From the Cold War to the Persian Gulf War, the high drama of America's contemporary foreign policy crises comes to life in this collection of primary documents designed for use by high school and college students. The comprehensive work dramatizes, through memoirs and diaries of the major players as well as key public documents, eight major crises: The Origins of the Cold War, the Berlin Blockade of 1948-49, the Korean War, the Berlin Crises of 1958 and 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979-80, and the 1991 Persian Gulf War with Iraq. The selection of documents for each crisis dramatizes the tension between the opposing nations and illuminates the process of decision-making by U.S. policymakers. Meticulously culled from a wide variety of sources and voices, many of the 382 documents are available in no other resource. Following a general introduction on contemporary American foreign relations, each crisis begins with a narrative introduction and chronology of events. The story of each crisis unfolds through chronologically organized documents, each of which is preceded by an explanatory headnote. The section on each crisis concludes with a suggested reading list. Among the variety of voices heard are memoirs and official statements of every president from Truman to Bush, and memoirs, diaries, and reminiscences of key players including General Douglas MacArthur, Dean Acheson, Robert Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Nikita Krushchev, Andrei Gromyko, the Shah of Iran, and Generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell. The variety of documents includes government reports and policy statements, private correspondence and memos, laws, speeches, positionstatements of interest groups, treaties and agreements, CIA directives, and interviews with key players. This basic research tool provides students with a rich panoply of voices, viewpoints, and key public documents that illuminate a crucial period in American and world history.

Grand strategy, strategy, and tactics--the three layers of policy and action inherent to all military efforts--are the focus of this historical analysis of the dynamics of the Vietnam War. The American theory of counterrevolutionary warfare is examined in light of American military practice, especially that of the Marine Corps, during the period of America's greatest involvement, 1965-1972, and at the site of the most intense combat, the five northern provinces known as I Corps. Drawing from two schools of thought that diverge over the appropriate strategy America should have pursued in South Vietnam, this inquiry indicates that both the number of troops and their tactical employment proved inadequate for redressing the threat within the parameters America set for itself. Specifically, this work demonstrates that the counterrevolutionary warfare strategy postulated for Vietnam was largely ignored in some quarters, and sowed the seeds of defeat in others.

Contrary to prevalent military historical thinking, the early medieval general was not an ignorant warrior chieftain, but an able, astute, intelligent, and often very cunning commander. Through the use of contemporary literature, art, and archaeological evidence, this study argues that these generals could and did effectively exercise command control before, during, and after battle. Using the examples of a dozen or so leaders and drawing upon over 60 battles, this study brings to light the genius and the adaptability of medieval generals.

Today's protracted asymmetrical conflicts confuse efforts to measure progress, often inviting politics and wishful thinking to replace objective evaluation. In Assessing War, military historians, social scientists, and military officers explore how observers have analyzed the trajectory of war in American conflicts from the Seven Years' War through the war in Afghanistan. Drawing on decades of acquired expertise, the contributors examine wartime assessment in both theory and practice and, through alternative dimensions of assessment such as justice and proportionality, the war of ideas and economics. This group of distinguished authors grapples with both conventional and irregular wars and emerging aspects of conflict-such as cyberwar and nation building-that add to the complexities of the modern threat environment. The volume ends with recommendations for practitioners on best approaches while offering sobering conclusions about the challenges of assessing war without politicization or self-delusion. Covering conflicts from the eighteenth century to today, Assessing War blends focused advice and a uniquely broad set of case studies to ponder vital questions about warfare's past-and its future. The book includes a foreword by Gen. George W. Casey Jr. (USA, Ret.), former chief of staff of the US Army and former commander, Multi-National Force-Iraq.

Peace support operations are one of the most important tools in the foreign policy of Western democracies. This book is a study of Italian military operations in the last twenty years. Italy's operations are examined through an analysis of parliamentary debates and interviews with leading policy-makers.

