Book Reviews and Book List

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The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery

Paul M. Kennedy. New York: Charles Scribners’s Sons, 1976. 405 pp. Maps. Bib. $15.00.

Reviewed by Rear Admiral Edward Wegener, Federal German Navy (Retired)

(Rear Admiral Edward Wegener was Com­mander, NATO Naval Forces, Baltic Ap­proaches, from 1963 until he retired in 1965. During World War II, he was assigned fitting-out duty in the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and served as gunnery officer through all her war action, until February 1943. At the time of the Normandy invasion, he was op­erations officer on the Naval Staff, West, in Paris. From October 1944 until the end of the war, he was staff operations officer in the Fleet Command'. Since retirement Admiral Wegener has been active as a writer on naval subjects and is the author of the Naval Institute Press book. The Soviet Naval Offensive.)

Paul M. Kennedy, Professor of British History at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, has for a number of years been publishing studies on the history of British sea power and of the British Empire. All of these have been of great interest by themselves, but they now turn out to have been mere preliminary exercises for a more grandiose and comprehen­sive endeavor. The history of British supremacy at sea is, at the same time, the history of the British Empire—

Even as Queen Victoria reviewed her fleet in 1853, forces were in motion which would spell the end of British naval mastery.

one period of universal history which one readily assumes one knows well, but which is here treated not only with scientific rigor, but with a most impressive succinctness and under to­tally new aspects.

The glorious period of ascension, complete with victories and heroes, between the days of Queen Elizabeth and the Congress of Vienna, fascinates the reader again and again. The novel element in Kennedy’s presentation is that he manages to demonstrate, even during this phase of rise, the origins of the later decline. Like A. T. Ma­han, he perceives of this epoch as the era of “classic mastery of the sea,” but he also recognizes that the post­Columbian era with its power vac­uums overseas presented a unique op­portunity for the naval powers of the time. Favored by an insular position, Britain managed to do away with all her continental European rivals one after the other. And, aided by the wealth which she drew from her over­seas trade, her colonies, and her in­dustrial leadership position, she suc­ceeded in establishing a global hegemony at sea such as the world had never seen before.

But this Pax Britannica and the fleet which assured its continuity, no matter how indestructible they seemed at the time, reposed on foun­dations which, in reality, could not endure very long. The system of free trade which was so highly beneficial to Britain’s economy (and to the economies of all other civilized coun­tries) generated increasing competi­tion for Britain’s overseas trade; under the auspices of the modern concepts of sovereignty and self-determination the colonial empire became increasingly shaky; and her industrial advance over other industrial powers could not be made to last forever. When, as a re­sult of these developments, England’s financial resources became gradually strained, the economic basis for British mastery of the sea became cor­respondingly ever more precarious. Thus, for the trained eye of today’s scholar, the harbingers of decline began to make their appearance even

at the apogee of the Pax Britannica, well within the 19th century.

When Germany, Japan, and the United States also began to equip themselves with battleship fleets, British naval mastery ceased to be of a global nature. Britain was forced to build an oversized war fleet and to concentrate it on only one of her op­ponents. This implied, then imper­ceptible, power concessions to the other two competitors. In order to maintain the balance of power on the European continent, a vital concept for her survival, Britain had to wage two world wars which dissipated her wealth and caused the successive de­cline of her naval mastery.

From this vantage point of histori­cal analysis, questions of principle come to mind. Kennedy interprets the technical revolutions in the traditional configuration of naval war, as sym­bolized by submarines and aircraft, as a “decay of seapower.” Likewise, he assumes a weakening of sea power, in principle at least, as a consequence of increased mobility on land, be it in a military or an economic context, and of the arrival of huge land armies which, he argues, shift the emphasis of power contests away from the sea and onto the land.

We must concede to the author that the political and military impact of sea power has changed since the “classical period.” However, it ap­pears questionable to this reviewer whether this development should be termed a decay only because the pro­cess of change worked to the disadvan­tage of Great Britain. Today, when traffic at sea has attained unprec­edented dimensions and has become of vital significance to even a larger number of countries, sea power has hardly lost in effectiveness. On the other hand, Kennedy is right when he states that the sea power of today’s superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, both endowed with immense resources within their own borders, reposes on far less shaky foundations than that of Britain in her time, and that consequently a pro­found change in the nature of sea power and mastery of the sea has taken place.

