Reviews The Human Experience of War Inferno: The World at War, 1939– covers the major high-level aspects of The striking feature of the book is its 1945. Max Hastings. Random House. the war; Andrew Roberts’ The Storm of use of hundreds of vivid personal testi- 729 pages; black-and-white photographs; War: A New History of the Second World monies to brilliantly illustrate its theme. maps; notes; index; $35. War, which focuses on the German The opening pages describe the enthu- side of the war; and other works that siasm of a young Polish fighter pilot in By COL Stanley L. Falk analyze strategy and tactics or key de- the first days of war: “We wanted to U.S. Army retired cision making. Hastings’ long, sweep- fight, it excited us, and we … didn’t be- ing panorama covers most events of lieve that something bad could really orld War II has been over for World War II but concentrates on happen.” A euphoric young German Wnearly 67 years, yet interest in those ordinary individuals whose spe- expressed this “wonderful feeling” to the great conflict is still as strong as cific experiences are often overlooked be marching into Poland, but then, as ever. New books, from small battle in more general studies. German bombs killed women and chil- studies to large overall accounts, con- dren, a nurse saw a “procession of tinue to appear and flourish. One of wounded, … an unending march of the latter, and certainly one of the best, death,” and a senior British observer is Max Hastings’ Inferno: The World at wrote bitterly that “I saw the very face War, 1939–1945, an in-depth examina- of war change—its glory shorn … tion of the human side of the war. women and children being buried.” Max Hastings is a British journalist, Less than a year later, a British sol- editor and war correspondent. The dier, fearing public scorn or worse af- author of more than 20 books, half of ter his evacuation from Dunkirk, was which cover aspects of World War II, surprised to be greeted by “people he synthesizes and caps his earlier cheering and clapping [for] us as if we works in this volume. Inferno is a were heroes.” Then a British teenager, spellbinding and beautifully written trapped in Paris, likened the German summary, analysis and unflinching entry to a “gigantic green snake that description of the horrendous per- wound itself around the heart of the sonal impact of that great struggle. broken city, which waited pathetically This book, as he states, is “chiefly to be swallowed up.” about human experience.” It focuses It was the fierce struggle for eastern on the fears, struggles and trials of Europe, after Germany invaded the those millions of ordinary people— Soviet Union, that exacted the greatest both soldiers and civilians—whose toll on both soldiers and civilians. The everyday lives were rudely inter- The book is by no means a complete two-year Siege of Leningrad alone rupted by the harsh impact of total history of the war. The author has al- saw probably a million deaths. Most war. Men, women and children all ready covered many aspects of it in his of these came under German shelling faced “ordeals that in many cases earlier works, notably Overlord: D-Day and bombing, but tens of thousands lasted for years, and for at least 60 & the Battle for Normandy; Bomber Com- of citizens died of starvation. Bread million were terminated by death.” mand; Armageddon: The Battle for Ger- rations were severely limited; some Hastings graphically describes atroci- many, 1944–1945; and Retribution: The people ate grass cakes. “The greatest ties on both sides, especially during Battle for Japan, 1944–45. So he avoids horror,” wrote one woman, was “where the savage fighting in the final stages repeating material that he has previ- to get something edible. … Life [had] of the war in Eastern Europe. ously related in detail. Thus while In- been reduced to one thing—the hunt Inferno thus differs markedly from ferno describes in general terms the for food.” Corpses lined the streets. In other fine volumes on World War II major military campaigns of the war the sub-zero winter temperature, one such as John Keegan’s The Second and often, in some detail, the harsh man thawed another’s frozen legs to World War, with its emphasis on strat- combat, its focus on individual experi- remove his boots. Altogether the siege egy, operations and military leaders; ences and recollections gives it an “cost its defenders and citizens more Gerhard Weinberg’s A World at Arms: episodic, almost impressionistic ap- lives than Britain and America to- A Global History of World War II, which pearance. gether lost in the entire war.” April 2012 I ARMY 77 Indeed, in the first year of fighting Japan “made strategy with awesome the country into war had the Axis not in Russia alone almost 3 million Russ- incompetence,” but their soldiers dis- forced him to do so. ian and a million German soldiers played “high courage and tactical GEN George C. Marshall “showed were killed, a toll that increased al- skills.” The