by RNS | May 24, 2021 | Beating Tsundoku
Laurence Spring, The Armies of Sir Ralph Hopton (Helion, 2020)
Laurence Spring introduces us to Sir Ralph Hopton, a veteran of the Thirty Years War and a solid soldier, but not much of a commander if results determine those things. Hopton joined the Marquess of Hertford’s army, then commanded three of his own during the English Civil War. He won one significant battle but lost all his major engagements. Spring narrates Hopton’s career and describes the processes for forming and maintaining an ECW Royalist Regiment.
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Spring starts his survey with a general overview of army organisation but with Hopton’s armies in mind. A close look at Royalist officers follows, and from there to the men and recruitment. At first the soldiers were mostly volunteers, but that well ran dry until conscription became the usual method. Once recruited they were called to muster for the regiment, trained to fight, and given clothing with varying degrees of uniformity. Spring turns to the arms and armour of the Royalist soldiers. These were difficult to get and expensive. Many weapons were imported, while the aristocracy furnished some, which created a problem with a lack of standard measurements. All the accoutrements of war had to be bought, manufactured, or recycled, adding to the expense of war. The Regiment also required colours. Spring examines discipline and punishment, covering issues such as desertion and proper conduct. Keeping with administration, Spring reviews pay and provisions with the burden for the latter falling on hard-pressed parishes. He addresses casualties next, which makes grim reading as you might expect.
Hopton’s three armies are considered in the second half of the book. These chapters follow Hopton’s operations, including skirmishes, sieges, and proper battles. Hopton’s first army operated in the West in 1643, highlighted by the battles of Stratton and Lansdown Hill. Hopton was wounded while at Bristol but stayed busy organising his second army under orders to clear Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, and Hampshire. He made the classic mistake, however, of dividing his army in the face of the enemy, led by Sir William Waller, in late 1644 and managed to lose a large portion of it in the process. Worse followed in March 1645 when Hopton lost to Waller at Cheriton, and with it the rest of his army. Hopton took command of his third army at the siege of Taunton in May 1645. Despite the Royalist cause becoming a losing proposition, Hopton continued into 1646, commanding about 7,000 men. Then Halifax defeated him at Torrington and Hopton surrendered soon afterwards before fleeing to Europe. He died in exile in 1652. Spring follows that with the fates of some of Hopton’s men through the Restoration and beyond. He adds four appendices, including a useful list of regiments that fought for Hopton.
If nothing else, Sir Ralph Hopton was committed to his cause, and he has found a solid military biographer in Laurence Spring. Indeed, Spring weaves Hopton’s story into a broader picture of the Royalist armies in the west very well. His nuts and bolts description of the Royalist regiment is useful for readers wanting to peek behind the generalist curtain, and his superior use of limited sources is supported by tables, charts, maps, and some attractive colour plates of soldiers. In addition, this volume of Helion’s excellent Century of the Soldier series dovetails nicely with other books in the series to help establish a mesh of works looking at ECW campaigns from different angles.
by RNS | May 23, 2021 | Beating Tsundoku
Brian Best, Unrewarded Courage (Frontline, 2020)
To earn a Victoria Cross, a soldier has to do something extraordinary above and beyond any required action or even a mere act of bravery. But some soldiers did those things and were not rewarded with the VC. In Unrewarded Courage, Brian Best sets out to explain why that happened.
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The book begins with the introduction of the VC during the Crimean War. An award for the most extreme acts of bravery seems like a straightforward concept, but it was not. Who was to get it and why has plagued the VC since its inception. Best takes us through a chronological survey of British wars and expeditions, narrating accounts of astonishing acts of bravery, some of which received the VC, while some did not, but at this remove it is difficult to tell them apart.
The tardiness of the reporting process to recommend a VC scuppered a few cases. There were also commanders who simply did not believe in the VC, arguing that the candidates all acted within their duty as a British soldier. Class played its usual role in preventing those of lower backgrounds receiving the VC, while giving it to those of the aristocracy who did little to earn it other than use their status to lobby hard. Politics played its part too, controlling the flow of VCs for certain engagements, keeping the numbers down but also increasing the awards too when it suited British political purposes. Some brave men suffered from a morality problem in that they had done bad things in the past, so were all but ineligible no matter what they did. The rules for awarding the VC developed with new caveats added, though the rules could be bent if the occasion demanded, particularly if high level influence was brought to bear. The emphasis shifted too, from saving lives to damaging the enemy, but many of the same prejudices remain even in our seemingly enlightened world.
