Category: World War II

As the Curtain Fell in 1945

On By Marc NadeauIn Al Murray, Allen Dulles, Douglas MacArthur, Grove Atlantic, Hirohito, History, James Holland, Japan, Leadership, OSS, Philippines, Victory '45, War in the Pacific, Winston Churchill, World War IILeave a comment

War calls upon the best or the worst in human nature, and the final phases of World War II are no exception to that iron law. From Berlin to Tokyo, with stops in Italy and at Montgomery’s HQ, James Holland and Al Murray present a gallery of fascinating—though at times repugnant—figures in Victory ’45: The End of the War in Eight Surrenders (Grove Atlantic).

First, the courageous



On September 2, 1945, General Jonathan M. Wainwright stood on the deck of the USS Missouri—“the ship [that] look[ed] rather like a giant hedgehog”—for the signing of the official instrument of Japan’s surrender. General Douglas MacArthur handed him one of the five fountain pens he used to sign the documents. World War II thus ended for the commander who had been forced to raise the white flag in the Philippines in May 1942 and then endured three and a half years of harsh captivity at the hands of their cruel custodians. Even though Wainwright viewed the pen as “a wholly unexpected and very great gift”, it remained a modest compensation for enduring “one of the worst military defeats in American history,” for which MacArthur bore no small share of responsibility.

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The Caledonian Invasion

On By Marc NadeauIn Boer War, Dudley Clarke, HarperCollins, History, Leadership, Lord Mountbatten, Military History, Operation Biting, Paratroopers, SAS, Scotland, Sir Max Hastings, SOE, Warfare, Winston Churchill, World War IILeave a comment

In early 1942, Winston Churchill faced a barrage of bad news. Kriegsmarine warships had escaped detection, sailing from occupied France to Germany, and Singapore had just fallen to the Japanese. The time for a large-scale offensive had not yet arrived, but Churchill desperately needed a victory. German radar technology – the Würzburg – was hindering British air operations, and one station, perched on the cliffs of Bruneval near Le Havre in Northern France, became the target of a daring raid. A successful breach of the Nazi fortress would offer much-needed relief during those harsh winter months.

Thus, Operation Biting: The 1942 Parachute Assault to Capture Hitler’s Radar (Harper) vividly springs to life through Sir Max Hastings’ writing. Members of the Black Watch, the Cameron Highlanders, the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, and the Seaforth Highlanders took center stage among the British paratrooper units involved, demonstrating the martial prowess long associated with Caledonian regiments. Nemo me impune lacessit.

Unmistakably, Churchill is the story’s central figure. During the Boer War, which he covered as a young war correspondent, he admired the effectiveness of Afrikaner commandos. True to the British instinct of adapting enemy tactics, Churchill later founded the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in 1940, followed by the formation of the Special Air Service (SAS) the next year. As Hastings notes, the recruits manning these units “were seldom the sort of people to make docile household pets.” The deployment of paratroopers for Operation Biting naturally stemmed from this evolution.

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The Four Musketeers of the SOE

On By Marc NadeauIn Billy McLean, David Smiley, Julian Amery, Military History, Peter Kemp, SAS: Rogue Heroes, Saudi Arabia, Shannon Monaghan, SOE, Special Ops, St. Ermin's Hotel, Winston Churchill, World War IILeave a comment

A stone’s throw away from the House of Commons and Westminster Abbey lies the St. Ermin’s Hotel in London. Apart from being one of the best addresses in the City, the iconic establishment hosted Winston Churchill, who liked to sip his favourite Champagne at the Caxton Bar. There was even a secret tunnel linking the hotel lobby to Parliament. During a meeting at St. Emin’s, he asked a group of unconventional people to “Set Europe Ablaze” in founding the Special Operations Executive – the legendary SOE. Any visitor to St. Ermin’s can enjoy the sight of a monastic-sized room where the contribution of its members is soberly showcased.

Thanks to a miniseries like SAS: Rogue Heroes, the inestimable achievements of the men and women who waged unconventional warfare in World War II’s most punishing conditions are vividly brought back to public awareness. Shannon Monaghan’s book A Company of Dangerous Men: The Forgotten British Special Operations Soldiers of World War II (Viking) is another significant and euphemistically pleasant contribution. This enthralling book reminded me of Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, the elite corps defending the King of France against domestic and foreign threats.

