The Second World War resulted in the deaths of around 85 million people. Additionally, tens of millions more people were displaced. However, amid all the carnage people demonstrated remarkable courage, fortitude, compassion, mercy and sacrifice. We would like to honour and celebrate all of those people. In the War Years Blog, we examine the extraordinary experiences of individual service personnel. We also review military history books, events, and museums. And we look at the history of unique World War Two artefacts, medals, and anything else of interest.
Diplomats & Admirals: The Origins of the Pacific War
In this military history book review, I examine 'Diplomats & Admirals' by Dale A. Jenkins - a fascinating look at how diplomatic failures led to Pearl Harbour and the Pacific War. Jenkins, a former US Navy officer, reveals how close Japan and America came to avoiding conflict in 1941. His analysis shows how personal ambition, institutional rigidity and communication failures among key figures on both sides derailed opportunities for peace. Despite having the world’s most powerful navy in 1941, Japan's leadership understood that a war with America would likely result in defeat.
Diplomats & Admirals by Dale A. Jenkins (Aubrey Publishing Co., New York, 2022) offers a fresh perspective on one of the most studied periods of World War Two, focusing particularly on the diplomatic manoeuvring that preceded the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States. Jenkins, a former U.S. Navy officer with extensive experience in the Pacific region and later careers in international banking and Council on Foreign Relations, brings both military and diplomatic insights to this compelling story.
The book’s greatest strength lies in its detailed examination of the diplomatic efforts to prevent war in the Pacific. Jenkins meticulously documents the complex web of personalities, policies, and missed opportunities that ultimately led to conflict. His portrayal of key figures such as Japan’s Prince Konoe, Foreign Minister Matsuoka, and US Secretary of State Cordell Hull reveals how personal ambition and rigid thinking often trumped rational diplomacy. Particularly telling is his description of Matsuoka, who “was interested, not in promoting the interests of Japan, but rather those of Matsuoka Yosuke,” and who was willing to “gamble the future of Japan and its seventy-seven million people” for his own political advancement.
Jenkins presents several fascinating “what-if” scenarios where war might have been avoided. One particularly striking example involves the Dutch East Indies oil negotiations, where Jenkins suggests that “willingness to allow a modest flow of oil could have precluded the Japanese invasions” and potentially removed the threat of Japanese economic collapse that drove them toward war.
The book’s treatment of the military aspects of the conflict, while competent, covers more familiar ground. However, Jenkins still manages to provide interesting insights, particularly in his analysis of the Japanese naval leadership’s persistent attachment to battleship warfare despite the rising dominance of aircraft carriers in naval engagements. This is notably illustrated in his discussion of Admiral Yamamoto’s planning for the Battle of Midway, where “despite his development of the carrier force, its unprecedented attack on Pearl Harbor (sic), and its victories in the south Pacific and Indian Ocean prior to Midway, Yamamoto compulsively remained a battleship admiral.”
One of the book’s most valuable contributions is its examination of the communication failures between different branches of government and military services. A prime example is Jenkins’ observation that Hull’s diplomatic stonewalling tactics stemmed partly from “the mistaken belief that in a war with Japan US forces would prevail in a few months,” noting that “taking five minutes to talk with Admiral Stark on the power of the Japanese navy never occurred to him.”
The narrative is strengthened by Jenkins’ ability to weave together the personal, political, and military aspects of the story. His background in both naval service and international affairs allows him to provide nuanced analysis of both the diplomatic scheming and military operations.
Today, it is easy to forget that back in 1941, Japan possessed the world’s most powerful navy and some of the most advanced aircraft. As Jenkins notes, the Japanese had developed “carrier operations and armaments that were, at that time, the most advanced in the world,” including the highly manoeuvrable Mitsubishi A6M Zero long range fighter. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy was struggling with obsolete equipment - Jenkins points out that “in the early months of the war, the US Pacific Fleet was hampered by obsolete torpedo planes and hopelessly ineffective World War I torpedoes.” The fact that American naval forces managed to achieve victory at Midway despite these disadvantages makes their triumph even more remarkable and a testament to the courage of their pilots.
