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Posted on Oct 14, 2005 in Books and Movies, Front Page Features

Black Jack Logan – An Extraordinary Life in Peace and War – Book Review

Some people are born to greatness. Others have greatness shoved upon them. Still others reinvent their self into greatness. John A. “Black Jack” Logan reinvented himself not once, but twice into greatness, and nearly within a cat's whiskers distance from the White House when he died prematurely from what was described as cerebral rheumatism.

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Posted on Oct 12, 2005 in Carlo D'Este, Front Page Features

Monty: World War II’s Most Misunderstood General, Part 3

[Note: This is Part 3 of a scheduled three-part analysis of Montgomery’s leadership and battlefield performance in World War II. The first part of this series can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.] An Armchair General Exclusive by Carlo D’Este. This final installment about Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery examines his generalship during the most crucial battle fought by the Allies since the D-Day landings in France on June 6, 1944, the desperate Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 that is perhaps the least understood of his colorful military career. The ensuing battle of Normandy and the breakout from the so-called Falaise Gap were also controversial and will be the subject of a future article on Patton and Monty. At the end of August 1944 the Normandy campaign came to a sudden and dramatic end with an overwhelming allied victory that left the German army in the West in full retreat toward Germany. So crushing was the allied victory that some began to perceive that...

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Posted on Sep 29, 2005 in Front Page Features, War College

2003 French Army Order of Battle

Since the end of the Cold War, the change in the international scene has shown French headquarters the necessity of changing the French army structure and goals. The need to maintain a large force of troops facing a potential threat coming from the Warsaw Pact is no longer necessary in the modern era. The technical evolution of weapon systems show that a smaller force using professional troops is more useful than a larger force relying on conscripts. The first Gulf War, along with the Kosovo conflict, clearly displayed to the French HQ its limits in projecting French troops around the world.

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Posted on Sep 8, 2005 in Armchair Reading, Front Page Features

November 2005 Issue: MacArthur

This month we introduce a diverse mix of time periods and commanders. From a group of Romans in the Teutoburger Wald who would never return, to General Douglas MacArthur who definitely DID return, plus a whole lot of other goodies. Click here to learn more, and look for this issue on newsstands after October 1st!

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Posted on Aug 25, 2005 in Carlo D'Este, Front Page Features

Monty: World War II’s Most Misunderstood General, Part 2

[Note: This is Part 2 of a scheduled three-part analysis of Montgomery’s leadership and battlefield performance in World War II. Look for Part 3 in September or October 2005. The first part of this series can be found here.] Last month’s article on the generalship of Field-Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery during World War II was aimed at presenting a brief glimpse into a complex character that was nothing like the cardboard stereotype that has been the typical portrayal of the man they called Monty. This essay is part 2 of a three-part examination of Monty’s leadership during the war and his relationship with senior Allied commanders. This essay is a look at his campaigns in the Mediterranean after El Alamein. * * * With Bernard Montgomery what you saw was what you got; there was not the slightest pretense to the man. He spoke his mind, always forcefully and with little thought of whether or not it was, in modern terminology, politically correct. Monty spoke as a soldier whose...

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Posted on Aug 16, 2005 in Books and Movies, Front Page Features

Trafalgar: The Men, the Battle, the Storm – Book Review

This tremendous fabric gave a deep roll with the swell to leeward, then back to windward; and on her return every mast went by the board, leaving her an unmanageable hulk on the water. Her immense topsails had every reef out, her royals were sheeted home but lowered, and the falling mass of spars, sails and rigging, plunging into the water at the muzzles of our guns, was one of the most magnificent sights I ever beheld.

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