Although in recent years, more histories of the battles on the Eastern Front during World War II have been published, it is the landings in Normandy that still hold most Western Europeans and Americans attention and interest. Indeed, even the name “Eastern Front” reflects the prejudice of Western historians, for most certainly that name was never used by either the Soviets or those Europeans who fought in that area of Europe and the then Soviet Union. The lack of general knowledge can be considered amazing as the German military suffered ninety percent of its casualties in that theater of operations. It was the Soviet military and more importantly, Stalin who was willing to accept the huge losses throughout the war to insure victory.

It can be difficult to appreciate the size of the battles in the east, but a comparison does show that no battles in western Europe after the Normandy invasion comes close to the size of the final battles in the east. The invasion of Normandy and the following ten weeks ended costing the Allies about 209,000 casualties vs 276,000 German. The Battle of the Bulge in forty-one days totaled for both sides almost 200,000 men killed, wounded or missing. Market Garden was a small business with losses totaling about 25,000 (to put it in perspective, during the battle for Stalingrad, the Soviets executed about 12,000 of their own men for desertion, cowardice, etc.)  The battles covered in this book in the period of January-May 1945 resulted in a million Germans and one and a half million Soviet losses. Two and a half million men killed, wounded or missing. Many of those men were killed when their fuel and ammunition ran out and they stood practically disarmed, often little more than a militarized mob, spent after six years of battle.

In action after action, German troops fought and delayed the Soviets in desperate battles against huge odds. Often outnumbered up to ten to one, the Germans delayed their enemy so civilians could try to reach the zones the American or British occupied. Civilians fled in freezing weather and had to camp in bare fields while being attacked by Soviet war planes. The book covers dozens of actions where officers and men sacrificed themselves in often vain attempts to save their compatriots. The Soviets, urged on by Stalin and their officers, raped, burned, and crucified tens of thousands of German civilians.

Unfortunately, the average reader will not think of the Soviet civilians who fled from the Germans in 1941 and after. Nor will they fully understand the terror of living under German occupation when hundreds of thousands were rounded up for slave labor or mass executions. It was likely that a huge proportion of the Soviet soldiers showing no mercy to the fleeing Germans had family members who had lived and suffered under the German occupation and had lost members of their families. Was the revenge meted out to the Germans fair, or justified? Unfortunately, because of the how the Soviet system worked, few common Soviet soldiers left written records as was the case with the Germans.

In the end, the battles came down to desperate Germans and Soviets, driven on by a sense of duty, fear of capture, the hunt for glory from their officers and tactics which was the only option at a time when everyone wanted the war to stop.  Battles create mountains of dead, but when at the very end, one side is out of ammunition and has no opportunity to escape, and the killing continues at an industrial rate, there is nothing but murder.

It is easy to understand how, after the war, many Germans viewed themselves as victims. They were pounded from the air, night after night. Their armies were torn apart and slaughtered at a rate which towered about the four terrible years of the First World War. Their cities were destroyed, hundreds of thousands of their women raped and hundreds of thousands of their soldiers were simply wiped off the face of the Earth. Yet, their terrible experiences were the result of one simple fact; they started the war, their intended victims finished it.

Recorded history is often made up of one part truth, one part perception, one part myth. One of the great human stories of the 20^th century was The Long March, when hundreds of thousands of Communist soldiers with their leaders marched thousands of miles of often arid and empty land, pursued by Chiang Kai-shek and his army. In the end, after suffering eighty percent casualties, the Communist army found shelter far from the cities of China, cut off from an aid from the Soviet Union and facing another enemy, the Japanese army.

The march has been the subject of numerous plays, movies, books, and interviews with the majority of each adhering to the official party line which has become the touchstone of truth for decades. This book offers something new as the author, who was born in Communist China, actually travelled the actual route of the long march. Along the way, she manages to speak with individuals who were actually on the march and who participated in the battles and challenges of the march.

There is no doubt that the march was historic and required bravery and dedication. The survivors of the march when interviewed still show much of the youthful enthusiasm which helped them to survive the march. It was that enthusiasm which enabled them to meet their recruitment quotas for the army as it was that enthusiasm which kept them going in the harshest segments, such as through Tibet. Despite the idea that the Party would free the people from the grip of the warlords and big landowners, it was the Party and its army which descended on each location and demanded food from the locals. Of course, the Party “paid” for the food (in many instances) by giving an IOU, but in some areas, the demand for food stripped the land clean and left the locals without any grain for the next year’s crop.

