One Hundred And Seventy-Five Battles, By Land, Sea And Air —From Marathon To The Marne And After. By Roger Shaw, edited by S. C. Vestal. Harrisburg: The Military Service Publishing Company. 268 pages. 1937. $2.00.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Neville T. Kirk, U. S. Naval Reserve
Bringing a volume of military history to the attention of naval personnel requires, perhaps, some words of justification. The late Admiral Stephen B. Luce put the matter forcefully. Luce, the foremost practical seaman of his time, used to say that, for line officers, command in time of war is “the great business of their lives.” Strategy and tactics, mastered in terms of their historical evolution, should therefore “occupy the best thoughts of the naval officer, for they belong to the very highest branch of his profession.” And, as “the principles of strategy are always the same, and apply equally to the army on land and the army afloat—the Navy,” lighting sea officers, from their junior watch and division days onward, should give some thought to historic land operations as well as to the decisive naval campaigns of the past. So strongly did Luce feel the force of his own reasoning that, with characteristic energy, he became the prime mover in the establishment of a school, the Naval War College, which would enable officers to study with greater continuity fundamentals of the art of war.
Can Napoleon’s decisions contribute anything of value to the solution of present strategic problems facing the Navy? Or, for that matter, do the lessons of Trafalgar apply to current tactical doctrine? Alfred Thayer Mahan, Luce’s successor at the War College, dealt with this by pointing out that the study of military and naval history obviously could not supply patterns of procedure ready-made for inclusion in current war plans. Even in Mahan’s day changing tactical characteristics of naval craft outmoded current doctrines with bewildering rapidity. But—and this was the great staple of Mahan’s teaching —the principles of war are constant, and historical analysis clearly indicates how these principles have determined the decisions on land and on sea, from Salamis to the Solomons. They are few in number; the most important can be summarized in the words correct objective, security, co-ordination, surprise, concentration, and aggressiveness. Yet every major campaign from Xerxes’ time provides glaring examples of failure to appreciate one or more of these and to integrate them in operations plans. The study of military and naval history, by affording demonstrations of their decisive influence with almost wearisome repetition, builds these principles into the subconscious as no other discipline can; makes them the “inarticulate major premises” of correct strategic thinking.
For these reasons One Hundred and Seventy- Five Battles has value for naval officers. Hut its intent is to provide an introduction to introductory study of military history, so to speak. No campaign is treated at greater length than three pages, and the average battle rates a page and a half. Within these limits it is not possible to include more than a sentence or two dealing with commanding officers and relative forces. A couple of paragraphs may summarize the crucial tactical maneuver of the action and give the briefest precis of the strategic outcome. The volume, then, is primarily a military gazeteer.
Of the 175 battles, 22 relate to sea power, and range in time from the Graeco-Persian wars to Jutland. Naval officers will regret the omission of some battles of great strategic importance or significance in relation to tactical developments; for example, Ecnomus, the first battle of Lake Champlain, Mobile Bay, Manila Bay, and the Dogger Bank. Dwarfing the naval phase of the Yorktown campaign to the compass of a single sentence seems hardly justified. Macdonough’s victory on Lake Champlain, on the other hand, is admirably done. The present volume carries its story down to 1937. A new edition, cataloguing with comparable brevity the multitudinous land and sea operations of the current war, would be most timely. As a book of reference the volume meets a definite need.
Mathematics For Mariners. By Chester E. Dimick, Captain, USCG., and Cuthbert C. Hurd, Lieutenant, USCGR. New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc. 1943. 253 pages. $2.75.
Reviewed by Lieutenant R. C. Morrow, U. S. Naval Reserve
In Mathematics for Mariners, the authors have succeeded in fulfilling the need for a short review of, or introduction to, the elementary mathematics which is needed in the solution of numerous fundamental problems in plane navigation, simple gunnery, maneuvering at sea, seamanship, and elementary marine engineering.
The book begins with a chapter on numerical calculations, and proceeds briefly through logarithms, use of tables, elementary algebra, elements of plane geometry, trigonometry including the solution of the general oblique triangle, vectors, and relative displacement and velocity.
The chapters on vectors and their use in nautical problems are to be especially noted for their “easy to understand” presentation and the well chosen applications. Also to be noted is the chapter on use of tables in which both single and double interpolation arc presented. Complete five-place logarithmic and trigonometric tables are included in the book.
God Is My Co-Pilot. By Robert L. Scott, Jr., Colonel, U. S. Army Air Force, with a foreword by Major General Claire L. Chennault. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 277 pages. $2.50.
Reviewed by Major Horace S. Mazet, U. S. Marine Corps Reserve
Scott is one of those pilots around whom legends grow. No great scholar, he entered West Point only by dint of perseverance and graduated with one thought in mind: to become a military pilot. An outdoor man and a thinker, Scott naturally gravitated to fighter planes but when war was declared he found himself in command of Southern California flying schools. With his thousands of hours aloft he begged to be sent to a combat zone.
