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Author: Alec S. Tulkoff
R. James Bender Publishing

The long awaited follow-up to the award winning Grunt Gear has taken seven years to research and it does not disappoint. Tulkoff has once again combed through countless archives and private collections to bring never before seen USMC pieces of equipment and photographs together in this first of a two volume set. Volume I covers, field gear, small arms (pistols, rifles and machineguns) and head- gear. The evolution of the Marine Corps bell crown cap is meticulously documented with both photographs and archival documentation. Arsenal and Quartermaster records thought to have been destroyed were located and new serial numbers attributed to the Marine Corps have been identified for Krag rifles (1,000) as well as M1903 rifles, M1912 Colt Automatics, BAR s and even a handful of shotguns. Detailed information about quantities contracted are supplied in the field gear chapter in regards to cartridge belts and suspenders. The USMC Quartermaster Depot is examined and details about its manufacturing and capabilities are described. The research and writing of this book was originally done in order to compliment the Book of the Year award winning - Grunt Gear: USMC Combat Infantry Equipment of World War II. Due to the manner in which the Marine Corps developed and manufactured uniforms and equipment, and the massive number of changes made to Uniform and Equipment Regulations it became evident that this book had to start with the 1892 Uniform Regulations. This brought up the issue of incorporating Dress Blues into this research as the first Marine Corps Combat Uniforms were actually blues. However, these blues eventually were phased out of combat and became the ever present Dress Blues as known today. Due to the large number of changes and massive amount of research covering the 1892, 1896, 1897, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1917, 1922, 1929 and 1937 Uniform Regulations, the book grew exponentially. In order to provide a reasonably concise book at an affordable price it was deemed necessary to break the book into two volumes. This volume covers Weapons, Webgear and Headgear. The information in this book was compiled from many resources including archival documents and photographs as well as many museums and countless private collections. While researching this book, Marine Corps Depot Records not previously found or forgotten about long ago were located as well as Annual Reports of the Commandant. Although the Eagle, Globe and Anchor (EGA) is the most identifiable insignia around the world for the U.S. Marine Corps, it is not being addressed in this volume or the next. Due to the massive amount of information (an entire other book) it was decided not to cover the EGA. From a collector s standpoint EGAs should not be used as the only method of dating or evaluating a uniform or piece of headgear. Since many collectors only specialize in EGAs they will purchase a piece of headgear for the EGA only, and then add a lesser or misdated EGA and resell the cap. This creates issues for headgear and other EGA collectors

Author: Kristina L. Southwell

Anadarko, Oklahoma, bills itself today as the “Indian Capital of the Nation,” but it was a drowsy frontier village when budding photographer Annette Ross Hume arrived in 1890. Home to a federal agency charged with serving the many American Indian tribes in the area, the town burgeoned when the U.S. government auctioned off building lots at the turn of the twentieth century. Hume faithfully documented its explosive growth and the American Indians she encountered. Her extraordinary photographs are collected here for the first time.

In their introduction, authors Kristina L. Southwell and John R. Lovett provide an illuminating biography of Hume, focusing on her life in Anadarko and the development of her photographic skills. Born in 1858, in Perrysburg, Ohio, Hume moved to Oklahoma Territory with her husband after he accepted an appointment as physician for the Kiowa, Comanche, and Wichita Agency. She soon acquired a camera and began documenting daily life. Her portraits of everyday life are unforgettable — images of Indian mothers with babies in cradleboards, tribal elders (including Comanche chief Quanah Parker) conducting council meetings, families receiving their issue of beef from the government agent, and men and women engaging in the popular pastime of gambling.

In 1927, historian Edward Everett Dale, on behalf of the University of Oklahoma, purchased Hume’s original glass plates for the university’s newly launched Western History Collections. The Annette Ross Hume collection has been a favorite of researchers for many years. Now this elegant volume makes Hume’s photographs more widely accessible, allowing a unique glimpse into a truly diverse American West.

Author: Ron Field
Illustrator: Richard Hook
Osprey (Elite)

The role of the Frontier scout in the US Army during the period of westward expansion, was often far more important than that of the commanding officer. They possessed a priceless knowledge of the geography, people and characteristics of the great, unknown American hinterland and from the earliest days of exploration, the US Army depended on its scouts to guide troops across the plains and through the mountains as they guarded the nation's frontier settlements. This book tells the colourful story of these frontier men, covering many famous scouts such as 'Wild Bill' Hickok and 'Buffalo Bill' Cody.

Author: Alejandro de Quesada
Illustrator: Peter Dennis
Osprey (Raid)

On March 9, 1916, troops under the command of Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico and its local detachment of the US 13th Cavalry Regiment, killing 18 people and burning the town. Six days later, on orders from President Woodrow Wilson, General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing led an expeditionary force of 4,800 men into Mexico to capture Villa. What followed was a series of skirmishes, battles, and chases through the wild and uncharted Mexican countryside. While the Americans failed in their ultimate purpose of catching Villa, they did kill two of his top lieutenants. This book charts the progress of the entire enterprise, covering the dusty marches and the bitter gunfights in the streets of small border towns, analyzing the successes and failures of this unique military expedition.

