Cassell Military Classics: Impossible Victories: Ten Unlikely Battlefield Successes

Victory on the battlefield is sometimes achieved against the odds – victory snatched from the jaws of apparently inevitable defeat. A daring counter attack, an unexpected maneuver, a stubborn refusal to be beaten and the impossible victory is won. In the ten dramatic episodes in this book, military historian Bryan Perrett revisits battles from the Peninsula War of 1811 to Vietnam in 1967, via colonial action in two world wars. ...an excellent book, informative, fascinating in detail, and above all an easy and enjoyable read – The Royal Tank Regiment Journal

In Impossible Victories , Bryan Perrett gives full account of ten military successes that defied the odds. Stressing throughout the decisive role of courage, boldness, and grit, he shows us American and British forces in desperate action over a period of more than 150 years, beginning in Spain in 1811 and ending in Vietnam in 1967. Here is a wealth of unforgettable scenes. In Cuba in 1898, American troops rush up San Juan Hill against thick Spanish fire while observers shake their heads, expecting a useless slaughter. In Palestine in 1917, huge masses of cavalry gallop across the desert in a lightning assault on Beersheba-part of a British plan that was one of the great gambles of World War I. And, on D-Day, American Rangers at Pointe du Hoe in Normandy scale slippery clay cliffs almost a hundred feet high to carry out a frontal attack on the bunkers at the top. Other highlights include an infantry duel at fifty yards between redcoats and Americans regulars in 1814, which resulted in an unexpected victory for the fledgling republic; and the assault on the Dargai Heights in India in 1897 - an example of the ferocious Highlanders succeeding where other British troops had failed.

Impossible Victories