The most inspiring chapter of the book was the one which focused on the role that women played during the march. Although they only made a small percentage of the total, they provided examples of bravery and stamina that shamed and drove the men to continue. They were instrumental in recruiting new recruits for the army, occasionally using their charms to achieve their quotas. Yet, they were valued and protected by the leaders of the march by keeping making sure that they were not to be molested. Yet, there were instances where certain leaders of the Party were allowed to take their pick of the women to “help” them with their duties. It was clear however, that the women who knew they were viewed as the weaker sex, set a high standard for themselves in the ability to march, handle weapons and persevere through the worse weeks of hunger while still providing the traditional soft touch to the wounded and dying.

The author, as she interviewed the survivors, found that their memories of certain actions did not line up with the official descriptions of certain battles and actions. Politics as usual plays a large part in the creation of history and this is especially true when a story is a key building block in a regime that discourages counter interpretations. She walks a fine line very carefully but her chapter on the “Legion of Death” shows the level of politics which existed even at that early stage of the Chinese Communist Party.

As the participants of any historical period pass on, we lose the ability to learn fine points of history and we are fortunate in this book that the author allows us to enter the mind set and memories of those who were on the march. Coupled with Mao, the Unknown Story by Jung Chang & Jon Halliday and The Private Life of Chairman Mao by Dr. Li Zhisui as well as The Party: the Secret World of China’s Rulers by Richard McGregor, we are able to peer behind the curtain that seeks to protect and shelter this totalitarian regime.

This book could have been written by two different authors; the first half written and an immature, foul mouthed childish young man who might impress a thirteen-year old boy, while the second half was written by a young man who came from a family poor background, who is seeking in the Marines a home and cause and who decides to shape up as he is thrust into an actual war situation. The man who wrote the first half is as far from the ideal American soldier that one can image while the second half author is a creditable work in progress.

The book is both boring (in the first half) and interesting (in the second) as the author slowly matures and realizes that despite typical military B.S., there is a rhyme and reason to the military way of doing things. He is proud to be a Marine and his specialty (recon and sniper) and he matures much faster as he and his unit are sent out in the first phase of Operation Desert Storm. Later in life, he matures further as he runs across former members of his unit who have not matured and who live a life filled with made up fantasies fueled by alcohol and drugs.

There is no possible way that I would want to have dinner with the author of the first half of the book, but there would be an opportunity to enjoy a meal with the second-half author as he comes from a world far removed from the American ideal. As military history  it has little to offer, but as personal development it has some merit.  I would not, however, mark this as a book worth reading a second time.

At the end of the Second World War, German Field-Marshal Albert Kesselring whose troops fought both British and American troops in Italy and Western Europe, was asked “What was the best American division faced by troops under your command on either the Italian or Western Fronts?”. Without hesitation he said, “The Marne men.”

Who were the “Marne men?”  They were the men of the U.S. Army’s 3^rd Division. They won more medals than any other infantry division in Europe and within its ranks were at least one of every U.S. medal, including the Medal of Honor; some medals were won by those two men as many as three times. Their names were Audie Murphy Maurice Britt. Both men received major wounds, and Murphy would have the more public but also more troubled private lives. Here is a list of medals won by Murphy: * Medal of Honor *2- Silver Stars * 3-Bronze Stars * Distinguished Service Cross *3-Purple Hearts. In total, the “Marne” division won more than one-fourth of all Medals of Honor won by the ground forces, an amazing accomplishment. The winning of medals helped determine when the serviceman was able to go home and at the end of the war, who could be discharged and in what order.

The book follows a number of individuals from the divisions landing in French North Africa, through the battles in Sicily and Italy, including Anzio plus the landing in the south of France through the final battles in the Colmar pocket. While Army psychologists thought that the “breaking point” of an infantryman was two-hundred days of continual combat, many of the men of the division were in continuous battles for over four-hundred days, and the survival rates was about seven percent.

Kershaw continues his excellent writing in that while he describes the overall strategic scope of the battles, focuses on the lives of the men at the most basic level. He has obviously taken great care in doing his research, in his interviews and writing to bring the men, both high and low to life. Their stories and exploits put modern day movies and stories to shame, for these were real individuals taking huge risks in order to lead their men and insure that as many of them would return home at wars end. It is a shame that young boys of today watch silly comic book heroes in movies instead of learning about real bravery as exhibited by men of their great grandfathers and grandfathers’ generations. It is hard to say anything positive about war, but to see the bravery and selflessness of the men in this book makes one realize the amazing ability of ordinary men to do extraordinary deeds.

