Books about Offensive from Amazon.com

In the wake of the Red Army's signal victory at Stalingrad, which began when its surprise counteroffensive encircled German Sixth Army in Stalingrad region in mid-November 1942 and ended when its forces liquidated beleaguered Sixth Army in early February 1943, the Soviet High Command (Stavka) expanded its counteroffensive into a full-fledged winter offensive which nearly collapsed German defenses in southern Russia.

Exploiting newly released Russian archival materials, After Stalingrad reveals the unbounded ambitions that shaped the Stavka's winter offensive and the full scope and scale of the Red Army's many offensive operations. For example, it reflects on recently rediscovered Operation Mars, Marshal Zhukov's companion-piece to the more famous Operation Uranus at Stalingrad. It then reexamines the Red Army's dramatic offensive into the Donbas and Khar'kov region during February, clearly demonstrating that this offensive was indeed conducted by three rather than two Red Army fronts. Likewise, it describes how the Stavka expanded the scale of its offensive in mid-February 1943 by ordering major strategic efforts, hitherto ignored, by multiple Red Army fronts along the Western (Orel-Smolensk) axis and, in Zhukov's forgotten operation Polar Star, along the Northwestern (Demiansk-Leningrad) axis as well.

Finally, by restoring the full scope of these failed or partially failed Red Army offensives to history, this volume also reassesses the impact of Manstein's dramatic counterstrokes in the Donbas and Khar'kov regions, concluding that their impact was equivalent to that of a full-fledged strategic counteroffensive.

This new study includes over 100 operational maps to highlight key aspects of the offensives..
Price: $37.77 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Written by soccer great and championship Stanford coach Bobby Clark, COACHING YOUTH SOCCER: THE BAFFLED PARENT'S GUIDE tells you how, starting at point zero, an uninitiated coach can meld kids into a team and help them enjoy one of the most rewarding experiences of their youth. (In the end, you may be the one who reaps the biggest reward, as you watch kids learn and grow in an experience they'll treasure for a lifetime.).
Price: $6.97 [Notify me when price goes down.]

“Mastering these drills will arm your players with one of the biggest intangibles necessary to perform well--confidence.”
--Michele Smith

Two-time Olympic gold medalist and Hall of Fame pitcher Michele Smith throws one right down the middle with this big collection of more than 250 skill-building drills developed especially for coaches of fast-pitch recreation league, travel ball, and high school softball players, ages eight to eighteen.

Straight from the Michele Smith Gold Camps and Clinics, these drills are designed to give you all the tools you need to teach the entire range of offensive and defensive softball skills. With Michele's expert guidance and instruction, you'll coach your players to:

• Master the mechanics of footwork for fielding with hustle
• Swing for the fences and hit the fastest pitches
• Catch the ball proactively and throw it quickly and accurately to its target
• Defend the infield and outfield with speed and confidence
• Run the bases swiftly and strategically
• Refine fast-pitch skills so they can windmill like Michele
• And much more

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Price: $6.74 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $10.46 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This comprehensive title covers individual ball handling, passing, combination basic passing, individual fundamentals of shooting, shooting, counter attack, two-meter player and front court offense, and six-on-five extra player basic drills. Dozens of diagrams and illustrations make learning these drills easy for both coach and player. .
Price: $11.13 [Notify me when price goes down.]

An exciting, "fast and furious" offensive system that allows coaches at any level to speed up the game and lengthen the amount of actual playing time, while mentally and physically wearing down the opponent. Explains the philosophy of the Hurry-Up, No-Huddle, building a well-organized offensive system with the Hurry-Up, No-Huddle, communication, practice, and the Hurry-Up, No-Huddle running game and passing game. Also includes 14 special tips for running the system. Features dozens of photographs and illustrations..
Price: $11.08 [Notify me when price goes down.]

For many years the scientific and educational community has wondered and worried about the possibility that semi-sane scholar-pretenders would find the means to put out a series of reference books, filled with ludicrous misinformation and aimed at children.

Well, we offer you YOUR DISGUSTING HEAD by Dr. and Mr. Doris Haggis-On-Whey. A world-renowned and much feared expert on everything, Dr. Doris Haggis-On-Whey has seventeen degrees from eighteen institutions of higher learning. With her husband, Benny, she has traveled the world many times over, has learned about all aspects of life, including outer space and food, first hand.

The human body is beautiful and mysterious. The mysterious part reeks of cheese. But no part of your body is as scary and horrifying as your head! In YOUR DISGUSTING HEAD: The Darkest, Most Offensive--and Moist--Secrets of Your Mouth, Nose and Ears, Dr. & Mr. Doris Haggis-on-Whey reveal -- through newly discovered discoveries -- all the ways in which your head disappoints you.

With such amazing information as:

• The ear was invented and designed by Feranando de la Mancini Goldfarb, in 1911, which was also a good year for yeast.

