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Maneuver Warfare Handbook
S. Lind. Boulder, CO: Westview ress, 1985 133 pp. Figs. Maps. Notes.
Blb- $18.00 ($16.20) paper.
Reviewed by Colonel Harry G. Summers, r‘> U. S. Army (Retired)
In Vietnam, America’s armed forces Went t0 war thinking that with the nuclear ®8e the entire nature of war had changed.
nfortunately, they were faced with an 1 Versary who, in Cambridge Professor orreiii Barnett’s words, was “terribly
°ih as^'0ne^”anc* W^° p|ayed by ibe
rules laid down in the general princi- P es of war. The results were a new ap- ^eciation among the American military 0r the fundamentals of warfare and a ^emphasis throughout their educational ablishments on military theory and on e study of military history.
^ ^'ding and abetting the rediscovery of e 'mportance of conventional military e°ry has been William S. Lind, a concessional staffer long active in the mili- c If reform movement. While most of his the Ca^UCS *n that movement concern ^emselves with such large issues as the ^Sanization and functions of the Defense Apartment and with the formulation of 11,ary Plans and strategies, Lind also at th 6rnS w‘th the tactics of those
cha 6 St*Uad’ Platoon, and company level str W'tI| executing those plans and PuKr^'eS 0n ’be battlefield. The recently jslshed Maneuver Warfare Handbook a manifestation of that concern, pa 'C^an<tt>ook is just that. The first 50 fundS I)resent a conc'se overview of the ar)arnentals of maneuver warfare. After 60 annotated bibliography, the remaining tical M 3re a ser'es °1 lectures and prac- ta . exercises on the fundamentals of Col'CS °riginal|y presented by Marine iou°r Michael D. Wyly at the Amphib- „i S Warfare School at Quantico, Vir- j'3- during the 1981-82 school year, for ' S ar8urnerlts are clearly and of U"y stated. Consider his definition actics in maneuver warfare:
Tactics is a process of combining w° elements, techniques and educa- 1011 > through three mental “filters” or J? erence points—mission-type orders, the focus of effort or Schwer- Punkt, and the search for enemy surges and gaps—with the object of
producing a unique approach for the
specific enemy, time and place.”
Lind then explains exactly what this definition means. For example, “It says tactics is not a thing, but a process— especially a mental process.” Differentiating between techniques and education, he points out that “techniques are things you can do by formula. They include how to aim a rifle, set up a machine gun, give an order, establish communications, call in fire support, gun crew drills, unit battle drills and so on.” Education, on the other hand, “includes the art of selecting from among your techniques those that create that unique approach for the enemy, time and place.”
No one could quarrel with that. What one could quarrel with, however, is that in his advocacy of maneuver warfare, Lind fails to appreciate that warfare is relational, especially at the operational and strategic levels, and will usually involve both attrition and maneuver. On any modern battlefield, at least part of the force will have to be committed to an attrition-type defense to protect fire support bases, supply depots, hospitals, and lines of communication while another portion of the force maneuvers against the enemy.
But as Lind says, military education is “not in what to do, but how to think,” and whether one agrees with him or not, his Maneuver Warfare Handbook is guaranteed to make any military professional think about the fundamentals.
Colonel Summers is an infantry veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars and the author of On Strategy (Presidio Press, 1982) and The Vietnam War Almanac (Facts on File, 1986). He formerly held the General Douglas MacArthur Chair of Military Research at the Army War College and is now the senior military correspondent for U. S. News & World Report.
The History of US Naval Air Power
PHCS Robert L. Lawson, USN (Ret.), Editor. New York: The Military Press,
1985. 256 pp. Illus. Ind. Gloss. $14.95 ($13.45).
Reviewed by Captain Gerald G.
O’Rourke, U. S. Navy (Retired)
Despite the title, this is a wonderful picture book whose publication date fortuitously coincides with the celebration of Naval Aviation’s 75th Anniversary. The photographs and sharply detailed line drawings—all 500 of them—are great.
