Description
Book SynopsisAs this cogent analysis of geography and war makes clear, those who know more about the shape, nature, and variability of battleground conditions will always have a better understanding of the nature of combat and at least one significant advantage over a less knowledgeable enemy.
Trade ReviewA remarkable guide to nature's effects on the conduct of military operations... Accessible to the layman but still of considerable utility for the expert, this book belongs on the shelf of any serious student of military affairs. Foreign Affairs This work... underscores the importance of weather, terrain, and soil type on military operations... An intriguing perspective that goes beyond instructing plebes to engaging recreational readers of military affairs. Booklist Military geographer Winters and his contributors use specific case studies to illustrate the importance in military operations of five elements of physical geography: weather, climate, terrain, soil, and vegetation. The range is impressive and the examples are well chosen... These case studies will usefully expand the limited sense of military geography possessed by most readers of military history. Publishers Weekly An excellent book and an important addition to the library of serious students of the military art... Well written, educational, multidisciplinary, and interesting. Parameters
Table of ContentsContents: 1 Storms, Fair Weather, and Chance Kamikazes, Dunkirk, and Normandy 2 Too Much and Too Wet The Civil War Mud March and Flander's Fields 3 Clouds and Fog The Bulge and Khe Sanh 4 Invading Another Climate as Seasons Change Napoleon and Hitler Russia 5 Forests and Jungles The Wilderness and the Ia Drang Valley 6 Terrains and Corridors The American Civil War's Eastern Theater and World War I Verdun 7 Troubled Waters River Crossings at Arnhem and Remagen 8 Glaciers Shape the Land Alpine Fighting and the Road to Moscow 9 Peninsulas and Sea Coasts Anzio and Inchon 10 Island Battles Tarawa and Iwo Jima 11 Hot, Wet, and Sick New Guinea and Dien Bien Phu 12 Heat, Rock, and Sand The Western Desert and the Sinai
