Book Review: The Americans, from the Ardennes to VE Day, Brooke S. Blades

This is the third and final instalment of what is now a trilogy, by American author Brook Blades, covering the Americans in NW Europe during WWII (I've posted a review of the first part here). The best thing about this book, as befits an Images of War title, is the rich and varied selection of photographs.

Troops of 399th Inf, 100th Div, entrenched near Bitche, France, Dec, '44.

The text is perfectably serviceable. But, as with many titles in the Images of War series, it's a data-heavy compression of large amounts of info, making for rather dry and not easily memorable reading. Chapters titles convey what is covered: The Winter Offensive (i.e. the Battle of the Bulge, part one); The Ardennes Winter (or Bulge, part two); Advance to the Rhine; Varsity (the Allied crossings of the Rhine); The Allies in Germany; Aftermath.

One of the more familiar images in the book.

There are also a few maps covering key events. But it's the photographs - and more than usual notice is given to the photographers who took these amazing shots - that are the stars in this book. Although I did recognise a good many images here that I've seen before elsewhere, given how much I've read and viewed on this theatre, the amount of new and unfamiliar photographic documentation presented here is, to me, very exciting and impressive. 

As a putative wargamer I particularly love the occasional aerial photos, of which there are a decent number. These really help convey something of the mix of strategic and tactical reality, as 'played' out in the real world. As well as many portrait like shots, and behind the lines stuff, there are a good deal of images captured on ornear the sharp end. And - one of my favourite types of scenario - there are a good deal of images of the logistical chain, from ammo and fuel-dumps to troops en-route, and equipment (particularly impressive are the rows of planes and gliders preparing for Varsity) being prepared for combat.

One of a number of interesting aerial photographs.

The main focus, as signalled by the title, is on Americans and their stuff. Next in order of coverage come their adversaries, the Germans. British and Canadian allies also appear, but less so, and chiefly in areas - such as after the messy aerial drops of Varsity - where they worked together, whether by chance or design.

The several photos of the paratroop deployments of Varsity, with their many planes and the almost ack-ack looking smatterings of parachutes, very densely concentrated, are amazing. This is one of the best in this excellent if occasionally rather variable, quality wise, series - by which I'm referring to IoW, as opposed to Blades' trilogy. Whilst I know I've got and have reviewed part one of this trilogy, this third and final volume is so good I feel I must ensure I also have volume two!

Cpl. Hood works to prevent trench-foot, near Bastogne, Jan, '45.

So, all in all, a fascinating and compelling resource, whose text covers the period as concisely and as thoroughly as could be wished for in a book mostly devoted to imagery. And in terms of the pictures, another exemplary addition to the Images of War series. Highly recommended. here

Book Review: The Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Age, Mark Jessop

I think this is a really rather excellent if somewhat odd or unusual book. What's excellent is the density of information, and the vivid evocation of the era. It's how he achieves the latter that makes it odd and unusual. 

Modern writing on such subjects tends to be either factual or fictional (at least in declared intent). A deliberate mixing of the two, as here, is a rare thing these days. At least in my reading experience. As such, it takes a bit of getting used to. What author Mark Jessop does is intersperse - usually at the start or finish of a chapter - fictionalised scenarios with the more traditional historical meat of the book.

Initially wary of such an approach, I both think and feel - and that's an important point, this rather unusual approach definitely appeals to the feelings as much as the intellect (quite a refreshing thing!) - that it's sufficiently well done to have won me over. It's definitely 'mannered', so to speak. But it's also highly effective at bringing the subject vividly to life.

Having read this I feel inclined to seek out other writings by the author. Naval doings are not my primary area of interest for this period. But well written books such as this are definitely helping me develop a nascent taste for the briny sagas of this colourful 'age of sail', when sea power was key to England punching well above her apparent weight. 

Since initially posting this review I've learned that this is actually part two of, or a follow up to, another similar book by Jessop, entitled The Royal Navy 1793–1800, Birth of a Superpower, also by Pen & Sword, and written in the same style. My only real criticism of this second part is the lack of a glossary, which for a landlubber like me would've been helpful.