The Rise and Pall of British Naval

Mastery ranks as a conceptual study which, far even beyond its fascinating description of a given historical period, motivates one to rethink prob­lems of sea power in past, present, and future. With that, it is an ex­traordinary and highly important achievement. At this level of analysis, the decline of British sea power, apart from occasional errors and deficien­cies, appears as a case of inescapable destiny, imbedded in the larger de­velopments of world history. That does in no way diminish our admira­tion for its erstwhile grandeur and the men who brought it about.

The Crucial Years, 1939-1941: The World at War—From the Beginning through Pearl Harbor

Hanson W. Baldwin. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. 499 pp. Maps. Bib.

$20.00 ($16.00).

The Last European War: Sep­tember 1939-December 1941

John Lukacs. Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1976. 562 pp. Ulus. Bib. $15.00.

Reviewed by Colonel Jeremiah O’Leary, U. S. Marine Corps Reserve

(Colonel O'Leary is commander of the 4th Civil Affairs Group, 4th Marine (Reserve) Divi­sion, and State Department correspondent for The Washington Star. He fought in World War II and Korea.)

When two eminent historians set forth simultaneously to write an aggregate of 1,061 pages about the same September, 1939—December, 1941 time frame, they are bound to come up with some fairly similar ac­counts. This is especially true of World War II, about which there are likely few remaining undisclosed se­crets.

One is left then with two distinc­tions: style and conclusions drawn. When Baldwin writes that it is now clear that it was not in the interest of the United States to help one menace (i.e. Soviet Russia) to replace another (Hitler’s Germany), it is pardonable to ask rhetorically: so what else is new? So much for conclusions, hindsight, and second guessing. At any given time in the course of the war, Ameri­can leaders made decisions they doubt­less thought were right and many of them turned out to be wrong.

But style, narrative skill, and re­search are palpable skills that can make or break a story, even one so well-known as the history of the days from the invasion of Poland to Pearl Harbor. Baldwin, the trained reporter and speaking acquaintance of many of the key figures, writes the sharp, clear prose that marks The New York Times. It is not in a class with the beautiful language of Bruce Catton writing about another war, but it does the job.

Lukacs is just as good on his narra­tive, mind-boggling on his research, and a good deal more judgmental in his reporting. He never hesitates to pronounce a Churchill right and a Halifax wrong. Baldwin is more the analyst; Lukacs more the pedagogue. Both contribute to thought and un­derstanding about the passage of events that seemed so mysterious at the time and so piercingly simple with the 20-20 vision of hindsight.

And this kind of analysis-judgment is perfectly valid. Who has not won­dered why certain decisions were made and, in some cases, why other leaders did not move heaven and earth to pre­vent them? I have never understood, for example, why the Marines had to take Peleliu, except that MacArthur insisted on coverage of his flank when the Philippines were to be liberated. And if it had to be done in the Palaus, why bloody two whole divisions at Peleliu when there were lightly de­fended places in the island chain that could have been used to the same re­sult?

Someday I should like to see a book that does nothing but second guess the World War II commanders. But who is the expert capable of this— Weyand, Haig, Brown, Zumwalt?

This point of style raises one final thought. Professional historians ap­pear to feel that to be taken seriously they must belabor the reader with footnotes and back-of-the-book notes and sources. I think this is swell for text books but infuriating for the gen­eral reader who is not planning a book of his own or seeking a degree. Lukacs scarcely lets a page pass without a plethora of ibids, citations, further explanations. All of them could, for ease of reading, have been incorpo­rated in his sentences of text.

Baldwin’s practice is almost as ir­ritating. He uses the little numbers that refer by chapters to the back of the book and force the reader to flip to and fro in search of an authority that is almost never worth the interruptive trip.

One could wish that celebrated au­thors on the heavy duty of writing about wars would permit the reader to assume that they did their research without having to prove it on every everlasting page.

