Osprey Roundup

By John Prigent

Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land,
the Vietnam War Revisited,
edited by Andrea Wiest,
ISBN 978-1-84603-216-5, 336 pages

This softcover contains essays by a number of expert authors on all aspects of the war, from its origins during WW2 to its end. The French conflict is covered, as are the North and South Vietnamese viewpoints and the fighting in Cambodia and Laos. Anzac involvement gets its own chapter, and so do the US ground, air and riverine actions. The political side is not neglected, and there’s also a very interesting analysis of the impact of media coverage of the war. This book provides excellent background reading for those who want more than just the standard “combat coverage”.

Highly recommended.

Men-at-Arms 444,
Napoleon’s Mounted Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard,
by Ronald Pawly, illustrated by Patrice Courcelle,
ISBN 978-1-84603-257-8, 48 pages

Here’s another splendid addition to the library for Napoleonic fans. There’s a lot of uniform detail here in the captions to the illustrations and the great Courcelle plates, and the units’ combat histories are very well covered by the text with some interesting details.

Highly recommended.

Warrior 126,
Highlander in the French-Indian War 1756-67,
by Ian Macpherson McCulloch, illustrated by Stephen Noon,
ISBN 978-1-84603-274-5, 64 pages

Another Warrior title with the new layout for colour plates, interspersed instead of all being in the centre. I like this idea a lot! The role of Scotttish troops in this war is not often described, and they get full justice here with a lot of detailed information. Recruitment in Scotland, the condition of the troops after arrival in North America, active service, combat operations, all are here with some fascinating lights thrown by anecdotes from memoirs. The period illustrations are good, but what makes this book stand out is the quality of the colour plates.

Very highly recommended.

Campaign 189,
Sevastopol 1942, Von Manstein’s triumph,
by Robert Forczyk, illustrated by Howard Gerrard,
ISBN 978-1-84603-221-9, 96 pages

This is not just about the siege of Sevastopol but about the whole Crimean campaign of 1941/42. Very much a sideshow, and not even in the original plans for Barbarossa, it was only added when Soviet bombers showed that they could reach the Romanian oilfields from bases in the Crimea. Breaking through the Soviet defenses on the narrow isthmus at Perekop, the German troops reached Sevastopol but were unable to “bounce” their way into the city. Leaving covering forces there, they took the rest of the Crimea but were unable to stop Soviet counterattacks across the straits at Kerch. Fighting continued for a long time on both these fronts before the final German victory in July 1942, but less than two years later they were on the defensive again, trapped by Soviet advances and forced to evacuate the Crimea. This is a very good description of the campaign, with contemporary photographs, interesting colour plates, and excellent maps and birds’-eye-views.

Recommended.

Fortress 72,
German V-Weapon Sites 1943-45,
by Stephen J Zaloga, illustrated by Hugh Johnson & Chris Taylor,
ISBN 978-1-84603-247-9, 64 pages

We’ve already had Osprey books about the V-1 and V-2 missiles themselves but little details in those about the launch sites. This book makes up for that with a great deal of information about the heavily-fortified sites themselves, how they were built (and destroyed by Allied bombing), how mobile launchers and sites for them were developed to replace them, and how all of these were used in theory and in practice. The V-3 multi-stage gun and V-4 artillery rockets projects are also covered here, both being actually used in combat firings but neither having any real effect – the V-4 impacts weren’t even recorded at the receiving end in Antwerp, not doubt being thought to be V-1 impacts. There’s a lot of information here for modellers who want to display their V-1 or V-2 models in realistic settings, as well as good photographs of the missiles, their launchers and their launch sites and very good colour plates and cutaways of the sites.

Highly recommended.

New Vanguard 140,
Armored Trains,
by Stephen J Zaloga, illustrated by Tony Bryan,
ISBN 978-1-84603-242-4, 48 pages

This is a vast subject, deftly summarised here. The first armoured trains were improvised in Austria-Hungary during the 1948 revolts, and more were used in the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. British use of them in the Boer War is perhaps best known for the capture of Winston Churchill in one, but they only really became useful on the Eastern Fronts of WWI and WWII where the wide open spaces between towns made them important for railway security as well as good offensive weapons wherever a rail line could be found. Nevertheless they were very vulnerable to artillery, being unable to dodge, and to finding the rails cut behind them. This book gives an excellent overview of their development and use, including not only complete trains but also the armoured self-propelled railcars intended for independent use. There are plenty of photographs from all user nations, and very good colour plates.

Recommended to all rail fans as well as wargamers.