Gordon L. Rottman (1947–2026)

As mentioned, there was a big stack of Osprey books at my favorite used books store, so I was picking up a few at each visit (they were gone the last time; apparently someone with more disposable income bought the lot). At any rate, this one intrigued me – for entirely innocent reasons, of course. (The author considers the possibility of not innocent reasons and devotes an introductory paragraph to “don’t try this at home” type warnings, just in case you were planning on show more manufacturing your own Bouncing Bettys).

This has the usual high quality Osprey illustrations but the text is somewhat mixed. Most of the written material comes from two series of Allied wartime publications: the War Department’s Intelligence Bulletin, intended for junior officers, and Tactical and Technical Trends, for more senior officers. I had never heard of either of these; they sound like they might be worth investigating. Thus the book is mostly contemporary WWII material coupled with modern and contemporary illustrations.

The Germans tended to booby trap everything and everywhere, and sometimes got really “cute”:

The Germans identified a house that advancing Allies would find suitable for a command post. A picture on the wall was hung crooked. There was a Teller mine behind the picture; the Germans assumed that only an officer would care enough about a crooked picture to straighten it.

A Luger was left lying in plain sight. The squad leader assumed it was trapped, gingerly hooked a wire through the trigger guard, then instructed everybody to take cover in a nearby ditch while he jerked the wire. There was no trap on the Luger; unfortunately, there was in the ditch.

Germans made extensive use of Allied hand grenades in booby traps; Allied grenades were spring-loaded while most German grenades – including the ubiquitous “potato masher” – had a friction pull igniter, which made them unsuitable for most booby traps (although German grenades could be easily disassembled to remove the delay fuse, then left lying around for unwary Allied soldiers to find and try to throw back). An Allied grenade could be left in a can with the pin removed; if the can was tipped by a trip wire or other method, the grenade would fall out and arm. For the same reason, Allied grenades were popular as “antilift” device under conventional land mines. German mines almost always employed at least one and sometimes two additional antilift devices – in fact, the standard Teller mine incorporated an additional fuse pocket for a pull detonator in the underside of the mine.

The Japanese didn’t employ booby traps quite as much as the Germans – perhaps because they never acknowledged that they might have to retreat from a position. Japanese grenades had a percussion igniter and thus were also difficult to incorporate in booby traps, although one documented method was to use a section of bamboo big enough to allow a grenade to fall. The grenade was suspended by a trip wire, when the wire was tripped, the grenade fell to the bottom of the bamboo tube, hit a previously placed rock, and armed.

It was interesting to note that the use of surplus artillery and mortar projectiles as IEDs was quite popular in WWII, by both Japanese and Germans. An example given was three 150mm shells wired together in a drum incorporated in a hasty roadblock. Unlike Iraq and Afghanistan, there do not seem to be any examples of command-detonated devices, doubtless because WWII radio technology wasn’t up to it; nor are any directional mines (like the Claymore) mentioned.

I suppose the main flaw I find is that this is a pretty expensive book – even at half price from a used bookstore – for what is essentially a rehash of previously printed material. show less

Call this Osprey at its most workmanlike, as Rottman crams a great deal of detail into 64 pages, but there is little narrative to speak of. This is the sort of item that you have handy if you're reading about the Pacific Theatre in World War II and want to have hard information at hand about organization and equipment. A nice touch is that Osprey saw fit to provide seven color plates illustrating typical outfits at different points in the war; one for the Marines caught in the Japanese show more conquest of the Philippines, and one for the combat debut of each of the six Marine divisions. show less

As is typical for me in regards to this series, I'm left with the sense that the parts are less than the whole. Still, some of the parts are pretty good, as Rottman is able to say intelligent things about the machines, the training and outlook of the crews, and the operational and tactical situation. When it's all said and done though, I would still prefer more tactical coverage. Single biggest insight: That by Kasserine Pass the M3 medium was already out of production and only two U.S. tank show more battalions in theater were using it in battle. Biggest annoyance: The howler where Rottman refers to "hussars" as heavy cavalry, when in German parlance they were always light cavalry (maybe the author was thinking about the Polish hussars). show less

Osprey's The Rocket Propelled Grenade is a truly outstanding introduction to this great battlefield equalizer, solving many puzzles, such as its name RPG. "Rocket Propelled" never made much sense, what other purpose than propulsion could a rocket have? RPG actually is the Russian abbreviation of Reaktivnoi Protivotankovii Granatomet. The Russians have a real talent to develop sturdy, cheap and simple weapons.

These weapons deliver bang for the buck in asymmetric warfare, offering the modern show more Davids a chance against today's Goliaths. It just happens that today's Davids are the enemies of the West. Thus, like the Kalashnikov, the Soviet designed RPGs are the weapon of choice of rebels, insurgents and terrorists. Flexible light infantry forces which try to survive on a highly mechanized battlefield. Defensive measures against RPGs further increase the sticker price of weapon systems and reduce their flexibility, thus making them less suitable in an asymmetric conflict.

Rottman is highly knowledgeable about this topic and has personally experienced the RPG's power during his service in Vietnam, which results in a condensed and excellently illustrated booklet. On the strength of this title, I will probably pick up Rottman's other title in this series about the Browning gun. The only thing not working in the Osprey Weapon series are the amateurish, out of place paintings. Give the authors those four extra pages to work with. show less