by RNS | Mar 22, 2021 | Beating Tsundoku
N.S. Nash, Logistics in the Vietnam Wars 1945-1975 (Pen & Sword, 2020)
A successful general needs effective logistics and transport argues N.S. Nash in Logistics in the Vietnam Wars 1945-1975. Moreover, logistics are inseparable from operations. Nash’s case study for these truisms is the conflict in Vietnam that lasted thirty years from the end of World War II. Vietnam is a fitting choice to study logistics because on paper the colonial French and the Americans should have won in a canter, but they did not. How could an army ‘wearing pyjamas’ take down such formidable powers?
Nash points out that Vietnam was a ‘logistical nightmare’. The topography, climate, flora and fauna were all hostile. The country had few roads and lots of forest, much of it was unmapped. It rained and it was hot. This was no place to fight a war. After outlining the deep causes of conflict in Vietnam, Nash turns to the French, attempting to fight a war 8,000 miles away. They mostly controlled the cities and low-lying areas, but their forts out in the country were too disconnected and given the bare minimum to do the job. They also underestimated their highly organized and committed enemy, the Viet Minh who eschewed mechanized support, opting for porters in the field; a wise move because they had the manpower. They also had Chinese logistical backing. The Viet Minh General Giap conducted hit and run missions and guerrilla warfare with great success but struggled when he went toe-to-toe with the French. Then came Dien Bien Phu, a logistical disaster for the French, and one that led to their strategic defeat. Nash notes that the manpower needed for the VietMinh to succeed was ‘mind-boggling’, but they still won a dazzling victory and thus the war.
After the French left, the Americans arrived; slowly at first then in a flood. Their Vietnam War was about to begin; for the North Vietnamese, this was business as usual. They developed the Ho Chi Minh Trail as a logistical artery that the Americans could dent but never sever. Nash decries the hubris of the Americans who underestimated their enemy, believing they could overwhelm them with firepower backed by massive logistical support. They sent General William Westmoreland to manage a war that was beyond his abilities. Nash also criticises almost every aspect of the American war effort from tactics to the draft, but ultimately defeat came down to an unbeatable enemy no matter what the US threw at them. Nash points out that the NV invariably developed answers to American technological superiority, most notably tunnels and crude but effective booby traps. The American air war receives short-shrift from Nash too. Then came the Tet Offensive and the siege of Khe Sanh, both of which were tactical defeats for the North Vietnamese but political victories. Giap had again failed in going toe-to-toe in conventional battles. Nash pauses here to reflect on the inadequacies of the M16 rifle that cost many American lives. When America withdrew, demoralization set into the army, and racism and fragging of officers increased, as did opposition from home. In the end, the Americans left, signing off with two intensive aerial bombardments. The South Vietnamese were left high and dry, vulnerable to the NVA assault that ended the war and reunified Vietnam. Nash concludes with chapters on the painful costs of thirty years of war and the assignment of blame.
Logistics in the Vietnam Wars 1945-1975 is an excellent survey of the wars in Vietnam and viewed from an unusual angle. Nash stresses that this is not a book of battles but of logistical operations; the outline he provides is full of battles, however, though that is very useful for following the action while determining the problems all sides faced. Nash also does not bog his readers down in unnecessary details. Numbers proliferate of course, but they all serve a purpose for Nash’s cogent argument. That results in a perhaps surprising, flowing text that makes this an enjoyable read, and there is an occasional wee snort of derision from Nash over some of the French and American mistakes that keeps the book quite light at times. Nash is also supported by many excellent photographs from the wars. Readers wanting to understand the Vietnam Wars will no doubt eat this up.
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by RNS | Mar 19, 2021 | Beating Tsundoku
Paul Chrystal, War in Greek Mythology (Pen & Sword, 2020)
We humans are curious creatures. We need to explain our world and everything in it, and where we don’t know the answers, we invent them based on where we are now and where we might want to go. Myths, then, emerge from a necessary understanding of the past but are mingled with the present. For the Ancient Greeks, their present included persistent warfare, and the motive and nature of that had to come from somewhere. In War in Greek Mythology, Chrystal collates Greek myths from literature and the arts to explain their symbolism and significance to a warlike people.
