A nice surprise for military history buffs: an understudied piece of World War II lore.
How American railroad engineering helped defeat the Nazis.
Supplying soldiers in the field requires a titanic flow of supplies, and that was especially true during the large-scale wars of the 20th century. Wolmar, a prolific writer on railway matters (The Subterranean Railway, The Great Railway Revolution, Cathedrals of Steam, etc.), provides a genuinely fresh tale about the process during World War II. Like other historians, the author examines the Allies’ “so-called Transportation Plan” in effect during the months before D-Day, when relentless bombing of Europe’s rail network and resistance sabotage successfully delayed German reinforcements from reaching the battlefield. Few commanders complained until the end of August, when Allied forces, having broken German lines, were racing across France only to discover that they were running out of supplies. Histories and films celebrate the “vaunted” Red Ball Express, which sent wave after wave of trucks across France carrying precious loads. In fact, they weren’t enough. In September, lack of gasoline, not German resistance, forced Eisenhower to halt offensive operations over most of the front, and it was December before the logistics crisis was solved. Allied armies needed railways, and reconstructing the network was always central to the Allied plans. Wolmar illuminates readers on how it worked. Days after June 6, thousands of locomotives and freight cars, plus 44,000 railway workers, began arriving. Toiling furiously, the workers restored a system that was in tatters before the invasion and was further degraded by retreating Germans. In his expert account, the author includes brilliant, occasionally familiar leaders; dedicated, overworked fighters and engineers; many triumphs and a few disasters; and plenty of opinions on the fighting generals—e.g., he admires Patton, who loved to move fast, but not Montgomery, who didn’t.
A nice surprise for military history buffs: an understudied piece of World War II lore.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9780306831980
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Hachette
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist (1900–45) collected his work from WWII in two bestselling volumes, this second published in 1944, a year before Pyle was killed by a sniper’s bullet on Okinawa. In his fine introduction to this new edition, G. Kurt Piehler (History/Univ. of Tennessee at Knoxville) celebrates Pyle’s “dense, descriptive style” and his unusual feel for the quotidian GI experience—a personal and human side to war left out of reporting on generals and their strategies. Though Piehler’s reminder about wartime censorship seems beside the point, his biographical context—Pyle was escaping a troubled marriage—is valuable. Kirkus, at the time, noted the hoopla over Pyle (Pulitzer, hugely popular syndicated column, BOMC hype) and decided it was all worth it: “the book doesn’t let the reader down.” Pyle, of course, captures “the human qualities” of men in combat, but he also provides “an extraordinary sense of the scope of the European war fronts, the variety of services involved, the men and their officers.” Despite Piehler’s current argument that Pyle ignored much of the war (particularly the seamier stuff), Kirkus in 1944 marveled at how much he was able to cover. Back then, we thought, “here’s a book that needs no selling.” Nowadays, a firm push might be needed to renew interest in this classic of modern journalism.
Pub Date: April 26, 2001
ISBN: 0-8032-8768-2
Page Count: 513
Publisher: Univ. of Nebraska
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001
A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale.
A harrowing expedition to Antarctica, recounted by Departures senior features editor Sancton, who has reported from every continent on the planet.
On Aug. 16, 1897, the steam whaler Belgica set off from Belgium with young Adrien de Gerlache as commandant. Thus begins Sancton’s riveting history of exploration, ingenuity, and survival. The commandant’s inexperienced, often unruly crew, half non-Belgian, included scientists, a rookie engineer, and first mate Roald Amundsen, who would later become a celebrated polar explorer. After loading a half ton of explosive tonite, the ship set sail with 23 crew members and two cats. In Rio de Janeiro, they were joined by Dr. Frederick Cook, a young, shameless huckster who had accompanied Robert Peary as a surgeon and ethnologist on an expedition to northern Greenland. In Punta Arenas, four seamen were removed for insubordination, and rats snuck onboard. In Tierra del Fuego, the ship ran aground for a while. Sancton evokes a calm anxiety as he chronicles the ship’s journey south. On Jan. 19, 1898, near the South Shetland Islands, the crew spotted the first icebergs. Rough waves swept someone overboard. Days later, they saw Antarctica in the distance. Glory was “finally within reach.” The author describes the discovery and naming of new lands and the work of the scientists gathering specimens. The ship continued through a perilous, ice-littered sea, as the commandant was anxious to reach a record-setting latitude. On March 6, the Belgica became icebound. The crew did everything they could to prepare for a dark, below-freezing winter, but they were wracked with despair, suffering headaches, insomnia, dizziness, and later, madness—all vividly capture by Sancton. The sun returned on July 22, and by March 1899, they were able to escape the ice. With a cast of intriguing characters and drama galore, this history reads like fiction and will thrill fans of Endurance and In the Kingdom of Ice.
A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale.Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984824-33-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
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