OT - Book (Non Fiction) Review/Recommendations Thread

[CraigD6er]

I've just finished Battlegroup by Jim Storr. It's a good study of the tactics and equipment that would have been used, primarily by NATO, had things gone hot. The author looks at the differences between different national doctrines, and whether existing formations were the right size and composition. Storr's views are fromed by time spent in the British Army and years of wargaming, tweaking units to achieve the best results.
https://www.helion.co.uk/military-hi...83bf5a730213da

[ToughOmbres]

The Doomsday Scenario by L. Douglas Keeney (MBI Publishing, 2002)

This is the declassified (in 1998) version of the 1958 Emergency Plans Book during the 2nd Eisenhower administration, with notes and annotations.

Good (albeit somewhat dry) reading; NOTE: According to the author the actual plans folder was declassified, then subsequently reclassified in 1999 by the USAF but not before copies were properly released and published in Keeney's work.

Good, short read for T2k purposes and some discussion of nuclear weapons effects as well.

[Raellus]

Just finished Annie Jacobsen's, Nuclear War: A Scenario. It's probably the most terrifying thing that I've ever read, any genre. I've read reviews claiming that the scenario presented is far-fetched and unrealistic- I'm not sure that I agree with that, but I think, even if fair, that criticism misses the point of the book. The scenario serves mostly as a means to examine US- and, to a lesser extent, Russian and North Korean- nuclear weapons technology, strategy, operational use, and, scariest of all, effects (short and long-term). In that, the scenario is very successful. Nuclear War is remarkably informative. Once I started reading (yesterday), I had a really hard time putting it down.

My only gripe is the author's writing style can be a little breathless at times. Overwrought. Lots of short, choppy sentences. Repetitive. Mostly for emphasis. (Like the way this paragraph is written.)

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[ToughOmbres]

I just finished First Clash: Close-up Combat in World War Three by Kenneth Macksey. Originally commissioned by HM Canadian Government and then released as a training aid for officers. Fictional scenario of the 4th Canadian Mechanized Battle Group/Brigade confronting and slowing Soviet forces.

Quite good, probably better than Duffer's Drift as a training aid for officers. Pretty slim character development, nice look from a Canadian lens (OC, Officer Commanding instead of CO for the US Army). It is a quick read with summaries and points/lessons to remember at the end of each chapter. I would recommend it.

Macksey's Kesselring: The Making of the Luftwaffe is quite good as well although now a bit dated. It suffers slightly from being in the post-war awe of the Wehrmacht but Macksey presents a balanced view of Kesselring not just as Luftwaffe officer but on the ground in Italy and North Africa.
He tackles Saint Rommel and takes Erwin Rommel down a notch as well. There was always more than just a whiff of jealousy among post-war German memoirs (and Rommel wasn't around to defend himself if fairness). Kesselring took Rommel to task for being "aggressive and overbearing to the point of boorishness when dealing with subordinates" as well as "crass" when dealing with the Italian military who "required a more diplomatic touch."
Perhaps the most excoriating appraisal comes at the end of the North African campaign when Macksey noted "when there were no more laurels to be had, Rommel pleaded illness and retired to hospital in Germany." Ouch. No one is more hated than honest man-Plato?