Heroism in the Forest: The Jewish Partisans of Belarus by Zeev Barmatz

One of the veins of new material that has come out about the second world war in recent years is out of eastern Europe. First with the opening up of Soviet archives and now with the development of histories focused in on the individual republics. There is also been an increased interest in partisan activities especially with the combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today's book is Heroism in the Forest: The Jewish Partisans of Belarus that pretty much says what the title suggests.

 It's a short book I would guesstimate perhaps 40,000 words consisting almost completely of primary accounts from participants. I also think that they are all Jewish. There was nothing from the Soviet partisan units or for that matter the Germans who had to fight them. i would've preferred a little more context in that way. Stories themselves are interesting telling as they do about this trust between Jewish and other units. Usually around the Jewish units wanting to protect women and children and the Soviets being more interested in projecting military force. As well as anti-Semitism on the Soviet's part. The book gives the impression that at times they were fighting more with the other partisans and they were with the Germans.  Much is made of the Bielski partisans especially the camps set up to take care of the noncombatants. The book concludes with the Russians taking over after the war.

I don't think I'm the audience for this book. The back copy makes a big deal about how this will change peoples perspective on Jews meekly going to their fate. Considering one of the first scholarly books I read on the second world war by Martin Gilbert made sure to point out Jewish resistance to the Nazis I never had that impression to begin with. The lack of analysis is frustrating. From a strictly military perspective how many German units did they tiedown? How many Germans did they kill? How did this affect German logistics for their campaigns? Or if we don't want to discuss the military situation how many Jews were saved?

I do think it deserves a place on an Eastern front bookshelf. Simply for the novelty and to hopefully encourage more material like this from the publisher. After all how many Israeli publishers are publishing in English these days?

This was a review copy.

Maple Leaf Empire: Canada, Britain, and Two World Wars by Jonathan F. Vance

Maple Leaf Empire: Canada, Britain, and Two World Wars
by Jonathan F. Vance

For the first review here on the new site perhaps something a bit out of the ordinary where military history is concerned. This book attempts to look at the influence that the military has had on the relationship between Canada and Great Britain. It is done primarily by looking at the views of participants on both sides as portrayed in newspaper editorials, letters, diaries, et cetera. The book opens with New France being conquered by the British. Canada in the 19th century is shown to be influenced by the British regulars stationed there. I will have to admit I found this section not as convincing as the later ones, for the simple reason that when saying, for instance, that the soldiers were the first to play certain sports in Canada he doesn't seem to take into account that there were large groups of British settlers in the country who some even to this day do their best to hold on to their Britishness.

 That aside, the heart of this book is a discussion of the two world wars. There are plenty of anecdotes about the Canadians from the British perspective and the Canadians talking about the British. For the most part the British seem to be dismissive of the Canadians in the beginning until they learn how well they fight.  Then they are supportive.  While the Canadians are much more guarded in their views of the British, often considering them to be stiff necked and inflexible.

 If you have read a lot of Canadian  military history there isn't necessarily anything shocking here, but it is nice to have it all in one place and he has found sources that aren’t usually used. Clearly he spent a lot of time in the archives.  Unfortunately there are times when the background narratives of the military campaigns do overwhelm the text, specifically in the latter part of the section on World War II. The book concludes by pointing out that even though Canada is a multi cultural society today we still often look to the British for instance the royals and British media. 

I would recommend this book for someone who is interested in the relationship between the two nations. This does make me curious about the relationship between Australia and the UK which I understand has been much more rocky. If anyone can suggest a good book on that, please do so in the comments.