Europe@War Series

On 24 February 2022, eight years after invading the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine and organizing an illegal referendum in support of a subsequent Russian annexation, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Both Western and Russian intelligence services expected the invasion to quickly topple the democratically elected government in Kyiv and, with the help of collaborators, to overrun the Ukrainian armed forces in a matter of between 3 and 14 days. Early on 24 February, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (VSRF) launched a series of missile and artillery strikes on the main air bases and dozens of other military facilities in Ukraine. Immediately afterwards, the VSRF launched a ground invasion, with its forces advancing on Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Melitopol, and Kherson. Although following a build-up that had begun in April 2021, and expected by many, the onslaught still came as a major surprise for the Ukrainian government, the Ukrainian armed forces, and the majority of its allies in the West, and also for the mass of officers and other ranks of the VSRF, many of whom believed that they were only to participate in exercises. However, the deeper the Russians rolled into Ukraine, the more resistance they encountered: while some Russian units performed as expected, elsewhere whole armies began falling apart when ordered to advance at maximum possible speed without the necessary firepower and logistic support. After suffering catastrophic losses while failing to reach downtown Kyiv, and failing to reach and enter Chernihiv and Kharkiv, the war in northern and north-eastern Ukraine quickly settled down into a bloody stalemate. In the south, the Russians initially advanced at an astonishing rate, securing Melitopol during the second day of their invasion, and Kherson only a few days later. It was only once President Putin attempted to accelerate the rate of advance through ordering heliborne operations deeper into Ukraine that the VSRF suffered a severe blow in the fighting for Voznesensk and Mykolaiv, and its advance in this part of the country also came to an end. Richly illustrated with color photography and full color artworks, and providing a detailed study of the organization and order of battle of the armed forces involved on both sides, Volume 2 of War in Ukraine provides the first detailed account of the first two weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Volume 1 of Ukraine War focuses on the armed formations of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the largest of the two separatist entities in the east of Ukraine. Armed formations of the Donetsk People’s Republic aims to provide an overview of their formation in 2014, their status up to the end of February 2022, and combat equipment, while also exploring issues around identity and symbology. Loosely confederated with the armed formations of the neighboring Luhansk People’s Republic into the so-called ‘United Armed Forces of Novorossiya’, in reality the armed formations of the Donetsk People’s Republic have retained a degree of autonomy over their units and planning. Often dismissed in existing literature as mere proxy extensions of Russian forces, since their formation in the fighting in eastern Ukraine during 2014 the armed formations of the Donetsk People’s Republic have developed into an integrated fighting force with more main battle tanks than several major Western military powers combined. The title also details some of the key military commanders who have shaped the armed formations of the Donetsk People’s Republic since 2014. One area of focus of the title explores the unusual and little-known ‘home grown’ military technological developments made by the Donetsk People’s Republic, including multiple launch rocket systems, armored vehicles, sniper rifles, small arms and remote weapons stations. The emerging visual propaganda culture around the armed formations of the Donetsk People’s Republic is also explored, with military glory and fallen personnel commemorated in large scale military parades, murals, monuments and even postage stamps. Ukraine War Volume 1: Armed formations of the Donetsk People’s Republic also presents a wealth of unique visual material including unit patches, a selection of unique photographs, diagrams and maps, and will be of interest to anyone studying the conflict in Ukraine.

War in Ukraine, Volume 3: Armed formations of the Luhansk People’s Republic 2014–2022 focuses on the armed formations of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), one of the two separatist entities in the east of Ukraine. This volume aims to provide an overview of their formation in 2014, status up to the end of February 2022 (with some observations on their activities since the launch of Russia’s ‘Special Military Operation’), and combat equipment, while also exploring issues around identity and symbology. Since their formation in the fighting in eastern Ukraine during 2014, the armed formations of the Luhansk People’s Republic have been slowly consolidated into a more integrated fighting force. However, key units still maintain individual identities and centers of power. One area of focus of the title will be the technological improvisation of the Luhansk People’s Republic, which includes the creation of hybrid armored vehicles of types not seen elsewhere. The extensive visual propaganda culture around the armed formations of the Luhansk People’s Republic is also explored. War in Ukraine, Volume 3: Armed formations of the Luhansk People’s Republic 2014–2022 also presents a wealth of unique visual material including unit patches, photographs, diagrams and maps, and will be of interest to anyone studying the conflict in Ukraine.

The ‘Cyprus Problem’ – also known as the Cyprus dispute, Cyprus issue, Cyprus question or Cyprus conflict – is an ongoing dispute between Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Greece and Turkey. It has bedevilled not only their relations, but also those within the European Union, NATO and the United Nations, for more than 60 years. Following a long insurgency against British colonial rule, Cyprus gained independence in 1960. Almost immediately, high tension emerged between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. A complex set of constitutional provisions and international treaties designed to safeguard the new state and countless attempts to resolve the conflict through diplomacy failed, and in 1963-1964 fighting erupted between the communities in Nicosia that would soon spread across the rest of the island. Ripped Apart Volume 1 provides an even-handed and richly illustrated account of the military history of Cyprus between independence from Britain and the events of 1964. Describing the tensions that emerged between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots through the 1960s, Ripped Apart helps to provide a better understanding of a conflict that remains highly controversial. Volume 1 examines the local military build-up and a series of armed clashes that shook the island in 1964, and lays much of the background to the events that would follow in the 1970s.