Best performs well in this book, weaving stories and reasons, so that the reader is not bogged down in analysis while still able to get indignant at some of the ridiculousness that seems to typify the British military at times. But Best’s efforts to keep things integrated start to break down in World War I and beyond when even he cannot find adequate reasons for the refusals, and the book ends in a catalogue of cases, which are still interesting but do not flow into each other as do Best’s earlier stories. Nevertheless, Unrewarded Courage is a riveting read, and at least Best has given these men the full recognition they deserve.
by RNS | May 21, 2021 | Beating Tsundoku
Daniel J McLean, The Royal Marines on the Western Front (Pen & Sword, 2021)
Daniel McLean posits that the public perception of the Royal Marines stems from their actions in World War II, but the Regiment goes back to 1664 and they already had an enviable record before the 1940s. He traces their development briefly, but his focus is on World War I. And what a story he has to tell.
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In 1914, the Royal Marines numbered just under 19,000 men with too few officers. In August they defended Ostend but returned to England within weeks. Some left for France with armoured cars, which performed well, but they too were soon withdrawn. Then they went back to Belgium and this time they saw action at Antwerp against overwhelming odds. The RM were almost wiped out at Gallipoli, but that is outside McLean’s remit. The shattered RM went from Gallipoli to France via Mudros in May 1916 where they refitted and trained for trench warfare. The RM also kept its naval distinctions despite the best efforts of the army to make them conform. In November, they took part in an assault near Beaucourt with only one-quarter coming out healthy. And this was a victory!
Trench fighting continued in February 1917 on the Ancre and so did the heavy casualties even though the RM were again successful in their attacks. They fought with distinction at Arras in April despite suffering their heaviest single day casualties in their history. In October, the RM was pitched into the fight for Passchendaele in horrendous conditions. In 1918, the RM bore the brunt of the German Spring Offensive and were soon conducting a series of withdrawals; but they also took part in the counter-attacks, including Cambrai, that ended the war.
In the rest of his book, Mclean delves into the RM artillery, one brigade of howitzers and another of anti-aircraft guns. They also operated a Heavy Siege train in 1917. The author includes a rollicking chapter on the raid on Zeebrugge in April 1918, and a fascinating account of Lt Louis Stokes, based mainly on his letters, who was killed in November 1916. McLean concludes with brief synopses on miscellaneous RM units and personalities. An appendix lists RM medal winners.
McLean’s account of the RM in WWI provides a valuable insight into an unusual force. It is obvious that the men who fought in the RM saw themselves as something different with a reputation to protect and enhance, and that applied to most outsiders who joined their ranks as combat wore down the RM rank and file. The experience of war for the RM, however, quickly resembled that of the army units they fought alongside in the drudgery of the trenches. The book feels a bit unbalanced with not enough emphasis on the narrative of operations and the men doing the fighting, and a bit too much on medals as indicators of how the RM performed. Nevertheless, the chapters on artillery and Zeebrugge are very useful and overall WWI readers will no doubt enjoy this book as I did.
by RNS | May 19, 2021 | Beating Tsundoku
Ian Baxter, H*tl*r’s Panther Tank Battalions 1943-1945 (Pen & Sword, 2020)
In 1943, a new panzer joined the German fight against the Soviet Union, just in time they hoped to stem the rising enemy tide. The Panther with its sloping sides and front became one of the iconic tanks of WWII, performing sterling service despite its persistent mechanical problems. In H*tl*r’s Panther Tank Battalions 1943-1945, expert Ian Baxter takes us with the Panthers into battle.
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The Panthers debuted at the greatest tank battle at Kursk in July 1943. Some did not make it into action because of mechanical problems, many more were rendered inoperative in the maelstrom that was Kursk. The rest performed well against the Soviet T-34s The Panther had proved its value as a weapon, but as a functioning vehicle it left much to be desired. Baxter switches the action to Italy where the terrain limited tank warfare, but the small contingent of Panthers still proved their worth, particularly in defence. We return to the deteriorating Eastern Front in 1944 where the Panthers were used as mobile reserves and in rescue operations. They performed well again, racking up kills, and by then the Panther had undergone many variants trying to fix their problems. Panthers saw action on the western front too when that opened after D-Day in June 1944. By August, 432 Panthers had been pitched into the fight for France. However, Allied air power proved a major problem, and replacement Panther units were poorly trained and disorganized. Few Panthers made it out intact. Their last hurrah was in the Ardennes Offensive, but ultimately here too they were decimated. That situation was echoed on the Eastern Front. Baxter concludes that the Panther had been introduced into the war too late despite being a deadly adversary for the Allies.