A fascinating subject, well served by an erudite and imaginative author. Great stuff!

Book Review: Early Jet Bombers, 1944-1954, Leo Marriott (Images of War)

If I'm completely honest it's only the German part of this that really interests me. They lead the way, and had the funkiest ideas and gear. But here you also get info and pics on British, French, US and Russian stuff. 

Because the Germans were in a too little too late scenario, that's kind of reflected here: after brief mention of prop powered bombers such as the Do-17, He-111 and the rarer He-177, there's just a few pics each and basic info on the Arado 234, the better known Me-262, and the Ju-287. 

It's a pity there isn't more on the Ar-234 (which stars on the cover). And some mention of the myriad unrealised German ideas would've been nice, in particular the Ho-229, which was at least being built. These latter projects would feed into postwar jet work for other nations, the US and Russia in particular. 

The text is minimal, but clear and informative, the pictures, all black and white, are fairly interesting. A useful reference book depicting the shift from the prop to the jet age in warfare.

Book Review: Seven Men of Gascony, R. F. Delderfield

NB: Another one of my occasional archival updates. This was originally written around 2014, but then forgotten about. Posting it now after a thread on TMP about Napoleonic historical fiction made me think of it again.

Delderfield was primarily a novelist, famed for being the author of A Horseman Riding By and other such works, from around the middle of the 20th century. I was loaned Seven Men of Gascony by a friend of my dads, when I was around 11-12 years old, who knew I was passionate about Napoleonic history.

I really enjoyed it back then. So much so, in fact, that I also borrowed and read one of the author's contemporary romances, Diana. All these years later, and I find myself getting back into Napoleonic history. I've now read several other books by Delderfield, all factual and all on Napoleonic subjects, The March of the Twenty-Six, about Napoleon's Marshals, and Napoleon in Love (no explanation necessary!) being the most recent.

Another of Delderfield's non-fiction Napoleonic works.

Returning to things one loved as a child can be hit and miss. But on this occasion I'm relieved to find that I still enjoy reading this. Having recently read Tolstoy's much lauded epic War And Peace, as well as Thackeray's Vanity Fair, it's nice to read fictionalised history of the era told from a French perspective (the characters being French, that is, the author was very much an Englishman), plus this is very much easy-reading compared with Tolstoy (and perhaps even Thackeray?).

That Delderfield was steeped in the history of the period is very obvious. Anyone who's read any of the many Napoleonic memoirs, of which there are an abundance, will recognise numerous tableaux, woven into this well told tale. 

Delderfield is an intelligent, articulate, old fashioned writer, and, as just mentioned, very well informed on his subject, which makes this an enjoyable read. Sure, it's not part of the canon of great literature, like War and Peace, but it's a much easier read, taking itself seriously enough, but not too seriously (a harsher way to say the same thing is that Tolstoy is deeper, but Delderfield is less pompous), and at times even as reflective on deeper themes as Tolstoy liked to continually remind us he or his characters were.

Chortle!

One of my main areas of interest in the Napoleonic era at present is Russia, 1812, and Delderfield's characters pass through this appalling episode, giving the reader some very evocative and memorable scenes. Delderfield rather cleverly structures the book as a whole around the major rivers in each theatre: we start under the heading of The Danube, during which episodes the protagonists pass through the Austrian campaign of 1809 (Aspern-Essling, etc.); The Tagus covers events in Portugal and Spain; The Niemen is the central-European bridge into Russia; the Elster finds the voltigeurs we're following retreating through Prussia; and the final river is The Sambre, where the books reaches it's conclusions. There's even a section called The Otter, in which the 'file' of soldiers wind up as prisoners in the south of England!

The River Otter. 

One senses that Delderfield includes something of himself in the character of Gabriel, who's the most fully-realised actor in the story. The others, mostly the titular 'Seven Men of Gascony', but also Napoleon, various Marshals, commanders and others, including Nicholette, a cantiniere, are colourfully drawn, but in a fairly simplistic way. I haven't read any Bernard Cornwall yet, but as far as my limited knowledge of historical fiction goes (mainly limited to Cadfael and Flashman at present), this is a good solid read, and will be of most appeal to those like myself with a 'thing' for Napoleonic history.

