Corporate Aviation Management (Southern Illinois University Press Series in Aviation Management)

Corporate Aviation Management (Southern Illinois University Press Series in Aviation Management)
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Corporate Aviation Management (Southern Illinois University Press Series in Aviation Management)
Raoul Castro
Manufacturer: Southern Illinois University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 080931911X

Book Description

In this comprehensive aviation manual, Raoul Castro provides a source of invaluable corporate aviation management information. He begins by giving an overview of corporate aviation from its inception, then focuses on the management principles and functions that specifically target corporate aviation. Through the utilization of these sound management principles, Castro facilitates the acceptance of corporate aircraft as indispensable tools of industry.

As Castro notes, few companies know how to use corporate aircraft to maximum advantage. Drawing on his expertise and experience, Castro designs a plan by which a company can achieve maximum utilization of an airplane or helicopter fleet. He gives specific instructions on how to facilitate the efficient use of the aviation department of a company, select appropriate aircraft, plan for disasters and establish security measures, fulfill legal requirements of the governmental agencies that regulate the use of aircraft, and manage the maintenance and repair of aircraft. Castro also discusses the scores of details involved in the management of a professional corporate aviation branch and how these details can be handled in a positive, productive manner.

After thoroughly examining the overall managerial functions involved in planning, organizing, controlling, and implementing an aviation arm, Castro concludes by discussing the future of corporate aviation.

This book is a practical and valuable guide for the executive in charge of an aviation department, an aviation department manager or chief pilot, aspirants to aviation management positions, and both students and teachers of aviation management.

Meeting the Fox: The Allied Invasion of Africa, from Operation Torch to Kasserine Pass to Victory in Tunisia

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Competent and well-written history of WW2 in Tunisia
A good military history
The U.S. Army's Baptism of Fire
An Excellent Summary of the African campaign
Meeting the Fox is a quality read.

Meeting the Fox: The Allied Invasion of Africa, from Operation Torch to Kasserine Pass to Victory in Tunisia
Orr Kelly
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

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Desert War: The North African Campaign 1940-1943
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ASIN: 0471414298

Book Description

Praise for Meeting the Fox

"Orr Kelly has dramatically brought to life the desert war by masterfully weaving the view of higher headquarters with the pathos of the foxhole. Meeting the Fox takes the reader on a gripping journey from North Africa's beaches and drop zones, the practically forgotten disaster at Sidi bou Zid, to the final battles in Tunisia. Meeting the Fox is destined to rank among the best narrative histories on the American experience in North Africa."
-- Patrick O'Donnell, author of Beyond Valor and Into the Rising Sun

"An almost bullet-by-bullet, shell-by-shell account, Meeting the Fox offers riveting personal experiences from those who fought the Axis forces during the desperate campaign for North Africa."
--Gerald Astor, historian and author of A Blood-Dimmed Tide and The Greatest War, Vols. I—III

As their unproven commanders struggled to match wits with the wily Desert Fox, 100,000 poorly equipped, undertrained, and inexperienced GIs battled their way across North Africa. Hobbled by inferior weaponry and an inexperienced officer corps, these green but courageous citizen soldiers clashed head-on with the fabled German Afrika Korps and its legendary commander, Erwin Rommel. Meeting the Fox tells the unforgettable tale of the men who transformed themselves, in the heat of battle, from a poorly organized army of convenience into a relentless and unstoppable fighting force.

Customer Reviews:

Competent and well-written history of WW2 in Tunisia.......2007-05-14

This is a very well-writen military history of WW2 in Tunisia, from late 1942 to May 1943. Although the "Fox" in the title refer to German general Rommel, Rommel figures in only a small part of the book because he is largely involved in his famous retreat across North Africa while much of the action in the book takes place. Once Rommel finally arrives on the scene, he makes some inspections of the military situation at hand, issues orders, then soon departs for Germany, never to return. Other German commanders, notably von Arnim, direct most of the Axis movements. The author interweaves the stories of ground and air units, large and small, and includes the experiences of many individual soldiers as well. My only complaint was that the maps were not very good and made it difficult to follow the movements of the ground units. With as much detail as was provided in the text, good maps would have made the battles much easier to visualize.