Diplomats & Admirals serves as both a fascinating historical account and a cautionary tale, demonstrating how personal ambition, institutional rigidity and failures of communication can lead nations into unnecessary conflict. Many readers, even those familiar with the Pacific War, might be surprised by Jenkins’ revelations about the missed opportunities for peace and the tragic consequences that followed. This well researched work is a valuable addition to the literature on the Second World War, offering insights into the complex, often murky diplomatic negotiations that preceded a conflict which would ultimately cost 25 million lives.
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Image Attribution:
Wikipedia.org: An Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi A6M2 “Zero” fighter on the aircraft carrier Akagi during the Pearl Harbor attack mission. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor#/media/File:A6M2_on_carrier_Akagi_1941.jpeg
Wikipedia.org: Secretary of State Cordell Hull (1887–1955) brought Japanese Ambassador Kichisaburō Nomura (1877–1964, left) and Special Envoy Saburō Kurusu (1886–1954, right) to the White House for a meeting with President Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945) on 17 November 1941. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordell_Hull#/media/File:Hull,_Nomura_and_Kurusu_on_7_December_1941.jpg
Wikipedia.org: U.S. Navy Torpedo Squadron 6 (VT-6) Douglas TBD-1 Devastator aircraft are prepared for launching aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) at about 0730-0740 hrs, 4 June 1942, Battle of Midway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway#/media/File:Douglas_TBD-1_Devastators_of_VT-6_are_spotted_for_launch_aboard_USS_Enterprise_(CV-6)_on_4_June_1942_(80-G-41686).jpg
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SAS Battle Ready by Dominic Utton – a compendium of forty Special Air Service operations
In this book review, we examine SAS Battle Ready by Dominic Utton – a compendium of forty Special Air Service operations.
SAS Battle Ready is the latest book from journalist and author Dominic Utton. The book is an anthology of forty Special Air Service (SAS) operations since the unit’s formation in 1941.
The book is divided into three sections. The first section, Forged in War, briefly explains the early history of the SAS from inception during the North Africa campaign to Operation Archway three and a half years later. The next section of the book examines the period between 1952 and 2000. During this period the SAS evolved with the changing nature of global threats from the decline of the British Empire to the rise of international terrorism and hostage-taking. During this time, SAS operations spanned Malaya, Oman, Somalia, the Iranian Embassy siege, London, and the Falklands War. Finally, the book concludes with the Regiment’s most recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the post-9/11 so-called War on Terror.
Perhaps due to his background in journalism, Dominic Utton has a talent for being able to summarise some of the world’s most complex conflicts in just a few brief sentences. In fact, he succeeds in telling the dramatic story of forty SAS operations from the early ‘shoot-and-scoot’ missions across the Libyan Desert to hunting for Scud missile launchers in Iraq with remarkable economy. The book also contains some fascinating facts, such as the SAS suffered 330 casualties during the Second World War while they manage to inflict around 31,000 losses on Axis forces. Clearly, David Stirling’s belief ‘that a few men could inflict more damage – with less risk - than in a traditional attack’ was fully proven.
Although SAS Battle Ready is a perfectly readable and informative book, I do have reservations about it. Firstly, a quick glance at the book’s bibliography reveals that no primary research was done whatsoever. If Mr. Utton did conduct his own research but simply neglected to cite his sources, then I stand corrected. Nonetheless, the book appears to be largely a compendium of other writers’ works. Because of Dominic Utton’s economy of research, SAS Battle Ready has nothing new to tell us about the SAS that hasn’t been said before. I, personally, have never attempted to conduct any research on British special forces. However, ex-SAS veterans like Rusty Firmin and Robin Horsfall are no longer hard men to find. In fact, both men have their own websites and are easily contactable via LinkedIn.
The lack of any evidence of primary research brings me to my second question, criticism, or concern about the writing of SAS Battle Ready, and that is why bother? Surely, given the right inputs an AI (artificial intelligence) application like ChatGPT or Google’s Bard could have produced something similar. Of course, the obvious, rather cynical answer to my own question as to why write yet another book about the SAS is that they’re popular and likely to sell. The ex-SAS soldier turned prolific author Steven Mitchel (pen-name Andy McNab) is a veritable one-man publishing house, turning out over 30 fiction and non-fiction titles based on his time with the Regiment.
