by RNS | Sep 9, 2020 | Beating Tsundoku
Alberto Toscano, A Champion Cyclist Against the Nazis (Pen & Sword, 2020)
As I write this review, the Tour de France is in full flow with commentators extolling in hyperbolic fashion the heroics of professional cyclists. Without denigrating those undoubtedly great athletes, however, a true hero of cycling was a pious young Italian Gino Bartali who saved the lives of eight-hundred Jews from under the noses of their fascist pursuers during World War II. In A Champion Cyclist Against the Nazis prominent Italian writer, Alberto Toscano, narrates Bartali’s remarkable story.
Gino Bartali was an extraordinary cyclist; a two-time winner of the Tour de France, three-time winner of the Giro d’Italia, and a winner of over 180 other races. Born in Florence in 1914, Bartali, like so many other poor Italians, lived for his bike as almost an extension of himself. He bought his first one aged 12, won his first race at 16, and turned pro in 1935 aged 20. He also grew up deeply religious. Bartali’s anti-fascism was already on show in the 1930s, which brought him to the attention of the Mussolini regime; when he won the Tour de France in 1938, he refused to salute Mussolini from the podium. That was also the year everything changed with Italy’s racial laws aimed at Jews. Then Italy declared war on Britain and France on 10 June 1940, ending sport for the foreseeable future. Bartali was called up, but his role in the war was that of traffic policeman until Italy surrendered to the Allies in July 1943. The Germans invaded, reinstating Mussolini, and the transport of the Jews to the death camps began – 8,000 would go, but few came back. Bartali hid Jews in his house and engaged with the Catholic resistance networks to save more Jews. Under the guise of training, Bartali carried forged papers for Jews and money in the frame of his bicycle between monasteries, convents, and his home in Florence. When stopped, he told sports stories to the Nazi and fascist guards to distract them. He also had to avoid Allied planes that strafed the roads. After the war, Bartali returned to professional cycling. He won the Giro d’Italia in 1946, then the Tour de France in 1948 against a backdrop of political turmoil in Italy. He retired in 1954 after failing to overcome injuries from a car accident. Bartali became a minor TV celebrity in subsequent years and stayed close to cycling. He died in 2000.
Toscano writes with love for Bartali, often referring to him simply as Gino. However, while this is a biography about Bartali, he features less than you might think, especially in his work saving Jews. That is for the simple reason that Bartali refused to talk about it. What we have then is a light, enthusiastically written biography infused with political and cultural references, particularly movies, and some fascinating insights into Bartali’s cycling career and the politics of the professional cycling. Toscano also displays a deep hatred of fascism and sets his veneration of Bartali against that, highlighting optimistically the triumph of simple goodness over evil. In these times of re-emerging fascism, that is a comforting thought.
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by RNS | Sep 7, 2020 | Beating Tsundoku
Carl Fredrik Sverdrup, The Mongol Conquests (Helion, 2017, 2020)
Most of us have heard of Genghis Khan and his Mongols and the massive empire they created across Asia in the 13th Century. Less well known is that the Empire continued to expand after his death under his great general Sube’etei. Carl Fredrik Sverdrup’s book dissects the military campaigns that brought this about, focusing on operational aspects. The result is a detailed and authoritative account that will be hard to surpass.
After an annotated discussion of the main sources and a brief background survey, The Mongol Conquests is split into two parts; the first tracking Genghis Khan on campaign and the second Sube’etei. Sverdrup describes the Mongol army then delves into their campaigns, battles, and sieges in a blizzard of short chapters for both generals each with an introductory comment from a source and most with a map included. He also stops the action at times to provide a short overview of the chapters to follow. Sverdrup adds a brief verdict for most of the campaigns, which combine to form a cogent analysis of Mongol performance and that of their enemies. He leaves no doubt that the Mongols were a highly intelligent, determined, and ruthless foe – of Sube’etei, Sverdrup writes that he “conquered for the sake of conquest” and it showed, though Genghis Khan also displayed considerable diplomatic skills. He also notes, however, that the Mongols were not ‘supermen’ as they are often portrayed, and for the most part they deployed superior tactics and strategies over brute force and terror to achieve victory. They also suffered several defeats and setbacks, and in the end, even the Mongols under their greatest generals discovered the limits of Empire. Sverdrup concludes with useful appendices on the Mongol army and a list of their battles.
Historians rely on their sources to write with authority, and Sverdrup surely cannot be faulted in that regard. Each chapter concludes with the sources used and Sverdrup is also willing to engage modern historians and their interpretations. He appends a significant bibliography too. I highlight that here because The Mongol Conquests is Sverdrup’s first book, but he handles his material with some aplomb. Not only are his sometimes controversial arguments solidly argued, he writes well too – the Battle of Sanfeng chapter was a particular highlight for me as an example of how to clearly narrate a battle. Overall, Sverdrup’s book is an excellent introduction to the Mongol conquests of the 13th Century and a ‘must-read’ for enthusiasts of mediaeval warfare in the East.
