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Posted on Jun 4, 2023 in Armchair Reading, Books and Movies, Front Page Features

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. Henry Stimson and FDR: Uniting America for Victory – Book Review

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. Henry Stimson and FDR: Uniting America for Victory – Book Review

Uniting America: How FDR and Henry Stimson Brought Democrats and Republicans Together to Win World War II. Author: Peter Shinkle. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press. Price $ 32.50 Students of World War II history, both professional and casual, are familiar with the grand sweep of the military scope of the war. That familiarity ranges from an understanding of the tactical decisions within a single battle to the grand strategy discussions at Casablanca and Yalta. The common theme is the focus on history through the lens of the war effort. National governments are mostly depicted as monolithic institutions subordinate to the direction of their senior leaders – Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt. Like the Tamarian tale of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra, the Second World War was a conflict that brought unlikely partners together to unite against a common foe. Author Peter Shinkle changes that focus in his book Uniting America: How FDR and Henry Stimson Brought Democrats and Republicans Together to Win World War II. Shinkle explores the fascinating partnership between...

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Posted on Jan 7, 2023 in Books and Movies, Front Page Features

Examining the Critical Role of WW II Logistics in “War of Supply” – Book Review

Examining the Critical Role of WW II Logistics in “War of Supply” – Book Review

War of Supply: World War II Allied Logistics in the Mediterranean. Author: David D. Dworak. Publisher: University Press of Kentucky. Price $ 40.00 During World War II, the Allied powers (primarily the United States and the United Kingdom) engaged in a number of campaigns in the Mediterranean region, including the North African campaign, the invasion of Sicily, and the Italian campaign. Logistics played a crucial role in these campaigns, as the Allies had to transport and supply troops, equipment, and supplies over long distances and across difficult terrain. When you mention military logistics, the first thing that comes to mind is the famous statement that “An army travels on its stomach”. While oft attributed to Napoleon or Fredrick the Great, the fundamental core of the statement remains true – for a military force to operate effectively, it must be supplied. While in the 18th and early 19th Century this mostly referred to food for the troops and fodder for the horses, by the mid-20th Century, technology had transformed warfare...

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Posted on Jun 29, 2021 in Boardgames, Front Page Features

Age of Dogfights Takes Us to the Dangerous Skies of World War II – Kickstarter Preview

Age of Dogfights Takes Us to the Dangerous Skies of World War II – Kickstarter Preview

Age of Dogfights World War II Board Game Preview.  Publisher: Forsage Games  Designers:  Predrag Lazovic and Dragan Lazovic Age of Dogfights World War II is a sequel to Age of Dogfights World War I.  Age of Dogfights World War II is currently active on Kickstarter and Armchair General has been fortunate to have been sent a demo of the game to preview.  Forsage Games of Serbia again utilizes their patented “Triangle System” of movement.  Previously Armchair General reviewed their modern tactical naval battles game “Naval Battles in the Archipelago” and “Age of Dogfights World War I” which also both use their movement system. You can find the Kickstarter campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1732812836/age-of-dogfights-wwii https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1732812836/age-of-dogfights-wwii While the game’s components are not finalized based upon fulfilling Kickstarter goals, the components seem to be close to what was included in the World War I edition, namely: 3 bi-fold maps 4 board extensions 60 aircraft counters 112 plastic altitude stands including level flying and banked versions 2 tilt compensators Initial position markers 21 control panels Fuel...

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Posted on May 16, 2021 in Armchair Reading, Front Page Features

“War and Resistance in the Philippines 1942-1944.” Book Review.

“War and Resistance in the Philippines 1942-1944.” Book Review.

War and Resistance in the Philippines 1942-1944. 2021.  Author: James Kelly Morningstar. Naval Institute Press. 384 pages. ISBN: 9781682475690 The popular perception of the Philippines during the Second World War is shaped by a handful of key events – the surrender of Corregidor, The Bataan Death March, MacArthur’s pledge to return and of course, the actual return of US combat forces to the Philippines beginning in 1944. But between the bookends of General Wainwright’s surrender of Corregidor and General MacArthur’s return at Leyte was a period of over a thousand days during which the Philippine islands were occupied by the Japanese Empire. Conventional histories suggests that the Filipino people were a people without agency, led into resistance by a handful of American troops that took to the hills, with a s trickle of aid provided by the United States and motivated by the remote directions of General MacArthur from Australia.  Dr. James Kelly Morningstar’s recent book War and Resistance in the Philippines 1942-1944 dispels that traditional interpretation and explores the...

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Posted on May 3, 2021 in Armchair Reading, Front Page Features

“Taranto And Naval Air Warfare in The Mediterranean, 1940-1945”. Book Review.

“Taranto And Naval Air Warfare in The Mediterranean, 1940-1945”. Book Review.

Taranto And Naval Air Warfare in The Mediterranean, 1940-1945. 2021.  Author: David Hobbs. Seaforth Publishing. 440 pages. ISBN: 978-1-5267-9383-6 Years ago, a professor encouraged us to attend as many seminars as possible. His reasoning was that while some seminars might be tedious and most would not be useful, occasionally, you’d encounter a seminar that was a valuable gem. This memory came to mind while reading David Hobb’s recent book Taranto and Naval Air Warfare in The Mediterranean 1940-1945. The book is a chronological history of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm in the Mediterranean theater. In many ways Taranto is a sequel David Hobbs’ earlier books The Dawn of Carrier Strike. Taranto is an engaging story of the pilots of the Fleet Air Arm that conveys how, to paraphrase Churchill, so many owed so much to so few. But in this case the “so few” are the pilots of the Fleet Air Arm serving in the Mediterranean theater. By focusing on the Fleet Air Arm, David Hobbs provides a narrative...

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