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Waking up the American giant

On By Marc NadeauIn Chester Nimitz, Douglas MacArthur, Geopolitics, History, James Holland, Japan, Pearl Harbor, Penguin Random House, The Pacific War, United States, William “Bull” Halsey Jr., World War IILeave a comment

Yesterday, December 7th, marked the infamous 83rd anniversary of the Japanese air raid against Pearl Harbor. This reckless decision would provoke the evaporation of the last isolationist emanations in American public life and pave the way to the Allied victory four years later. But before we got there, a war would need to be fought and waged against a determined and “extremely inflexible” enemy – to use the words of renowned historian James Holland – a favourite of this blog, in case you haven’t noticed.

A few years ago, he wrote a very insightful book in the Ladybird Expert Series about The Pacific War 1941-1943 (Penguin Random House), and I told myself this weekend would be the ideal time to write a few lines about it.

The morning of December 7 was a shocking experience resulting from their underestimation of a lethal nemesis. The Americans took the hit and bounced back. Ultimately, their victory was the result of three crucial ingredients. First, men and resources, which they had in abundance. Second, they had a second-to-none capacity in terms of intelligence, which notably thwarted Admiral Yamamoto’s plan and would ultimately cost him his life. Third, the incomparable leadership of military figures like Admirals Chester Nimitz and William “Bull” Halsey Jr. About the latter, the author evokes that he “gelled immediately” with General Douglas MacArthur – the latter being traditionally a hard-to-get-along figure. Together, “they planned a series of leapfrogging operations, drawing on hard-won experience already gained in the Pacific and on the United States’ burgeoning military might.” Finally, “they were quick to absorb the lessons of war.”

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How Churchill and Dowding saved Britain and the World

On By Marc NadeauIn Air Marshal Hugh Dowding, Battle of Britain, History, Leadership, Luftwaffe, Martin Dugard, Penguin Random House Canada, Royal Air Force, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, Uncategorized, Winston Churchill, World War IILeave a comment

“Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so”, said Charles de Gaulle – Winston Churchill’s brother in arm during World War II. Resilience is the common thread of Martin Dugard’s new book Taking London: Winston Churchill and the Fight to Save Civilization (Dutton).

While de Gaulle escaped France with only 2 suitcases aboard the RAF plane that flew him into history on June 17, 1940, Churchill wasn’t much more gifted politically when he was asked to become Prime Minister a month earlier. The author reminds the reader that he was the second choice to occupy the role and that he had “no political currency beyond his words and beliefs.”

Yet, he had to keep the country – and the free world – safe from the claws of Nazism. Alone. A longtime admirer and promoter of the Royal Navy – which ruled the waves for centuries – Churchill had no choice but to realize that Nelson’s heirs couldn’t save Britain. Along with his legendary courage, the Royal Air Force was his only asset.

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“Bomber” Harris’ Foresight

On By Marc NadeauIn Bomber War, James Holland, Major-General Carl “Tooey” Spaatz, Masters of the Air, Military History, Penguin Random House Canada, Royal Air Force, United States Army Air Forces, World War IILeave a comment

At the beginning of the summer, my sons and I were captivated by the riveting Apple TV series Masters of the Air. I was therefore enthusiastic to carry my copy of James Holland’s book The Bomber War (Penguin Random House) in my backpack. Those who follow this blog know how much of a fan I am of this talented author. Full disclosure, I intend to review every one of the books he published in the Ladybird Expert Series.

While air power played a role “in Germany’s rapid victory in Poland” at the very beginning of World War II, the same could not be said in the following chapters of the conflict. “The tiny British island of Malta, for example, was not defeated despite in the spring of 1942 briefly becoming the most bombed place on earth”, writes the incomparable historian.

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Coca-Cola and ice cream to defeat Japan

On By Marc NadeauIn Chester Nimitz, Chiang Kai-Shek, Coca-Cola, History, James Holland, Japan, Penguin Random House Canada, United States, Warfare, William "Bill" Slim, World War IILeave a comment

In their seminal book Conflict, which was reviewed here recently, General Petraeus and Lord Roberts posit that, in warfare, “the side that learns and adapts the fastest typically prevails.” An ageless lesson, throughout military history.

