Böcker av James F Gebhardt

Near the end of the Cold War, the possible use of Soviet special forces on NATO's Northern front was a significant concern. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, and Putin's belligerent comments about the need to reinforce Russia's northern border, these concerns are once again highly relevant. A Russian command confronting a multinational coalition in the Far North must seriously consider the use of deep strike with special forces to even the playing field early in a war. This document provides detailed information about the activities and operations of Soviet naval reconnaissance detachments during World War II. The detachments were special operations forces that conducted various missions, including raids, long-range reconnaissance, and sabotage activities. They faced challenges such as harsh weather conditions, German opposition, and coordination issues with other forces. The document highlights the importance of athletic prowess, political loyalty, and foreign language skills in the recruitment and selection process. It also mentions the involvement of covert intelligence agents and foreign nationals in the operations. Overall, the document emphasizes the bravery and resourcefulness of the reconnaissance detachments in carrying out their missions and provides valuable insights into the organization and experiences of Soviet naval special purpose forces during the war. This annotated edition illustrates the capabilities of the AI Lab for Book-Lovers to add context and ease-of-use to manuscripts. It includes five types of abstracts, building from simplest to more complex: TLDR (one word), ELI5, TLDR (vanilla), Scientific Style, and Action Items; three essays to increase viewpoint diversity: Grounds for Dissent, Red Team Critique, and MAGA Perspective; and Notable Passages and Nutshell Summaries for each page.

Half a century after the end of World War II, many of the important battles of the Eastern Front have not been thoroughly researched by Western military historians. Major James F. Gebhardt, a Soviet foreign area officer, describes a battle that has remained virtually unknown in the English-speaking world. The Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation has remained obscure partly because it was fought on the northern flank of the Soviet German front - away from major centers of population, industry, or government. The German and Soviet generals who fought this battle are also not as well known to the American officer corps as the more famous and fashionable Guderian, Rommel, Manstein, or Zhukov. In Western general histories of the Soviet-German war, this operation normally receives one or two sentences and a single, minuscule map arrow - if it is mentioned at all. The comprehensive accounts of the battle that do exist are principally in Russian-language sources and, therefore, are inaccessible to most Western-readers. Primarily using Soviet sources, Major Gebhardt has written a comprehensive study of the 1944 Soviet offensive conducted to clear German forces from the approaches to Murmansk. Its focus is at the operational level of war, with emphasis on the peculiar demands of arctic terrain on commanders and soldiers. Major Gebhardt also used German war diary reports to add clarity and perspective to the Soviet accounts.This book contains something for almost every reader. It describes the employment on arctic terrain of light infantry, infantry, armor, artillery, engineers, logistic support, air power, naval infantry (Soviet marines), amphibious forces, and special-purpose forces. In three weeks of often intense fighting, supported by units of the Northern Fleet, the Red Army inflicted significant personnel and material losses on the German force and drove it from Soviet and northern Norwegian territory. This operational account provides the opportunity to review the lessons