Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Thursday, September 20, 2007

NONFICTION: "The Boats of Cherbourg: The Secret Israeli Operation That Revolutionized Naval Warfare" by: Abraham Rabinovich.

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BOOK TITLE: "The Boats of Cherbourg"
FULL TITLE: "The Boats of Cherbourg: The Secret Israeli Operation That Revolutionized Naval Warfare"
AUTHOR: Abraham Rabinovich
TYPE: Nonfiction
LANGUAGE: English
TRANSLATOR: nil
ILLUSTRATOR: nil
PUBLISHER: US Naval Institute Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 1997
BINDING: Paperback
ISBN: 1557-507-147

SYNOPSIS:
- The story of the revolutionary missile boats used by Israel in the Yom Kippur War.

Friday, June 15, 2007

WARGAMING: "Tank Battles In Miniature 5 - A Wargamer's Guide To The Arab-Israeli Wars Since 1948" by: Bruce Quarrie

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BOOK TITLE: "Tank Battles In Miniature 5"
FULL TITLE: "Tank Battles In Miniature 5 - A Wargamer's Guide To The Arab-Israeli Wars Since 1948"
AUTHOR: Bruce Quarrie
TYPE: Wargaming
LANGUAGE: English
TRANSLATOR: nil
ILLUSTRATOR: nil
PUBLISHER: P. Stephens
PUBLICATION DATE: 1978
BINDING: Hardback
ISBN: 0850-593-042

SYNOPSIS:
- n/a

NONFICTION: "The Israeli Army, 1948-1973" by: Edward Luttwak & Dan Horowitz

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BOOK TITLE: "The Israeli Army"
FULL TITLE: "The Israeli Army, 1948-1973"
AUTHOR: Edward Luttwak & Dan Horowitz
TYPE: Nonfiction
LANGUAGE: English
TRANSLATOR: nil
ILLUSTRATOR: nil
PUBLISHER: Harper and Row
PUBLICATION DATE: 1975
BINDING: Hardback
ISBN: 0060-127-236

SYNOPSIS:
- n/a

NONFICTION BOOKS: "The Arab-Israeli Wars" by: Chaim Herzog & Shlomo Gazit

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BOOK TITLE: "The Arab-Israeli Wars"
FULL TITLE: "The Arab-Israeli Wars - War And Peace In The Middle East"
AUTHOR: Chaim Herzog & Shlomo Gazit
TYPE: Nonfiction
LANGUAGE: English
TRANSLATOR: nil
ILLUSTRATOR: nil
PUBLISHER: Vintage; Reprint edition (July 12, 2005)
PUBLICATION DATE: 2005
BINDING: Softback
ISBN: 1400-079-632

SYNOPSIS:
- Now in its third edition, this classic study has been updated for the first time in more than twenty years. Chaim Herzog, former President of Israel, was involved in every conflict involving Israel and its Arab neighbors from before the 1948 War of Independence. The Arab-Israeli Wars is Herzog’s acclaimed history of Israel’s fight since 1947 to preserve her existence against repeated attacks. Revised after his death by friend and colleague General Shomo Gazit, this new edition also covers the events of the past twenty years, including the pullout from Lebanon, both intifadas, the first Gulf War, the Oslo Process, and beyond. Riveting, informative, and comprehensive, this authoritative account tells the story of Israel’s struggle to survive but gives a clear picture of the people and politics that continue to shape the destiny of this crucial region.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

HASBARA: 40th Anniversary of The 1967 Six Day War!

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The photo that defined the war:
Paratroopers standing in aweful reverence after liberating the Kotel (The Western Wall).

Hi Everyone,

Today is the fortieth anniversary of The 1967 Six Day War that so dramatically changed the balance of power in the Middle East. This conflict not only changed the balance of power in the Middle East, but it profoundly affected military thinking and has ever since been of strong interest to historians, soldiers, and AIW (Arab-Israeli Wars) miniatures gamers among others.

First of all, let me make a recommendation to read the Magnum Opus (masterpiece) of 1967 Six Day War history:

If you're going to read just one book about the war, please read "Six Days of War" by Michael Oren, which is by far, the most comprehensively researched and definitive historical account yet written on the conflict.

The Six Day War is perhaps most noted for Operation Moked (Focus), in which Israel launched a surprise air attack against Arab Air Forces, which practically crippled the entire militaries of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and other enemies of Israel. This single operation practically defined air power as the dominant force in warfare from the 1960s on. The Indians paid attention to it in their wars with Pakistan and the Arabs did as well in their later wars with Israel. Even NATO paid attention and began and ambitious program of building hardened aircraft shelters (HAS) in Europe. Operation Moked set the standard and has long been admired by air forces around the world.

The shadow of an Israeli Mirage fighter plane passes over ruined Arab aircraft.

But more than anything else, The Six Day War established Israel as a nation that would not go quietly into the night. Israel gained strategic deterrence in the form of land and no longer stood in the same precarious mortal danger that it had before. It's a fascinating piece of history and I highly recommend study of it to anyone with a passion for such. I've been studying it for over twenty years now, have probably read over a hundread books about it, and can still honestly say that I still have much to learn about it.

An Israeli AMX-13 light tank, which proved ineffective...
...as well as a false path in tank design.
Armor and armament later predominated over mobility in tank design.

Happy Tuesday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

An Israeli Mirage fightercraft with one of its principal enemies, an Arab MiG.

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

Thursday, May 31, 2007

HISTORICAL FICTION: "The Glory" by: Herman Wouk

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BOOK TITLE: "The Glory"
FULL TITLE: "The Glory: A Novel"
AUTHOR: Herman Wouk
TYPE: Historical Fiction
LANGUAGE: English
TRANSLATOR: nil
ILLUSTRATOR: nil
PUBLISHER: Little, Brown and Company
PUBLICATION DATE: 1994 original (1995 mass market paperback edition)
BINDING: Paperback
ISBN: 0316-955-280

SYNOPSIS
- This is the sequel to The Hope (1993), which dramatized the unlikely course of modern Israel's history, ending with its smashing victory over the Arabs in 1967. As in previous sagas of Woukian dimensions, The Winds of War to name one of a dozen, ordinary people become heroic figures against a turbulent backdrop of war, death, and love. As emotional encapsulations of this century's ghastly and glorious Jewish experience, Wouk's epics have been automatically popular, regardless of their schmaltzy, made-for-TV texture. Here he places a dozen military characters and their families in crucial roles in the post-'67 fighting: the Barak family has a military attache in the Washington embassy and a son on a gunboat; the Luries fly fighters; and the Pasternaks lurk in the Mossad's shadows. From such vantage points, they fight along and over the Suez Canal and fend off disaster in the Yom Kippur War, pull off the exhilarating Entebbe rescue, and bomb Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981, an endpoint that leaves out the less triumphant '80s. Wouk humanizes these intense events with scenes of passage (affairs, weddings, funerals) and mixes in real Israeli leaders such as Golda Meir, Dayan, Sharon, and Rabin, who consult with his characters. While action-minded readers await a possible televised adaptation, this spacious panorama of battle should sustain their interest.
By: Gilbert Taylor.