Helion's January Releases

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BAPTISM OF FIRE. THE FIRST COMBAT EXPERIENCES OF THE ROYAL HUNGARIAN AIR FORCE AND SLOVAK AIR FORCE, MARCH 1939

This conflict is just a short episode from the turbulent history of Central Europe in the 20th Century, which is little known even in the countries involved, and almost totally obscure outside them. From the international point of view the most important event in the middle of March, 1939 was that the Third Reich occupied the Czech territories, which was a failure of the Western powers, since they hoped that by the Munich Agreement (29-30 September, 1938), they could avoid any future conflicts with Adolf Hitler. That is why their contemporary media and their recent history books are filled with these events, and do not mention a small parallel conflict.

From the Hungarian point of view, occupying its former territory of Sub-Carpathia was very important. Hungary was surrounded on three sides by the hostile Little Entente countries (Czechoslovakia, Rumania and Yugoslavia) and on the fourth side, since the Anschluss in March, 1938, by the Third Reich. To break this encirclement, it was necessary to restore the common border with Hungary's historical ally, Poland and this was achieved by the occupation of this territory. For the Hungarian Armed Forces, the short border conflict with Slovakia was only the closing phase of the occupation of Sub-Carpathia.

From the Slovakian point of view, however, this is a far more important conflict. Slovakia became independent for the first time in its history in March,  1939. Parallel to Slovak independence, the Czech territories from the former Czechoslovakia were seized by the Third Reich and Sub-Carpathia was occupied by Hungary. The invasion of a border area of Slovakia by the Hungarians was considered by the Slovaks as a direct threat to the independence of the country.

During the Hungarian occupation of Sub-Carpathia, their ground troops were supported by Hungarian reconnaissance and bomber forces. During the border conflict with Slovakia, a short but fierce clash started between the contending air forces. Slovak planes strafed and bombed Hungarian ground troops on 23 March 1939, but the heaviest clashes happened on the very next day, when extensive air-to-air combat occurred. Clashes saw Hungarian Fiat CR.32s come up against Slovak Avia fighters and Letov reconnaissance and light attack planes. Also on that day, Hungarian Ju 86 bombers raided the main Slovak air base.

The majority of Hungarian materials relating to the combat have been lost or destroyed, so author Csaba B. Stenge Ph.D. has put in a Herculean effort to construct this account. The text contains details of the historical background to the conflict, a full account of the combat, as well as notes on Hungarian aviators decorated for their performance, short biographies of Hungarian aviators credited with aerial victories, and a list of Hungarian anti-aircraft claims and aerial victories. Besides this, the book contains over 150 rare and mostly previously-unpublished images, as well as a selection of superb color profiles showing camouflage and markings for the aircraft of both air forces.

THE BATTLE FOR MOZAMBIQUE: THE FRELIMO-RENAMO STRUGGLE, 1977-1992

The 16-year-long war in Mozambique between the Frelimo government and Renamo rebels remains one of the most overlooked and misunderstood of the conflicts that raged across Africa during the height of the Cold War. While usually viewed as mere sideshow to more high-profile wars in Angola, Rhodesia and within apartheid South Africa itself, it nonetheless is noteworthy in its complexity, duration and destructiveness. Before it was all over in 1992 at least one million Mozambicans would be dead, millions more homeless and the country lying in ruins. Ultimately Frelimo would get its victory not on the battlefield but rather at the polling booth in 1994. Based on more than a decade of meticulous research, a review of thousands of pages of military records and documents, and dozens of in-depth interviews with political leaders, diplomats, generals, and soldiers and sailors, this book tells the story of the war from the perspective of those who fought it and lived it. It follows Renamo's growth from its Rhodesian roots in 1977 as a weapon against Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwean nationalist guerrillas operating from Mozambique through South African patronage in the early 1980s to Renamo's evolution as a self-sufficient nationalist insurgency. In tracing the ebb and flow of the conflict from the rugged mountains and savannah forests of central Mozambique across the hot, humid Zambezi River valley and down to the very outskirts of the Mozambican capital in the far south, it examines the operational strategy of Frelimo and Renamo commanders in the field, the battles they fought and the lives of their troops. In doing so it highlights personal struggles, each side's successes and failures, and the missed opportunities to decisively turn the tide of war. Accordingly, this book provides the first real comprehensive military history of a war too long neglected and under appreciated in the chronicles of modern African history.

