Military History Encyclopedia on the Web

Rommel in his own words, ed. Dr John Pimlott. Starts with his inter-war account of his First World War experiences, then moves on to the Second World War, with some material on the 1940 campaign and the defence of France, but with the largest section covering his famous campaigns in the desert of North Africa. Includes private letters, official reports and published works, giving us a range of Rommel’s public and private views(Read Full Review)

Spearhead of the Fifth Army - the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Italy, from the Winter Line to Anzio, Frank van Lunteren. A very ‘up close’ study of the combat experiences of the 504th PIR, covering the advance to the Winter Line, the fighting at the Barbara and Bernhardt Lines and the regiments’ participation at Anzio. Very good on the day-to-day experiences of the combat troops, perhaps not so good on putting them in the wider context(Read Full Review)

British Commando 1940-45, Angus Konstam. A overview of the British Commandos, focusing on what made them different to the regular army, the sort of skills they were required to have, the training that made sure they gained them, and the wide range of equipment that they carried into combat. Also includes a good ‘On Campaign’ section that gives an overview of the sort of experiences the Commandos underwent in combat, but focuses mainly on their training and skills(Read Full Review)

A Handful of Hard Men: The SAS and the Battle for Rhodesia, Hannes Wessels. Looks at the role of the Rhodesia SAS in the long struggle to maintain white minority rule. A good example of how a military organisation can be almost entirely successful within its own terms, while at the same time losing the war, as large areas of Rhodesia became ‘no go’ zones for the white population. An interesting study of what the Rhodesian SAS did, perhaps less successful on what they hoped to achieve(Read Full Review)

The Anatomy of Glory - Napoleon and his Guard, Henry Lachouque & Anne S. K. Brown. A splendid study of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard, the most famous part of his military machine, taking us into their daily life as Napoleon’s favoured elite, and following its evolution from a small bodyguard for the Consuls into a massive army within an army, serving as the elite and the reserve of Napoleons army, and playing an increasingly important combat role as the wars turned against Napoleon. Follows the wars from the Guard’s point of view, so we get a fairly uncritical view of Napoleon, reflecting how they saw him.(Read Full Review)

Fighting the Bombers - The Luftwaffe's Struggle against the Allied Bomber Offensive, ed. David C. Isby. A fascinating look at the Luftwaffe’s fight against the Allied bombers, based around a series of interviews carried out with key figures in the Luftwaffe just after the end of the war. As a result it gives us an idea of what they thought about the battle in its immediate aftermath, and before their stories began to change in the post-war years. A very valuable primary source for anyone interesting in the Second World War bombing campaigns(Read Full Review)

Breaking Point of the French Army - The Nivelle Offensive of 1917, David Murphy. Looks at the state of the French army at the start of 1917, the hopes raised by Nivelle when he took command, the failure of his offensive and the crisis of morale caused by that failure. Includes interesting material on how Nivelle and his team were able to ignore the evidence that there were problems with their plan, and on how Petain managed to undo the damage to the French army in remarkably little time (Read Full Review)

Peter the Great Humbled - The Russo-Ottoman War of 1711, Nicholas Dorrell. Looks at the short and almost disastrous Russian invasion of the Ottoman Empire, which ended with Peter the Great and his army trapped on the Pruth and forced to surrender on Ottoman terms. Covers the various armies involved on both sides, the commanders, the aims of the two main commanders and the course of the short, and for Peter, almost disastrous war. Despite some victories away from the main front, the war could have ended with Peter’s power greatly diminished and he was lucky to be offered rather generous terms(Read Full Review)

Secret Naval Investigator - the Battle against Hitler's Secret Underwater Weapons, Commander F. Ashe Lincoln QC, RNVR. The autobiography of one of the leading figures in the battle against Germany’s increasingly advanced mines and torpedoes, a key part of the battle of the Atlantic, allowing the British to overcome a series of German ‘secret weapons’ that might otherwise have cut the vital sea lanes to Britain. This comes across as one of the most dangerous research jobs of the Second World War, and many of the author’s colleagues were killed while trying to disarm and dismantle these weapons(Read Full Review)