May, 1942, provided him with an opportunity to prove that his vast air experience had been merely an air laboratory to teach him how to save his own life and accomplish his various missions. Not content with ferrying transports over the towering Himalayas in foul weather, he pestered Chennault until the General gave him a P-40 for convoy duty. Then Scotty really went to work, making eleven forays with the immortal Flying Tigers, providing fighter protection in his “pea shooter” and wrestling with the transports between Assam and China. In that month he set an all-time high with 214 hours in the air! Called before the General, Scotty feared he was to be sent home, but that wily tactician placed him, at 34, in command of all the American Fighters in China.
A fiery Southerner from Georgia, Scotty tore into the Nips with a vengeance, emerging finally with 12 confirmed air victories and 6 probables, 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, several Air Medals and Silver Stars. Withal, he has a fine sense of humor and a magnetic personality, and his own record of the activities of the air war in the China Theater makes recommended reading that has been for months a best seller throughout the United States.
Long Were The Nights. By Hugh B. Cave. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. 1943. 115 pages. $3.00.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Commander G. T. Ferguson, U. S. Navy
The author describes Long Were the Nights briefly as being the “Saga of PT Squadron ‘X’ in the Solomons” and the story lie presents is indeed a saga. The book’s 115 pages are filled with stirring accounts of the many actions which took place in the crowded waters of “Sleepless Lagoon” and “Torpedo Junction,” the now well-known names for that section of the seas bounded by Savo Island, Guadalcanal, and Florida Island.
There have been literally hundreds of additions to our fighting fleet since the days of October and November, 1942, and the situation as regards both personnel and material is now greatly improved, but during the period which included the occupation and defense of Guadalcanal the attackers, both ashore and afloat, were operating under the most extreme conditions with less than what was considered the absolute minimum number of boats and men.
PT Squadron “X” based and fought in the Solomons for four months. One hundred and twenty days is not considered as an excessively long period of time by those whose nights are comfortably spent in sleep and whose days are passed in safety. But day to the PT men meant work and night meant danger and frequently battle against great odds. Under such conditions four months is time enough to break even the strongest men. Long Were the Nights is the story of such men who did not break—it is a tribute to the courage and resourcefulness of the men who man the PTs in particular and the men of the Navy in general.
Paradox Isle. By Carol Bache. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1943. 184 pages. $2.50.
Reviewed by Captain H. H. Smith- Hutton, U. S. Navy
There arc few good books written about our Japanese enemy but Paradox Isle is one of them. The reader will not find much about the present war in the pages of this little volume. On the other hand he will find much that will give him a clearer insight into Japanese psychology, character, manners, and customs. The peculiar mental attitudes and make-up of the people are revealed in a fresh and skillful way.
The book was written by an intelligent, observant, and thoughtful American woman who spent some fourteen years in Japan. She had an exceptional opportunity to observe the Japanese, see how they live and to learn how they think and act. Her book, written in lucid and economical English, is a harmonious blend of pointed essay and amusing story; a blend which gives an effective picture of our enemy. Not only arc militarists and officials portrayed with keen directness but the unofficial Japanese, the unresponsive, guileless, and easily led little people, are shown with the same skill, wit, sympathy, and understanding.
There is the story of the general who was decorated on his return from China and who, when his house was burning, dashed into it to save his decoration but left his crippled wife to burn to death. There are other stories of I he cruelty of the typical policeman bewildered by propaganda, of the disgusting way in which a Christian Japanese family entertained a missionary, and of a burglar who fell asleep in the bath of his intended victim after having forgotten to steal anything. The last chapter which shows how similar were the experiences of our first and last envoys to Japan is especially well done.
Paradox Isle is recommended for all officers who desire to have a better understanding of the Japanese people for it will take a place in the small and select group of really good books written about them.
Alaska Under Arms. By Jean Potter. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1942. $2.00.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Commandku G. T. Ferguson, U. S. Navy
Despite its title this book does not deal primarily with an armed Alaska ready to defend herself against an attacking enemy, but rather it places this extensive territory under a microscope and examines it with respect to its relationship to the outside world.
The author, Miss Jean Potter, is a staff writer for Fortune Magazine and her work is indicative of a tremendous amount of research and “investigation on the spot.” The thoroughness and accuracy of the book are not questioned but to obtain these qualities a certain amount of readability has been sacrificed.
Miss Potter chooses for her main point the contention of most Alaskans—that the size, climate, potentialities, and particularly the strategic position of the territory are neither understood nor appreciated by the people in the States.
The late, prophetic Brigadier General “Billy” Mitchell once said “The United States is in a better position than Japan to prosecute an offensive campaign by air. We own islands within striking distance of Japan’s vitals. An aerial campaign against Japan could be pushed to best advantage from Alaskan air bases.” Alaska Under Arms describes this territory’s strategic though isolated position in the present war, but stresses even more the great geographical advantages it will possess in its position “on top of the world” in the air age that is sure to follow.
