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From: ghm@ccadfa.cc.adfa.OZ.AU (Geoff Miller)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Military Books for beginners
Message-ID: <1991May24.030455.9268@amd.com>
Date: 23 May 91 23:56:59 GMT
References: <1991Apr23.053719.23595@amd.com> <1991May18.051207.11395@amd.com> <1991May23.055301.14672@amd.com>
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From: ghm@ccadfa.cc.adfa.OZ.AU (Geoff Miller)


mtxinu!sybase!eallen@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Ed Allen) writes:
>I was very impressed with Liddell-Hart's Strategy on first reading, but
>less so as I read other perspectives on some of the example battles
>and wars he uses as support.

I read his Histories of the First and Second World Wars, and while the
first book gave a fairly clear and objective history the second seemed
to be basically a series of "If I had been running this it would have
been done much better" comments.  Similarly, my recollection (from 
several years ago) of his "Other Side of the Hill" is that a large
part of it was devoted to showing that the German generals had read
his own earlier works.

>I particularly find his comparison of Grant and Sherman to be very flawed.
>He lauds Sherman's indirect approach in the March to the Sea and lambasts
>Grant for running a meatgrinder campaign in the East.
[...other cogent comments on Grant's strategy deleted...]
>	[Meatgrinder campaigns always deserve lambasting.
>	 A general who has no better use for good men than turning
>	 them into sausage deserves no praise, successful or not.
>	 --CDR]

A somewhat simplistic analysis from our worthy moderator.  Grant's job
was precisely to bring the forces of the Confederacy to battle and defeat
them using the Union's superior resources of manpower and materiel.  Union
generals who had tried to defeat the Confederacy by maneuver rather than
actual fighting had failed, and Grant's own record shows that he could
use other tactics where appropriate.

	[ I'm not saying it was a *bad* strategy, since given the Union's
	  superior forces and material attrition was on their side.  But
	  I wouldn't call it praiseworthy.  But I'm a simple kinda guy. :-) 
	  --CDR]

Geoff Miller  (ghm@cc.adfa.oz.au)
Computer Centre, Australian Defence Force Academy