Friends and Enemies: The Natal Campaign in the South African War 1899-1902, Hugh Rethman. Looks at the Boer invasion of Natal, the siege of Ladysmith and the efforts to raise the siege, with an emphasis on the role of troops raised in Natal and on the fate of the civilian population of the area. Perhaps a bit too hostile to the Boers and critical of British officers, but excellent on its core subject - the contribution of the people of Natal to their own defence in the face of hostile invasion (Read Full Review)

Monte Cassino: A German View, Rudolf Böhmler. Very good on the nitty gritty of the fighting carried out by Bohmler’s paratroops, who were responsible for much of the determined defence of Cassino monastery and town, so we get a good feel for the day-to-day experience of the paratroops. Not so strong on the overall picture or the political background, which is sometimes dominated by a desire to rehabilitate the reputation of the German army in a Cold War context(Read Full Review)

Anders Lassen VC, MC of the SAS, Mike Langley. A biography of one of the most remarkable men to serve with the SAS and SBS during the Second World War, an exiled Dane who went on to win the MC and two bars and the Victoria Cross, looking at his military career and his character, and producing a picture of a more complex than expected man, who inflicted a great deal of damage on the Germans, especially in the Aegean (Read Full Review)

English Electric Lightning, Martin Derry and Neil Robinson. Very much aimed at the modeller, with an emphasis on paint schemes and liveries. Does include a useful mark-by-mark and unit-by-unit history of the Lightning, which will be of interest to the general aviation enthusiast, as well as a large selection of colour plans of the aircraft, reviews of the various kits available, and an impressive selection of colour photos of the aircraft, which will be of great value to the modeller (Read Full Review)

The Third Reich Bravery and Merit Decoration for Eastern Peoples, Rolf Michaelis. A short book that looks at an award originally designed for eastern volunteers not qualified to receive standard German awards, with a brief history of the award (including tracing its development into an award available to German troops serving with Eastern units) and a plates selection that includes pictures of the award, soldiers wearing the reward and the paperwork associated with it (Read Full Review)

Forgotten Sacrifice - The Arctic Convoys of World War II, Michael G. Walling. A valuable study of the full story of the Arctic Convoys, looking beyond the most famous of the convoy battles to cover the early almost unopposed sailings, the return trips, the clashes between German and Soviet forces along the Arctic coast and the Soviet contribution to the convoys themselves. Includes many harrowing tales of Arctic survival that reminds us of the human cost of these convoys (Read Full Review)

Trial by Gas - the British Army at the Second Battle of Ypres, George H. Cassar. Looks at the first use of poisoned gas on the Western Front, and the only major German offensive in the west in 1915, one of the great ‘missed chances’ of the First World War. Very detailed account of the British side of the battle, supported by excellent maps showing the overall progress of the battle. Could do with more on the German point of view, but otherwise excellent(Read Full Review)

Marine Corps Tank Battles in the Middle East, Oscar E. Gilbert. Covers a range of types of armoured warfare, from the conventional tank battles of the two Gulf Wars to counter insurgency work in Afghanistan. Paints a picture of a flexible, adaptable and competent armoured force that plays a key part in just about every Marine Corps deployment, despite never being at the top of the pile for funding. Also suggests that the tank can be surprising effective in counter-insurgency work, providing a powerful backup to the infantry (Read Full Review)

Stemming the Tide: Officers and Leadership in the British Expeditionary Force 1914, ed. Spencer Jones. A generally positive study of the senior and middle ranking officers of the BEF, covering the main characters at GHQ, the three corps commanders, a selection of division and brigade commanders and finishing with a more general study of battalion and company commanders. Focuses on their pre-war careers, how their experiences prepared them for the trials of 1914 and how they actually coped (Read Full Review)

Wings over Ogaden: The Ethiopian-Somali War 1978-79, Tom Cooper. Covers one of the more obscure battles of the late 20th Century, where even some of the major units commanders are still unknown. This was an unusual conflict, where both combatants changed their allegiance in the Cold War before or during the conflict, but at the start it was a clash between Western and Soviet aircraft and training methods, with the previously Western backed Ethiopians coming out on top on both counts (Read Full Review)