The Battle Is The Pay-Off. By Captain Ralph lngersoll, U. S. Army. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. 1943. 217 pages. $2.00.
Reviewed by Commander J. F. Goodwin, U. S. Navy
Captain lngersoll served as an enlisted man in the U. S. Army in World War I. In recent years he was the editor of the well-known newspaper PM. By choice, he enlisted again in this war in the U. S. Army Engineer Corps and at the time he wrote this book he held the rank of Captain.
The Battle Is the Pay-Off, is in four parts. Part I, “Theater of War,” takes the reader up to the point where the writer is ready to jump off on a mission with a combined Ranger and Engineer group.
Part II, “An Army Is Quite A Thing,” is a brief but excellent description of various units that make up an army and their functions in the field.
Part III paints a picture of the attack that opened the road to Sfax and secured the flank of the push to Gabes—both forces jumping from El Guettar—as seen by an officer taking part. Here 500 Americans captured 1,500 Italians in a strong position with only one American slightly wounded. This part is the best section of the book; it could serve for a textbook example of strategy and tactics- culminating in a mission that was overwhelming in its success.
Part IV, “The Battle Is the Pay-Off,” concludes the book. The writer felt at the time it was written, that the American soldier fights to defeat the enemy in order to get the job done and to get home, whereas, for example, the British fight with “the pent-up fury of years of frustration and defeat, the desperate need to destroy the enemy, to justify himself as a man and to avenge.” Captain Ingersoll states that the American people are physically committed to the war, but not spiritually, adding that “In the determination of the people at home lie the lives of untold thousands of men.”
Aside from whether a reader agrees with the author as to the state of commitment of the American people to the present war, the book gives one of the best-to-date descriptions of the details of the daily life of a soldier during the Tunisian campaign and strongly emphasizes the need for the rigorous training given to our Army today.
Thumbnail Reviews
Australia. By Griffith Taylor, Professor of Geography, University of Toronto. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. 1943 (Revised from the First Edition of 1940). 455 pages. $6.00.
A thorough geographical study by a distinguished authority, though too technical and detailed for casual reading. Half of Australia today is inhabited by less than 1 per cent of the total population; its 21 million acres of croppage is less than that of Rumania; but, discounting more optimistic estimates, the author believes that, while “the empty lands arc a burden rather than an asset,” the present seven million people may expand to some 20 million when the land is developed to the same extent as the United States.
G. I. Laughs; Real U. S. Army Humor. Selected by Harold Hersey. New York: Sheridan House. 1943. 255 pages and 200 illustrations. $2.75.
Boisterous, bumptious, now and again a bit bawdy humor sifted from 350 or more army camp magazines. Taste in jokes may vary, but, according to the blurb, “eight million men just can’t be wrong.”
Russian War, 1854, Baltic and Black Sea; Official Correspondence. Edited by D. Bonner-Smith and Captain A. C. Dewar. London: Printed for the Navy Records Society. 1943. 21 s.
This latest publication of the Navy Records Society contains the correspondence of the British commanders in chief in the Baltic and Black Sea during the first year of the Crimean War. Though the operations were chiefly against shore defenses, the records have some historical interest as picturing a period of naval transition and almost the earliest wartime use of screw steamers and shell guns. The records of the Black Sea campaign also illustrate the difficulties of divided command—as between the British and French naval leaders, and between the British commanders afloat and ashore.
Portuguese at Sight. By Alexander Gode. Illustrated by Edgard Cirlin. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. 1943. 100 pages. $1.50
This book is based on the principles that a student learns a language faster by associating words with pictures and that he gains a more solid knowledge of grammar if he acquires it inductively. The book is a clever application of the two principles in a very circumscribed form.
Spherological Navigation. By Dirk Brouwer, F. W. Keator, and Drury A. McMillcn. New York: The Macmillan Company. 1944. 200 pages. $5.00.
Presents a system based on “the use of a spherical plotting surface on which a fix of position is obtained by the direct plotting of selected celestial bodies.” The authors claim the method can be mastered in about three weeks’ time. It practically eliminates calculations and tables, save the Air or Nautical Almanac, but calls for drill and accuracy in the use of instruments. The sphere and other essential instruments for use with the system arc in process of manufacture.
Standing Room Only. By Elizabeth Fowler. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co. 1944. 195 pages. $2.00.
A highly interesting story of a woman’s experience during ten days adrift in a lifeboat with 34 men, after their ship, the West Kebar, was torpedoed in the Central Atlantic.
The Road to Teheran. By Foster Rhea Dulles. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1944. 279 pages. $2.50.
Concise, scholarly review of Russian-American relations, 1781-1943, stressing the generally friendly contacts and parallel interests, except in the troubled period from 1917 to 1933.