Military History

St Johann Press, Haworth, New Jersey, 2018. Reviewed by Chris Ketcherside First to Go is a collection of anecdotes from the USMC Combat Correspondents Association, with no specific author credited. It uses significant material from a previous publication, Last to Know, First to Go by Garry Cameron, the unofficial history of Marine Combat Correspondents, published in 1987 by Charger Books. First to Go builds on that work by adding material from conflicts since 1987. The book’s purpose, according to the preface written by Jack T. Paxton, Captain, USMC (ret), himself a correspondent, is to record the stories of combat correspondents and demonstrate that while they…

Reviewed by Ed Calouro Most histories of World War II at sea rightly focus on the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Germany. After all, these nations’ navies did the bulk of the fighting. The French, Italian, and other fleets generally receive short shrift. John Jordan and Robert Dumas have shifted the spotlight in their reissued French Battleships, 1922-1956. Originally published in 2009, the 2020 release is a high quality, superior stock paperback, the type readers expect from Seaforth Publishing. This is a first-rate history of the four modern fast capital ships of the Marine Nationale and is a superb presentation of the Dunkerque– and Richelieu-class ba…

Reviewed by CAPT Chuck Good, USN (Ret.) “Stealth at Work” is a chapter title in this interesting and clever little book, and it fits the book itself. To outward appearance, this is a breezy picture-book, geared towards tourists and dilletantes visiting the museum ship herself at her berth in Belfast; a light souvenir, easy to slip in a backpack with the offering of a “tanner (sixpence)” in the donation bucket. But the book’s stealth is what is hidden in between the myriad of sketches, photos, vignettes, sidebars and color plates: a concise, lucid and quite professional history of the early years of World War I in the North Sea. The story takes us from mobilization to …

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. This new title from the Naval Institute Press’s series, Studies in Naval History and Sea Power, is written by Christopher Buckley, son of Captain David Buckey (USN Retired) and an undergraduate history major from the University of California Santa Cruz, who obtained his doctorate at the University of Salford (UK) in 2013. Genesis of the Grand Fleet, in part, derives from his thesis, Forging the Shaft of the Spear of Victory: The Creation and Evolution of the Home Fleet in the Prewar Era, 1900-1914. Professor Eric John Grove (1948-2021), a distinguished, inspirational, and highly respected naval historian, author, lecturer and televi…

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Reviewed by CDR Tobias R. Philbin III, PhD, USNR (Ret.) This is a professionally executed and beautifully produced exposition of the original plans of the second class of German dreadnought, the originals of which now reside in the collections of the UK National Maritime Museum (NMM). As it happens, this reviewer has some familiarity with the remaining collections of the World War I era Naval Inter-Allied Commission of Control (NIACC) which ended up in the NMM. Whilst a graduate student in War Studies at Kings College London, I sought assistance from Rear Admiral Percy Gick, R.N. (ret) in locating the NIACC collection, as previous inquiries in the German archives indi…

Reviewed by Major Chris Ketcherside, USMC (Ret.) Guidelines for the Leader and the Commander is a collection of chapters, lectures, and manual excerpts General Clarke penned over the course of his career based on his hard-won experiences in positions of leadership in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, as well as in peacetime. Gen. Clarke’s guidelines first force potential leaders to engage in self-reflection, to see if they are truly ready for leadership, and then he discusses, in broad terms. the importance of training, time management, and setting a personal example, among other subjects. This text is very Army centric, but there are numerous basic l…

By Mark Harris; Helion, Warwick, UK, (2021). Reviewed By Capt. Richard Dick, USN (Ret.) Harwich Submarines in the Great War is the detailed story of the 1914 British overseas submarine campaign. “Detailed” really does not do the author justice. Mark Harris’s research is little short of astonishing. He has plumbed British, German, and French archives, the papers of Adm. Roger Keyes, RN (Commodore in Charge, Submarine Service, 1912-1914), and the British and German official histories to tell the story, in depth, of every British offensive submarine patrol in the North Sea in 1914 (and the 1914 Baltic patrols) from the outbreak of war in August through the end of …

Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad, Ph.D. Jon Diamond, a physician and author of over a dozen books about World War II, has produced yet another photo collection about the battle to beat the Japanese in the Pacific. While the United States won the two-month long campaign in the Palau Islands, the conflict proved deadly to both the Americans and the Japanese. The benefits of this campaign remain questionable. Using extensive photographic collections from the National Archives and the United States Army Military History Institute (sometimes referred to as the Army Heritage and Education Center), Diamond illustrates the Pacific road to Palau starting in the 1930s. The book inclu…

By CWO-4 Lester B. Tucker, USN (Ret.) Originally Published in Pull Together Vol. 32 No. 1 (Spring/Summer 1993) It is a sure bet that one of the proudest days in an enlisted individual’s naval service is the date on which a first-class petty officer dons the uniform and is accepted into the Chief Petty Officer community. At this time, the PO1’s leadership and professional abilities are recognized by superiors. These qualities continue to be honed with experience and maturity until retirement. This article covers the history of the grade of Chief Petty Officer. April 1, 1993, marked the 100th anniversary of the creation of that grade. It is necessary, however, t…

