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Battlegroup!

I enjoyed this book, and if you have any interest in modern mechanized warfare you will too. In Battlegroup professor and former British Infantry Officer Jim Storr takes his considerable, training, knowledge, and experience and condenses it down toward assessing the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the NATO and Warsaw Pact armies that faced off across the East/West German border during the latter part of the Cold War.

If that were all Storr did then this book would still be supremely interesting, especially for anyone who has maybe read fictional accounts of what such combat might

The Desert Air Force In World War II

The Desert Air Force in World War II is an informative and enjoyable read. Though I most often enjoy operational histories, I also believe it is important to get a better idea as to what it was like to experience combat during the Second World War. To that end, Ken Delve does a superlative job of gathering and presenting as a coherent narrative the first-hand accounts from the aircrews responsible for fighting against the Axis powers during the first two years of the war in the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Middle East.

This book also offers a detailed look at the organizational structure,

Lend-Lease And Soviet Aviation In The Second World War

Lend-Lease And Soviet Aviation In The Second World War will go down as the definitive book on this topic. Author Vladimir Kotelnikov has assembled in these pages as comprehensive a study as one could want regarding this subject matter. Not only is the book extremely detailed and well-researched, but it contains numerous nuggets of information even the well-informed Second World War enthusiast will find novel.

Kotelnikov walks the reader through the entire process involved in selecting, delivering, modifying, and using the various Allied aircraft shipped to the Soviet Union.

StuG III Brigade 191 The Buffalo Brigade

StuG III Brigade 191 by Bruno Bork is a unit history, and a good one at that. Sometimes books like this can take the form of transcribed after-action reports. As such, they can be dry and uninteresting. Instead, this book provides rich insight into the German usage of assault guns during the Second World War, all while paying attention to the kind of details that other works may overlook.

Replete with photographs not likely to have been seen elsewhere, the book picks up with the formation of StuG Abteilung 191 and then tracks it's war-time deployments.

Special Reconnaissance And Advanced Small Unit Patrolling

Special Forces and Vietnam Veteran Ed Wolcoff's book Special Reconnaissance and Advanced Small Unit Patrolling is a very ambitious publication. In it's pages he has sought to create a guide on Special Forces best practices within the context of conducting patrols in a special/strategic reconnaissance context. Whether he accomplished his goals is up to those with the actual training and expertise to judge. But from this reviewer's perspective, even if he didn't accomplish everything he set out to do he couldn't have missed the mark by much.

Blitzkrieg From the Ground Up

Niklas Zetterling's work is typically well-worth your time. Blitzkrieg From The Ground Up is no exception to that general rule. It offers a unique take on German operations and tactics during World War II, mostly done via putting you in the war-time soldiers' driver's seat.

Now, you might say "what's so interesting about that?" There are countless books out there that describe what it was like to fight during the Second World War.

Men of Armor

This is a unique book compared to those normally reviewed here. It is not an operational history, nor is it an in depth look at a given weapons system or battle. Instead, what Jeff Danby has created in Men of Armor is an excellent look at what it was like to train, deploy, and engage in combat as part of a Second World War U.S. armored battalion.

Quite a bit of work goes into getting right a book like this and in this regards Danby's research efforts are superb.

Red Army Into The Reich

Red Army Into The Reich comes to World War II fans courtesy of some familiar names. Not to leave Patrick Hook out in the cold (who doubtlessly made valuable contributions to bring this project to life) but most notable here are Simon Forty and Nik Cornish. Both are not only well known in the field but also excel at, among other things, publishing well chosen images that help bring the war to life for their readers. Which is exactly what it done here - but with a twist.

Organized into nine chapters Red Army Into The Reich provides an excellent general overview of the Red Army's 1944-1945 push

Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana 22nd January 1879: Minute by Minute

Chris Peers is a leading expert on African colonial warfare. This expertise is on full display in Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana - as is his extensive knowledge of the battlefield where these fascinating events took place. In addition, Peers offers more than a narrative.

There is quite a bit of solid analysis provided, including a level headed approach to a subject matter that lacks the ample documentation and primary sources of, say, that available to a researcher studying the Second World War's Battle of Stalingrad.

Tank Combat in Spain

English language books on the use of armor during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 are few and far between. Into this void now steps the well qualified Anthony J. Candil. He is a former senior officer in the Spanish Army with extensive training and experience in armored warfare. His expertise and background is evident in his approach to this topic, and is welcome.

Tank Combat in Spain is consice, well organized, and offers important insight into the employment of tanks during the war, lessons learned (or not learned) by the participating armed forces, as well as other armies observing

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