Journal of Military History
Vol. 85, No. 4
October 2021
Articles
“French and Allied Officer Casualties in the Peninsular War (1808–1814): A New Examination,” by Jorge Planas Campos and Antonio Grajal de Blas, Journal of Military History 85:4 (October 2021): 889–905
Most of the military encounters of the Peninsular War (1808–1815) have been analyzed, mapped and subjected to critical assessment. The quantitative data available regarding the cost in lives, however, have been used only rarely to refine our understanding of the war and the influence of the different military actors in its outcome. This article compares the fatal combat casualties (killed in action and died of wounds) of the British and French officers during the six-year campaign in the Iberian Peninsula. It also compares the available data on other battles in Europe to analyze important aspects of combat in the Napoleonic Age. By making innovative use of new quantitative data available, the article raises questions for further research.
“Meade and the Media: Civil War Journalism and the New History of War Reporting,” by Alexander G. Lovelace, Journal of Military History 85:4 (October 2021): 907–29
Using the under-explored relationship between the press and Major General George G. Meade as a case study, this article argues for a new method of analyzing war reporting. Past investigations of Civil War reporting tend to focus on censorship, the societal impact of media, or the adventure stories of war correspondents. Instead of seeing war correspondents as passive recorders of events, the new history of war reporting views journalists as powerful actors with the ability to influence military decisions. This included retaliating against military excesses and shaping how commanders were remembered in history.
“‘The Devil is in the Details’: Mao Zedong before and after the Luochuan Conference, August 1937,” by
Sherman Xiaogang Lai, Journal of Military History 85:4 (October 2021): 930–53
Sherman Xiaogang Lai, Journal of Military History 85:4 (October 2021): 930–53
The Luochuan Conference of August 1937 was a crucial moment in Mao Zedong’s struggle for power. Mao tried to force the party to adopt his guerrilla war strategy; he failed. Mao nonetheless exploited his position as the Politburo member in charge of military affairs, and put his strategy into action in fall 1937. Mao’s actions worried Josef Stalin, who was depending on Chiang Kai-shek to keep Japan from invading Siberia. Mao therefore moderated his behavior, but clung to his strategy. This article shows how Mao managed to win Stalin and the CCP over to his strategy, and thus consolidated his hold on the CCP.
“Germany’s Total War: Combat and Occupation around the Kursk Salient, 1943,” by Jeff Rutherford, Journal of Military History 85:4 (October 2021): 954–79
By 1943, the German army deployed in the Soviet Union was engaged in a total war with an enemy far superior in material and manpower resources. Recognizing this disparity, German field commands instituted more systematic and conciliatory policies designed to mobilize Soviet resources for the German war effort. Attempts to win over the population changed following German defeat in the Battle of Kursk, however; German policy became more violently coercive. An examination of the policies and actions of three German divisions will demonstrate that the army's shifting conduct was due to its understanding of the reality of total war.
“A Tale of Submarine Sightings and a Golden Goose: American-British-Canadian Intelligence Sharing in the Early Cold War,” by Isabel Campbell, Journal of Military History 85:4 (October 2021): 980–1003
This paper analyzes the origins of two 1946 sightings of Soviet submarines in the Davis Strait, placing the various reports about them into an international and interservice framework. It shows how the Davis Strait and the surrounding area (Greenland, the Canadian Arctic, and Newfoundland and Labrador) fit into early post–World War II war plans for strategic deterrence. The Davis Strait sightings combined with American and British appreciations to spur Canada to endorse postwar joint defense plans with the Americans; to pursue trilateral intelligence, research, and defense work; and to agree to defense preparations in the north, including supporting American plans to establish strategic air forces in Goose Bay, Labrador.
“Ham and Mothers: C-Ration Revelry and Revulsion in the Vietnam War,” by Richard A. Ruth, Journal of Military History 85:4 (October 2021): 1004–28
This article examines the relationship between American combat personnel and C-rations (MCIs) during the Vietnam War. It argues that these canned field rations helped grunts to endure the trials of deployment in three principal ways. The delight and dread generated by C-rations helped American troops to create shared wartime superstitions and battlefield mythologies; the ad hoc systems that units created to redistribute meal choices promoted group harmony and unit discipline; and some meals, such as ham and lima beans, acted as catalysts for venting anger or demonstrating jubilation that provided healthy outlets for stress.
