Troops Books

I FELT THAT THE BOOK WAS VERY SPECIFIC. IT DEALT WITH MANY DETAILS OF THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS AND THE INDIANS AND THE GENERALS. IT ALSO WENT AS FAR AS TO SHOW SOME OF THE PICTURES THAT WERE INVOLVED. I READ THE BOOK FOR A BOOK REVIEW FOR CLASS. BUT I WILL READ IT AGAIN FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING. MY 12 YEAR OLD NEPHEW READ THE BOOK AND INJOYED IT.

William H. Leckie's Buffalo Soldiers proves to be a well written and well researched book on the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments which were stationed mostly in the southwest section of the United States from Texas to Arizona. Both regiments were manned by black soldiers although officered by whites. Long forgotten by history, the book reflects on the valuable services these black soldiers contributed to the creation of our nation in that region. The book, I thought did a great justice in retelling this story that Americans in general have forgotten. The book traces the history of these "buffalo soldiers" (as coined by the Indians for black soldiers' woolly hair) between 1866 to 1891. The book covers all the military activities of these two regiments and provides insights to the campaigns and battles they fought. The book also reflects in part, the near unending forces of prejudice these buffalo soldiers had to put up with from the rest of the army and its civilian overlords.

As far as I can see, this remains one of the few books that gives a definitive accounts of the buffalo soldiers during this period. Only real weakness I see in this book was that it didn't give great details into the lives and insights to these black soldiers who fought so well. But the book is still worth reading if not for anything, to see how well men fights, if well led and well trained, against the prejudices of their own nation and against cunning and powerful Indian foes who ironically, was fighting for what these black men were fighting for, respects and equality. I will end this review with an ironic quote from the movie, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, "Men in dirty-shirt blue, only a page in history books to mark their lives. But wherever they rode, whatever they fought for, that place became the United States". Thus lies the legacy of the buffalo soldiers.

This is a first class narrative of two very proud and successful regiments of cavalry. It is obviously well researched.

The author nearly goes astray in at least two places by going off on a tangen but recovers quickly and gets back to the point. He certainly likes the word "deprecate" and by the end of book I wished he could have used a thesaurus. Also, he discribes their maneuvers as "marches" where in fact the 9th and 10th must have ridden as they were, after all, mounted soldiers.

The biggest fault, in my opinion, is the very ending. What happen to these two regiments? Where they disbanded and if so, what happen to some of the major figures? This interesting story seems to come to an abrupt halt without so much as a wave goodbye.

First of all, there is a point where I strongly disagree with the authors. They say that, probably, their investigation, being so practical and so far of academic issues, should not be admitted as a paper in any important meeting. As a frequent reviewer, I have to say that I would like to find more frequently the strehgth of the rationale and the empiric work of this book.

The second part: The book is very good but very centered in the development of TADMUS system. If the reader is a naval officer, that is not a problem but many of the analyses and conclusions can be very useful for other fields. However, being so centered in the TADMUS system, that enforces the readers to make a jump in the abstraction to reach by themselves useful conclusions.

The book gives a lot of information about how a modern battleship works and the keys for the decision. For non-naval officers, if that part decreases and, at the same time, all the foundations and results are explained in more generic terms, the book could strongly improve.

I hope the authors will prepare another release less navy-centered. If not, the book is worth anyway.

Not the easiest book to get through if you're not a psychologist, it nevertheless provides interesting and useful insight for teams operating in high tempo environments. Although TADMUS was geared towards dangerous, high stakes professions, its findings are applicable to teams who do not regular face life-and-death situations. Especially useful --since so little is written on it elsewhere -- is the insight into effective team dynamics and how to train to development them. Leaders who profess or aspire to have high performance teams in any realm -- military or commercial -- should take the time to learn the lessons of the study this book describes.