In conclusion, the overall story itself is a brisk, breezy, easy read, albeit that the tale it tells is far more arduous than is the experience of reading about it. Not a golden work of literary genius, perhaps, but good solid fun, with the added benefit of being told from the French side for once.

The author.

Book Review: The Escape Line, Megan Koreman

In her excellent book The Escape Line, American author Megan Koreman tells the story of Dutch Paris, an escape line, or rather lines, set up and run by Dutchman in France, Jean (or Johann) Weidner. It's a fascinating and exciting account. Indeed, I'd say there's a good film or two in there somewhere. 

I've chosen to put my fuller review on my other blog, at sebpalmer.com, as it's not quite purely military history. Read it here if you're interested. I was expecting it to be a chore. But far from it. It proved to be a compelling page turner. Geographically the escape line ran, from its original hub in Lyon, where Weidner had a textiles business, northeast into Switzerland, southwest into Spain, and north, through occupied France to Belgium and Holland.

The colourful cast include civil servants, clergy, businessmen, housewives, girlfriends and widows, soldiers and paramilitaries, Allied troops and the SS and Gestapo, local passeurs, or guides, and refugees in alien lands. Normally law-abiding citizens become denizens of the underworld, and the authorities become the violators of decency. Ordinary people do extraordinary things, both good and bad, in extraordinary times.

Definitely a recommended read to those who might find such things of interest. And interesting also in the light of the current climate, with Brexit, Trump and his Wall, and the general climate around national identity, immigration, and suchlike. 

Book Review: With Hitler In The West, Heinrich Hoffman

Fascinating reprint of contemporary Third Reich blitzkrieg/Führer propaganda.

NB - Except for the cover picture, above, pretty much all the images - of the publication, that is - illustrating this review are actually from the original German version (they were easier to find online!). The Pen & Sword edition is in English.

As anyone who visits this blog will quickly find out, I'm somewhat obsessed with WWII. And particularly with the German side of things. This Pen & Sword title is basically a modestly sized reprint of a piece of early WWII German propaganda, similar in feel, right down to the snappily bombastic captions, to the materials from German magazines of the time such as 'Signal', which shared the same morale-boosting purpose.

Happy Hun: victorious 'Landser' march and sing.

Left, a prototypical Hoffman propaganda photo,

of a handsome beret-wearing tank commander.

At right, a French tanker surrenders. 

The photos are by Henirich Hoffman, and there's an intro by Keitel, one of Hitler's more fawning generals. Being propaganda, it's not an objective record. But if you know that, you can bear it in mind as you read and study the pictures. It really is fascinating for showing how positive the Germans obviously felt at this stage. And no wonder, after the eighteen day campaign in Poland, and similarly quick work in Norway and the Low-Countries.

Hitler chats with his troops as he tours the conquered territories.

Visiting WWI battlefield memorials,

a reminder of Hitler's former service,

and the roots of WWII in WWI.

Hitler in Paris; at right, visiting Napoleon's tomb.

Aside from the focus on the victorious German forces, and Hitler himself, France is the centrepiece of this presentation. And the Gallic capitulation proved to be yet another remarkably quick affair. This time against the potentially much stiffer opposition of the French army - then the largest army in western Europe - and their English allies. Interestingly the images and accompanying texts relating to French and British troops and materiél, whilst crowing over the huge graveyards of the latter, aren't as overtly jingoistic as one might have anticipated.

The back cover of an original paperback edition,

showing Allied prisoners.

Various shots, including the devastation wrought upon the French forces.

Hitler presides over the French surrender, Compeigne.

As the title makes clear, this is also about Hitler as commander in chief. So there are lots of pics of 'der Führer', including him visiting WWI battlefields and monuments, and signing the French capitulation in the famous railway carriage at Compeigne, reversing the roles of the 1918 humiliation which had played such a large part in both Hitler's personal and Germany's national myth of the 'stab in the back', which held that Germany was betrayed from within, rather than defeated from without.