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by RNS | Jun 25, 2020 | Beating Tsundoku
Eric Lee, Night of the Bayonets (Greenhill Books, 2020)
On 5 May 1945, the German forces in the Netherlands surrendered and the war was over. But not for all of them. On the small island of Texel off the coast of Holland, a battle that started on 5 April raged among former allies wearing German uniforms. The instigators were a unit of Georgian Wehrmacht soldiers that prematurely rose up against the German garrison only to find themselves in a fight to the death with German soldiers sent to crush them. Somewhere in this mix was the Dutch Resistance, themselves split along ideological lines, and the island’s civilians who mistakenly thought their war was over too. Eric Lee pulls together the strands of this confusing episode to present a remarkable tale of a little-known event.
Lee begins with Georgia’s ties to Russia and Germany during and after WWI before moving on to Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union, capturing millions of soldiers who they treated abysmally. Some Georgians, however, enlisted with the Germans to escape that particular hell. They were formed into units under German officers and served behind the lines on the Eastern Front, hunting Partisans, where they proved unreliable and prone to desertion. In 1944, the Georgian Legion was formed and the 822nd Battalion were posted to Texel in 1945. The island with its artillery defences formed a small but important cog in the German Atlantic Wall. By the time the Georgians arrived, they were riddled with anti-German sentiment and ripe for mutiny. They even helped the Dutch resistance.
When ordered to the mainland to fight the Allies on 6 April, the Georgians pre-empted their move by attacking the Germans. But they did not capture the artillery batteries, and word got out, all the way to Hitler who ordered every Georgian killed. The Dutch Resistance joined in, but they too would get caught in the backlash. On 6 April, the German shelling began, then reinforcements arrived. The Georgians held out, hoping for the Allies to arrive, even sending a lifeboat for help, but none came. A guerrilla war broke out with no mercy given on either side, or to the Dutch civilians by the Germans.
Lee points out that the Allies knew about the mutiny but left it to burn out. The Canadians finally arrived to intervene and evacuate the two contingents. Most of the Georgians ended up in Soviet prison camps for a short while but were not shot as per Stalin’s orders for turncoats. Lee continues with a discussion on the myth that arose around the Texel uprising and particularly the role the Soviet Union played in that propaganda, including a movie that was “a lie from beginning to end”. With renewed Georgian independence in 1991 came new commemorations, but much of the myth remains.
Night of the Bayonets is one of those dramatic local events that casts a light on larger themes, thus it is a story deserving of a book. Eric Lee has therefore performed a valuable service writing what might be the definitive account. His writing is journalistic in style and a bit loose in places, but he holds the narrative together well. The uprising itself is given about one-third of the book, which seems a bit thin, particularly when Lee incorporates a few seemingly unrelated digressions. Lee’s efforts to place the Texel uprising in context are, however, useful for understanding its wider implications. I certainly came away from this book with a deeper knowledge of many facets of World War II that I had not considered before, and you cannot ask for much more than that. 7/10
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by RNS | Jun 23, 2020 | Beating Tsundoku
Ian Gardner, Sent By the Iron Sky (Osprey, 2019)
In Sent By the Iron Sky, Ian Gardner follows an American parachute battalion from its training grounds in the United States through the hell of combat in World War II. Though late to get into the war, the battalion fought through the entire campaign to liberate Europe. Gardner’s book, his fifth on US paratroopers, takes his readers along for an invigorating but thankfully much safer ride.
The Third Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment began its existence in July 1942 at its training base near Toccoa Georgia. The selected soldiers who made it through training received their ‘wings’ in the New Year, but more training followed for their role in retaking Europe. They set sail for England, and yet more training, in September 1943. On the night of 5 June 1944, 700 soldiers boarded 45 aircraft for the drop into Normandy. It was an almost total calamity with many wounded, captured, and killed, including their talismanic Colonel, Robert Wolverton. Severe fighting followed around Carentan, costing many more casualties; some survivors returned to England, others became guests of the Germans as POWs. They jumped again into another disaster, this time Operation Market Garden in September 1944. The battalion took part in the fighting for Eindhoven, losing more men in the process. The men who survived all that were given some time off behind the lines but were soon back in action when the Germans launched their offensive through the Ardennes, known as the Battle of the Bulge. The 506th were tasked with defending Foy as part of the defence of Bastogne. That battle extended into January with the village changing hands several times, but the Americans broke through and the Germans retreated again. With Germany collapsing, the 506th moved to Bavaria where they took part in humanitarian operations for survivors of labour camps. The end of the war came with the battalion at Hitler’s Berchtesgaden, and from there they returned to England then the United States. The 506th was officially deactivated on 30 November 1945. Gardner concludes with the moving reunion of survivors at a Missouri hotel in June 1946.