One of the best training resources I have encountered that specifically addresses strategies and techniques for developing training systems for people working in stressful environments. The compilation is mostly concise, well edited and easy to absorb. Within each paper, each author provides lessons learned from their experience also makes the book very usable as a reference. The text does a good job of outlining the USN's Tactical Decision Making Under Stress (TADMUS) project, and provides a good balance of topics dedicated to both research and application. I am not a researcher, so I could not evaluate the work and methodologies from a scientific standpoint. However, I found the text very usable from the training developer's viewpoint, particularly Parts II and III which are devoted to individual and team-level training. Others seem to find it useful as well - after ordering the first copy, we have subsequently had to purchase two more to meet the demand of our development staffers!

The author, a former Ranger himself, clearly understands the subject. It is well photographed and written, and covers a broad range of subjects beyond the Regiment's weapons. However, though it was only published in 2005, one of the six chapters is entirely outdated. I refer to the Chapter on Ranger support elements. The regiment now has an organic Special Troops Battalion for its needs. When the book was published this unit did not exist. Though no fault of the author's, it does impair the books usefulness. Secondly, a few details of systems, and unit names are outdated, or slipped through with typos. For instance the author writes of Task Force 160, which has been redesignated 160th SOAR, since 1990. Overall, however it is informative and concise.

This is a great book with great pictures. The book provides a look into the past of what weapons past Rangers used. It also provides a view into the tools the present Rangers use. This book gives a very thorough history of the Rangers and how they began. I would defintely recommend this book to all past, present, and future Ranger fans.

Great addition to a book collection of a fan of special forces. The book begins with a breif, detailed and very interesting history of the U.S. Army Rangers from the American Indian war to Afghanistan. The rest of the book is packed with weapons, tactics and gear. The book contains approximately 163 full color action photos that depict the most modern up to date tools of the Army Rangers. The writing is technical but comprehensive and at times very repetitive but that is to be expected with the limited information the U.S.Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office can give an author. I highly recommend this book.

I would be very interested in purchasing this book however, I refuse to purchase books which are not appropriately titled or named for the period they are representing. This books title should be: Colored Soldiers of the American Civil War, or Negro Soldiers of the American Civil War. Either would be appropriate for the time, and even so today. Hyphenating a class or group of people only further denigrates the erosion of our society and culture. When we deliberately hyphenate ourselves in any manner we show our devisiveness and our inability to be an American with one desire and purpose, to put our country first and to be loyal to our country, our flag and our people & history. Change the name & I may purchase it.

Mark Lardas' AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIER IN THE CIVIL WAR surveys the history of the U.S. Colored Troops who fought bravely during the war. Chapters consider their transition from slave to warrior to free man and provide insights on how they fought the war, and their lives thereafter. Black and white drawings and photos throughout supplement details.

A former British soldier compiles with loving care information about the German elite Gebirgsjaeger ("mountain") divisions in WWII. The book is dedicated to his wife, Edeltraude. Lucas spots the main paradox right away. These devout Catholic men from a loving and generous part of Austrian society were giving their very best to preserve a devil, who, if he had won, would have destroyed their entire way of life. He hints at an answer in their value system: their professionalism, pride of organization loyalty to each other, and above all their boyish glee in mountain-climbing and performing the seeming impossible. These are the men who, practically for a lark, planted the nazi flag atop the inaccessible Mt. Elbrus, where there were never any enemies. With regard to their ultimate fate against the Russian army, Lucas shrinks back from story-telling. ...The book includes black-and-white photos.

This book was the first history in English of the mountain troops of the German Army in World War II.

The book begins with a brief introduction to the formation of these elite forces, including their special trainning. They were initially drawn from the Alpine and other high mountain regions and Germany and Austria as it was believed that they would have a natural ability to not only fight but live in high mountain territory. When Germany invaded Poland there were three divisions of mountain troops ("Gebirgsjaeger") in the German Army. As the war progressed, the number of divisions expanded (including the raising of several Waffen-SS mountain divisions) and they were broadly used in all theatres. For example, German mountain troops fought in all three Army Groups (North, Center, and South) in the war against the Soviet Union.