A good military history.......2006-12-15

This is an excellent military history of the African invasion. If you are looking for a book that will tell you about the importance of the invasion and how it influenced the war this is not for you. This is strictly a military account and while it is well done it offers little else. The prose is very clear and conventional like most military histories. Overall it is a great analysis of the war and provides an essential report on what happened in Africa.

The U.S. Army's Baptism of Fire .......2005-11-14

Some in the Allied Command structure during WWII wanted to bypass the North African campaign and strike directly at Normandy as early as late 1942 / early 1943. This book shows clearly how much of a disaster that would have been.

The North African campaign was the testing ground of the Allied war machine, where the U.S. Army raised the officer corps and developed the tactics which would lead to ultimate victory on the fields and in the cities of Europe.

This book was written on a very interesting topic and is an excellent history. I sort of painstakingly only gave it four stars rather than five, because the book is mostly history and can sometimes be a little bit dry since there's no single group of soldiers or unit that it follows and that you can connect with. Of course, this is impossible for a history of an entire campaign in the largest war ever fought, so it really is five star history, just four star reading for me.

It lets you know all the strategic reasoning behind both sides moves, delves into the technological capabilities of the allies, explains the political wrangling between the U.S., England, and the French who joined the allies. As it progresses it tells the story of smaller units in the myriad string of battles that made up the campaign, expertly navigating back and forth between the tactical scene and the big picture, and between the telling of events and the analysis that gives them meaning and puts them into context. The history is chronological, comprehensive, and complete. One can imagine the fear, drama, suspense, sting of defeat, and adrenaline of going into combat for the first time against one of the most vaunted armies ever assembled on completely foreign land.

The North African campaign shows the U.S. military's somewhat painful growth process which was extremely interesting. Working with allies became sorted out, but not without major frictions such as the falling out between Patton and Air Marshall Cunningham. Tanks, artillery, infantry and air power were mixed and matched many different ways until the combination that worked was found, the price for that secret paid dearly in blood. Political, too old, or just sadly not competent officers were shaken out, and a solid, in-depth leadership core of middle and lower level officers were minted with experience.

One of the things I liked best about the book was how the author occasionally spiced it up with the sort of amazing fact is stranger than fiction moments that can only happen in war. U-boats torpedo supply ships on the invasion beaches, and guys jumping off ship get sucked back inside the hole the torpedo ripped in the side of the ship, forcing them to abandon ship twice. Soldiers trying to retreat are run over by tank treads, and simply pushed into the mud so that after the tank passes they get right back up and keep running, only a lot dirtier than before. Units surrounded on Djebels wait for nightfall and literally WALK through enemy lines, feet away from sleeping German soldiers and 88mm guns.

Recommended for anyone with an interest in military history, the U.S. Army, North African History, or how the start of great endeavors can be difficult learning experiences.

An Excellent Summary of the African campaign.......2005-07-19

Meeting the Fox turned out to be the book I was looking for - one which would give a detailed, but not confusing, history of the Allied campaign in Africa during WW II. It helps me and my late husband's grandsons appreciate and understand his part in that war.

Meeting the Fox is a quality read........2004-01-09

Orr Kelly did an excellent job recounting the history of Operation Torch and the battle for Tunisia. He brought it alive by documenting and re-telling the personal stories of some real American heroes (Major Siglin, Captain Bill Tuck, Colonel Waters, etc.) This is a very enjoyable read that flows without losing the detail. Thank you Mr. Kelly.

