New In the Personal Stack: Infantry Tactics of WWII

Infantry Tactics of the Second World War, Stephen Bull, Gordon L. Rottman, Osprey Publishing, photographs, maps, illustrations, diagrams, index, bibliography 224 pages, 2008, $24.95.

When CWL is not reading in the American Civil War, then World War II and modern wars are a substitute. A common thread among each of the wars is house to house fighting. Recently CWL has posted on Fallujah and Saigon and is looking at accounts of street fighting in the American Civil War. With an query regarding house-to-house and street-to-street fighting to online discussion group, an appetite grew for a greater familiarity with World War I and World War II infantry tactics. I managed to find a great deal on a new book from Osprey Publishers. Heavily illustrated with drawing, photographs and maps, Infantry Tactics of the Second World War covers squad and platoon, company and battalion, and anti-tank tactics of the European and Pacific Theatres. Diagrams of weapons, watercolors of street fighting highlight the chapters. I'll be looking for a companion volume on World War I. For upcoming reading on Leningrad, Moscow, Sicily and the Italian peninsula CWL will keep Infantry Tactics of the Second World War close by.