It is difficult to give an exact number as new books about the Special Air Service are constantly being published. However, it is safe to say that hundreds of books have been written about the SAS since the end of the Second World War. Andy McNab’s Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995) have both become international bestsellers. More recent books like SAS: Rogue Heroes - The Authorised Wartime History by Ben Macintyre (2016) have been adapted for television and spawned a plethora of films, TV documentaries, reality TV shows, podcasts, and computer games. Audiences seem to have an insatiable appetite for all things SAS related. Luckily for the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the Regiment’s Winged Dagger unit insignia and famous ‘Who Dares Wins’ motto is Crown copyright protected, which hopefully contributes to our dwindling defence budget, but I digress. Military history and the media and entertainment industries have always had a symbiotic relationship, and long may it continue. However, writing books about the SAS that have nothing new to say and simply rehash other authors’ works seem a little cynical and opportunistic.
I’m sure Dominic Utton’s SAS Battle Ready will sell, and the publisher will no doubt see a return on their investment. Overall, I cannot help feeling a bit cheated by the book’s lack of effort. Perhaps, whoever plays it safe also wins.
SAS Battle Ready by Dominic Utton is published by Michael O’Mara Books Ltd., 2023.
Night of the Bayonets and the Battle for Texel Island
In this book review, The War Years takes a look at Eric Lee’s Night of the Bayonets that tells the surprising true story of the last battle of the Second World War in Europe.
The war in northwest Europe was supposed to have been over on the 8th of May 1945. However, Eric Lee’s new book, Night of the Bayonets tells a very different story. Instead, his book transports us to the Wadden Islands, where the Battle of Texel raged from 6th April until 20th May 1945. The central act in this real-life drama, the brutal massacre of some 400 German troops at the hands of their comrades, gives the book its menacing title. While the rest of the Continent celebrated VE Day, the Dutch inhabitants of Texel Island found themselves in the middle of a bloody conflict between German troops and their erstwhile allies of the Georgian Legion, itself part of the Wehrmacht.
Now an almost forgotten footnote to the Second World War, the Battle of Texel quickly became a propaganda vehicle for Dutch communists, the Soviet Union, and Georgian nationalists. In 1968, the story was even transformed into a Soviet film called Crucified Island. In Night of the Bayonets, historian and journalist Eric Lee tries to untangle the facts from the fiction. His book also asks some difficult questions about national and political loyalties versus morality and the human imperative for survival. Caught between starvation, disease, or a bullet in the neck, would you voluntarily take up arms for your enemy? Would you knowingly endanger civilians, many of them children, to save your own skin?
Basically, Night of the Bayonets is a book of three parts. First, Lee explains the turbulent history of Georgia from the First World War until its brief period of independence was eclipsed by the new Soviet state. Next, he focuses on how 800 Georgians ended up on the peaceful Dutch island of Texel, as part of the German army of occupation. He goes onto explain the planning of the Georgian uprising, the murder of 400 German troops, and subsequent battle. Finally, he discusses the aftermath of the battle and myth-making that quickly followed.
Eventually, Canadian military forces put an end to the battle for Texel. The estimated casualties were around 2,347 (killed, wounded, and missing) including 89 Dutch civilians. Of the 800 Georgians who fought in the battle, just 228 survived. Although the Germans were increasingly short of manpower as the war progressed, it does seem naive of them to have placed any trust in the loyalty of the Osttruppen (Eastern troops). Night of the Bayonets is well-researched and makes for an interesting read. However, the main protagonists, the Georgians, remained remote, opaque, unsympathetic figures. They changed sides, and then changed sides again. They killed 400 former comrades in cold blood, many of them while they slept. In a desire to save themselves, the Georgians threatened the lives of the island’s entire population. Perhaps it is no surprise that today’s islanders are ambivalent about this period in their history, and would rather leave the matter buried in the Russian Cemetery.
