John Ellis for Andre Deutsch This is an excellent book covering the four battles and the advance to Rome. Its excellence arises from a number of key areas. Firstly, it treats each of the constituent sub-battles as a separate chapter with clear maps to aid your understanding. Secondly, though it subjects the policy of the various commanders to criticism it never misses the fact that there are reasons for most policies and these might not be quite so foolish as hindsight might indicate. Thirdly, although (as ever) the Allies are advancing under withering fire, through minefields, without ammunition Ellis notes how often they actually succeeded and the terrible cost to the Germans (from bombardments or counter-attacks) of keeping the Allies in this tactical hole. His review of the various armies involved is always well balanced. He recognises the difference between the more histrionic Poles, French and Germans (many of whom exposed themselves to fire as a matter of form) to the more cynical British and Americans (who ducked). In building up this picture frequent use of quotations from participants is made. Seldom have I met a book that took me so sensibly from Allied ETO policy through to the difficulties of taking Point 569 without weakening its grasp on the scale of the topic. If you are interested in the D-Day Dodgers this is a book you should acquire. Old Duffer's Book Corner Book Reviews The First Armies Verdun 1916 Russia's Civil War Luetzen 1632 Philip V of Spain The End of Chivalry Le Roi De Guerre Warships of the Napoleonic Era Cannae The Death of Anglo-Saxon England Ancient Siege Warfare War and Society in Revolutionary Europe 1770-1870 Forgotten Victory The Remaking of the English Navy Cassino: The Hollow Victory Raising Churchill's Army The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy The Irish And British Wars 1637-1654 Cavaliers: The Royalist Army At War 1642-1646 Alamein Normandy 1944 Hill 112 Breaking The Panzers Béveziers (1690) Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914-18 Caesar’s Legion Operation Bluecoat Operation Epsom Marching to the Sound of Gunfire The Franco-Prussian War Robert the Bruce’s Irish Wars When Titans Clashed The Wars of Edward III Monte Cassino Under Fire The Somme Roads to Falaise Mud, Blood And Poppycock All The Kaiser’s Men Iron Hulls Iron Hearts A Noble Crusade The Pendulum of Battle: Operation Goodwood The English Resistance The Battle of Koniggrätz Pallas Armata Back to Perfidious Albion #104 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com