As of this writing nearly 100,000 Americans have died of Covid-19. The vast majority of these deaths were entirey preventable. That is undisputable. What is also undisputable is the horror of dying from this disease, of dying alone.
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Steve Mercatante
on: May 25 2020 - 3:44pm
Review Type: Covid-19, Memorial Day 2020, Nursing Home, Steven Mercatante, Veterans, World War II
Steve Mercatante
on: May 19 2020 - 7:57pm
I have just published my review of Special Forces Berlin by James Stejskal. After reading this book anyone would be hard-pressed to argue that "Detachment A" wasn't the best-of-the-best in the US military throughout much of the Cold War era. One could even argue that it's skillset as practiced in the late 1970's up to the mid-1980's equally stood up as best in its class in comparison to even its newest and more widely acclaimed US special forces peers in Delta Force or SEAL TEAM 6.
Review Type: 10th SF Group, Bad Tolz, Berlin, Cold War, Delta Force, Detachment, James Stejskal, Review, Special Forces Berlin, Steven Mercatante
Steve Mercatante
on: Mar 22 2020 - 7:18pm
Igor Nebolsin does it again. My latest review covers his most recent work - Tank Battles in East Prussia and Poland 1944-1945. This is a must read for armored enthusiasts. Check out my review and see why.
Steve Mercatante
on: Mar 12 2020 - 10:05pm
Hello, just published my latest book review. This book offers a must read for enthusiasts of armored operations during the Second World War, and comes to us from historian Douglas E. Nash - in a work titled From the Realm of a Dying Sun. This book offers readers a detailed look at the IV-SS Panzerkorps formation and subsequent combat operations in Poland from August to November of 1944. Check out the review here.
Review Type: Book Review, Douglas E. Nash, Eastern Front, IV-SS Panzerkorps, Poland, Praga, Steven Mercatante, World War II
Steve Mercatante
on: Feb 16 2020 - 5:42pm
Hi all. Obviously it's been awhile since I last posted in June. What can I say, work and a young family has been keeping me very busy. As has my progress on my second book examining Germany's defeat in the Second World War. Nevertheless, I have been able to do some reading of late, and have three books I think you will really enjoy. Each offers a unique look at often overlooked aspects of the Second World War and Vietnam War.
Review Type: Book Review, Steven Mercatante, Vietnam, World War II
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Steve Mercatante
on: Jun 5 2019 - 3:43pm
With the 75th Anniversary of the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France upon us (D-Day) I thought it would be appropriate to highlight one of the more important contributions to the D-Day effort. That being the armor tasked with supporting the assaulting infantry at Omaha beach. During the abortive Dieppe raid of August 1942 it had become obvious that significant armored support was essential if any Allied invasion force had hopes of getting past the German beach defenses.
Review Type: 741st Tank Battalion, 743rd Tank Battalion, 75th Anniversary, D-Day, ETO, Omaha Beach, Operation Overlord, World War II
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Steve Mercatante
on: Apr 9 2018 - 6:38pm
Traditional accounts of Germany's 1942 summer offensive on the Eastern Front (codenamed Operation Blue) describe the tyranny of time, space, and distance all working together to undermine German efforts. Couple that with the Red Army's wise decision to pull back, draw the Germans in, and only then stand and fight, using its superior size and strength to beat the Axis forces, and you have a conventional wisdom that proved surprisingly enduring.
As it turns out a huge chunk of this conventional
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Steve Mercatante
on: Mar 1 2018 - 7:01pm
The German army in the east (Ostheer) had taken a beating during Barbarossa in part but even worse during the Soviet winter counter-offensives beginning in December of 1941. The first six months of 1942 featured a series of massive battles that would continue nearly up to the start of the second large-scale German summer offensive: Operation Blue.
Review Type: Afrika Corps, Army Group South, Case Blue, Eastern Front, Eleventh Army, Logistics, Operation Blue, Oshteer, Reichsbahn, Rommel, World War II
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Steve Mercatante
on: Oct 9 2017 - 8:59pm
Though it is popular to think of the 1939-1941 "Blitzkrieg" era Wehrmacht as a near unstoppable war machine, reality is far different. Material shortages similar to those afflicting the German army in the years 1944-1945 were all too apparent during the Third Reich's early war march across Europe and the Mediterranean littoral.
Review Type: Erich Raeder, Hitler, Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe, Oswald Lutz, Panzer I, Reichswehr, U-boat, Versailles Treaty, Wehrmacht, World War II
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Steve Mercatante
on: Sep 27 2017 - 7:21pm
For over a decade now, I have sought, via my professionally published work and at this website, to drill down into exactly how and why the Second World War in Europe ended as it did. To that end, the major component of my research has focused on the war fought between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Review Type: Ausfalle, Gefechtsstarke, Heer, Kampfstarke, KStn, Red Army, Sollstarke, TO&E, Wehrmacht, World War II
