Tag Archives: Book Review

Book Review: James Colvin: Eighth Army versus Rommel, Tactics, Training and Operations in North Africa 1940-1942

James Colvin: Eighth Army versus Rommel, Tactics, Training and Operations in North Africa 1940-1942  Helion & Co Ltd 2020

This is James Colvin’s first book and is based on research undertaken for his MA.  It is an academic work in that it is sourced and draws on primary sources.  His academic tutor was Matthais Strohn, and this work displays rigour and insights informed by someone close to the British Army.

The book does what is says on the tin, and covers tactics training and operations.

However, its real strength is the clinical examination of the culture of the British and Indian Army  and how this hampered the commanders and staff of the Eighth Army in  developing effective tactics.

The author pieces together the thinking that led to the ineffective tactics and the influence of the Indian army approach to armoured warfare.  It is worth reading alone for the exposition of the thinking of Tom Corbett, Eric Dorman Smith and Francis Tuker and how this led to a battlefield of boxes.  Much of this is new analysis and adds a new dimension to any thinking about the desert war battles.

The author is related to two Gunner veterans of the campaign. One relative is the ill fated Beresford Peirse  quotes extensively from the papers of his relative Robin Dunn,, an HAC officer during the campaign.  However, the Gunners themselves  escape critical review without mention of  one question often asked.   Why didn’t the British Heavy Anti Aircraft guns in a similar way to the Germans 88?

The 261 page work is illustrated with relevant sketches and photographs.

It should be on the reading list of anyone interested in the war in North Africa 1940-1942 or in the wider British Army of that period.

Not particularly cheap, but affordable.  £29,95  RRP

China’s War with Japan – Rana Mitter, winner of the Duke of Westminster Award

china_war_with_JapanYesterday Dr Rana Mitter gave the lecture after receiving the Duke of Westminster Prize for Military History at RUSI for his book “China’s war with Japan 1937-1945- the Struggle for Survival” . His is fascinating not only does it tell the story of what has been a neglected corner, but it is also has much to say about the background to current day geo-politicval issues in Asia.

Much has been written about various turning points in WW2,. Such as the British decision, under Churchill, to fight on in 1940. Just as important was the decision by the Chinese Nationalist government to continue fighting after much of their country had been over-run. Had the Chinese surrendered in 1940, there would have been no quagmire holding down Japanese troops which could have been used in South East Asia , against British India or the Soviet Union. It is humbling to realise that the London Blitz started over a year after the sustained Japanese bombing of the Chinese temporary capital at Chongqing, – or Chungking as it was then known in English. Nor that the date 4th May 1919 was the 20th anniversary of a key date in Chinese history, the massed demonstrations in favour of modernisation. Nor was I aware that the Chinese Nationalist government were influenced by the Beveridge report which set out the post war welfare state.

It was particularly interesting to hear about who modern China has acknowledged the story of the nationalist Chinese part in the Second World War. How books films and ceremonies now commemorate events which could never have been mentioned a few years ago. For example. The hundred thousand Chinese soldiers who fought in Burma received no pensions or acknowledgement, of which around eighty are still alive. This year a memorial is being erected to their memory. It is a whole new dimension to the term “Forgotten army”

The conclusion of the lecture and the talk concerned the implications of modern China embracing the history of the war  against Japan.    China was one of the big four allies.  It paid a heavy price to survive and win.    It did not obtain the same territorial advantages gained by the USA and USSR.  Nor was there the same accommodation with the defeated enemies.  There is a sense of unfinished business.