Counterambush and antiambush tactics, techniques, and procedures utilizing current technology, as well as low-tech and improvised solutions
* Special considerations for NGOs operating in contested areas

Ambush! is much more than a book of ambush case studies – it is a practical survival guide to some of the most treacherous regions of the world.

Lt. Col. Joshua Potter is a U.S. Army officer who has served in several operational assignments in CONUS, Europe, and Southwest Asia. Upon graduating from West Point in 1993, he served in a variety of Air Defense Artillery, Special Forces, and Civil Affairs assignments. In one recent tour of duty, his small U.S. team and 700- man Iraqi National Police battalion nabbed more than 90 insurgents, and he personally discovered and secured six IEDs and VBIEDs. He is currently serving on his fourth combat tour to Iraq as a Combat Advisor.

Gary Stubblefield, Commander, USN (Ret.), is one of the original SEAL "Men in Green Faces," with combat experience in Vietnam, Central America, and early Gulf War conflicts. As president of Vantage System Incorporated, an international security management firm, he remains active in antiterrorist efforts throughout the globe.

Mark Monday is an award-winning writer who specializes in insurgency and revolt. A veteran journalist who formerly published two international journals on insurgency, he has been active as a consultant to government agencies on special operations forces, terrorist uses of weapons of mass destruction, human terrain team research, and intelligence doctrine.
$29.95
Softcover 978-1-58160-724-6 332 pages 5.5" x 8.5" illustrations

This U.S. Army combat manual covers ground operations in urban settings. It clearly outlines skills unique to city fighting, including analyzing terrain, seizing blocks and buildings, setting up firing positions, scaling walls, employing snipers, evaluating civilian impact and effects of small arms and support weapons, and much more.

The late Colonel Rex Applegate was universally recognized as America's foremost authority on close combat with or without weapons.
$35.00
Softcover 978-0-87364-800-4 312 pages 8.5" x 11" illustrations

Out of Action is the sequel to the best-selling Fireforce: One Man's War in the Rhodesian Light Infantry.

Part 1, "War," chronicles Chris Cocks' final 16 months of combat in the Rhodesian bush war, as a stick leader in PATU, the Police Anti-Terrorist Unit. It is a time of unbelievable cruelty as the part-time white reservists battle overwhelming odds, without air support and . . . without a future.

Part 2, "Peace," recounts the author's painful adjustment to life as a civilian — a 15-year odyssey in the embryonic state of Zimbabwe. It is an intensely personal journey in which the author pulls no punches as he describes his clumsy attempts to come to terms with the new dispensation of black Africa and himself. It is a cri de couer, the story of a young man, brutalized by war, who seeks escape in alcohol and drugs, and who, in the process, causes immeasurable pain and suffering to those around him. These too are the casualties of war. Ultimately, though, it is a story of hope, of a man's triumph over his own demons.

Chris Cocks served with the Rhodesian Light Infantry from 1976-1979 in continuous combat situations. He drifted for the next 20 years before becoming a full-time writer and publisher in Johannesburg.
$30.00
Softcover 978-1-58160-707-9 310 pages 6"x9" photos

Scouting and Patrolling
Ground Reconnaissance Principles And Training
by Colonel Rex Applegate

This is the classic manual on scouting and patrolling by one of America's foremost authorities on military and police science. This book teaches you all that you need to know about ground reconnaissance principles and training, terrain features and observation, as well as exercise to show you how to put the principles into effect.

The late Colonel Rex Applegate was universally recognized as America's foremost authority on close combat with or without weapons.
$25.00
Softcover 978-0-87364-184-5 128 pages 8.5" x 11" photos, illust.

Here is the single greatest volume ever published about Civil War sharpshooting, from the expert perspective of world-renowned sniping and shooting authority John L. Plaster.