The World War II buff, and I am one of them, will like and profit from both these tomes. They bring back in vivid detail a period through which a diminishing number of us lived and fought. Perhaps, in making our own judgments with the benefit of so vast an amount of information, we will make wiser judgments about the di­lemmas of today that have not yet been played out to a conclusion.

Pictorial History of the German Navy in World War II

Edward P. Von der Porten. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1976. 368 pp. Maps. Illus. Bib. $17.50 (114.00).

German Warships of the Second World War

H. T. Lenton. New York: Arco Publish­ing Co., 1976. 397 pp. Illus. Bib. $19.95.

Reviewed by Captain Kenneth W. Estes, U. S. Marine Corps

(Captain Estes is a faculty member of the His­tory Department of the US. Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1969. He is a Marine Tank Officer and holds an A.M. in History from Duke University. He contributed recently to the Naval Institute’s Combat Fleets of the World and has published essays and book reviews in the Proceedings and Marine Corps Gazette.)

Von der Porten’s book is a reissue of his earlier German Navy in World War II (1969) with greatly expanded photo coverage and some minor revi­sions of text. Clearly, it is a most readable and comprehensive general survey of the German Navy’s opera­tional experience in the last world war. In fact, it may be regarded as a masterful synthesis of the historical and journalistic writing of the last 20 years.

As a survey and as a synthesis, this volume reveals no new or startling material. Von der Porten has relied exclusively upon published sources, mostly in the English language. He implies that he has gained much in­sight from interviews with retired German officers and German publica­tions, but only one German work is cited in the scanty footnote section. He has, therefore, made no use of the extensive records of the Kriegsmarine held in Freiburg and microfilmed by British and American archivists. Thus, this book is intended for the general reader and naval enthusiast, and not the serious scholar.

Nevertheless, this book had to be written. Over 20 years have elapsed since Admiral Ruge wrote the first adequate summary of German naval operations and strategy in World War II, and much historical scholarship has revealed interesting interpretations of German naval doctrine, planning, leadership, technology, and bureau­cracy. One must specifically question, however, whether enough of this liter­ature has in fact been consulted.

The photographs present an impor­tant visual record complementing the text. Over half of them have been pre­viously overpublished, though. The maps are barely adequate to dem­onstrate the general course of naval ac­tions. As a coffee-table book, it will meet the needs of most collectors of naval literature.

The Lenton book is of course a more narrowly-focused work, one of a growing number of ship-data books that appeals, for the most part, to buffs, collectors, and hobbyists. A combination of several earlier vol­umes, this book also promises short descriptions of ship types with techni­cal data, dates, and photographs.

While it is certainly crammed with information, this volume also reflects the compromised nature of all such publications. The descriptions are quite terse and are fitted with the data into narrow columns, leaving nearly one third of each page as margins. This visual display is further aggra­vated by type variations which leave the reader virtually exhausted while only halfway through the book.

Another compromise was reached in the emphasis placed upon the various categories of fleet units. The surface warships, which often tied down more enemy tonnage than the submarine force, are afforded only 80 pages of analysis while the U-boats receive more than double the treatment and auxiliaries about a third more cover­age. Part of the reason for this divi­sion of attention is the fascination of ship buffs with the proposed or ex­perimental projects which never reached operational status, but still intrigue the “what-if’ analyst. If such books are ever to approach their avowed purpose of enriching naval history with the “comprehensive de­tails of the warships of the navies,” they probably ought to devote their cost-limited pages to vessels which en­tered service in order to properly as­sess the technology and innovation which actually contributed to naval af­fairs. Given the propensity of German research and development to deal in diffuse projects and conditions ap­proaching unreality, such restraint would be most applicable in this case. However, the editor has sensed that “for a complete appreciation the un­fulfilled projected programmes are equally important in illustrating the immense effort needed to secure vic­tory at sea.” Somehow, this concept doesn’t ring true.

Profusely illustrated and full of statistics, German Warships effectively catalogues the ships and submersibles of the German Navy. Anyone in­terested in a definitive study of Ger­man naval architecture, technology, and weaponry must keep looking.