Sandwiched among the pictures on glossy-print, over-sized pages, four noted naval authors and one promising newcomer present a readable, albeit abbreviated, account of naval aviation since 1911. Ray Wagner covers the initial years in factual, yeoman-like fashion. . Thoughtful readers will wonder how these early pioneers were able to “sell” their infant products so well in an atmosphere of isolationism, unsympathetic battleship admirals, and economic depression. In retrospect, their forward vision was truly astounding. Barrett Tillman intersperses many individual tales within his concise renditions of sea-going air power in the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II. Commander David Erickson, the newcomer, “tells it like it was” over Vietnam, and retired Navy Captain William Scarborough fills the reader in on what’s happening today and planned for tomorrow.
In addition to his editorship, Robert Lawson, a retired Navy senior chief photographer’s mate, takes on the most difficult period, from World War II to Vietnam, during which time Naval Aviation converted from prop- to jet-powered aircraft, fair- to all-weather flying, steam- to nuclear-powered ships, coastal to globally-deployed fleets, and hit-and-run to stand-and-fight tactics. Each of these historic developments is worthy of countless thousands of pages. Lawson covers them all, along with the entire Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, in 50. Notably absent is the story of the naval flight officers (NFOs) whose initial membership fee into carrier aviation was largely paid in the Phantoms, Intruders, and Vigilantes of the early 1960s and who now earn their wings every day and night in almost every aircraft the Navy flies.
By far the most striking segment is Commander Erickson’s section on the ordeals of Vietnam. Drawing from his experience in 200 F-4 Phantom combat missions, he reveals with relatively unimpassioned clarity the sense of betrayal felt by the distant warriors, the idiocies attendant to daily tactical direction from the Pentagon, the frustrations
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A 1944 graduate of the Naval Academy, Captain O’Rourke commanded several all-weather fighter squadrons, an ammunition ship, and the USS Independence (CVA-62). Prior to retirement in 1974, he directed the Navy Fighter Study Group. Captain O’Rourke is a former member of the Naval Institute’s Board of Control.
From Naval Air Power (clockwise from upper left): advanced student pilots fly F4Bs in 1941-42; the last flight of the blimp ZPG-3W in 1962; F8F-1 Bearcats prepare for launch from the Tarawa in 1948; F6F-5K Hellcat drones with multi-colored tails are used to test the radioactivity of the atomic blast at Bikini in July 1946; the waterborne F2Y-1 Sea Dart lifts off from San Diego Bay in 1953; A-7Es prepare for catapult launch from the Coral Sea in support of the Iranian hostage rescue attempt during April 1980 (note “invasion” stripe on wings); (insert) camouflaged RH-53D Sea Stallions on board the Nimitz before the rescue attempt.
TAILHOOK PHOTO SERVICE
created by ever-changing political strategies, the heightening threats from surface-to-air missiles, and the incredible individual heroism so often exhibited by flight crews.
A major shortcoming of the effort is a near-total lack of coverage of Marine Corps and Coast Guard aviation. The foreword acknowledges this with a brief statement that each warrants a book of its own. Perhaps so, but this reviewer, for one, has never been able to think in terms which make distinctions between the aviation arms of the three U. S. seagoing services.
Still, the photos and line drawings are well worth the cost of the book. Teenagers will adore it, old timers will chuckle over it, and your neighbor will be impressed by it, as long as he’s not a real historian, a Leatherneck, a Coastie, or an NFO.
By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U. S. Navy
S* Admiral: The Memoirs of Albert Cleaves, Admiral, USN
Hn>ert ^'eaves- Pasadena, CA: Hope Publishing ($rU(k '^85. 286 pp. Illus. Ind. Append. $9.95 ws.95) paper.
miral Gleaves’ distinguished and exciting j3I?er included command of the USS Cushing th ?erunner to 'he modem destroyer) during e opanish-American War, service as Com- snder Destroyers Atlantic Fleet during the the^ ^St ^r'°r t0 War command of
crUlser and transport force during the war, service as Commander-in-Chief Asiatic Coeet between 1919 and 1921. He was an ac- Htplished writer, having authored three th' 3 biographies, and these memoirs reflect ^ls ability. President Franklin D. Roosevelt lon°te ^at Admiral Gleaves’ nearly 50 year- tir8 eareer “was characterized by great versa- th H-ant* t*le utmost tact and diplomacy in e tscharge of the varied duties which fell to h,m 'o perform.”