After 9/11, a handful of specially trained U.S. servicemen went into action in a land that was little known, filled with tribal and family hatreds and rivalries, a religion that looked down on non-believers and could switch sides if bribed with enough money. Those Americans who went into action in Afghanistan, had to quickly earn the trust and respect of the native population, and operated far beyond the normal boundaries of their individual services.

Key to the success of those brave individuals was a small group of highly trained men who had the ability to call down upon the battlefield unbelievable firepower while they were not in a distant office looking at a monitor, but while they were in the very front lines of the deadliness battles.  This elite group of individuals is known as the Combat Control Teams (CCT). Their motto is “First There” and together, they have collected “in aggregate, more combat action than their special operations counterparts in the Navy and Army-making some of them the most experienced veterans in all of America’s previous wars.”  Trained to the standards of the Seals, Delta, or Special forces, they were instrumental in breaking the back of the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces equipped with modern weaponry in battles which echoed World War II.  It was through their experience, expertise, and bravery that the power of the Taliban and Al Qaeda was broken not in months, but rather in weeks. Each member of the CCT controls more destructive power than any other individual combatant in the history of the world.

The book covers the battle of Operation Anaconda as well as the background of John Chapman, the first airman to win the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War and the first member of CCT to win the Medal of Honor. His career and actions reflect the highest standards and professionalism of the little-known group of men who serve in the CCT. While the book may at times be overly technical for the novice military reader, it also reflects the skill set that is demanded in that service. Such a skill set is necessary given the huge destructive power that is placed in the hands of CCT members. Those skills are coupled with dedication and willingness to sacrifice oneself in the service of the nation and one’s fellow warriors.

The author, famous liberal attorney, and author (of over fifty books on law, legal history and legal/social commentary), is no fan of Trump. As of the book’s publication (2023) he had never voted for Trump but has been ostracized by many of his life long liberal friends and associates for his commentaries on the legal gambits by the Left over the past ten years. Disinvited by schools and groups that he has spoken before over the past forty years, he lays out the dangerous tactics of the Left as well as the Media and Academia.

Stating specific actions, he discusses how they create a danger to our Constitution and the rule of law. He criticizes both the far right and left throughout the book but focuses more on the Left who he says has shown that far from being the staunch defenders of freedom as they claim, has shown themselves to be acting strictly from political motives. He attacks the ACLU which he claims has lost its’ reputation and standing due to bowing to the demands of “diversity,” as well as the Democratic party. While he praises the base goodness of Merrick Garland and Jack Smith, he believes they have bent to political pressure in creating a double standard to justice. For example, how can Hillary Clinton, Sandy Berger and even Joe Biden criticize Donald Trump when their actions in the handling of secret documents while both in and out of office be considered as lesser than the documents at Trump’s house? He criticizes the raid for documents at Trumps house which was not of national importance as the FBI waited until two days after the authorization of the warrant (which was closer to a Bill of Attainment) to make sure that Trump was a thousand miles from his home.

The interview he has in the book with Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Gerry Baker lays out the dubious rational for the attacks on Trump according the legal and historical arguments and is a worth while read for both those legally versed and non-legally versed individuals. Unlike many attorneys, Dershowitz writes in a clear, concise manner which may very well explain his successful longevity as an author and legal commentator.

This is a short book (less than two-hundred pages) but it is clear that his defense of Trump is not based on the politics of Dershowitz but rather on his concern for the harm to the rule of law and the Constitution done by those on the Left who have made fundamental errors of judgement caused by their personal animas.  Perhaps the truth of his arguments is his personal cost caused by those who hailed him as long as he supported their views which were legally defensible.

Did you ever wonder how your life could have been different? What if you did not get that one break in your career where you were at the right place at the right time? Or you had an accident because you left the house five minutes later than normal and were in a hurry? Perhaps if you had not blown that entrance exam, you might have gotten that key grant that would have eliminated that college debt that eats at your life?

