As many of you may realize, every once in a while, Osprey will take several of their standard books that are on a similar subject and, along with additional material, combine these into a hardback edition. For the reader this has two major benefits. One is that all the information on the subject is in one edition, secondly, one gets the equivalent of several of the standard books for what is little more than the price of one. The only downside is having to wait for it to come out.

 This latest book is a compilation of three of the 'Elite' series on Infantry Tactics. Specifically #105, 122, and 124.

The book is divided into three major sections. One is on the Squad and Platoon, then Company and Battalion, and finally Anti-tank Tactics. The doctrine of the major powers, specifically Germany, Japan, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and United States are covered. Though you'd think that tactics would be the same regardless of the uniform a soldier wears, that is not exactly the case. To choose an extreme example, the Japanese had self-sacrifice as part of standard tactics that the other powers generally tended to shun. In anti-tank actions, it was considered 'good' to sacrifice 10 lives for one US tank. I doubt that the G.I. would consider that as an option!

Of course, often times the choice of tactics was determined by the situation at hand as well as the weapons that were being used. In this area, the performance of those weapons had a lot to do with how a situation was handled, and the book covers the various weapons used, from rifles to mines to anti-tank guns. There was also the experience of the unit and the camaraderie amongst soldiers in that unit. A tightly knit unit was generally more effective than one in which the members did not know each other.

Put all of that together, and you get another superlative book; one that I know will be an interesting read for all. Add to it the most reasonable price and you have a book that I can highly recommend to you.

August 2008

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