“The Cornerstone of Joint Force Transformation: The Standing Joint Force Headquarters at U.S. Southern Command, 2001–2011,” by Bradley Lynn Coleman and Timothy A. Schultz, Journal of Military History 85:4 (October 2021): 1029–60
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld directed Department of Defense geographic combatant commands to create Standing Joint Force Headquarters to improve joint military operations and promote new approaches to joint warfighting. At U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), the expert deployable command and control unit contributed to almost every major U.S. military activity in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2004 and 2011. Yet chronic staff shortages and bureaucratic resistance limited its transformational potential. The small USSOUTHCOM unit exposed the big challenges of change in the Department of Defense during the early twenty-first century.
Book Reviews:
New York’s War of 1812: Politics, Society and Combat, by Richard V. Barbuto, reviewed by Donald Graves and by Matthew Zembo, 1061–64
Fearing the Worst: How Korea Transformed the Cold War, by Samuel F. Wells, Jr., reviewed by Mitch Lerner and by Bruce Zellers, 1064–67
Spare No One: Mass Violence in Roman Warfare, by Gabriel Baker, reviewed by Jonathan H. Warner, 1067–69
Living by the Sword: Weapons and Material Culture in France and Britain, 600–1600, by Kristen B. Neuschel, reviewed by Wyatt C. Brown, 1069–71
Lost Samurai: Japanese Mercenaries in South East Asia, 1593–1688, by Stephen Turnbull, reviewed by Danny Orbach, 1071–72
The United States Army and the Making of America: From Confederation to Empire, 1775–1903, by Robert Wooster, reviewed by Ethan S. Rafuse, 1072–74
Congress’s Own: A Canadian Regiment, the Continental Army, and American Union, by Holly A. Mayer, reviewed by Steven Elliott, 1074–75
War at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion, by John Knight, reviewed by David Dalrymple, 1076–77
Surviving the Winters: Housing Washington's Army during the American Revolution, by Steven Elliott, reviewed by Timothy C. Hemmis, 1077–79
Captives of Liberty: Prisoners of War and the Politics of Vengeance in the American Revolution, by T. Cole Jones, reviewed by Daniel Krebs, 1079–80
Useful Captives: The Role of POWs in American Military Conflicts, edited by Daniel Krebs and Lorien Foote, reviewed by Cole T. Kruger, 1081–82
Napoleon and the Art of Leadership: How a Flawed Genius Changed the History of Europe and the World, by William Nester, reviewed by Tony R. Malone, Jr., 1082–83
Objects of War: The Material Culture of Conflict and Displacement, edited by Leora Auslander and Tara Zahra, reviewed by Iain Banks, 1084–86
Ambitious Honor: George Armstrong Custer’s Life of Service and Lust for Fame, by James E. Mueller, reviewed by Debra J. Sheffer, 1086–87
Other People’s Wars: The U.S. Military and the Challenge of Learning from Foreign Conflicts, by Brent L. Sterling, reviewed by Daniel Sukman, 1088–89
John P. Slough: The Forgotten Civil War General, by Richard L. Miller, reviewed by Arnold Blumberg, 1089–91
Breaking the Blockade: The Bahamas during the Civil War, by Charles D. Ross, reviewed by Benjamin J. Lyman, 1091–92
Tank Warfare, by Jeremy Black, reviewed by Paul J. Springer, 1092–94
Britain and Italy in the Era of the Great War: Defending and Forging Empires, by Stefano Marcuzzi, reviewed by Alexander Nordlund, 1094–95
Dragonslayer: The Legend of Erich Ludendorff in the Weimar Republic and Third Reich, by Jay Lockenour, reviewed by Timothy C. Dowling, 1096–97
Someone Else’s War: Fighting for the British Empire in World War I, by John Connors, reviewed by Mason W. Watson, 1097–99
The Coolie’s Great War: Indian Labour in a Global Conflict, 1914–1921, by Radhika Singha, reviewed by Andrew T. Jarboe, 1099–1100
White War, Black Soldiers: Two African Accounts of World War I, edited by George Robb, translated by Nancy Erber and William Peniston, reviewed by Angela Thompsell, 1100–2
