Thomas F. (hardtack) -
I've been wanting to read this book and finally did. General Lawton Collins was once described as the "best American corps commander" in Europe during World War II, but was relatively unknown to most Americans, compared to other generals. What also made him interesting was he first commanded a U.S. Army division on Guadalcanal in the Pacific before becoming a corps commander in Europe. Collins went on to a succession of important positions after World War II, including a tour as the U.S. Army Chief of Staff after Omar Bradley and personal ambassador for President Eisenhower.
The book's author is Paul Jeffers, who wrote a number of books on World War II. Jeffers writes well and his books are easy reads, but his research---and often his writing---is sometimes sloppy. Especially when writing about events outside his main subject.
For example, on page 40 he discusses the Japanese Army planning to invade Australia and New Zealand. Not true. The Japanese generals knew they didn't have the forces to invade another continent, and were more interested in the war in China. They did want to neutralize those two counties, but had no plans to invade them.
On page 54, Jeffers mentions the "Fourth Marine Raider Division." I hope this is simply a typo, as the Marine Raiders never had units higher than battalions. Jeffers makes a lot of mistakes like this in his other books too. This is poor editing on his part, as well as his publisher. For example, on page 59 he has General Eisenhower choosing General Omar Bradley to be the field commander for the invasion of France. Actually, Ike chose British General Montgomery for this position. Perhaps Jeffers meant Ike chose Bradley to be the American field commander. But it isn't what Jeffers wrote, and it misleads readers who don't know this. And later in the book, Jeffers has the Germans blowing up bridges across the Rhine as "the Americans retreated" in 1945. Huh? Who missed this error?
On page 103, Jeffers obviously uses Montgomery's memoirs to show Montgomery meant to hold the German panzer divisions outside Caen, and that the "...capture of the city was only incidental to his mission." The capture of Caen was a D-Day objective, but the British didn't capture it for weeks, and took heavy casualties trying. Montgomery later said he planned to hold the panzers there, when he was just covering up for his failure to capture the city. It's also why he waited until after Eisenhower died to publish his memoirs so Ike couldn't call it was it was... a lie. In fact, on the very next page---page 104---Jeffers writes Montgomery planned to capture Caen on D-Day, but only took it 36 days later. Obviously, Jeffers isn't reviewing his own work.
On page 115, Jeffers states the Allies captured a German coding machine in 1940. The truth is Polish mathematicians had reversed-engineered the German Enigma coding machine before World War II even started in September 1939. The Poles, when their armies were defeated, shipped the machine and the mathematicians out of their country to France, and later to Britain. Most people don't know this, as the British were happy to take the credit for it. This was also part of the decision not to give the Poles credit for helping to win the war in this and other ways, so as to not anger Stalin after World War II. In this American President Roosevelt was also culpable, to our discredit.
Finally, on page 157, Jeffers refers to American General McAuliffe---deputy commander of the 101st Airborne disivion---as the garrison commander for Bastogne in such as way as to lead readers to believe the 101st was there for some time before the Battle of the Bulge began. But the 101st didn't head for Bastogne until after the Germans attacked on December 16, 1944. This is just sloppy writing.
Still, I gave the book 3.5 stars, as Jeffers did a good job when writing about Lawton Collins. Or maybe I just don't know enough about Collins to catch any errors Jeffers made.
The book's author is Paul Jeffers, who wrote a number of books on World War II. Jeffers writes well and his books are easy reads, but his research---and often his writing---is sometimes sloppy. Especially when writing about events outside his main subject.
For example, on page 40 he discusses the Japanese Army planning to invade Australia and New Zealand. Not true. The Japanese generals knew they didn't have the forces to invade another continent, and were more interested in the war in China. They did want to neutralize those two counties, but had no plans to invade them.
On page 54, Jeffers mentions the "Fourth Marine Raider Division." I hope this is simply a typo, as the Marine Raiders never had units higher than battalions. Jeffers makes a lot of mistakes like this in his other books too. This is poor editing on his part, as well as his publisher. For example, on page 59 he has General Eisenhower choosing General Omar Bradley to be the field commander for the invasion of France. Actually, Ike chose British General Montgomery for this position. Perhaps Jeffers meant Ike chose Bradley to be the American field commander. But it isn't what Jeffers wrote, and it misleads readers who don't know this. And later in the book, Jeffers has the Germans blowing up bridges across the Rhine as "the Americans retreated" in 1945. Huh? Who missed this error?
On page 103, Jeffers obviously uses Montgomery's memoirs to show Montgomery meant to hold the German panzer divisions outside Caen, and that the "...capture of the city was only incidental to his mission." The capture of Caen was a D-Day objective, but the British didn't capture it for weeks, and took heavy casualties trying. Montgomery later said he planned to hold the panzers there, when he was just covering up for his failure to capture the city. It's also why he waited until after Eisenhower died to publish his memoirs so Ike couldn't call it was it was... a lie. In fact, on the very next page---page 104---Jeffers writes Montgomery planned to capture Caen on D-Day, but only took it 36 days later. Obviously, Jeffers isn't reviewing his own work.
On page 115, Jeffers states the Allies captured a German coding machine in 1940. The truth is Polish mathematicians had reversed-engineered the German Enigma coding machine before World War II even started in September 1939. The Poles, when their armies were defeated, shipped the machine and the mathematicians out of their country to France, and later to Britain. Most people don't know this, as the British were happy to take the credit for it. This was also part of the decision not to give the Poles credit for helping to win the war in this and other ways, so as to not anger Stalin after World War II. In this American President Roosevelt was also culpable, to our discredit.
Finally, on page 157, Jeffers refers to American General McAuliffe---deputy commander of the 101st Airborne disivion---as the garrison commander for Bastogne in such as way as to lead readers to believe the 101st was there for some time before the Battle of the Bulge began. But the 101st didn't head for Bastogne until after the Germans attacked on December 16, 1944. This is just sloppy writing.
Still, I gave the book 3.5 stars, as Jeffers did a good job when writing about Lawton Collins. Or maybe I just don't know enough about Collins to catch any errors Jeffers made.