More than 300,000 people visit the site of George Armstrong Custer's Last Stand each year; however the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn is only part of Custer's story on the Great Plains. The famed general and his Seventh Cavalry spent 10 years on the plains prior to Little Bighorn, participating in campaigns from Texas to North Dakota and leaving behind a colourful, controversial and enduring legacy. The Great Plains Guide to Custer is the first book that directs readers to all of the sites Custer visited west of the Mississippi River. Featured are more than 80 locations in 10 states that the general is confirmed to have visited, as well dozens of related places of interest to Western, Plains Indian, and army historians. Also included is all-new information on Custer's 1872 Great Buffalo Hunt with the Russian grand duke Alexis, an expedition that featured many of the most famous figures of the nineteenth-century American West sure to appeal to the many Custer aficionados. About the Author Jeff Barnes is a freelance writer who lives in Omaha, Nebraska. He is a former newspaper editor and past chairman of the Nebraska Hall of Fame commission.

An on-site testimony of the Dutch military mission in Urugzan, Afghanistan from 2001 to present day. Presents fresh data and probing analyses to address many crucial issues with regard to mission Uruzgan: from political decision making to rules of engagement. Offers insight regarding the logistics of leadership at many different levels in Afghanistan. From autumn 2001 onwards, the Netherlands armed forces have been involved in military operations in Afghanistan. These deployments found their culmination in a four-year period (2006-2010) when the Netherlands acted as lead-nation in the province of Uruzgan. This book provides a wealth of insights into the many problems the Dutch military had to cope with. Focusing on the collaborative aspect, the authors trace the principles and practices of working together with partners in multiple military coalitions, involving the local population and its variety of power brokers, allies in and beyond NATO, and civil and military entrepreneurs.

For more than a decade, international troops have been deployed to Afghanistan. Out of all NATO members, this mission was the most difficult for Germany that had thus far never engaged in combat and offensive military activities. This book analyses how Germany's experiences in Afghanistan have changed the country's strategic culture.

For more than 500 years, the Portuguese built or adapted fortifications along the coasts of Africa, Asia and South America. At a macro scale, mapping this network of power reveals a gigantic territorial and colonial project. Forts articulated the colonial and the metropolitan, and functioned as nodes in a mercantile empire, shaping early forms of capitalism, transforming the global political economy, and generating a flood of images and ideas on an unprecedented scale. Today, they can be understood as active material legacies of empire that represent promises, dangers and possibilities. Forts are marks and wounds of the history of human violence, but also timely reminders that buildings never last forever, testimonies of the fluidity of the material world. Illustrated by case studies in Morocco, Cape Verde, SAGBPo Tome and PrA ncipe and Kenya, this book examines how this global but chameleonic network of forts can offer valuable insights into both the geopolitics of Empire and their postcolonial legacies, and into the intersection of colonialism, memory, power and space in the postcolonial Lusophone world and beyond.

A reinterpretation of the British Army's conduct in the crucial 1944-45 Northwest Europe campaign, this work examines systematically the "Colossal Cracks" operational technique employed by Montgomery's Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group and demonstrates the key significance that morale and casualty concerns exerted on this technique. To ensure a full understanding of the campaign, one needs to look not only at Montgomery's methods but at those of his army commanders, Dempsey and Crerar; thus, this study addresses the scant attention to date paid to these two figures. Hart suggests that Montgomery and his two senior subordinates handled this formation more effectively than some scholars have suggested. In fact, "Colossal Cracks," the concentration of massive force at a point of German weakness, represented the most appropriate weapon the 1944 British Army could develop under the circumstances. Previous studies have been characterized by an overemphasis on Montgomery's role in the campaign, rather than a systematic examination of overall British methods. They have ignored the difficulties that the 1944 British Army faced given its manpower shortage, and they have underestimated the appropriateness of Monty's methods to the campaign war aims that Britain pursued: namely, the desire that Britain's modest military forces secure a high profile within a larger Allied effort. The cautious, firepower-laden approach used by the 21st Army Group was both crude and a double-edged sword; however, despite these weaknesses, "Colossal Cracks" represented an appropriate technique given the nature of British war aims and the relative capabilities of the forces involved. It proved to be just enough to defeatthe Germans and keep alive British hopes that her war aims might be achieved.

