April 17, 2017
Continuing his trilogy describing WWII in the West, British historian Holland follows The Rise of Germany with this detailed, well-researched, and comprehensive look at the Allied response to the German military’s sweeping successes in the war’s initial stages. Holland focuses on the early strategic bombing campaign against Germany, the battles between the British and Germany’s Afrikakorps in North Africa, and Operation Torch and the naval campaign to control Atlantic sea lanes. These campaigns comprise the bulk of the book, with strategic logistics its main theme. Holland makes a strong case that even before the U.S. entered WWII, and certainly after, Germany’s fate was inevitable due to the huge imbalance in industrial capacity and natural resources available to the Allies and the superior management of logistics issues by the Allied leadership. Germany’s only hope of redressing this imbalance was the U-boat campaign against Allied shipping in the North Atlantic, which Holland covers in great detail. Holland shifts smoothly between high-level strategy and tactical battlefield events, producing a good refresher to the large strategic picture for those who are deeply read in WWII history and an excellent introduction to the war in Western Europe for the general reader. Agent: Patrick Walsh, Conville & Walsh Ltd.
April 1, 2017
A thick, sturdy history of World War II, beginning in 1941, the second in the author's War in the West trilogy.There is no shortage of multivolume general histories of WWII, but this is an illuminating read from a skilled historian. In 2015, Holland delivered 500 pages of The Rise of Germany, 1939-1941: The War in the West. In this even heftier second volume, the author begins at the traditional nadir of Allied (really British) fortunes just before Hitler invaded Russia in June 1941. Holland reminds readers that in the first volume, he argued that Germany was doomed from the beginning, and he has not changed his mind. Few scholars deny that Germany's economy could not support a long war. Its vaunted technology was only a veneer because it lacked mass production capacity to make use of it. Even 6,000 superior tanks were no match for 50,000 Shermans. Furthermore, the potency of its mechanized army was greatly exaggerated. Not even 20 of the 135 divisions were mechanized in 1940, and soldiers remained dependent on horse transport to the end. Stripped of resources in 1940-1941, conquered nations provided little help afterward, while Britain's empire and America poured out supplies. Having set the scene, Holland delivers a detailed, opinionated account of fighting in North Africa, the Atlantic submarine campaign, and the air war while acknowledging (and often describing) the far larger war in Russia. This second volume, once again helpfully illustrated with plenty of maps, ends two years after it begins, in May 1943, with the Axis surrender in Tunisia, its disastrous loss of a few dozen U-boats, and the first massive bomber missions. "Germany was running out of steam," writes Holland. "Food, fuel, manpower--those three most important requirements for sustained modern warfare: there was not enough of any." Although it fills no great need, this is an expert, anecdote-filled, thoroughly entertaining if heavily British-oriented history of the war's middle years.
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December 1, 2016
Following The Rise of Germany, 1939-1941, first in a trilogy and a Military History Book Club Main Selection, this new volume has Germany invading the Soviet Union, the Americans leaping into battle, North Africa falling to the Allies, and bombs falling harder and harder on the Third Reich.
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2018
This second volume (after The Rise of Germany, 1939-1941) in a projected trilogy by historian Holland begins with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party seemingly at the height of their power. As Holland adroitly points out, however, appearances are often deceiving. Despite the image of technological superiority, for example, the Wehrmacht's transportation system was still overwhelmingly dependent on horses and human muscle. The scarcity of natural resources and manpower reserves meant that German forces needed to perform strategically quick campaigns. By 1942, the German war effort was stalling and the Allies were posed to take the offensive in large part owing to the mobilization of resources from the United States. Holland skillfully integrates the technological and logistical underpinnings necessary to waging modern warfare into his well-researched narrative of how World War II was fought. He moves easily from larger themes of grand strategy and troop movements to stories from all sides of the conflict. Some characters were famous in their day--such as actor-turned-naval officer Douglas Fairbanks Jr.--while others were common soldiers, reminding readers of the human dimensions of war. VERDICT Military history recommended for all libraries. This work can stand alone or be read alongside Holland's previous volume.--Frederic Krome, Univ. of Cincinnati Clermont Coll.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.