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy (The Liberation Trilogy, Vol 1)

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Awesome!
One of the best
Kilroy Arrives
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and deservedly so
Truly a Masterpiece

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy (The Liberation Trilogy, Vol 1)
Rick Atkinson
Manufacturer: Owl Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805074481

Amazon.com

In An Army at Dawn,, a comprehensive look at the 1942-1943 Allied invasion of North Africa, author Rick Atkinson posits that the campaign was, along with the battles of Stalingrad and Midway, where the "Axis ... forever lost the initiative" and the "fable of 3rd Reich invincibility was dissolved." Additionally, it forestalled a premature and potentially disastrous cross-channel invasion of France and served as a grueling "testing ground" for an as-yet inexperienced American army. Lastly, by relegating Great Britain to what Atkinson calls the status of "junior partner" in the war effort, North Africa marked the beginning of American geopolitical hegemony. Although his prose is occasionally overwrought, Atkinson's account is a superior one, an agile, well-informed mix of informed strategic overview and intimate battlefield-and-barracks anecdotes. (Tobacco-starved soldiers took to smoking cigarettes made of toilet paper and eucalyptus leaves.) Especially interesting are Atkinson's straightforward accounts of the many "feuds, tiffs and spats" among British and American commanders, politicians, and strategists and his honest assessments of their--and their soldiers'--performance and behavior, for better and for worse. This is an engrossing, extremely accessible account of a grim and too-often overlooked military campaign. --H. O'Billovich

Book Description

The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is a story of miscalculation and incomparable courage, of calamity and enduring triumph. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson focuses on 1942 and 1943, showing how central the great drama that unfolded in North Africa was to the ultimate victory of the Allied powers, and to America's understanding of itself. Opening with the daring amphibious invasion in November 1942, An Army at Dawn follows the American and British armies as they fight the French in Morocco and Algiers, and then take on the Germans and Italians in Tunisia. Battle by battle, an inexperienced and often poorly led army gradually becomes a superb fighting force. Central to the tale are the extraordinary but flawed commanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel. Brilliantly researched, rich with new material and fresh insights, Atkinson's vivid narrative provides the definitive history of the war in North Africa.

Customer Reviews:

Awesome!.......2007-10-10

I'm simply putting my husband's 2 cents in because, well, he wouldn't come in here and do it. I bought the book for him and he absolutely loved it... passed it on to a friend.

He is tough to please on the literature end, but big on wars and history and he enjoyed every bit of this book :-)

One of the best.......2007-09-29

Suffice to say I've read a great deal of history over the years and this one is one of the best in terms of narrative, scope, personal insights and coverage of a little known and likely decisive campaign that should really rank up there with Gettysburg and Midway and Stalingrad as recent military turning points. If you like military history at all, you owe it to yourself to read this book. I'll be ordering the next volume on my next Amazon order.

Kilroy Arrives.......2007-09-23

Before D-Day, before Anzio, there was Operation Torch and the subsequent battle for North Africa, the first time American troops squared off against Nazi Germany and next to Burma World War II's most overlooked campaign. Rick Atkinson's 2002 "An Army At Dawn" redresses that with a vivacity and eloquence as suggestive of high art as history.

Atkinson's thesis, carefully restated and expanded upon often in a narrative of otherwise constant incident, was that the American fighting man came into the war needing not just experience but a taste for bloodshed, a willingness to endure punishment for the sake of inflicting it on one's enemy. This was particularly so for one American, the soldier who gets the most face time in Atkinson's book: Dwight Eisenhower, the commander of Torch and the Allied fight in North Africa.

"Deficient of experience and of limited ability" was British Gen. Alan Brooke's terse verdict of Ike going in, and he had a point. Eisenhower played shamelessly to his superiors to Washington and left his American troops under the dubious command of Lloyd Fredendall, whose idea of leadership was to sit far in the rear and tell a subordinate to go out "and pull a Stonewall Jackson". But over time, as Americans got beaten in places like Sidi Bou Zid and Kasserine Pass, both Ike and his men began to harden and sharpen into something worthy of the fight they were in.