As geopolitics evolves, my interest in the Pacific theatre during World War II has increased significantly lately. To prevail against the Empire of the Rising Sun, the US Navy needed to destroy its crucial naval power, which dominated its sphere of influence for five decades. Curtailing Japanese supply lines, notably to deprive its fleet and troops of oil, was instrumental. To that end, American forces would be attacking the islands it occupied. “Capturing these outposts in the middle of the ocean would not only deny them to the Japanese, it would bring the Allied forces closer to Japan itself”, writes renowned military historian James Holland in Victory against Japan 1944-1945, published as part of his insightful contribution to the Ladybird Expert Series (Penguin Random House).

The author also evokes the military ineffectiveness of Chinese Nationalist warlord Chiang Kai-Shek “despite the United States’ two years of ceaseless supplies”, the inestimable contribution of future Marshal Bill Slim and Special Operations Executive (SOE) teams in Burma and the appearance of the B-29 “Superfortress” in the Pacific, “the most expensive single weapons system ever built” up to that point.

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The Ferocious Battle for Normandy

On By Marc NadeauIn Bernard Montgomery, D-Day, Erwin Rommel, France, History, James Holland, Military, Normandy, Penguin Random House Canada, Thomas Babington Macaulay, World War IILeave a comment

In less than 60 days, we will commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied landing in Normandy on June 6th, 1944. The celebrations surrounding that event are already under way. In the last hours, the French Ambassador to Canada travelled to Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, to present the Légion d’honneur – France’s highest distinction established by Napoleon in 1802 – to a 104-year-old veteran who set foot on the beach on that fateful morning.

As we salute these men and prepare to sadly see the last ones depart for eternity, the need for remembrance becomes ever more crucial. Historians play an essential role on that score. Plenty of great books have been written about the longest day and the campaign that followed.

I just finished reading James Holland’s contribution to that impressive list, through the Ladybird Expert Book series. For anyone wanting to grasp the development of the Battle for Normandy in a summarized and vividly written style, this book is a must.

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Churchill and the SAS

On By Marc NadeauIn Bernard Montgomery, David Stirling, Dudley Clarke, Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, HarperCollins, History, Joshua Levine, Lawrence of Arabia, Mike Sadler, Randolph Churchill, SAS, Winston Churchill, World War II1 Comment

As a big fan of anything related to Special Forces, commandos, and covert operations, I enjoyed immensely reading Joshua Levine’s book SAS: The Authorized Illustrated History of the SAS (William Collins) during the Holidays. Incidentally, I finished reading it a few hours after I learnt that Mike Sadler, the last of the original members of the SAS (Special Air Service) had passed away.

Joshua Levine’s book is filled with breathtaking operations and incomparable characters, like Mike Sadler, David Stirling, Dudley Clarke, Paddy Mayne and Jock Lewes – among many who all played a crucial role in this inspiring chapter of World War II.

The main lesson I take from the author’s work is more political. History is full of fantastic ideas or projects that never lifted off the ground because they were not supported by the right people against all odds. The legendary SAS is not one of those. Bestselling author of Dunkirk, which was written in conjunction with the 2017 movie, Joshua Levine has a keen eye for military exploits.

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Morale: Determining Factor in the Desert War

On By Marc NadeauIn Albert Kesselring, Benito Mussolini, Bernard Montgomery, Desert War, History, James Holland, Michael Herzog, Penguin Random House Canada, Stalingrad, World War IILeave a comment

“It was a combination of weight of arms and the grim determination of the men on the ground as well as air power that brought victory to the British”, writes historian James Holland in his book about The Desert War in the Ladybird Expert series.

The renowned author starts his book with an observation about the lack of enthusiasm among the crowd massed on the square facing the Palazzo Venezia when Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared war on June 10, 1940. Italians were not fervent about fighting alongside the Germans. The feeling would have fateful consequences in the fight for the Mediterranean.

In October 1940, the Duce decided to invade Greece, probably motivated by the desire to prove his worth to his German ally. It was a bad decision that forced Hitler’s hand to send troops to the Mediterranean theatre. The Führer became obsessed with his southern flank and devoted considerable resources to beef it up.

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