Although trained to fight and live in high mountain conditions, due to the vagaries of war and their excellent skills and physical conditioning, these troops were more often than not used in other areas.

Because of their wide use and dispersement, a history of all the campaigns they fought in would be beyond the scope of a book this size. The author wisely discusses the battlefield experiences and successes of different groups of these warriors in various campaigns from the beginnings of the war in Poland to the bitter end in Austria, in between are accounts of the fighting in Norway, the Balkans, Crete, Russia, Uman, the Caucasus mountains, and Finland.

Altogether, the book is a very good general introduction but the writing at times seems a bit dry, as the author concentrates on the fighting and movement of troops at the battalion and divisional level.

Included are brief chapters at the end on the Order of Battle, Weapons, Uniforms, and mini-biographies of major figures.

This book deals with NOT general history of Russo-German War. It is more close to the technical document of military tactics -- if you want to understand the situation in this book, you first should have some knowledges about the entire war. But, for the reader who have it, 'The Anvil of War' will be an exciting supplementary reading account. It deals with the very moment of Russo-German War -- mainly from personal experiences of Generaloberst Rauss who was the commander of 6th Panzerdivision, 4th Panzerarmee and 3rd Panzerarmee. And it also includes the bitter encirclement of 56,000 Germans in Cherkassy and the bloody Belikye-Luki fighting, etc.

This an oustanding book for those interested in how the Germans dealt with a numerically superior enemy that was well equipped and fighting on its home soil. The book is a monogram by two officers who served in Russia. The introduction by the editor gives the reader a first hand account of how the German general officers were convinced to write their own accounts as seen from the German side of the war. Many of these officers worked for years on compiling these accounts and by 1954 it involved 730 Germans,from Reichmarshall to Hauptmann/Rittmeister(Captain). The first part of the book focuses on the effect of the Russian winter and the improvisations the Germans had to take to adapt. The second part of the book focuses on the tactics employed again and again by the Germans to hold back a determined enemy, all this inspite of the fact that German generals were severly hamstrung by a pyschotic leader run amok. Good illustrations that depict accurately the military situation described in each encounter. Overall a very good book for the students of tactics and leadership.

Having seen the quality, to use the word loosely, of the other works on the Austrian Army in the Osprey series, seeing one written by an authority on his subject makes a welcome change. The author compliments his highly informative work with a number of contemporary uniform illustrations either previously unpublished or otherwise very difficult to find. Those that rely on later tertiary sources will, of course, have a problem with that, but then there are always those who prefer myth to history.

This is an excellent effort on an engrossing subject, and has to be one of the hardest types of uniforms to track down, study, and present. The author has manfully stepped up to the plate and has done us all a service with this most difficult study. It is well-documented and has an excellent bibliography, including much primary source material, which leads to further study of this fascinating topic. What has been accomplished is a thorough, logically presented volume that will greatly assist the modeler, wargamer, and historian.

The author is knowledgeable on the subject matter and completely at home with the Austrian army. Additionally, he is most enthusiastic about the subject matter in general and the Austrian Army in particular. The myriad units, and their interesting, and variable, uniforms form a striking contrast to the regular Austrian army, the infantry of which has been thoroughly covered by the author in a follow-on Osprey volume.

There is much to recommend to the reader and historian in this volume, and little to complain about. It would have been a good idea, though, for the author to explain more about what he refers to as 'Austria's Thermopylae' at the Malgaboreth blockhouse in 1809 on page 10 (one wonders why the comparison and how and if the Austrians fought to annihilation like the Spartans in 480 BC), and why the author commenting on a black and white Richard Knotel illustration that it is 'wrongly colored' and doesn't explain how. There are German expressions for clothing, colors, and measurements throughout the text that are not explained. This can be awkward for those who have little or no knowledge of German, but the use of a good German-English dictionary will solve this problem. These, however, are minor difficulties that in no way detract from the impact of the volume.