The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale: Cold War Angolan Finale, 1987-1988, Leopold Scholtz. Looks at the final major clash between the South Africans and their Angolan and Cuban opponents in southern Angola during the long Border War. Largely written from the South African point of view (mainly due to the available sources), but with an attempt to be fair to the Angolans and Cubans. Mainly focuses on the detailed events of the battle, and supported by detailed maps and an impressive collection of photographs (Read Full Review)

Aisne 1918, David Blanchard. Focuses on the first day of the battle, when a series of weakened British divisions in poor defensive positions were overwhelmed and the Allied line was temporarily broken. Based around a series of regimental histories of the fighting on that first day, followed by a shorter overview of the rest of the battle. Helps explain why the Germans were able to achieve such a dramatic breakthrough on the first day of the battle (Read Full Review)

The Battle of Britain, Kate Moore. Differs from most books on the topic by dedicating half of its length to the background to the battle - the nature of the two air forces, the aircraft they used, their organisation at the start of the battle, and the German victories of 1939-40 and the role of air power in them. Then moves on to a good but fairly standard account of the battle, supported by eyewitness accounts and pictures from the Imperial War Museum archives (Read Full Review)

Green Leader, Ian Pringle. Looks at the destruction of two civilian airliners by ZIPRA and the Rhodesian military reaction, in particular to the first of those attacks. Perhaps overplays the significance of these events in helping Robert Mugabe into power, given that the ZIPRA leader Nkomo still gained 80% of the vote in the heartland of his support, but does provide an interesting narrative of the Rhodesian attacks (Read Full Review)

Britain Goes to War - How the First World War Began to Reshape the Nation, ed. Peter Liddle. Covers a very wide range of topics, starting with a focus on the early months of the war, moving on to a series of topics that cover the entire period and ending with a look at some of the sources available for the study of the war. Made up of articles produced for a conference at Weetwood Halls, Leeds, so produced by a wide range of experts, thus explaining the wide range of articles and the unusual topics (Read Full Review)

RAF and the SOE - Special Duty Operations in Europe During WW2, An Official History. The official history of the RAF’s role in SOE operations, with valuables sections on problems such as navigation, what sort of supply containers to use, how reception committees worked or the dangerous landing operations. Not always terribly readable, due to its origin as an official report, but always valuable, providing a detailed examination of the aerial operations that made almost all of SOE’s operations possible.(Read Full Review)

Images of War: United States Naval Aviation 1911-2014, Michael Green. Covers the full range of US naval aircraft, from the early biplanes that entered service only five years after the first powered flight to the modern jet aircraft and unmanned drones. Split into four time periods, with each section beginning with a brief introduction to each aircraft type, followed by the photos themselves, each supported by a useful caption. Also includes a short section of colour plates, mainly of more modern aircraft or surviving older types (Read Full Review)

Enduring Freedom Enduring Voices: US Operations in Afghanistan, Michael G. Walling. Looks at US military operations in Afghanistan between the 2001 and 2013, with very little on events in parts of the country not under US control. Includes a wide range of useful eyewitness accounts from US service personnel, largely untainted by hindsight simply because we don’t actually know the outcome of the war yet (the book even ends a year before the official end of Operation Enduring Freedom)(Read Full Review)

The Lions of Carentan: Fallschirmjäger Regiment 6, 1943-1945, Volker Griesser. A unit history that perhaps tells you more about the paratroops saw themselves than the reality of their war, although the eyewitness accounts are often more honest, reflecting the often desperate fighting that saw the unit pushed back from Normandy into the heart of Germany, suffering massive casualties on the way. Covers the German seizure of Rome, D-Day and the fighting in Normandy, the attacks on the land corridor leading to Arnhem and the final defensive battles in Germany (Read Full Review)

GI Stories 1942-45, Henry-Paul Enjames. Looks at the wartime careers of more than fifty US service personnel fighting in North Africa and Europe, tracing them from their pre-war lives in the US, through training and into combat. Tends to provide more individual details before their units entered active combat, then focus on the unit history until the subject of the chapter was wounded, captured, killed or the fighting ended, when we then get more personal details. Each entry is supported by a wide selection of photos of memorabilia, mainly closely related to the individual (Read Full Review)

