Anonymous. Historical and Pictorial Review of the 28th Infantry Division in World War II. Nashville, TN: The Battery Press, 2000

ISBN 0-89839-300-0
no page numbers

Introduction; maps; photos

Originally published in 1946, this is another in Battery's extensive (and highly commendable) series of WWII divisional history reprints.

The divisional histories published in the immediate post-war years seem to fall into two categories. Some, such as The 91st Infantry Division in World War II, are solid historical tomes which provide a thoughtful and permanent record of the unit's endeavors. Others more closely resemble souvenir scrapbooks, almost like a graduating class's photographic yearbook. With its amateurish appearance (no author cited, no page numbers, clumsy layout, crude sketches, no index) and rather personal style (Division prayer, lyrics and music to "Roll On, 28th," newspaper clippings, and letters of congratulations from Marshall, Eisenhower, Bradley, Devers, etc), the book at first glance seems more like memorabilia than history. Upon closer examination, however, the text reveals substantial amounts of tactical detail covering the division's operations in Normandy, in the Hurtgen Forest, in the Battle of the Bulge, and elsewhere.

   In the 109th Infantry zone, the front was being held by the 2nd and 3rd Battalions. At 0800 hours both battalions reported strong enemy patrols operating on the west bank of the Our River near Viandon and Bettendorf.
   Company E reported strong German infiltration around their right flank near Longsdorf. Company G was ordered to move from its position in Brandenburg to the right flank of Company F which held the high ground northeast of the town. This was accomplished and several strong enemy attacks were repulsed.
   At 1425 hours the 2nd Battalion lost contact with Company E now isolated in Fuhren and under attack by a battalion of enemy infantry. Company A and a platoon of medium tanks sent north to Longsdorf in an attempt to establish contact with Company E ran into a strong enemy position supported by three Tiger tanks and were held up.

Mitchell, Lt. Robert J. (compiler) with Sewell T. Tyng and Capt. Nelson L. Drummond, Jr. The Capture of Attu: A World War II Battle as Told by the Men Who Fought There. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2000

ISBN 0-8032-9557-X
144 pages

Preface; Introduction; photos; maps; Index

This slim volume was prepared by the U.S. War Department and originally published by Infantry Journal Press in 1944. The new edition from the University of Nebraska adds a fresh introduction by Gregory J. W. Urwin, award-winning author of Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island.

The conditions in which the campaign in the Aleutians in World War II were conducted certainly vied for the honor of "worst weather and worst place to wage war," and that cold, stark reality proves abundantly clear in The Capture of Attu. The first twenty-six pages of the book recount the operations at the operational/tactical level while the remainder of the book offers dozens of brief stories, mostly one or two pages in length, from the men who fought the battles. As would be expected from a book published during the war by the War Department about its operations and its men, this seems a bit sanitized but nevertheless a tantalizing glimpse of how American soldiers faced the climate, the terrain, and the enemy.

   "Hey! Wake up and get the hell out of here! The Japs have broken through!" The sentry shouted his warning and dashed off to alert men in other tents. Grenades were bursting on Engineer Hill and machine guns sputtered; the clamor of the fight rose like a tide as the screaming Japs burst out of the fog and darkness onto the dazed rear echelon.
   The four patients who had spent the night in the rear clearing station, set up in Clevesy Pass, were gotten up and told to clear out. Captain Lawrence L. Hick and Staff Sergeant Roger E. Williams waited until everyone had left, then they moved back toward the Hogsback. They had no concept of the size of the counterattack. They thought that perhaps a small patrol of five or six Japs had moved into the area and were being cornered somewhere. But the furious firing and shouting continued; then half-dressed soldiers began to move to the rear, some with bayonet wounds and stories of Japs in numbers of forty and fifty. The impact of learning the size of the attack stunned the doctor. He and the sergeant went back to the station. It was getting light and several of the technicians were already there giving aid to the wounded men. Tec 5 Chester R. French had gone almost to the beach, decided he might be needed up front, and come back.
   The clearing station was right in the front lines now. Japs were in a draw to the left front of the station. The two doctors, Captain Hick and Captain Abraham R. Koransky, built a barricade out of medical chests around the side of the tent from which the Jap bullets came and continued to work over the wounded men until the Jap fire pinned them to the floor of the tent.

Koch, Brig. Gen. Oscar W. with Robert G. Hays. G-2: Intelligence for Patton. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 1999

ISBN 0-7643-0800-9
165 pages

Acknowledgments; Preface; Prologue; maps; photos; Epilogue; Glossary; Index

Not quite so old, Koch's book originally appeared in 1971. He was the G-2 -- Chief of Intelligence -- for Patton throughout the war and this is a volume about his service, and even more about the workings of his Intelligence staff, in North Africa, Sicily, and western Europe. The latter proves especially notable as Koch, unlike most other Allied intelligence officers, was alert to the possibility of the German offensive which became the Battle of the Bulge. Among other things, he discusses in his "Fog of War" chapter the mystery and the clues surrounding the Ardennes offensive, he describes how he concluded there would be no German "Alpine Redoubt," he examines Patton's style of leadership and military record, and he explains the functions of Intelligence and what makes a good G-2 officer.