Sent By the Iron Sky is a nuts and bolts narrative history sprinkled with snippets of first-hand accounts. Longer inserts record particular events and acts of courage from an individual perspective. Abundant photos accompany the text, some of them colourized, and many telling poignant stories of the fates of the soldiers in their captions. Gardner’s strengths are his attention to detail and his absorbing combat descriptions, though his chapters on POWs and the Labour Camps are also deftly handled. Those familiar with Gardner’s previous work on American paratroopers will rightly look forward to this straightforward, no-nonsense account even while they might feel a sense of déjà vu. All in all, this is another fitting memorial to a cadre of very brave men. 9/10
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by RNS | Jun 21, 2020 | Beating Tsundoku
Greg Way, Fallschirmjäger! (Helion, 2020)
In Fallschirmjäger!, Greg Way records the memories of some of Hitler’s elite paratrooper troops. He is an admirer of an almost completely volunteer force that exemplified the virtues of soldiers, their esprit de corps. He interviewed veterans and solicited more memories through a website. He soon had enough material to merit collating it in a permanent record. Fallschirmjäger! is the very worthy result.
Fallschirmjäger! is structured as a source book with just a brief introduction for ranks, a glossary of terms, and a précis of operations. Each chapter is handed over to a single veteran’s recollections, of which there are sixteen in Part I, and three war diaries in Part II. The recollections begin with a brief biography of the veteran, their wartime service, and what became of them after the war. Way sprinkles their accounts with illuminating photographs donated by the veterans and footnotes for confirmation and context. The men describe their rigorous selection process and intense training befitting an elite unit. Then they took part in the Invasions of Poland and the Low Countries, dropped on Crete in that expensive operation, and fought in Italy, North Africa, the Eastern Front, and Normandy. All of Way’s veterans, except one, were captured and spent time as POWs.
Reviewing a source book of this nature boils down to one question: does it help us understand the subject? In this case that receives a resounding, yes. Way’s sensible approach, to let these soldiers speak in their own voices without interference, brings out the immediacy of their experiences: their arduous training, jumping into the dark over enemy territory, the terror and helplessness of floating to the ground under fire, the intensity of combat, the shock of being wounded, frostbite on the Eastern Front, a comrade’s suicide, the fear of capture; the general horrors of war. Memoirs such as these can also be problematic because of what is often missing, or misremembered, such as political affiliations, thoughts on their leadership and role in the war, and the rare mentions of German atrocities, though those against them are prominent. Nevertheless, Way has performed a valuable service for the historical record of the Fallschirmjäger that will be useful for historians and general readers interested in World War II. 9/10
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by RNS | Jun 19, 2020 | Beating Tsundoku
Alexander Merrow, Agostino von Hassell, and Gregory Starace, Caesar’s Great Success (Frontline, 2020)
The Roman General Julius Caesar must rank in the top three of the Western Hemisphere’s greatest generals. During his meteoric rise in the 1st Century BCE, Caesar dominated multiple enemies in far-flung environments, winning dozens of battles along the way. Nevertheless, argue the authors of Caesar’s Great Success, it was Caesar’s logistical brilliance, two-thousand years ahead of is time, that makes him stand out from the rest. They set out their case in this occasionally quirky book.
The opening chapter narrates Caesar’s campaigns and examines the size of his army during those operations. That was a huge number, bearing in mind all the animals and non-combat manpower involved, and they all had to be fed. Caesar’s army required mountains of grain as the staple ingredient in their diet – they marched and fought on bread and porridge. The soldiers supplemented their grain with meat, salt, olive oil, and cheese to a greater or lesser degree, and they drank sour wine (posca). Caesar’s success came from ensuring his men had a good supply of all that. The authors are careful to point out that Rome already had a logistical framework in place, but Caesar enhanced its administration and transport infrastructure, improving road and river communications. He was also a master of creating and maintaining effective supply lines. We follow the army on the march, discovering what the soldiers carried, how they constructed marching camps, why they foraged and what for, and requisitioning supplies, which at times took the form of pillaging and plunder. All of this logistical effort had a strategic purpose. Caesar’s campaigns often had supply in mind, though he sometimes surrendered that security for speed and surprise. He also blocked enemy supplies, especially water sources. The authors illustrate Caesar’s tapping into a ‘timeless framework’ of logistical support through a comparison with the North African campaign in World War II. They conclude with a chapter on Caesar’s legacy in modern cuisine, though they dispel the myth that Caesar Salad had any connection to the great general!
The claim that logistical brilliance was Caesar’s Great Success may be over egging the pudding, but the authors cannot be blamed for hyping what is after all the unsexy side of military history. That might also explain the peculiar inclusion of recipes to end each chapter and the colour plates of meals. The unnecessary addition of the comparison with a World War II campaign also feels contrived: a more useful historical comparison might have been with Alexander the Great’s army as detailed in Donald Engels’ excellent Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army (UC Press, 1980) that covers much of the same ground. Setting aside those conceptual issues, the authors have produced a valuable book for understanding how Caesar’s campaigns worked and his strategic considerations. Their sifting of the evidence used to recreate the soldiers’ lives away from the battlefield is deftly handled, as is the authors’ setting that into the broader context. Merrow and his colleagues have written a recipe for related inquiries into other ancient armies, and you won’t read Ancient military history quite the same way again after reading this book.
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