Journal of Military History
Vol. 74, No. 3
July 2010

Articles

James Davey, “The Repatriation of Spanish Troops from Denmark, 1808: The British Government, Logistics, and Maritime Supremacy,” The Journal of Military History 74 #3 (July 2010): 689-707.
Following the Spanish revolts of 1808 against French occupation of their country, Spanish regiments that had previously fought for Napoleon in northern Europe became anxious to return to their homeland to support the uprising. The British government, very much aware of the military and political utility of removing this force from Scandinavia, prepared and executed an operation to remove the soldiers from Denmark and carry them back to Spain. This article outlines how this remarkable operation was managed and conducted, studying the political, administrative, and logistical elements, before moving on to consider its wider implications, both for Britain and for the war in Spain.
Jochen S. Arndt, “Treacherous Savages & Merciless Barbarians: Knowledge, Discourse and Violence during the Cape Frontier Wars, 1834 -1853,” The Journal of Military History 74 #3 (July 2010): 709-735.
Between 1834 and 1853 the British colonial army fought three wars with the Xhosa peoples who resided on the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony of South Africa. Based on the published and unpublished diaries, journals, correspondence, and memoirs of British soldiers who served in these wars, this paper examines how these wartime experiences led to the creation of a military knowledge system of the Xhosa that stereotyped them as treacherous savages and merciless barbarians. Further, this essay argues that these stereotypes played a crucial role in the conquest of the Xhosa by justifying policies of dispossession and subjugation in the name of colonial security, and allowing British soldiers to conduct unlimited warfare against them. In this regard, the British military knowledge system of the Xhosa casts long shadows of violence and distrust over the history of South Africa.
Greg Kennedy, “Anglo-American Strategic Relations and Intelligence Assessments of Japanese Air Power 1934–1941,” The Journal of Military History 74 #3 (July 2010): 737-773.
The historiography of Western intelligence assessments of Japanese military power and prowess, particularly before the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941, is littered with accusations of racism, ignorance, arrogance, and incompetence, which are portrayed as having created one of the most serious underestimations of a modern power’s military capabilities. However, cultural and racial biases will always exist in professional military establishments because their competitiveness and emphasis on morale lead some untrained minds to undervalue systems possessing values different from their own. This article will reassess the influences of racism on Anglo-American appreciations of Japanese air power, and its development, in the seven years before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Reina Pennington, “Offensive Women: Women in Combat in the Red Army in the Second World War,” The Journal of Military History 74 #3 (July 2010): 775-820.
This article revisits the topic of Soviet women in the ground forces in the Second World War. The focus is on the nature and variety of women’s combat experiences. Although most women were noncombatants, many did participate in activities normally associated with combat, and some women participated in virtually every combat role of the time. The available evidence indicates that women in the Red Army performed, overall, as well as men in combat situations.
Steven Casey, “Wilfred Burchett and the United Nations Command’s Media Relations During the Korean War, 1951–1952,” The Journal of Military History 74 #3 (July 2010): 821-845.
Wilfred A. Burchett was perhaps the most controversial foreign correspondent of the Cold War era. An Australian by birth, he wrote for British and French newspapers, but spent much of his career reporting from the other side of the “bamboo curtain.” Although his dispatches often had a propagandist purpose, his account of the U.S. Army’s media relations during the protracted Korean armistice negotiations continues to exert a significant influence over the academic literature. This article looks at the reasons for this influence and critically examines Burchett’s claim that the U.S. military engaged in a concerted effort to mislead the public by lying about, and sometimes suppressing, what was really happening in the truce talks.
James L. Young, Jr., “The Heights of Ineptitude: The Syrian Army’s Assault on the Golan Heights,” The Journal of Military History 74 #3 (July 2010): 847-870.
The Battle of the Golan Heights was one of the critical events of the Yom Kippur War. Most of the current historiography follows the narrative established by Avigdor Kahalani in his work The Heights of Courage, in which the outcome was determined by the skill and courage of the Israeli tank crews of the 7th Armored and Barak brigades. While acknowledging the Israelis’ bravery, this article challenges this conventional approach by stating that it was the Syrians’ tactical incompetence and failure to adhere to Soviet operational doctrine that was the primary cause of the battle’s outcome.
Notes and Documents:
Andrew James Birtle, “Advisory service in Vietnam: Detrimental to an Officer’s Career?” The Journal of Military History 74 #3 (July 2010): 871-877.
During the Vietnam War several beliefs gained currency that had negative implications for the men who labored as advisers. One was that the U.S. Army did not select its best men for advisory duty. Another was that promotion boards disregarded statements by senior Army leaders that command and advisory performance would be given the same weight when determining officer promotions. This article attempts to shed light on the question by examining the extent to which former Vietnam advisers achieved general officer rank in the U.S. Army.
Historiographical Essay:
Jim Tucci, “Warfare in the Ancient World,” The Journal of Military History 74 #3 (July 2010): 878-899.