Atkinson buttresses his points with strategic analysis that is both fine-tuned and accessible to the layman. He tells stories of combat that are tremendously exciting yet never blind to the death and the horror. And he writes with a wit and nuance that reminds me as much of Evelyn Waugh as any historian I've come across.

"The tanks turned toward Chouigui Pass," Atkinson writes about the aftermath of one early U.S. raid against a German airfield, surprisingly but misleadingly successful. "Behind them, to the east, a pale orange glow reflected off the belly of the clouds above Djedeida, like a false dawn."

In fact, a lot of hard work lay ahead for the G.I.s and their doughty leader before they could take their rightful place at the vanguard of the Western front. Until then, winning acceptance from the more battle-hardened Brits would take on the quality of comic opera - albeit with casualties.

Atkinson argues North Africa was not just a beginning of American combat-worthiness but the first step in inaugurating what would come to be known as "the American century." Frankly, that's one bolt of Atkinson's I think lands wide of the mark, as U.S. troops finish the campaign in his telling with considerably more competance but in a secondary capacity. That wouldn't begin to change until the next phase of the Western campaign, in Sicily.

But you can't begrudge Atkinson much. "An Army At Dawn" is not only a worthy Pulitzer Prize-winner but a history that takes its place beside the best of Tuchman and Catton for definitive storytelling. Atkinson's about to publish a sequel volume on the Italy campaign said to be even better; I'll believe it when I read it, which will be soon as possible!

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and deservedly so.......2007-08-11

World War II has always held a fascination for me: the global scale, the impact on world politics and powers of today, the coming of Age of the United States as a super power, the thoughts of what could have been had certain decisions or battles gone one way or the other (see Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle or many of the other alternative history novels to get your imagination going). Over the years, I have read many books, including the great John Keegan's, Cornelius Ryan's and a 25 volume Encyclopedia of WWII that my mom got me for Christmas as a kid (no, I am not kidding).

I received The Day of Battle (the 2nd in Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy) as an ARC at BEA, but wanted to read the series in order.

I am very glad that I did. Operation TORCH, the battles of Kasserine, Sidi Bou Zid, the taking of Bizerte and Tunis are told as stories from the perspectives of leaders and soldiers, based on meticulous research detailed in over 100 pages of notes. An Army At Dawn is a great representation of the grisly and personal nature of war, a fitting history of the men and women who fought in WWII.

"Memory, too, has transcendent power, even as we swiftly move toward the day when not a single participant remains alive to tell his tale, and the epic of World War II forever slips into national mythology. The author's task is to authenticate: to warrant that history and memory give integrity to the story, to aver that all this really happened."

The book is split into four chronological parts, with each part detailing not only what the leaders (Ike, Patton, Kesselring, Clark, Alexander, Rommel) said and did, but also with quotes from diaries, journals and letters from the infantrymen, artillerymen and others who participated.

Part I starts with the mostly joint decision by the Americans and Brits to invade North Africa first, vs. France or Italy. It goes through Operation TORCH (the invasion), the lack of experience that showed in the American invasion force, and the senseless waste of the battles with the Vichy French forces across Morocco and Algeria (including the destruction of Allied ships entering French controlled harbors):

"The fighting between Anglo-American invaders and Vichy French defenders would last just over three days; sometimes it was a matter of halfhearted potshots, but there were pitched firefights on a dozen battlefields across two countries. This little war between ancient friends - many Americans still could not believe they were fighting the French - was complicated by concomitant diplomatic maneuvers and the first attacks from Axis forces."

Part II goes into the first battles with the Germans, in which the Allies lack of experience and overall coordination results in many setbacks and lives and equipment losses. The Allies push in from the original landings in Morocco and Algiers to Tunisia, where they meet Italian and German forces, including the to-date invincible Panzer divisions. Their bravado and assumption of an easy victory to Tunis are quickly swept away by defeats at Boudj Toum and Longstop Hill.