The Wehrmacht in action.

Big guns!

The historical value of such a reprint is, I think, pretty strong, and quite obvious. Although given the nature of the Nazi regime it's also a vexed issue. And it's perhaps a little surprising that Pen & Sword didn't choose to add anything to the book explaining the context of it's production, and the intents for its function. For those of us fascinated by this era, in part at least, as an aspect of our mini-military hobbies, it's a visual goldmine.

All in all, a welcome and fascinating addition to the WWII obsessive's collection.

The cover of an original paperback edition.

Heinrich Hoffman.

Hoffman's Munich studio (where Hitler first met Eva Braun).

Book Review: Armies of 1812, Digby Smith

NB: The pictures I've illustrated this piece with are not from the book under review.

If you're really interested in Napoleon's invasion of Russia, and I mean really interested, then this book certainly has a lot of detail about the armies involved in that monumental conflict. Well, some of the armies; the vast bulk of the weight of information is very heavily biased towards Napoleon's Grande Armée. Compared with the French army, even their main adversaries in this conflict, the Russians, aren't dealt with in such a thorough way. 

This is a shame, but there are two factors relevant to this, most people (at least in Western Europe and the U.S.) are probably - or traditionally have been - more interested in the French contingent, and the French records have survived in better condition, and were probably always better maintained in the first place (it appears the cannon fodder of post-revolutionary France at least merited better record keeping than the expendable hordes of Russian serfdom!). And the Turkish section really is wafer thin, dealing with the subject in just two pages of text, and a mere two plates!

Wafer thin Turkey...

Despite the almost scarily obsessive level of interest in minutiae, there are areas where the book falls down, at least in terms of what I wanted from it: sometimes Smith gives the composition of units in preface to uniform detail, and sometimes he doesn't (consistency on this front would've been desirable), and the 'Orders of Battle' are too generalised. Given the level of detail in some areas, it seems odd and a shame that each individual battle doesn't list the exact breakdown of forces involved, where known. One could perhaps reconstruct the composition of forces at particular battles from the info contained in the book, but I think it'd be a lot of hard work. 

Cruikshank's depiction of Boney, watching Moscow burn.

The book is full of maps, including interesting ones that show the progress (and degeneration) of each of the French Corps, and there's a copiously richly illustrated middle section, with loads of wonderful uniform plates, reproduced in very decent quality, albeit much smaller than the originals. This latter point leads to another oddity re the proofing of the book: Smith frequently asks that you 'note such-and-such', regarding unifrom details in a given illustration, although evidently these authorial admonitions weren't proofed against the actual book, in which most of the details he's referring to are invisible due to the prints being much reduced from the originals. Still, they're beautiful and useful to those who need to know this sort of thing. But, if it's Napoleonic uniforms you're into, there are other better primarily visual sources, like, for the French (albeit not specifically in reference to the 1812 campaign alone), the jaw-droppingly rich and comprehensive book of Rousselot plates Napoleon's Army 1790-1815.

A more sober view of events.

This one's even good for uniform ref.

I'd imagine this book is way too narrow in it's focus for the general reader tho', and an example of this is the way the index is organised: lists of units and military personnel are the only things listed! I have to say I thought this was a serious shortcoming - What about being able to look up particular battles for example? If you want to do this, you'll have to spend ages scanning the pages - but then it does fit into the scheme suggested by the book title. So, the focus really is on the armies, not the battles, campaigns, locations, politics, tactics or anything else. 

There is a synopsis of the campaign, which is useful to have within the book, but it doesn't add much to the scholarship on this exhaustively treated subject (even within Smith/von Pivka's own writings*). There are also more than the normal share of editorial gaffes, such as illustrations wrongly labelled, grammar and other literary mistakes, some of which are just technical typos, others seemingly words wrongly typeset, or misunderstood: the book would have benefited from better editorial handling.

Cruikshank's view of the retreat.

Gillray's even more scathing depiction.