Lawrence of Arabia on War: The Campaign in the Desert, 1916–1918, by Rob Johnson; and Desert Insurgency: Archaeology, T. E. Lawrence, and the Arab Revolt, by Nicholas J. Saunders, reviewed by Michael Barr, 1102–4
The Politics of Veteran Benefits in the Twentieth Century: A Comparative History, by Martin Crotty, Neil J. Diamant, and Mark Edele, reviewed by Olivier Burtin, 1105–6
Secret History: Writing the Rise of Britain’s Intelligence Services, by Simon Ball, reviewed by Brandon Bernick, 1106–8
Paramilitarism in the Balkans: The Cases of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, 1917–1924, by Dmitar Tasić, reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Walters, 1108–9
Counterterrorism between the Wars: An International History, 1919–1937, by Mary S. Barton, reviewed by Jonathan Carroll, 1110–11
Poland 1939: The Outbreak of World War II, by Roger Moorhouse, reviewed by Jadwiga Biskupska, 1111–13
Churchill’s Phoney War: A Study in Folly and Frustration, by Graham T. Clews, reviewed by Nicholas Sambaluk, 1113–14
American Isolationists: Pro-Japan Anti-Interventionists and the FBI on the Eve of the Pacific War, 1939–1941, by Roger B. Jeans, reviewed by Paul J. Welch Behringer, 1114–16
Logistics in World War II, 1939–1945, by John Norris, reviewed by Timothy M. Gilhool, 1116–17
Wartime Relations: Intimacy, Violence, and Prostitution in Occupied Poland, 1939–1945, by Maren Röger, reviewed by Meghan O’Donnell, 1118–19
Zulieferer für Hitlers Krieg: Der Continental-Konzern in der NS-Zeit, by Paul Erker, reviewed by Christopher Thomas Goodwin, 1119–21
Pearl Harbor: Japan’s Attack and America’s Entry into World War II, by Takuma Melber, reviewed by John C. Hanley, 1121–22
Code Name Arcadia: The First Wartime Conference of Churchill and Roosevelt, by John F. Shortal, reviewed by Cody Carlson, 1123–24
War and Resistance in the Philippines, 1942–1944, by James Kelly Morningstar, reviewed by Mark Pitcavage, 1124–26
How the RAF and USAAF Beat the Luftwaffe, by Ken Delve, reviewed by Kenneth P. Werrell, 1126–28
The Caribbean Front in World War II: The Untold Story of U-boats, Spies, and Economic Warfare, by José L. Bolívar Fresneda, reviewed by Aaron Coy Moulton, 1128–29
After D-Day: The U.S. Army Encounters the French, by Robert Lynn Fuller, reviewed by Cameron Zinsou, 1129–31
The Folly of Generals: How Eisenhower’s Broad Front Strategy Lengthened World War II, by David P. Colley, reviewed by Peter L. Belmonte, 1131–32
The 1945 Burma Campaign and the Transformation of the British Indian Army, by Raymond A. Callahan and Daniel Marston, reviewed by William Preston McLaughlin, 1132–34
A History of the Second World War in 100 Maps, by Jeremy Black, reviewed by Kory Miller, 1134–35
Prisoners of History: What Monuments to World War II Tell Us about Our History and Ourselves, by Keith Lowe, reviewed by Timothy B. Spears, 1135–37
Emergency War Plan: The American Doomsday Machine 1945–1960, by Sean M. Maloney, reviewed by John M. Curatola, 1137–38
Poisoning the Pacific: The U.S. Military’s Secret Dumping of Plutonium, Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange, by Jon Mitchell, reviewed by Alex Souchen, 1139–40
Beyond vom Kriege: The Character and Conduct of Modern War, by R. D. Hooker, Jr., reviewed by Peter R. Mansoor, 1140–42
Peace in the Mountains: Northern Appalachian Students Protest the Vietnam War, by Thomas Weyant, reviewed by Amanda Abulawi, 1142–43
War in the Villages: The U.S. Marine Corps Combined Action Platoons in the Vietnam War, by Ted N. Easterling, reviewed by Cavender S. Sutton, 1143–45
Moral Imperative: 1972, Combat Rescue, and the End of America’s War in Vietnam, by Darrel D. Whitcomb, reviewed by Christos G. Frentzos, 1145–46
What Remains: Bringing America’s Missing Home from the Vietnam War, by Sarah E. Wagner, reviewed by Kelly Crager, 1147–48
After Saigon’s Fall: Refugees and US-Vietnamese Relations, 1975–2000, by Amanda C. Demmer, reviewed by Uyen H. “Carie” Nguyen, 1148–50
The Punitive Turn in American Life: How the United States Learned to Fight Crime Like a War, by Michael S. Sherry, reviewed by Sarah E. Paxton, 1150–51
