2nd World War PB

JFC Fuller, the author of The Second World War: A Strategical and Tactical History, just cannot be surpassed for the ability to see the big (REALLY BIG) picture and point out the good and bad in the strategic moves of the Allies and the Axis in the Second World War. For example, he is able to strip apart the decision by England and France to go to war over Poland, and he thinks it was a big error. Fuller calls attention to the debacle after Munich, and how the USSR was ready to intervene with the Allies to stop Hitler. But the Allies folded, and now Stalin perceived it was best for him to side with Hitler - and least for the moment. In 1939 the picture had changed, and England and France knew it. They also knew they could not significantly help Poland. Also, their decision was an abrupt change in policy which caught Hitler by surprise (so says Fuller) and he could not be expected to change his foreign policy so quickly. I do not agree with every point Fuller makes. For instance, I think Hitler was given many diplomatic warnings after he took over Checkoslovakia so the change in Allied position could not have been unexpected. But my criticism is beside the point. What JFC Fuller makes the reader do is THINK. And that is what history is all about. All through the book the author examines the tactics and strategy of the two sides from an expert's point of view. And he is an expert. This book was published before the secrets of Ultra and Magic were revealed, and Fuller decided not to alter his book (published in 1947) because of the new information. He decided his analysis was correct and the new information did not change his strategic thoughts. That is how broad his strategic thinking is - even something so important as Ultra did not throw off his big picture examination of the war. A great book! AD2

This book is, as the title suggests, a Strategical and Tactical, not Political, history of the Second World War; and it accomplishes this task magnificently. Fuller analyzes both theaters of operations in terms of initiative and resources giving invaluable, and relatively unbiased, insights into successes and failures at all levels of warfare, then integrating the tactical, operational, and strategic levels, demonstating how they affected each other and how they lead to the ultimate results of the operations, campaigns, and war itself. No military studies or modern military history library is complete without this work, which contains analyses that are essential to an understanding of the Second World War from a military perspective.