Comprehensive in scope, this book details how sharpshooters were recruited, trained, and organized. Plaster fully explores their armaments, their tactics and techniques, and how they operated (sometimes decisively) in battle. Discover dozens of accomplished and colorful but forgotten sharpshooters who, until now, had faded into the past.

Exhaustively researched and profusely illustrated, these pages contain more than 160 rare photos, along with original artwork.

Excerpted from Plaster's epic The History of Sniping and Sharpshooting, this book is a must-have for historians, reenactors, and students of the American Civil War.

Major John L. Plaster served three tours in the top-secret unconventional warfare group, Studies and Observations Group, in Vietnam. As a long-range reconnaissance leader, he led tiny intelligence-gathering teams behind enemy lines in Laos and Cambodia before leaving SOG in late 1971. He was decorated for heroism four times and retired from the U.S. Army as a major.
$19.00
Softcover 978-1-58160-703-1 166 pages 8.5" x 11" Photos, illustrations

"Silent Killing" was the name given to the lethal techniques for dispatching Nazi sentries and other German troops that close-combat masters W.E. Fairbairn and E.A. Sykes taught to Allied soldiers, paratroopers and commandos during World War II. These quick, brutal techniques were so effective that the German Army Command was forced to develop counters to what they termed "English Gangster Methods".

This extremely rare manual was printed in 1942 for German troops in occupied Norway and is not believed to have been distributed outside that country. It remained largely unknown until rediscovered in 2001. Silent Killing - Nazi Counters to Fairbairn-Sykes Techniques is the first English translation of the German wartime manual. It contains the original German text and photos, the English translation and annotations, and an extensive foreword by British combatives researcher Phil Mathews, which provides valuable new information about the origins of the manual, how the Germans obtained the "secret" Allied training documents and the state of close combat instruction in Germany and Britain before and during World War II. The historical value of this manual for students of World War II, Fairbairn and Sykes, and hand-to-hand combat is immeasurable.
$19.95
Softcover 978-1-58160-648-5 114 pages 5.5" x 8.5" photos

Here is the story of the 10th Mountain Division, the only U.S. troops specially trained for mountain warfare. Vivid personal accounts, including a foreword by 10th veteran Sen. Bob Dole, and an outstanding collection of rare photos breathe life into the memories and pay tribute to the heroes who fought and died in WWII.
$39.95
Softcover 978-1-58160-706-2 244 pages 11" x 8.5" photos, illustrations

"Werwolf." The name struck terror in the hearts of Germany's enemies at the end of World War II. Instructed by seasoned SS officers - veterans of brutal combat on the Eastern Front - Werwolf units were last-ditch resistance troops ordered to fight to the death against the Allied advance into Nazi, Germany. This complete historical overview of this terrifying group of Nazi guerrillas covers their mission, equipment and training, plus an exact reprint in German and an English translation of the Werwolf's original training manual. A fascinating look at a little-known aspect of the final days of World War II.
$20.00
Softcover 978-0-87364-248-4 196 pages 5.5" x 8.5" photos

This manual is packed with practical lessons, on-the-ground tricks, training drills and equipment suggestions for the solo tracker on up to a multiagency tracking operation. Learn from a 30-year veteran how to find and follow tracks through any terrain; assess the age of tracks; relocate the trail after it's gone missing; foil every effort to throw off your pursuit; coordinate a four-man team while tracking armed fugitives; set up and run large tracking operations, use the latest high-tech gear to find fugitives and more.
$35.00
Softcover 978-1-58160-003-2 184 pages 8.5" x 11" photos, illust.

In the 100 years since The Defence of Duffer's Drift was first published in Great Britain, the face of modern warfare has changed dramatically. But what have not changed very much are the concepts of small unit tactics: Ground is held, buildings are searched, and individual enemy combatants are killed or captured by men with rifles. And those men are led by NCOs and junior officers.