While I disagree with Baxter’s conclusion, I still enjoyed his book very much. He describes the actions and organization of the Panther units in a straightforward and readable text and his captions for the abundant photographs add considerably to their value. As for the photographs, they are a nicely balanced selection of Panthers in various situations across the theatres, along with their supporting vehicles – Panther modelers will not be short of inspiration. All in all, this is a solid addition to the Images of War series and a good read for German armour buffs.
by RNS | May 18, 2021 | Beating Tsundoku
Salvador Mafe Huertas and Riccardo Niccoli, Panavia Tornado (Kagero, 2020)
The Panavia Tornado has been a fixture in the skies for forty years, flown by Europe’s top air forces in peace and war. It is a brute of a thing, capable of significant destruction, but also elegant in its way with its smooth lines running across the cockpit and swept wings then back to that massive tail. To see one in action is to want to know more about it. To that end, Salvador Mafe Huertas and Riccardo Niccoli have written a primer for the Tornado complete with many photographs and graphic renderings.
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The authors begin with the development of the Tornado from 1968 as a pan-European project. As they do this, they introduce the main parts and components of the plane. These are described in some detail as you might expect from a book of this type. It is ironic that a fighter-bomber designed for use in the Cold War did not see action until that had ended but was deployed in the decidedly hot wars that followed. Our authors follow the Tornado into the Middle East and Gulf War, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Libya, operations against ISIS, and Syria. The last active RAF Tornados landed at their home base in February 2019, but the durable plane continues in use by other air-forces.
There are other books about the Tornado, but this one does the job as a primer for the plane despite a couple of errors and some glaring omissions – the lack of coverage of Cold War service and just a brief mention of Saudi Tornados. The book is filled with photographs, some of which are superb, and include a balance of RAF, German, and Italian planes. The colour graphic illustrations are excellent (an A4 print of the cover comes with the book), so that if you wanted to build a model, most of your bases will be covered by this book. I think old Tornado crews will enjoy this as will anyone wanting a guide to the plane.
by RNS | May 17, 2021 | Beating Tsundoku
Gabriele Esposito, Wellington’s Infantry British Foot Regiments 1800-1815 (Pen & Sword, 2021)
The British army that fought and defeated the French under Napoleon was arguably the finest in this island’s long military history. Most of us can picture them in their red coats and black hats, facing down the French cavalry charges at Waterloo. But there was more variety in the British army than first meets the eye. To that end, Gabriele Esposito surveys the British infantry of the period in a book replete with colour pictures of the soldiers involved.
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Esposito begins with the Foot Guards where he provides a history of the units and their involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. He describes the Line Infantry next with an emphasis on their organization added to their history and deployment. The peculiarities of the Scottish Regiments are considered before Esposito moves on to the Light Infantry. Royal Veteran Battalions and Fencible Regiments occupy Chapter 5. Esposito turns to British troops abroad, beginning in Canada, then the West Indies, Africa, and Australia, before arriving in India. Sometimes foreigners came to us and served in the British Army. Esposito describes the King’s Dutch Brigade among others, including Maltese, Italians, Greeks, Swiss, and mixed foreign units. The most famous foreign unit was the King’s German Legion, which receives its own chapter. Esposito concludes with a chapter on uniforms and equipment, which were more varied than novice Napoleonic Wars readers might know. Thus headgear, jackets, and coats are described before Esposito lists the facing colours of all the regiments in the army. He returns to describes officer’s rank distinctions, greatcoats, trousers and kilts, then lists regiments that wore ‘peculiar’ uniforms. Esposito adds belts and pouches, and weapons to complete the soldier’s appearance.
It is difficult to assess the audience for Esposito’s sojourn in the Napoleonic Wars. Veteran students of the period will find much to nit-pick in the text, which rarely rises above routine descriptions and shallow conclusions. The contemporary colour plates are interesting, but many of them are not matched to the text, which seems decidedly odd. That they were all derived from the same online source says something about the superficiality of the research and production of this book. Nevertheless, someone new to the period who wants a primer on the British Army will no doubt enjoy it before moving deeper into the subject.
