Robert M. Citino, author of The Path to Blitzkrieg and The German Way of War, takes a closer look at World War II’s most riveting battles, leaders, weapons, and tactics.
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Fire for Effect
When last we left the Eastern Front, the Wehrmacht teetered on the brink of disaster. Well planned Soviet attacks had first encircled an entire German field army (the 6th, under the unfortunate General Friedrich Paulus) at Stalingrad, then...
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Fire for Effect
Deep Battle wasn't perfect, as the Red Army learned the hard way...
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Fire for Effect
Tukhachevsky's deep battle doctrine served the Red Army well, but only because it was big and bad enough to handle epic casualties....
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Fire for Effect
The Second Sino-Japanese War takes off, solidifying Emperor Hirohito's power and perhaps dooming Japan in World War II....
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Fire for Effect
Tracing the roots of the kamikaze to the Russo-Japanese war of 1904–1905...
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Fire for Effect
Last week we asked the Japanese army a somewhat sarcastic question: What were you guys thinking? I’d argue that the Japanese decisions of 1931, 1937, and 1941 make almost no sense unless we delve back a bit into Japanese history. We need...
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Fire for Effect
“What were you guys thinking?” The Imperial Japanese Army was, by most standards, a first-rate outfit. Its officers were as smart and dedicated as they come and the enlisted ranks were filled with some of the toughest light infantry...
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Fire for Effect
As readers of this column know by now, war movies don’t do much for me. It’s a case of too much movie and not enough war. Too much Hollywood, not enough Hürtgen. Everything in real war is confused, bewildering, and ambiguous....
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Fire for Effect
I’ve already confessed my love of the Talvisota, the “Winter War,” especially the opening phase in which the tiny Finnish army stood tall and smashed the initial Soviet invasion of their homeland. The Finns were a democratic people,...
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Fire for Effect
Last time out we were discussing the Winter War, the conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland during the winter of 1939–40. As we saw, a combination of Soviet bullying and Finland’s refusal to be bullied had typical consequences...
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Fire for Effect
Ah, it’s that time of year again. There is a chill in the air, even down here in Texas. The leaves are starting to turn color. The Beaujolais Nouveau is being released today. The holiday season is about to begin, and the mood is festive....
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Fire for Effect, Politics
Last week I made myself sick writing about the siege of Leningrad. World War II was a horrible time for everyone involved, and a lot of people had it very bad, indeed. No one had it any worse than the poor population of Leningrad,...
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Fire for Effect
I’ve dreaded writing this column. I’ve been dancing around it, in fact, with a lot of talk about the meaning of history, about post-modernism and the accepted “narrative” of World War II. Frankly, all that...
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Fire for Effect
I received some good discussion on my last post. Some took me to task, others were supportive, and still others were non-committal. At issue was the notion of how much of history is an eye-of-the-beholder narrative and how much is—to use...
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Fire for Effect
OK, all you postmodernists, you intellectuals who think that there is no such thing as reality, that it is all about the narrative, that each participant in a historical event has a separate and equally valuable experience that is as...
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Arts and Culture, Fire for Effect
Last time out we discussed Philip K. Dick’s great “alternate history” of World War II, The Man in the High Castle. In this award-winning novel, reality has apparently been turned upside down. President Roosevelt has died by an...