Review Essay:
Bernard S. Bachrach, “The Barbarian Hordes That Never Were,” The Journal of Military History 74 #3 (July 2010): 901-904.

Reviews:
Patton's Peers: The Forgotten Allied Field Army Commanders of the Western Front, 1944-45, by John A. English, reviewed by Roger Cirillo and by Steven S. Minniear, 905-908

Experiencing War: Trauma and Society in Ancient Greece and Today, edited by Michael B. Cosmopoulos, reviewed by Waldemar Heckel, 908-910

Holy Warriors. A Modern History of the Crusades, by Jonathan Phillips, reviewed by Brian J. Hale, 910-911

Essays on Medieval Military History. Strategy, Military Revolutions and the Hundred Years War, by Clifford J. Rogers, reviewed by Charles Chandler, 911-912

Bannockburn: The Triumph of Robert the Bruce, by David Cornell, reviewed by Colm McNamee, 912-915

The Thirty Years War: Europe’s Tragedy, by Peter H. Wilson, reviewed by William Young, 915-916

Politics, Finance and the People: Economical Reform in England in the Age of the American Revolution, 1770-92, by Earl A. Reitan, reviewed by Jeremy Black, 916-917

The U.S. Army and Irregular Warfare: 1775-2007, edited by Richard D. Davis, reviewed by Joseph R. Fischer, 917-919

America’s Captives: Treatment of POWs from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror, by Paul J. Springer, reviewed by Robert. D. Billinger, Jr., 919-920

The American Military Frontiers: The United States Army in the West, 1783-1900, by Robert Wooster, reviewed by Jimmy L. Bryan, Jr., 921-922

The Cognitive Challenge of War: Prussia 1806, by Peter Paret, reviewed by Sam A. Mustafa, 922-923

Engineering Security: The Corps of Engineers and Third System Defense Policy, 1815-1861, by Mark A. Smith, reviewed by William B. Skelton, 923-925

Captives in Gray: The Civil War Prisons of the Union, by Roger Pickenpaugh, reviewed by Robert C. Doyle, 925-926

Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign, by William L. Shea, reviewed by Donald B. Connelly, 926-927

Upton’s Regulars: The 121st New York Infantry in the Civil War, by Salvatore G. Cilella, Jr., reviewed by David J. Fitzpatrick, 928-929

America’s Civil War: The Operational Battlefield, 1861-1863, by Brian Holden Reid, reviewed by Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh, 929-930

A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in America’s Civil War, by Daniel E. Sutherland and Punitive War: Confederate Guerrillas and Union Reprisals, by Clay Mountcastle, reviewed by D. Jonathan White, 930-932

Lincoln on Trial: Southern Civilians and the Law of War, by Burrus M. Carnahan; and Merciful Lincoln: The President and Military Justice, by Thomas P. Lowry, reviewed by Fred L. Borch, 933-935

The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke, Volume Three: June 1, 1878-June 22, 1880; and The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke, Volume Four: July 3, 1880-May 22, 1881, edited and annotated by Charles M. Robinson III, reviewed by Bruce Vandervort, 935-938

Black Officer in a Buffalo Soldier Regiment: The Military Career of Charles Young, by Brian G. Shellum, reviewed by Frank N. Schubert, 938-939

Light Horse: A History of Australia’s Mounted Arm, by Jean Bou, reviewed by Gervase Phillips, 939-940

The Development of Mobile Logistic Support in Anglo-American Naval Policy, 1900-1953, by Peter V. Nash, reviewed by Gordon E. Hogg, 941-942

Naval Intelligence from Germany: The Reports of the British Naval Attaché in Berlin, 1906-1914, edited by Matthew S. Seligmann, reviewed by Robin Higham, 942-943

To Strive and Not to Yield”: Opposing Hitler: Adam von Trott zu Solz, 1909-1944, by Kenneth A.E. Sears, reviewed by Danny Orbach, 943-944

In the Company of Generals: The World War I Diary of Pierpont L. Stackpole, edited with an introduction by Robert H. Ferrell, reviewed by Daniel R. Beaver, 944-945

The Soldier from Independence: A Military Biography of Harry Truman, by D. M. Giangreco, reviewed by Douglas V. Johnson II, 945-946

When Europe Went Mad: A Brief History of the First World War, by Terence T. Finn, reviewed by Eric W. Osborne, 946-947

Distant Drums: The Role of Colonies in British Imperial Warfare, by Ashley Jackson, reviewed by Stephen M. Miller, 947-948

A History of Air Warfare, edited by John Andreas Olsen, reviewed by David R. Mets, 948-950