Finnish Soldier vs Soviet Soldier - Winter War 1939-40, David Campbell. Looks at three key battles during the Winter War, comparing the performance of the full range of ground troops on both sides, including armour and artillery. Shows how the Soviet performance slowly improved, just as the Finns were being worn down by the constant fighting, but also how the determined Finnish resistance probably convinced Stalin to abandon his early plans to occupy the entire country, and also how the Soviet debacles in 1939 helped convince the Germans that the Red Army would be an easy opponent to defeat (Read Full Review)

The Petersburg Campaign vol II: The Western Front Battles September 1864-April 1865, Bryce A. Suderow and Edwin C. Bearss. Looks at the fighting to the south and west of Petersburg during the long siege of 1864-65, which ended with the Confederates forced to abandon Petersburg and Richmond, the retreat to Appomattox and the final surrender of Lee's army. Starts with a rather dry account of the early battles on this front, which ended in stalemate, before moving on to the key battles of the spring of 1865, which saw the Confederate lines finally broken (Read Full Review)

Lobositz to Leuthen - Horace St. Paul and the Campaigns of the Austrian Army in the Seven Years War 1756-57, Neil Cogswell. Meant as a series study of the military art, so includes orders of battle, extracts from other author's work, all pulled together in St. Paul's diaries, and describing some of the earliest campaigns of the Seven Years War. A valuabkle source for this period, giving us an educated outsider's view of some of the early battles and sieges of the Seven Years War, seen from a position close to the senior Austrian and Imperial armies (Read Full Review)

The SADF in the Border War 1966-1989, Leopold Scholtz. Looks at the long war on the Angolan-Namibian border, fought between South Africa and UNITA on one side and the Angolans, Cubans and SWAPO on the other. The author states in the introduction that his work can't be entirely balanced because of the available sources, but still does a good job of producing an unbiased account of the South African performance during the war, looking at their successes and failures on the battlefield, and in the eventual peace negotiations that ended the war (Read Full Review)

The Suomi Submachine Gun, Leroy Thompson. Looks at the main Finnish submachine gun during the Winter War and to a lesser extent the Continuation Wars, focusing not just on what made it distinctive technically, but also on how it was used by the Finns to increase the firepower of their hit-and-run raiders, and the wider significance of that combat experience, which turned the SMG from a specialist weapon into a mainstay of the infantry. (Read Full Review)

Caen Controversy - The Battle for Sword Beach 1944, Andrew Stewart. Looks at the plans for the attack on Sword Beach, the question of if Caen was an Allied target for D-Day, and if so why it wasn't captured on the day. Provides a good account of the beach landings, as well as the wider battle, before looking at the controversy surrounding the failure to take Caen on or close to D-Day, one of Montgomery's stated aims before the invasion (Read Full Review)

World War II US Army Combat Equipments, Gordon L. Rottman. At first glance this is a rather unpromising topic, but it actually gives you an interesting insight into the daily life of the US soldier of the Second World War, looking at the kit they carried with themselves every day, cooked with and camped in, as well as the various ammo holders and pouches. The result is a surprisingly interesting book (Read Full Review)

Hard Fighting - A History of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry 1900-1946, Jonathan Hunt. Part two of this unit history looks at the Sherwood Rangers' time as a active combat unit, as cavalry in the Boer War and First World War and as an armoured unit during the Second World War. Starts a little dry, but becomes increasingly interesting as it goes on, and especially during the Second World War, where the unit fought at El Alamein, operated DD tanks on D-Day and fought alongside US troops during Operation Market Garden (Read Full Review)

Generalissimo Stalin: The Myth of Stalin as a Great Military Strategist, Boris Gorbachevsky. Starts as a look at Stalin's role as a military leader and how it was portrayed within the Soviet Union and turns into a wider condemnation of many aspects of the Soviet war effort and post-war attitude to veterans, written by a wartime veteran of the Red Army. More of a passionately argued polemic than a clearly argued history, the author's passion and anger is clear, backed up by his personal experiences of many of the events he was discussing (Read Full Review)

The Mosin-Nagant Rifle, Bill Harriman. Looks at the main Russian and Soviet rifle of the First and Second World Wars, a robust weapon that first appeared in the 1890s, but went on to serve in gradually improved versions for over half a century. Written by a weapons collector and high quality history, so we get both halves of the story - the history of the weapon and what it was like to actually operate it (Read Full Review)