Now take those “what ifs” and look at key points in the history of humanity and think of how our lives today could have been so different. We might all be speaking Greek, or Turkish, or we might not exist as one of our grandparents died in a car accident instead of only suffering a broken leg. Few alternative histories are either beautifully written or present the reader with the “what ifs” of any particular scenario. Virtual History by Niall Ferguson is one of the few that stand out. Another is Impossible Histories by Hal Johnson. Publish in 2023, he takes us on a tour of twenty key pivots points in history and presents us with alternatives such as Alexander the Great who successful creates an empire that lasts a thousand years, the First World War which never happens because the Kaiser answered his phone before he went for a horse ride, a United States with a  President Wallace instead of Truman in which the Atomic bomb is not used and the result is a Soviet occupation of parts of Japan and most of Europe is controlled by the Soviet Union, the Third Crusade fails with the result that the Turks take Vienna in 1683 and all of Europe ends up like the Balkans, or Jimmy Carter starts a nuclear war. You cannot imagine the other alternatives.

What makes this alternative history so much better is that it does not stop with a different end to a war or siege but delves into the next step and the step after that to the point where our world is entirely different. How is that possible? It is like when you drop a stone into water and the waves continue to move out, continuing to disrupt the stillness. Exhibiting a wonderful knowledge of history and excellent insight into human nature, the author takes the reader on voyages which are both exciting and at times disturbing. Nietzsche wrote that each action we take impacts us for the rest of our lives and Johnson applies that to the entire scope of humanity.

This is a fun book that should leave you thinking not only about his subjects but also encouraging you to apply his concept to your life. Read it and enjoy!

In the past week, three Chinese students some of whom had entered the U.S. illegally and even voted in the 2024 election were caught and face Federal charges of attempting to bring in the U.S. a deadly fungus that can devastate crops such as wheat, barley, maize and rice.  They have been studying at the University of Michigan, and one has an advanced degree in plant pathogens. Some of the students have received funds from an institute partially owned by the Chinese Communist Party. Elsewhere, there is a growing concern over the purchase of U.S. farmland near U.S. military bases. Although the amount of land is only about 1% of our total farmland, it still amounts to nearly four hundred-thousand acres of land. While the recent military success of the Ukrainian forces against the Russian strategic bomber fleet has begun to bring concerns about the safety of our B-1 and B-2 strategic bombers, the Governor of Arizona recently vetoed a state bill restricting the purchase of land by Chinese nationals. Finally, the discovery of unlicensed Chinese labs in the U.S. who were working on dangerous work related to Covid-19 and were found to have genetically modified mice, has raised further questions of what are the intentions of Communist China.

The intentions are not a secret if anyone has read the 1999 book, Unrestricted Warfare by Qiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui, both retired Chinese colonels. Originally published by the People’s Liberation Army Literature & Arts Publishing House, it must have been approved by the Communist Party. They argue that generals such as Colin Powell and Schwarzkopf are more “traditional” and that they do not understand today’s war options. Further, for today’s war to be won, all available tools, including cyber and economic means, the use of media influence and legal manipulation (lawfare) must be used. They argue that the traditional boundaries of warfare must be “widened.”  For example, they write:

“The existence of boundaries is a prerequisite for differentiating objects from one another. In a world where all things are interdependent, the significance of boundaries is merely relative. The expression “to exceed limits” means to go beyond things which are called or understood to be boundaries. It does not matter whether they fall into the category of physical, spiritual, or technical, or if they are called “limits,” “defined limits,” constraints,” “border,” “rules,” ….” or even taboos.”  Speaking in terms of war, this could mean the boundary between the battlefield and what is not the battlefield, between what is a weapon and what is not, between soldier and noncombatants, between state and non-state or supra-state.”  (pp158) In other words, no boundaries, a concept of warfare (with both success and failure) that the West has attempted for a thousand years to change. In their concept of war, one need not worry about “terms of engagement,” for the gloves are off.

On the next page, they attempt to dress this up by referring to “going beyond the limits,” “surpassing all boundaries and conforming with the laws of victory when conducting warfare with combinations. Thus, we obtain a complete concept, a completely new method of warfare called “modified combined warfare that goes beyond limits.”

We currently have over a quarter of a million Chinese nationals in our universities. Those students are expected to report back to the homeland on research, ideas, and individuals. Those same universities have accepted billions of dollars from Chinese foundations and think tanks funded by the Chinese party and military.

There is an old saying, “forgive me my paranoia, for I know what I fear.”  We are an open, trusting society. Traditionally we have always thought the best of our fellow man as we were founded on Judeo-Christian ideals. It has been eighty years since we faced and defeated nations which believed that the ends justify the means. Perhaps eighty years is too long a time for us to put a threat in its’ proper perspective.