"Eastern Destiny: Russia in Asia and the North Pacific" is the history of a remarkable eastern expansion under tsars, emperors, and commissars. The narrative spans the period from the Mongol conquest in the 13th century to the Cold War of the 20th. An intense anxiety for security, owed in large part to the Mongol incursion, would impel the eastern Slavs relentlessly toward territorial aggrandizement. Over the centuries, the modest Grand Duchy of Moscow in Eastern Europe was so successful that it grew into the massive Russian Empire, whose lands stretched from the Holy Roman Empire in Central Europe to the edge of British power in the wilds of North America.

"Eastern Destiny: Russia in Asia and the North Pacific" is a saga of entrepreneurs pressing ever-eastward for the wealth of pelts, whether sable or sea otter. It features the arrival of the servants of the state who ensured control of these lands and negotiated-whether subtly or otherwise-with the nations of East Asia. Also chronicled are the voluntary release by treaty of Alaska and the northern Kurils, the humiliating temporary loss of southern Sakhalin and the ultimate dismemberment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Despite such losses, the Russian Federation still comprises the most expansive country on earth, most of whose territory is the result of Asian conquests dating back 400 years.

Certain to become the definitive work in English on the Battle of France, this volume is a long overdue and much needed correction to all previous English accounts. With extensive use of primary sources and strong secondary sources, it places us closer to the actual operational planning, preparation, and deployment of one of the most successful military operations in recent history. It covers major changes made by the German Army after the Polish Campaign; and the infighting surrounding these changes; the reorganization and preparation of the Army for the Battle of France. It also provides the only detailed day-by-day breakdown of German action during the battle's first five critical days. According to S. J. Lewis, it provides a totally new perspective to these battles and a unique view of the German Army.

This volume covers extensive ground and uses numerous appendices and detailed biographical sketches to set the stage for its primary focus--a five day period during the Battle of France. Similar to the Allied Invasion of Normandy, the campaign plan for the Battle of France required six months to develop and elaborate. As a result, this reading provides an ideal opportunity to observe the World War II German Army performing its military work and an insightful look at the friction inherent in campaign planning and on the battlefield.

The book focuses on policy-making at the highest levels of the United States government. Chapter contributors examine political, military, and foreign policy processes from micro and macro perspectives in documenting how President Bush personally dominated U.S. national security policy and was the driving force behind the United Nations-backed coalition of nations against Saddam Hussein. The authors place the president's actions into political and historical perspective and examine the consequences of the Gulf War in both military and diplomatic terms. Among the subjects discussed by experts are the president's political and constitutional roles in war-making; the foreign policy implications and military issues in the war; the domestic implications; and the postwar environment and planning for peace.

Between 1988 and 1995, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission closed down 97 bases and realigned over 350 other bases. A hot button topic in the military field, base-closings is an important issue that affects not only soldiers, but ordinary citizens as well. Due to their massive economic significance for local and regional communities, military bases impact thousands of people, and thus encompass various political interests between local, state, and national levels. This reference work investigates the politics and key political figures involved in base-closing decisions, and considers various reasons why bases have been and continue to be closed down. An overview of the U.S. military base infrastructure as well as primary documents is included to help students understand the BRAC Commission process between 1988-2005. The book also analyzes the closure of overseas bases outside of the BRAC process. Ideal for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, this comprehensive handbook is the only complete reference guide to military base closings. Between 1988 and 1995, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission closed down 97 bases and realigned over 350 other bases. A hot button topic in the military field, base-closings is an important issue that affects not only soldiers, but ordinary citizens as well. Due to their massive economic significance for local and regional communities, military bases impact thousands of people, and thus encompass various political interests between local, state, and national levels. This reference work investigates the politics and key political figures involved in base-closing decisions, and considers various reasons why bases have been and continue to be closed down. An overview of the U.S. military base infrastructure as well as primary documents are included to help students understand the BRAC Commission process between 1988-2005. Ideal for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, this comprehensive handbook is the only complete reference guide to military base closings. Chapters in Part I include: Military Base Structure in the U.S.: History and Evolution Reasons for Base Closure Base Closure Process An Examination of the 2005 BRAC Conclusions and Lessons Part II includes profiles of key bases, affected by the BRAC process. Part III includes the following key documents: A list of bases closed by BRAC by year and state. Civilian jobs impacted by BRAC. A chronology of the 2005 BRAC round. This user-friendly resource offers students and general readers alike a complete assessment of military base-closings and their effects on our society.