Night of the Bayonets: The Texel Uprising and Hitler’s Revenge, April-May 1945 by Eric Lee is published by Greenhill Books, 2020. You can also visit NightoftheBayonets.com for more information.
Book Review: Courage After The Battle by Peter Jackson-Lee
Courage After The Battle written by ex-Royal Marine and Falklands veteran Peter Jackson-Lee is a book that takes the reader on a journey that most people will never experience. The book is a travelogue that explains how service men and women navigate their way from battlefield injury back to civilian life. Read the full book review now
Courage After The Battle written by ex-Royal Marine and Falklands veteran Peter Jackson-Lee is a book that takes the reader on a journey that most people will never experience. The book is a travelogue that explains how service men and women navigate their way from battlefield injury back to civilian life. The book also examines the history of battlefield medicine, mental healthcare, prosthetics, reconstructive surgery, politics and changes in social welfare. At turns, the book is inspiring, fascinating and deeply troubling.
The book takes a systematic look at what happens to service personnel from the moment they suffer a life-changing wound on the battlefield. It explains the process of evacuation, emergency trauma care and transition to the hospital. Next, the book explains the many different types of battlefield trauma: loss of limbs, facial disfigurement, deafness and blindness. The book also looks at various treatments available such as prosthetics and plastic surgery. However, it is the long shadow cast by mental health and social care issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, drug addiction, alcohol abuse and homelessness that I found the most disturbing. The destructiveness of these hidden wounds, if not treated quickly, spreads out like a pressure wave damaging family, friends and wider society.
The final third of Peter Jackson-Lee’s book explains the covenant between the Armed Services, the Nation and UK Government. The book also lists around 150 national charities and other organisations that provide help and support to current service personnel, veterans and their families. The fact that over 70 pages of the book simply list charitable organisations that offer support is alarming. It demonstrates the betrayal of the Armed Forces Covenant, and the abject failure of government policies stretching back decades. In many ways, this book is the story of a shocking, perennial national disgrace.
The book is written in a balanced, no-nonsense, straightforward style and tone. Peter Jackson-Lee lets the veterans, families, healthcare professionals, charity workers and facts speak for themselves. He explains the history of every technical, medical and procedural advance that makes suffering a battlefield injury move survivable. However, while the overall survivability of battlefield injuries has steadily increased, the opposite is true of long-term care. Consecutive governments have overseen punitive cuts in the provision of everything from mental healthcare to housing, and much more besides.
From Trafalgar, Waterloo and the Battle of Britain to the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Armed Services have always been there to protect this country’s national interests with their lives. Nevertheless, the compact between the State and its servicemen and women has always been an unequal one. Service personnel are expected to make the ultimate sacrifice without complaint when called upon to do so. In contrast, our politicians, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and civil servants can renege on every promise and betray every commitment. While our service men and women are driven by loyalty, courage and comradeship, the politicians and bureaucrats are driven by arrogance, ignorance and greed.
Reading Courage After The Battle makes you ask the question, why would anyone join the Armed Services? In 2018, a National Audit Office (NAO) report found the Armed Services had a shortfall of 8,200 regulars (full-time service personnel). In December 2018, it was widely reported that a £495m contract with the outsourcing giant Capita had clearly failed to achieve the Army’s recruitment targets. What’s more, half of the Army’s applicants subsequently dropped out of the process. Another monumental waste of public money that could have been better spent elsewhere.
Interestingly, a Harvard Institute of Politics (IOP) survey found that while many millennials (18 to 29 years old) generally supported the US military’s war against Islamic State (ISIS), they themselves did not want to take part. One reason many millennials gave for not wanting to join the US military was a “deep distrust about all things relating to the government.” Clearly, books like Courage After The Battle can help today’s young people make better-informed decisions about joining the military, and the potential long-term consequences of doing so. The book also shines a light on the many shameful actions perpetrated by British politicians, civil servants and bureaucrats against our veterans and their families. Something to think about the next time you go to the polls.
Courage After The Battle is published by Brown Dog Books.