Japanese military neverthe- greatness as a statesman as well as a most exponentially as the war went less had a deep “cultural incapacity” to warlord.” Then-GEN Dwight D. Eisen- on. The huge number of Russian civil- consider what the enemy might do. hower was not an outstanding strate- ian deaths is almost incalculable. Star- gist or tactician but “achieved great- vation, German artillery and shocking oth Hitler and Stalin cost their ness by his diplomatic management of atrocities took the lives of countless Barmies hundreds of thousands of the Anglo-American alliance in the men, women and children. Children’s lives by forbidding them to yield even field.” GEN Douglas MacArthur was deaths were the most shocking. “We an inch of ground. Yet, Stalin man- “distinguished by the splendor of his understand the horrors of war,” wrote aged to overcome his “limitations as a self-image … rather than by gifts as a a Russian officer. “But children, these military commander” and eventually battlefield commander.” blossoms of life … these innocent holy created “an extraordinary military A number of Russian generals were souls … We’ve failed to protect them machine.” Its victories, however, were commanders “of the highest gifts.” … One’s thoughts freeze with horror won at “a human cost no democracy Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita was Japan’s at the sight of small bloodsoaked bod- would have accepted.” It was also a “ablest ground-force commander.” ies, with gnarled fingers and distorted “barbarous army,” as indeed was the Japanese admirals “displayed aston- little faces.” brutal Japanese soldiery. ishing timidity,” and Adm. Isoroku Ya- Such personal testimonies appear Hastings writes that Winston Church- mamoto, while initially very success- on almost every page of Hastings’ ac- ill saved Britain in 1940 and was wise ful, was largely to blame for the navy’s count. They lend authenticity and im- to support the Soviet Union. The prime later defeats. mediacy to his powerful narrative. minister was also correct in insisting The Potsdam Declaration, concludes The text is further enriched by the fre- on invading North Africa, but he erred Hastings, was not sufficiently specific quent inclusion of statistical informa- in his other strategic ideas, and the per- as an ultimatum, yet Japan itself was tion: troop strengths, casualties, dis- formance of the British army itself responsible for the atomic destruction tances, speeds of advance and retreat, throughout the war was “unsatisfac- of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. shipping losses, public opinion polls, tory.” Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Inferno is an original, thoughtful, and other informative material. Montgomery was a “highly competent perceptive and very readable account. Hastings also doesn’t hesitate to state professional” who deserves “signif- It offers a view of the war both fasci- his strong opinions on important sub- icant credit” for the successful Allied nating and disturbing, and captures jects. Germany, he writes, “made war invasion of France. Yet he “never the essence of that great cataclysmic very badly,” but the German army achieved a masterstroke.” struggle. fought “brilliantly.” Yet it was too will- President Roosevelt rallied the Amer- ing to accept Hitler and the “murder- ican people after Pearl Harbor and COL Stanley L. Falk, USA Ret., Ph.D., ous adventure” into which he commit- was wise to support Britain and Rus- is a military historian and author spe- ted the Wehrmacht. Both Germany and sia, but might not have actually led cializing in World War II. The Complexities of Ending War Between War and Peace: How Amer- U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Com- This time, however, the authors focus ica Ends Its Wars. COL Matthew mand (TRADOC), that book was to on the transition from war to peace. Moten, editor. The Free Press. 371 pages; help the “Army’s officer corps … antic- In 2009, GEN Martin E. Dempsey, as maps; index; $17. ipate the nature and evolution of future commander of TRADOC, asked COL conflicts.” A staple of military educa- Moten to lead a collaborative study of By LTC Jon Scott Logel tion and officer development, America’s “war termination in American history.” U.S. Army retired First Battles subscribes to the idea that if COL Moten writes that the endings American leaders study past wars, they to American conflicts “have brought quarter century ago, Charles E. can achieve a better victory in the next. about unforeseen and unwanted conse- AHeller and William A. Stofft pub- Now, as the nation hopes to end a quences; the aftermath has seldom re- lished America’s First Battles, 1776–1965, decade of war, COL Matthew Moten sembled the peaceful future the na- a collection of essays by leading mili- has led the effort to follow America’s tion’s leaders had imagined and hoped tary historians that focused on how the First Battles with Between War and Peace: for when they first decided for war.” U.S.