The myriad excellent black and white illustrations that fill the book help immensely with the study, and attest to the author's dedication to his subject and the care with which he conducted his research. The color illustrations are very good, though there are questions that need to be answered, in my opinion. Comparing certain units in the color illustrations, and certain verbal descriptions of uniforms in the text that are not illustrated, with those of Herbert Knotel in the second and third volumes of the superb, immense uniform study of the period Napoleonic Uniforms by John Elting there are some discrepancies. Most are minor, regarding facing colors, epaulets, and distinctions on headgear, as well as the shape of headgear and the color of various uniform coats. The units affected in these discrepancies are the Wurmser Freikorps, the Archduke Charles Legion, the Emigre Infantry Regiment 'Rohan', the Serazzaner, the Austro-German Legion infantry, the 'Le Loup' Jager Battalion (called the Jagerforps in this volume), and the Serbian Freikorps (Free Battalion).

As Herbert Knotel was carefully trained by his father, Richard Knotel, as both an historian and a uniformologist (and being an excellent artist in his own right), and who worked mainly from primary source material (he improved on his father's work and corrected many of his errors), in my opinion his 'version' will have to stand over the material presented here until more definitive evidence comes to hand.

However, this does not detract from the overall value of the book and it is highly recommended. It is an excellent addition to the collective knowledge on the period and should be on every enthusiasts bookshelf next to the author's other work on the Austrian Army.

I am a descendant of a 10th Mountain soldier, who is still living, my review of course is biased to that slant. My dad shared with my brothers and I the places in Colorado where he trained, the mountain songs, however, he has never told us about the sights, sounds, or events of the battles in Kiska or Italy. This book brought to me the understanding of those events and the impact of why he never talked about those events, it has opened to me what happened on the battlefield. The book is non-fiction, it reads like fiction. One reviewer commented that it was not great military writing, I don't believe that was the premise for the book.
Thank you Mr. Sanders for helping me understand my father's role as well as those which whom he served. I'm grateful he came home and enriched my life.

The Boys of Winter: Life and Death in the U.S. Ski Troops During the Second World War is Charles J. Sanders' attempt to tell the story of the 10th Mountain Division from formation to the end of war in the ETO (plus brief discussion of post-war adventures of veterans). Unfortunately it is not an attempt that succeeds from the standpoint of a piece of military history. On the other hand Sanders has created a highly readable story about skiers-turned soldiers. In fact, if one is interested in skiing, the history of American ski resorts and learning the who's-who of 30-40's skiing The Boys of Winter might be for you. However, if you're looking for solid unit combat history this is not it!

Sanders' book can be separated into four topical sections: 1) introductions of the three central characters of the book (pp. 1-57) - Rudy Konieczny, Jake Nunnemacher, and Ralph Bromaghin; 2) formation and training of the Eighty-seventh Mountain Regiment (the precursor unit to the 10th Mountain Division) (pp. 58-116); 3) Deployment of the 10th Mountain Division to Italy in January 1945 and the subsequent four months spent battling German troops (pp. 117-192); and 4) discussion of what became of 10th Mountain Division men who survived (pp. 193-204). The first, second and fourth sections are mainly devoted to skiing adventures, ski racing, and the personal lives of the three central characters and other notables of the skiing world. Sanders clearly knows skiing history and can name drop with the best of them.