"There would be no trapping of Rommel's rump army in Libya between Anderson's First Army and Bernard Montgomery's Eight Army, now lumbering westward out of Egypt. Rather than crushing the Axis forces in the jaws of a vise, the failed Allied strategy gave interior lines to the enemy and all but guaranteed that four armies - Anderson and Montgomery, Arnim and Rommel - would slug it out in a campaign of attrition not unlike that on the Western Front a quarter century before."

Part III reviews the Allied leaders meeting at Casablanca, showing the relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt and the political tactics that had the Americans thinking there were in charge with Eisenhower as Commander-in-Chief, but with three British officers underneath him given much leeway. The lack of coordination and experience continued to show as an Allied offensive to take Tunis was poorly planned and poorly executed, and the Germans, lead by Rommel, attacked. His Panzer divisions pushed through to Kasserine Pass and beyond, but then the Americans and British forces stiffened; even though their losses were high, it marked a turning point:

"Beyond the modest combined-arms showing, three bright gleams radiated from Kasserine's wreckage. First was the competence of American artillery at Sbiba, at Djebelel Hamra and at Thala. Second was the mettle under fire displayed by various American commanders, among them Irwin, Robinett, Andrus, Gardiner and Allen, and comparable mettle in British commanders. Third was the broad realization that even an adversary as formidable as Erwin Rommel was neither invincible nor infallible. He and his host could be beaten. This epiphany was not to be undervalued: he could be beaten. Amazingly, barely two months would elapse between the "handheadness" of Kasserine and the triumph of total victory in Tunisia."

Part IV marks the arrival of British Generals Alexander and Montgomery into the fray, Eisenhower starting to through his weight around, the Americans beginning to "hate the Germans" and fight like it, and the emergence of Patton. The final victory of Tunisia set the stage for the invasions of Italy, Normandy, and the rest of the war.

"At a price of 70,000 casualties "one continent had been redeemed", in Churchill's phrase. But more than territory could be claimed. The gains were most profound for the Americans, in their first campaign against the Wehrmacht. Four U.S. divisions now had combat experience in five variants of Euro-Mediterranean warfare: expeditionary, amphibious, mountain, desert and urban. Troops had learned the importance of terrain, of combined arms, of aggressive patrolling, of stealth, of massed armor. They now knew what it was like to be bombed, shelled, and machine-gunned, and to fight on. They provided Eisenhower with a blooded hundred thousand, "high-grade stock from which we must breed with the utmost rapidity", as one general urged."

The Allied eyes now turned toward Sicily and Italy, and I eagerly move to the next volume in the series.

This review originally was published on my website, www.duskbeforethedawn.net.

Truly a Masterpiece.......2007-08-08

Exquisite writing combined with exhaustive research. Atkinson pulls no punches in finding the truth regarding generals and armies and battles right down to the foot soldier. Probably the best written piece of history on WWII to date. I look forward to the next two volumes in the trilogy.An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy (The Liberation Trilogy)

USS Charles Carroll APA28: An Amphibious History of World War II

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USS Charles Carroll APA28: An Amphibious History of World War II
Kenneth H. Goldman
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

20th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1412021146
Release Date: 2006-07-06

Book Description

It was one thing to demand vengeance after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii plunged the United States into World War II, it was quite another to have the wherewithal to carry the fight to the Axis powers' front door. The same two oceans that had previously protected the United States from foreign enemies now provided a like obstacle to projecting American military force in the other direction. Battleships, aircraft carriers and submarines could not do the job alone. It was up to the ordinary soldier to occupy and hold the enemy's real estate, and the Navy needed to commission vast numbers of transports to get them there.

The attack transport USS Charles Carroll was originally laid down to be a combi-liner, carrying passengers and cargo on the Gulf of Mexico trade routes. Most of her wartime crew had never seen the ocean let alone manned a vessel of her size or even handled the small boats that were the ship's main offensive weapon. Yet, together they would evolve into the fighting machine that earned six battle stars in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Normandy, Southern France and Okinawa.