Reviewed by CAPT Chuck Good, USN (Ret) Broad in scope and rich in detail, Hitler’s Navy is a comprehensive overview of the ships, organization, and sailors of the Kriegsmarine. As befits Osprey’s core competency in producing monographs of famous ships and classes, the work is lavishly illustrated and full of technical detail. For those seeking focused accounts of famous campaigns or battles, such as the River Plate, Denmark Strait or the Norwegian Campaign, this is not the work. These engagements have been the focus of many previous works, and the author chooses to give them a minimalist summary in his first chapter. But Hitler’s Navy makes up for the lack of fighting…

Reviewed by Major Chris Ketcherside, USMC (Ret.) Thomas McKelvey Cleaver’s Holding the Line focuses on carrier-based U.S. naval aviation operations during the Korean conflict. He also touches on related subjects including events on the ground, U.S. Air Force operations and British naval aviation operations. His primary argument seems to be that naval aviation excelled at tactical operations and ground support but was ill suited to the mission of strategic interdiction for which it was often employed. Holding the Line is divided into 19 relatively short chapters which are organized primarily chronologically but also by subject. For example, Cleaver mentions night f…

Reviewed by Ens. Sydney M. Willis, USN Homecomings is a collection of photos of the Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels. This book is primarily comprised of photographs sprinkled with anecdotes, poems, and descriptions providing background for the photos. Laura Bogan is the officially licensed Navy photographer for the Blue Angels and their affiliated association and foundation. In her introduction, Bogan explains her connection to the Blue Angels and how this project began. She describes the intention of the book and the photos it contains as an attempt to portray the feeling of inspiration, awe, and passion the Blue Angels give on their Sunday flig…

By Capt. James R. “Ros” Poplar, USN (Ret) As we approach Veteran’s Day many members of America’s Greatest Generation are no longer with us and in the not-too-distant future there will be none as 2025 will mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. One of those silent warriors was my father James R Poplar, Jr. whose military service and subsequent contribution to American society typifies many of the silent warriors of that era. My father was enrolled in Duke University when the war broke out, but he was able to obtain his parents’ consent to enlist in the United States Navy at an early age where he volunteered to serve in submarines upon completion of …

Naval Historian Paul Stillwell tells the story of how Duke Snider earned extra income during World War II. View our full Second Saturday Webinar HERE. The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Reviewed by LCDR Bryan Hayes, USN (Ret.) In the Claws of the Tomcat is a thoroughly researched and detailed book about U.S. Navy F-14 operations in the Middle East, including Operation Desert Storm and other less-known encounters between U.S. aircraft and Iranian and Iraqi adversaries. I highly recommend it to serious students of naval aviation as well as aircraft modelers interested in accurately depicting the F-14. This book’s greatest strength is its reliance on interviews with aviators who flew the missions described in its pages. The interview subjects include not only U.S. Navy pilots and radar intercept officers (RIOs), but also Iranian and Iraqi airmen. …

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. Vincent P. O’Hara is an independent naval historian and the author of thirteen works, including Six Victories: North Africa, Malta, and the Mediterranean Convoy War, November 1941-March 1942 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2019) and with Leonard R. Heinz, Clash of Fleets: Naval Battles of the Great War, 1914-18 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2017). He holds a history degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Leonard R. Heinz worked for many years as a financial services lawyer while maintaining an active interest in military and naval history. He has written articles and designed wargames on naval topics and earned …

Reviewed by Dr. Diana Ahmad A US Navy veteran, author, editor, and former director of the Naval Historical Center, William S. Dudley has written a wonderful volume that analyzes the administration and logistics of the Navy during the War of 1812. Dudley focuses on the problems surrounding ship building, provisioning, recruitment, transportation of goods and men, and medical care during a time of poor financial support from the US Congress. In fifteen chapters, Dudley discusses the various battles; yet more importantly, he explains the personal relationships between members of the government and their associations with those who provided the equipment to the Navy. …

Reviewed by LTC Stephen A. Tribble, Ph.D., USA Common perceptions of the Vietnam War include visions of guerrilla warfare, airmobile infantry, strategic bombing, tactical air support, and unprepared American draftee replacements heading off to a foreign land to fight an enduring war against an unrelenting enemy. In Into the Iron Triangle: Operation Attleboro and the Battle of North Saigon, 1966 (Asia @ War Series No. 19), author Dr. Arrigo Velicogna seeks to dispel the myth that the Vietnam War was a series of infrequent and minor counterinsurgency battles fought by poorly trained and equipped United States (U.S.) conscripts on the ground supported by overwhelming ind…

Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Ben Skipper’s Landing Craft & Amphibians: Seaborne Vessels in the 20th Century briefly delves into the interesting world of landing craft and amphibians involved in various conflicts in the 20th century from World War II to the present. While it is not authoritative, it does detail many such craft with useful sections for modelers. Skipper is an RAF veteran and freelance writer with several “Pen and Sword” titles to his credit such as The Battles of El Alamein in the “BattleCraft” series and several others in the “LandCraft” series about the Land Rover, Humvee and M113 Armored Personnel Carrier. This 64-page A4 format monograph is divi…