In contrast, the third section of the book, which is really the only section with significant military focus, is not particularly good history. Sanders' prose in this section is very readable but not very deep. His narrative relies almost exclusively on second and third-hand accounts and is rarely substantiated by other materials (e.g., after-action reports, official U.S. Army documents, German Army documents). There is amazing human value in accounts made by the men who were there but the most reliable, accurate and sound history is that which combines information from multiple sources - both emotionally attached and not. Here Sanders fails. In many cases Sanders' writing style, while engaging to the reader, will also annoy the more serious students of WWII history. Two examples are particularly obvious and prevalent. First, Sanders refers to the Germans simply as "Nazis" in almost every context where he is writing the prose himself. In contrast, when Sanders is quoting 10th Mountain Division veterans the term Nazi is rarely (if at all) used. Take note Mr. Sanders - not all Wehrmacht or Waffen-SS soldiers, or Germans in general for that matter, were Nazis. It is simple wrong to refer to WWII German soldiers as "Nazis" broadly. Is it fair to call Hitler's regime Nazi? Yes. But not the German soldiers as a whole. The veterans didn't use the term for a reason! As a second example, Sanders also appears to create his own set of U.S. Army unit designations. For example, in a reference to B Company/87th Infantry Regiment/10th Mountain Division Sanders uses the shorthand designation "Company 86-B" (p. 152). This is in no way a standard U.S. Army designation.

In the final tally, The Boys of Winter is a four-star book from the standpoint of readability but a 1.5 star effort for military history. Total score: 2.5 stars. If you want a well-written human story that is skiing centric this might be one to pick up. If you want a history of the 10th Mountain Division (what this reviewer thought he was getting) - save your money!

First off, let's dismiss the "Untold Story" bit which is part of the book's title. The fact is that the 10th Mountain has received its share of books and "Climb to Conquer" in that respect, is no different.

That said, along with McKay Jenkins "The Last Ridge" and Bob Bishop's and Flint Whitlock's "Soldiers on Skis" you have what I think is a wonderful tryptych on America's Mountain Soldiers.

"Climb to Conquer" compares favorably with "Last Ridge." Shelton's book is I think, a touch more readable. Shelton moves the action along quickly. The photo section isn't as good as "Last Ridge" (though neither can compare to "Soldiers on Skis" for that matter). The book also suffers for lack of maps. Shelton does a wonderful job describing the 10th's objectives and obstacles and how they overcome them, but some maps would help keep readers abreast of what is going on.

"The Last Ridge" is, I think more conforming of a straight narrative historical account and "Climb to Conquer" is written much like a catchy magazine article (but in this case, it's a good thing).

Each book has it's strengths. Jenkins' book is highly informative, but Shelton's will probably read faster. Both are warmly recommended. I can't pick out which is better. That is best left to the readers. However, it's nice to see America's Mountain troops get the recognition they long deserve.

Grant Waara

Climb To Conquer: The Untold Story of World War II's 10th Mountain Division Ski Troops is an engaging story of one the US Army's most specialized organizations of WWII. Outdoor and skiing enthusiast Peter Shelton has done the men of the 10th Mountain Division justice with Climb To Conquer. Unlike the more recent, Boys of Winter by Charles J. Sanders, Shelton's book is a solid piece of historical literature.

Climb to Conquer is divided into four basic topical sections:

1) The Prologue and first seven chapters (with the exception of chapter 5) are dedicated to telling the story of how the "US Ski Troops" were conceived, formed and trained. Shelton thankfully opts not to present Climb To Conquer with the who's-who of skiing approach that Sander's took with his book. Instead Shelton gives background information about the genesis of the ski troops (initial Army outfit being the 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment) and its most vocal and active proponents (C. Minot "Minnie" Dole and no less than Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall) within a context of the pre- and post-Pearl Harbor US military without cluttering it with unnecessary name dropping and ski-laden references.

2) The second section, which can be seen as being comprised of Chapters 5 and 8-13, is the "battle meat" of the book. While Chapter 5 sits physically in the middle of the first topical section of the book it in fact tells the story of the first armed actions of the 87th Mountain Regiment on Kiska - one of the Aleutian Islands. This is a fascinating story told well by Shelton. Charged with driving Japanese defenders from the Island, the 87th spilled its first blood on Kiska. Unfortunately Kiska represents a tragedy in the history of the 10th Mountain Division since the casualties sustained were not the result of Japanese defenders (who had vacated the island weeks earlier in a stealthy escape through a US Navy blockade worthy of its own retelling) but rather from friendly fire of fellow 87th soldiers. Confusion and chaos reigned on Kiska and none of the survivors forgot their terrible experiences.