The Defence of Duffer's Drift is a fictional account of a young, inexperienced British officer, who is tasked with holding a river crossing with 50 troops against a larger enemy force. His initial failures and eventual victory serve as an entertaining and instructive vehicle to convey the principles of small unit tactics. Because it deals with principles, this definitive work has endured to this day and is still on some of the required reading lists of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps.
$15.00
Softcover 978-1-58160-634-8 76 pages 5.5" x 8.5" illustrations

This first English translation of the training manual used before and during World War II provides a rare glimpse into the actual operating procedures of the Gestapo, SS and Waffen-SS – procedures until now virtually undocumented. Part I covers police training; Part II describes paramilitary operations in open terrain; Part III details urban police operations during peace and war times.

Carl Hammer is a former government agent who for many years worked for the secret intelligence service os a European country. He later became a security consultant, and in that capacity was involved in several police investigations concerning, among other things, art theft and organized crime. He was also one of the many Western intelligence officers, volunteers and journalists who visited the Afghan mujahidin, often for extended periods, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan during the early 1980s. At that time he also met several of the Islamic extremists who currently look up to Usamah bin Ladin as their leader and role model. His experience in the region led to an official assignment to follow and report on both the developments in Afghanistan and the Islamic extremist movement.
$25.00
Softcover 978-0-87364-875-2 116 pages 8.5" x 11" illustrations

Compared to those of his contemporaries W.E. Fairbairn and E.A. Sykes, Leonard Hector Grant-Taylor's impressive achievements in the development of close-quarters battle (CQB) skills have gone mostly undocumented. The Palestine Police Force Close Quarter Battle, more commonly known as The Palestine Police Force Manual, is a compilation of lessons taught by Grant-Taylor at the Middle East School of Small Arms in the early 1940s to members of the Palestine Police Force and other units in the Middle East. Only a small number of copies were ever created for internal use, and just a handful have survived.

Working closely with Phil Mathews, an English researcher of World War II combative techniques, Paladin Press brings this rare manual into print once again. It is a gold mine of realistic CQB instruction from SOE veteran Grant-Taylor, including his techniques for controlling fear, reacting properly to surprise and other aspects of developing a survival mind-set; lessons in unsighted "point shooting" that both predate and were later influenced by Fairbairn and Sykes; firing a pistol with either hand or with both hands to effectively double one's firepower; and a host of other physical and mental skills to maximize one's chances of coming out alive in an armed encounter. In an exclusive foreword for this reprint edition, Mathews discusses Grant-Taylor's legacy in the history of CQB instruction and explores his relationship with Fairbairn and Sykes. A fascinating addition to Paladin's historic library.

Phil Mathews is an English researcher of World War II combative techniques.
$15.00
Softcover 978-1-58160-642-3 88 pages 5.5" x 8.5" photos

The "Seychelles Affair" is one of the most infamous episodes in the tangled history of mercenary warfare in Africa. The story of the ill-fated coup begins in 1978 when representatives of the exiled Seychelles president approached legendary mercenary commander Mike Hoare – who had successfully quelled the uprisings in the Congo in the early 1960s – to overthrow the Marxist regime then in power.

Hoare's story of the attempted coup reads like a thriller, detailing all the drama of the backroom scheming, the tense action at the airport on Mahé, the forced landing of the Air India Boeing and the ensuing escape of Hoare's band of mercenaries. Equally fascinating is the author's description of his dealings with South African intelligence agencies, the subsequent prosecution by those who had helped them prepare for the coup, his attempts to organize a proper defense and obtain a fair trial for himself and his 30 men, and what it was like to spend 33 months in a South African prison.

In the exclusive new foreword to this Paladin reprint, Colonel Hoare sheds new light on the events leading up to the failed coup, discusses the lingering ramifications of the failure on the nation of Seychelles and relates how his conviction affected his life after he got out of prison.

Don't miss this opportunity to read Hoare's wonderfully wry and insightful account of how one little mistake can unravel even the best-laid plans.
$25.00
Softcover 978-1-58160-657-7 232 pages 5.5" x 8.5" photos