So, unless you're either a turbo-charged military buff, or a wargamer (which can often be the same thing), this isn't likely to be for you. Despite all the critical comments I've made, all of which are a fair cop if you ask me, this is a very handy book if you're someone who feels they need to know, for argument's sake, the exact composition of Ney's III Corps, and how it fared throughout the disastrous 1812 campaign.

It is in fact actually quite difficult to rate this book, because, if this is the kind of detail you're after, then this is certainly a handy resource. But it is quite uneven, and there are even some annoying shortcomings and oversights, to my mind, not to mention plain simple editorial (i.e. proof-reading, rather than authorial) mistakes. But despite all these issues, if you're borderline obsessed with things Napoleonic, as I am, you'll probably still enjoy this.

* Digby Smith used to write under the nom de guerre Otto von Pivka!

Digby Smith, as pictured at the Pen & Sword website.

Book Review: Grouchy's Waterloo, the Battles of Ligny and Wavre, Andrew Field

In this, the third of four books covering the Waterloo campaign from the French perspective, the focus is, as the title makes clear, on Marshal Grouchy, the newest and last of Napoleon's commanders to be raised to that position, and the skirmishes and two bigger battles he fought on Napoleon's right wing, during the Hundred Days campaign.

Inevitably there's also coverage of the other concurrent events, meaning some duplication of information with other titles in the series. But this is both inevitable, and indeed necessary, and for those sufficiently interested, more pleasure than chore.

Ligny, by Theodore Yung.

In my recent review of Hussey's two-volume history of this campaign I described Grouchy thus, 'until he learned of Napoleon's decisive defeat he was vacillating and cautious, most likely too in awe of his imperial master to act decisively on his own initiative. And yet once he knew France was militarily beaten, he suddenly rediscovered his leadership mojo'... And whilst I now have a much deeper, and more nuanced understanding of his actions in the campaign, thanks to this book, I think that judgement still stands.

Grouchy.

This is a brilliant book, if, like me, you're obsessed by this colourful era, and, like me, your chief interest lies with the French. It's brilliant even if that's not the case. I've docked half a star only because Field chooses to quote a lot of the official orders and similar correspondence in full, and these are sometimes a bit verbose, and between them include a lot of repetition. 

There is a reason for this, however, which is, I expect, to do with the post Waterloo blame game, with Napoleon and his acolytes saying, a la Scooby-Doo, 'if it wasn't for those darned meddling kids (Grouchy and Ney), I'd have gotten away with it!' quoting the correspondence in extenso helps clarify whether orders were understood or not, and carried out properly or not, etc. [1]

Ernest Croft's fab painting of Napoleon at Ligny.

Ultimately Grouchy did fail Napoleon, as did Ney. But then again, Napoleon was hoist by his own petard, in that he appointed them (and Soult was perhaps another unhappy choice for his particular role), and he played fast and loose with troop allocations, etc. The rickety chain of command, lack of clarity and promptitude in issuing orders, and the inherent style of Naploeon's leadership, which could cripple his subordinates ability to act well independently - this clearly happened with a Grouchy - all add up to a certain sense of inevitable failure. And that's before you even consider the bigger David vs Goliath picture, with a tired war-weary France facing a vastly superior international coalition.

All in all, another excellent chapter in Field's essential contribution to the English language literature on this epoch ending campaign, bringing much needed balance by looking at the French side of the story. [2]

----------
NOTES:

The younger Grouchy, as a Capt. Of Dragoons, circa 1792.

[1] The lack of clarity in some of the orders beggars belief.

[2] I do hope more of his sources become available in English, in particular the more colourful lower echelon accounts, such as that by grognard Sergeant Maudit.

Book Review: Battle of Britain - Len Deighton

What a great picture! [1] (Source: RAF Museum)

Note: the pics used in this review - aside from the cover - are not from the book!

Deighton and Michael Caine on the set of the Ipcress Files, 1965

Len Deighton, now in his 80s, is best known as an author of spy fiction, and is ranked alongside contemporaries like Ian Fleming and John Le Carré in terms of his appeal and success. I bought a cheap used paperback of his book SS Great Britain a while back, during a period of fascination with Operation Sealion, but I have yet to read that. 