Author: Robert Forczyk
Illustrator: Howard Gerrard and Ian Palmer
Osprey (Duel)

The first major clash between a European and Asian state in the modern era signalled the beginning of Japan's rise as a major power on the world stage. What began as differing expansionist interests in Manchuria and Korea developed into a full-blown war in 1904, with an unexpected outcome. Watched by the rest of the world's superpowers, this incredibly violent war was disastrous for the Russians who, despite their superior numbers, were defeated by the Japanese underdogs in a spectacular fashion. Japan won major victories against the Russians including the critical naval battle of Tsushima in May 1905 which saw almost the entire Russian fleet sunk, captured or interned. This was the first and last encounter of pre-dreadnought battleships and it was a huge success for Japanese tactics, skill and planning. This book discusses the design and development of the pre-dreadnoughts that would ultimately lead to a new wave of battleships. The key technical elements of firepower, protection, maneuverability and communications for each side are covered in detail and accompanied by first-hand accounts and specially commissioned artwork to explain and illustrate this historically significant duel.

Author: Geoffrey Jukes
Osprey (Essential Histories)

The Russo-Japanese war saw the first defeat of a major European imperialist power by an Asian country. When Japanese and Russian expansionist interests collided over Manchuria and Korea, the Tsar assumed Japan would never dare to fight. However, after years of planning, Japan launched a surprise attack on the Russian Port Arthur, on the Liaoyang Peninsula in 1904 and the war that followed saw Japan win major battles against Russia. This book explains the background and outbreak of the war, then follows the course of the fighting at Yalu River, Sha-ho, and finally Mukden, the largest battle anywhere in the world before the First World War.

Author: Alexei Ivanov
Illustrator: Andrei Karachtchouk
Osprey (Men-at-Arms)

The Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria was the first 20th century conflict fought between the regular armies of major powers, employing the most modern means – machine guns, trench warfare, minefields and telephone communications; and the battle of Mukden in March 1905 was the largest clash of armies in world history up to that date. Events were followed by many foreign observers; but the events of 1914 in Western Europe suggest that not all of them drew the correct conclusions. For the first time in the West the armies of this distant but important war are described and illustrated in detail, with rare photos and the superbly atmospheric paintings of Russia's leading military illustrator.

Author: Alejandro de Quesada and Chris Dale
Illustrator: Stephen Walsh
Osprey (Men-at-Arms)

From the Boxer Rebellion to Tsingtao to German East Africa (Tanzania), and colonies across Africa and the central Pacific, the Kaiser's Second Reich created a worldwide empire, and then lost it.

Following Prussia's victory over France in 1871 and German unification, the invigorated Second Reich sought international status alongside the older colonial powers - Britain, France, Spain and Russia. Actual overseas settlement was always sparse, counted in the low tens of thousands only, but by the mid-1880s German trading companies had established footholds in what became German East Africa (Tanzania), German South-West Africa (Namibia), and German West Africa (Cameroon, and Togo). To consolidate their position against native resistance, and to extend their frontiers, the German Imperial government soon took over these enclaves as colonies or 'protectorates'. In the 1890s it established a new branch of the armed forces, the Schutztruppe, composed largely of African askaris with German officers and NCOs, backed up by German artillery and machine guns. In parallel, the Imperial Navy raised marine battalions - eventually, three Seebataillone - to protect its overseas bases and to reinforce the colonies as needed. After German participation in putting down the Boxer Rebellion (1900) their primary responsibility was the German concession territory at Tsingtao in China, where Germany also raised a local East Asia Brigade; but the marines also served in the German Pacific possessions - Samoa, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Northern Solomon Islands, the Marshalls, Marianas and Carolines. Marine companies were also rotated through the African colonies at need. In addition to small-scale 'police' work, the brief German colonial period involved putting down rebellions in East Africa (1888-98) and Cameroon, and crushing - with great ruthlessness - the determined resistance of the Herero and Nama tribes in SW Africa (1890-1907), where there was a degree of German settlement. In World War I, Germany soon lost almost all her colonies to much stronger Allied forces. In China, Tsingtao was captured late in 1914 by a Japanese force with token British assistance. Resistance was minimal in the Pacific; and in 1915 the last defenders of German South-West Africa surrendered to South African forces. However, in East Africa the Schutztruppe, commanded by the very able Col (later MajGen) Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, fought a skillful mobile war against much larger British and Empire forces, and were the very last German troops to surrender in November 1918. Meanwhile, the Navy's marine infantry branch had been enlarged, forming first one, then two Marine Divisions, which fought on the Western Front - including the Ypres and Somme sectors - throughout the war. Featuring specially drawn full-colour artwork, this book tells the story of Imperial Germany's colonial and overseas troops, who fought in a host of environments including China, Africa, and the Western Front of World War I.

Author: Peter Harrington
Illustrator: Michael Perry
Osprey (Campaign)

Osprey's study of the violent Boxer Rebellion, which swept northern China in 1900. The Boxers were a secret society who sought to rid their country of the pernicious influence of the foreign powers who had gradually acquired a stranglehold on China. With the connivance of the Imperial Court they laid siege to the legation quarter of Peking. Trapped inside were an assortment of diplomats, civilians and a small number of troops. They were all Sir Claude Macdonald, the British Minister in Peking, had to defend against thousands of hostile Boxers and Imperial troops. It would now be a race against time. Could the rag-tag defenders hold out long enough for the gathering relief force to reach them? This book describes the desperate series of events as the multinational force rushed to their rescue.

Author: Lynn Bodin
Illustrator: Chris Warner
Osprey (Men-at-Arms)

In the year 1900, an unprecedented co-operation occurred between the eight major military powers of the world. For more than a year military and naval personnel from Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States fought together against a common enemy. That enemy was a society whose goal was the extermination of all 'foreign devils' in China – the I Ho Ch'uan, or Righteous Harmonious Fists, better known to the West as the Boxers. This engaging account, packed with original photographs and full colour artwork, tells the story of this unique occurrence in military history.


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