The highly successful stop-gap M3 medium tank was designed in 1941 & as adequate turret casting facilities were not yet ready the M3 used an unusual armament configuration patterned after a French tank. British lend-lease demands led to the design of a second turret type with the US version called the Lee & the British version the Grant. It could penetrate Panzer armor & its explosive firepower was excellent for dealing with German anti-tank guns. This book covers the design development service & variants of a vehicle that was the backbone of many World War II forces. ...

The US M60 General Purpose Machine Gun known as the Pig was developed in the years after World War II from two revolutionary German designs. Adopted in 1957 the M60 came into its own in the jungles hamlets & city streets of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Humping the Pig became common in US military squads with at least one soldier equipped with an M60 & every squad member carrying ammunition for it. The M60 design transformed infantry tactics as squads took advantage of the immediate volume of fire offered by the design. Although it has now been replaced by the M240 series of weapons in US infantry & mechanized units the M60 is still in common use with the US armed forces. Meanwhile its iconic status has been assured by its frequent appearance in many popular films & television shows from Full Metal Jacket to The A Team. Featuring specially commissioned full-color artwork this is the full story of the M60 the innovative squad base-of-fire weapon that has equipped the US military from the jungles of Vietnam to the deserts of Iraq. ...

Entering service in the early 1960s the M60 tank was in production for 23 years & formed the backbone of US Army & Marine armoured units during the Cold War. Over 15 000 were built in four basic models: the M60 M60A1 M60A2 & the M60A3. At its peak the US Army used over 8 887 tanks of this type with reductions starting in 1990 & continuing through the 1990s. At the time of Desert Shield & later Desert Storm the M60 had been phased out of US Army service but still served with the US Marine armoured units. US Marine M60s participated in the ground offensive & entered Kuwait. This book explores the design & operation of such a widely-used vehicle. ...

Based upon the ubiquitous Grant/ Sherman tank the M7 Priest is the iconic Allied self-propelled howitzer. It was the most widely manufactured vehicle of its type in World War ll & was utilized by the US British Canadian & Free French forces. Its combat debut was with Montgomery's Eight Army at El Alamein & it fought subsequently in every major campaign through Sicily Italy Normandy & the final battles in Germany. In addition to covering all variants of the Priest this book also looks at the major derivatives including the British/ Canadian Sexton & the US M12 155mm GMC. ...

Born a bastard to a teenage mother in the slums of 1950s Dublin Martha has to be a fighter from the very start. As her mother moves from man to man & more children follow they live h&-to-mouth in squalid freezing tenements clothed in rags & forced to beg for food. But just when it seems things can't get any worse her mother meets Jackser. Despite her trials Martha is a child with an irrepressible spirit & a wit beyond her years. She tells the story of her early life without an ounce of self-pity & manages to recreate a lost era in which the shadow of the Catholic Church loomed large & if you didn't work you didn't eat. Martha never stops believing she is worth more than the hand she has been dealt & her remarkable voice will remain with you long after you've finished the last line. ...

Martha is now in her thirties. Her daughter has left home & she is lonely & vulnerable. The hard knocks have taken their toll on her health & as she looks into the years still lying ahead of her she shakes her head feeling she hasn't the heart or the strength to go on. As she teeters on the brink of a nervous breakdown a phone call summons ghosts from the past. She discovers that one of the family is dead & the others need her help. Martha returns & when she comes face to face with the evil psychotic Jackser she can no longer suppress the nightmares of her childhood. A suicide attempt sees her admitted to the 'mad house' where a hunger strike takes her even nearer to death. But finally she sees a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. Could love in an unexpected form pull her back from the brink? ...

After a failed suicide attempt & recovery in the mad house Martha is heading for France to be reunited with the one true love of her life. Father Ralph Fitzgerald rescued her from the streets when she was sixteen & was the first person to show Martha true love & affection. But their relationship threatened his vocation & he eventually fled to Africa to take up missionary work. Martha never got over losing him & now after nearly twenty years he has made contact again. She sets off on a mission to find him & uncover his motives for getting in touch. Does he still love her? Has he left the priesthood? Is he now free to marry her? She needs to know what the future is going to hold. ...

After a failed suicide attempt & recovery in the mad house Martha is heading for France to be reunited with the one true love of her life. Father Ralph Fitzgerald rescued her from the streets when she was sixteen & was the first person to show Martha true love & affection. But their relationship threatened his vocation & he eventually fled to Africa to take up missionary work. Martha never got over losing him & now after nearly twenty years he has made contact again. She sets off on a mission to find him & uncover his motives for getting in touch. Does he still love her? Has he left the priesthood? Is he now free to marry her? She needs to know what the future is going to hold. ...

In this latest instalment of Martha Long's real-life account of abuse deprivation & cruelty at the hands of her mother's partner & the establishment Martha is now 16 & her time at the convent school is up. In Ma It's a Cold Aul Night an I'm Lookin for a Bed" she leads us through her first months of freedom. With no home to go to Martha leaves the convent carrying her suitcase & a burning ambition to shake off her impoverished past. Hungry to become a person who will blend in with the middle classes Martha yearns to be accepted as someone who can be loved respected & one day have a home of her own where she will be safe. But this is 1960s Dublin where poverty is rife & the Church works together with the Irish government to keep the poor & the ignorant in their place. Martha first finds work as a home help with a loving lively family which leads her to a job in a shop an Italian fish & chip cafe then as a skivvy in a miserable household where she is reminded of the terror Jackser brought into her life. Chance meetings with brothers & old friends from the convent lift Martha's spirits but soon she is back on the streets searching for work & a warm bed to call her own. Martha is not often deterred when fate deals her a blow. ' Life is a bowl of cherries!' she reasons. But heartache awaits as people turn her away & predators lurk in the shadows." ...

At 16 Martha collapses on the streets suffering from starvation & exposure. She has reached rock bottom but after Martha is taken to hospital Lady Luck smiles kindly on her & she is given the opportunity to get off the streets for ever. Before long Martha is on the way to leading the normal life she has so long dreamt of. She makes friends begins to put the misery of her past behind her & even experiences her first taste of love. For her love is a powerful feeling. She has never experienced real affection before & is now plunged into the complex world of love between a man & a woman. The intense emotion consumes her for this is a forbidden love that can never be requited. After all Ralph Fitzgerald is a priest & he will never break his vow of chastity. This love brings heartbreaking consequences & changes the direction of Martha's life for ever... ...