By way of introduction, Chrystal attempts to define mythology and its purpose, no easy task. What is clear, however, is that Greek mythology underpins much of Western civilization. Moreover, the mythological stories have survived and thrived through the centuries. With that preamble over, Chrystal gets down to discussing mythology and war. The Greeks, he reminds us, were a warlike people, so it is no surprise they had many Gods that covered all martial aspects. Chrystal lists those from Aphrodite to Thetis before moving onto the Titans and Giants and the struggle for order and power. The story of Zeus’ struggle with Typhon explores his ascendancy to the pinnacle of the gods. Chrystal also narrates the war between Centaurs and Lapiths. The female Amazon warriors receive their own chapter as does the mythical foundation of Thebes. Then there is Heracles, the demi-god whose martial prowess excited the Greeks and Romans as much as his famous twelve labours. The Gods and mortals combined to fight wars, most notably in the Trojan War, which Chrystal dwells on rightly as a cornerstone of Greek mythological history. When wars are over, soldiers return home, but for the Greek Gods and heroes that was often just as tragic an experience with murder, infanticide, and incest just some of the ‘joys’ that awaited them, though it is the women’s suffering that remains the universal post-war experience. Chrystal concludes on a lighter note with the parodic Batrachomyomacia; a war between mice and frogs that echoes the Greek myths. Chrystal’s epilogue brings us into the modern world where the themes in Greek myths have endured, revealing the flexibility of those stories which are seemingly every bit as chaotic as the one the Greeks inherited from their Gods.
Chrystal’s dissection of Greek mythology is more than a collection of interesting and extraordinarily violent stories; he analyses their context and symbolism for a people exploring their world and searching for meaning. His focus is on the warlike aspects of the various Gods and creatures, which creates an interesting quasi-military mythological history. The myths are also reflected in artwork plates, many of them in colour, illustrating the Greek fascination with their myths that echoes through art into the modern period. The result is a fascinating trip into the Greek world both real and imagined.
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by RNS | Mar 16, 2021 | Beating Tsundoku
Michael Sage, Septimius Severus & The Roman Army (Pen & Sword, 2020)
Septimius Severus ranks as one of the more important Roman Emperors and he is well documented in the contemporary sources. As a military commander with no previous experience, Severus won two civil wars, defeated the Parthians, and overpowered the Caledonian tribes. Michael Sage had plenty to work from then when he came to write this biography of Severus with a military history slant.
Sage begins by placing Severus and Rome into their African context with Africa’s rise in prominence to become rich and influential. He also examines the sources that form a sound basis for understanding Severus’ reign in contrast to the previous century’s dearth. Then we move into Sage’s biography, beginning in Severus’ childhood and an early uninspiring career under the Emperor Commodus. When he fell in 192CE, which also marked the end of the Antonine Dynasty, politics at the apex of the Roman Empire fell apart. The elderly Pertinax became Emperor but he was unpopular with the Praetorians and assassinated. Julianus took up the position, but Severus reacted swiftly to dethrone him. Civil war followed in which Severus defeated Niger then Albinus. He established a ruthless control afterwards, thus securing his Emperorship.
Severus was more of an administrator than a warrior, notes Sage, yet his was a military victory. And he was soon at war again, this time with Parthia; he returned in triumph though not without a struggle. Sporadic fighting in Africa followed, but generally, Severus’ reign proved peaceful, at least from 203 to 210. Much of his time in that period was taken up with the succession (his sons hated each other with a passion), self-aggrandizement, and the political intrigues that go hand in hand with being Emperor. Severus’ last expedition was to a restless Britain and across the Wall to fight the Caledonian tribes. But he was seriously ill by this time and died at York in 211. The succession struggle that ensued was bitter but belongs to another story.
If you have read this far, you will no doubt wonder where the Roman army of the title is in all this. The answer is in the appendix where Sage describes the army at the end of the 2nd Century. Severus brought in several reforms regarding enlargement of the army, changes in command structure and terms of service. However, Sage does not dwell too long on any of these. So where does that leave us? Sage provides a well-written and confident potted biography of Severus, in which he picks his way through the various arguments that are closely tied to the sources and their interpretation of events. But other than the brief appendix, he offers little to justify the book’s title.