A Naval Institute Press Book

List price: $10.00 Member’s price: $8.00

Valour Fore &Aft

ADVENTURES OF THE SLOOP PROVIDENCE irn-mi

HOPE RIDER

Valour Fore & Aft

ADVENTURES OF THE SLOOP PROVIDENCE,

1772-1779

By Hope S. Rider

The saga of the Continental Sloop Providence, formerly Katy of the Navy of Rhode Island, is a compilation of historic “firsts”—the first colonial flagship, firing the first broadside of the war at sea, first choice of both George Washington and the Continental Congress to perform naval service, the first naval vessel to land the first marines, and the first to fly the Stars and Stripes over foreign territory. But the Providence perhaps provided a more significant service as a proving ground for her captains. From her broad quarterdeck were launched some of the proudest careers in the history of the early navy, including that of John Paul Jones.

While the Providence’s service in the cause of freedom ended with her destruction, this chronicle of her adventures serves to keep alive the memory of the men who dared to defy the British Navy, the mightiest in the world. The author has utilized hitherto unpublished little known material to create a stirring tribute to the unconquerable spirit of the men and ships in the days of fighting sail—a salute to valour fore and aft.

1976. 208 pages. 7 maps. 18 halftones. Frontispiece in color.

List price: $5.00 Member’s price: $4.00

Add 75<t to each order for postage and handling.

(Please use book order form in Books of Interest to the Professional section.)

Books of Interest to the Professional

Compiled by Professor Jack Sweetman, Associate Editor

NAVAL AFFAIRS Blacks in the Marine Corps Henry I. Shaw, Jr., and Ralph W. Donnelly. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Di­vision, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps,

1975. (For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.) 109 pp. Maps. Illus. Ap­pend. 11.90 (paper).

Although blacks served in the Continental Marines during the Revolution, it was not until 1942 that they were accepted into the U.S. Marine Corps. This monograph traces the history of the black units formed during World War II, the postwar process of integration, and the services of black Marines in Korea and Vietnam. Appendix C lists black Marine Medal of Honor re­cipients.

5-1 Computers in the Navy Captain Jan Prokop, U.S. Navy (Editor). An­napolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1976. 243 pp. Illus. $12.95 ($10.35).

The importance of automated data proces­sing (ADP) to today’s Navy and Marine Corps would be difficult to exaggerate. The articles in this book describe the Navy’s employment of this highly- developed technology. They are divided into two general sections: computer man­agement and computer applications. Cap­tain Prokop, a 1956 Naval Academy graduate, holds a Ph.D. in computer sci­ence and is currently Director of the Au-

BOOK ORDER SERVICE

Members may order books of other publishers through the Naval Institute at a 10% discount off list price. (Prices quoted in this column are subject to change and will be reflected in our billing.) The postage and handling fee for each such special order book of a United States publisher will be 75*; the fee for a book from a foreign publisher will be $1.00. When air mail or other special handling is requested, actual postage and handling cost will be billed to the member. Books marked 5] are Naval Institute Press Books. Books marked E2 are Naval Insti­tute Book Selections. All prices enclosed by parentheses are member prices. Please use the order blank in this section tomatic Data Processing Equipment Selec­tion Office in the Department of the Navy.

51 Division Officer’s Guide

Captain John V. Noel, Jr., U.S. Navy (Retired) and Commander Frank E. Bassett, U.S. Navy. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1976. 286 pp. Illus. $8.00 ($6.40).

The considerable changes which have taken place in the Navy since the publica­tion of the sixth edition of the Division Officer’s Guide in 1972 are reflected in its

seventh edition. Wholly new materials in­clude a chapter on counseling, human goals, and welfare, and another on official correspondence. As in the past, primary emphasis is on helping division officers and petty officers to understand, motivate, and inspire their men.

51 The First South Pacific Campaign: Pacific Fleet Strategy, December 1941-June 1942

John B. Lundstrom. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1976. 240 pp. Maps. Illus.

Bib. $14.50 ($11.60).

Using recently declassified American documents and important Japanese

sources, the author presents a high-level overview of the first seven months of the Pacific War which challenges the estab­lished interpretation of U.S. naval strategy throughout that period. Limitations of space preclude his thesis from being sum­marized here but readers will find it pro­vocative.