This text is the first to closely compare and contrast the Gulf and Vietnam Wars on both the war and home fronts. Widely respected experts give a balanced, new perspective on the Vietnam War, based on considerable new primary research to explain the salient factors that contributed to the decision making, air and ground considerations, and outcome. This text, carefully focused for classes in modern American history and military studies, appraises the legacies of the Vietnam War that have been felt in the United States for the last two decades.

On 6 June 1944 when the allied armies landed on D-Day, the Second World War had already lasted almost five years.

Yet many of the British and American troops who invaded Normandy were virgin soldiers, never before committed to battle. They quit summer England to face within hours a storm of machine-gun and mortar fire. They witnessed scenes, above all of sudden death, such as no exercise had prepared them for.

In Sword, veteran chronicler of war Max Hastings explores with extraordinary vividness the actions of the Commando brigade, Montgomery’s 3rd Infantry and 6th Airborne divisions on and around a single British beach. He describes their frustrations, hopes, loves and fears through the apparently interminable years training and preparing in England, then their triumphs and tragedies on the beach and beyond. Here are the airborne assaults on the Caen Canal bridge and Merville Battery, the battles on the shoreline and against the German strongpoints inland, narrated and explained with all the insights that Hastings’ decades of study, veterans’ interviews and new archive research enable him to deploy. The book offers a searching analysis of why British troops did not reach Caen on 6 June, as Montgomery had promised Churchill that they would – and the story of the brigadier who was sacked for that failure. There is also a host of personal portraits of key figures from commando leader Lord Lovat, famously brave but supremely arrogant, to tank colonel Jim Eadie, whose tanks of the Staffordshire Yeomanry repulsed a panzer division in the last hours of 6 June, and some of the humbler participants to whom extraordinary things happened.

This is D-Day as you have never read the story told before, with the blend of narrative, analysis and human insight that made Max Hastings’ last book Operation Biting, like many of his earlier works, a Sunday Times No.1 bestseller.

Few studies of Middle East wars go beyond a narrative of events and most tend to impose on this subject the rigid scheme of superpower competition. The Gulf War of 1991, however, challenges this view of the Middle East as an extension of the global conflict. The failure of the accord of both superpowers to avoid war even once regional superpower competition in the Middle East had ceased must give rise to the question: Do regional conflicts have their own dynamic? Working from this assumption, the book examines local-regional constraints of Middle East conflict and how, through escalation and the involvement of extra-regional powers, such conflicts acquire an international dimension. The theory of a regional subsystem is employed as a framework for conceptualising this interplay between regional and international factors in Tibi's examination of the Middle East wars in the period 1967-91. Tibi also provides an outlook into the future of conflict in the Middle East in the aftermath of the most recent Gulf War.