Fighting for Time: Rhodesia’s Military and Zimbabwe’s Independence, by Charles D. Melson, reviewed by Luise White, 1151–53
The Blind Strategist: John Boyd and the American Art of War, by Stephen Robinson, reviewed by Michael W. Hankins, 1153–54
Chemical Heroes: Pharmacological Supersoldiers in the U.S. Military, by Andrew Bickford, reviewed by Ann L. von Mehren, 1155–56
BOOKS RECEIVED: 1157–58
RECENT JOURNAL ARTICLES: 1159–70
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: 1171
INDEX TO VOLUME 85: 1173–96
New York’s War of 1812: Politics, Society and Combat, by Richard V. Barbuto, reviewed by Donald Graves and by Matthew Zembo, 1061–64
Fearing the Worst: How Korea Transformed the Cold War, by Samuel F. Wells, Jr., reviewed by Mitch Lerner and by Bruce Zellers, 1064–67
Spare No One: Mass Violence in Roman Warfare, by Gabriel Baker, reviewed by Jonathan H. Warner, 1067–69
Living by the Sword: Weapons and Material Culture in France and Britain, 600–1600, by Kristen B. Neuschel, reviewed by Wyatt C. Brown, 1069–71
Lost Samurai: Japanese Mercenaries in South East Asia, 1593–1688, by Stephen Turnbull, reviewed by Danny Orbach, 1071–72
The United States Army and the Making of America: From Confederation to Empire, 1775–1903, by Robert Wooster, reviewed by Ethan S. Rafuse, 1072–74
Congress’s Own: A Canadian Regiment, the Continental Army, and American Union, by Holly A. Mayer, reviewed by Steven Elliott, 1074–75
War at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion, by John Knight, reviewed by David Dalrymple, 1076–77
Surviving the Winters: Housing Washington's Army during the American Revolution, by Steven Elliott, reviewed by Timothy C. Hemmis, 1077–79
Captives of Liberty: Prisoners of War and the Politics of Vengeance in the American Revolution, by T. Cole Jones, reviewed by Daniel Krebs, 1079–80
Useful Captives: The Role of POWs in American Military Conflicts, edited by Daniel Krebs and Lorien Foote, reviewed by Cole T. Kruger, 1081–82
Napoleon and the Art of Leadership: How a Flawed Genius Changed the History of Europe and the World, by William Nester, reviewed by Tony R. Malone, Jr., 1082–83
Objects of War: The Material Culture of Conflict and Displacement, edited by Leora Auslander and Tara Zahra, reviewed by Iain Banks, 1084–86
Ambitious Honor: George Armstrong Custer’s Life of Service and Lust for Fame, by James E. Mueller, reviewed by Debra J. Sheffer, 1086–87
Other People’s Wars: The U.S. Military and the Challenge of Learning from Foreign Conflicts, by Brent L. Sterling, reviewed by Daniel Sukman, 1088–89
John P. Slough: The Forgotten Civil War General, by Richard L. Miller, reviewed by Arnold Blumberg, 1089–91
Breaking the Blockade: The Bahamas during the Civil War, by Charles D. Ross, reviewed by Benjamin J. Lyman, 1091–92
Tank Warfare, by Jeremy Black, reviewed by Paul J. Springer, 1092–94
Britain and Italy in the Era of the Great War: Defending and Forging Empires, by Stefano Marcuzzi, reviewed by Alexander Nordlund, 1094–95
Dragonslayer: The Legend of Erich Ludendorff in the Weimar Republic and Third Reich, by Jay Lockenour, reviewed by Timothy C. Dowling, 1096–97
Someone Else’s War: Fighting for the British Empire in World War I, by John Connors, reviewed by Mason W. Watson, 1097–99
The Coolie’s Great War: Indian Labour in a Global Conflict, 1914–1921, by Radhika Singha, reviewed by Andrew T. Jarboe, 1099–1100
White War, Black Soldiers: Two African Accounts of World War I, edited by George Robb, translated by Nancy Erber and William Peniston, reviewed by Angela Thompsell, 1100–2
Lawrence of Arabia on War: The Campaign in the Desert, 1916–1918, by Rob Johnson; and Desert Insurgency: Archaeology, T. E. Lawrence, and the Arab Revolt, by Nicholas J. Saunders, reviewed by Michael Barr, 1102–4
The Politics of Veteran Benefits in the Twentieth Century: A Comparative History, by Martin Crotty, Neil J. Diamant, and Mark Edele, reviewed by Olivier Burtin, 1105–6
Secret History: Writing the Rise of Britain’s Intelligence Services, by Simon Ball, reviewed by Brandon Bernick, 1106–8
