Current Reading - October, 2024

First up with Strangling the Axis, which seeks to demonstrate that, compared to some historians (Hammond particularly seems to have it in for Martin van Creveld), that the British were ultimately successful in winning the logistics war in the Mediterranean, which allowed them to stave off defeat in North Africa. Hammond has the numbers to back up his thesis, but I find myself wondering about the process of innovation, which I suspect is happening at the tactical level of command.

>1 Shrike58: My longstanding favourite 'what if' on this topic has always been 'what if the Fallschirmjager had been destroyed securing Malta rather than Crete'... The thing that strikes me most about the Malta Campaign is it gave the British a reason to hang and fight, bang in the middle of the Axis lines of supply, with the ultimate prize being the ability to interdict the enemies shipping and air transport at will. What if that had been taken away early in the campaign? Would a better supplied Afrika Korps have allowed Rommel to get to the Nile in one thrust? By the time of El Alamein, supplies were flowing to the British via routes that couldn't be effectively interdicted by the Axis, in greater quantities than Rommel could ever hope for.

Finished Forgotten Battles of the Zulu War by Adrian Greaves. The author interprets the forgotten battles as anything beyond Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift, so it's a pretty full account of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. The author also included the campaign by Wolseley against the Pedi afterwards, plus he includes the first battle of the First Anglo-Boer War as well. It is a well written and noted book with several appendices and a good bibliography. As a South African author, he also includes information for those who wish to visit the various battlefields. Overall a book worth getting if you are interested in the subject.

>2 Bushwhacked: Let's say that Berlin and Rome were well aware of that last point, though at a loss to come up any plausible responses besides hoping for a miracle from Rommel.

>3 jztemple: If you have never come across it, I'd recommend tracking down a copy of Donald R Morris' Washing of the Spears as you may find it a good read. I remember being particularly gripped by his narrative of the Battle of Blood River.

I'm still struggling a bit reading wise... still plodding my way through Mr Hastings Armageddon ... the Soviets have just pillaged East Prussia and Harris has doubled down on area bombing... but I'm still a couple of hundred pages from the end of the war...

>5 Bushwhacked: I have The Washing of the Spears, picked it up years ago, but thanks for the suggestion. It was, I think, what inspired me to do more reading on the Zulu War and then more extensively on the Victorian military era. It's a bit dated now and more recent books have noted issues with Morris's conclusions. If anyone is looking for recommendations on that war or the whole Victorian era I've got suggestions.

>7 jztemple: I read a library copy some years ago, but it's stuck with me. I also distinctly remember the moment when the hooks of Colonial Military History were set in me... as a teenager back in the '80's I'd been an avid reader of Wilbur Smith novels... which caused me to choose a South African History elective in High School... I don't know whether the history teacher was inspired or simply lazy, but one day a television was wheeled centre of classroom, curtains closed, lights turned off and a cassette shoved in a VCR... then Cy Endfield's 'Zulu' commenced... I tell you, when those Impis topped the ridge and then commenced with their war chant and banging their spears against their shields, I was properly scared at what might happen next!

>3 jztemple: as an augmentation to the Zulu wars I'd recommend The Social History of the Machine Gun for a perspective on the use of that weapon in the campaign

>9 alco261: Thanks, I'll give it a look.

Wrapped up Eagles Over the Sea, which tells you pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about Germany's conduct of aerial maritime operations in WWII, and how Herman Goring's jealousy stunted such efforts.

I started reading The Coldest Winter by David Halberstam. It's been interesting so far. It's helped to provide some good background to the Korean War, as well as personalize some of the events through focusing on some of the soldiers fighting.

Completed "Old Hoodoo" The Battleship Texas: America's First Battleship 1895-1911 by Mark D. Cowan and Alan K. Sumrall. This is the story not of the USS Texas that is currently in dry dock in Galveston TX, but of the first battleship Texas. Many books of this type tend to be picture books with a bit of history and some personal anecdotes, but this book comprises much, much more. There are details of the background that lead up to the decision to build the ship, the eventual contact that went to an English firm and the details of the building. There is also a good deal about the early cruises and the various incidents that resulted in the Texas being considered a hoodoo ship.

The meat of the book is about the Spanish-American War and the role played by the Texas. There is also extensive coverage of the naval aspect of the war in which the Texas participated, including details about the Spanish ships, the harbor at Santiago and a whole lot more, including a very detailed look at the battle when the Spanish fleet tried to run and the American ships hunted them down.

Finally there is the story of the activities of the Texas after the war up to its final decommissioning. And there are also extensive appendices with everything from the deck log during the time the Texas was off Santiago to diagrams and descriptions of the ship's boats.

All that is the good news. The bad news is how the book is composed. The authors self-published the book which shows in a number of errors that would have been caught by a proofreader. Also the book is somewhat of a jumble, with lots of photos and illustrations, probably too many since a good number of them reproduced poorly on the plain paper that constitutes the book. Also a number of the illustrations have their original captions and other texts which came out poorly in the book, at times unreadable. However, there is a lot of excellent content in the book and it can be obtained at a reasonable price.