When Major Michael Donnelly was instructing his U.S. Air Force student pilots, he used to tell them three things: Timing is everything; it's nice to be lucky; and there is no justice. Highly decorated fighter pilot, proud young patriot, loyal friend with a mischievous sense of humor, loving husband and father of two, he could not have imagined the tragic meaning those words would assume just a few years after his tour of duty in Desert Storm. In 1996 Major Donnelly was diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease, at the unusually young age of 35; the onset of this illness marked the beginning of a kind of torture beyond the scope of even the most rigorous military survival training. Betrayed by his body, eventually paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, he experienced another betrayal perhaps even more difficult to comprehend--betrayal by his country. For despite the fact that over 110,000 Desert Storm veterans are sick, many dying of mysterious cancers and neurological diseases, including more than ten times the normal incidence of ALS--and despite all evidence pointing to U.S. troops having been dosed by low levels of Iraqi nerve agents and exposed to chemical weapons' fallout--the Pentagon adamantly denies any connection between their illnesses and their service in the Gulf War. "Falcon's Cry: A Desert Storm Memoir," Michael Donnelly's unforgettable story, is his courageous attempt to unearth the truth and force an acknowledgment of that truth by the government he and his fellow veterans defended with their lives.

Flying 44 fighter jet combat missions in a war fought on an all-or-nothing scale was thrilling for Michael Donnelly. When the war was won, he and his country rejoiced in the knowledge that, unlike in Vietnam, America had gotten it right in the Persian Gulf. Less than a decade later, the world is learning what veterans and their families have known since Desert Storm--we did not get it right at all. Saddam Hussein is still terrorizing a large portion of the globe. Moreover, we did not learn the lesson of Agent Orange which the Department of Defense denied for decades was the cause of early deaths and birth defects among Vietnam veterans and their families. Yet, thanks largely to the testimony of the author before the House of Representatives in 1997, a first step has been taken toward justice for the tens of thousands of Desert Storm veterans who are suffering virtually in isolation, many without any medical or disability benefits. Major Donnelly believes the truth about Gulf War Illnesses will be uncovered by studies funded in the recently passed Omnibus Appropriations bill, as well as through stories like his own, and he fervently hopes that America can, at last, get it right.

On the morning of November 20, 1776, General Charles Cornwallis overran patriot positions at Fort Lee, on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. The attack threw George Washington's army into turmoil. Thus began an American retreat across the state, which ended only after the battered rebels crossed the Delaware river at Trenton on December 7. It was a three-week campaign that marked the most dramatic and desperate period of the War for Independence. In The Long Retreat, Arthur Lefkowitz has written the first book-length study of this critical campaign. He adds compelling new detail to the narrative, and offers the most comprehensive account in the literature of the American retreat to the Delaware and of the British pursuit. What emerges is a history misconceptions about the movements of the armies, the intentions of their leaders, and the choices available to rebel commanders and their British counterparts. Lefkowitz presents a patriot military pounded into desperate straights by the forces of the Crown, but in the end more resilient and wily than most previous scholarship has allowed. If brought low over November and December of 1776, Washington's battalions were still a force to reckon with as they pulled away from the advancing British. Despite serious losses in material and personnel, Washington managed to keep his units operational; and even while making mistakes, he sought to consolidate patriot regiments and longed for a chance to counterattack. The Christmas night riposte at Trenton, a dramatic reversal of fortune in any case, stemmed from measures the rebel Commander-in-Chief had initiated even as he completed his retrogade across New Jersey. How all of this came about emerges and crisp narrative of The Long Retreat. It is the definitive book on a crucial chapter in the history of American Arms.

Summer's inspired analysis of America's war in Vietnam answers the most pressing questions remaining from that terrible conflict more than a decade before Robert McNamara's painful admissions.