   One other thing about the prisoner's map had been of particular interest to the Third Army: it showed no symbol in the area of the Bavarian Alps where, rumor had it, the so-called Alpine Redoubt was being prepared as a fortress where Hitler and his staunchest supporters would make their last stand.
   High-level thinking in the spring of 1945 pointed toward the definite possibility that Hitler and his elite would make their last determined stand in the Alps. There was general agreement that occupation of such a final, almost impregnable, center of resistance would be primarily a nuisance-- a rallying point for the faithful. But there was also general agreement that if Hitler and his followers did move into the suspected Redoubt they would be in an area in which it would be most difficult to stamp them out.
   Our intelligence staff had initiated a plan designed to lead to either final acceptance or final rejection of the growing concern of higher headquarters for the feared Redoubt.
   By the very nature of the mountainous terrain and its limited road network, it was an area where provisions for existence would have to be arranged well in advance. The positioning of troops might provide the key to answers on which sound conclusions could be based.
   With this objective in mind, we undertook a detailed study of the movements of all SS divisions, going back as far as January. Because of their frenzied loyalty to their Fuehrer, the SS--the Schutzstaffel, Hitler's elite guard--were most likely to be among those selected for and moved to the final Alps fortress if such were planned.

Beesley, Patrick. Very Special Intelligence: The Story of the Admiralty's Operational Intelligence Centre, 1939-1945. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000 (Published in the UK by Greenhill Books)

ISBN 1-85367-398-6
296 pages

Introduction; Author's Note and Acknowledgments; Preface; photos; Epilogue; Sources; Afterword; Bibliography; Index

The most recent of the four books described here, Very Special Intelligence was originally published in 1977 and was one of the earliest books to deal with Ultra and its influence on naval operations in WWII. Beesley's book is in many ways the most important of these four.

The author served with the Operational Intelligence Center from 1940 through 1945 and draws on his knowledge of its activities and successes, much of it newly declassified when the book was first released. This allows Beesley to reveal not only what the Royal Navy knew about German dispositions and intentions, but how the Admiralty came to possess such information and how it was used. In addition to the naval war as a whole and the U-boat campaign in particular, some episodes receive special emphasis, such as the hunt for the Bismarck, the Channel Dash by the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the loss of convoy PQ17, and even German submarine operations in the Indian Ocean. Very authentic and enlightening material, with a new Introduction by W.J.R. Gardner (author or Decoding History: The Battle of the Atlantic and Ultra) and a new Afterword by Ralph Erskine. Also an enlarged and updated bibliography on Naval Intelligence in the Battle of the Atlantic.

   Denning's raider expert, Lieutenant Hutchinson, R.N.V.R., could do little more than his predecessor to forecast the movements of the enemy ships once they were at sea, although he was able to accumulate even more detailed information about their characteristics and tactics, and to issue from time to time further Raider Supplements to the Weekly Intelligence Report. The best opportunity for locating and attacking the raiders and blockade runners occurred, of course, while they were outward- or homeward-bound in the Bay of Biscay or English Channel, and after earlier failures the British scored a success here in October 1942. The records of this operation are of interest in the way they reveal the interaction of various sources of intelligence: no single source gave, on its own, a complete picture, but in combination and with intelligent deductions by officers with deep background experience of German procedures, they revealed the enemy's plans clearly enough.
   Raider B, Komet, which with Soviet help had reached the Pacific via the north of Russia in 1940, had returned to Germany in November 1941. She then carried out an extensive refit, but in June and July 1942, Denning's Baltic expert, Clements, noticed from Special Intelligence that she was working up in the Baltic. During this period she was, of course, using cipher Hydra, the Home Waters cipher, not Cipher 100 which would only come into force once she had started her cruise in the Atlantic. When she returned to Kiel we identified her by photographic reconnaissance and were able to reconstruct her appearance accurately. This was, however, the only photograph of her to be secured, and despite all Hutchinson's and Clement's care, she might well have appeared unexpectedly in the Channel had it not been for Special Intelligence. As it was, we were able to follow her move from Kiel to Swinemunde in the second half of September, and to detect the obvious signs that she was again about to sail on a war cruise. On September 29, Hutchinson notified all home and overseas commands by Ultra signals of her impending departure....

All four titles are available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from the respective publisher.

Thanks to the publishers for providing these review copies.