"What emerges from the pages of this erudite book is the definitive account of the Mozambican civil war … Stephen Emerson's thoughtful, incisive and highly readable account of the Mozambican civil war is a must for students, academics and policy-makers who seek to understand Mozambique's past and future." Insight on Africa

SPECIAL BRANCH WAR: SLAUGHTER IN THE RHODESIAN BUSH. SOUTHERN MATABELELAND, 1976-1980

This searing account primarily covers Ed Bird's Special Branch (SB) service in the Beitbridge area of southern Matabeleland, 1976-1980, encompassing Operations Repulse and Tangent of the bitter Rhodesian 'bush war'. Joining the British South Africa Police (BSAP) in 1964, Bird cut his teeth on Selous Scouts 'pseudo' operations during Operation Hurricane in 1974-1976, so was well equipped to deal with the insidious escalation of the ZANLA and ZIPRA campaigns in the south of the country. A meticulous recorder, Bird implemented and maintained the Beitbridge SB incident log, and it is this diary of terror and death upon which Bird's account hangs, interspersed with detailed accounts of firefights, ambushes, landmine blasts, ZANLA executions, traitors and assassinations, SB 'dirty tricks' and 'turning' terrorists. Although first and foremost an intelligence-gatherer, Bird thrived on combat and against all protocol inveigled his way onto Fire Force operations and as an air mobile MAG machine-gunner on converted Police Reserve Air Wing aircraft. Decorated for bravery but overlooked for promotion, Bird's BSAP career became victim to spurious political expedience.

ENDURING VALOUR. SOUTH AFRICA'S CROSS OF HONOUR

The Honoris Crux (Cross of Honour) was South Africa's premier gallantry decoration awarded to members of the SA Defense Force between 1952 and 2003. The stories behind over 300 of these awards and other medals for bravery are graphically told – ranging from outstanding valour in all types of warfare to exceptional heroism displayed in saving lives.

For these soldiers, sailors and airmen the common denominator was courage. One reads of a SAAF helicopter pilot who noticed that a friend's gunship was under heavy fire, so switched on his lights to attract fire away from his comrade. The same pilot was later to land in an enemy camp to rescue the crew of a downed helicopter who were being chased by a patrol. A jet pilot whose Buccaneer was out of ammunition dive-bombed enemy tanks to keep them from overrunning his forces. The heroism of the Special Forces, or Recces, became legendary. We read the unbelievable but true stories of two-man teams who crept into enemy camps, sometimes hundreds of kilometers from their bases, to gather vital information. If discovered they had to extricate themselves from impossible situations, such as the frogman team which attacked an enemy bridge then fought their way out – against small arms fire and hand grenades, as well as against crocodiles! The Naval heroes range from the seaman who remained inside the sinking SAS President Kruger to rescue friends, to the frogmen who went inside the sinking MV Oceanus to ensure that no one remained behind. Two of them dived into the stormy sea to rescue floating passengers and crew, thereby ensuring the success of the greatest sea rescue of the century. One of the survivors had won the DCM in World War II, while his son had earned the Honoris Crux in 1983.

The author has interviewed many of the medal recipients and invariably found them to be modest about their heroic exploits. He has included some of the events in which the SA Police were involved, acting as part of the country's security forces in combating terrorism. In many cases he has recorded the subsequent lives of the medal recipients. The awards were made irrespective of race, color or creed – despite most of the events taking place during the Apartheid years. Men from diverse backgrounds learnt to live and fight together, especially among the Special Forces, where their lives often depended on each other. The award of the HC Gold to a black Recce attests to that. During a period of five months on five occasions he approached the enemy on his own and fought to the death, thereby displaying total disregard for his own safety. Through these pages one learns of the incredible valour displayed during the turbulent years of the Border War.

This new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, to include not only new information but additional photographs, too.

