Synopses & Reviews
This "top ten list" covers some of the most unlikely, unexpected, improbable, and even impossible military successes of the past 200 years. With accurate detail and adventurous drama, these accounts highlight the Albuera counterattack in the 1811 Peninsular War, in which Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult, considered one of the ablest of France's marshals, lost one-third of his army; and the U.S. Rangers at Pointe du Hoe and Omaha Beach on D-Day when the Allies routed the Nazis. Go with the Rough Riders to Cuba in the wake of the Maine's explosion; this volunteer cavalry stormed San Juan Hill and bluffed 2,000 Spanish troops into surrendering. Among the other battles examined are the Battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane in 1814; the Charges at Beersheba and Huj in Palestine (1917); and the struggle for Hill 875 in South Vietnam. You'll see vividly how most improvements in battle tactics emerge out of necessity when the old tried and true ways have proven to be humiliatingly inadequate.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 216-218) and index.