Paramilitarism in the Balkans: The Cases of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, 1917–1924, by Dmitar Tasić, reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Walters, 1108–9
Counterterrorism between the Wars: An International History, 1919–1937, by Mary S. Barton, reviewed by Jonathan Carroll, 1110–11
Poland 1939: The Outbreak of World War II, by Roger Moorhouse, reviewed by Jadwiga Biskupska, 1111–13
Churchill’s Phoney War: A Study in Folly and Frustration, by Graham T. Clews, reviewed by Nicholas Sambaluk, 1113–14
American Isolationists: Pro-Japan Anti-Interventionists and the FBI on the Eve of the Pacific War, 1939–1941, by Roger B. Jeans, reviewed by Paul J. Welch Behringer, 1114–16
Logistics in World War II, 1939–1945, by John Norris, reviewed by Timothy M. Gilhool, 1116–17
Wartime Relations: Intimacy, Violence, and Prostitution in Occupied Poland, 1939–1945, by Maren Röger, reviewed by Meghan O’Donnell, 1118–19
Zulieferer für Hitlers Krieg: Der Continental-Konzern in der NS-Zeit, by Paul Erker, reviewed by Christopher Thomas Goodwin, 1119–21
Pearl Harbor: Japan’s Attack and America’s Entry into World War II, by Takuma Melber, reviewed by John C. Hanley, 1121–22
Code Name Arcadia: The First Wartime Conference of Churchill and Roosevelt, by John F. Shortal, reviewed by Cody Carlson, 1123–24
War and Resistance in the Philippines, 1942–1944, by James Kelly Morningstar, reviewed by Mark Pitcavage, 1124–26
How the RAF and USAAF Beat the Luftwaffe, by Ken Delve, reviewed by Kenneth P. Werrell, 1126–28
The Caribbean Front in World War II: The Untold Story of U-boats, Spies, and Economic Warfare, by José L. Bolívar Fresneda, reviewed by Aaron Coy Moulton, 1128–29
After D-Day: The U.S. Army Encounters the French, by Robert Lynn Fuller, reviewed by Cameron Zinsou, 1129–31
The Folly of Generals: How Eisenhower’s Broad Front Strategy Lengthened World War II, by David P. Colley, reviewed by Peter L. Belmonte, 1131–32
The 1945 Burma Campaign and the Transformation of the British Indian Army, by Raymond A. Callahan and Daniel Marston, reviewed by William Preston McLaughlin, 1132–34
A History of the Second World War in 100 Maps, by Jeremy Black, reviewed by Kory Miller, 1134–35
Prisoners of History: What Monuments to World War II Tell Us about Our History and Ourselves, by Keith Lowe, reviewed by Timothy B. Spears, 1135–37
Emergency War Plan: The American Doomsday Machine 1945–1960, by Sean M. Maloney, reviewed by John M. Curatola, 1137–38
Poisoning the Pacific: The U.S. Military’s Secret Dumping of Plutonium, Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange, by Jon Mitchell, reviewed by Alex Souchen, 1139–40
Beyond vom Kriege: The Character and Conduct of Modern War, by R. D. Hooker, Jr., reviewed by Peter R. Mansoor, 1140–42
Peace in the Mountains: Northern Appalachian Students Protest the Vietnam War, by Thomas Weyant, reviewed by Amanda Abulawi, 1142–43
War in the Villages: The U.S. Marine Corps Combined Action Platoons in the Vietnam War, by Ted N. Easterling, reviewed by Cavender S. Sutton, 1143–45
Moral Imperative: 1972, Combat Rescue, and the End of America’s War in Vietnam, by Darrel D. Whitcomb, reviewed by Christos G. Frentzos, 1145–46
What Remains: Bringing America’s Missing Home from the Vietnam War, by Sarah E. Wagner, reviewed by Kelly Crager, 1147–48
After Saigon’s Fall: Refugees and US-Vietnamese Relations, 1975–2000, by Amanda C. Demmer, reviewed by Uyen H. “Carie” Nguyen, 1148–50
The Punitive Turn in American Life: How the United States Learned to Fight Crime Like a War, by Michael S. Sherry, reviewed by Sarah E. Paxton, 1150–51
Fighting for Time: Rhodesia’s Military and Zimbabwe’s Independence, by Charles D. Melson, reviewed by Luise White, 1151–53
The Blind Strategist: John Boyd and the American Art of War, by Stephen Robinson, reviewed by Michael W. Hankins, 1153–54
Chemical Heroes: Pharmacological Supersoldiers in the U.S. Military, by Andrew Bickford, reviewed by Ann L. von Mehren, 1155–56
BOOKS RECEIVED: 1157–58
RECENT JOURNAL ARTICLES: 1159–70
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: 1171
INDEX TO VOLUME 85: 1173–96