Dominated by the ambitions of France's King Louis XIV, Europe in the years 1650-1715 witnessed a series of wars from which emerged many of the theories, practices, and technologies that characterize modern warfare. During this period European armies evolved modern ideas of army organization and military leadership, as well as modern views of campaign strategy and battle tactics. As European soldiers and colonists moved into Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas, the practice or influence of their military techniques and ideas also affected wars fought in those places. In this volume, an award-winning author of reference works on international relations and war describes and defines important events, technologies, and individuals from this seminal period of global military history. Besides more than 1000 extensively cross-referenced entries, the encyclopedia also includes 14 maps of various wars and battles, as well as a detailed chronology of the period and a current, select bibliography of useful print and nonprint information resources. Among the entries are many, such as the following, which describe the course and consequences of various wars of the period: BLFirst Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654) BLFrench and Indian Wars (1689-1763) BLGreat Northern War (1700-1721) BLKing Philip's War (1675-1676) BLNine Years' War (1688-1697) BLQueen Anne's War (1702-1713) BLScanian War (1674-1679) BLWar of Devolution (1667-1668) BLWar of the Reunions (1683-1684) BLWar of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713) Other entries, such as the following, describe the course and explain the importance of various battles and sieges: BLAlmanza, Battle of (April 14/25, 1707) BLBeachy Head, Battle of (June 30/July10, 1690) BLBuda, Siege of (June 17-September 2, 1686) BLKockersberg, Battle of (October 7, 1677) BLLille, Siege of (August 14-December 10, 1708) BLMalplaquet, Battle of (August 31/September 11, 1709) BLRamillies, Battle of (May12/23, 1706) BLZenta, Battle of (September 1/11, 1697) Other entries, such as the following, describe national armies and navies of the period: BLBritish Army BLDutch Army BLFrench Army BLIrish Establishment BLRoyal Navy BLRussian Army BLSpanish Navy BLState's Navy Many entries, such as the following, describe the careers and influence of important military figures of the period: BLCadogan, William (1675-1726) BLEugene, Prince of Savoy (1663-1736) BLKarl XII, of Sweden (1682-1718) BLMarlborough, John Churchill, Duke of (1650-1722) BLSchomberg, Friedrich, Graf von (1615-1690) BLTurenne, Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de (1611-1675) BLVillars, Claude Louis, duc de (1653-1734) William III, of England and Scotland (1650-1702) Finally, many entries, such as the following, cover events and individuals from countries and wars outside Europe: BLAurangzeb (1618-1707) (India) BLBanner System (China) BLDeerfield Raid (February 29, 1704) (Massachusetts) BLHudson Bay Company (Canada) BLIndian Wars (Americas) BLJapan BLKara Mustafa Pasha (1634-1683) (Ottoman Turkey) BLManchus (China) BLMarathas (India) BLPeter (Pyotr) I (1672-1725) (Russia) Information in all entries can be accessed through a detailed subject index and through the use of cross-references found in the main entry listing and within the entries themselves.

Since the earliest days of warfare, military operations have followed a predictable formula: after a decisive battle, an army must pursue the enemy and destroy its organization in order to achieve a victorious campaign. But by the mid-nineteenth century, the emergence of massive armies and advanced weaponry--and the concomitant decline in the effectiveness of cavalry--had diminished the practicality of pursuit, producing campaigns that bogged down short of decisive victory. Great battles had become curiously indecisive, decisive campaigns virtually impossible. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the inability to achieve decisive victories in warfare had become the single greatest military problem facing modern armies.

Robert Citino now tells how European military leaders analyzed and eventually overcame this problem by restoring pursuit to its rightful place in combat and resurrecting the possibility of decisive warfare on the operational level.

"Quest for Decisive Victory" chronicles the evolution of European warfare during the first half of the twentieth century. A study of war at the operational level, it demonstrates the interplay and tension between technology and doctrine in warfare and reveals how problems surrounding mobility--including such factors as supply lines, command and control, and prewar campaign planning--forced armies to find new ways of fighting.

