The US Army in World War II, Volume 3: North-West Europe (Men-At-Arms Series, 350)

Rating:
Summary: It's mike Chappell's illustration!!
Review: (...)eventhough it's men at arm series which tend to give us only
intrinsic information about particular armed forces, it was
beautifully illustrated and well searched book of this size very
concise and informative.
the biggest reason I purchase this book
is Mr.Chappell's acurate illustration and it is worth of paying
if
you alredy had variuos informations about U.S. Army in WW II,
this
book wouldn't help you any more, yet. if you were a bigginer and a
modeler . it would be a gem


Rating:
Summary: It's mike Chappell's illustration!!
Review: (...)It is good to see the publisher is now publishing works of finer
detail than the early volumes in this series which tried to cover the
whole of the US Army and others for the whole period of WW II and
other eras. The subject matter is just too vast for such broad
treatment and the tactical and environmental conditions so different
from theatre to theatre.
As to the content I have perused several
works written and or illustrated by Mike Chappell and have found him
to be a sound researcher and a meticulous illustrator. I make it a
point to buy everything he does covering my period of interest, the
Twentieth Century. I have bought almost all of the available works in
his personally published series British Soldier in the Twentieth
Century. I have yet to find a mistake in his work.
As to the
author I have not read much of his work but the table of contents is
thorough and covers a mass of material gleaned from obscure official
histories that never were widely circulated especially the material on
the ETO jacket and other overseas procurements. The major problem with
the soldier's clothing and equipment in the Northern European winter
was the totally inadequate footwear of a flimsy nature compared to the
ammunition boots worn by the British and Canadians and the lack of
warm clothing which due to the amazing progress of the campaign across
France led to overconfidence that the war would be over before the
fall and such clothing would not be needed. So it was not shipped in
mid summer but was left in the US or in Britain. Also the shipping
priorities were such in France that ammunition and fuel for the
vehicles were first.
Though the bombing campaign against the
French railways stalled the majority of the German army in the south
of France from arriving before Normandy and reinforcing the garrison
troops, it was successful to such a degree that the railroads were
useless to the Allies and great quantities of fuel had to be used up
in the famed Red Ball Express trucking system instead of using it for
the attacking forces. Thus the famed Third Army stalled before the
German frontier for lack of fuel. And you cannot drive tracked
vehicles all the way across France without wearing them out.
All
of these factors combined with the worst winter weather in years to
stall the Allies short of clearing the sea approaches to Antwerp where
they could have had access to a major port and the Allied offensive in
the West bogged down until the spring.


Rating:
Summary: An interesting Overview of a Major Theatre.
Review: (...)It is good to see the publisher is now publishing works of finer
detail than the early volumes in this series which tried to cover the
whole of the US Army and others for the whole period of WW II and
other eras. The subject matter is just too vast for such broad
treatment and the tactical and environmental conditions so different
from theatre to theatre.
As to the content I have perused several
works written and or illustrated by Mike Chappell and have found him
to be a sound researcher and a meticulous illustrator. I make it a
point to buy everything he does covering my period of interest, the
Twentieth Century. I have bought almost all of the available works in
his personally published series British Soldier in the Twentieth
Century. I have yet to find a mistake in his work.
As to the
author I have not read much of his work but the table of contents is
thorough and covers a mass of material gleaned from obscure official
histories that never were widely circulated especially the material on
the ETO jacket and other overseas procurements. The major problem with
the soldier's clothing and equipment in the Northern European winter
was the totally inadequate footwear of a flimsy nature compared to the
ammunition boots worn by the British and Canadians and the lack of
warm clothing which due to the amazing progress of the campaign across
France led to overconfidence that the war would be over before the
fall and such clothing would not be needed. So it was not shipped in
mid summer but was left in the US or in Britain. Also the shipping
priorities were such in France that ammunition and fuel for the
vehicles were first.
Though the bombing campaign against the
French railways stalled the majority of the German army in the south
of France from arriving before Normandy and reinforcing the garrison
troops, it was successful to such a degree that the railroads were
useless to the Allies and great quantities of fuel had to be used up
in the famed Red Ball Express trucking system instead of using it for
the attacking forces. Thus the famed Third Army stalled before the
German frontier for lack of fuel. And you cannot drive tracked
vehicles all the way across France without wearing them out.
All
of these factors combined with the worst winter weather in years to
stall the Allies short of clearing the sea approaches to Antwerp where
they could have had access to a major port and the Allied offensive in
the West bogged down until the spring.


Rating:
Summary: Useful Overview of a Vast Subject
Review: This work is a splendid example of the new emphasis of the publisher on producing comprehensive works in a handy cheap format compared with the earlier broad brush treatments which covered too much in too little detail.
The new emphasis is on sets covering various national armed forces in as much detail as is available, consistent with the current purpose of the works in the series, which have evolved from an original emphasis on serving the military miniature maker market into works intended to enlighten the general reader in enough detail to satisfy the merely curious and to point the way to further reading.
Most of us, including myself, have little need for, or the patience to read, voluminous studies, often in foreign languages, covering many eras and nations. My main interest is in the US forces, their allies and their enemies in the twentieth century.
That said, these works should be purchased as presented, in sets within the series. Since they are produced as a set, the volumes cover only relevent parts of the general history and the clothing and individual equipment is covered as it appears in each period. The French Army, US Army, British Army, and Italian Army series all have three volumes, covering the major theatres and time periods of the war. The German set has five.
See my review of part one for more commentary.
If you want an introduction to the fascinating variety of clothing and equipment of the forces covered, this set is for you.