92 books match the query 'Regimental histories' and 4 start with r

cover of Red Arrow across the Pacific: The Thirty-Second Infantry Division during World War II

Red Arrow across the Pacific

The Thirty-Second Infantry Division during World War II

Mark D. Van Ells

Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2024

The history of WWII’s most battle-tested US Army division and its crucial role in achieving Allied victory in the Pacific

Red Arrow across the Pacific reveals the long-overdue story of the renowned Thirty-Second "Red Arrow" Infantry Division. Discover how this National Guard unit—which originated in Wisconsin and Michigan but soon evolved to include soldiers from California to New England—became one of the first US military units deployed overseas in World War II, eventually logging more combat hours than any other US Army division. 

Far more than a traditional battle narrative, Red Arrow across the Pacific offers a cultural history of the Red Arrow's wartime experience, from its mobilization in 1940, to its deployment across New Guinea, Australia, and the Philippines, to its postwar occupation of Japan. Drawing from letters, memoirs, and interviews, author Mark D. Van Ells lets the soldiers speak for themselves, describing in their own words the terror of combat, their impressions of foreign lands, the struggle to maintain their own humanity, and the many ways the war profoundly changed them.

Nuanced and remarkably thorough, this book explores the dramatic evolution of the Thirty-Second Infantry Division and reveals how the story of the Red Arrow reflects the experience of the US military during World War II.

“Exceptionally well researched and engagingly written. This book is a must read for any student of military history.”
—Capt. Florian L. Waitl, Command Historian, Wisconsin Army National Guard

“A superb divisional history. . . . Highly recommended for a general audience, as well as readers interested in the Second World War.”
—Mary Louise Roberts, Lucie Aubrac Distinguished Professor Emerita of History, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and author of Sheer Misery: Soldiers in Battle in WWII

 
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cover of Return from Berlin: The Eye of a Navigator

Return from Berlin

The Eye of a Navigator

Robert Grilley

University of Wisconsin Press, 2003

During the summer of 1944, the now-legendary American Eighth Air Force was engaged in a ferocious air battle over Europe to bring the Allies victory over the German Third Reich. This is the story of one B-17 navigator and his crewmates, men who faced extraordinary danger with a maturity beyond their years. This vivid and detailed account of combat flying and its psychological toll also recalls the beginning of Robert Grilley’s  development as a painter of international renown, as he spends his off-duty time drawing the peaceful Northamptonshire landscape around Deenethorpe airbase.
    Wakened with flashlights on their faces in the predawn hours, he and his crew repeatedly face the Luftwaffe in battles five miles high, flying through flak "so thick you could get out and walk on it." Stretching their stamina to the limits, they succeed time after time in their missions to bomb munitions works, railyards, the Leüna synthetic oil plant at Merseburg in eastern Germany, the V2 rocket research center at Peenemünde on the distant Baltic Coast, and even to strike Hitler’s capital city, Berlin.
            But Grilley finds interludes of unexpected grace and restoration on his days off, making serious drawings from nature at the neighboring Yokehill Farm. There he slowly cultivates a friendship with a curious eight-year-old, the lively child Elizabeth, who becomes for the combat flyer a symbol of survival.
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cover of Road to Safwan: The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry in the 1991 Persian Gulf War

Road to Safwan

The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry in the 1991 Persian Gulf War

Stephen A. Bourque

University of North Texas Press, 2007

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cover of Rush's Lancers: The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry in the Civil War

Rush's Lancers

The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry in the Civil War

Eric J. Wittenberg

Westholme Publishing, 2007

The Complete Story of a Legendary Civil War Unit
The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry, also known as Rush’s Lancers, was a completely volunteer unit and one of the finest regiments to serve in the Civil War. Tracing their history from George Washington’s personal bodyguard during the Revolutionary War, many of the men of the Sixth Pennsylvania were the cream of Philadelphia society, including Richard H. Rush, grandson of Dr. Benjamin Rush, Maj. Robert Morris, Jr., great-grandson of the financier of the Revolutionary War, Capt. Charles Cadwalader, whose great-grandfather was a general under George Washington, Frank H. Furness, architect and Medal of Honor recipient, and George G. Meade, Jr. But it was their actions in battle, not their illustrious family histories, that distinguished Rush’s Lancers. The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry earned a reputation for being a highly trained and reliable unit, despite being armed initially with antiquated weapons, leaving their mark on key battlefields, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Hanover Court House, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Brandy Station—where they conducted one of the most famous charges of the war—and Appomattox.
    Drawing upon letters, diaries, memoirs, service and pension files, contemporary newspaper coverage, official records, and other primary sources, Rush’s Lancers: The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry in the Civil War by distinguished military historian Eric J. Wittenberg is an engrossing account of these young men from both Philadelphia’s social elite and the city’s working classes who, despite not being professional soldiers, answered the Nation’s call to war.
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