Chapters 8-13 detail the exploits of the 10th Mountain Division as it entered the ETO in late 1944. Shelton does a good job describing the actions of the 10th (and other units of the US Fifth Army under Maj. Gen. Mark Clark) in the Italian Appennine Mountains, through to the Po River Valley, and the final race with the Wehrmacht to their supposed Alpine Redoubt in the Austrian Alps. Shelton's prose in the "battle chapters" is such that it holds the readers attention and draws then along with the story. Very well written from a pure reading standpoint.

3) The third section of the book is represented by a single chapter (14) and details the time men of the 10th spent in the European mountains after their fighting was over. While there is not a lot of text associated with this section it provides an interesting tie-in to the final section of the book.

4) The fourth and final section (Chapters 15 and 16) of the book describes the exploits and accomplishments of the veterans of the 10th at home after the war. Again Climb To Conquer, unlike The Boys of Winter, does a good job detailing how men of the 10th were instrumental in the establishment of the US ski industry. As was the case with his discussion of the formation and training of the mountain troops, Shelton places this final section within the larger context of how these things came to pass in many ways because of the training and combat experiences of the 10th veterans. Sanders failed to do this with The Boys of Winter. Moreover, Shelton doesn't limit his post-war accolades of the 10th Vets to their influence on the ski industry but rather makes a strong point of the critical importance of their work on environmental and conservation issues. These were mountain-men who had seen the devastation of man in war and vowed to protect nature's beauties. This final section provides the most unique sub-story to the history of the 10th Mountain Division.

Concluding remarks: While the sub-title (The Untold Story of World War II's 10th Mountain Division Ski Troops) of Climb To Conquer is misleading - this is certainly not an untold story as many books about the 10th have proceeded Shelton's book, Peter Shelton has crafted a sound piece of unit history that also represents a noteworthy human story. Climb To Conquer is an easy-to-read, hard to put down and a solid 4 stars.

Contrário à maioria dos livros sobre o assunto, mais pontualmente sobre as divisões blindadas alemãs (panzer) durante a 2ª Guerra Mundial, este livro de Dinardo é na realidade a sua dissertação que trata sobre esta parte do exército alemão.

O que torna impressionante é a sua metodologia de pesquisa a qual se baseia em um infindável número de fontes corretamente exposto ao final do livro na referência bibliográfica .

Sendo assim, vários pontos são abordados de uma forma estrita de pesquisa que, se por um lado pode parecer um tanto enfadonha, por outro promove o exame de vários aspectos até então considerados como pura verdade por outros autores.

Estranho que o próprio livro parece ser menor do que uma boa dissertação, mas isso não impede o seu caráter explicativo e, mais ainda, elucidadtivo. Para se ter um exemplo, a própria afirmação do autor de que as teorias de Guderian sobre o emprego dos panzer não eram totalmente advindas de Liddle-Hart, Fulller e DeGaule (como é apregoado por um bom número de autores) serve para lançar uma nova luz sobre o assunto.

De qualquer maneira, recomendo este livro para os aficcionados pelo assunto, principalmente pelo seu caráter histórico. Não é uma obra que sirva para referência de plastimodelistas uma vez que o número de fotos é bem baixo. Mas serve como um bom mapeamento sobre o assunto que é, às vezes, errôneamente tratado pelos "historiadores de plantão" os quais, baseados em fontes não tão confiáveis, fazem afirmações vazias e sem provas.

Good book to read with a lot of facts about the orgainzation of the German Panzers Armys, and how the war effected the production of panzers in Germany.