Marauder

Merrill's Marauders (Warrior)
$18.95
One of the newest volumes in Osprey's Warrior series focuses on the ad hoc American infantry unit formed for service in Burma in 1944 and known to history as "Merrill's Marauders." Edward Young has written an excellent narrative, which describes the formation of this unit, it's training and equipment and its combat role in considerably more detail than many volumes in this series. This is only the second book that I have on this subject but if I could only keep one, it would be this one. Oftentimes, volumes such as this tend to be anecdote-driven, but this author keeps his focus on facts rather than opinions. There is also an odd pathos about this subject, since Merrill's Marauders was a nickname provided by the press to a unit that never had a decent official nomenclature or even a should patch, yet proved to be one of the best infantry units in the U.S. Army. Unfortunately, it is a unit that has been overshadowed and forgotten, since it was disbanded in 1944 and has no modern successor. Overall, Edward Young's Merrill's Marauders is a solid and informative military history, which helps to shed light on the contributions of this often ignored unit.

The volume begins with the American decision in 1943 to send a picked 3,000-man light infantry group to support the British Chindits in Burma to interdict Japanese lines of communication. Although this was rather a dumb decision and a waste of good troops for a tertiary theater, the author does not diverge into political decisions but instead moves out smartly into the training of the unit. Training and formation issues are covered in eight pages and the author drives home the points that the 5307th Composite Regiment was unusual in deploying with a high percentage of combat veterans. Equipment is covered in nine pages and includes a battalion table of organization and equipment. Virtually the entire rest of the volume covers the Marauders on campaign in Burma, from February to June 1944, when the unit was dissolved. Graphically, the volume has six color plates by Adam Hook, two campaign maps and a bibliography.

On page after page, it comes home that the Marauders had to fight the jungle and mountains even more than the Japanese and it is doubtful that any other infantry unit in the Second World War had to move this far over virtually impassable terrain. Indeed, the Marauders lost more men to disease and exhaustion than Japanese bullets and after four months of continuous operations the regiment was spent and withdrawn from combat. For readers who enjoy Airborne stories from the European Theater, this volume should be an eye-opener about what real infantry experiences in war are like - miserable. I also noticed the author's tenor against the unit commander, Frank Merrill and Joe Stillwell. It's no news about Stillwell, but I was surprised to see how poorly Merrill treated his own troops. In sum, this volume offers great insight into an elite infantry that had to hump hundreds of miles across mountains jungles into combat instead of riding in trucks or airplanes, completed its mission with great success and then faded from the pages of history due to command neglect.

Benjamin Marauder PCP Air Rifle .22 cal Repeater 1000 fps
$499.00
NOTE: The first 100 Marauders will be sold at full retail price by Crosman on their site. You can order one at full MSRP from Crosman starting in April. After the first 100 are sold, Airgun Depot will sell Marauders at a discounted price, with an estimated ship date of May 30, 2009. These will be available only through Airgun Depot and a select few other online dealers until late in the summer! Description: The Benjamin Marauder is one of the most anticipated rifles for 2009! Built with reliable internals and externals and modeled after the extremely popular Korean PCPs, the Marauder will give you accuracy and power for a nominal price! Features: One Year Limited Warranty 10-shot repeater with auto-indexing feature Uses compressed air (only 2,000 psi) OR bulk-fill CO2 Internal shroud makes this a VERY quiet gun Choked barrel delivers superior accuracy 2-stage adjustable match trigger...and the trigger is metal! Raised aluminum breech for easier loading of 10-shot clip Accepts 2-piece scope mount (does not come with sights) Hardwood Monte Carlo stock with dual raised cheek pieces and checkered grip & forearm Built-in pressure gauge Quick-disconnect Foster fittings for fast refills Specifications: Max Velocity: 1000 fps Loudness: 2-Low-Medium Weight: 7.50 lbs Overall Length: 43.00" Capacity: 10 round(s) Barrel: Rifled Front Sight: None Rear Sight: None Scopeable: 11mm dovetail Trigger adj.: Two-stage adjustable Buttpad: Ventilated rubber Suggested for: Small game hunting/plinking Action: Bolt-action Powerplant: PCP and CO2 Safety: Manual Repeater: Yes/Multi-shot

Marauders Map
$35.00
This map is beautiful in person. Looks hand drawn and has little fold out sections, too. Map is huge when unfolded and would make a really nice gift for a Harry Potter nut. Very nice!

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder
$14.94
I really liked this movie! No, it's not as good as the first one, but I still liked it!