“The War in Ukraine series continues to be an excellent source of information on events from 2014 leading up to the current conflict between Russia and the Ukraine.” — AMPS The two largest heirs to the massive Soviet tank force that faced NATO during the Cold War – Russia and Ukraine – have been fighting one another since 2014 in what has now become the largest war in Europe since 1945.   Volume 4 of the War in Ukraine series examines the common legacy of Soviet main battle tanks (MBTs) inherited by both sides in this conflict and the evolution of three models in a relatively short space of time with nominally similar characteristics: the T-64, T-72, and T-80. Drawing upon Russian and Ukrainian source material not often examined in the West, this book looks into the design history of these models and their relative strengths and weaknesses, and challenges a number of common myths circulating about these MBTs from the days of the Cold War up to the present. This book then goes on to examine the evolution of these models in Russian service in the post-Soviet era, including the T-90, and Russian attempts to upgrade their MBT technologies. This volume, extensively illustrated with full color images, is essential reading for the reader interested in late Soviet, and post-Soviet Russian MBT design, and the forces employed in the current war in Ukraine. The full history of the Russo– Ukrainian War remains to be written, but this book aims to at least give a background and a glimpse into one particular aspect of the war, as well as the role the MBT has played in the largest war of the twenty-first century so far. Volume 5 will continue the story of Post-Soviet Ukrainian MBT development and the use of MBTs by both sides in the current war.

The two largest heirs to the massive Soviet tank force that faced NATO during the Cold War – Russia and Ukraine – have been fighting one another since 2014 in what has now become the largest war in Europe since 1945. Volume 5 of the War in Ukraine series examines the development of Soviet legacy MBTs by Ukraine in the post- Soviet era into models including the Bulat and Oplot, and the refurbishment and modernization of T-64, T-72 and T-80 models to meet the need to respond to the war ongoing since 2014. Furthermore, this volume examines the organization and training of the opposed Russian and Ukrainian MBT forces and presents a number of case studies of their employment since 2014. The volume is completed with appendices on Explosive Reactive Armor as used in its various forms in this conflict, and the various types of 125mm gun ammunition and gun-launched anti-tank guided missiles used by both sides. This volume, extensively illustrated with full color images, is essential reading for the reader interested in post-Soviet Ukrainian MBT design, and the forces employed by both sides in the current war in Ukraine. The full history of the Russo–Ukrainian War remains to be written, but this book aims to at least give a background and a glimpse into one particular aspect of the war, as well as the role the MBT has played in the largest war of the twenty-first century so far.

Obsolete, except for the experimental anti-submarine warfare sensor they carried, the USS Hammerberg, DE-1015, the USS Courtney, DE-1021 and the USS Lester, DE-1022 went to the Mediterranean to demonstrate the potential of a technology that relied on a passive towed array detection system; what the Navy officially designated as the Interim Towed Array Surveillance System (ITASS). These ‘Tailships’ entered the Med in 1970. It was then that the US and NATO navies operated in a naval environment characterized by the most intense concentration of Soviet submarines and surface ships outside of Soviet home waters. The Mediterranean was the focal point in the great naval rivalry of the United States, with its NATO allies, against the Soviet Union’s Voyenno-morskoi flot (Military Maritime Fleet). When deployed as Tailships, these DEs proved so successful against Soviet submarines that the US Navy committed additional resources to refining the capability of passive towed array sonars. The development of the Towed Array Surveillance System (TASS), the Surveillance Towed Array Sonar System (SURTASS) and the Tactical Towed Array Sonar (TACTASS) deployable systems were direct follow-ons to ITASS. The ships’ deployment occurred during a time when the United States was torn apart by the war in Vietnam. Although far away, the effect of Vietnam on the ships’ crews as well as the Sixth Fleet reflected the greater turmoil within the society they served. The turmoil was evident in the competition for resources to keep the ships steaming and in personnel tensions among the crews. Additionally, the ships and men operated in a sea surrounded by increasing tensions in the Middle East. While stationed in Naples, Italy, the Palestinian Black September Organization created terror across Europe during the summer of 1972, with the massacre of the Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich, West Germany. That summer would see these sailors spending nights in Naples standing anti-terrorist watches with loaded weapons, whilst the pinging of an active sonar system would echo throughout the hulls of the moored ships. It was thought this would discourage swimmers wanting to plant explosive devices on ship hulls. The objective of this book is simply to tell the story of these three ships and their men within the context of the greater events of the Cold War at sea in the Mediterranean; the successes and failures of operating in the Mediterranean, and life for those who called Naples their temporary home.

On 25 April 1974, a movement of young captains brought down, with practically no resistance, the dictatorial regime that had been in power for over 40 years in Portugal. In the early hours of that day, a military movement unleashed a series of operations that, in less than 24 hours, defeated the forces loyal to the regime, neutralizing any possibility of reaction. Few forces resisted the insurgents, and the only resistance worthy of note came from the political police, who in the heat of the revolution opened fire on the surrounding crowd causing four deaths. In the streets of Lisbon, the people enthusiastically joined the military revolt and started offering food, drinks, and red carnations to the soldiers, who decided to stick them in the barrels of their rifles, leading to the revolt being known as the Carnation Revolution. Although it began with a military coup d'état, 25 April paved the way for democracy, and there is no comparison to other similar revolutions. It was also a unique event in the European context of the time that broke Portugal's isolation and brought it closer to other Western democracies. This book is the first in a two-volume history. It describes the background to the revolution, the causes that led to the revolt of the captains and the situation in the Portuguese colonies in Africa, where guerrilla wars for their independence had been going on for more than a decade. Carnation Revolution Volume 1: The Road to the Coup that Changed Portugal is richly illustrated with photographs and specially commissioned artworks.