Buy the book / Hamish Hamilton

Although this column is called "Buy the Book" I am well aware that many
recommendations made here will result in more additions to library lists
as well as purchases of books. Of course, many of the books discussed
tend to be on the expensive side since they are aimed at a small market
area. Nevertheless there are books which, while being expensive, are a
worthwhile investment as they will always be more accessible on your own
bookshelf permanently than on short term loan from your library. Some of
the following titles are well worth consideration under the heading of
investment.

At the recent convention I was asked what books are worth reading on the
subject of the 1944/45 Ardennes Campaign and, off the top of my head, I
was able to think of three or four titles directly concerned and as many
again indirectly. What I needed to do was to look up the heading in a
superb book which has just been published by Andre Deutsch at £11.95.
Written by the retired Borough Librarian of Eastbourne, A.G.S.Enser, "A
Subject Bibliography of the Second World War" is, for the amateur or
professional historian of the period, absolutely invaluable. Covering
titles between 1939-1974 the book is divided into three sections. The
subject bibliography itself which occupies 469 pages, an author index
and a subject index. Thus, as you might expect of a book compiled by a
librarian, information is accessible through any one of the three
methods. Mr Enser is nevertheless modest and announces in his preface
thathe will be "pleased to be informed of omissions and errors". The
book covers subjects from Abyssinia to Zhukov and for the student of the
period, as designer, gamer, historian or just student, the book is a key
to some of the most crowded library shelves in the business. A key or a
veritable Rosetta Stone. Get it, for if you borrow it, the night you'll
need it it will be back in the library,

Also dealing with the 1939-45 period is most useful and hitherto sorely
lacking book. Swiss born Jurg Meister has been a recognised expert on
Soviet naval affairs for some time and he has produced (at last someone
has) a book on "The Soviet Warships Of The Second World War". The author
is cautious in describing the work as definitive since accurate primary
source information is almost impossible to obtain but since it is the
result of twenty years search and research it must be reasonable to
describe it as being exhaustive. Mr Meister covers the development,
career and fate of, apparently, every vessel of every class in service
in the Soviet navy since 1939. It is not to be wondered at that this
information has been so notable by its absence for so long but when the
authoratitive publishers MacDonald and Janes produce such a book, so
well illustrated with photographs and diagrams, with so many information
tables and at such a reasonable price (£7.95) we might be pardoned for
wondering how they do it. It is not a small book by the way, at 10" by
8", it will be a handsome and useful addition to any shelf.

Looking from the past to the present and the future there are three
reference works which are worth talking about just now. From the same
publishers as the Soviet Warships comes Janes' "All the Worlds' Fighting
Vehicles" and what can one say.... Author Christopher Foss is not
unknown to those of us who are interested in modern weaponry and he is
responsible for this book which maintains and amplifies the world wide
reputation which the Janes' publications already have. There are eight
sections in the book, the divisions being made under type of vehicle
except for the last which is a brief section of addenda. Each section is
further divided by country and under that heading all vehicles in
service or under development are dis cussed. The text is highlighted by
nearly 500 photographs of good quality, although I have seen better of
the T72 and the performance of each vehicle is described as accurately
as possible in tabular form. Apart from all that the book is fun to
browse through. Did you know that the Irish Army still uses 'Comets' as
do the armies of Burma, Finland and South Africa? Or that there are 14
countries still using 'Stuarts'? Such are the lighter moments of this
splendid, information-packed book which costs £7.95 and has to be worth
more.

At almost half that is the lan Allen publication "Infantry Weapons of
the World" for which Christopher Foss is 50% responsible. His co-author
is T.J.Gander and, while the book is briefer, it seems no less
comprehensive and up to date. There are about three hundred weapons
described in only one hundred and forty pages but the hard information
appears to be all there and is readily accessible via a name or country
index. Points of interest include a description of the new British
candidate for the BATO "PWS" (Personal Weapon System) and the 5.56mm
"Galil" assault rifle from Israel.

On altogether a grander scale is "Brassay's Artillery of the World".
Brassey's are one of the major publishers in the military world and are
equally famous for their Year Book "Brassey's Annual'' or "Brassey's
Defence Year Book" or more often the rather cryptic "Brassey's". This
present title is a fine addition to an already impressive but perhaps
little known list. The book is compiled by Brian Blunt and M.T.Taylor
and edited by Brigadier Shelford Bidwell. It is difficult to be at once
brief and fair to this excellent work but suffice it to say that the
book is intended as a text book for staff and instructors in independent
and Third World countries and is therefore as comprehensive and accurate
as you might expect. There are discussions on the tactical deployment of
six main categories of artillery, everything from the massive Soviet
"Scud" missile to the ubiqitous 40mm Bofors gun, dissertations on
ammunitions and their characteristics and useful sections on ancillery
equipment such as radars as well as a list of the contents of the gun
parks of over eighty countries. The price reflects the very specialist
nature of the book which is, although technical, far from difficult for
the beginner. But to me £18.50 is not a high price to pay for a volume
which will continue to be useful in basic information for many years.

F.L.Petre is not a name which will spring to the mind of many unless
they are students of the Napoleonic Campaigns. Petre, who died in 1925,
wrote a series of books on the period between 1806 and 1815 and they
were and are even now regarded as seminal works on the military life of
the Third Republic. The significant thing about Petre's work is that he
wrote only after he had visited the field of the battle he was to
describe and he walked over it until he knew it as well as the soldiers
did at the time. There are five books in the series and Arms and Armour
Press are doing us the favour of reprinting them. The two out most
recently are "Napoleon's Conquest of Prussia" and "Napoleon and The
Archduke Charles". Each volume contains a fine introduction by David
Chandler and some excellent maps an both cost £5.95. For the ardent NAW
fan or for the Last Battles Quads players these have to be a must as
they are, it seems to me, for anyone interested in military history of
any period.

Finally, the "piece de resistance". From the same publishers as the
Petre books comes a truly magnificent work by Alan Raven and John
Roberts. The subtitle of "British Battleships of WWII" is "The
Development and Technical History of the Royal Navy's Battle Ships and
Battlecruisers from 1911 to 1946" and while that's a totally accurate
description it is also as nice an understatement as I have heard in a
while. Merrs. Raven and Roberts have amassed an enormous amount of
information much of it from the recently opened files in the Public
Records Office and have produced what has to be the definitive work on
the Dreadnought in Britain's navy. Starting with the great "Queen
Elizabeth" class (the 5th Battle Squadron at Jutland and, some say, the
rescuers of Beattie's sorely tried Battle Cruisers) and coming right up
to the elegant and late HMS Vanguard, the authors guide us expertly
through the maze of design problems, refit alterations and gun/armour
dialogues which went to produce these great steel grey, fighting
fortresses who inherited the traditions of Nelson's wooden walls. There
are 16 fold out pages with deck plans and a host of tremendous
photographs to accompany them. l suppose that in a work of this scale
the odd printing error or omission is inevitable - for instance, in the
"Malaya" deck plan on p.223 the boat deck plan includes a boat labelled
Number Nine but there is no Number Nine in the key. There is a similar
boob in the "Warspite" forecastle deck plan on p.232, where a figure "1"
is missing turning a 27ft whaler into "The cooks kitchen". But these are
quibbles and for someone with an ounce of commonsense it won't detract
from the splendour of this book. l have yet to see a game, and that
includes "CA", which captures the essence of 20th Century naval warfare,
although Jim Dunnigan came close with "Jutland". Maybe this book will
inspire someone to tackle that enigma again. "British Battleships of
WWII" by Alan Raven and John Roberts is published by Arms and Armour
Press at £19.95.