Infantry Tactics of the Second World War

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Infantry Tactics of the Second World War
Author: Stephen Bull & Gordon Rottman
Hardback - 224 pages
Publisher: Osprey
Series: General Military
Price: £20
ISBN: 9781846032820

Introduction

Having reviewed quite a few Osprey books, I was certainly overwhelmed by the level of detail that this hard cover book provided. The obvious advantage that a hardcover edition has over the standard New Vanguard publications is the authors' ability to delve into a greater level of depth as well as breath on the topic. As the title suggest, this book covers almost all things to do with the infantry of WWII, beginning with the individual soldier and progressively working its way to the supporting factors for the infantry. The authors cover a wide range of tactics employed during the Second World War with original photographs to complement the graphical illustrations, giving the reader the clearest picture possible.

Contents

When covering a broad scope and a large amount of content, the structure of the story telling plays quite a key role in providing a clear picture for the reader and this book does well in this department. The book comprises of three main parts beginning from the individual soldier, working up to the hierarchy at platoon level before progressing further to the company and battalion level before concluding the anti tank tactics employed.

Introduction
Part 1: Squad and Platoon
Part 2: Company and Battalion
Part 3: Anti-Tank Tactics
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

The story telling begins with a healthy introduction, which sets the scene on the crucial role infantry divisions typically play in a battle situation. In fact the introduction jumps right into it with the following quote from a British Operations Manual, which reads;

Infantry must in the end confirm all success in a war. Infantry compels the withdrawal or surrender of the enemy and holds the objectives which have been secured, or the points of importance which have to be protected, as a base for further action. It is the most adaptable and the most generally useful of all arms, since it is capable of operating over any ground by day or night and can find or make cover for itself more readily than the other arms.

Part 1 begins with a rich variety of black and white photographs, displaying allied soldiers engaging in battle with the opening topic on casualty rates. Thankfully however, the authors reframe from inundating the reader with a large number of statistics, providing a summarised view before moving onto more tactically relevant material employed by troops of the US Army, British, Russian and Germany. Sections on combat fatigue as well as the physical demands of a soldier really provides a healthy background on the conditions that World War II soldiers often had to endure while battling on the front lines. Images from Normandy to the Ardennes are in full view in this section and really drive it home to the reader on how tough the conditions really were at the time. It wouldn't be a book of tactics without providing details around the various aspects of a soldier's arsenal. Material taken from the German training manual on how to throw grenades to British material on handling weapons for killing purposes are well documented here. Cross sectional diagrams showing how a soldier would be positioned in a fox hole as well as information on their personal gear is covered in a large amount of detail. It was refreshing to have a section on the softer side of the infantry, which covers the squad ethos and group dynamics of a typical squad of soldiers.

Information on weapons is definitely not in a short supply here although it focused primarily on the US Infantry with a few brief mentions of German and British hardware. Tactics of a squad is predominantly the main focus of this chapter with plenty of graphical illustration showing the various roles in a squad and the positions each one maintains when moving in a patrol.

Trenches, fortification and defence tactics! This section of the first part of the book certainly sparked my interest as it clearly documents how the various sides set out to position their trenches whilst providing cover and concealment. Cross sectional diagrams shows how troops would typically position themselves in trenches and houses, perfect for diorama modellers!

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Part 2 of the books begins to take one step back from the individual soldier and focus more on the company and battalion level of the infantry. Another area that differs from the previous chapter is the difference in the defensive and offensive tactics deployed by all sides at battalion level. Areas such as the trenches, hierarchical organization and general tactics are well documented once again through actual black and white photographs as well as more graphical illustrations showing the respective squad positions. The role of the machine gunner and the support it provides is also another key point that is focused on in this chapter. A pictorial illustration on where the German MG gunners were positioned in the city of Ortona in December 1943 clearly shows the thoroughness of the German commanders planning. Its almost mind boggling when trying to figure out how the allies managed to get through the city, a topic which was not covered throughout the book. It certainly would have been interesting to see how one tactic is employed to counter the oppositions. Mortar support teams and their positioning in the battalion level are also elaborated in some detail.

Motorised Infantry, both soft skin and armoured begin to steal the limelight from this point forward. The cooperation of tanks with the infantry is covered really well here. There are plenty of photographs showing tank riders here so it's a great reference for all armour modellers! Similar to the previous chapters, graphical illustrations clearly show the positioning of the infantry in respect to the armoured division as they carry through with their offensive strategy and overrun the defensive position of the opposition.

Part 3 eventually moves onto the anti tank tactics with a couple of brief mentions of the vulnerabilities that tanks often face in battle, such as the inability of the crew to view all angles from within. Remaining close to the topic of infantry, the anti-tank weapons employed by the infantry is elaborated in further detail here. The various types of munitions are documented in detail here with an interesting section on how anti-tank tactics evolved between the periods of 1939 to 1942. Once again, this chapter is rich in pictorial illustrations and black and white photographs, which makes for an excellent reference for all modellers alike.

Conclusion

A one stop shop for all things infantry in the WWII time era! You get a wealth of information from the smallest standard issued item down to the names of each component of an infantry weapon. Extremely well documented tactics and nicely drawn up graphical illustrations are just some of the few details that you will find in this book. The author did very well in slowly progressing through the various aspects of the infantry and is generally a very easy and interesting read for anyone wanting to find out more about the tactics used in WWII. In my opinion I do find this book most suited for diorama builders hoping to capture the setting of a battle field, especially if part of the goal is to maintain some level of historical accuracy. The information found in here on infantry trenches would be invaluable especially in regards to the positioning of the commanders in relation to their supporting elements.

Highly Recommended!

My thanks to Osprey for providing the review sample.

For full information on all Osprey Publishing titles, please see their website: Osprey Publishing