Lt. Robert W. Goldman, USNR (ret), joined the ship after Operation Torch and participated in her five subsequent invasions. I grew up listening to his stories, which, with the invasion maps, documents, photographs, issues of the Plan of the Day, etc. that he saved, form the backbone of this narrative. I have also met many of his old shipmates and have incorporated their recollections and, whenever possible, entries from the weathered diaries in which some of them set down their first-hand experiences, their fears while in combat and the capers they cut to blow off steam. As much as possible, the book evokes the feel of the times and the perspective of those who were there. The generals and heads of state set policy and strategy but it is the individuals in the field and on the seas who must translate the best laid plans into actions which spell victory or defeat. This is their story.

"Wildcats" Over Casablanca: U.S. Navy Fighters in Operation Torch (Aviation Classics)

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"Wildcats" Over Casablanca: U.S. Navy Fighters in Operation Torch (Aviation Classics)
M. T. Wordell , E.N. Seiler , and Keith Ayling
Manufacturer: Potomac Books Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Aviation | Military | History | Subjects | Books

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Naval | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

ASIN: 157488722X

Book Description

This sixtieth-anniversary edition of the 1943 classic returns to print the exciting story of a U.S. Navy fighter squadron during the invasion of French North Africa in World War II. Lieutenants Wordell and Seiler, with the help of journalist Keith Ayling, vividly recount the exploits of their fellow aviators, who flew the sturdy Grumman F4F â€œWildcatâ€ from the deck of the USS Ranger (censors would not allow the authors to use the shipâ€™s name in the original edition), as well as the carrierâ€™s bomber and scouting squadrons. They cover not only the aerial operations but also the myriad problems that confronted the Navy during its first wartime use of carriers to support an amphibious landing. Among these was the need to protect civilians and cultural sites, particularly mosques.

â€œMacâ€ Wordell, who commanded the squadronâ€”the â€œRed Rippersâ€â€” was shot down and taken prisoner by the Vichy French. His explanation of what went on in the minds of the amiable French officers and men who held him captive is still intriguing and at the time was revealing to Americans confused by the political-military events in North Africa after the surrender of France to Germany in 1940. Ed Seiler, one of Wordellâ€™s top fliers, narrates the story from the attackersâ€™ side. Together they provide a spectacular account of cooperation and aerial daring. Brasseyâ€™s reprint edition includes photographs of the main characters, their aircraft, their enemies, the American and French ships involved, and scenes from the North African theater of war.

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A Low-burning Flame
exciting historical thriller

The Torch of Tangier
Aileen G. Baron
Manufacturer: Poisoned Pen Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1590582217

Book Description

War time Tangier, policed by Franco's Guardia Civil, thick with many nationalities including Germans and Allies, bitter with the insults of Colonialism, is a dangerous place. Archaeologist Lily Sampson, recruited from her studies in Chicago by the enigmatic Dr. Drury, finds herself in Morocco digging up Neanderthal artifacts at the Cave of Hercules. And soon, working at the American Legation on an undercover mission linked to Operation Torch. The target date: November 8, 1942. The mission: to control French Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, squash Rommel, and thrust into Europe's underbelly. Out in the Atlantic, Ike will rely on relayed communications. But Lily's mastery of code is interrupted by murder--not one, but twoÂ—which not only imperils her, but Torch itself.

Customer Reviews:

A Low-burning Flame.......2007-06-22

This is a good beach read, when the lethargy of too much sun halts the crirical faculties. There are many holes in motivation, plot, and history. The author can't decide if Lily is Jackie Chan or Florence Nightingale, and when Lily does kill in self-defence ... it goes nowhere. Lily grieves for her Great Lost Love, Rafi (Ralph Landon), for about 5 minutes after learning he died a year earlier, and hastily acquires a new suitor about twice her age. But it's light fun, and zooms past in an hour or so.

exciting historical thriller .......2006-07-05

Archeologist Dr. Drury entices dissertation candidate Lily Sampson to accompany him to a Tangier excavation of a Neanderthal site in the Cave of Hercules. She has been there for over a year and has seen it turn from an International zone into an area controlled by Spain. At present she cannot work because mud flooded the caves and the Spanish Governor denies the Americans access.