Now I'm in the middle of a new phase, and getting quite interested in the Battle of Britain. I got this book on the subject by Deighton for £1.50 in a local charity shop, and read it in two days, whenever I could snatch a moment between working and decorating our new home. I didn't used to like books of this sort - picture heavy surveys or 'digests' - but I'm starting to come round to liking them.

Heinkel He-111.

Dornier Do-17.

Junkers Ju 87, AKA the famous screaming dive-bombing Stuka.

I was intrigued to find out that Deighton had trained in the arts, and worked as an illustrator and designer in his youth. And, according to the Deighton Dossier, some of the illustrations in this book (which ones, I don't know) are by him.

A squadron of Hurricanes over Blighty.

Douglas Bader poses with fellow pilots of 242 (Canadian) Squadron, at Duxford. [2]

The book examines the Battle of Britain from numerous angles, with a core part of the text being in a a kind of 'diary' format. There are also sections on all kinds of related topics, from the evolution of air warfare in WWI and the inter-war years, to diagrams of planes, maps of attacks, and substantial use of quotes from both combatants and civilians.

The contributions of the WAAF and others is covered. Here they help deploy barrage balloons.

The role of Radar and similar technology is discussed, as is the breaking of the Engima code.

It's pleasingly easy and compelling read. I was mildly irritated by the need to jump around a bit page-wise, when a piece of text I was reading was interrupted by some sub-section or other. But that's a very minor niggle. 

It seems also that it's nothing new for writers to claim, as Deighton does here (and as both Ben Shepherd and James Holland do in their more recent books that I've just read), that they're exploding all kinds of popular myths.

This is far from being an in-depth study, although it is impressively comprehensive for a large-type, picture-heavy book of its kind. But if you're looking for an entry point into this subject - a relatively small battle, but of great significance nonetheless - as I was when I got it, it's really pretty good.

Deighton credits Hugh Dowding's careful conservatism with winning the battle.

But, as Deighton tells it here, Leigh Mallory intrigued against his boss; Dowding was duly axed, and Leigh Mallory ultimately took over his job.

In the end Britain wins the battle simply by surviving it. Park and Dowding are portrayed as courageously and stoically following a successful policy of carefully husbanding their scant resources, only to be stabbed in the back by Leigh-Mallory and Douglas Bader, with their 'Big Wing' ideas. 

Women building Hurricanes. [3]

The fact that Britain outproduced the Germans, in their manufacture and replacement of materiel, was also a key factor. So to was the German mismanagement of the whole campaign, with Goering proving himself - despite being a former WWI fighter ace himself - a poor leader, strategically speaking. The Luftwaffe changed focus too many times, and Goering loved his Me110s, or Zerstörer (Destroyer!), even in the face of the evidence that showed they were not as effective as he liked to believe.

Goering.

So, all in all, a fun book, filled with great pictures and other visual reference material, with all the maps and illustrations being specially commissioned for the book, making for both a good read and a good introduction to the topic.

You can see why Goering like the Me110. It does look damnably cool!

----------
NOTES:

[1] Flak was very inaccurate and inefficient, and could cause 'collateral damage' when spent munitions or unexploded rounds returned to earth. But it had psychological value in helping people feel they were being defended, and it unnerved attacking aircraft, making their job harder.

[2] I like this picture for several reasons, two of which are: my grandfather was a Canadian servicemen, over here during (and after!) WWII; Duxford is local to me, and I've been there many, many times. The text describing this image at Wikipedia says: 'Three decorated fighter pilots of No. 242 (Canadian) Squadron RAF, standing outside the Officers' Mess at Duxford, Cambridgeshire. They are (left to right): Pilot Officer W L McKnight, Acting Squadron Leader D R S Bader (Commanding Officer), and Acting Flight Lieutenant G E Ball. By the date this photograph was taken these pilots had, between them, shot down over thirty enemy aircraft.'

[3] This pic is from 1942, after the Battle of Britain, but it gets the idea across!