^ngei on Yardarm: The Beginnings of
®etRadar Defense and the Kamikaze threat
Pre,1. ^0nsarrat. Newport. RI: Naval War College ($3 g^'985. 188 pp. Ulus. Ind. Append. $4.25
Th •
U^tobdeutenant John Monsarrat served in the off ^anSley (CVL-27) as a fighter director U !?r during the last two years of World War is th ”CSe Were early days °b radar and this e story of those fledgling days of develop- w under fire. The account of Lieutenant tr • ,Sarrat’s experiences includes his naval staff"8 days at Harvard, his service on the tics S tde cbief °f the Bureau of Aeronau- uia °mrnander Fleet Air, Pacific, and Com- the p.er"'n-Chief, Pacific, and his training at sip £et *badar Center in Oahu before his as- incatoe"t to the Langley. His Langley service Kw • . Participation in the campaigns for
Pan^T'6'"’ b-uiwetok, Hollandia, Truk, Sai- Iwn' j. n‘an’ Guam, Peleliu, the Philippines, rj 'ma» and Okinawa. The ship faced the p, ”rs kamikaze attacks and the now-infa- artns tyPhoon of late 1944. Angel on the Yard- rien *S 3 bigh-caliber account of the war expe- hel eS a man wb° was on the scene, tjtog to develop the techniques and tactics changed naval warfare forever.
Plyn^'abuma: Builder, Captain, and
lCeSGraySOn Summersell. University, AL: The Bih m “y of Alabama Press, 1985. 135 pp. Illus. Notes. Ind. $39.50.
0„'n?'cated by the subtitle, this book is a bi- Phy of the famous Confederate raider, the
Alabama, her builder, James D. Bulloch, and her commander, Raphael Semmes. The Alabama was the only Confederate raider to sink a U. S. warship and Semmes would probably have been the “John Paul Jones” of the Confederate Navy had it survived. The account of the Alabama’s genesis, her marauding career, and her final clash with the USS Kearsarge off Cherbourg in June 1864, are expertly recreated by Professor Emeritus Summersell. Enhancing the well-documented text and fine illustrations are a copy of the vessel’s plans and a transcription of the original contract and specifications.
Emergency Navigation
David Burch. Camden, ME: International Marine Publishing Company, 1986. 248 pp. Illus. Bib.
Ind. $24.95 ($22.45).
This book not only teaches how to navigate in emergency situations when normal instrumentation is not available, but it also explains many of the rudiments and some of the advanced techniques of navigation in unusual terms and concepts. While the author assumes his readers have a certain amount of prerequisite navigational knowledge, his text is an excellent vehicle to learn more about the “why” and “how” of marine navigation. Chapters include “Steering by Wind and Swells,” “Coastal Piloting Without Instruments,” and “What to Do With What You’ve Got.”
Fit for Life: The Annapolis Way
Heinz W. Lenz and John L. Murray. West Point, NY: Leisure Press, 1985. 352 pp. Illus. Ref. Ind. Tables. $12.95.
The director of personal conditioning at the U. S. Naval Academy and a Professor of Health and Physical Education at Catonsville Community College in Maryland have collaborated to write this comprehensive guide to physical fitness. Coverage includes aerobics, flexibility, muscular fitness, nutrition, stress, and a special chapter entitled “Fitness Aboard Ship for Sailors, Aviators, and Marines,” among others.
The Guard and Reserve in the Total Force: The First Decade 1973-1983
Bennie J. Wilson III, Editor. Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 1985. 340 pp. Notes. Ind. Append. Tables. $8.00 ($7.20).
Although the idea of maintaining reserve components of the U. S. Armed Forces is very old and traditional, the inauguration of the “Total Force” concept in 1973 brought new meaning to the importance of those units. No longer regarded as “last resorts,” the reserves are now an integral part of the nation’s defense. This anthology looks at the concept after its first decade of implementation. It shatters much of the mythology concerning the reserve forces and provides an in-depth review of this frequently misunderstood component of the American Armed Forces.
E3 The Pacific War Remembered: An Oral History Collection
John T. Mason, Jr., Editor. Annapolis. MD: Naval Institute Press, 1986. 247 pp. Ind. $28.95 ($21.71). (Available after 1 June 1986.)
