Missions Impossible: Extraordinary Stories of Daring and Courage
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Missions Impossible: Extraordinary Stories of Daring and Courage
Missions Impossible: Extraordinary Stories of Daring and Courage Missions Impossible: Extraordinary Stories of Daring and Courage Missions Impossible: Extraordinary Stories of Daring and Courage

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Publisher: Firefly Books

Author Statement: by Hazel Flynn
Audience: Trade
Specs: over 300 full-color photographs and illustrations, maps, index
Pages: 256
Trim Size: 7 3/4" X 9 1/2" X 3/4"
Language code 1: eng
Publication Date: 20141030
Copyright Year: 2014
Price: Select Below

Missions Impossible: Extraordinary Stories of Daring and Courage

110 incredible true stories torn from the pages of history.

From Ancient Greece to the hunt and killing of Bin Laden, here are incredible acts of bravery, courage and derring-do that have in one fell swoop changed the world.

Missions Impossible: Extraordinary Stories of Daring and Courage is a fascinating encyclopedia of 110 such stories from around the world. More than 300 photographs and illustrations highlight the brief text, which describes the events chronologically. A summary list notes the Date, Location, Objective, and Forces or People involved. A timeline and maps together show the events step by step.

These are the stories burned in our memory, but do we know what really happened? And the incredible courage they took? The stories include:

    Age of Heroism

  • Hannibal crossing the Alps
  • Battle of Agincourt
  • Siege of Tenochtitlan
  • Defeat of the Spanish Armada
  • Age of Subterfuge

  • Gunpowder Plot
  • Escape of Charles II
  • Captain Morgan's raid on Panama
  • Burning of the White House
  • Age of Derring- Do

  • The Alamo
  • Charge of the Light Brigade
  • Battle of Maiwand, Afghanistan
  • Seige of Khartoum
  • Age of Dirty Tricks

  • Pancho Villa's raid on USA
  • Raid on Glenwitz radio station
  • Assassination of Trotsky
  • Human Torpedo attack: Alexandria
  • Special Operations

  • Attempted assassination of Rommel
  • Rescue of Mussolini
  • "The Wooden Horse": POW camp
  • Clandestine navigation for D- Day
  • Cold Wars

  • Enola Gay
  • The Berlin Airlift
  • U-2 Incident: Gary Powers
  • Battle of Dien Bien Phu
  • The Age of Terror

  • Attempted rescue: US hostages, Iran
  • Black Hawk Down: Mogadishu
  • 9/11 attacks
  • Russian submarine: Kamchatkha
  • Tracking down Bin Laden.

This is an exciting book for readers of war, history, and espionage.

Bio:

Hazel Flynn is a writer and editor who has authored or co-authored four books. She is also a highly experienced journalist, whose roles have included contributing editor for Reader's Digest magazine international editions, senior editor for Who Weekly magazine, and a former radio producer and broadcaster. Hazel is based in Australia.

TOC:

CONTENTS

AGE OF HEROISM

    The Trojan Horse
      An ingenious end to a ten-year siege
    The Battle of Thermopylae
      To hold back the massive Persian invasion of Greece
    Hannibal Crosses the Alps
      A surprise overland attack on the Roman Republic
    The Siege of Masada
      To make a final stand against the Roman conquerors
    The Battle of Roncesvalles
      A dramatic defensive retreat through a steep mountain pass
    The Battle of Agincourt
      The French army aimed to stop the English reaching Calais
    The Siege of Tenochtitlàn
      To seize control of the capital of the Aztec empire
    Pizarro's Conquest of Peru
      To subjugate the Inca empire and seize its wealth
    The Great Siege of Malta
      Two opposing cultures aiming to control a strategic island stronghold
    Drake's raid on Cádiz
      The disruption of Spain's preparations to invade England
    The Defeat of the Spanish Armada
      To prevent a large Spanish force invading England

AGE OF SUBTERFUGE

    The Gunpowder Plot
      Assassinate King James I and return England to Catholicism
    The Assassination of the Duke of Buckingham
      To kill a prominent royal adviser detested by his countrymen
    The Capture of Beeston Castle
      To seize control of a strategically located stronghold
    The Escape of Charles II
      To keep the king safe from the Parliamentarians hunting him
    Captain Morgan's Raid on Panama
      To loot and pillage the city's enormous wealth
    The Theft of the Crown Jewels
      To steal the precious royal regalia
    The Escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie
      To avoid capture by the British army
    The Battle of Monongahela River
      British colonial forces aim to seize Fort Duquesne from the French
    The Capture of HMS Serapis
      Victory in a naval battle between American and English ships
    The Burning of the White House
      To cause maximum public destruction in the US capital
    The Defense of Hougoumont
      To hold an isolated farm adjacent to the main Waterloo Battlefield