Milvian Bridge AD 312 - Constantine's battle for Empire and Faith, Ross Cowan. Looks at the background to the civil war, the events of the entire campaign and the battle itself, which turns out to be more difficult to understand than one might have expected, with no clear location and different accounts of the course of the battle itself. The author has his own views on the location and course of the battle, and supports it with a good discussion of the sources (Read Full Review)

Churchill's Greatest Fear: The Battle of the Atlantic 3 September 1939 to 7 May 1945, Richard Doherty. Covers the full length of the battle, bringing in topics that are rarely covered, such as the important of realistic training or the role of operational research in the improvement of Allied countermeasures, helping to prove that most attacks came from within the convoy or that larger convoys were safer. Also good on technological developments on both sides, and the strengths and flaws of the many weapons used during the long battle (Read Full Review)

Bazooka vs Panzer - Battle of the Bulge 1944, Steven J. Zaloga. Looks at the way in which the bazooka actually worked, its development into a working weapon, and how it was used in combat, with one case study from the Ardennes. Also covers the various German defensive measures often said to have been  introduced in response to the bazooka, but that mainly turn out to have been responses to threats on the Eastern Front, and that often had little impact against the bazooka(Read Full Review)

Aachen, the U.S. Army's Battle for Charlemagne's City in World War II, Robert W. Baumer. A very detailed look at the US capture of Aachen, the first major German city to fall into Allied hands during the Second World War, and the German attempts to lift the siege and defend the city. Perhaps a little too detailed in places, but otherwise a good account of this iconic battle on the borders of the Third Reich (Read Full Review)

Doncaster in the Great War, Symeon Mark Waller. A look at the impact of the Great War on Doncaster, largely focusing on the human cost of the war, and the constant drip feed of bad news from the front. A good use of contemporary sources and wartime photographs gives a good feel for the period, and the result is a book that will be of value for those with an interest in the history of Doncaster (Read Full Review)

World War II Infantry Fire Support Tactics, Gordon L. Rottman. Perhaps a bit over-ambitious, looking at Soviet, German, US and British infantry fire support tactics, officially during the entire war, but with a focus on the later years. Useful in that it brings together material on different weapons that are normally seen in isolation, so we see how mortars, machine guns, infantry guns, anti-tank guns and hand-held AT weapons were meant to work together (Read Full Review)

Zama 202 BC - Scipio crushes Hannibal in North Africa, Mir Bahmanyar. A look at the final major battle of the Second Punic War, a surprisingly difficult battle to understand, with significant differences between the main accounts of the battle, the armies involved and even its aftermath. Does a good job of working through the different sources and their accounts of the battle, producing a coherent view without hiding the difficulties.  Also covers the campaign that led up to the battle, and acknowledges the contribution by the African allies on both sides(Read Full Review)

The Experimental Units of Hitler's Condor Legion, Rafael A. Permuy Lopez & Lucas Molina Franco. A very detailed, almost day-by-day and aircraft-by-aircraft, study of the experimental bomber and fighter units that served in Spain during the Civil War and tested some of the aircraft that did so much damage in 1939-41. Neither unit lasted for terribly long or contained many aircraft, and both turned into regular units, allowing the authors to work in such detail (Read Full Review)

British Light Infantry & Rifle Tactics of the Napoleonic Wars, Philip Haythornthwaite. Nice to see the details of the light infantry tactics that are so often praised in accounts of the British Army's campaigns of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic War - looking at the evolution of light infantry  units, how they were trained, how they were meant to maneuver, how they were used in combat and finishing with some examples from 1813-1815(Read Full Review)

US Navy Ships vs Kamikazes 1944-45, Mark Stille. Looks at the reasons for the kamikaze attacks, the techniques used by them, the aircraft involved, the ships they targeted, the American response, and the effectiveness of the attacks. Includes a useful statistical analysis of the campaign, looking at if it was an effective use of resources. A good short account of the kamikaze campaign, looking at it from both sides (Read Full Review)

Man of War - The Fighting Life of Admiral James Saumarez, Anthony Sullivan. An interesting biography of a less familiar senior British naval officer of the Napoleonic Wars, who served off the French coast and as a floating diplomatic in the Baltic, where he helped prevent an escalation of the war, as well as fighting at many of the major naval battles of the period and commanding at the two battles of Algerciras (Read Full Review)