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by RNS | Mar 14, 2021 | Beating Tsundoku
Justin Swanton, Ancient Battle Formations (Pen & Sword, 2020)
In Ancient Battle Formations, Justin Swanton attempts to expand our understanding of the armies that dominated the classical world and sometimes beyond. Swanton laments the lack of hard source material, so he puts his sources on ‘trial’, setting what they wrote against other evidence to establish their plausibility. He notes how controversial his conclusions might be. Swanton argues that battle formations were designed to instil confidence in the soldiers whose battle usually came down to their fight with the man in front of them. A list of typical troop types follows before Swanton gets into his battle formation descriptions and analysis. Before you get too excited, however, Swanton makes it clear he is only examining three formations: the hoplite and Macedonian phalanxes and the Roman Triplex Acies; the three-line formation used in the Republic.
The discussion of battle formations begins with a chapter on the fundamentals of formations, including heavy infantry, cavalry, skirmishing infantry, peltasts, elephants and chariots (!). Swanton moves on to the Hoplite phalanx. He describes the phalanx’s origins, panoply, the famous shield that gave the hoplite his label, swords, armour, the formation’s structure, deployment and performance in combat, and an analysis of its effectiveness. Swanton’s description of the Macedonian phalanx follows approximately the same structure with detours for specific issues with this formation such as the problems associated with close-order fighting. Like the other two formations, the Triplex Acies begins with a description of an exemplar battle, this time Vesuvius in 340 BCE. Swanton then follows the by now familiar structure with a bit more evolution evident in the Roman legion formation. He also takes the time to dismantle the Roman quincunx formation. Curiously, Swanton does not attribute Roman success to their battle formation, but martial stubbornness, the cost of a soldier’s kit, and citizen military experience. Swanton concludes with a chapter titled The Golden Age of Heavy Infantry, which summarizes and justifies Swanton’s choice of battle formations to analyse.
Ancient Battle Formations falls into the category of creative speculation, which stands or falls on the nature of the ‘extra’ evidence brought into assist the primary sources. Ironically perhaps, Swanton’s best arguments are situated in his translations of those sources. Other interpretations slide along the scale of validity, depending on Swanton’s method of inquiry. In addition, a lack of footnotes for some important points makes it difficult to know where some of the analysis is coming from, although many of the major points made by the sources are made available in the text. It is also difficult to take seriously field experiments conducted with home-made equipment, while asking readers to look up youtube videos as evidence is a strange approach to descriptive writing. Nevertheless, Ancient Battle Formations is a thought-provoking book and Swanton, a graphic designer by profession, incorporates many excellent illustrations to bolster his arguments. He is also immersed in his subject and is worthy of our attention. Readers in ancient military history of the Classical period will certainly find Swanton’s approach and conclusions stimulating.
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by RNS | Mar 8, 2021 | Beating Tsundoku
Michael Livingston & Kelly DeVries, 1066 A Guide to the Battles and the Campaigns (Pen & Sword, 2020)
Who hasn’t heard of 1066 and the Battle of Hastings, the foundational battle in English history? And do we really need another book on it? Well, if two notable medieval historians are writing that book, then perhaps we do need to take notice. This is also an unusual little pocket-sized book designed for you to carry around on the five guided tours contained within, all of them relating to this most famous medieval campaign.
A colourful description of the end of Hastings draws us into this book before the authors fill in the background to William of Normandy’s invasion of England to secure the throne he claimed was rightfully his. With the stage set, they embark on their first tour: the origins of the conqueror. The tours in the book are preceded by the relevant background story, then the authors list all the best stops to complete their story, describing architectural, geographic, and cultural points of interest along the way. The other tours follow the Norwegian invasion that sapped much of the Anglo-Saxon strength over two battles; William’s landing and his road to Hastings; the fateful Battle of Hastings; and the victorious William’s march on London. The authors provide a helpful further reading list for when the reader is not on one of their tours.
1066 A Guide to the Battles and the Campaigns presents a straightforward narrative of these pivotal events in English history. That includes, however, vignettes on sources, some of the main players, archaeological artefacts, feudalism, aspects of medieval warfare, and other cultural notes that flesh out the context for the campaigns and battle. The book is also lavishly illustrated with colour photographs of locations, and it almost goes without saying that scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry are sprinkled throughout the text. All in all, this is an excellent little primer on 1066 and a first-class resource for those that want to follow in the footsteps of the victor and the vanquished.
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