Dr. Drury confesses that he is OSS and had asked Lily to join his dig because she has skills that will prove useful to the Allies. Lily agrees to work for the American Legation on a top secret mission Operation Torch, the Ally landing of men to push out the Axis from North Africa. As she begins her assignment her mentor is killed and the key code box missing; Lily realizes that she must find it or Operation Torch will be compromised.

This exciting historical thriller gives the reader a first hand seat to the exotic North Africana region during 1942. Readers, like the heroine, are unsure who to trust as an ally today can be tomorrow's enemy. The protagonist is a strong-willed and courageous person who does her part to support the war effort, which means in her case being in danger at all times. Think Casablanca as Aileen G. Baron makes the past come vividly alive so that the audience will believe this is the beginning of a long friendship.

Harriet Klausner

Kasserine: The Battlefield Slaughter of American Troops by Rommel's Afrika Korps

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Did the American Army do anything correct here?
Did the American Army do anything correct here?
Same Old Song

Kasserine: The Battlefield Slaughter of American Troops by Rommel's Afrika Korps
Charles Whiting
Manufacturer: Scarborough House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The full story of the massacre of youthful innocents, sacrificed by military incompetents.

Customer Reviews:

Did the American Army do anything correct here?.......2003-07-05

Charles Whiting is an established author, with many fine books to his credit. His accounting of the Battle of Kasserine Pass leaves much to be desired though.

The book starts off describing the American Army coming to Britian and the tension that existed between the two armies. In writting; "The British thought the Yanks hopeless", he contrasted the spit and polish of the Brits with the Dough Boys. Mr. Whiting goes on to say that the U.S. soldiers were overweight, ill-trained and ill-disciplined. He makes comments like this about these men throughout the book. While it cannot be argued that at that time our troops lacked many qualities, his consistently negative remarks makes you question why we are not now speaking German. The British soldiers are shown to be the opposite of this, in fact the heros of the story.

Mr.Whiting also tells of the personal female aid to General Eisenhower, (Kay Sumersby), and gives many details of their relationship. There is implication of a sexual encounter between the two. While this may make interesting reading, it is not of the content that I would prefer in a book of this title.

The book goes on to speak of the Torch landings, and of the difficult time that was had with the nuetrality of the French in North Africa. There is good detail here; to a topic that is easily overlooked.

Mr. Whiting then speaks of the confusion and ineptitude of the American command staff, giving ample criticism to General Frendendall. This is well founded. Frendendall's horrible leadership can bear the brunt of the blame for the fiasco. But Mr.Whiting focuses too much on rheteric - "..Youthful innocence sacrificed at the altar of the God of war by incompetent, complacent old men, who lived on to die in bed." - and not to the tactical and strategic blunders that lead to the downfall in this battle.

The entire content is devoted to bashing Americans that were in the battle, and not to the challenges they faced. 'The Army was soundly routed, with many units just giving up', could be said of this battle. It could also be said of the inexperienced Eigth Army of Britain as it was chased across the North African frontier by Rommel, just a year earlier. A "green" army will have these setbacks. This is not noted here, but was reflected in Field Marshal Montgomery's memoirs of this battle.

While there are some notes regarding the German's superiority in equipment - the Mark 4 and Tiger tanks in paticular,- he did not elaborate on any other possible outcomes if confronted with an experienced enemy, with tactical air superiority, and being led by Rommel from the front. The conclusion of this battle was pre-ordained by the circumstances present at the time, not just the cowardice of the American troops involved in the battle.