The Royal Navy in the War of Ameri­can Independence

Gerald S. Graham. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1976. 24 pp. Maps. Illus. £l.70 (Approx. $2.90), paper.

The role of the Royal Navy in the War of Independence is reexamined in an ex­tremely attractive bicentennial booklet, a publication of the British National Maritime Museum. The author is Profes­sor Emeritus of the University of London.

A Sailor’s Admiral: A Biography of William F. Halsey

James Merrill. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1976. 271 pp. Maps. Illus. Bib. $9.95.

The colorful career of Fleet Admiral Wil­liam F. (“Bull”) Halsey is recounted in a popular biography. The emphasis is over-

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whelmingly on his role in the Pacific War. The author is Professor of History and Marine Studies at the University of Dela­ware.

Taschenbuch der Deutschen Kriegsflotte 1900 (Pocket Guide to the German Navy 1900)

Kapifanleutnant a.D. B. Weyer. Munich: J.F. Lehmann, 1976. 210 pp. lllus. 36 DM (Ap­prox. $14.40).

The first edition of Weyer’s Taschenbuch reappears in a facsimile reprint. It is nice to note that the colored plate of flags, standards, and pennants has been repro­duced in color instead of being reduced to black and white, as is too often the case with facsimile editions.

53 Thunder at Hampton Roads

A.A. Hoehling. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976. 232 pp. Maps. Illus. Bib. $9.95 ($7.95).

The engagement between the USS Monitor and the CSN Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack) at Hampton Roads on 8 March 1862 rang down the curtain on the age of wooden warships and announced the advent of a new technology. The story of the iron ships which met that fateful day is retold in a popular history which includes a chapter on the recent discovery of the wreck of the Monitor.

Unternehmen Rettung: Letztes Schiff nach Westen (Operation Lifesaving: Last Ship to the West)

Fritz Brustat-Naval. Herford, West Germany: Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, 1976. 262 pp. Maps, lllus. Append. Bib. DM 29.50 (Approx. $12.00).

In January 1945 the Russian winter offen­sive broke through the German lines in the northern sector of the eastern front and encircled the province of Hast Prussia. The scale of the ensuing evacuation, organized by the Seetransport section of the Naval High Command, dwarfs Dunkirk and Hungnam. Between the last week in January and the first week in May, approx­imately 2,000,000 military personnel and civilian refugees were carried west to safe­ty, the great majority on merchant ships and liners pressed into emergency service. The history of this extraordinary operation is told in the third printing of a book originally published in 1970.

MARITIME AFFAIRS

53 Jane’s Ocean Technology 1976/77

Robert L. Trillo (Editor). New York: Franklin Watts, 1976. 679 pp. Illus. $72.50 ($65.25).

The second annual edition of this new

Jane's provides a compendium of ocean technology. It is divided into three sections—underwater systems, surface sys­tems, and air systems (offshore helicop­ters). There is a directory of the builders, owners, and operators of the systems treated.

Ships of the Great Lakes, A Pictorial History

Paintings by Karl Kuttruff; introduction by Robert E. Lee; captions by David T. Glick. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1976. Unnumbered. Illus. $25.00.

Every type of ship which has sailed the Great Lakes from 1776 to 1976 is rep­resented in this collection of 31 full-color, waterline renderings. It is based princi­pally on models in the Dossin Great Lakes Museum in Detroit. The text describes each vessel and outlines the history of shipping on the lakes.

Tall Ships: The World of Sail Training

Text by Malwin Drummond; illustrated by Mike Willoughby. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1976. 160 pp. Illus. Bib. $20.00.

The official publication of the Sail Train­ing Association, this handsome pictorial describes the past and present and discus­ses the future of sail training, with par­ticular reference to the tall ships used to conduct it. Thirty-nine of them are de­scribed and 21, including the Eagle, are illustrated in color.

MILITARY AFFAIRS Arms through the Ages

William Reid. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. 280 pp. Illus. Bib. $35.00.

The development of arms and armor from the Neolithic Age through World War II is traced in an oversized pictorial, replete with over 800 illustrations. The author is Director of the National Atmy Museum, London.