The Legacy of the Great War: Ninety Years On, edited by Jay Winter, reviewed by Charles D. Dusch, Jr., 950-951

British Pan-Arab Policy, 1915-22: A Critical Appraisal, by Isaiah Friedman, reviewed by Matthew Hughes, 952-953

Wireless and Empire: Geopolitics, Radio Industry & Ionosphere in the British Empire, 1918-1939, by Aitor Anduaga, reviewed by Jonathan Reed Winkler, 953-954

Beyond the Bonus March and GI Bill: How Veteran Politics Shaped the New Deal Era, by Stephen R. Ortiz, reviewed by Robert L. Goldich, 954-955

Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War, by Michael Petrou, reviewed by Judith Keene, 955-957

1938: Hitler’s Gamble, by Giles MacDonogh, reviewed by Mark M. Hull, 957-958

Churchill's Bunker: The Cabinet War Rooms and the Culture of Secrecy in Wartime London, by Richard Holmes, reviewed by Raymond Callahan, 959-960

The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, 1941-45: A Documentary Reader, by Alexander Hill, reviewed by Jonathan M. House, 960-961

Beyond Stalingrad: Manstein and the Operations of Army Group Don, by Dana V. Sadarananda, reviewed by Martijn Lak, 961-962

Fighting for Britain: African Soldiers in the Second World War, by David Killingray with Martin Plaut, reviewed by Tim Stapleton, 962-964

D-Day: The Battle for Normandy, by Antony Beevor, reviewed by Stephen A. Bourque, 964-965

Preserving the Flame, by Colin Burbidge, reviewed by M. R. D. Foot, 965-966

Science on the Home Front: American Women Scientists in World War II, by Jordynn Jack, reviewed by Kathleen Broome Williams, 966-968

US Intelligence, the Holocaust and the Nuremburg Trials. Seeking Accountability for Genocide and Cultural Plunder. Vols. 1 and 2, by Michael Salter, reviewed by Timothy Dowling, 968-970

Terasaki Hidenari, Pearl Harbor, and Occupied Japan: A Bridge to Reality, by Roger B. Jeans, reviewed by Roger Dingman, 970-971

Demobbed: Coming Home after the Second World War, by Alan Allport, reviewed by Mark Connelly, 971-972

Rockets and People, Vol. III: Hot Days of the Cold War, by Boris Chertok, reviewed by Jonathan Coopersmith, 973-974

Nuclear Apartheid: The Quest for American Atomic Supremacy from World War II to the Present, by Shane J. Maddock, reviewed by Andrej Gaspari, 974-975

Death From the Heavens: A History of Strategic Bombing, by Kenneth P. Werrell, reviewed by Robert Ehlers, 975-977

America’s Cold War: The Politics of Insecurity, by Campbell Craig and Fredrik Logevall, reviewed by Ethan S. Rafuse, 977-978

Honor and Fidelity: The 65th Infantry Regiment in Korea, 1950-1953, by Gilberto N. Villahermosa, reviewed by James I. Matray, 978-980

Press On!: Selected Works of General Donn A. Starry, Volumes I and II, edited by Lewis Sorley, reviewed by George F. Hofmann, 980-981

Not a Gentlemen's War: An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War, by Ron Milam, reviewed by Peter J. Schifferle, 981-983

Officer, Nurse, Woman: The Army Nurse Corps in the Vietnam War, by Kara Dixon Vuic, reviewed by D’Ann Campbell, 983-984

The Battle of Ngok Tavak: Allied Valor and Defeat in Vietnam, by Bruce Davies, reviewed by Erik B. Villard, 984-985

Why Intelligence Fails: Lessons from the Iranian Revolution and the Iraq War, by Robert Jervis, reviewed by J. Kenneth McDonald, 985-987

From El Billar to Operations Fenix and Jaque: The Colombian Security Force Experience, 1998-2008, by Robert D. Ramsey III, reviewed by Douglas Porch, 987-988

Air Power, Insurgency and the “War on Terror”, edited by Joel Hayward, reviewed by Michael Robert Terry, 988-990

The Virtual American Empire: War, Faith, and Power, by Edward N. Luttwak, reviewed by Ralph Hitchens, 990-991

Navy Strategic Culture: Why the Navy Thinks Differently, by Roger W. Barnett, reviewed by Sarandis Papadopoulos, 992-993

The Untold War: Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of our Soldiers, by Nancy Sherman, reviewed by Maureen T. Moore, 993-994

Embattled Garrisons: Comparative Base Politics and American Globalism, by Kent E. Calder, reviewed by Mark J. Conversino, 994-995

The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War, by Gary D. Solis, reviewed by Michael F. Noone, 996-997

Other:
BOOKS RECEIVED: 998-1002
RECENT JOURNAL ARTICLES: 1003-1005
DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS IN MILITARY HISTORY: 1006-1014
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: 1015-1017