Classic Conflicts Series, Christophere Chant Consultant Editor

I first read this book in 1997 and during this re-read, I found that it has easily stood the test of time. By this I mean that reading this one book will give the reader a solid basis in most of the key areas key to an understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the German military under Hitler, as well as a basic understanding of the various military fronts, key German military personalities and problems faced by that military.  Or to put it another way, reading this book will save the reader the time and expense of going through other books published this 1997 which deal with the same areas but add nothing new.

The book itself is divided into several parts which focus on specific areas. For example, Part I entitled, “Hitler’s War Machine” deals with Germany in the thirties, the general economy, science, and technology, etc. Part II deals with Hitler’s generals and their battles in each of the key fronts. Various generals are highlighted with a good analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. The last part deals with the Luftwaffe and its challenges from fighting on numerous fronts and the impact of the strategic bombing campaign. Surprisingly, the Kriegsmarine receives short shift and is only covered in a section of fourteen pages.

The key of course to the defeat of Hitler’s war machine was the overwhelming strength of the allied coalition. Added to this is the fact that although the Germans were operating for most of the war along interior lines (unlike the United States which fought simultaneously in theaters thousands of miles apart), their shortages of key materials and short war outlook doomed them from the start. Without a quick victory, the chances of a German victory lessened each day.

Realizing the logistical problem of the German may encourage the reader to research information on the topic. I suggest Brute Force by John Ellis (reviewed 12/28/2023), Freedoms Forge by Arthur Herman (reviewed 4/28/2025) and Why the Allies Won by Richard Overy. These excellent books will give the reader an amazing view of the power available to the modern nation’s state.

Overall, this is an excellent book which covers most of the key areas. It is more of a technical look at war, devoid of human-interest stories but written in a manner that easily holds one’s attention.

In June 1942, for the first time since the war of 1812, the United States was invaded.  Invaded in an area where few Americans had ever been, on an island that even fewer Americans had ever heard of, but it was an invasion which had to be faced. 

To mislead American forces from the main Japanese thrust in the Central Pacific, Japanese forces landed on the island of Attu, an island at the extreme end of the Aleutian Island chain.  The island that held no tactical or strategic value, was racked by one hundred mile and hour winds that thundered down from the mountains and had an average of ten days of sun a year.  Wet, cold and remote, tens of thousands of men would meet each other in mortal combat for not valid reason.

Beyond the battle however, this is a story about two men, one Japanese, one American.  The men met in a split second, one killed the other, but their lives were forever bound by their love of America and duty to their native land. 

Paul Nobuo Tatsuguchi was the son of Japanese Seventh Day Adventists who studied medicine in the United States and who came to love the country.  The size, freedom, opportunity all promised all that he could wish and when he met a beautiful Japanese student, he married and began a family.  Life was not to allow him to enjoy his opportunity however, as he and his little family travelled back to Japan in a successful attempt to free one of his sisters from prostitution to which she had been sold by the family’s elder brother during the worse days of the Depression.  Then, Tatsuguchi was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army (though he was mistrusted so much that he was the only doctor in the Army who was not an officer).  Shipped to Attu with the invasion forces, Tatsuguchi was cut off from the world he loved and was subjected, as were all Japanese troops, to constant propaganda regarding the glories of Japan and his duty to the Emperor.

Dick Laird escaped the poverty of Appalachia by joining the U.S. Army where for the first time he had three meals a day, regular pay and a clean place to sleep.  He met, impregnated and left a girl but during the war, he matured, went back and married her but he still had to pay his debt and fight his battles in the Pacific.  One early morning, with a thick fog all around and in the middle of a Japanese suicide attack, Dick accidently killed a comrade and then killed Tatsuguchi.

Dick never really recovered from the battles he fought (he won the Bronze and Silver Star medals) and Tatsuguchi had left behind a diary which was circulated widely by U.S. troops even though it went against the image built up during the war which showed the Japanese are a deadly, sneaky crazy enemy who had no human feelings. 

Many years later, Dick managed to find the family of Tatsuguchi and told them how he had killed their father/husband. How both sides faced the truth and what they learned is a great story.  And, this book also brings out the sacrifices of the men of both sides who fought in one of the most hellish places on earth, in a campaign that produced the highest percentage of American to Japanese causalities until the battle of Okinawa. 

This is a fine read, both for the military historian and for more personal aspects.  Highly recommended.