Stalin's Secret Police, Rupert Butler. Covers the full history of Soviet political policing, from the Revolution and Civil War, through Stalin's rule and the Second World War and onto the post-war and Cold War worlds. More of a history of Soviet repression than of the activities of the Secret Police, covering what they did rather than how they were organised or how they worked. A useful but rather grim look at one of history's darker corners (Read Full Review)

US Infantryman vs German Infantryman, European Theatre of Operations 1944, Steven J. Zaloga. Looks at three clashes between American and German infantry, from Normandy to the Ardennes, looking at how their units were equipped, organised and supported, and how that impacted on the fighting. I found the background information most interesting, looking at how the different sides were equipped and organised, and struggled to get into the perfectly well written battle accounts (Read Full Review)

Nile River Gunboats 1882-1918, Angus Konstam. Looks at the increasingly powerful gunboats that supported Anglo-Egyptians operations on the Nile, from Gordon's disastrous invention in the Sudan and the attempts to save him to the eventual reconquest under Kitchener. Looks at the different classes of gunboat, the individual boats involved, how they were armed, armoured, powered and crewed and what life was like onboard, and finishes with a look at their two main campaigns (Read Full Review)

Tippecanoe 1811 - The Prophet's battle, John F Winkler. Follows the campaign from the pressures on Indian land that helped trigger the fighting, through the rise of the Prophet, and the split that he caused in Indian society, and on to the actual fighting itself, looking at Harrison's careful efforts to reach Prophetstown with his army intact and the battle itself, a night attack on the American camp that failed to achieve its objectives, and ended the rule of the Prophet, but opened the way to the brief dominance of Tecumseh (Read Full Review)

Generals of the Bulge - Leadership in the U.S. Army's Greatest Battle, Jerry D. Morelock. A valuable study of the performance of a series of US generals, from Eisenhower, through the various levels of command down to Divisional, during the battle of the Bulge, the biggest single American land battle of the Second World War. Benefits greatly from the author's willingness to choose officers whose performance was less than impressive as well as those who shone during the battle. Includes some very useful debates on the bigger controversies of the battle (Read Full Review)

Conquerors of the Roman Empire - The Vandals, Simon MacDowall. Tells the impressive story of the Vandals, who in not much more than a single generation crossed the Rhine into Gaul, established a kingdom in Spain and then did the same in North Africa, sacked Rome and briefly set themselves up as one of the major naval powers of the period. Also covers the earlier, rather obscure, history of the Vandals, and their eventual defeat and destruction by the Eastern Romans (Read Full Review)

The Japanese Navy in World War II, ed. David C. Evans. A very valuable examination of the successes and failures of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War, written by some of the officers who were closest to the action. Provides a very different view of some very familiar battles, and some interesting insights into the flaws in the Japanese war effort, including a lack of a realistic war plan and the tendency to adopt over-complex plans (Read Full Review)

River Plate 1939 - The sinking of the Graf Spee, Angus Konstam. Looks at one of the earliest major British naval successes of the Second World War, the defeat and forced destruction of the pocket battleship Graf Spee by a much weaker force of British cruisers. Covers everything from the design of the warships, her commerce raiding career, and the allied hunt to the final destruction of Graf Spee by her own crew(Read Full Review)

Death before Glory! The British Soldier in the West Indies in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars 1793-1815, Martin R. Howard. Looks at the costly campaigns in the West Indies, where disease was often more dangerous for either side than their opponents. Well organised, split into three - the armies, the campaigns and the soldier's experiences, and gives a good picture of a series of difficult campaigns, where isolated, disease afflicted, British forces slowly came to dominate the area (Read Full Review)

Armoured Horsemen: With the Bays and Eight Army in North Africa and Italy, Peter Willett. Looks at the experiences of a British armoured unit during the key battles in North Africa and the last year of the Italian campaign, with a focus on the desert war. Gives us an interesting view into a generally well led but Public School dominated regiment, as well as the author's own experiences of the nature of armoured warfare. Also covers his post-war career in racing, to complete the picture (Read Full Review)