Living on Borrowed Time, the Story of Captain John Hannaford
In her book Time Stood Still in a Muddy Hole, first-time author Pat Strickson tells the fascinating true story of Captain John Hannaford, one of the UK’s last Bomb Disposal officers of World War Two. Read the full book review now on The War Years.
As a boy, I loved to watch actor Anthony Andrews play Lieutenant Brian Ash in the TV series Danger UXB. The show revolved around the daring exploits of a young Royal Engineers officer posted to a Bomb Disposal unit during the London Blitz. In reality, over 50,000 bombs were successfully defused during World War Two for the loss of 580 men and one woman killed while serving with the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal. A dirty, nerve-racking and incredibly dangerous job that required a special type of courage. However, a job that was never officially recognised after the war.
In her book Time Stood Still in a Muddy Hole, first-time author Pat Strickson tells the fascinating true story of Captain John Hannaford, one of the UK’s last Bomb Disposal officers of World War Two. In fact, Pat’s book is really two stories. One is about the life and career of one Avro Frederick John Hannaford. Personally, I think it’s a great name, but John never appreciated it. His father was a World War One pilot and named him after the Avro aircraft company. The second, parallel story is Pat’s own journey to becoming a historical researcher, author and custodian of John’s legacy.
It was only towards the end of his life that John started to talk about his wartime experiences. Luckily, once he started he couldn’t stop. He was interviewed for a Channel 4 documentary series by the Imperial War Museum as well as local press. Sadly, he died on Armistice Day 2015, aged 98, without ever meeting his biographer. A year later, Pat came across a watercolour of a Bexhill landmark in a local charity shop. Her desire to learn more about the artist would lead to years of painstaking research and countless hours in front of the computer. I think the end result was worth the effort.
John’s early career as an apprentice architect working at the Royal Ordnance Factory Chorley made him an ideal candidate for officer training in Bomb Disposal. Once qualified, John’s life expectancy was just ten weeks. The physical rigours of the job and the constant threat of being vaporised created a unique camaraderie between John and his men. Nevertheless, after two years the stress of the job gave him a duodenal ulcer, which probably saved his life. The men of John’s section were not so fortunate. When tragedy struck, it wasn’t due to enemy action. However misplaced the sense of guilt, John never quite forgave himself for not being there. After the war, he would marry; raise a family and go on to have a successful career as an architect. But the war cast a long shadow.
John was a much-loved and respected member of his community. That knowledge must have placed the weight of expectation squarely on Pat Strickson’s shoulders. So telling his story faithfully required tact, sensitivity and honesty from the author. Pat’s use of the literary technique known as a frame story works well, essentially telling John’s story by telling her own. Overall, the book is well-researched, engaging and informative. I also found it shocking and laugh-out-loud funny at turns. I always think it’s hard to criticise the quality of a biography, after all, who really knows anyone? But the book feels authentic. However, I did find one factual inaccuracy. John’s wife Joyce had been married and widowed. Her first husband was killed during the fighting at Arnhem in 1944. Arnhem is in Holland, not Belgium.
Like so many wartime veterans, John remained haunted by his experiences and yearned to see his comrades properly recognised for their courage, devotion to duty and sacrifice. Pat Strickson’s book certainly goes some way to balancing the scales.
Two Books on the Tank War for Northwest Europe
In this double book review, we look at two very different titles that both look at the tank war in Northwest Europe from very different perspectives. Ken Tout's book A Fine Night for Tanks takes an almost forensic look at Operation Totalize. Tank Action by David Render is a very personal portrait of the Allied advance from the Normandy beaches to Germany from the viewpoint of a junior tank commander.
The last year of the war in Northwest Europe was a bloody and protracted affair, especially if you were in an M4 Sherman tank at the cutting edge of the Allied advance. A Fine Night for Tanks, The Road to Falaise, by Ken Tout (originally published in 1998) takes an almost forensic look at Operation Totalize. In stark contrast, Tank Action by David Render with Stuart Tootal, An Armoured Troop Commander’s War 1944-45, recalls the very personal war experiences of a junior British tank officer.
