James Holland The War in the West Volume 1 & 2
As ever Holland takes his research back to well before the War begins to show the events and decisions and the thinking behind them. He looks at the fact that Germany had precious few natural resources so were reliant on other nations for these vital requirements, if your to commit your country to War. Germany relied on Sweden for Iron ore and Romania for its oil and the need to protect these supplies played a large part in the thinking of the German government.
Germany had already made several military and political moves prior to the invasion of Poland, namely annexing Austria, the Sudetenland and Rhineland which had all gone without punishment. They had tried to negotiate with Poland to have a corridor to the Baltic states and thus the Soviet Union who had always been their objective but the refusal of the Poles and lack of will by France and Great Britain previously, led to a general consensus they could get away with invading Poland and the Nazi's also demonstrated the flexibility of their thinking by negotiating with the Soviet Union for a joint invasion of Poland which further put their eventual opponents at ease.
The campaign in Poland was a German military success but was a lot more hard fought than you may think and is outlined by Holland. The Germans learned a lot of lessons which also included their weaknesses in their equipment and lack of transport apart from the horse drawn transport they were still heavily reliant on right up till the end of the War.
Because 'The West' didn't respond heavily to Poland's invasion and mainly sat static behind the Maginot line this further emboldened the Nazis who believed they could invade Norway to secure their route for Iron Ore from Sweden via Norway and quickly fight a war of manoeuvre and bring France and the Great Britain to the negotiating table. Unfortunately the Germans also had Generals who still had a cautious mindset which could have cost them dearly during the campaign were it not for Generals such as Guderion and Rommel who regularly ignored their commanding officers.
Once more Holland goes into great detail about all these events and the surrender of France and retreat and refusal to negotiate by Great Britain which caught Hitler by surprise. The books also show the economic strain the War was putting on German citizens and the rationing they had to endure virtually from the beginning and how Germany itself might have had autobahns but most Germans didn't have cars.
The Battle of Britain is covered and little known facts about the Luftwaffe are revealed such as the actual of numbers of planes they had in their equivalent of squadrons and the fact that their pilots were never given leave and were expected to fly every day, sometimes more than once a day and how we had a coordinated air defence system but the Germans didn't. These small but significant details are what makes James Hollands books so fascinating and he puts everything in perspective.
The Luftwaffe were never ready for the battle and flawed German thinking which had favoured the development of ineffective dive bombers instead of four engined heavy bombers meant they would never have won the Battle of Britain anyway.
Holland seamlessly links the Germans getting involved in Italy's military adventures in Greece and North Africa and shows how their need to plan and prepare for operation Barbarossa impacted on their ability to fully equip these forces engaged in the Mediterranean theatre. He moves into The War in the West Volume 2 with no breaks in his timeline of events and shows how Germany knew that when they invaded the Soviet Union they had to destroy the Soviet forces quickly, as a long War was lethal to them as their capacity to wage war was limited due to their lack of natural resources.
Decisions made by Hitler, someone who had never attended a staff college ever, but had 'got away' with his previous gambles made him think he was infallible so issued orders that prevented the capture of Moscow before winter set in and after that the end was inevitable.
Holland deftly moves between theatres and frequently goes to North Africa and shows how out of touch British Military thinking and tactics were for much of that time and how Rommel led from the front but due to lack of resources gambled on British lack of vision and thinking to take advantage of the situation on the ground. More than once we were in a position to destroy the Africa Corps but didn't take the many opportunities he offered us.
Both books were a delight to me as they were full of facts and stories I was either vaguely aware of and or just didn't know. As I have gone on to read more of Hollands books I noticed certain characters reappearing as he re visits these campaigns in greater detail than he does in The War in the West volumes one and two.
I will review more of James Hollands books and I'm also aware that War in the West volume three is also available as well as a soon to be released book, Brothers in Arms which features a Yeomanry Regiment mentioned in several of Hollands books, namely the Sherwood Rangers and their story is now being taken on in great detail. The Regiment began the War on Horseback in Palestine, transitioned onto coastal artillery in Tobruk before finally becoming a tank regiment in the Western Desert and Normandy. They became the most decorated tank regiment of the war, I can hardly wait.
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