Monday, November 29, 2010

How to Lose WWII

How to Lose WWII
2010
Edited by Bill Fawcett


Review by The Kiwi

This is a collection of articles by various authors about what went wrong for specific battles in WW2. It could be case of what went right for the winning side but like games of Flames of War the book mentions that whoever makes the least mistakes usually wins. Something that all gamers can relate I am sure. The scope is more the greater strategic setting rather than the detail on the battlefields for the most part.

If you are new to reading about WW2 it could be a good introduction to getting overall concepts of key battles. If you play Flames of War and read all the Army book backgrounds it may even help give you the bigger picture above divisional level.

Battles include, Crete, Battle of Britain, Arnhem (Market Garden), Battle of the Bulge, Huertgen Forest, Normandy, Falaise and plenty of others. It was good to see articles on aspects of the Italian campaign as this is often overlooked in many books. However the book does not cover the global conflict and covers the ETO almost exclusively. The Pacific does not really get much of a look in.  

Because it is a series of articles rather than one book about one area or campaign it is fairly easy and light to read. I didn’t get that bogged down in historic detail feel when reading other WWII history books. It’s an OK read but not one that I would say was a classic or a must have.

Cheers

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like it was a decent read.

    How would you rate it out of ten?

    ReplyDelete
  2. About a 6.5.
    I would pick it up if I saw it in a 2nd hand shop.
    cheers

    ReplyDelete