A Fine Night for Tanks, The Road to Falaise
Ken Tout’s book is a detailed study of the various elements of the joint British and Canadian operation to break the German line south of Caen and ultimately help close the Falaise Gap. After a successful night attack using tanks and troops mounted in hastily converted M7 Priest self-propelled gun carriages, nicknamed Kangaroos, the operation stalled. Historically, Operational Totalize has generally been regarded as just another hammer blow against the 1st SS Panzer Corps. Preceding operations such as Epsom, Windsor and Charnwood were bloody battles of attrition costing thousands of men and hundreds of tanks on both sides. However, the difference was the Germans could ill-afford such grievous losses while the Allies had a seemingly endless supply of replacements.
The Death of Wittmann
An interesting footnote to Operation Totalize was the death of German panzer ace, Michael Wittmann. An SS-Hauptsturmführer with the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion, Wittmann is credited with around 135 tank kills. Although completely unknown to Allied troops during the war, Wittmann has become legendary, especially for his encounter with the British 7th Armoured Division at the Norman town of Villers-Bocage. The circumstances of Wittmann’s death during Operation Totalize have been much debated. Ken Tout tells how Trooper Joe Ekins, 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry, the gunner in a Sherman Firefly, caught Wittmann’s Tiger in the open and fired the fatal shot. I had the pleasure to meet Joe Ekins briefly at Tankfest a few years ago.
While being informative and easy to read, Ken Tout’s book does have a number of factual errors and typos, such as repeatedly referring to a Panther’s 88mm gun when it was armed with a 75mm.
Tank Action
Tank Action by David Render tells his very personal story of fighting across Northwest Europe from the D-Day beaches and infamous bocage countryside to Holland and finally into Germany. Render paints a vivid picture of life as a Troop Commander of an M4 Sherman tank with all its discomforts and many dangers. Render explains the many shortcomings of the standard M4 from its thin armour and high profile to its 75mm gun. The Sherman lacked the penetrating firepower of German 88mm anti-tank guns, Panzerfaust handheld anti-tank weapons and most types of panzer. However, probably the single most worrying feature of the Sherman was its terrifying propensity to burst into flames the moment it was hit. The Germans called the Sherman the “Tommy Cooker” while British tank crews renamed it the “Ronson” after a popular brand of cigarette lighter famed for its ability to light first time.
Two Weeks Life Expectancy
As well as the many deficiencies of British Army equipment, Render also describes the amazing comradeship, courage and ingenuity of officers and men fighting against a determined, well-armed enemy. As a junior officer, Render’s life expectancy was just two weeks once he went into the line. Over a year of almost constant action, Render would find that his mental and physical reserves quickly eroded. He freely admits that fear threatened to overwhelm him every time he was ordered to climb back into his Sherman and continue the advance.
War without End
The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry had seen extensive action in North Africa (1940-1943) prior to David Render joining them. Once in Normandy, he noticed that prolonged exposure to combat had made many of the desert veterans excessively cautious and unreliable. On the job training was the order of the day. He would have to learn his craft from bitter, hard won experience as he and his crew fought across Normandy, Belgium, Holland and into Germany. By war’s end, the Sherwood Rangers would have earned 30 battle honours, 78 gallantry awards at the cost of 827 casualties killed, wounded and missing. However, for many of the veterans the war would never be over. At aged 90, and with a successful business career behind him, David Render remains haunted by the loss of many comrades, and one in particular. His great friend, Harry Heenan, killed in a freak accident just after saving David’s life during an engagement with a concealed 88mm anti-tank gun.
David Render’s book is a very personal, first-hand account of the tank war in Northwest Europe. In Render’s world, soldiers seldom knew what was happening in the next field or hedgerow. They knew nothing of the strategic decisions being made by Allied high commanders like Eisenhower, Montgomery or General Brian Horrocks. Instead, they focused on keeping their tanks ready for the next day’s action. They worried about being caught in a burning tank as it “brewed up”. They foraged for extra food to supplement their meagre rations. They struggled against fatigue, fear, and the terrible odds against any of them making it through alive. Sadly, David Render recently died aged 92.