Doolittle: A Biography

Lowell Thomas and Edward Jablonski. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976. 368 pp. Illus. Append. Bib. $8.95.

Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle be­came famous overnight as air leader of the Halsey-Doolittle raid, which carried the war to the Japanese Home Islands in April 1942. Unlike many heroes, however, Doolittle neither sprang from, nor receded into, obscurity. A World War I pilot and aviation pioneer, he ended his second war as lieutenant-general commanding the Eighth Air Force and thereafter embarked upon a successful business and civic career. Today, at 80, he is still going strong. This is the biography of a remarkable man.

The Future of Soviet Military Power

Lawrence L. Whetten (Editor). New York: Crane, Russak & Company, 1976. 190 pp. $14.50.

In May 1975 an international conference, jointly sponsored by the Stiftung fur Wis- senschaft und Politik and the University of Southern California, was convened at Ebenhausen, West Germany, to consider the future role of Soviet military power in the evolution of East-West relations. This volume records its proceedings.

New Dimensions in Military History

Russell F. Weigley (Editor). San Rafael, Calif.: Presidio Press, 1975. 419 pp. $14.95.

An anthology of the presentations given in the recently instituted Military History Research Collection-Army War College “New Dimensions” course offers a sample of the current condition and variety of military history. Professor Weigley is among the most distinguished American military historians.

Propaganda: The Art of Persuasion: World War II

Anthony Rhodes (Edited by Victor Margolin). New York: Chelsea House, 1976. 319 pp.

Illus. Bib. $30.00.

This stunning, 9" x 12" pictorial offers a graphic record of the not-so-gentle art of persuasion as practiced by Allied and Axis propaganda in World War II. Among the

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The Soviet Nuclear Offensive

Joseph D. Douglass, Jr. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976. 127 pp. 11.60 (paper).

The first volume of a new series, “Studies in Communist Affairs,” issued under the auspices of the U.S. Air Force, examines unclassified Soviet military literature in regard to limited nuclear war in Europe. Special emphasis is placed on recent changes in Soviet doctrine regarding the integration of nuclear and conventional capabilities, and the prospect of geo­graphically limited nuclear war.

Strategic Bombing in World War Two; The Story of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey Lieutenant Colonel David Maclsaac, U.S. Air Force. New York: Garland Publishing, 1976. 231 pp. Bib. $12.50.

The U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, un­dertaken immediately on the conclusion of the war with Germany and subsequently extended to Japan, remains the primary source of information on the effect of the U.S. strategic bombing offensives in World War II. This scholarly study is the first full-scale history of the survey itself. The author is an associate professor of history at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

War Survival in Soviet Strategy: USSR Civil Defense

Leon Goure. Coral Gables, Fla.: Center for Advanced International Studies, University of Miami, 1976. 218 pp. Illus. $6.95 (paper).

The role of civil defense and war-survival

measures in Soviet strategy is explored. The conclusions, summarized in a foreword by Ambassador Foy D. Kohler, are that the civil defense effort holds a central place in Soviet military prepared­ness; that it has been substantially in­creased since the advent of detente; that Soviet leaders attach great importance to the existing Soviet superiority in war- survival capabilities; and that they feel this asymmetry confers a distinct advantage to the U.S.S.R., both in regard to diploma­tic risk-taking and in the event of war. A senior analyst for the RAND Corporation from 195 1 until 1969, Dr. Goure is pres­ently Director of Soviet Studies at the Center for Advanced International Studies at the University of Miami.

You Are Not Sparrows: A Light­Hearted Account of Flying between the Wars

Wing Commander S.J. Carr, DFC, Royal Air Force (Retired). London: Ian Allan, 1976. 143 pp. Illus. £ 3.75 (approximately $6.50).

The author of this priceless memoir joined the Royal Air Force in 1929. In his book he describes with great gusto and a wealth of wonderful anecdote what it was like to be a young flying officer between the world wars. The larger part of the narra­tive is devoted to an account of his experi­ences as a member of Number 55 Squad­ron in operations against rebel tribesmen in the Southern Desert of Iraq in the early 1930s. The title is taken from a remark by a flying instructor, the full text of which would once have been considered unprint­able.

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