By Christopher Miskimon

Full Reviews

Desert Armour: Tank Warfare in North Africa, Beda Fomm to Operation Crusader, 1940-41 (Robert Forczyk, Osprey Books, Oxford, UK, 2023, 336 pp., maps photographs, appendices, bibliography, index, $45, hardcover)

The Soldier’s Truth: Ernie Pyle and the Story of World War II (David Chrisinger, Penguin Press, New York, 2023, 368 pp., photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $30, hardcover)

The Devil Boats: A U.S. Navy PT Squadron in Action in World War II (C.J. Skamarakas, Stackpole Books, Lanham, MD, 2023, 264 pp., maps, photographs, appendices, notes, bibliography, $32.95, hardcover)

Awaiting the Sun: WWII Veterans Remember the Aleutians (Bil Paul, Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, PA, 2023, 230 pp., maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $24.99, hardcover)

Waffen SS Soldier versus Soviet Rifleman: Rostov-on-Don and Kharkov 1942-43 (Chris McNab, Osprey Books, Oxford, UK, 2023, 80 pp., maps, photographs, bibliography, index, $23, softcover)

Lucky Hitler’s Big Mistakes (Paul Ballard-Whyte, Pen and Sword Books, South Yorkshire, UK, 2022, 310 pp., maps, photographs, glossary, bibliography, index, $34.95, hardcover)

The Soviet Destruction of Army Group South: Ukraine and Southern Poland 1943-45 (Ian Baxter, Casemate Books, Havertown, PA, 2023, 128 pp., maps, photographs, bibliography, index, $28.95, softcover)

Darkest Christmas: December 1942 and a World at War (Peter Harmsen, Casemate Books, Havertown, PA, 2023, 230 pp., maps, photographs, appendix, notes, bibliography, index, $32.95, hardcover)

Japanese Conquest of Burma 1942: The Advance to the Gates of India (Tim Moreman, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK, 2023, 96 pp., maps, photographs, bibliography, index, $24, softcover)

Panzer Leader: Memoirs of an Armoured Car Commander 1944-45 (Otto Henning, Frontline Books, South Yorkshire, UK, 2022, 189 pp., maps, photographs, $22.95, softcover)

Short Bursts

The Allied Air Campaign Against Hitler’s U-Boats: Victory in the Battle of the Atlantic (Timothy Good, Frontline Books, 2022, $42.95, HC) Most U-Boats were destroyed by aircraft. Covers the development of Allied navy air power.

Hitler’s Air War in Spain: The Rise of the Luftwaffe (Norman Ridley, Air World Books, 2023, $34.95, HC) The Luftwaffe, used the Spanish Civil War as a testing ground for its weapons and theories. The conflict proved a microcosm for World War II.

Naval Eyewitnesses: The Experience of War 1939 – 1945 (James Goulty, Pen and Sword Books, 2022, $49.95, HC) Surveys the war experiences of British sailors, focusing on the individual, with many interesting vignettes.

Ham and Jam: 6th Airborne Division in Normandy (Andrew Wheale, Helion Books, 2022, $59.95, HC) The 6th Airborne seized all its D-Day objectives. Covers how the unit was formed and organized and evaluates its performance.

Rome to the Po River: The 362nd Infantry Division, 1944-45 (Heinz Greiner, Casemate Books, 2023, $45, HC) This series reprints battle reports of German units by German veterans. They provide insight into German actions and planning.

Nightstalkers: The Wright Project and the 868th Bomb Squadron in World War II (Richard Lawless, Casemate Books, 2023, $44.95, HC) This secretive unit evaluated classified technology in the Pacific, hunting enemy ships at night. Reveals the squadron’s technology, pilots, and missions.

The Three Battles of El Alamein: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives (Jon Diamond, Pen and Sword Books, 2023, $34.95, SC) This photobook commemorates the heavy fighting at El Alamein with a selection of dramatic images.

Flawed Commanders and Strategy in the Battles for Italy, 1943-45 (Andrew Sangster and Pier Paolo Battistelli, Casemate Books, 2023, $37.95, HC) Looks at the flaws and errors of the major commanders in the complex Italian Campaign, including the German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring.

Winning French Minds: Radio Propaganda in Occupied France, 1940-42 (Denis Courtois, Casemate Books, 2023, $45, HC) Radio was used as a propaganda tool by all the war’s participants. This work examines British and Free French efforts in this arena during the early years of the war.

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