ISSN 1085-9675. Quarterly Publication of the Coast Defense Study Group. 1560,Somerville Road, Bel Air, Maryland 210156027,USA.Membership costs $32in the USA,$45 in Canada and $60 in Europe. Web Siteswww.cdsg.org and www.dsg.org
It's worth taking a look at this journal, 85 pages of well written and superbly illustrated articles on fortifications and the ordnance defending them. There are comparatively few reviews published, and much of the material is oriented to North American interests, of course. The copy I have to hand has a lengthy piece which deals with the land defenses of Manila Bay post 1900 providing some detailed material on the weapons used there as well as very fine drawings of the batteries, bunkers and emplacements built up to 1920.
The siege of the powerful German fortress of Tsingtao in 1914, by British and Japanese forces is the subject of a further, well detailed account, and provided references to several little known volumes, articles and web-sites on this Siege. This is one of the most neglected campaigns of WWI, and the maps and details published in the issue I've seen would enable most 'Lone Warriors' to re-create the naval wargame and the land struggle with ease. Don't forget this is where Von Spee's 'Asiatic Squadron' was based before it broke out to rampage around at Coronel, and meet its doom at the Falklands - a very interesting naval scenario there, I think, all ships involved (only one, or was it two, British) German, Japanese, Austrian available in 1/3000th from the Navwar list.
The description of the eccentric inventions of Dr J. H. McLean of Scotland and Canada on the other hand was an incredible and fascinating voyage around plans and designs for 'impregnable fortresses', 'the Hercules gun', and 'thunderbolts' and a host of guns, with which the good doctor bombarded (pun fully intended) the US authorities for decades after their Civil war ended.
There was also a short two-page note on the coastal fortifications and defences of Peru and Chile, of which I should like to have known more, now that 'Tumbling Dice' are moving into the 19th century Ironclad warships of South America.
One further remarkable article deals with the building and arming of Fort St.John in Louisiana,a pivotal part of French and later Spanish defences in the Americas, and one which saw a very great deal of action. I suppose most solo gamers recognise the value of siege wargames, and this site provides more than a few!
This is a good quality publication, and very useful, though obviously rather expensive for European readers compared to those resident in the USA. I should add that the Coast Defense Group produces' site specific' papers annually, though I've not yet seen any. One listed deals with the Russian Far Eastern forts around Vladivostok, and others with US sites including Fort Sumter.
Bookcase
- The Coast Defense Journal Review
La Columna: Spanish Civil War Group Review
Arms and Armour: New Journal Review
Fighting in Normandy: German Army from D-Day to Villers Bocage Review
Current World Archeology Review
Health in Wargame Armies Review
Revista Ristre Napoleonico New Spanish Napoleonic Magazine Review
Medieval History Magazine Review
Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior # 148
Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2004 by Solo Wargamers Association.
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com