Robert Jackson (1) (1941–)

Just imagine, 100 years have passed and same impulses that wanted to "rearrange" Russia, those that wanted to bring back the terrible oppression Tsarist regime in 20th century against the "Red menace" are back in current times and aim to - as propagandist tells it - make sure Russia never rises again. All of this today in our so enlightened 21st century.

Reading this book, going through battle descriptions, political decisions of the second decade of 20th century- everything reads almost as show more current news, only difference being level of technology and - sad but true - role of US in the entire mess. Before they were trying not to get involved in the internal matters of Russia while today they have taken stance very much like UK's stance during Russia's civil war.

All participants are same - France, UK, USA, Japan, Germany, Poland (with ever growing imperial aspirations of their own), Czechs, Ukrainians (same as today torn between Russia and Poland as countries claiming parts of Ukraine), same approach from the western countries that see Russia as "wild" country (dehumanization of Russia was the thing back in days as it is today) that needs to be "tamed" and "quartered". It is utterly unbelievable this level of animosity is possible to survive and resurface almost intact whole century after.

What starts out of fear that Bolsheviks will join Germans (I liked how author constantly weaves in the story how Allied forces think that Germans are fighting with Russians on every front except Baltic states where Germans were used by Allies to repel the Bolsheviks - I mean, what?), fears that Germans will somehow occupy the Far East (With what? What armies? I wander if anyone checked the maps of the region, Czech 30000 soldiers were enough only to hold the railway) and thus get to the resources to prolong the war, begins this very disturbing intervention.
After this most stupid reason falls into water another reason comes forth - rescue of Czech Legion left to wander as orphans of war through the vast expanses of Russia. When that fell through - Czech's finally saying we want home! - although with one goal achieved, involvement of US, Allies finally openly start to support anyone and their uncle against the Bolsheviks. Support continues through money support, weapons and military assistance - volunteers/mercenaries training Allied forces and fighting Bolsheviks, especially if they were qualified airmen or tank crews (the most sophisticated weapons of the day). If this sounds familiar, yes, you are right.

And where the majority of fighting takes place - exactly, Black Sea region (being the only region that is usable throughout the year and that links this part of the world to Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic - sole reason why this area is of any interest to powers to be).

Why the intervention in the first place? Social revolution that put everything on its head was seen as a danger by the West at the time led by UK. Germany was seen as under influence of Bolsheviks so any further expansion of this ideology had to be stopped. Having sympathy for people that were on brink of starvation and death under Tsar was out of question - these very people were seen as enemy and they had to be destroyed (again, very similar stand, right?). Only people seen by the West as "reliable" were Tsarist military officers who proved to be no better than Tsar's rule and caused more Russians to go to the Bolshevik's side.

US were reluctant because they were aware of the revolution and that it helped get rid of terrible monarchy and its oppression. Under the pressure of UK and France (and desiring to check the Japan's aspirations in Siberia) they slowly entered the fray and it seems that results of this engagement are to hound the rest of the world for years and centuries to come.

Unlike book on Kolchak (Republic of Ushakovka), story of an admiral that was ultimately incapable to lead armies let alone rule the Russia, books from the people that were fighting in the war (Archangelsk) and thus gave rather nightmarish, personal, view of war, or very good book that concentrated primarily on the North Russia front and provided both military and political commentary (Ignorant Armies) this book solely concentrates on combat in Russia and reads like a digest of all relevant battles and fronts during these years - from Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Poland, Baltic, North Russia to Siberia and Far East. It is story of war-fighters, primarily from Allied ranks. Bolsheviks are mentioned as always incoming armies, when they do something right "its gotta be Germans" but as time goes by author allows that Red Army has grown and achieved military competency that will very quickly break the back of Whites and all other opposition armies.

Final result? Constant paranoia on both sides, East and West. Interestingly Russians did not hold grudge and they even played the same role in WW2 (acting as "soaking body" for the German army after the latter invaded Russia) and fought on the Allied side. But animosity of the West remained, it was felt during the Spanish Civil war, during the bilateral agreements between Germany and Russia, it was felt during the war years when Russia fought on the Allied side and it unfortunately culminated again after the war when Germans where made saints and Russians again marked as savages. And then when Soviets fell, what happened? Did things go back to normal? No, because West seems to harbor grudge against anyone east from Poland that speaks Russian. It proved that it is not ideology but something deeper - something maybe going back to the years of Big Game but definitely not related to ideology (maybe inability to exert control over the vastness of this part of Eurasia?).

Whatever happens today is an echo of the past. I just hope we all do not become past.

For military aficionados, those interested in battle diaries (albeit with very modest maps) in a period of constant struggle in Europe this book is highly recommended.
For those who want a digest (since there is little political commentary) on the region so prominent in news today, and effect of history on its people, definitely read this one. show less

If there is a black-magic equivalent in military technology then it is reconnaissance and especially electronic reconnaissance.

In this very informative book, author guides us through the early days of electronic warfare and optical photo reconnaissance. These very brave crews were (and still are) tasked with leading the attack with task of messing up the defenses and making sure that strike paths are fully explored and mapped.

We are given the brief, but yet very detailed, overview of ELINT show more and photo reconnaissance from WW2 'til 1997 (day of publication). Of course, western (NATO, particularly US and UK) technology and formations are described. Soviet technology and projects are given as more sea-based than air based. Only mention is of TU-95 and TU-22M recon flights in terms of aerial reconnaissance. For everything else Soviets seem to have used various spy ships.

One of the very interesting elements in this story is how prominent was the involvement of Taiwanese and Israeli crews when it comes to flying spy missions over China and Middle East respectively using classified airplanes (especially those developed under black programs with intelligence organizations like U-2).

I have to agree with the author that manned flights will not go anywhere, even in our days when the main buzz-word is drone. While automated systems - like satellites for example - can perform various reconnaissance missions, manned flights will remain active and required for real-time strike supports (for operations on ground, air, sea or space).

Thing that annoyed me a lot was constant we-against-evil-empire talk that was cliche years ago, but got old very fast especially in last few years. What is visible from description of all of the operations is that West was constantly pushing the envelope and once line was crossed operations would terminate for US but would be pushed to proxies to risk their lives (UK, Taiwan and Israel to name the few). That did not change at all after all these days, only way is to push, push, push and then let other people bleed to death.

Besides that, very good book with lots of information on operations, personnel and airplanes - especially less known planes (at least to me) like Constellation WV1/2/EC-121 or RB-57F.

Recommended. show less

Jackson finds another vein of history in WW2 and mines it well. Although fulls of facts and details about weapons planes and tactics, they are woven into a compelling story about men, the RAF particularly, at war. Little known arenas; Norway and aerial reconnaissance, are done full justice in this brief novella.

While an excellent visual reference it loses a star for the inconsistent quality of the illustrations. Some are old, some are computer generated, some are blurry, and a very few of them arent even side views (One was not a side view and just a photograph). The other issue is of putting a large illustration and having its side view split between the pages. The good news is these are only done with extremely well known vehicles so chances are you already know what they look like. Those little show more things really distract but still for the money its a great book on just about every military vehicle ever. show less