“Suddenly I heard the word that 1 had been shot down. I knew it wasn’t true, but I wondered why it had been said.” “Many of the men who came in had their ears burned completely off.” “I had three ships picking up survivors. Most of them would not be picked up,
they’d swim away.” These dramatic moments and many other first-hand accounts are presented in this collection of 30 personal narrations of the Pacific War. The contributions are excerpts of extensive oral interviews and cover many different aspects of the war. They are the stories of coxswains, pilots, and corpsmen and the recollections of well known admirals like Thomas C. Hart, Arleigh Burke, and Thomas C. Kincaid. Each is preceded by a brief preface that orients the reader to the time and place of the account, and many are followed by a biographical sketch of the contributor. The Pacific War Remembered provides snapshot glimpses into the sweeping panorama of World
War II, revealing new historical detail in great human drama.
A Spacefaring People: Perspectives on Early Spaceflight
Alex Roland, Editor. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1985.
156 pp. Illus. Notes. Tables. $3.50 ($3.15).
This collection of essays by various authors is drawn from the papers presented at a conference on the history of space activity held at Yale University in February 1981. The contributors are historians, scientists, journalists, and the famous novelist and non-fiction writer, James Michener. Themes covered are “Science, Technology, and Management: The First 20 Years in Space,” “Literature and Themes in Space History,” “Domestic and Intema-
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Prices enclosed by parentheses indicate the discounted price for USNI members. Members may order most 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.) Please allow for delays when ordering non-Naval Institute titles. When air mail or other special handling is requested, actual postage and handling cost will be billed to the member. Books marked E0 are Naval Institute Press Books. Books marked B are Naval Institute Book Selections. For further information about these books (B,12) and others, call customer service at (301) 224-3378. Use the order form provided in this section.
tional Ramifications of Space Activity,” and “The Rationale for Space Exploration.”
Twenty Years Before the Mast
Charles Erskine. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1985. 311 pp. Illus. $4.95 ($4.45).
In the late summer of 1838, the sloops-of-war Vincennes and Peacock, the brig Porpoise, schooners Sea Gull and Flying Fish, and the store ship Relief set sail from Norfolk, Virginia with seven scientists and two artists embarked. These six American ships and their passengers were on a scientific expedition that was to take them around the world in four years. Also on this voyage was a young mizzen-top man named Charles Erskine who was taught to read and write by the junior officers of the flagship Vincennes. Years later in 1890, Erskine would publish his memoirs of the expedition. This book is a reprint of those memoirs and includes the 54 original illustrations. It is an interesting account of naval life in the same era that spawned Herman Melville’s Whitejacket and Charles Nordhoff’s Man-of-War Life.
The US Navy Today: Volume I
Norman Polmar. New York: Sterling Publishing, 1985. 72 pp. Illus. $5.95 ($5.35).
Recognized as one of the most authoritative contemporary naval writers, Norman Polmar has provided the textual material to accompany the many monochrome and color photographs in this volume of the “Warships Illustrated” series. The high-quality photos and incisive commentary cover the many dimensions of today’s U. S. Navy. The quantity and quality of this growing, modernizing fleet are captured in this concise format.
Other Titles of Interest
Luftwaffe
Williamson Murray. Baltimore, MD: The Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company 0 America, 1985. 337 pp. Illus. Maps. Charts- Graphs. Tables. Append. Bib. Ind. $21- ($19.75).
Officer Candidate Tests: For Men and Women Seeking a Commission in the Armed Forces
Col. Solomon Wiener, AUS (Ret.)- New York: Arco Publishing, Inc., 1985. 578 PP- Illus. Figs. $12.00 paper.
Soviet Defectors: The KGB Wanted List
Vladislav Krasnov. Stanford, CA: Hoover In stitution Press, 1985. 264 pp. Tables. Note ■ Bib. Ind. $16.95 ($15.25).
Tricks of the Trade for Divers
John M. Malatich and Wayne C. Tucker Centreville, MD: Cornell Maritime Pres ’ 1986. 245 pp. Illus. Figs. Append. Ref- n ' $22.50 ($20.25).
USSR Foreign Policies After Detente
Richard F. Staar. Stanford, CA: Hoover Inst' tution Press, 1985. 300 pp. Tables. Figs- 1 Ind. $10.95 ($9.85) paper.
Understanding Rigs and Rigging
Richard Henderson. Camden, ME: fnte^ tional Marine Publishing Company, 1 258 pp. Illus. Figs. Bib. Ind. $32.50 ($29-23'-
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