TUNES OF BLOOD & IRON. GERMAN REGIMENTAL & PARADE MARCHES FROM FREDERICK THE GREAT TO THE PRESENT DAY BY LUFTWAFFE LT COLS JOACHIM TOECHE-MITTLER AND WERNER PROBST VOLUME ONE – INFANTRY (PART 1)

This is an extremely thorough four volume guide to the regimental march tunes and other parade music which inspired loyalty, pride and battlefield motivation for generations of Germans over three centuries. Built around a translation of the previously unpublished works of two great German military music historians, the late Lieutenant Colonel Joachim Toeche-Mittler and Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Werner Probst, it describes the history of every march in the official collections sanctioned by successive kings of Prussia, German Emperors, and later by Chief Inspectors of Music of the German Republic and Third Reich.

In these descriptions, one discovers that the collections are not just German, but a pan-European treasure trove of labyrinthine musical influences. The books detail how even today these tunes are still used by German armed forces units, providing the only officially permitted link between them and the military history of the German nation. They describe how the use of this superb parade march repertoire spread around the world, far beyond Germany's borders; it can often be heard in use today especially in Britain and America. The authors detail how modern regimental military music began to develop during the reign of Frederick the Great of Prussia in the mid-18th Century, before its development reached its zenith during the German Empire established by Bismarck from 1871 to 1918. They also trace the potent cultural influences on the march composition styles of the Stahlhelm, Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe of the 20th Century.

This work is no apology or eulogy for a militaristic culture now long gone amongst the German people, but a description of the international and home sources for the march repertoire, and the personalities involved in composing, commissioning, and dedicating marches to the leading personalities of the age, and their adoption as regimental music by the fighting units of Prussia and the other Old German States, Imperial Germany, and the later German Reich and Post War Republics of East and West Germany.

The series will provide information about how the regimental bandsmen and signaller musicians on fife, drum and bugle paraded and performed this repertoire, the manufacture and embellishments of their instruments, Schellenbaum 'Jingling Johnnies' and Drum Majors' Staffs, and their employment and deployment in the ranks of the fighting units on parade and in battle.

The detailed text and appendices are supported by a huge number of rare black & white and color images showing all aspects of German military music.

Much more than a series of books about music, the volumes will together provide a definitive guide to a colorful and tuneful aspect of Germanic culture, whose lasting influence is still with us, and is about the stirring sounds that can still be heard on parade around the world today. The very concept of cataloging a collection of parade marches encompassing music gathered over centuries emanated in the early 19th Century from a country abolished by the Allies in 1947 as the fount of German militarism; this music is however Prussia's legacy to the world – indeed, Prussia's Glory!

After a short introduction Volume one concentrates on the vast official Royal Prussian collection of 'regimental' and 'neutral' quick marches. Translated from previously unpublished original research by the late Luftwaffe Lt. Col. Joachim Toeche-Mittler, it provides a definitive description for each march, its composer, and how and by whom it was used, in many cases on campaign as well as on parade. With only one exception before 1914, every Prussian, and most non-Prussian regiments, had their regimental march from within this collection.

RADETZKY'S MARCHES. THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1848 AND 1849 IN UPPER ITALY

In the spring of 1848, revolution threatened to sweep away the old order throughout Europe. In the Austrian-occupied north of Italy, newly nurtured nationalism, further fulled by economic issues, prompted open revolt in Lombardy and Venetia. The Austrian army in Italy, commanded by 82 year old Field Marshal Radetzky, soon saw itself under further threat from the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, that of Naples, and the Papal States, as well as thousands of volunteers, all determined to rid Italy of the occupier.

Seemingly under attack from all sides, the Austrian Army was forced to concentrate in the famous 'Quadrilateral', formed by the fortress cities of Peschiera, Mantua, Legnago, and Verona, losing deserters by the thousand, to prepare for the war to follow, a war that would continue into the following year.

This volume narrates the remarkable tale of how one old general quite possibly saved an empire. With iron will, the great personal affection of his men, and some luck, Radetzky maintained his army, and finally defeated his opponents. Such was the impact of the 1848 campaign, that Johann Strauss the Elder wrote the 'Radetzky March', in the Field Marshal's honour!

The comprehensive story of the revolts and the subsequent military campaigns is recounted here, taken from many and varied sources, including a considerable number of contemporary and first-hand accounts, as well official reports from all sides.

Radetzky's Marches is profusely illustrated, and is accompanied by maps, charts, diagrams and extensive orders-of-battle.