AGE OF DERRING-DO

    The Alamo
      To prevent the Mexican army taking the fortified Alamo Mission
    The Charge of the Light Brigade
      The Russian forces removing captured Turkish guns
    The Defense of Camarón
      To ensure the safety of a valuable French convoy
    The Battle of Gettysburg
      To turn an unexpected confrontation into a critical battle
    Mapping the Roof of the World
      A covert survey of the closed country of Tibet
    The Defense of Rorke's Drift
      The defense of an unfortified British hospital station against a Zulu army
    The Battle of Maiwand
      To prevent the advance of the Afghan warlord Ayub Khan
    The Siege of Khartoum
      To hold a remote fortified city against an Islamic uprising
    The Jameson Raid
      The overthrow of Transvaal's Boer government
    Lynmouth-Porlock Overland Lifeboat Rescue
      The rescue of the crew of the imperiled sailing ship Forrest Hall
    The Siege of Ladysmith
      The isolation of the British force inside the city
    55 Days in Peking
      The defense of foreign legations against a Chinese populist rebellion
    Shackleton's Third Antarctic Expedition
      The first land crossing of Antarctica
    The Irish Hero of the Somme
      The location and rescue of his platoon commander

AGE OF DIRTY TRICKS

    Escape of the Goeben and the Breslau
      To evade pursuing British forces
    Captain Pollard: "Fire-eater"
      To recover lost ground and divert German forces from the Battle of Loos
    The Siege of Kut-al-Amara
      To vanquish British Army troops in Mesopotamia
    Pancho Villa's Raid on the United States
      Retaliation, restitution, and resupplying the Villistas
    Black Tom Sabotage Operation
      To destroy shipping facilities and munitions bound for the Allies
    The Capture of Aqaba: Lawrence of Arabia
      To force the Turks out of the Arab homelands
    The Raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend
      To neutralize the threat posed by German U-boats
    The Strange Journey of Alvin C. York
      To secure the Deauville railroad
    Agent ST-25
      To gather intelligence on the Bolsheviks
    The Evacuation of the Czechoslovak Legion
      To safely remove the Czechoslovak Legionnaires from Russia
    The Raid on Kronstadt
      A hastily organized British attack on a Bolshevik naval fortress
    Starting a World War: The Raid on Gleiwitz Radio Station
      To fake a border incursion as an excuse for war
    Special Operation P: The Sinking of the Royal Oak
      To cause maximum disruption to the British Home Fleet
    A Bomb Attempt on Hitler's Life
      The assassination of Adolf Hitler
    The Boarding of the Altmark
      To locate and free British POWs on a German "merchant" ship
    The Capture of Fort Eben-Emael
      To seize a seemingly impregnable fort
    Operation Sealion and the Battle of Britain
      The invasion of Great Britain by German forces
    The Assassination of Trotsky
      To eliminate Stalin's vanquished but still vociferous foe
    Operation Claymore: The Lofoten Islands Raid
      To boost British morale by destroying German war supplies
    The German Airborne Invasion of Crete
      To seize this strategically important Mediterranean island
    Pearl Harbor Attack
      The surprise immobilization of the US Pacific Fleet
    Human Torpedo Attack at Alexandria
      To destroy vessels of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet

SPECIAL OPERATIONS

    Australian Companies in Timor
      To continue resisting the Japanese against all odds
    Operation Biting
      The seizure of components of German radar for analysis
    Operation Chariot: The Saint-Nazaire Raid
      The destruction of the only Atlantic dock that could accommodate German u boats
    Operation Anthropoid: The Heydrich Assassination
      To kill the feared Nazi who was ruling the Czech homelands
    Operation Jubilee: The Raid on Dieppe
      To damage German defensive installations and to gather intelligence
    Operation Freshman: A Glider-borne Raid on Norway
      To sabotage production of heavy water needed for German atomic bomb
    The Sabotage of Gorgopotamos Viaduct
      To cut the Greek rail supply line to Axis troops in North Africa
    Operation Frankton: The "Cockleshell Heroes"
      To destroy or damage Germany's blockade-running merchant ships
    Operation Gunnerside: The Heavy Water Raid, Norway
      To attempt once again to destroy supplies needed for a Nazi atom bomb
    Operation Vengeance: The Assassination of Yamamoto
      The assassination of the Japanese admiral who oversaw the Pearl Harbor attack
    Operation Chastise:
    The "Dam Busters" Raid
      To destroy three dams considered key to Germany's war efforts
    Operation Tidal Wave: Bombing the Ploesti Oil Fields
      To cripple the Axis by attacking a major source of its oil supply
    The Rescue of Mussolini
      To rescue the deposed, captive, former head of state
    Operation Source: The Midget Submarine Attack on Tirpitz
      To sink or damage the Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, and Lützow
    Operations Jaywick and Rimau: Sabotage Raids in Singapore
      To destroy as much Japanese shipping as possible
    "The Wooden Horse" POW escape
      To break out of a German POW camp and make the "home run" to Great Britain
    Clandestine Information-gathering for D-Day
      Within enemy sight, to gather information for an invasion
    Operation Jericho: The Raid on Amiens prison
      To breach the walls of a prison holding condemned French Resistance fighter
    The Kidnapping of General Kreipe
      The abduction of the local German commander in Occupied Crete.
    Operation Deadstick: The Airborne Attacks on Normandy Bridges
      To capture, in advance of the D-Day Normandy landings, two key bridges
    Operation Gaff: The Attempted Assassination of Rommel
      To kidnap or kill German military leader Erwin Rommel
    The Cabanatuan POW Rescue: The "Great Raid"
      To free American and other Allied POWs before they could be executed
    Operation Tombola: Raids Behind the German Lines in Italy
      To disrupt German troops as the Allies advanced in Italy

THE AGE OF COLD WARS

    Operation Centerboard I: The Enola Gay Story
      The delivery and detonation--during combat--of the world's first atomic weapon
    The Berlin Airlift
      Providing supplies to the Allied-controlled zone, despite a Soviet blockade
    The Battle of Imjin River
      To prevent Chinese forces breaking through the UN line to reach Seoul
    Battle of Dien Bien Phu
      To force a decisive battle to determine Vietnam's future
    The Mysterious Death of "Buster" Crabb
      To spy on Russian naval ships
    U-2 Incident: Gary Powers
      To prevent the US conducting overflight surveillance on the USSR
    The Siege of Khe Sanh
      To distract and harass American forces at a DMZ combat base
    Operation Kingpin: A Raid on a North Vietnamese POW Camp
      The rescue of over 50 US POWs from a North Vietnamese camp
    Rescue from Space: Apollo 13
      To bring three US astronauts home after their spacecraft malfunctioned

THE AGE OF TERROR

    Battle of Mirbat: The SAS in Iman
      To prevent communist-led Omani rebels seizing the town of Mirbat
    The Munich Olympics: Black September
      To hold up meeting ransom demands for Israeli hostages to secure the release of prisoners
    Operation Thunderbolt: The Israeli raid on Entebbe
      The freeing of hostages taken in an Arab-German plane hijacking
    The Attempted rescue of US Hostages Iran
      To free US hostages held inside the seized US embassy
    Iranian Embassy siege, London
      To free the hostages taken by an Iranian splinter group
    The Pebble Island Raid
      To neutralize the threat to an upcoming amphibious British landing
    The Sabotage of the Rainbow Warrior
      To prevent environmentalists protesting against French nuclear tests
    The Loughgall Ambush
      The prevention of further armed actions by known IRA members
    Bravo Two Zero: Iraq
      To identify mobile Scud missile launch sites and destroy their communications
    Black Hawk Down
      To capture the Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid and his key lieutenants
    The 9/11 Attacks
      To cause maximum fear, death, and destruction
    The Kamchatka Submarine Rescue
      Freeing seven Russian submariners trapped deep in the ocean
    The Rescue of Tasmanian Miners
      The extrication of two miners from a tiny cage deep underground
    The Rescue of Chilean Miners
      The odds-defying rescue of 33 men trapped deep beneath the Earth's surface
    Target: Osama Bin Laden
      To kill or capture the man responsible for deadly terror attacks
    The "Impossible Odds" Rescue, Somalia
      To free American and Danish aid workers held for ransom in Somalia

    Index
    Picture credits

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