There could be no better place for this to happen. The Americans needed to get a 'Bloody Nose'. It instilled changes in the way Americans fought the war, trained for the war, and led the war. The loss of a pass in Africa does not hold the same importance as it would have, say, if it had been on Normandy Beach. Of course I mean no disrespect to the brave that died there; I just think that Mr. Whiting has overdramatized the defeat that we endured.

Overall, the book reads well, and the research is well documented. There are ample pictures to see the equipment involved as well as to get a feel for the terrain in North Africa.

Kasserine, The Anatomy of Slaughter, is not a 'dry' book, as some historical accounts may be, but is fluid and well written. The conclusions drawn for the debacle are what is wrong.

Did the American Army do anything correct here?.......2003-07-05

Charles Whiting is an established author, with many fine books to his credit. His accounting of the Battle of Kasserine Pass leaves much to be desired though.

Overall, the book reads well, and the research is well documented. There are ample pictures to see the equipment involved as well as to get a feel for the terrain in North Africa.

Kasserine, The Anatomy of Slaughter, is not a 'dry' book, as some historical accounts may be, but is fluid and well written. The conclusions drawn for the debacle are what is wrong.

Same Old Song.......2000-04-17

Charles Whiting has a very low opinion of the High Command of the U.S. Army. In all of his books that I've read, he tells variations of the same story: the incompetence of senior American officers leading to the sacrifice of G.I.s. The Battle of Kasserine Pass in early 1943 should give Whiting the perfect opportunity for developing his theme: this first major encounter between U.S. forces and Rommel's Afrika Korps was badly botched by the Americans. But I finished the book not much wiser than I started about what exactly went wrong. Whiting seemed to be attributing the defeat to the alcoholism of the general commanding the American II Corps. A far more nuanced and balanced analysis of the battle is provided by Martin Blumenson in his book. The Blumenson volume is out of print, but, if you want to understand the complexities of the defeat at Kasserine, find it.

Operation Torch: The Allied Gamble to Invade North Africa

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A good account of the Allied invasion of North Africa

Operation Torch: The Allied Gamble to Invade North Africa
William Breuer
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0312901259

Customer Reviews:

A good account of the Allied invasion of North Africa.......2002-08-25

This is a very well written and informative book dealing with the Allied (essentially American) landings in North Africa in November 1942. The British and Americans had been under pressure from Stalin for some time to open a "second front" in Europe. But the Americans and British were divided on where this should be done; the Americans wanted an invasion of France while the British wanted it to be in Africa, where they were currently engaged in a brutal struggle with Rommel's Afrika Korp. The failed "raid" on Dieppe proved that a landing in France was not the best idea, so planning for the three-pronged invasion of North Africa began. A sticky issue was, however, the reaction of the French defenders; would there be resistance or not? The French were certainly no friends of the Germans, but an invasion on there territory was just that, and would likely be resisted no matter who the invader was. Although efforts were made to stop the French from resisting, the invasion did not go uncontested, and the Aliies (primarily the Americans because it was largely an American operation) did sustain hundreds of casualties. The invasion made possible the destruction of the Afrika Korp and a re-establishment of Allied control over the Mediteranean Sea, thus making possible the invasion of Italy the following year.

Desperate Venture: The Story of Operation Torch, the Allied Invasion of North Africa

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Desperate Venture: The Story of Operation Torch, the Allied Invasion of North Africa
Norman Gelb
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0688098835

50th Anniversary: Final Verdict at Nuremburg / Kesternich: Key Victory in the Hurtgen Campaign / Opening Fire of Operation Torch / Torpedo Strike on Cruiser Houston (World War II, Volume 11, Number 4)

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50th Anniversary: Final Verdict at Nuremburg / Kesternich: Key Victory in the Hurtgen Campaign / Opening Fire of Operation Torch / Torpedo Strike on Cruiser Houston (World War II, Volume 11, Number 4)
Richard Snailham , and Wil Deac
Manufacturer: Cowles History Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000VONPYS

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