The Allies Strike Back, 1941–1943: The War in the West, Vol. 2

Continuing his trilogy describing WWII in the West, British historian Holland follows The Rise of Germany with this detailed, well-researched, and comprehensive look at the Allied response to the German military’s sweeping successes in the war’s initial stages. Holland focuses on the early strategic bombing campaign against Germany, the battles between the British and Germany’s Afrikakorps in North Africa, and Operation Torch and the naval campaign to control Atlantic sea lanes. These campaigns comprise the bulk of the book, with strategic logistics its main theme. Holland makes a strong case that even before the U.S. entered WWII, and certainly after, Germany’s fate was inevitable due to the huge imbalance in industrial capacity and natural resources available to the Allies and the superior management of logistics issues by the Allied leadership. Germany’s only hope of redressing this imbalance was the U-boat campaign against Allied shipping in the North Atlantic, which Holland covers in great detail. Holland shifts smoothly between high-level strategy and tactical battlefield events, producing a good refresher to the large strategic picture for those who are deeply read in WWII history and an excellent introduction to the war in Western Europe for the general reader. Agent: Patrick Walsh, Conville & Walsh Ltd. (Oct.)