Yes Still Here

As an old Chinese curse put it may you live in interesting times.  I've certainly been experiencing that the last few months which explains the lack of posting.  I'm hoping that in the new year things are going to improve.  Though I suppose there are no guarantees.

I do hope to be able to get into some sort of a rhythm as far as reviews and the what's new posts go.  In that spirit today are tomorrow I'll be posting a new review and next week starting up taking a look at new releases though I doubt there will be much since we're so close to the holiday season.

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.

For the Record

Just for the record nothing interesting in this weeks new releases. Hopefully have a review up tomorrow.

What's new for the week of August 6, 2013

Ok let's see if I can  keep this up... As explained before these are releases this week that jumped out at me.


Music & the British Military in the Long Nineteenth Century By Trevor Herbert and Helen Barlow well may as well start off with something expensive and out of left field. Also a fan of classical music and I've never seen a study like this before.
Alexander P. de Seversky and the Quest for Air Power By James K. Libbey I've read one of the subjects books on airpower and I want to learn more about his theories.
The Rocky Road to the Great War: The Evolution of Trench Warfare to 1914 by Nicholas Murray I'm a sucker for books on changes to doctrine and strategy.
The Nine Years' War and the British Army 1688-97: The Operations in the Low Countries by John C R Childs a painful price especially for a paperback but I haven't seen a book length treatment of this campaign. Obscure always gets points from me.
Under the Blue Beret: A U.N. Peacekeeper in the Middle East by Terry "Stoney" Burke Canadian Armed Forces memoirs post-World War II are rare enough and not a general with a political acts to grind.
Field Armies and Fortifications in the Civil War: The Eastern Campaigns, 1861-1864 by Earl J. Hess now the use of fortifications though the different conflict than above.

Still Alive

Yes I'm still alive. Realize I haven't been posting anything for quite a while. I have no good excuses so I'll just say that I'm going to try to do better. Though having a review opportunity I'm excited about certainly helps. Tomorrow a "what's new" post will go up and hopefully I'll have some reviews shortly.

What's new for the week of May 21, 2013

Here are the releases that jumped out for me for the past week.

Sickness, Suffering, and the Sword: The British Regiment on Campaign, 1808-1815 (Campaigns and Commanders Series) by Andrew Bamford looks at the combat effectiveness of the British army as it related to noncombat casualties. Not quite sure this is as controversial as the back cover blurb makes out however it may be the first book to devote a full-length study so it deserves a place on the list.

The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War by Richard Rubin as the centennial approaches I would expect to see more books like this. Sounds more like reportage than history.

Columns of Vengeance: Soldiers, Sioux, and the Punitive Expeditions, 1863-1864 by Paul N. Beck one of those conflicts I only know from short references and other works. Linking it to the whiter civil war does make sense.

City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas by Roger Crowley title pretty much says it all.

What's new for the week May 14, 2013

So here we go.

The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 By Rick Atkinson This is the big headliner for the week. I have his first two volumes and enjoyed them although they are more aimed at the popular history and of the spectrum. Will definitely have to pick this up.

Napoleon on St Helena By Mabel Brookes a reissue and I'm not sure how it's considered in the literature but it's a topic I've wanted to learn more about.

The Snake Eaters: Counterinsurgency Advisors in Combat By Owen West books on the occupation of Iraq seem to have slowed to a trickle. I wonder if this is due to burn out or perhaps a dearth of new material. The nuts and bolts of counterinsurgency on the ground is certainly something worthy of study.