Libros de Armamento militar, página 7 de 21

Un análisis exhaustivo de las consecuencias estratégicas y geopolíticas del cambio climático, escrita por uno de los más reputados expertos en la materia. Uno de los mejores analistas de geopolítica

La Guerra Fría es sinónimo de carrera armamentística. Del mayor esfuerzo hecho por la raza humana para destruirse por completo, pero así y todo, es el mayor avance tecnológico dado por el ser humano en tan corto espacio de tiempo. Las tecnologias nucleares, espaciales, aeronauticas, todas fueron puestas al servicio de las dos superpotencias para su maximo avance en el campo militar y tecnologico, con el perenne manto de la guerra nuclear de fondo. En este libro veremos como la Union Sovietica invento y desarrollo una nueva arma, convirtiendose a nivel mundial en la mejor diseñadora y productora de Submarinos de Lanzamiento de Misiles de Crucero, inicialmente con el afan de destruir objetivos estrategicos en el territorio de sus oponentes, y posteriormente, y dejando esto como mision secundaria, en destruir a los grupos de tareas de portaaviones de la OTAN. Como se dio tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el inicio de estos proyectos es caotico, multiplicandose los esfuerzos en simultaneas lineas al mismo tiempo, no buscando nunca la economizacion de recursos, sino la capacidad operativa en el menor tiempo posible. Tambien los EEUU, y demas naciones Occidentales, desarrollarian el mismo tipo de armamento, pero ninguno en la cantidad y esfuerzos como se hizo en la URSS. Una vez mas, el Oso demostro que sabia nadar.

Known to its pilots as the ''last of the gunfighters'' due to its quartet of Colt-Browning Mk 12 20 mm cannon, the F-8 Crusader was numerically the most populous fighter in the US Navy at the start of America''s involvement in the Vietnam conflict in 1964 - some 482 F-8C/D/Es equipped 17 frontline units.It enjoyed great success against North Vietnamese Mig-17s and Mig-21s during the Rolling Thunder campaign of 1965-68, officially downing 18 jets, which represented 53 per cent of all Mig claims lodged by Navy squadrons during this period.

The North African campaign of November 1942-May 1943 was a baptism of fire for the US Army. After relatively straightforward landings, the US II Corps advanced into Tunisia to support operations by the British 8th Army. Rommel, worried by the prospect of an attack, decided to exploit the inexperience of the US Army and strike a blow against their overextended positions around the Kasserine Pass. However, the Germans were unable to exploit their initial success, and later attacks were bloodily repulsed. The fighting in Tunisia taught the green US Army vital combat lessons, and brought to the fore senior commanders such as Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley.

On 22 June 1944, three years to the day after Germany's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, the Red Army launched a massive offensive in Byelorussia. Codenamed 'Operation Bagration', this campaign climaxed five weeks later with the Red Army at the gates of Warsaw. The Wehrmacht's Army Group Centre was routed, a total of 17 Wehrmacht divisions were utterly destroyed, and over 50 other German divisions were shattered. It was the most calamitous defeat of the German armed forces in World War II.

Known as the last great 'stand-up fight' of the Second World War the battle for the Rhineland was brutal in the extreme. Eisenhower's 'broad front' policy called for the whole of the Rhineland to be taken before pushing his troops across the Rhine and into Germany itself. The Germans opened the Roer dams in a vain bid to temper this massive Allied offensive and this called for a drastic change in tactics. The ensuing battle was characterised by amphibious assaults on the fortified villages of the flooded Rhine lowlands, frontal assaults on the much vaunted Siegfried Line and the grim fighting for the Reichswald Forest. It was to be 'the last great killing ground in the west'. Campaigns 5, 24, 74 and 75 are also available in a single volume special edition as 'Into the Reich'.

Salamanca was the most decisive battle of the entire Peninsular War. Wellington smashed Marmont's French Army and his pursuit of its shattered remnants led to the famous cavalry charge of the King's German Legion at Garcia Hernandez. There would be two more years of sieges and hard fighting before the Iron Duke crossed the Pyrenees into France but from Salamanca the British and their Portuguese and Spanish allies always had the upper hand. Ian Fletcher examines this important battle in detail and also discusses the campaign which led up to it.