Bonjour,
Je signale à l'attention du forum la parution le 21 septembre 2017 d'un nouveau livre Osprey, de la collection New Vanguard, (N°250) dont le titre sera: Maginot Line Gun Turrets And French gun turret development 1880-1940.
Sur le site de l'éditeur, cet ouvrage de 48 pages est ainsi décrit:
"The Maginot Line was one of the most advanced networks of fortifications in history. Built in the aftermath of World War I, and stretching along the French eastern border from Belgium to Switzerland, it was designed to prevent German troops from ever setting foot on French soil again.
Its primary defensive weapons were the gun turrets. Beginning development in the 1870s and improving on German designs, they were constructed out of steel wedges and could revolve and disappear from sight after firing, making them impervious to enemy bombardment. They were deadly accurate and created havoc on the German units that attacked the line during their invasion of France in 1940.
This fully illustrated study will examine the technical details of the French artillery turrets. It will show the evolution of the design of the guns and turrets used in the French forts before and during World War I, then those built exclusively for the Maginot Line to give a comprehensive overview of the weapons designed to protect France from invasion."
L'auteur ne semble pas à son coup d'essai sur le sujet des fortifications Françaises:
"Clayton Donnell has had a lifelong fascination with the fortifications of the Western Front. He spent his early years living in Belgium, and often visited the sites of the Brialmont forts. Over the years he has amassed a large collection of material relating to this period, and has translated much of it from French to English. He has previously co-written Modern European Military Fortifications, 1870-1950: A Selected Annotated Bibliography (Praeger, 2004), and has written Breaking the Fortress Line 1914 (Pen & Sword, 2013), and three books in the Fortress series for Osprey: The Fortifications of Verdun 1874-1917, The Forts of the Meuse in World War I, and The German Fortress of Metz 1870-1944."
Pour février 2018 est annoncé: World War II Vichy French Security Troops (Men at Arms N°516)
La présentation:
"After the Fall of France in 1940, a new puppet state was set up in the south. Officially known as the French State, it is better known as Vichy France. This collaborationist Vichy regime's armed forces were more active and usually more numerous than German troops in the task of hunting down and crushing the maquis--the French Resistance guerrilla forces .
This book covers the organization and operations of Vichy French Security Forces, including: the new Vichy Police Nationale, particularly their Groupes Mobiles de Reserve, the Service d'Ordre Légionnaire, and the Milice Francaise, a ruthless anti-Resistance militia armed partly with British weapons captured from SOE airdrops.
Fully illustrated throughout with contemporary photographs and commissioned artwork, it tells the story of Occupied France from the perspective of those who sought to keep it in German hands"
L'auteur:
Dr. Stephen M. Cullen was educated at the universities of Edinburgh and Oxford. He has written widely on inter-war fascism, communism, and British Great War combatants' writing. He has also written on the history of the British Home Guard, including, most recently, In Search of the Real Dad's Army; The Home Guard and the Defence of the United Kingdom, 1940-1944. He has been a guest on several BBC Radio programs and on TV, talking about military and political history. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick, UK.
Pour mai 2018 est annoncé: French Naval & Colonial Troops 1872-1914 (Men at Arms 517)
La présentation:
"France's colonial wars in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia were very largely fought by an organization completely separate from both the home-defense Metropolitan Army and the Armée d'Afrique in Algeria. The Naval Troops (Troupes de la Marine) were volunteers, and earned a reputation for greater toughness and hardiness than the conscripted Metropolitan Army.
Spread throughout the French Empire, Naval Troops in this period were characterized by very large infantry and artillery regiments based in France, mixed race regiments (Régiments Mixtes), and entire native regiments raised in West Africa, Madagascar, and Indochina. The latter, the so-called "Tirailleurs," were organized and led by officers and cadres from the Naval Troops, and wore very varied and colorful uniforms based on formalized versions of traditional local costumes.
French Naval & Colonial Troops 1872–1914 uses rich and detailed full color plates as well as thorough analysis to detail the story of these tough colonial units which bore the brunt of French colonial campaigns in Africa and Vietnam."
L'auteur:
René Chartrand was born in Montreal and educated in Canada, the United States and the Bahamas. A senior curator with Canada's National Historic Sites for nearly three decades, he is now a freelance writer and historical consultant. He has written numerous articles and books including over 40 Osprey titles. He lives in Gatineau, Quebec, with his wife.
Enfin, également hors du scope ATF40 sont prévus dans la série 'Elite' un titre sur la 2°DB: "Division Leclerc" et un autre, dans la série 'Combat', intitulé
French Foreign Légionnaire vs Viet Minh Insurgent: North Vietnam 1948–52
Ayant noté, à titre personnel, une certaine baisse de la qualité des titres récents publiés par Osprey, j'espère que ces nouveaux titres échapperons à cette tendance. Pour ce qui est du titre sur la Coloniale, M. Chartrand a déjà livré des ouvrages de qualité et je ne suis pas inquiet. J'ai moins de certitudes sur les autres...mais en tout état de cause, il est intéressant de constater qu'après avoir exploté à mort les divers thèmes Allemands, US et Britanniques, Osprey produise autant de livres sur l'Armée Française au 20°siècle.
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