Citino focuses on key campaigns of both major and minor conflicts. Minor wars before 1914 (Boer, Russo-Japanese, and the Balkan Wars of 1912-13) featured instructive examples of operational maneuver; the First World War witnessed the collapse of operations and the rise of attrition warfare; the Italo-Ethiopian and Spanish Civil Wars held some promise for breaking out of stalemate by incorporating such innovations as air and tank warfare. Ultimately, it was Germany's opening blitzkrieg of World War II that resurrected the decisive campaign as an operational possibility. By grafting new technologies--tanks, aircraft, and radio--onto a long tradition of maneuver warfare, the Wehrmacht won decisive victories in the first year of the war and in the process transformed modern military doctrine.

Citino's study is important for shifting the focus from military theory and doctrine to detailed operational analyses of actual campaigns that formed the basis for the revival of military doctrine. "Quest for Decisive Victory" gives scholars of military history a better grasp of that elusive concept and a more complete understanding of modern warfare.

The last place a German soldier wanted to be in 1944 was the Russian front. That summer, Stalin hurled into battle more than six million men and 9,000 tanks, supported by 16,000 fighters and bombers and more than 12,800 guns and rocket launchers. Despite this massive effort and the resulting decimation of German forces, events on the Eastern Front are largely neglected by historians who focus instead on German defeats in Normandy and the Ardennes. This account details the massive battles on the Eastern Front from the summer of 1944 until the fall of Budapest in early 1945, a period when Hitler lost the majority of his conquered Eastern territories and many of his best remaining divisions. To destroy the Third Reich, the Allies needed to defeat the German Wehrmacht militarily, and the decisive victories of this period occurred on the Russian Front. More German soldiers were lost in White Russia than at Stalingrad; more troops were lost in Rumania in a brief ten days than in the entire Normandy campaign; and German losses in Hungary were greater than the Battle of the Bulge. The most mobile army in the world in 1940, the German Army was the least mobile by 1944, and Hitler's stand fast and fortified place policies imposed a paralysis that neither senior German generals nor the High Command of the Army were able to overcome. Outnumbered 3 to 1 in men, 5 to 1 in tanks, and 20 to 1 in airplanes, the German Army was slaughtered, as casualties mounted and the empire crumbled.

During Desert Shield, the Air Force built a very complicated organizational architecture to control large numbers of air sorties. During the air campaign itself, officers at each level of the Central Command Air Forces believed they were managing the chaos of war. Yet, when the activities of the many significant participants are pieced together, it appears that neither the planners nor Lt. Gen. Charles A. Horner, the Joint Force Air Component Commander, knew the details of what was happening in the air campaign or how well the campaign was going. There was little appreciation of the implications of complex organizational architectures for military command and control. Against a smarter and more aggressive foe, the system may well have failed.

This is the story of the early struggles of an ill-equipped ragtag French force, among the first to pledge its loyalty to General de Gaulle. It fought a lonely, almost secret war against the numerically superior Italian troops deep in the wildest parts of the Sahara, hundreds of miles from the main campaigns along the African coast. These daring Free French raids with their long thirsty treks and small-scale oasis battles have been nearly forgotten, although their path is marked by the graves of many hundreds of French, Italian, and native soldiers. Bimberg details the exotic units that participated in this struggle, including the "Tirailleurs Senegalaise du T'chad" (African Infantry), the "Compagnies Sahariennes" (Saharan Camel Companies), and "the Groupe Nomade du Tibesti" (a tribal militia recruited in the Tibesti Mountain region of the great desert).

Despite antiquated equipment and some of the world's worst terrain, the Free French were among the most dedicated soldiers in the Allied camp. The backdrop to their fierce fighting includes the barely surveyed Tibesti Mountains with their 10,000 foot volcanic peaks, interspersed with treacherous shifting sands--terrain which would prove to be an enormous challenge to the worn out, patched-together motor vehicles of the Free French. Much of the action takes place in the most remote areas of Italian Libya, the desert province of Fezzan with its fortified oases of Mourzouk and Koufra, each strongly defended by the Italians. While these skirmishes were a sideshow to the epic battles of North Africa, they were immortalized by heroic acts by the French and African troops alike, efforts that ultimately led to success in this far corner of the world.