• Good Reasons for teeth removal: dentist did it; peer pressure; not sharp enough; found better teeth, like, on the ground; suspected of enjoying flossing; decay and mouth politics.

• The real reason your ears can't hear your pets talking. The answer is simple: your pet is a mumbler."

With the wit and irreverent sense of humor for which Dave Eggers and McSweeney's is known, comes the second volume in the revolutionary Haggis-On-Whey World of Unbelievable Brilliance books. More than just entertaining and informative, YOUR DISGUSTING HEAD will help you appear smarter, more in touch with your sensitive side and whiten your teeth. And much, much more that will likely sicken you..
Price: $10.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Jesus said he came to heal the sick, not the well. Even so, some churches have a feeling about them that is vaguely antiseptic, where there seems to be an unspoken pressure to censor any unpleasantness. Jim Walker wanted to build a church that was honest and that lived out its mission down in the muck of life where Jesus calls us to get our hands dirty. In the rough and often unpleasant neighborhoods of the South Side of Pittsburgh, Jim began finding people who wanted to live in a new way - passionate, committed, and totally devoted to God. Be forewarned: Some of the stories and descriptions in DIRTY WORD might offend you, or run afoul of your expectations of the clergy. But if you are equally offended by watered-down theology and pallid discipleship, DIRTY WORD offers a bracing challenge and a fresh evocation of hope. DIRTY WORD is a raw, uncensored look at an unapologetic way of being the church..
Price: $12.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A nonstop maelstrom of combat action, leaving the reader nearly breathless by the end. The human courage and carnage described in these pages resonates through the centuries, from Borodino to the Bulge, but the focus here is on the Vietnam War, and a unique unit formed to take part at its height.

The 199th Light Infantry Brigade was created from three U.S. infantry battalions of long lineage, as a fast reaction force for the U.S. to place in Indochina. As the book begins, in December 1967, the brigade has been in Vietnam for a year, and many of its battered 12-month men are returning home. This is timely, as the Communists seem to be in a lull, and the brigade commander, in order to whet his new soldiers to combat, requests a transfer to a more active sector, just above Saigon. Through January the battalions scour the sector, finding increasing enemy strength, NVA personel now mixed within Viet Cong units. But the enemy is lying low, and a truce has even been declared for the Vietnamese New Year, the holiday called Tet.

On January 30, 1968, the storm breaks loose, as Saigon and nearly every provincial capital in the country is overrun by VC and NVA, bursting in unexpected strength from their base camps. In these battles we learn the most intimate details of combat, as the Communists fight with rockets, mortars, Chinese claymores, mines, machine guns and AK-47s. The battles evolve into an enemy favoring the cloak of night, the jungle-both urban and natural-and subterranean fortifications, against U.S. forces favoring direct confrontational battle supported by air and artillery. When the lines are only 25 yards apart, however, there is little way to distinguish between the firepower or courage of the assailants and the defenders, or even who is who at any given moment, as both sides have the other in direct sight. Many of the vividly described figures in this book do not make it to the end. The narrative is jarring, because even though the author was a company commander during these battles, he has based this work upon objective research including countless interviews with other soldiers of the 199th LIB. The result is that everything we once heard about Vietnam is laid bare in this book through actual experience, as U.S. troops go head-to-head at close-range against their counterparts, perhaps the most stubborn foe in our history.

Days of Valor covers the height of the Vietnam War, from the nervous period just before Tet, through the defeat of that offensive, to the highly underwritten yet equally bloody NVA counteroffensive launched in May 1968.

The book ends with a brief note about the 199th LIB being deactivated in spring 1970, furling its colors after suffering 753 dead and some 5,000 wounded. The brigade had only been a temporary creation, designed for one purpose. Though its heroism is now a matter of history, it should remain a source of pride for all Americans. This fascinating book will help to remind us.

REVIEWS

"... Tonsetic's account is a panegyric to the soldiers he served with rather than an attempt at a general history...the work is primarily about his own experiences and those of the people around him, collected from the personal recollections of participants and contemporary after-action reports. ..of interest to subject collections."Library Journal,02/2007

"...Tonsetic, who commanded an infantry company, relies heavily first person infantrymen to paint a picture of almost non-stop combat action..." Vietnam Veterans of America 04/2007

"... this book has no other purpose other than to disclose the valor and sacrifice of those who fought during this period. ... This book took me by surprise. I had begun the task to review a log of war, to gain new admiration of valor and courage. In the end, not only had I gained a renewed appreciation of courage and valor, but more importantly I had to come face to face with the enormity of loss and grief that is forever imposed on our soldiers. This book is a path to share that cost. " Reviewed by: Edward Fennell

"...will resonate with veterans, especially grunts who served anywhere in Vietnam....offers historical insights for today...a worthy memorial."Vietnam Magazine 12/2007

"... a spell binding account of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade's actions surrounding the Tet Offensive... an excellent memorial to the exploits of this fighting unit." Collected Miscellany, 06/2008

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Price: $17.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]