by RNS | May 26, 2026 | Beating Tsundoku
John Jordan, ed., Warship 2026 (Osprey, 2026)
Warship is an annual wide-ranging collection of articles written by notable experts in the field of maritime history. In this year’s edition, the subjects covered are an eclectic group: Russian Novik class destroyers; battle damage on RN fleet carriers during WWII; the inter-wars Imperial Japanese fleet; Imperial German torpedo boats; Allied escort forces in World War II; French 450-tonne destroyers; Royal Danish minesweepers; the capture of World War I German codebooks; Royal Navy training ships; the story of the Italian aircraft carrier Falco; and there is a useful and sometimes robust review section of the past year’s naval history books.
All of the articles take deep dives into their topics, making this a book primarily for the committed naval military history reader. However, they are well written and supplemented with a cornucopia of photographs, ship diagrams, and technical tables. The diversity of articles makes some more interesting than others, but there is something for everyone interested in this field. Warship is not an easy read, but it is a worthwhile one.
by RNS | May 20, 2026 | Beating Tsundoku
Angus Konstam, Warships at Dunkirk 1940 (Osprey, 2026)
The myth of the fleet of wee boats that saved an army at Dunkirk in May 1940 has lingered in certain quarters. In this book in Osprey’s New Vanguard series, the prolific Angus Konstam does not denigrate the efforts of those boats but places the proper emphasis on the Royal Navy and French Navy in the evacuation labelled as Operation Dynamo.
Konstam begins with the narrative of events that created the Dunkirk pocket and the efforts to extract the troops. Gathering a suitable fleet was a remarkable achievement in itself, sending them across the English Channel into the teeth of a luftwaffe storm of bullets and bombs even more so. Such was the relentlessness of the German air assault, supported by MTBs, submarines, and mines, that daylight operations gave way to nighttime actions. Nevertheless, the Allied navies rescued nearly 400,000 soldiers, though not without some tragic losses at sea. Konstam adds some hair-raising accounts from those who sailed along with the specifications of the various ships involved. There are also many photographs and illustrations that illuminate the text.
This is a solid, though slim, survey of the ships involved in Operation Dynamo. Konstam does a creditable job in boiling down a lot of information from a complex operation into a tidy narrative and useful sections on the ships and their specifications. His inclusion of survivor accounts adds an interesting human touch. Military and naval history students will appreciate Konstam’s book.
by RNS | May 14, 2026 | Beating Tsundoku
David Smith, Kings Mountain 1780 (Osprey, 2026)
In 1780, at the height of the American War of Independence, the British secured Charleston and the Carolinas coast, which just left the backcountry to establish control over. A force of locally recruited Loyalists could do that job, reasoned the British command, while a significant part of the main army could head north for the real fight. They were wrong. All they did was poke the Patriot bear in the form of thousands of militiamen. An over-confident Scottish officer, Patrick Ferguson, commanded the Loyalists, and they would meet their fate on an isolated hilltop at Kings Mountain, North Carolina, in October that year.
Smith provides brief biographies of the commanders on both sides before considering the forces they commanded. As with most irregular warfare, there was a distinctly ad-hoc feel to these backcountry militiamen, on both sides, with sometimes merely a nod to traditional military discipline. The overall British commander, Lord Cornwallis, notes Smith, opted to advance into North Carolina with Ferguson’s Loyalists on his flank. The Patriots only had to disrupt the British, and if they could defeat Ferguson then all the better for them. The campaign initially went Cornwallis’s way but not without setbacks. In August, the British won a major battle at Camden, but the see-saw of victories and defeats for the Loyalist militia continued. Smith follows the action to Mackay’s trading Post, where the Patriots were forced to retreat and Ferguson pursued. It was a miscalculation that would cost him his life.
Ferguson’s pursuit went well at first, despite his small command, but he underestimated the Patriots who were organising to deal with his incursion into the North Carolina backcountry. The hunter had become the hunted. Too late, Ferguson realised the danger, but he was determined to stand his ground if it came to a fight even as he retreated towards Cornwallis’s army. He arrived at a ridge known as Kings Mountain, threw up earthworks, and awaited the Patriot attack. The Patriots surrounded the ridge but began their assault before that was fully accomplished. At first, the intensifying battle seemed to be going the Loyalists’ way, but the Patriots squeezed the Loyalist position, which began to break down. Then came the fateful moment; Ferguson was shot out of his saddle, and the Loyalist resistance collapsed. The Patriots had won a stunning victory. Smith notes that this was a significant turning point, loosening the British grip in the South.
This is the book I wish I’d had when I visited Kings Mountain – Smith offers a brief description of the battlefield as an epilogue for future visitors. Smith surveys the principal actors at the tactical and strategic levels then follows them in a clear narrative along their routes to the battle. His account of the fighting is also lucid, clarifying what was a confusing action for all involved. Smith illuminates his story with quotes from men who fought, and he is helped by maps, artwork, illustrations, and modern photographs. Readers of the American Revolution already know how complex the fighting was in the backcountry; for others, Smith lays the groundwork for a better understanding at the broader level in this entertaining and informative read.
by RNS | Apr 30, 2026 | Beating Tsundoku
Robert Cowley, The Killing season (Osprey, 2026)
Ask a reasonably informed reader when the greatest carnage occurred during the Great War, and they will probably reply, the Somme or Passchendaele or some other late war meat grinder. In this riveting narrative history, Robert Cowley highlights the opening months of the war as the most blood-soaked. He slays other dragons too along the way, some of which might ruffle traditional feathers.
Much of Cowley’s narrative is familiar to even the most casual student of the war. He begins with the Schlieffen Plan, that massive wheeling invasion through Belgium into northern France, outflanking the French, and storming into Paris. But it did not go to plan: the Belgians proved stoic in their resistance, the British Expeditionary Force equally so, the French sacrificed again and again, and ultimately, the Germans were not up to the task. Cowley tracks all of that from the opening battles through the race to the sea as the Germans sought to anchor their attack on the channel ports, and he closes with the desperate battle to control the town of Ypres.
Cowley tells his story through multiple lenses at all levels of the battlefield. The operational decision-makers are all represented: Foch, French, and Falkenhayn etc. At the opposite end of the chain, the horror of WWI combat is on full display as men rush into battle to be mercilessly cut down. It is the middle-ranking officers, making battle-field decisions while displaying sometimes extraordinary courage, that provide the thread of experience from high command to the common soldier. Their losses were egregious, particularly for the Germans whose units could barely function without them, argues Cowley. Bravery and futility run through Cowley’s account, which is set in an unrelentingly hostile environment, both natural and manufactured.
Anyone approaching Cowley’s book in expectation of reading about an open battlefield and a ‘clean’ war will find themselves rapidly disillusioned. Many of the horrors that made the Great War unique were already present in late 1914, but it is the seemingly senseless slaughter this early in the war that Cowley brings out. The Killing Season is an exceptional and important study of the opening chapter of the Great War and essential reading for students of the war and military history enthusiasts alike.
by RNS | Apr 23, 2026 | Beating Tsundoku
Nick Hewitt, D-Day Fleet 1944, British Sector (Osprey, 2026)
The Royal Navy created the Eastern Naval Task Force (ENTF) to carry the Anglo-Canadian invasion force to Normandy, but the idea came much earlier in the war. The Allies tested methods of amphibious landings in various places while planning was developed to land in France in June 1944. For D-Day, the ENTF had to clear mines and beaches, and the German naval and air power would have to neutered. In this latest volume in Osprey’s Fleet series, Nick Hewitt narrates that extraordinary story.
A massive range of vessels was needed for D-Day. Hewitt groups them into three categories – assault craft, warships for fire support, and logistical support vessels – all of which he describes in detail along with their respective functions on the day. As with everything else on D-Day, the scale of the naval operation as viewed through the number of ships was mammoth. That is echoed in Hewitt’s consideration of the technical aspects of the operation. These include the massive volume of firepower on hand, which included air support. Of particular note were the unique Mulberry harbours, which were essential for continuous logistical support once the invasion began. Hewitt turns to how the fleet operated, with the meticulous preparation required in all aspects of the D-Day operation, including intelligence planning and deception, and logistics and training. How it all came together on the day is Hewitt’s next stop. Everything did not go to plan, with weather and congestion problems, and the bombardment was ineffective. Nevertheless, the soldiers were landed, and the fleet then had to manage the massive logistical support that was needed for the drive inland. That included fending off air and naval attacks that lasted for weeks. Hewitt concludes with remarks on an ‘incredibly successful’ mission by the ENTF in the face of a determined enemy.
Nick Hewitt manages to cram a lot of information into a slim book; after all, the size and scale of the D-Day operation is almost incomprehensible and capturing that in a survey is commendable. This is not, however, just a catalogue of numbers; Hewitt presents the build-up of the ENTF in a logical way, allowing the reader to take it all in while D-Day approaches. Hewitt’s well-handled combat narrative section brings out lesser known facts about the fighting the fleet had to do, not just the logistical support. Overall, Hewitt has written an interesting and informative survey of a critical component of the Allied D-Day operation that will appeal to naval and military history readers.
